Craig Wortmann

Craig Wortmann is the CEO of Sales Engine and a Clinical Professor of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. He is the Founder & Academic Director of the Kellogg Sales Institute. From 2018 through 2020, he won the “Outstanding Professor” distinction awarded by Kellogg’s Executive MBA students three times. His online course, Mastering Sales: A Toolkit for Success, launched in 2019, is the highest rated course on the Emeritus platform. Wortmann has been praised for setting "the gold standard in remote learning" by Executive MBA students at Kellogg.

Previously, Wortmann served as Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business from 2008 to 2016. He designed and developed the Entrepreneurial Selling course, which was recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the "Top Ten" courses in the country. Additionally, he taught courses such as Building the New Venture and Personal Leadership Insights and developed a senior executive leadership course called Building Leadership Capital. Wortmann received the 2012 Faculty Excellence Award for his impactful teaching at Chicago Booth.

Wortmann is the author of "What’s Your Story?", a book that explores the power of storytelling in leadership and sales. He also created The Art of Sales: Mastering the Selling Process, a four-part Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Specialization with Coursera. Besides his academic and writing accomplishments, Wortmann has a robust history in sales and leadership. He led successful exits as the former CEO of both WisdomTools and ClearGauge. His firm, Sales Engine, Inc., assists companies in developing effective sales strategies. Additionally, he serves as Operating Partner for Pritzker Group Venture Capital, aiding in the growth of its portfolio companies' sales engines. A resident of Evanston, Illinois for over two decades, Wortmann enjoys outdoor activities such as running along the Lake Michigan path and wakeboarding in Wisconsin with his family.