McLean, Va, Wednesday, April 20, 2016–immixGroup, Inc., which helps technology companies do business with the government, announced today that its co-founders Steve Charles and Jeff Copeland and former president and CEO Art Richer will receive the Institute for Excellence in Sales (IES) 6th Annual Lifetime Achievement Award. The award will be presented at the IES annual sales award event on June 3 at the Marriott Fairview Park in Falls Church, Va.

The immixGroup executives, part of a pool of 30 finalists, were chosen by a committee of business leaders for their lifetime of sales success, leadership, peer respect, and ability to run a successful sales-driven organization. They join past recipients from companies such as Oracle, Cisco, IBM, and NetApp.

“Each year, the IES recognizes a leader who has demonstrated world-class sales excellence throughout their career,” said Fred Diamond, IES executive director. “This year, the IES chose immixGroup’s three leaders for their ability to grow the company into a world-class sales operation that sets the standard in public sector selling."

Charles and Copeland launched immixGroup in 1997 as an outsourced provider of contract management services and then hired Richer a year later to expand the size and scope of the business. Since then, they’ve supported hundreds of manufacturers and thousands of sales professionals. The firm became the largest value-added distributor of enterprise IT products for the public sector after being acquired by Arrow Electronics in 2015.

Before the Arrow acquisition, Richer served as president and CEO of immixGroup and now leads the integration of Arrow’s federal business into immixGroup. He previously held federal sales leadership positions at V-ONE, Sterling Commerce, and Sterling Software. He’s also a two-time regional finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award. Richer has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the State University of New York Institute of Technology at Utica/Rome.

Charles has helped hundreds of technology companies tap into the public sector market and grow their revenue. In 2012, he co-authored The Inside Guide to the Federal IT Market, a how-to book for technology companies selling to the government. He’s also actively involved in industry associations like TechAmerica and ACT-IAC. Before co-launching immixGroup, he was vice president of contract management at Selbre & Associates. Charles has a bachelor’s degree in communications and business, magna cum laude, from Temple University.

Copeland served as chairman, CEO and president of immixGroup until retiring as executive chairman after the Arrow acquisition. He’s now an advisory board member for the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State University. He’s held sales leadership roles at Sterling Commerce, Sterling Software, and Texas Instruments.

Last year’s recipient, Mark Weber, who ran NetApp’s Public Sector group, will present the award to the immixGroup team. To learn more, visit https://i4esbd.com/awards/.