Success Story: David Zokoe ’11

To help get us in the spirit of the Alumni Awards Celebration on October 2nd, our next few alumni success stories will feature 2015 award winners. First up, we are proud to spotlight the Outstanding Young Alumni award winner, David Zokoe, Class of 2011. Dave’s passion for people underlines his career, family, faith and hobbies.  That passion for people led Dave on a multi-year journey through GVSU, a restaurant venture, and finally to Davenport University where he graduated, with honor, in 2011.

Less than six months after graduating from the DU’s Donald W. Maine College of Business, David was promoted to the position of Corporate Account Manager in the Grand Rapids area for Consumers Energy. In this position, David manages relationships with fifty of the largest, most energy intensive business in the Ionia, Wyoming, and Kentwood areas. He is responsible for customer satisfaction, customer retention, energy optimization goals and sales of value-add products.  Together, Dave’s customers represent $60M in annual revenue.

Outside of his corporate job, David and his wife, Alex, also have a growing entrepreneurial business. Their company buys and sells numerous investment properties that is generating extra income and providing quality, affordable housing for the community. David credits his experience working on his senior project at Davenport University to help them start their investment company.

If Dave’s not working at Consumers Energy, or on his hobby, he is volunteering time.  David states, “It is easy for people in business to focus on income statements and balance sheets, but we were put on this earth to do more than make money for ourselves.”  Over the years, Dave has spent countless hours with Standale Reformed Church’s Youth Group, Kids Hope USA, and Kentwood’s National Night Out. When a Senior Vice President at Fifth Third Bank challenged Dave to go beyond the normal volunteerism and engage Consumers Energy with the community and Fifth Third Bank, Dave responded in a big way. He organized a group of 10+ people in 2013 and 25+ in 2014 to raise money and run the River Bank Run.  While faith, family, and friends are most important to Dave, it’s volunteering that put those priorities into sharper focus.

David is an outstanding representation of Davenport University’s namesakes motto, “Make a Living, Make a Life, Make a Contribution.” We are very proud to feature David not only as our Alumni Success Story this week, but as our 2015 Outstanding Young Alumni award winner!

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