Sales Effectiveness Leader, The TAS Group, Strengthens Management Team With Three Industry Veterans

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The TAS Group, the world leader in sales effectiveness solutions, today announced that three industry veterans have joined the company to strengthen its management team in the roles of VP, sales effectiveness; CFO; and CMO. These new hires bolster the company’s position as the leader in sales effectiveness solutions, and help drive the unique combination of sales methodology, process and technology of The TAS Group into the market for the most cost efficient and effective sales improvement solutions.

Filling these positions are the following:

• Carol Johnson, VP Sales Effectiveness. Johnson is responsible for directing The TAS Group sales effectiveness intellectual property and delivery, and brings 30 years of sales experience to The TAS Group. Highlighting more than a decade in executive positions in sales effectiveness, her most recent role as vice president, Sales Training and Performance, at United Healthcare Group put Johnson in charge of sales training, coaching and performance measurement for its global sales force. Previously, Johnson was an executive at Siebel Systems, where she was responsible for revenue and delivery of Siebel’s sales effectiveness solutions across the Asia Pacific region. She also co-founded Peleros International, the leading Australian sales methodology and skills training consultancy, which was later acquired by Siebel. Johnson began her sales career at Digital Equipment Corporation, where she served more than 10 years in both direct and channel sales in the U.S. and the Asia Pacific region. She holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia.
• Jim Crisera, CFO. Crisera is a multi-faceted technology executive, who brings 17 years of financial and operational experience to The TAS Group. Previously, Crisera served as president, Promotion Division, at Innuity, a Software as a Service (SAAS) company focused on delivering online marketing services to small businesses. Crisera was also co-founder and COO of Vendaria, an online marketing services company, where he oversaw all financial and operational aspects of the business and helped secure venture and strategic funding. Earlier he managed investor relations at Wall Data and was a financial analyst at Attachmate, where he supported its international expansion and initial public offering. He started his career as an auditor with Deloitte & Touche, after receiving his bachelor’s degree in economics and accounting from the University of California at Los Angeles.
• York Baur, CMO. Baur is responsible for The TAS Group’s go-to-market strategy and all aspects of marketing, and brings over 20 years of technology marketing, business development and corporate development experience to the company. His previous roles include executive vice president of Business and Corporate Development at Zango, where he helped to create the world’s largest client-side contextual targeting network through organic growth and acquisition. As executive vice president and general manager at InfoSpace, he grew its search and directory business to be the largest independent Internet search network, and led the successful acquisition of Excite.com. He also spearheaded channel development, product strategy and corporate development at InterVu and Netpodium as vice president of Sales and Marketing. Baur additionally held executive and key management positions at Wall Data, Attachmate and Microsoft. He has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Southern California.

“I am pleased that we’ve added such proven talent to the company, and I look forward to working closely with this newly expanded team to take The TAS Group to its next level of success,” said Donal Daly, founder and CEO of The TAS Group. “We have an incredible opportunity in the market right now: Never has there been a more important time for sales forces to sell well, and our unique on-demand Dealmaker platform delivers sales effectiveness through on-the-job learning for sustainable results without travel. These new team members will help take that to market aggressively, and ensure that we maintain the product leadership that we’ve built to date.”

About The TAS Group

The TAS Group provides on-demand sales effectiveness solutions to companies that want to achieve sustained, predictable and profitable revenue growth. It exists to guide and motivate global sales teams to win profitable business faster from target customers through a combination of methodology, process and technology. The TAS Group has helped over 650,000 sales professionals succeed and has global presence serving organizations in all major global economies with native language speaking, culturally attuned sales effectiveness experts. The TAS Group solutions are available in up to 14 languages. The TAS Group integrates proven sales methodology and process with Dealmaker – the most advanced technology platform for lasting sales effectiveness, and reinforced by the TAS:Pedia (www.taspedia.com) learning community – to constantly refresh sales learning and best practice behavior. The TAS Group hosts and moderates the Sales 2.0 Network (S20N, www.sales20network.com), a global, virtual thought leadership forum to discuss issues relevant to sales professionals in a Web 2.0 world. The only sales effectiveness organization with continuous multi-million dollar investment in its own methodology and technology R&D center, The TAS Group is headquartered in Seattle, with international headquarters in Dublin, Ireland and Bracknell, England.

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