University President Joins Ranks of Kansas City “Women of Influence”

On this orientation weekend, Rockhurst University President Sandra Cassady, Ph.D., juggled welcoming the newest students to campus Friday with a luncheon honoring her and 24 other Kansas City area women, who were named to the 26th annual Women of Influence class by the Kansas City Business Journal. All in a day’s work.

The annual luncheon and honors recognize outstanding female entrepreneurs, corporate or nonprofit executives and other leaders in the Kansas City area. Cassady, who in 2022 became the University’s 15th and first lay and female president, was among those honorees. She was recognized for helping guide the University to enrollment growth, new partnerships and new programs.
Each of the honorees was asked a unique question as part of the awards luncheon Friday. Cassady said her question was about her history-making role at the University and what perspectives she might bring to the job. In her response, she said she balanced a lot of different roles, but through that she has learned a lot about developing her own approach to leadership.

“Like many women leaders, I’ve adopted a collaborative leadership style and employed many change management strategies. Jesuit education has always been about transformation — the transformation of the person and transformation of society,” she said. “As we lead, our team balances the traditions of our faith-founded higher education institution with the need for innovation and progress – progress to support Kansas City, our nation, and the world.”

Cassady said she was honored to stand next to a group of high-profile leaders — executives from places like Russell Stover Chocolates, Google Fiber, Kansas City Current, JE Dunn Construction and the Health Forward Foundation.

“I was honored to be nominated and even more honored and humbled to be selected,” she said. “This is a very accomplished group of leaders. Kansas City has many outstanding attributes and one of them having so many women leaders in C-suite roles across a variety of industries.”