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.
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?
Mike Finley is Chief Customer Officer at Corporate Visions. In that role, he leads the company’s N. 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.
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.