The three-day competition challenged students to navigate realistic sales scenarios, from networking with potential employers to role-play exercises that reflect the stages of technology sales.

Competition highlights include:

• Bronze (3rd place) overall team finish
• 2nd place in role-play competition
• Tyler Mastrangelo ’28, Teamwork Award and Top Technology Student
• Max Houck ‘27, Teamwork Award

“The competition confirmed that sales is what I want to pursue,” said Max Houck ’27, a marketing major from Crofton, Md. “Every conversation felt like it was advancing my career, and I’ve already made connections that led to interviews and networking opportunities.”

Outside of the competition, students also made time for team bonding, including a visit to a local axe-throwing venue and rage room.

Students representing ������Ƶ included Gabriella Scales ‘27, Ashlee Brehio ‘26, Tyler Mastrangelo ‘28 and Max Houck ‘27.

The team was coached by Chris Nelson, associate professor of marketing and director of the Chandler Family Professional Sales Center, and Ann Fritchman, executive in residence, with additional support from alumni Dave Goltz and Gabi Drumm-Schwartz.

Keynote Speaker

​​Bert Brokaw ’13, senior director of sales development at Rippling, kicked off Sales Week as part of the Chandler Center Speaker Series with his talk, “Breaking into Venture-Backed Tech Sales.” He shared insights from his career in sales leadership and his journey from ������Ƶ to the tech industry.

“It took me a really, really long time to figure things out,” said Brokaw. “For those of you who feel like you need to have everything figured out right now, you don’t.”

Brokaw opened Sales Week by reflecting on his own path after ������Ƶ.

“I graduated without a job. I was going up and down the East Coast interviewing, and it just wasn’t what I was looking for,” he said. “So I took a risk, moved to New York City, and got a job in media sales, where I quickly realized it wasn’t the right fit.”

That experience, he explained, shaped how he now thinks about early career decisions.

“It really took me a long time to figure out what I actually wanted to do,” Brokaw said. “You’re at a point where you can take some early risk, but not all risk is created equal. Those first two years are pivotal. They can set you on a launch pad or limit your opportunities.”

When it comes to breaking into tech sales, Brokaw was direct about the realities of the job market.

“Applying online is more likely than not going to work against you,” he said. “You’re competing with hundreds of applicants.”

Instead, he encouraged students to approach the job search like a sales role itself.

“You need to sell yourself before you actually have a job,” Brokaw said. “You’re not just saying you can do the job, you’re showing it.”

That often means going beyond traditional methods and taking initiative.

“Pick up the phone. Cold call hiring managers. Try your pitch,” he said.

For Brokaw, that willingness to act is what ultimately sets candidates apart.

“Differentiation is a function of doing what others refuse to do.”

Young Alumni Panel

The week also featured a young alumni panel, moderated by Chris Nelson, associate professor of marketing and director of the Chandler Center.

The panelists included:

• Gabi Drumm-Schwartz ’23
• Cassidy Perkins ’23
• Kylee Herbert ’22
• Jack St. Pierre ’22
• Macklin Williams ’23

They shared advice on breaking into the industry and navigating early careers:

• Networking starts early. Build real relationships, not just job asks. One connection can move you from hundreds of applicants to a shortlist, and it pays off over time.
• Resilience matters early on. Entry-level sales come with rejection. Don’t take it personally. Stay consistent, learn quickly and focus on what you can control.
• Communication sets you apart. Be prepared, follow up, and make people feel heard. Strong communication and organization build trust and leave a lasting impression.

Coffee with a Sales Leader

Students also connected during Coffee with a Sales Leader on March 13, engaging with sales leaders through one-on-one and small group conversations focused on career advice and networking.

Participants included Bob Chandler and alumni Ryan Byrnes, Meg Hewitt, Dave Brown and Katie Chung, all members of the center’s advisory board.

Hands-On Sales Experience

Around 70 current students had the opportunity to put classroom knowledge and speaker feedback into practice with the Grainger Sales Challenge.  Students practiced cold calling Grainger employees to sell products. The top 10 students were selected to go to Grainger headquarters in Chicago for a second round.

• Caden Cerminara ‘27
• Leah Misicko ‘26
• Colin O’Connor ‘27
• Jacob Balizer ‘27
• Ethan Perry ‘27
• Luke Prince ‘27
• Daniel Pawl ‘27
• Ridgely Bryer ‘28
• Ava Matikowski ‘27
• Coco Kouyoumjian ‘27

Additionally, students and Chandler Center partners gathered at Topgolf for a networking event, offering a more relaxed setting to connect with industry professionals.

Attending Chandler Center partners included:

• AlphaSights
• Brightly Software
• Grainger
• Group Management Services

“Sales Week represents everything I love about ������Ƶ’s culture,” said Nelson. “Students learning and growing outside the classroom while engaging with successful alumni who are passionate about investing in their success.”

Originally, Brown had his sights set on a career in investment banking.

“When I got into finance, I was good at modeling and understanding finance, but I knew that being in front of spreadsheets wasn’t for me,” said Brown. “I wanted to engage more directly with people and make a broader impact.”

After realizing that investment banking wasn’t his calling, Brown made a career shift to become a business development representative at Pegasystems. The move allowed him to interact directly with clients and opened doors to new opportunities in the tech industry laying the foundation for his future at Slack.

“The companies of yesterday are not going to be the companies of tomorrow,” he said. “Life is not going to propel you in one direction. You put one foot in front of the other. Make that change. Be inspired.”

Brown discussed how technological advancements, particularly in artificial intelligence, transform industries.

“AI is not news. The pace of innovation is staggering,” Brown said. “Take the opportunity now to do the research, make your pivot.”

Beyond his professional achievements, Brown highlighted his dedication to community service as a volunteer firefighter and EMT, both during his time at ������Ƶ and in his current community.

“I love finding the time to give back,” he said. “Being a volunteer firefighter and EMT keeps me grounded and sane. It helps me compartmentalize what happened at work. I’m dealing with something that’s life or death.”

He also spoke about his family, mentioning his wife Mary, an ������Ƶ alumna from the Class of 2013, and their two-year-old son.

“Everything I do revolves around ������Ƶ in some way,” Brown joked.

Students asked Brown for advice as they prepare to enter the workforce.

“Find what gets you up in the morning,” he advised. “Don’t sacrifice your values when making a decision. Money at the end of the day is great, but it won’t make you happy if what you do does not motivate you.”

Top honors went to Shriya Baru ’25, an accounting major from Cary, N.C., who clinched first place, and Dimitris Repoulis ’25, a marketing major from Larchmont, N.Y., who finished as the runner-up.

Both students received cash prizes and traveled to Orlando, Florida, for the competition from Oct. 30 to Nov. 2.

“I was beyond honored and excited to represent ������Ƶ at the ICSC sales competition,” said Baru. “This opportunity was truly rewarding, and I couldn’t wait to showcase what I’d learned and contribute to the competition with my unique perspective.”

“I was extremely honored and grateful for the chance to represent ������Ƶ at this year’s ICSC competition,” said Repoulis. “Having the opportunity to work together with the sales team, I was excited to learn and develop skills alongside my peers to help make ������Ƶ proud at this year’s tournament.”

At ICSC, the students had the opportunity to engage with industry experts and compete against peers from other universities.

Chris Nelson, assistant professor and director of the Chandler Family Professional Sales Center, praised the students’ efforts.

“I was proud of this team. Dimitris and Shriya really stood out in a strong field of competitors during the annual Chandler Family Sales Center Competition,” Nelson said. “Their dedication and preparation were impressive, and they represented ������Ƶ with enthusiasm at ICSC. They joined returning sales team members Sydney Blau and Lauren Atchley, who competed in the speed selling competition at ICSC.”

The Chandler Family Professional Sales Center promotes professional selling and sales management, provides high-quality instruction to both students and sales executives, and conducts research that advances the field of sales.

George Pastidis ’89, an international student from Greece who double majored in Business and Economics at the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, delivered a keynote address in the LaRose Digital Theatre about his journey and lessons learned throughout a career in sales. Pastidis credits his professional success on the skills and values that he learned at ������Ƶ.

“������Ƶ gave me the compass I was looking for,” Pastidis said. “It gave me purpose.”

In the crowd were two of Pastidis’ mentors: Professor Rudy Zarzar, a professor emeritus of political science, and Richard McBride, chaplain emeritus. “Look for a mentor,” Pastidis said. “Mentors will support you even 35 years later.”

During his Feb. 26 campus visit hosted by the Chandler Family Professional Sales Center, Pastidis spoke to several classes and visited with his college roommate after not seeing each other for 35 years.

After graduating from ������Ƶ, Pastidis returned to Greece and completed mandatory military service before landing a position at Alcatel, a French brand of mobile handsets. Pastidis’ career led him to positions at Motorola, Vodafone, Huthwaite International, ICAP Group, and ultimately Ericsson as the sales learning & development director.

Pastidis noted that “power skills” – the ability to lead, communicate, and problem-solve – were most valued by employers throughout his career. “Being able to influence others is a very important skill in sales,” Pastidis said.

Students asked Pastidis about the most rewarding moment of his career. He replied that it was when his family agreed to move to Paris for his career and they made it through as a team.

Another question was how to “make it” in sales.

“Sales have a lot of failures,” Pastidis said. “The biggest mistake I see from a salesperson is thinking the sale is off when the customer still thinks it’s on. Always make sure you close the conversation, not the customer.”

The competition tested students’ business revenue-generating skills through a sales management case event, role-play event and speed-selling event.

In the sales management case event, Cassidy Perkins ’23 and Macklin Williams ’24 worked as a team to present a realistic, effective solution to the sales operations challenge presented by Gartner. The students were evaluated on their analysis, recommendations and presentation.

“This competition was a terrific learning experience because I was able to build my networking, sales and problem-solving skills,” said Perkins, a marketing major from New Hampshire. “I really appreciated the challenge of having 24 hours to create a presentation that we then presented to industry leaders solving a real-world problem.”

For the role play, Joseph Byrd ’23 and Bennet Flynn ’23 individually represented DLL Floor Planning during needs identification sales meetings with Galati Yachts. They were evaluated on the meeting opening, needs identification, presentation, overcoming objections, gains commitment, professional communication, and credibility/trustworthiness.

During the speed-selling event, Grace Bennett ’23 and Adam Craft ’23 each delivered 90-second elevator pitches to four companies. The pitches included an introduction, what they learned about the companies, and what skills and knowledge they have that would bring value to the companies. Company representatives judged the students on pitch content and delivery.

“We are really proud of our team as the students consistently demonstrated the values of hard work and integrity in preparation for and during the competition,” said Chris Nelson, assistant professor of marketing and sales team coach. “They consistently worked to help and uplift each other. They represented ������Ƶ well both in the competitive events and also by acting in a dignified manner during the entire five-day event.”

“At ICSC, I witnessed the team go above and beyond to support, coach and rally each other on to the finish,” said Byrd, a marketing and finance double major from North Carolina.

Lecturer in Marketing Rob Elbitar; alumni Ashley Pippin ’93, Skyler De Groot ’19, Florentin Kunz ’21, and Jack St. Pierre ’22; and former sales competitor Claudia Flint ’23 also helped prepare the team for this competition.

Hosted by the Chandler Family Professional Sales Center, the dinner honored top professional sales seniors and celebrated ������Ƶ’s sales program.

The Sales Leadership Award recognizes a senior majoring in marketing or minoring in professional sales who’s shown leadership in the sales program, has the potential of positively impacting their future organization, and demonstrated an overall positive attitude in supporting their fellow sales students.

Raghu Tadepalli, dean of the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business and director of the Chandler Family Professional Sales Center, and Professor Emeritus Earl Honeycutt, founding director of the Chandler Family Center, presented the award to St. Pierre, noting his leadership and adaptability over the past two years when dealing with sales competitions being canceled or shifting to a virtual format. During his two years on the ������Ƶ Sales Team, St. Pierre competed in the National Collegiate Sales Competition, Selling with the Bulls and International Collegiate Sales Competition, and served as a student coach to his team members.

Tadepalli said St. Pierre is “a fierce competitor, a team player who took upon the responsibility of leading and helping others, is also a proven winner who always looked ahead and learned from prior performances.”

After graduating from ������Ƶ, St. Pierre will join AT&T Business’ B2B Sales Development Program.

Endowed in 2008 by Thomas E. Chandler, owner of Chandler Concrete Company, and his family, the Chandler Family Center promotes professional selling and sales management, provides high-quality instruction to both students and sales executives, and conducts research that advances the field of sales. The program’s strong sales curriculum and experiential learning component earned it the distinction as a “top university sales program” by the Sales Education Foundation.

Out of 74 teams, the ������Ƶ Sales Team placed 26th overall.

Marketing major Flint was named Speed Selling Champion for Guardian. During the speed selling event, she delivered 90-second elevator pitches to five companies. “The elevator pitch consists of a clever introduction of yourself and then at the end you talk about how you would put the company at an advantage if you were to work for them,” Flint explained.

In the Roleplay event, St. Pierre, a marketing major, finished as a quarterfinalist.

NCSC is the longest-running university sales role-play competition and aims to enhance the practice and professionalism of one’s sales career. In addition to the competitive events, students participated in a career fair with more than 40 companies.

“Overall, the experience with this event was absolutely eye opening and incredible,” Flint said. “Being able to network and talk to employers, other coaches and other college students is something that will greatly prepare me for my career after ������Ƶ.”

The ������Ƶ sales team was coached by Joseph Byrd ’23, Crystal Brown ’23, Andrew Daly ’23, Ben Morreale ’23, Ethan Rau ’23, Mallory Trapani ’23, Assistant Professor George Talbert, Assistant Professor Chris Nelson and Lecturer Rob Elbitar, and received support from the Chandler Family Professional Sales Center.

The go-to-market competition combines employer networking with marketing and sales student competitions, providing students with exposure to the entire selling process: prospecting, company research, client dialogue, objection handling and closing.

In the networking event, marketing major Cassidy Perkins ‘23, marketing and finance double major Joseph Byrd ‘23 and economic consulting major Ben Morreale ‘23 tied for second place, and marketing major Claudia Flint ‘23 placed third.

“It was an unbelievable learning experience where I had the opportunity to work with an inspiring team and implement everything, I’ve learned in my sales classes into a real business sales role-play simulation,” said Perkins, who was also named to the Winner’s Circle and earned fourth place overall. “Being able to network with over 20 amazing companies helped me gain insight into different industries, and truly start to see where my future may lead me.”

Policy studies major Adam Craft ‘23 placed second in the LinkedIn Connection Request category and marketing major Jack St. Pierre ‘22 finished second in the voicemail event.

“This was a great opportunity to be thrown into real-world sales scenarios and put my networking and needs identification skills to the test,” St. Pierre said.

Also representing ������Ƶ were Ben Corrado ‘23, Andrew Daly ‘22 and Mallory Trapani ‘23.

The ������Ƶ Sales Team was coached by Ethan Rau ‘23, Crystal Brown ’23, Assistant Professor of Marketing George Talbert and Lecturer in Marketing Rob Elbitar, and supported by the Chandler Family Professional Sales Center.

Held during the AMA collegiate chapter’s Building Your Brand virtual conference on Feb. 4, the pitch event tasked participants with delivering an “elevator” pitch to marketing agency HR Creations.

Byrd also placed second in the conference’s Sales Competition, which involved a 10-minute sales process representing TTI, an electronic components distributor.

“Competitions like these offer the opportunity to practice what makes a salesperson successful,” Byrd said. “Namely, that selling means serving – placing the focus on the person in front of you and letting that relationship drive your interaction.”

The conference also included sessions with speakers from GHOST, Facebook, Queue and Google.