Sales Leaders Round Table
Edward H. Schmidt got the professional sales program off the ground, corporate partners and sponsors have helped to transform the Edward H. Schmidt School of Professional Sales (ESSPS)
and collegiate sales education, however, alumni and individual members of our business
community are going to be the sales leaders that champion the next phase of evolution
and inspire students so we can transform the profession.
History
The professional sales concentration was first established in 1990. A pivotal moment came in 2000, when a generous gift from Edward H. Schmidt enabled the roll out of a professional sales major. Edward deepened his commitment in 2002 by endowing the Edward H. Schmidt School of Professional Sales, providing essential seed funding.
Recognizing that seeds need nurturing, we launched the Corporate Partnership Program in 2006. This initiative allowed us to co-create a student experience that remained closely aligned with the evolving needs of the business community.
In 2010, we moved into the new Savage Business Complex. Thanks to the continued support of our corporate partners, our sales suites were outfitted with cutting-edge technology and learning environments designed for student success. That same year, we introduced our Internal Sales Competition, which reinforced a critical gap in talent development and recruitment for both companies and universities.
To address this need on a national scale and broaden our funding base, we created the UToledo Invitational Sales Competition (UTISC) and its associated Sponsorship Program in 2016.
In 2024, we took another step forward by forming the Sales Student Experience Support Club. This initiative was designed to include alumni and individual donors in meaningful ways, while honoring our existing donors and ensuring the sustainability of the student experience.
Learn more about the ESSPS' history.
Higher Education is a Garden to Tend
The financial support from Edward H Schmidt and all of our corporate partners and sponsors have made our success possible. Higher education is a garden that is tended by a variety of sources.
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- Natural rainfall with occasional heavier rainfall is foundational. This is why universities and colleges provide faculty, general services (registrar, financial aid, etc), and part or all of an occasional conference to develop faculty (or a student).
- Watering cans help target specific needs. This is why departments provide part or all of an occasional conference to develop faculty (or a student).
- To flourish, gardens need more than that. A vibrant garden needs an irrigation system, fertilizer, pest control, and master gardeners. This is why program level support for student experience is mission critical. Endowments and donations from individuals and companies help to ensure that specialized, dedicated staff are present to direct and coordinate the students, faculty, and business community. Specialized, dedicated staff handle the planning, execution, and support of experiential learning and course integration elements, which enables faculty to focus more intently on their research and teaching so that knowledge creation can be more readily infused into innovative, applied curricula for the students. The impact extends outside the classroom with corporate events and engagements that develop students' skills, networks, and confidence and advisory boards that ensure strategic alignment and collaboration. The development of students and faculty is also better prioritized with regular coverage for conferences, competitions, technology, etc. Investing in people nurtures a culture of coaching and excellence.
Join Sales Leaders Round Table
Our ESSPS garden that supports students and businesses consists of faculty + staff + operations and is 40% externally funded.
Staff + operations is nearly 100% externally funded. Corporate partners/sponsors provide 80%, and the Schmidt endowments provide 20%.
You can join Sales Leaders Round Table with a gift of $100,000 - $500,000. Gifts can be paid over the course of 5 years. Creative giving vehicles are available to help you reach your philanthropic goals. Sponsoring a seat at the Sales Leaders Round Table includes that seat/initiative (and any related awards, scholarships, etc) bearing your name. Gifts of $100,000 ensure that initiative can operate for 5 years. Gifts of $500,000 ensure a lifetime of basic operations for that initiative by way of an endowment and place you on the recognition wall with your picture and story (wall is situated in the hallway outside of the ESSPS suites). Your time and talent are also welcome to help us shape the direction of the initiatives and engage directly with the Sales Ambassadors (aka Core Team), Sales Competition Team, other ESSPS students, and ESSPS faculty/staff.
There are multiple seats at the table to join Edward H. Schmidt:
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- Student Experience*
- Sales Curricula Innovation for Entry Level*
- Sales Curricula Innovation for Advanced
- Sales Curricula Innovation for Leaders
- Sales Competition Team
- UToledo Invitational Sales Competition (UTISC) - multiple seats
- K12 School Experience
- Alumni Experience
- Business Experience
- Knowledge Creation
*Our current students and the entry level curricula are the main focus of ESSPS and need to be sustained before the other seats at Sales Leaders Round Table open up.
Funding will be used to cover staff and/or student incentives via scholarships and/or student organization support. Depending on the area, funding may also be used for competition/conference travel, course development, recruitment/development events, awards for students (or alumni or businesses), technology, etc.
Your gift can also serve as a formal or informal challenge to other ESSPS alumni and business community members to donate. Perhaps you could help our campaign to be a call to action to have others join you at the Sales Leaders Round Table or you could pool your resources together on a specific seat at the Sales Leaders Round Table. Alumni and other professionals who share their story and support publicly put a face on what we do and help to get other alumni and community members involved.
You can also contribute through Sales Student Experience Support Club. While gifts of any amount are welcome and appreciated, the club levels of Total Experience $1,300, National $600, and Campus $200 represent the actual amounts needed to provide meaningful experience for our students at those various levels. Club benefits for members vary by level.