Our Minneapolis Team

Jeff Pankoff firmly believes that sales growth is the fuel that drives most companies, and he has dedicated his career to helping teams and individuals grow. As owner and president of Sandler Training in the Twin Cities, Jeff combines over 25 years of success in sales, training, management and business leadership with the proven Sandler methodology to help companies and individuals increase revenue and elevate performance.Prior to starting his Sandler Training business, Jeff had a successful career with two international corporations, Pillsbury and Jostens. He held positions at various levels from frontline sales to upper-level management and strategic leadership.As National Director of Sales for his company’s largest division at Jostens, Jeff led all aspects of the sales function for the $350 million business with responsibility for over 20 managers, 250 sales representatives, and 100 sales associates. In addition to his business leadership experience driving sales results, his cross-functional responsibilities included leading sales training, event management, and sales operations across the $750 million company. His results-orientation and competitive nature helped him achieve recognition including awards for new sales growth, consistently achieving sales plans, and the Legend Award, the highest honor for employees in his company.During his career in management and sales, Jeff trained many sales representatives and managers and developed training materials for all areas of the business. He utilized numerous sales training programs and curriculums until discovering Sandler Training. Utilizing the Sandler method with his sales force and management teams, Jeff quickly determined this was the most successful sales and sales leadership training he had ever experienced. This led Jeff to further pursue his love of selling and developing others as a Sandler Training business owner.Jeff has successfully grown his business to be one of the most successful offices in the 250-location Sandler network across the world. Achieving the Rookie of the Year award in his first year, Jeff continues to earn the prestigious Diamond and Pinnacle level awards at Sandler conferences and has been honored to speak at the international Sandler Client Summit. More importantly, he has trained hundreds of Twin Cities business professionals, helping companies develop a systematic process for increasing revenue and developing a business development culture.His passion for sales, management, leadership, training, and coaching is the driving force behind his team in the Twin Cities training center. Achieving growth year after year, the Sandler Twin Cities team continues the mission to empower salespeople, managers, leaders, and frontline business professionals with the skills, attitudes, and behaviors to achieve unparalleled success.Jeff received his B.A. degree in Speech Communications from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He lives in the western suburbs of Minneapolis with his wife Angie and three children.

Todd Thiewes has been successfully selling and leading sales professionals for over 20 years. His career includes a successful track record as an independent sales representative, senior marketing manager and regional sales manager. His experience has allowed him to exercise creative and innovative ways to motivate, lead and inspire many sales professionals and clients.Todd most recently trained and directly managed top sales representatives in an international company. He worked to lead them to the top of their personal businesses and their industry. He has utilized numerous sales training tactics only to find them pale in comparison to those offered by Sandler Training. Todd realized that sales is a behavioral change that needs to be coached just as you would any top athlete. For Todd and his team, Sandler Training provided this type of change. The success when he implemented the Sandler System was impressive. His team and company realized increases in productivity and sales growth amongst those that embraced the program.Todd received his B.A. degree in Sales and Marketing from the University of Minnesota – Duluth. He lives in the South Metro of Minneapolis with his wife Sarah and two children. His passion for leading others is evident in his personal activities. Todd is a coach, archery instructor and dedicated chauffeur to his family’s many music, sporting and outdoor activities.

Tyler Wruck has been successfully selling and leading for over 8 years since graduating college. The first portion of his professional career was spent leading a team for one of the largest staffing and recruiting companies in the world. As an Account Manager, Tyler led his region in New Account Revenue Growth in his first year and consistently performed as a sales leader. Most recently, Tyler spent over three years leading the new revenue growth and customer acquisition charge in the manufacturing industry. He sold and managed a $15,000,000 territory and consistently achieved double-digit growth each year.