— About —
Richard Conde, PhD
Researcher. Executive. Strategist.
Richard Conde occupies a position that is genuinely rare — one of the few people in the country who combines active academic research in sales with the track record of a senior executive who has applied that research at scale. The result is a perspective that neither pure academics nor pure practitioners can offer.
personally managed
as senior executive
MBA sales professor
three years
— The Background —
Richard Conde built his career at the intersection of two worlds that rarely meet. As a senior sales executive at some of the largest financial services organizations in the country — including MetLife, Travelers, Nationwide, and Santander — he led organizations through periods of significant growth and transformation. At Nationwide, he grew a $60M operation to $105M in three years. He led teams of over 400 agents with a combined book of business exceeding $440M. He reduced agent attrition from 62% to 25% by identifying the structural causes rather than treating the symptoms.
What distinguished his approach during those years was not instinct or experience alone. It was the disciplined application of data analytics to questions that most sales leaders answer with opinion. While managing large organizations, Conde was simultaneously developing the analytical frameworks that would eventually become the foundation of The Awareness Principle.
At Santander, serving as Senior Vice President, Conde led high-level analytics projects that informed C-suite and board-level decisions — including employee engagement research, organizational culture diagnostics, and large-scale data initiatives presented directly to executive leadership. This work deepened his understanding of how organizational culture and data analytics interact to drive or limit performance at the enterprise level.
Career Highlights
Senior Vice President, Santander
Associate Vice President, Nationwide
Senior Leadership, MetLife
Senior Leadership, Travelers
Academic
Associate Professor, University of Houston Downtown
One of few MBA sales programs in the U.S.
Active researcher in inside sales and sales analytics
Expert in Necessary Condition Analysis
— The Research —
One of the few academics in the world who researches inside sales exclusively.
As an Associate Professor at the University of Houston Downtown’s Marilyn Davies College of Business, Conde leads one of the few dedicated MBA sales programs in the United States. His research focuses on inside sales performance, sales analytics, AI applications in sales, and the organizational conditions that drive sustainable sales results.
His specialization in Necessary Condition Analysis — an advanced statistical methodology that identifies the conditions structurally required for an outcome — gives him a diagnostic capability that goes beyond what correlation-based analytics can provide. This is the methodology at the core of The Awareness Principle.
What makes this combination powerful is that the research is not theoretical. Every methodology Conde applies in a consulting engagement has been tested against real organizations, real data, and real outcomes. The academic rigor validates the approach. The practitioner history proves it works.
— Why This Matters For You —
Most consultants offer opinions. Richard Conde offers evidence.
When a senior sales leader brings in a consultant, they are making a significant investment based on a belief that the consultant understands their problem. Most consultants base that understanding on pattern recognition from previous engagements — what worked elsewhere, applied here.
Conde’s approach is structurally different. Before any recommendation is made, the data speaks. The Awareness Principle diagnostic identifies what is actually constraining performance in your specific organization — not what usually constrains performance in organizations like yours. That distinction is the difference between a solution that works and one that sounds plausible.
“The combination of someone who has sat in the chair and someone who has studied what happens in that chair at the deepest academic level — that is genuinely rare. And it is exactly what most sales organizations need right now.”
— Work Together —
The first conversation costs nothing.
The next bad decision might.
A 45-minute diagnostic conversation to determine whether there is a structural constraint problem worth investigating. No pitch. No proposal. Evidence first.
Request a Diagnostic Conversation
Richard@Tr3ce.com