Vanessa Downey

Vanessa has been in Sales since graduating from Texas A&M in 1995. Her first role out of college was in Pharmaceutical Sales with Johnson and Johnson, and she continued to work in that field for the next 15 years. She enjoyed those years in the pharmaceutical industry, but when she was laid off on a conference call with 400 other people, she realized it was time for a career change.

She and her husband Brad co-owned two restaurants in the subsequent five years. While the restaurant industry is fun and rewarding, it can also be quite challenging. Between the long hours of a restaurant and Brad’s extensive travel as Principal of a Sales Agency, the Downeys were missing out on important milestones and treasured moments. They needed to “reimagine” their way of life.

So they joined forces in the outdoor industry when Vanessa became the Soft Goods Sales Manager for Frontier Sales & Marketing Group, the Agency that Brad and his business partner Dennis founded in 1999. Their first brand on the Soft Goods side of Frontier was Woolrich, and the portfolio that Vanessa managed flourished in the ensuing years.

By 2018, Vanessa was ready to forge a new path by creating her own Agency, Apex Outdoor Sales. Apex is comprised of people that are passionate about the outdoors, and about providing a Standard of Excellence to their customers. Vanessa’s ultimate goal of working for herself has come to fruition, and she is thoroughly enjoying this chapter as the Principal of an Independent Sales Agency.