Ms. Linda Richardson is Founder of The Richardson Company(also known as Richardson Group Inc). and serves as its Chairperson. Ms. Richardson served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Richardson Group Inc., a sales consulting company since 1988. An educational psychologist and consultant, she has twenty-five years of sales development and training experience to Richardson. Ms. Richardson is responsible for the development and implementation of Richardson Group Inc.'s business strategy and for the design of the comprehensive Richardson curriculum including the new eLearning. Ms. Richardson, a thought leader in the sales training industry, is credited with the movement to consultative selling, which is the corner stone of Richardson's methodology. Ms. Richardson began her career in the sales training industry in 1979 as a consultant. She was a manager of a global human resource firm. She serves as an Independent Director of Leaf Financial Corporation. She served as a Director of LEAF Financial Corporation, a General Partner of Lease Equity Appreciation Fund I LP and Lease Equity Appreciation Fund II LP since August 2002. Ms. Richardson served as a Director of LEAF Financial Corporation, a General Partner of Fidelity Leasing Income Fund IV LP, Fidelity Leasing Income Fund VI LP, Fidelity Leasing Income Fund VII LP and Fidelity Leasing Income Fund VIII LP since August 2002. Ms. Richardson has been a Faculty Member of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania since 1988. Ms. Richardson teaches sales and management courses at the Wharton graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton executive Development Center. Ms. Richardson currently serves on the Mayor's Council for the Arts for the City of Philadelphia and serves as Trustee of Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. She served on the United States Small Business Administration President's Council from 1991 to 1993. She has been published extensively in industry and training journals and has been featured in numerous publications including Forbes, Nation's Business, Selling, Selling Power, Success, The Conference Board Magazine, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. She is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences and has participated in events hosted by AIG, Chubb, Dean Witter, Goldman Sachs, National Association of Women Business Owners, Pitney Bowes, and Wharton. Ms. Richardson received a Master of Science degree in educational psychology from Temple University. Prior to founding Richardson, she was a teacher, a manager at a global consulting firm, and an officer at a major financial institution. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence for 2006 and in 2007, she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the 'Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals'. Her innovation in eLearning earned Ms. Richardson the Best Soft Skills Award from Elearning! magazine and Product of the Year for Richardson SkillGauge' diagnostics from Customer Interaction Solutions magazine. She is the author of nine books on selling and sales management, including her most recent works, The Sales Success Handbook ' 20 Lessons to Open and Close Sales Now, Sales Coaching ' Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences.