Introducing the Directors of the VA Division - Kathy Bower and Gabe Andre




Kathy Bower

  Kathy Bower was the first Director of the VA Div.  She developed it, and grew it from the beginning. She brought all of us aboard, helped us open the accounts, developed the BPA contracts in each VISN that got my sales to 6-700k/yr before the lowbid VA contract in '04, along with everybody else, some of who were selling over a million dollars a year. She managed the Div., traveled around the country, working with all of us, and still hosted an annual meeting for the div each year, as well as training for the VA employees once to several times each year. Kathy was the VA Division to many of us.
She brought Gabe aboard from Executive Sales, and I don't know if it was official but he seemed to be her second in command. She was promoted to VP of the VA Div. To a large degree it was Kathy that made us successful. I for one was very sorry to see her leave in '07.

Gabe Andre

Gabe Andre was the Director of the VA Div. after Kathy left the company in '07. He had been my Area Mngr. previously as well as filling other positions at the same time, all of which I don't remember. What I do remember is he made my job easier, he was always on the go. I'd be surprised if he was home more than a couple days a month. As I said above he seemed to be Cathy's second in command. He was handling many projects like the VA training. If you needed help, just call Gabe. In many ways between Cathy and Gabe you'd get what you needed to make sales. When Kathy left, he was the natural one to take over for her. In most ways not that much changed except he got busier. He was still my Area Mngr. so I saw him but not as frequently, the good news was that I had my territory in control, and so it didn't hurt. I thought he did a great job taking over the Div. and leading it. Gabe was to a large degree the one that kept us successful after Kathy left and he took over.

These pictures were taken at the '03 Annual Meeting in Las Vegas. Both of them did a fantastic job, bringing many talented salespeople together as a team, and making it possible for us to sell effectively and profitably. It wasn't our fault or theirs that the VA Div., and Rascal are no longer there.