The Edmundson Northstar Institute founded by Memphis businessman Ken Edmundson in 1999 is turning a page.

ENI, which works with clients across the United States, Canada and Europe through its business consulting practice, has spun off its sales training division. As part of a yearly review done annually in the fourth quarter by ENI management, that division was sold to one of Edmundson’s longtime associates, Andrew Gieselmann.

Gieselmann for the past six years has served as the business development specialist and lead sales trainer at ENI. He’s also worked directly under the leadership of Edmundson, whose latest book “ShortTrack CEO” has gained national attention for its insights aimed at mid-market companies.

Gieselmann will transition into being the new company’s president and CEO. It will continue to share space with the Edmundson North Institute training facility, and in a memo sent to friends of the firm earlier this month, Edmundson said he will continue to mentor Gieselmann and his team.

He also stressed that his step away from sales training does not portend any change in his work at ENI toward impacting the leadership and management teams of mid-market companies.

“It really needed its own separate identity now,” Edmundson said of the sales training aspect of the business. “And the obvious move was to let my partner take it. I’m really proud of Andrew taking that over, and it’s kind of a proud moment for us to launch him out on his own – although we’ll continue to work together.”

In his memo, Edmundson wrote that Edmundson Northstar has grown each year since its inception in 1999. And while its sales training has gained the organization significant recognition, it’s the ENI business consulting practice that works with clients in multiple countries that still constitutes a major part of what the organization does.

“This will not change as we continue our focus in the primary business areas we’ve always worked,” he wrote.

Edmundson added that the sales training division had grown to a point that it needs its own separate identity and market strategy. And under the new banner of Sandler Training by Capstone, that will happen.

To illustrate the deep need that remains for services like ENI’s consulting side, Edmundson points to more than 6 million mid-market CEOs running companies worldwide with between $1 million and $250 million in revenue. Furthermore, he says most of them were skillfully trained in something other than becoming a CEO.

The book “ShortTrack CEO” answers a trio of basic questions those companies have about what business practices will help them reach their private goals, how they can successfully compete long-term with bigger competitors and where a mid-market CEO can go to test and confirm his growth ideas and strategies.