Pat Pallentino is the director of the Sales Institute in the Marketing Department at the FSU College of Business. Utilizing his more than thirty years of industry experience first in computer engineering, then in technology sales and sales management, he developed the curriculum and along with several other full time professors, teaches courses in Professional Selling, Advanced Sales, Competitive Selling and Sales Management.

After receiving his degree in Electrical Engineering from Pratt Institute in New York City a career in sales was the furthest thing on his mind. He spent the first part of his career working on inertial and satellite navigation projects for the Navy and NASA. However on each project an idea needed to be sold and a concept explained so he soon found himself selling technology concepts and then the resulting technology solutions.

Pat moved to Tallahassee in 1980 where he worked first as a sales person and then the vice president of sales for a local software company, Business EDP Systems, which was the forerunner of Datamaxx USA. In the early 90’s, using his software sales experience as a stepping stone, he took on several product marketing projects as an independent consultant. One of these led to a position with Mainline Information Systems where he witnessed its explosive growth into an international technology giant. In 2000 he moved to Infinity Software Development where he sold consulting services to the State of Florida and assisted in the acquisition of Infinity’s first Federal GSA contract.

The sales program at Florida State University has seen explosive growth and national recognition. In the last year sales majors have been crowned national sales champions in the two most prestigious collegiate sales competitions and multiple Fortune 500 companies now recruit heavily from this program.

Pat has 3 loves, his wife of over 30 years, helping students discover a career in sales and scuba.