CONTRIBUTORS

Keith M. Eades

Keith is Founder and CEO of Sales Performance International (SPI), one of the largest sales improvement companies in the world. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, SPI is currently doing business in more than 50 countries.

Keith speaks regularly at industry, customer, and partner events, and he is considered one of the most knowledgeable authorities on transforming companies into world-class sales organizations. The Collaborative Sale is Keith's fourth book.

In 2001, Clemson University recognized Keith with the Alumni Fellow Award for his outstanding career accomplishments. He is an inaugural member of the Shapiro Center Entrepreneurial Round Table and serves on the Executive Advisory Board for the College of Business and Behavioral Sciences at Clemson.

Timothy T. Sullivan

Tim is Director of Business Development at Sales Performance International, where he works with clients to identify and develop solutions for sales performance issues. In this capacity, Tim has the unique opportunity to observe and collect best practices from many of the world's top-performing sales professionals.

The Collaborative Sale is Tim's second coauthored book with Keith Eades, the first being The Solution Selling Fieldbook (McGraw-Hill, 2005); he was also a contributor to The Solution-Centric Organization (McGraw-Hill, 2006). He contributes regularly to the Solution Selling Blog, found at www.solutionsellingblog.com. Tim is also a frequent speaker at industry conferences on advanced sales and marketing topics. He holds a business degree from the University of Notre Dame, and is a dedicated Fighting Irish football fan. He resides happily with his beautiful bride, Jane, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Robert Kear

Robert is Chief Marketing Officer at Sales Performance International. Before joining SPI, he served as VP of Marketing Strategy and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Strategy for JD Edwards & Company. In 1994, he co-founded YOUcentric, an enterprise CRM software company, where as chief strategy officer he was responsible for all aspects of corporate strategy, market planning and execution, and product direction.

Robert has been a recipient of Ernst & Young's eBusiness Entrepreneur of the Year for the Carolinas. He holds advanced and undergraduate degrees in mathematics from East Carolina University.

He coauthored The Solution-Centric Organization with Keith Eades (McGraw-Hill, 2006).

James N. “Jimmy” Touchstone

Jimmy is Director of Learning Programs at Sales Performance International, where he leads and manages the ongoing development of the Solution Selling^® methodology and suite of offerings. He created and led the development of continual learning components that make up the SellingStream™ Continual Learning program. Jimmy is an author and contributor to several professional publications. He co-authored The Solution Selling Fieldbook with Keith Eades and Tim Sullivan, which proves that an English degree from the UNC Charlotte can be valuable preparation for a business career. He is grateful to his wife Kelley and twins, Jacob and Jonah for their love and support.

Dave Christofaro

Dave is Sales Performance International's Director of Sales Talent Optimization. In this role, Dave leads a practice area focused on helping clients hire, develop, and retain top sales talent through the use of assessment and talent management technology.

Prior to SPI, Dave held sales and sales leadership roles in the high technology industry. With a degree in computer science from North Carolina State University, Dave began his career managing technology development projects with Accenture.

Living in Charlotte, North Carolina, Dave's first and favorite personal interest is spending time with his wife Melanie and his children Josh and Sofia.

Kenneth Cross

Ken is Director of Solution Selling Enablement at Sales Performance International. His team places SPI's learning, methodology, and tools at the fingertips of a global client base, usually within a customer relationship management (CRM) system.

Prior to his work at SPI, Ken worked in technology-based consulting, sales, and channel management roles for CRM and other technology-based companies. He once served as an on-air guest host for Bose products on the QVC network.

Ken is an active writer and frequent contributor to the Solution Selling Blog. A Pennsylvania native, he is a graduate of Westminster College and lives with his family in Pittsburgh.

Tamela M. Rich

Tamela ghostwrites and edits books, articles, speeches, and presentations for an international clientele of business and financial professionals. She earned an MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.

Living with her family in Charlotte, North Carolina, Tamela is a long-distance motorcyclist who shares life lessons from the people and places she encounters in her books, blog, podcast, and personal appearances.

Tamela's 2012 book, Live Full Throttle: Life Lessons from Friends Who Faced Cancer, won three national (U.S.) awards. Her website is www.tamelarich.com.