Authors

Jack Foster

Jack Foster, president of Foster Communications, Fairfield, Connecticut, has been the editor of Agency Sales magazine for over 25 years. Over the course of a more than 53-year career in journalism he has covered the communications’ spectrum from public relations to education, daily newspapers and trade publications. In addition to his work with MANA, he also has served as the editor of TED Magazine (NAED’s monthly publication), Electrical Advocate magazine, provided editorial services to NEMRA and MRERF as well as contributing to numerous publications including Electrical Wholesaling magazine and Electrical Marketing newsletter.

Mark Hogan

Mark Hogan is president and CEO of MANA. As a mechanical engineer, Hogan spent two decades developing products and processes for major corporations. Serving as a manufacturers’ rep for nearly a decade, Hogan specialized in component sales of industrial automation products. Complementing his experience, Hogan has certifications in sales methodology (CSP), project management (PMP), and Lean Six Sigma. Residing in Cincinnati, Ohio, Hogan contributes to his local rep community as a volunteer leader of a group of independent manufacturers’ representatives.

Jeff Beals

Jeff Beals is an international award-winning author, keynote speaker, and accomplished sales consultant. He has spoken in seven countries and 42 states. A frequent media guest, Beals has been featured in Investor’s Business Daily, USA Today, Men’s Health, Chicago Tribune, and The New York Times. You can learn more and follow his business motivation blog at www.JeffBeals.com.

John Chapin

John Chapin is a motivational sales speaker and trainer. He has more than 32 years of sales experience as a number-one sales rep and is the author of the 2010 sales book of the year: Sales Encyclopedia. You may reprint provided you keep contact information in place. For his newsletter go to: www.completeselling.com. Email: johnchapin@completeselling.com.

Tommy Garnett

Tommy Garnett, CPMR, CSP, is president/CEO of Garnett Component Sales, Inc. (GCS). Headquartered in Wake Forest, North Carolina, GCS serves the OEM community by providing engineered mechanical component solutions. Garnett is a 31-year veteran of the manufacturers’ representative business, small business owner, and is a member of MANA's Board of Directors.

Marty Grimes

Marty Grimes is the president/owner of Assembly Solutions, Inc. (ASI), based in Fort Wright, Kentucky. The multi-person agency leverages relationships with principal partners to support manufacturers and systems integrators on assembly and test applications. Prior to becoming a manufacturers’ representative, Grimes graduated from Hanover College and began working his way up the direct sales ladder: regional sales engineer, sales manager, and VP sales and marketing. In 1993 he decided to embark on an independent sales career and signed up as a sub-rep with a regional, industrial sales agency. Grimes has been a MANA member for three decades and is a member of the Board of Directors.

John Haskell

John Haskell, Dr. Revenue®, is a professional speaker and marketing/sales consultant with more than 40 years’ experience working with companies utilizing manufacturers’ reps and helping rep firms. He has created the Principal Relations X‑Ray, spoken to hundreds of rep associations and groups, including 32 programs for MANA from 2001 to 2005. He is also a regular contributor to Agency Sales. For more information see www.drrevenue.com or contact drrevenue@drrevenue.com.

Mark Hunter

Mark Hunter, CSP, “The Sales Hunter,” is recognized as a top influential sales and marketing leader. He is also the author of A Mind for Sales, High-Profit Prospecting, and High-Profit Selling. Hunter helps companies build confidence to identify better prospects, close sales with integrity, and profitably build more long-term customer relationships. Visit www.TheSalesHunter.com.

Nathan Jamail

Nathan Jamail is a keynote speaker and bestselling author of five books, including his most recent Serve Up & Coach Down. With over 25 years of leadership in corporate America as a top director of sales and a small business owner of several companies, his clients have come to know him as “the real deal.” Jamail has taught great leaders from across the world and shows organizations how to have a “serve up mindset” to achieve maximum success. Visit www.nathanjamail.com or follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.

Dave Kahle

Dave Kahle is a consultant, author and trainer who helps clients increase their sales and improve their sales productivity. He has presented in 47 states and 11 countries, and has authored 13 books, including 11 Secrets of Time Management for Salespeople and The Good Book on Business. You can learn more at www.davekahle.com.

Dave Kurlan

Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, the best-selling author of Baseline Selling, and a leading expert on sales force development. He is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the leading developer of sales assessment tools. He is also the CEO of Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a leading sales force development firm. He may be contacted at www.kurlanassociates.com.

Scott Lau

Scott Lau is retired after a 46-year career as president of Marcor Associates, Inc, an independent manufacturers’ representative selling commercial, architectural construction products. He also operated Scott Lau Consulting, which provided sales and marketing consulting services to manufacturers and independent manufacturers’ reps.

Jerry Leth

Jerry Leth, MANA’s vice president, GM and secretary/treasurer, started as membership manager in August 2000. Previously, Leth owned and operated Letco Tech Sales, Inc., a MANA member, multi-line professional outsourced sales agency he founded in 1989. Before starting his own agency, he managed a network of manufacturers’ reps as vice-president of sales and marketing for torque and tension equipment. Leth graduated from Stanford with a mechanical engineering degree. He started his career at Hills Brothers Coffee in San Francisco in engineering and production before embarking on a sales career.

Jeff Mowatt

Jeff Mowatt is a Hall of Fame business speaker and author of the bestselling business book, Influence With Ease. To obtain your own copy of his book or to inquire about engaging Jeff for your team, visit www.jeffmowatt.com.

Marnee Palladino

Marnee Palladino is CEO and president of MARN, Inc., a manufacturers’ representative firm in Middlebury, Connecticut. In 2020 she was elected to the MANA Board of Directors and is currently serving as chairperson of the Board. Prior to launching MARN in 2014, Palladino worked in sales and marketing for Palladin Precision Products (now one of MARN’s principal manufacturing lines). After graduating from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science in facilities planning and management, she worked in Manhattan for a financial corporation and later launched ML Project Management Consulting.

Sid Ragona

Sid Ragona, Ph.D., founded Ragona Scientific, LLC, in 2006, and the company has been a MANA member since 2009. Ragona Scientific specializes in nanotechnology from foreign start-up companies that want to sell into the U.S. and Canada. Since 2020, he has cohosted a radio show and podcast about entrepreneurship entitled Rethinking Business: Success Sauce and Two Pickles (www.successsaucetwopickles.com). Ragona has also been a Certified Score Mentor since 2011 and serves on MANA’s Board of Directors.

John Tschohl

John Tschohl is the founder and president of Service Quality Institute — the global leader in customer service — with operations in more than 40 countries. He is considered one of the world’s foremost authorities on all aspects of customer service and has developed 17 customer service training programs, including his book and training program Coaching for Success. His monthly strategic newsletter is available online at no charge at www.customer-service.com. He can also be reached on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Ralph Vetsch

Ralph Vetsch is a principal for Cortado Group (www.cortadogroup.com), a boutique management consulting firm delivering increased company valuation through measurable top-line growth and bottom-line performance for investor-owned companies by tailoring go-to-market strategies to their unique needs. He is writing a book on the role of the six-channel types in creating and executing a go-to-market strategy to identify missed growth opportunities. He has held numerous sales leadership roles managing direct sales teams, hybrid channels, and pure-play channel models for various industries (lighting, semiconductors, industrial controls, automotive, etc.) and geographies (USA, Europe, Asia, and Latin America).

Bob Wendover

Bob Wendover has been advising employers on how to recruit and manage Millennials since they first entered the workplace. He is the award-winning author of 10 books including Crossing the Generational Divide. Connect with him and download free resources at www.commonsenseenterprises.net.

MANA Legal Experts

Dan Beederman

Daniel E. Beederman is MANA’s legal counsel. He is a member of Schoenberg Finkel Beederman Bell Glazer, LLC, a full-service business law firm in Chicago. Beederman and his firm also serve as legal counsel to the Association of Independent Manufacturers’/Representatives, Inc. (AIM/R), the Electronic Representatives Association (ERA) and other associations whose members are independent sales representatives and the companies that use them. For over 40 years, Beederman has counseled independent sales representatives on matters unique to their profession, including succession planning, commission-collection disputes and litigation, as well as reviewing, revising and negotiating sales representative agreements. He is also a well-known speaker and author on legal and business issues of interest to independent sales representatives. He can be reached at Daniel.Beederman@sfbbg.com.

Randy Gillary

Randall J. Gillary is recognized as a top legal expert on sales commissions. He has handled landmark sales commission cases and is an active litigator, counselor, legal writer and lecturer. His law practice is devoted to ensuring that sales professionals are paid the commissions they have earned. He is also the author of Protecting Your Commissions — A Sales Representative’s Guide. To contact him or to order a copy of his book, you may visit his website at www.gillarylaw.com, call (800) 801-0015, go to Amazon.com, or contact him at The Law Offices of Randall J. Gillary, P.C., 201 W. Big Beaver Road, Suite 1020, Troy, Michigan 48084.

Leslie Marell

Leslie S. Marell has extensive legal experience counseling companies in the areas of business contracts and corporate matters, purchasing and sales, technology law, real estate, employment, and day to day legal matters. She works with manufacturers and OEMs, independent sales representatives and distributors who range in size from Fortune 100 companies to sole proprietorships. Contact information: leslie@marell-lawfirm.com; (310) 372-8663.

John Riccione

John M. Riccione has a highly accomplished career in business litigation. He is a senior partner with the national law firm, Taft Stettinius & Hollister, LLP. With over 35 years in practice, his expertise spans a wide range of complex legal issues, particularly in areas like distribution and sales representative agreements, trade secrets, construction claims, and labor and employment law. His long-standing association with MANA, along with his leadership in creating a database of form representative agreements and guidelines, shows his influence in shaping key business practices in the sales representative space. The fact that he’s been consistently recognized as an Illinois Super Lawyer and nominated for BTI’s Client Service All-Star Team speaks to his standing in the legal community. He’s also actively engaged as a speaker, sharing his knowledge on subjects like sales representative agreements, force majeure and non-compete agreements with various professional groups.

Scott Sanders 

Scott M. Sanders practices in the fields of business and contract law, with a concentration in sales rep disputes and general counseling. As the son of a sales rep, Sanders began an association with MANA early in his career. Today, Sanders dedicates his practice to helping sales reps and agencies throughout the United States. He has used his expertise to win judgments and obtain settlements in commission disputes for sales reps in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Texas, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia. Sanders’ firm was one of the first to obtain a triple damage award under California’s Sales Commission Protection statute. For more information visit www.sandersmontalto.com.