Draft:Bill J. Bonnstetter

Bill J. Bonnstetter (1938-2016) was an American entrepreneur, author, businessman, and philanthropist. He was co-founder and chairman of TTI Success Insights, one of the first computerized behavioral assessment companies in the United States.

Biography
Early life and career

Born in Corwith, Iowa, to a family of farmers, Bonnstetter earned a bachelor’s degree in business with an emphasis in marketing in 1960, then earned a master’s degree in business education in 1969, both from the University of Northern Iowa. He also earned a master’s degree in Didactics from the Iowa State Normal School.

Bonnstetter married Kathleen Lamson-Jarvie and had two children, David Bonnstetter and Matthew Bonnstetter. Lamson-Jarvie and Bonnstetter divorced, and in 1988, Bonnstetter married Karen Killoren.

While working as an administrator at Northern Iowa Community College,  Bonnstetter became interested in how he could help make managers better at their jobs by identifying their management style.

Use of DISC

Through working with local businesses, Bonnstetter came across Performax’s Personal Profile, an assessment using DISC. Bonnstetter became a trainer with Performax and began researching what the appearance of a family farm would reveal about the farmers who lived there.

He found a significant relationship between how farms were maintained and farmers’ behavioral styles and used that to create a sales training program called Buyer Profile Blending. The program used the concept of DISC to develop a sales process tailored to the individual, focusing on their behavior and preferences rather than the preferences of the salesperson.

Founding of TTI Success Insights

In 1984, Bonnstetter formed Target Training International, which would become TTI Success Insights (TTI). The following year, TTI was the first company to computerize the DISC assessment. He was also the first to produce a computerized values assessment based on Eduard Spranger’s personality model.

The business plan of TTI centered around creating a distributor network where resellers would purchase access to assessments and present them to clients as a crucial part of their coaching and training strategy. This network expanded internationally in 1992; TTI currently offers assessments in 40 languages, representing over 90 countries.

Death
Bill J. Bonstetter died of cancer on June 2, 2016. His son, David Bonnstetter, took up the CEO position of TTI Success Insights and currently serves as Executive Vice President.

Legacy
Bonnstetter is the author of If I Knew Then and The Universal Language DISC, which is now in its 18th edition and Talent Unknown. In 2013, he wrote the foreword for the re-issue of William Martson’s The Emotions of Normal People.

Bonnstetter is responsible for the three patents and is a 2012 Edison Award nominee.

Bonnstetter was the head of the Bonnstetter Family Foundation, which provides grants for educational, religious, literary, scientific, or other charitable purposes.

Bonnstetter’s family of companies donates over $1 million in assessments each year to community organizations, churches, educational institutions, and non-profits across the globe.

Bonnstetter also revitalized his hometown of Corwith by purchasing and renovating the buildings in Corwith and subsequently donating them back to the town.