Our Story

The Society was inspired by a challenge: the profound lack of peer relationships, education and mentorship opportunities within the Enterprise Sales and Business Development environment.

The story of the SBDP and how it was formed speaks to its necessity...

When an SBDP founder, a successful business development professional, decided to move to another company, he soon found that his new employer was not a good fit.

But when he began to search for his next opportunity, he discovered that his "huge network" of contacts was mostly ineffective for landing a senior BDP role. Sure, he had contacts at his clients and within his target industry, but he soon realized that he had few personal relationships with peers at other enterprise-focused companies. When he looked around for an association or group to support his career goals, he found... nothing.

This led to the question: Why is it that a BDP, arguably one of the most important executives in the enterprise world, had no professional "home"? Were we not deserving of our own career education, community, training? Every other corporate executive and nearly every working adult has available to them a professional association to provide some sort of guidance, community, mentorship and training.

The Society was created to fill this void by providing BDPs with a serious, full-fledged professional association to help us respond to the opportunities and challenges we face in the high pressure and full-commitment arena of enterprise business development.

Finally, a professional association focused squarely on you and your needs. Welcome to the Society for Business Development Professionals, the Best in Enterprise Sales and Business Development(TM).

We’re glad you’re here!

Meet the SBDP Board of Trustees

For more information on whether the Society for Business Development Professionals is right for you, please see our membership page.

Review our admissions criteria - designed to ensure membership remains exclusively made up of true enterprise sales and business development professionals.

Membership benefits give professionals the career edge by creating a community of like-minded professionals.