Executive Team
Bob Howard, CEO
A recognized sales strategy innovator and thought leader, Bob Howard is the Founder and CEO of Sales Overdrive.
Bob has had a long and distinguished career selling professional services and technology solutions. Since 1996 when he founded Sales Overdrive’s predecessor company, Sales Logic, Bob and his partners and associates have been building successful sales engines for a wide variety of clients. The firm’s focus has been on accelerating market momentum sales velocity through design and rapid deployment of sales and marketing strategies, recruitment, training, and mobilization of inside and field sales professionals, the achievement of large wins with key accounts, and the attainment of critical business alliances and venture capital.
Earlier in his career, Bob spent 15 years in corporate financing services, principally with GE Capital and PruCapital. He was responsible for selling, structuring and closing a large number of complex financing solutions for Fortune 500 and smaller companies.
Bob holds a BA in Physical Anthropology and MBA in Finance and Administration from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a Kleberg Student. He has been a frequent visiting speaker at the Graduate School of Business and has testified before the FERC and a number of other government agencies.
Andrew Rauch, Senior Vice President
Andrew Rauch is a Vice President of Sales Overdrive responsible for business development. Andrew has managed a portfolio of venture clients and has managed more than 200 venture and philanthropy investment projects. He has 15 years of entrepreneurial experience in various industries including technology, training, real estate services, telecommunications, consulting services, and venture philanthropy.
Andrew previously served as Vice President of Sales at The Knowledge Capital Group, where he was responsible for delivering strategic marketing, sales, and business development advisory services to more than 300 technology companies. He has also held various marketing, sales and executive positions with Agillion, iChat, InfraWorks, and Motive Communications. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and Finance from Pace University in Pleasantville, New York.
Bruce Meissner, Senior Vice President
Bruce Meissner has been Senior Vice President of Sales Overdrive since 2003. With 30 years experience working in business development, national sales, and management, Bruce has a unique understanding of business processes and bottom-line initiatives.
Over the last several years, Bruce has provided key, senior counsel to Fortune 1000 Companies in various industries, including consumer markets, hospitality, telecommunications, manufacturing and utilities. He built a new sales and marketing division for Vidpro International, an integrator of IT software and hardware, and developed innovative solutions for KPMG, LLC, in federal, international, state and local, and specific issue-oriented financial and tax services to Global and U.S. based companies.
He also managed $15 million in direct sales and through manufacturers’ representatives for a provider of computer accessories and peripherals to Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Best Buy and Dell. He directed similar efforts for Memtek Products, Inc., a division of Memorex.
Bruce has a Bachelor of Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin. He is an effective training and team leader and has taught several seminars, including a training program with Wal-Mart on the Retail Link/Decision Support System, a seminar on “Successfully Managing Manufacturers’ Representatives”, and KPMG’s “Selling with Confidence” and Tax Services Solutions Seminars.
Ryan Howard, Senior Vice President
Ryan is a Senior Vice President of Sales OverDrive, LLC. Since 2007 he has developed numerous successful email and web marketing campaigns and been responsible for integrating business development communications including, SEO, social media, blogs, and ezines. He also oversees the firm’s web-based and communication technologies including: telephony for overseas call center agents, web hosting, building multiple websites for the firm’s differentiated offerings, and overall technical support.
Ryan is a communication and marketing guru and specializes in project management, web marketing, email campaigns, marketing technologies, blogs, business development strategy, website building and design, and social media. He is also responsible for the development and promotion of the SOD sister site sales outsourcing.org and his SEO company Rapid Queue. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin.
