OUR FACULTY

Our Faculty Members

(Click on each faculty member to view full Biography)

Dr. Rajiv Tandon facilitates peer groups and Business Academy sessions as needed. With his own fast-growth company experience, he provides a unique perspective for any CEO.

  • FastTrack Serial entrepreneur: 20 years of experience building several start-ups.
    • Educator: 25+ years of teaching entrepreneurship at various educational institutions
    • Mentor: to over 400 entrepreneurs in the development of innovative ideas to accomplish strategic initiatives and achieve organizational goals including:
  • Listed by Twin City Business Magazine as one of the "200 Minnesotans You Should Know".- Developed concepts of "bullet proofing" start-up ventures against predatory practices.

Rajiv helped grow National Car Rental from an early stage company to the leading company it became.  His last position was in charge of the worldwide operations, sales and franchising of Car Rental.  After the sale of National, at the age of 42, he pursued and was awarded a Ph.D. in Entrepreneurship (the first ever given in America) from the University of Minnesota.  Rajiv joined the University of St. Thomas and as a tenured Professor built their Entrepreneurship Program, which was ranked in the top 5 programs in the United States.

Rajiv was awarded the Price-Babson prize for bringing Entrepreneurial vitality to academia. He's bounced back and forth between education, business and even technology based businesses.  Recently he founded and built an e-learning business, which was sold last January, after enjoying 5 consecutive years on the Inc. 500/5000 Fast-growing Company List.

Sam Richter is an internationally recognized expert on digital information and is considered the father of modern-day Sales Intelligence. His award-winning experience includes building innovative programs for start-up companies and some of the world's most famous brands.

Sam is founder and CEO of SBR Worldwide/Know More. Through his in-person keynote presentations and online programs, Sam trains leading organizations and entertains tens of thousands of persons around the world. Sam’s programs promise to be the highest content, most take-home-value presentations attendees have ever experienced. The National Speakers Association honored Sam with its CSP Designation, reserved for the top 10 percent of the world's professional speakers, he was named one of the Top 50 Sales Keynote Speakers in the world, and he is also a member of the Minnesota Speakers Hall of Fame.

Sam is the author of the bestselling book, Take the Cold Out of Cold Calling, considered the preeminent publication on finding information online and using it for sales success. Take the Cold was named "Sales Book of the Year" by the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals, and it was also named a "USA Book News Winner" and a "Sales Book Awards Silver Medalist."

 

 

  • Training Program Special:
    - Custom in-person Sales Program from Sam Richter
    - Ongoing Webinar/in-person/support
    - Base or Custom Intel Engine for your entire enterprise
    - COST:  Range between $500 to $2,500 per month, with no commitments
    - Contact Sam for more information – sam@samrichter.com or 612-655-3397

For the past twenty years, Terry Slattery has helped clients grow their margins exponentially. He has trained thousands of companies to increase their top-line revenue while decreasing their selling costs. He has provided services to companies in more than 100 industries, from home-based enterprises to Fortune 100 companies. He is the creator of "Wimp Junction," a program that has taught thousands of sales people how to recognize and eliminate nonproductive sales behavior, especially during complex sales. Terry still holds the record at IBM for opening the most accounts-even though he hasn't worked there for twenty years.

As a Sales Executive at Digital Equipment Corporation, he managed global relationships for the largest accounts, selling engineering systems, data communications, decision-support systems, and transaction processing. When he is not helping companies grow, his interests include playing blues and jazz piano, as well as searching for the world's spiciest cuisine.

Bob has worked in numerous companies over the past 10 years, focusing primarily on cycle time improvements in order fulfillment, product design and in the value chain, to yield cash flow increases, inventory decreases and customer satisfaction increases.

Bob has published several articles in various journals, has three books in process (a Lean/TOC Implementation and training series) and has trained over 3000 people in lean concepts, constraints management and supply chain management over the last five years. In addition, Bob is a featured speaker and trainer for the "Lean Certification" series at the manufacturer's Alliance and has taught classes on Supply Chain Management at St. Thomas University.

Bob graduated with Distinction from the University of Minnesota with a BSB in accounting. He has also passed the CPA and CIA (Certified Internal Auditor) exams. Bob lives in Eden Prairie with his wife and three children and is an avid runner and cyclist. He enjoys traveling, reading, playing the piano, playing soccer and doing things with his family.

Gary and Mike both started over 25 years ago as sales reps who became successful and moved into the sales leadership positions and eventually senior management at multiple companies. They both experienced very high growth with companies (Mike with National Computer Systems and Gary with Digital River) and the challenges associated with that growth. During that time, they learned the value of repeatable processes and systems that drive accountability and focus which can be leverage to drive growth. They started Pivotal Advisors in 2008 with the goal of helping companies adopt and implement the systems, process and structure required for disciplined sales growth with a special focus on working with the sales leaders within their customers to develop their skills. They have worked with approximately 150 companies since that time and have experienced great success. Their practical experience and application has help their customers implement simple solutions that work.

Friends and colleagues would have bet a lot of money that Sal Mondelli would have retired after completing a career as an officer in the U.S. Navy (he was there for 5 years) or as an Executive with IBM Corporation (he was there for 15 years). Instead he followed a different path that included leading mid-sized and start up technology companies, being involved in turn around situations, and  not for profit board work  including 4 1/2  years as CEO of the largest not for profit in Dakota County.

His past executive roles include:

• IBM Business Unit Executive responsible for $250M in revenue

• President & CEO of Transition Networks a network infrastructure hardware and software company

• Advisor for small business owners on strategy, sale & sales management

• President & CEO of 360 Communities a Dakota County based not for profit (2015 Dakota County Regional Chamber Not For Profit of the Year)

• Sal has been a guest lecturer for business students at the University of Minnesota, and University of St Thomas as well as an adjunct professor at Crown College in St Bonifacius.

One experience that helped along this journey was a participating for three years in a self-facilitated CEO Peer Group. The group has not met for over a dozen years, but members still get together periodically to catch up. For the past four years, he has facilitated a group of twenty not for profit Executives in Dakota County in bi-monthly meetings designed to promote partnerships as well as developmental opportunities. When he met Bill Mills, both agreed that starting a new Executive Group Peer Group was a great idea.

Sal has remained active in volunteer work over the years having served as the chair of the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts Board, Chair of the Burnsville Performing Arts Center Advisory Commission, and current board member of Fairview Ridges Hospital, and the Upper Midwest Chapter of the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association.  He is also a board member of Total Logistics, Inc., a privately held holding company for transportation related businesses.

He and his wife Audrey reside in Burnsville, have two grown children, and three granddaughters.