EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR FINDS INSPIRATION ROOTED IN FAMILY TREE

Memphis Business Journal by Cole Epley

Friday, May 27, 2011, 5:00am CDT

ALAN HOWELL | MBJ

Lisa Rossmeyer Wade bought a struggling Harley-Davidson dealership and turned it into one of the country's top dealerships. Someone should have cued the throwback Garth Brooks.

While the artist himself may or may not be a fan of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, Brooks' 1991 hit, “The Thunder Rolls,” was indeed a fitting theme for the Executive of the Year recipient at Memphis Business Journal's 2011 Small Business Awards.

Lisa Rossmeyer Wade, dealer/principal of Southern Thunder Harley Davidson in Southaven, took honors in the event's final category of the night, and while quick to acknowledge her esteemed group of peers in the business community who chose her, the optometrist-turned-motorcycle dealer was even quicker to recognize her family.

“It is an understatement to say I am overwhelmed at having been singled out among such a deserving group,” Wade says. “It is a cliche to say that success is nothing without someone you love to share it with, but cliches endure because they are true.”

During her acceptance speech, the wife, mother and entrepreneur thanked her husband and children for the inspiration and sacrifices they made when she “turned their world upside down to become a business owner.”