On Success and Overcoming Obstacles:

Alumnus Receives Defying the Odds Award

Growing up in the tumultuous 1960s Civil Rights era, Eugene Agee had a challenging young life. His south Chicago neighborhood was overrun by gang violence. His daily commute to a segregated high school was plagued with people yelling racial epithets as his bus rolled by. While Agee confessed he wasn’t always the best student, he overcame all of these obstacles and finished high school with both his parents’ encouragement and insistence. Following graduation, Agee decided he was not ready for college and joined the U.S. Air Force at the age of 17.

“The Air Force taught me discipline and allowed me to mature. I literally traveled around the world and gained a global perspective on life,” he said.

After he returned from his military service, Agee started working at the U.S. Post Office. Dissatisfied with his job, he applied for college under the GI bill and was accepted at Southern Illinois University. Later, Agee came to UMKC to pursue his MBA and graduated from the Henry W. Bloch School of Management in 1998.

Today, Agee is the vice president of Procurement Operations, Strategic Sourcing, Real Estate, and Environmental, Health and Safety at Sprint where he manages $17 billion in spending and 20 million square feet of commercial, retail and technical space.

Agee’s journey led to his selection by UMKC and the Alumni Association as the 2015 Defying the Odds Alumni Awardee. This award recognizes a graduate who has achieved tremendous success in spite of obstacles.

A 25-year Sprint veteran, Agee is a champion of small and minority-owned businesses and of minorities and women working at Sprint. He has served on Sprint’s Executive Inclusion and Diversity Council and is responsible for Sprint’s supplier diversity initiatives. Currently, Agee serves as a board member on the Mountain Plains Minority Supplier Development Council, the 100 Black Men of Greater Kansas City, the Kansas University School of Supply Chain Management Advisory Board and the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals Advisory Board. In 2009, he received the National Eagle Leadership Institute’s Eagle Award. 

“I believe anything can be achieved with hard work, perseverance and a network of friends and supporters. My goal was always to be a Chief Executive Officer. My entire career has been based upon attainment of this goal.”

Agee will be honored at UMKC’s Alumni Awards Luncheon with his fellow 2015 Alumni Awardees on April 23 at Swinney Recreation Center. The luncheon is one of the university’s largest events and proceeds support student scholarships. Last year’s luncheon attracted nearly 600 attendees and garnered more than $117,000 in student scholarships.


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