Callie Leatherwood brings a passion for sales to Fisher’s Strategic Sales Initiative

By Vicki Christian
Fisher College of Business

With a passion for sales and mentoring, Callie Leatherwood is leading the charge to train the next generation of sales professionals at Fisher.

Leatherwood was appointed director of the college’s Strategic Sales Initiative in January 2026, a role in which she oversees student sales activities and engagement, teaching and curriculum and sales-related corporate sponsorships.

The Strategic Sales Initiative, which encompasses the Strategic Sales Academy and the Strategic Sales Certificate, was created to equip Ohio State students to be competitive in the job market. With statistics showing that 88% of marketing graduates start their careers in sales, the program will help students compete for the leading B2B sales roles.

“The Strategic Sales Initiative’s mission is to prepare students for success through a rigorous curriculum, immersive experiential learning opportunities and strong industry connections,” Leatherwood said. “The aim is to create a program where students see sales as something they can use not only in their professional career, but also in their personal life as well. Sales is for everyone, not just for people who want to go into a sales profession.”

The Strategic Sales Certificate is a diploma certificate, open to all business majors and any minors at Ohio State, and entails four, three-credit hour classes. The curriculum includes the principles of marketing, foundations of strategic sales, strategic sales leadership and applied strategic sales. Students enrolled in the program can also earn five additional strategic and sales process accredited certificates.

In her new role, Leatherwood has been meeting with students to discuss the sales initiative, serving as the faculty advisor for the Buckeye Student Sales Network, benchmarking other university sales programs and meeting with Ohio State programs and centers to market the initiative. She’s also spearheading fundraising efforts to help make the sales initiative self-sustaining in three to five years.

“We are committed to keeping up with cutting-edge techniques including innovation and AI,” she said. “Experiential learning is really a big part of our goals. In the near future, I’m going to look at possible corporate partnerships for sales research and case competition opportunities.”

With strong support from corporate partners, alumni and industry leaders, Leatherwood’s goal is to add more formalized partnerships to engage top tier companies interested in recruiting graduates from the sales initiative, serving as guest classroom speakers and participating in sales-related career fairs. For example, the academy is hosting “The Future of Sales is Now,” a panel discussion on April 22 featuring leaders from across technology, medical device, software, health care, pharmaceutical and B2C sales industries.

She also wants to connect students with networking initiatives, customized resume writing programs and Fisher support services like the Office of Career Management.

According to the Journal of Marketing Education, over 50% of all college graduates start their careers in sales. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the number of sales managers is expected to grow 6% by 2033.

“A people leader’s dream is to have a candidate with the value-based selling skills that are being taught in the certificate program,” Leatherwood said. “How to manage an account, pitch a product or service, network, analyze a business and use AI to make better decisions: all of these things are going to be very valuable. The sales certificate will definitely set them apart.”

With nearly 30 years as a highly accomplished professional in the health care industry, her experience includes pharmaceutical sales, leadership, account management and business development and training. She’s held positions as a sales leader at Amgen and senior executive sales manager roles at Astra Zeneca and Amylin Biotechnology Company.

As a sales leader, Leatherwood often saw over 100 applications for a position and said graduates will need to distinguish themselves.

“No matter how deep we get into AI, it's never going to take the place of human-to-human connection in sales,” she said. “In the next 20 to 30 years there's going to be an influx of people from other industries going into sales professions. Everyone is in sales, whether it's business development or you're selling yourself in an interview, you have to have some of those soft skills to be able to do so.”

The Strategic Sales Certificate has already begun to draw interest from students across the university.

“With one year of the program in place, we exceeded our goals in terms of the number of students earning the diploma certificate in May,” Leatherwood said. “For autumn semester 2026, we have seen enrollment triple in our sales courses.”

Those graduating students and the upcoming cohort will be part of a certificate reception on April 21 at The Blackwell Inn & Pfahl Conference Center. The students will have the opportunity to engage with the academy’s board, which convenes quarterly to provide direction on sales education. Leatherwood, meanwhile, meets with members individually on a monthly basis for program feedback, development ideas and business relationship building.

“The board members are committed sales professionals from a variety of industries including marketing, tech sales and sales leaders from companies like Johnson & Johnson and Microsoft,” she said. “All of them have been in sales for many years and have a vested interest in seeing this sales program be a success.”

The academy’s board members include:

• Paul Adams, independent consultant, PT Adams Professional Services
• Eric Chiudioni, majors account executive, Trace3
• Laura Craig, WW Business Strategy/GTM lead, Strategic Partnership, Data & AI, Microsoft
• Andrew Ettinger, CEO and board of directors member, Hume AI
• Mike Isler, strategic advisor, OH.io
• Paula Ley, president, Payliance
• Jeff Prestel, board of directors member and former CEO, Sarnova
• Jon Rydberg, founder and principal, Align Advisory Group
• Matt Walter, chairman and founder, Sarnova

Leatherwood’s next steps with the academy is to begin teaching a few of the core certificate courses during autumn semester 2026.

“I look forward to mentoring our students like I did with my various sales teams,” she said. “Mentoring is my passion. I want to help them reach their goals and there's no better place to do that than Ohio State.”