A Shocker is among the nine recipients of this year’s Women Executives-Kansas City awards, a recognition bestowed by Ingram’s on “highly successful women who are flat-out getting it done.”
Ingram’s is a monthly publication that covers the business community of greater Kansas City – and the Shocker so recognized is Denise Bade ’87, a WSU marketing graduate who has been getting it done at Lockton Companies since 1994.
An executive vice president at Lockton, which is the world’s largest privately owned insurance brokerage firm, Bade became the first woman to serve on the firm’s executive committee and among the first from its global work force to be named an executive vice president. Today, Lockton has 50,000 clients, 6,000 employees and 80 offices worldwide, with $1.35 billion in revenue.
“The summer before I attended WSU,” Bade says, “I changed my major from music to business. I felt I could do well with business, but didn’t know what career was the best fit for me. When I was a junior at WSU, I took a class in sales. The professor did such an excellent job describing the personality of a salesperson and the types of jobs and lifestyle. He discussed the pros and cons. That single class helped me choose what kind of job I looked for after graduating – and I’ve been a professional salesperson now for 28 years!”
Bade, née Stover, and her husband, William, have three children and reside in Overland Park, Kan.
