Erik Peterson is Chief Executive Officer at Corporate Visions, responsible for spearheading the company’s vision and strategy. Having served in a range of roles in which he led the company’s consulting and sales operations, Erik is steeped in all facets of Corporate Visions’ products, research, employees, and customers, and is uniquely positioned to execute against a growth vision that serves to the benefit of them all.
Previously Chief Customer Officer and EVP Consulting at Corporate Visions, Erik has delivered consulting engagements, keynotes, and messaging skills workshops to more than 10,000 marketing and sales executives in over 13 countries, and his teams have done this work in 56 countries around the world.
He is also the co-author of Conversations that Win the Complex Sale: Using Power Messaging to Create More Opportunities, Differentiate Your Solution, and Close More Deals (McGraw Hill), The Three Value Conversations: How to Create, Elevate, and Capture Customer Value at Every Stage of the Long-Lead Sale (McGraw Hill), and The Expansion Sale: Four Must-Win Conversations to Keep and Grow Your Customers. Erik received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of New York at Buffalo. He lives in the Atlanta area with his wife and three boys.
Tim Riesterer is Chief Strategy Officer of Corporate Visions, responsible for leading the strategic direction of the company in thought leadership, positioning, and product development. He also leads the company’s consulting team globally, including staff and certified contractors. Tim has more than 20 years of experience in Marketing and Sales.
Prior to joining Corporate Visions, Tim co-founded Customer Message Management, LLC (CMM Group), where he was CEO until it was acquired by Corporate Visions in 2008. Before CMM Group, Tim was CMO and VP of Strategic Services for Ventaso. Additionally, Tim was President and CEO of Brady Marketing Group and has worked in marketing, communication, and sales support for world-class technology manufacturers such as Rockwell Automation and GE Medical Systems.
Tim is co-author of Customer Message Management: Increasing Marketing’s Impact on Selling (Thomson/AMA), Conversations that Win the Complex Sale: Using Power Messaging to Create More Opportunities, Differentiate Your Solution, and Close More Deals (McGraw Hill), The Three Value Conversations: How to Create, Elevate, and Capture Customer Value at Every Stage of the Long-Lead Sale (McGraw Hill), and The Expansion Sale: Four Must-Win Conversations to Keep and Grow Your Customers. Tim has a degree in Mass Communications and Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Tim lives in the Milwaukee area with his wife and four daughters. He enjoys singing and acting.
Bobby Jenkins has over 30 years of business experience, serving mostly as a CFO. His career includes extensive experience with SaaS and professional services offerings. Most recently, he served as CFO at Skillsoft Corporation, an industry leader in providing SaaS learning, training, and talent solutions. He played a key role in Skillsoft’s merger with Churchill Capital, leading to Skillsoft becoming a public company. Prior roles include Silverchair, Panavision, Turner Broadcasting System and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
Bobby received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina (UNC). He currently lives in Charlottesville, Virginia with his wife and youngest son. While two of his daughters graduated from the University of Virginia, Bobby and his two sons are fans of UNC (his oldest son is also a UNC graduate). Along with his three siblings, he also owns a farm in North Carolina which has been in the family for several generations. When not working, Bobby enjoys his family, reading, exercise and UNC athletics.
Mike Finley is Chief Customer Officer at Corporate Visions. In that role, he leads the company’s North American Sales, Customer Success, and Customer Engagement teams, and is responsible for developing and implementing sales, renewal, and expansion strategies to optimize performance and growth of the company.
Mike joined Corporate Visions in 2007 as a Sales Consultant and previously served as a Global Accounts Director, VP Sales West, Director of Strategic Accounts, VP of Strategic Accounts, and VP of Customer Success. Prior to Corporate Visions, Mike led Sales Teams for FedEx Office in Canada, Australia, and the Southwest United States.
Mike received his MBA from the University of Nevada Las Vegas and his Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Alberta and the University of Gothenburg. Fluent in French and English, Mike grew up in Canada but now resides in Las Vegas, NV.
As the General Manager of B2B DecisionLabs and the AA-ISP (the premier global association for inside sales professionals), Nicci is responsible for the overall success of developing marketing, sales, and customer success professionals through science-backed content. Nicci has been a practitioner as well as a leader of sales teams, a customer success organization, a messaging and content consulting practice, and a product development department. She has been a member of the executive leadership team since 2015.
Nicci earned multiple awards and a grant for her research on persuasive communication while earning her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado. Her dedication to communication and business excellence is rivaled only by her commitment to enjoying the outdoors and an active lifestyle. She lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming with her husband and two daughters.
Doug Hutton, Senior Vice President, Products at Corporate Visions, leads all product development and management activities at the company. He works with behavioral scientists and research partners to build the scientific foundation for Corporate Visions’ award-winning solutions that help sales, marketing, and customer success teams have more successful commercial conversations with prospects and customers. Doug has authored numerous research reports, thought leadership papers, and is co-author of The Expansion Sale: Four Must-Win Conversations to Keep and Grow Your Customers.
Prior to joining Corporate Visions, Doug led product development at CEB (now Gartner), where he advised hundreds of B2B sales and marketing executives in the wake of the 2008 recession, bringing new research-based strategies to restart growth. With clients as diverse as National Instruments, ADP, and Sherwin Williams, Doug led the implementation of sales technology and assessment tools to yield higher performing sellers. As a practitioner, Doug led marketing, product, and sales enablement at Second City Works, the B2B arm of the legendary Second City improv theater. As Global Operations Director for Mind Gym, Doug’s teams had responsibility for all logistics and delivery quality for 14,000+ unique client events annually.
Doug earned his B.A. from Wake Forest University and M.A. from The George Washington University. He lives outside Charlotte, NC with his wife, two children, two Yorkshire Terriers, and one Sheepadoodle.
Frank Pinder is the Executive Vice President of Digital Sales Transformation at Corporate Visions, where he leads a division focused on helping clients navigate the complex world of digital sales. Frank has developed a deep understanding of the technologies, trends, and science-backed models that are driving success in today’s digital marketplace.
Before joining Corporate Visions, Frank served as the Chief Customer Officer at a leading sales consulting company, where he worked closely with clients to understand their unique challenges and develop customized solutions. During his tenure, he led several companies through successful digital transformation, implementing a range of technologies and processes that helped them achieve record-breaking revenue growth. As EVP of Digital Sales Transformation, Frank brings his deep technical expertise and strategic thinking to help Corporate Visions’ clients achieve similar success.
He regularly contributes to numerous blogs, offering his insights on the latest trends and research in digital sales transformation. Frank has also been a guest on several podcasts, sharing his knowledge and expertise with listeners around the world. In addition, he is a sought-after speaker at conferences, where he has delivered inspiring keynote speeches and engaged in thought-provoking panel discussions. More than an asset to Corporate Visions, Frank is a respected voice in the industry.
Dr. Carmen Simon is Chief Science Officer at Corporate Visions. A Silicon Valley entrepreneur, cognitive neuroscientist, and keynote speaker, Dr. Simon has pioneered a groundbreaking approach to creating memorable messages that are easy to process, hard to forget, and impossible to ignore―using the latest in brain science.
Dr. Simon’s most recent book, Impossible to Ignore: Create Memorable Content to Influence Decisions, has won the acclaim of publications such as Inc.com, Forbes, and Fast Company, and was selected as one of the top international books on persuasion. Dr. Simon holds two doctorates, one in instructional technology and another in cognitive psychology. She also teaches at Stanford University and speaks frequently to corporate audiences on the importance of using brain science to craft communication that is not only memorable but sparks action. After all, what’s the use of memory if people don’t act on it?
Dr. Leff Bonney is a behavioral scientist and an associate professor of marketing in the Dr. Persis E. Rockwood School of Marketing at Florida State University’s College of Business. His research interest relates to decision-making in sales and sales managers, specifically around customer selection and targeting and sales strategy. His research has been published in Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Industrial Marketing Management and Journal of Business Review, among others. Recently, he won the American Marketing Association’s Don McBane Award, which is given to sales educators and sales leaders who have made a lasting impact on the field of sales and sales management.
Prior to joining the faculty at FSU, Bonney worked in sales leadership roles for two Fortune 500 companies. He worked for eight years on major accounts for RR Donnelly negotiating large multi-year print contracts, where he was Sales Rookie of the Year and a four-time Outstanding Performance Club Member. Bonney also spent two years working in field sales and marketing teams for Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals, where he won the Rising Leader Award in his first year. Over the last 15 years, he has consulted with dozens of corporate clients on sales force effectiveness, including areas such as customer segmentation and targeting, sales process design and adaptation, sales messaging, and sales training design and implementation. He also has designed and led corporate training programs such as basic selling, sales coaching, sales leadership advanced situational selling, sales operations leadership and negotiation.
Bonney earned his bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Tennessee, an MBA from the University of Georgia and a Ph.D. in business administration with a major in marketing from the University of Tennessee.
Paul Murphy is a partner at Sentinel Capital Partners which he joined in 2000. Over the past two decades, he has established himself as a successful lower middle market private equity investor. Before joining Sentinel Capital Partners, Mr. Murphy spent three years as a Director at Dilmun Investments, the U.S. private equity affiliate of Bahrain International Bank. While at Dilmun, he focused on originating, structuring, and executing private equity investments in lower middle market companies. Prior to Dilmun, Mr. Murphy was a Vice President in the Financial Buyers Group at NationsBanc Capital Markets, where he focused on providing debt and equity financing for leveraged buyouts and recapitalizations. Previously, he spent two years as an Associate in the Merchant Banking Group of Chase Manhattan Bank where he focused on private equity and subordinated debt investments in lower middle market companies. Mr. Murphy holds an MBA from Georgetown University and a BS from the United States Military Academy at West Point. Mr. Murphy served in the U.S. Army for five years as an Artillery officer in a Light Infantry Division, where he attained the rank of captain.
Michael Fabian is a partner at Sentinel Capital Partners which he joined in 2006 as a Senior Associate. From 2003 to 2006, Mr. Fabian was an Associate at Blue Point Capital Partners, a lower middle market private equity firm. Previously, he was an Associate at Brown, Gibbons, Lang & Co., a middle market investment banking firm, an Analyst at Deutsche Banc Alex Brown, and an Analyst at Conway, DelGenio, Gries & Co., a restructuring advisory boutique. Mr. Fabian holds an MA in economics from New York University and a BBA degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Jon Gurss, Senior Associate, joined Sentinel Capital Partners in 2011 as an Associate. Previously, he spent two years in Harris Williams’ Investment Banking Analyst Program. He holds a BS degree with distinction and highest honors from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Jeffrey Sugerman brings more than 25 years of experience in executive management, marketing and business development within the technology, training and publishing industries. He joined Inscape Publishing as President and CEO in 2001 to lead its transformation into an independent, growth company in partnership with Riverside and subsequently Sentinel Capital Partners.
In February 2012, Inscape was acquired by John Wiley and Sons, Inc. and Sugerman was named Executive Vice President of the Talent Solutions and Education Services Group. The group is comprised of 5 growing software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies acquired by Wiley since 2012. Sugerman was also a member of the Executive Leadership Team at Wiley.
Prior to joining Inscape Publishing, Sugerman was the CEO of Point Cloud, Inc., an interactive product visualization company supporting e-commerce. Prior to Point Cloud, he served as vice president and general manager of Virtual University Enterprises, a division of National Computer Systems (now Pearson) that manages global IT certification testing programs, and NCS Assessments, a provider of computer interpretive assessment instruments for use in health care, business and education. While at NCS, Sugerman successfully led acquisition programs, merger integration, business turnaround and global expansion efforts.
Sugerman received his Ph.D. in psychology from Washington University in St. Louis and his B.A. from Northwestern University.