About Us

Our Team

The founders of Sales Innovation have spent most of their careers in sales. After years of coaching professionals and organizations in the art and science of selling, they have combined their insights and experience into a very different approach to sales training.  

Jay Moniello
Chief Executive Officer

As a highly successful business owner, Jay believes that organizations must have a sales process that integrates sales and operations.

Skilled in consultative selling, he has coached salespeople to excel in new business revenue generation, customer retention and profitability. He has over 30 years of executive leadership and strategic planning experience in insurance brokerage, risk management and real estate.

Prior to launching Sales Innovation, he was the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of the Mathog & Moniello Companies, one of the largest independent insurance agencies in New England. In 2003, he negotiated the sale of his company to a large regional financial institution and was retained to oversee the transition.

Recognized in the insurance industry as an innovator in workers compensation, he invented a proprietary model in 1990 that offered a significant competitive advantage that still exists today.

Jay has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Quinnipiac University and numerous certifications in management and process improvement. He is active as a volunteer, serving as chairman of the board of directors of a nationally-recognized long-term acute care hospital specializing in the care and treatment of medically complex patients, rehabilitation and sleep medicine.

Kathleen Apanowitch
Executive Vice President, Business Development

Kathy has over 20 years of sales and management experience in financial services. Her consultative approach to sales in industry niches such as healthcare and municipalities attracted large customers and built a very profitable book of business, first for a large regional insurance and risk management firm, and later for the largest independent insurance agency in southern New England.

During her tenure as a senior vice president, the agency grew by acquiring other firms. To give them a common work platform, she was responsible for developing best practices in sales and sales management processes.

Kathy also developed an inside sales operation, added technology and created a strategic planning process for large and complex sales. She introduced a new compensation plan based on a customer’s profitability to the company.

While with the agency, she served on an executive council committed to unifying separate business units and product lines. As the council’s liaison with the University of Connecticut Program for Sales Excellence, she worked with Pete Peterson to develop a sales mastery training program which culminated in a team project involving an actual prospective client.

Kathy received both her bachelor’s degree in economics and MBA in marketing from the University of Connecticut. She is active as a volunteer for three nonprofit organizations: the Special Olympics, a regional community service program, and a partnership of local, regional and state government and businesses that works to keep youths safe and drug-free through mentoring and other programs.

Frank E. Hall

Ombudsman

Frank provides business and technical solutions that support smooth teamwork at Sales Innovation.

He oversees all aspects of Information Systems and Technology. He also directs and guides the development of policies and procedures related to Operations and Human Resources. His approach to these different challenges is reflected in his title. As Ombudsman, Frank serves as the intermediary between the organization and its internal and external constituencies. Whatever an individual, constituency, or the organization needs, Frank looks out for the best interests of all while he gets things done.

He brings a unique blend of organization and creativity to his role, drawing on his corporate and entrepreneurial experience. For the first 25 years of his career, he worked at IBM. He held a variety of positions in Technical Systems, Project Management, and Line and Staff Management. While Manager of Staff Services at IBM’s Academic Information Systems, Frank helped the fledgling business unit to compete against Apple and Digital Equipment Corporation to increase usage of IBM computers at universities.

He left IBM to join The Mathog & Moniello Companies, Inc., as Executive Vice President. His expertise in a wide range of key business areas helped Mathog & Moniello to grow and become one of the largest independent insurance agencies in New England. After the firm was sold to Webster Insurance, a division of Webster Financial Corporation, Frank became Senior Vice President of Webster Insurance, responsible for all aspects of Administration, Operations and Information Technology.

A graduate of the Connecticut School of Electronics, Frank earned his degree in Operations Management from the University of New Haven.

Mary Kay Liston
Regional Vice President

Mary Kay and our university partner, the University of Florida, work together    to help the state's businesses and professional services firms achieve continuous improvement in new business, retention and cross-selling.

She is also leading Sales Innovation’s expansion in four major markets in Florida, with the launches in Orlando and Tampa already underway.

Throughout her career, she has specialized and excelled in sales, sales management, and sales training. She has over 20 years of experience    helping companies to create and implement “street savvy” training to    maximize sales results.

Prior to joining Sales Innovation, Mary Kay was Vice President of Training for an affinity organization with     over 700 client members. She and her team provided classroom and online training in strategic planning, budgeting, marketing, and management for franchise business owners.

While with Valpak Direct Marketing Systems for six years in Largo, Florida and Los Angeles, California, Mary Kay rose from General Manager to Vice President Retail Sales Strategies to Franchise Sales and Operations Development Director. She received the Chairman’s Cup, Valpak’s highest award, for sales and operations excellence.

During the early years of her career, she worked in advertising sales and operations for several television stations in California. While Vice President of Sales/General Manager for Comcast Cable TV in Stockton and Los Angeles, she was responsible for four sales offices and centralized operations for a division with 85 associates generating $30 million in revenue.

She is an active volunteer serving on the board of directors of Habitat for Humanity Pinellas County.

Mary Kay earned a bachelor of arts degree in journalism from San Diego State University and her MBA in general management from Pepperdine University.

Frank A. Scalia, Ph.D.

Dr. Scalia works with Sales Innovation on human resources strategy and recruiting.  He has developed our selection protocols and process for regional educators, which includes a behavioral interview, competency testing, and a practice teaching session.  He also oversees the consulting services we provide to our customers in the area of sales and sales management talent.

Dr. Scalia holds a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Carnegie-Mellon University and is a licensed Psychologist in the State of Connecticut.  He also received his undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Rochester.  He specializes in executive coaching, strategic planning and implementation, organization development, organization design, team effectiveness, team faciliation, employee involvement, employee surveys, 360o surveys, performance appraisal systems, needs analysis, meeting design/facilitation, selection testing, executive candidate assessment, assessment centers, and design and delivery of management and executive development programs for a variety of clients in the U.S., Canada, Eastern and Western Europe, Latin America and the Far East.  With top ratings in consulting assignments, executive coaching, and in delivering seminars, he has worked with manufacturing, banking, utility, retail, insurance, health care, education, legal services, consumer products, chemical, fiber optics, aerospace and pharmaceutical organizations. 

Dr. Scalia has more than 35 years’ experience as a business executive.  He was previously Corporate Director of Employee Relations & Organization Development at Barnes Group Inc., a Fortune 500 manufacturing and distribution company.  He was a faculty member of the Schools of Business at Central Connecticut State University and the University of New Haven and has been adjunct faculty member of the Center for Creative Leadership where he formerly served as a full time staff member.  He was previously Assistant Vice-President, Human Resources Development, at Connecticut Mutual Life and served on General Electric's corporate staff.

He served as a Member of the Board of Trustees, Graduate School of Sales Management and Marketing, Syracuse University; a Member of the Society of International Fellows at Central Connecticut State University; a Member of the Board of Directors of the Capital Community Technical College Foundation;  and a Member of the Executive Advisory Panel of the Academy of Management Executive.  Dr. Scalia is also affiliated with the American Psychological Society, the Academy of Management, the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the International Association of Applied Psychology, and the state and national chapters of the Society for Human Resource Management.  Dr. Scalia is a Fellow, Life Management Institute. 

David Buhler

David Buhler works with Sales Innovation to help us stay on the leading edge with respect to course management and sales 2.0 technology.  Dave is the founder and president of Aegis Information Systems, an Application Service Provider and network consulting company based in Hartford, Connecticut.  He brings nearly 20 years of comprehensive network systems design, application development, service management and sales experience to Aegis.

Prior to founding Aegis, David was Director of Technology Consulting, Technical Services Manager and Lead Networking Architect for Micros-to-Mainframes, a New York and Connecticut based systems integrator.  In this capacity, he managed the technical services team, developed a comprehensive incident tracking system, and gained expertise in many of the client/server based applications used by the small to mid-sized business community.  Prior to joining Micros to Mainframes, David worked in a customer support capacity providing Technology Training, Help Desk Support and Application Development services for Aetna/US Healthcare working with many diverse enterprise-class computing solutions. 

David received Bachelor of Science degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Connecticut in 1991 graduating Magna cum Laude; he also holds high-level Technical certifications from Cisco, Novell, Microsoft, Lotus and Banyan.