About

About Keegan Glade

At just 26, young entrepreneur Keegan Glade is the Business Manager at Stone Manor on 79th, a family-owned wedding and event venue in the heart of downtown Overland Park, Kansas. Keegan is also a Pricing Analyst at Synergy Flavors, a global manufacturer and supplier of flavorings, extracts, and essences to create impactful taste solutions owned by the Carbery Group.

Keegan’s Work at Stone Manor on 79th

Stone Manor on 79th, a one-of-kind space for weddings and special occasions, is housed in the historic Strang Line Car Barn built in 1908. The event space, entirely renovated this year, offers the warmth and character of natural stone walls, a wood-planked barrel-roof ceiling, and crystal chandeliers. As Business Manager of his family business since earlier this year, Keegan welcomes the opportunity to serve others, providing couples with a beautiful place to celebrate their special day and helping make their events everything they want and dream. He manages the venue’s accounting, finance, and business and customer relationships.

Helping to build the event business, Keegan and a colleague attended the WedKC 2024 Spring/ Winter trade show in Kansas City in March, representing the wedding venue at Stone Manor on 79th.

His Work at Synergy Flavors for the Last Three Years

Keegan Glade began his career right out of college at Synergy Flavors in 2021 as a Business Development GDP Associate, where he partnered with the Sales, Marketing, and Commercial teams to improve and maintain strategic business relationships, support Sales in targeting strategic business prospects, and increase revenue and profitability in support of three-year strategic plans. He developed growth plans for Synergy’s business segments to enhance competencies, increase revenues in strategic business segments, and improve the diversification of its business portfolio. This resulted in over 12 new business opportunities with new and existing customers and more than $15 million in revenue.

In 2022, he moved into the position of Marketing GDP Associate. His responsibilities included supporting the Product Marketing Manager(s) in developing tradeshow marketing materials, strategic customer presentations, and improved processes for evaluating new customer opportunities. He led the creation of “Edible Escapism” as a piece of Synergy’s “New Wave” marketing campaign at IFT 2022. He was also responsible for coordinating travel and accommodation for roughly 100 global and domestic Synergy team members to attend IFT 2022 in Chicago. IFT is the world’s leading food technology event. Additionally, Keegan assisted in the creation of a new job position within Synergy to address and facilitate new business opportunities.

Later that year, he was promoted to his current role of Pricing Analyst, partnering with the Commercial and Finance teams to develop and implement tactical and strategic pricing strategies to increase margins, improve the efficiency and effectiveness of processes, and increase visibility across the Sales, Marketing, and Commercial teams. He led two series of price increases across the company’s strategic customers, leading to incremental revenue of $5 million. Additionally, Keegan developed the pricing strategy for the 2023 product portfolios across Synergy’s vanilla product line.

He initiated including pricing processes and strategies within Synergy’s Microsoft CRM system to increase visibility for the Sales and Commercial teams and increase efficiency and effectiveness within the Pricing team.

An Avid Golfer

Keegan Glade is an avid golfer. He was the varsity golf team captain from 2015 to 2017 at his high school, Summit Christian Academy. He was named All-District four times for golf while in high school and qualified for the Missouri State High School golf tournament in 2017.

His talent on the greens earned him an athletic scholarship to play golf at Olivet Nazarene University in September 2016. He was a collegiate athlete from 2017 to 2021.

Most recently, Keegan won the 21st Annual Olivet Invitational Golf Outing held in Phoenix, Arizona, in February this year. He posted a score of 72 at the Westin Kierland golf course.

He has had two hole-in-ones: the first was in May 2019, and the second was in April 2024.

His High School Soccer Success

Golf is not the only sport in which Keegan excels. He was a star soccer player in high school. Keegan was the captain of his high school’s varsity team in 2017 and named MaxPreps National Player of the Week twice and Player of the Match five times. In 2016, Keegan was fourth in the nation for saves (320 saves) as a goalie for his high school team. Additionally, he was named All-Conference and All-District in 2016.

Education

Keegan Glade graduated with Cum Laude honors in 2021 with a Bachelor of Science in Corporate Finance and Business Administration/Management from Olivet Nazarene University, a private Nazarene university in Bourbonnais, Illinois. It’s known for its 200 areas of study, title-winning athletics, and 22 graduate and doctoral degrees.

Keegan was selected to be a College Financial Representative for Northwestern Mutual from 2017 to 2019.

Giving Back

Keegan regularly donates to his church and has also gone on a couple of mission trips. One trip was to the Navajo reservation in New Mexico/Arizona, and another was to a kids’ day camp in the inner city of Denver.