I don't have any first-hand experience with Stan's rims, but several of my riding buddies like them.

I looked into building a set of 29er wheels on a Stan's Arch rim, but them stumbled across a closeout on Shimano XT tubeless (UST) wheels for less than I could build my own. They've been surprisingly good, and the UST rim makes tubeless set up super-easy, even with non-UST tires.

As for short people on 29ers, I'm pretty sure that I'm about your height, and I adore my big-wheeled monster