Sales Education Foundation

Our History

Our Mission gives us purpose -  

“Elevating the Sales Profession through University Education”

In the beginning . . .

In 2007, a very small number of universities provided a sales or sales management class or considered Professional Sales as part of their offerings for business students. Our founders, Howard and Sally Stevens, wanted to change that.

Howard Stevens speaking at the National Sales Leadership Conference in 2008.
Howard Stevens speaking at the National Sales Leadership Conference in 2008.

The Sales Education Foundation represents the realization of a longstanding vision of founders Howard and Sally Stevens. Through their work as co-founders and leaders of Chally Group, they recognized the need for a more consistent, rigorous approach to sales education at the university level.

A national survey of hiring managers confirmed their belief – that students with formal sales training exhibit superior performance compared to their peers without an academic sales background. After more than a decade of working informally with universities and sales professionals, the Stevens created our non-profit foundation, assembled a founding Board of Directors and forged connections with inaugural university partners and sponsors.

SEF’s “elevate the sales profession through university education” mission is supported through publication of the SEF Annual.  SEF funds an annual research grant program (providing more than $160,000 since 2011), raises public awareness regarding the benefits of professional sales careers and promotes academic sales programs worldwide. SEF’s impact is felt by university sales students, sales programs and businesses all over the world.