Meet the Team

  • SAM O’REAR
    Senior Partner
    Sam founded TIGI (Total Innovations Group, Inc.) in 1990 after a successful career in sales and marketing leadership at GE Healthcare.Sam has personally trained more than 20,000 sales reps and managers to measurably improve their sales performance and sales leadership. He developed TIGI as an organization devoted to delivering a sales training experience that challenges the sales professional to learn new behaviors and applications that “lift their game. ”An ideal client for Sam would be a market leader (now or soon to be) with:
    • A margin and cash-flow focus to build shareholder value;
    • A sales-team expectation to sell the value of solutions and deliver improved pricing levels;
    • A need to evolve or implement a new go-to-market strategy;
    • A customer-centric strategy, targeted where customer is going; and/or,
    • A drive to develop a sales team with greater control in the sale, with a demonstrated ability to “win at will.”Sam has an MDP from Northwestern University in Business Management and bachelor’s degrees in psychology and chemical engineering from the University of Alabama.
    Email Sam.
  • GUNTER WESSELS, Ph.D., MBA.
    Partner and Healthcare Practice Principal
    Gunter Wessels joined TIGI in 2006. He works with clients in the healthcare, information technology, and manufacturing markets. His client engagements typically involve a programmatic approach to integrating the mission, operating resources, and metrics required to achieve market-leading performance. In addition to healthcare and high technology companies, Gunter works with three of the Dow 30 companies, the largest food service provider in the world, a leading document company, numerous hospital corporations, group purchasing organizations, and leading manufacturers. He has also worked with policy makers and health economists in the US, Canada, the UK, and Europe as they sought to rationalize the adoption of new technologies.An ideal client for Gunter has:
    • A new of unproven innovation with application to healthcare;
    • A line of business that needs repositioning in healthcare;
    • A product of service line that is being increasingly commoditized;
    • A business unit that is struggling to determine the impact of healthcare reform; and/or,
    • A corporation that is concerned about the strategic implications of reform and industry change.Gunter is the author of articles on Value Based Purchasing and healthcare reform, capital equipment acquisition, leadership, and interpersonal influence. He is a highly sought-after speaker on the practical implications of regulatory changes, and sustaining innovation during periods of industry and organizational change.Gunter has a Ph.D. in Management with an emphasis in Marketing and Psychology from the University of Arizona, an MBA from the A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management, and a B.S. in Biology from the University of California.
    Email Gunter.
  • ROBERT KREPS
    Managing Partner
    Bob joined Sam’s TIGI team in 2006 as Managing Partner – but the two have worked together for decades. Bob spent most of his career at GE Healthcare in various roles including sales and product management.In 1990, as a member of Sam’s team, Bob helped launch the national Strategic Sales Training Program which contributed to GE’s continued growth in the 90s.In 1995, Bob left GE for opportunities at Stryker and then at Toshiba Medical Systems. At Toshiba, he played a key role in the implementation of a strategic growth initiative, first as Senior Director of Business Development, and later as VP of Sales. While there, he hired TIGI to improve the sales team’s success by providing and reinforcing specialized skills, tools, and processes. As a result, Toshiba achieved increased productivity, market share, and profitability. Bob then assisted in launch of a start-up healthcare services organization before joining TIGI full-time as Managing Partner.
    Email Bob.
  • RON HANCOCK
    Senior Associate
    Another GE alumnus, Ron Hancock became an Associate with TIGI in 2009 after a long and distinguished career in executive-level Human Resources leadership positions at GE and other Fortune 500 companies. At GE, Ron spent more than 10 years leading executive staffing at the “C” level and led GE’s company-wide staffing efforts for senior level IT professionals. He also was the HR Director for GE’s elite Corporate Audit Staff Leadership Development Unit. Ron focuses largely on organizational and professional development, talent management, and training in the healthcare, finance, information technology, supply chain, manufacturing, sales, and service fields. From a global perspective, Ron led and assisted in building start-up business units in Europe and Southern Asia. He is a graduate of the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. Ron has completed numerous GE leadership courses and is a trained Six Sigma Green Belt.
    Email Ron.
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