Sales Training and Professional Development Organization

Craig has been an executive in the marketing technology services industry for over 25 years. Craig worked for David Williams at Merkle for more than 15 years. He was instrumental in the growth of Merkle’s data and digital businesses and led more than 15 acquisitions during his tenure. Ultimately, Craig succeeded David as global CEO of Merkle. Craig retired from Merkle in January 2022. At the time, Merkle had grown to 14,000 employees with $2B+ in global revenue and $400MM+ in EBITDA.

Dave Mattson is a best-selling author, sales and management thought leader, keynote speaker and leader for sales training seminars around the world. As CEO and President of Sandler Training, Mr. Mattson oversees the corporate direction and strategy for the company’s global operations including sales, marketing, consulting, alliances and support. His key areas of focus are sales leadership, strategy and client satisfaction.

Under Dave Mattson’s leadership, the Sandler organization expanded domestically and internationally to over 230 offices in 30 countries around the world.

After a brief stint in public accounting at Price Waterhouse, Dave spent the next 27 years of his career in marketing and advertising professional solutions- focused specifically on the development of performance creative and content solutions for large enterprise organizations. This experience included 10 years in various account leadership and business development roles within the EuroRSCG organization as well as another 10 years with New Control Direct & Digital. Dave was President & CEO of New Control in 2014 when it was acquired by Merkle where he subsequently led their creative and content service lines until 2021. Dave’s industry and brand experience is quite broad, as he has worked extensively with Sony, Visa, Liberty Mutual, WellPoint, AAA, Allstate, Constellation Energy, Chase, Gap, AstraZeneca, Humana and Citi. In 2022, Dave joined Sandler as Chief Operating Officer and is focused on their transformation from sales training services to more wholistic sales performance solutions.

Paula Driesell brings over 25 years of senior human resource experience with a focus on operational and strategic HR practices. She oversees all aspects of human resource management and establishes and develops infrastructures for companies to effectively support rapid business growth and change.

She has experience with sales, IT consulting, enterprise services and manufacturing environments. She has proven success in creating cultures of collaboration and implementing change to achieve workforce excellence.

Paula graduated from the University of Maryland with BS in Journalism.

Luke Blazejak brings over 10 years of accounting and financial management experience in both the public and private sectors across a variety of industries. Luke began his career in public accounting with KPMG LLP in their audit practice for several years prior to joining a multi-billion dollar publicly traded company to lead the finance team of one of their premier divisions.

He now oversees all finance related functions of the organization including financial forecasting and budgeting, operational accounting, tax and debt compliance, technical accounting, and internal and external financial reporting. He has experience leading large finance teams, creating operational efficiencies through process improvement, and driving improved business results through financial insights.

Luke graduated from Salisbury University with Bachelors’ degrees in both Accounting and Finance and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the State of Maryland.

Michael Norton still considers himself a constant student of the game when it comes to performance development and helping organizations meet and exceed their goals. He brings more than 25 years of experience in helping to drive leadership, sales management, and sales success for companies of all sizes.

Michael has developed, delivered, and created reinforcement programs that deliver real ROI while fitting into a company’s culture, processes, daily sales workflow, and budget. Having founded two companies prior to joining Sandler, he is considered one of the earliest pioneers of micro-learning for personal and professional development. Michael is also the former President of the Zig Ziglar Corporation.

Shannon Howell has been practicing law for over 24 years. Prior to joining Sandler in 2006, she was in private practice at a large law firm with her focus on franchise and distribution law. Shannon is head of the Legal Department at Sandler.

Shannon graduated from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Arts, Magna Cum Laude, in Government and Politics, and from University of Baltimore School of Law with a Juris Doctor, Magna Cum Laude.

Kerri Martinek brings over 25 years of marketing and business strategy, with demonstrated success in building innovative marketing programs, processes, and teams required to drive scalable growth.

Her entrepreneurial spirit and understanding of marketing strategies for both SMB and Enterprise sized organizations has helped to accelerate revenue growth, brand equity, and market expansion at over 40 companies across a variety of industries.

Kerri graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a BS in Business Administration and has her MBA in Marketing from Babson F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business.

Lisa Ellis is passionate and innovative product leader with over a decade of experience in designing, deploying, and managing transformative learning experiences for revenue operations teams.

With deep expertise in the transformation of more traditional learning methods, Lisa builds learning experiences that successfully bridge the digital-physical divide. Her focus has primarily involved revenue teams, where she has led the design and implementation of training and performance programs that have developed more than 500,000 learners
In addition to her success in supporting sales performance transformation, Lisa holds a M. Ed. In Technology, Innovation and Education from Harvard

As a Talent Development, Business Transformation professional, and an Experiential Adventure Learning Consultant, Dan helps people and teams improve performance both in and out of the workplace. Currently Dan heads up Client Management for Sandler LLC responsible for Client Engagement,
Client Experience, Professional Services, and Account Management. Previously, Dan was the Global Vice President & Chief Learning Officer for ORBCOMM overseeing Talent Development, Leadership Development, Sales Enablement, & Customer Education.

Tina brings over 20 years of sales performance, customer success, and client enablement experience to Sandler. Her passion for driving and delivering the best client experience has helped organizations embrace and sustain the Sandler methodology. With her perspective of starting as a client she is focused on delivering the best experience for both enablement teams and learners.
Tina graduated from Liberty University with a BS in Psychology.

Alex brings over 20 years of experience in information technology leadership with a focus and passion for building and repairing IT organizations in small to medium businesses. He has led teams in almost every facet of IT, including systems and network administration, technical project management, help desk, business-to-business customer support, procurement, SaaS and cloud products, DevOps, security and compliance, and for-profit high-availability hosting. He has built and led global IT teams in Europe, Asia, Canada, and South America.

Prior to joining Sandler in 2023, he worked within several highly regulated industries, including the aerospace industry and the United States government.

Alex graduated from Colorado State University with a BS in Computer Science.