Debbie Boschee, CMP Vice president, conference and meeting services
Prudential Financial Inc.
Plymouth, Minn.

PAST Boschee joined Prudential in 1976; she became a meeting planner in 1983. She has held a number of administrative positions with the company and was promoted to vice president in 2007.

CRED In 2000, Boschee helped to begin the centralization of Prudential's meetings operations. After a process involving countless interviews with planners within the company and the industry, as well as studying and analyzing financials, meeting spend, and vendor/supplier relationships, she put together a plan to bring the company's disparate meeting functions together. This led to the formation of a centralized meeting department in 2002. Boschee has also been active with Financial & Insurance Conference Planners, serving as its president in 2003-2004.

SUCCESS STORY “When I took over the meeting-planning department, I had a different managing philosophy, and that was challenging for many of my people to adapt to and accept,” says Boschee. “But seeing them grow and blossom, become strategic thinkers, advance and be promoted, and become involved in the industry has given me a great sense of accomplishment.”

MENTORS While handling meetings for Prudential's learning services department, Boschee had a supervisor “who was the first person I worked for who actually understood that meeting planning was a profession. She also challenged me to think strategically. She was always very direct in her feedback to me, which was often painful, but she really pushed me and made me more accountable.”

Return to 20 Changemakers