CEOs Speak Podcast

Elly Perets of Utilis

Elly Perets is the Chief Executive Officer at Utilis. He has 20 years of experience in executive management, enterprise software sales, marketing, business development, and OEM.

Mychal Manolatos of SOLitude Lake Management

Mychal Manolatos is Vice President of SOLitude Lake Management, a nationwide environmental firm specializing in the sustainable management of lakes, stormwater ponds, wetlands, fisheries, and drinking water reservoirs. He is responsible for driving the overall direction and strategy of the...

Manley Hopkinson of The Compassionate Leadership Academy

Manley Hopkinson is the founder of renowned leadership consultancy Manley Talks LTD and The Compassionate Leadership Academy, author of Compassionate Leadership, and a sought-after keynote speaker.

Jim Grundy of Sisu Energy

Jim Grundy is the CEO/Founder of multiple oil and gas service companies based out of Dallas/Fort Worth. With an MBA from the University of Texas, Arlington, Mr. Grundy has spent the better part of his working life optimizing various PML...

Cynthia Davis of Radiant Blue

Known as the “world’s smartest coach,” Cynthia Davis is an authority on transcendent leadership and cultivating potential in maverick innovators. She is the CEO of Radiant Blue and the founder of the Incremental Monumental Change community, two separate but related...

Eric Strafel of SUMMi7

For more than 20 years Eric Strafel, former CEO and Fortune 500 executive, has dedicated himself to building forward-thinking teams and scaling innovation to create transformational organizations that thrive in an increasingly entrepreneurial and purpose-driven world. His recent corporate leadership...

Jamie Straz of REINES & STRAZ

Jamie Straz has over 6 years of experience with both public and private sector projects. He has served as Project Architect, Manager, and Designer for both large and small scale projects through the schematic and design development stage, construction documents,...

Erdin Beshimov of MIT Bootcamps

Erdin Beshimov is an entrepreneur and educator at MIT. He believes that the mission of education is to help humanity escape the Paradox of Progress. He also predicts that the best universities of the 22nd century will be different from...

Rob Weinhold of the Fallston Group on Entrepreneurial Leadership

Rob Weinhold, a crisis leadership expert , is the Chief Executive of the Fallston Group, which he launched in 2009 to help organizations manage their reputations during life’s most critical times. As an executive serving various organizations in the public...

Larry Oberly of SpeedPro

Larry Oberly brings 26 years of franchise experience from the foodservice, real estate, and large-format printing industries. Before joining SpeedPro in November of 2017, he served for 17 years as Vice President of U.S. and Global Operations at RE/MAX LLC,...

Dr. Joel N Myers of AccuWeather: How has predicting the weather changed?

How has predicting the weather changed? Learn from the "most accurate man in weather” as he was named by The New York Times. Dr. Joel N. Myers is considered the “father of modern commercial meteorology” and the nation’s most respected...

Alexandre Douzet of Pumpkin Pet Insurance

Alexandre Douzet is the CEO of Pumpkin Pet Insurance.Alexandre has an MBA in general management, an MS in direct marketing, and a BS in economics and business administration. Prior to Pumpkin, he was founder and CEO of Ollie, and before...

Nancy Leavitt of Nancy Leavitt Agency, LLC

Nancy Leavitt is the woman behind the award-winning Nancy Leavitt Agency, LLC, a woman-owned business through American Family Insurance in Bellingham, WA, which has provided auto, home, business, life, and other insurance in the Pacific Northwest for almost twelve years....

Gary Schoeniger of The Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative, Part 2

In this second podcast with Gary Schoeniger of The Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative, Gary digs deeper into a discussion of his "entrepreneurial mindset theory."  To explain this theory, he shares that he "wanted to understand how people with no particular advantage...

Dr Kennette Thigpen of Welltrust Partners

Dr. Kennette Thigpen, or Dr. K as many have come to call her, is a Corporate Mental Health Consultant and Speaker. She has spent the last 15+ years helping hundreds of companies of all sizes, in multiple industries, from around...

Brian Harris of MedRhythms

Brian Harris is the CEO and co-founder of MedRhythms, a digital therapeutics company that uses sensors, music, and software to build evidence-based, neurologic interventions to measure and improve walking.

Jonni Redick of JLConsulting

In a multi-billion-dollar law enforcement organization, Jonni Redick oversaw large-scale civil disturbance, natural disaster response coordination, and oversight, and managed thousands of personnel within daily operations. A 29-year veteran, rising through the ranks of the California Highway Patrol (CHP) from...

Ryan Novak of Chocolate Pizza Company

Ryan Novak is the 32-year-old owner of Chocolate Pizza Company, Central New York’s largest chocolate maker that has grown from a small-town chocolate shop into an emerging national brand. The company’s signature, products Chocolate Pizza® and Peanut Butter Wings® are...

Gary Schoeniger of The Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative

Gary Schoeniger is the founder of the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative (ELI) and co-author of Who Owns the Ice House? Eight Life Lessons from an Unlikely Entrepreneur. He led the development of the Ice House Entrepreneurship Program and has presented about...

Stephen King of GrowthForce

Stephen King is the CEO and founder of GrowthForce. From startups to working with Fortune 500 executives, Stephen brings a unique combination of vision, foresight, and experience to help small businesses run better, grow faster, and make more money. Regarded...

Dr Bart Barthelemy of The Wright Brothers

Dr. Bart Barthelemy is the Founding Director of the Wright Brothers Institute and the President of the Collaborative Innovation Institute. He was the National Director of the National Aerospace Plane Program, where he reported to the White House and was...

William D. Novelli of Georgetown Business for Impact

William D. Novelli is the Founder of Georgetown Business for Impact, and Distinguished Professor of the Practice, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University.As a professor in the MBA program at McDonough Georgetown, Bill teaches Principled Leadership for Business and Society...

Andy Techmanski of FORLOH

Andy Techmanski is the Founder and CEO of FORLOH, a new premium, technical hunting, fishing, and outdoor apparel brand with apparel that is 100% Made in the U.S.A. Before switching paths to pursue his passions for hunting and American-made manufacturing...

Christine Nguyen of Limitless Foundation

Christine Nguyen is a WashU student by day and a nonprofit leader by night. She is the founder and CEO of Limitless Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit fighting for equitable and accessible healthcare, in loving memory of her uncle Cuong Ngo....

Kenetia Lee of PopUP CleanUP

Kenetia Lee, is the Founder and CEO of PopUP CleanUP, which started in 2016 as a hip niche commercial cleaning company offering best-in-cleaning crews to maintain cleanliness at the hottest events, festivals, races, and concerts, in Greater Los Angeles. PopUP...

Kevin Wilson of Buzz Franchise Brands

Kevin Wilson is the CEO and President of Buzz Franchise Brands. He has held the position since July 2012. Prior to this, Kevin was a Senior Managing Director with Envest Ventures where he oversaw $160M across three funds that made...

Kinga Jentetics of PublishDrive

Kinga Jentetics is the CEO and founder of PublishDrive, the all-in-one digital book publishing platform for e-books, print books and audiobooks for authors and publishers.She made Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Media and was named one of the Top 100...

Wanda Wallace of Leadership Forum

Wanda Wallace, Ph.D. is a Leadership and Inclusion Expert and Radio Host. She is an accomplished keynote speaker and Managing Partner of Leadership Forum, LLC. She coaches and facilitates improving leadership by improving the quality of conversations — helping women...

Chip Crunk of RJ Young

Chip has worked at RJ Young since he was fourteen years old. In his own words, working for RJ Young is “the only life I’ve ever known.” In 1987, Chip started officially at RJ Young as a sales representative after...

Rod Washington of Frost Bank

Rod Washington serves as Dallas regional president for Frost Bank, where he oversees the teams working to build and strengthen business relationships within the Dallas community. Washington joined Frost in 2007 as an executive vice president in charge of its...

Chelle Neff of Urban Betty

Chelle Neff has been a leader in the U.S. salon industry since founding Urban Betty in 2005. As the CEO, Neff has successfully grown Urban Betty year after year and today has a salon company that houses more than 60...

Erica Bliss Pattni of ROWDY

Erica Pattni is a seasoned CMO and startup advisor with a successful track record at developing numerous high growth companies to profitably establish them as health & wellness and tech leaders. Erica led all marketing during the rapid growth phase...

Colin and Whit Hunter of BetterWorld

I had the pleasure of interviewing Whit and Colin Hunter of BetterWorld, a free, easy-to-use fundraising platform that helps nonprofits and individuals raise funds online.Since the age of 18, Whit Hunter has worked in startups from Shanghai to Palo Alto....

Nick Ron of House Buyers of America

Nick Ron, CEO of House Buyers of America, is a tech-savvy industry veteran with over 20 years of experience as a real estate investor. Since 2001, Nick has bought 1,000s of homes in the Washington D.C. Metro area through his...

Steven Seiden of Acquired Data Solutions

Steven Seiden is CEO of Acquired Data Solutions (ADS), Inc., a 22-year old engineering services company specializing in solving customer’s complex engineering problems serving the Aerospace and Defense, Transportation, Critical Infrastructure, Medical, and Food and Beverage industries. These solutions include...

Jorge Sun of LendingFront

Jorge Sun is the founder of  Lending Front, a technology company that powers the future of business lending for community banks, credit unions, CDFIs, payment processors, and alternative lenders. The SaaS platform enables lenders to separate small business lending from...

Jason Dunn Sr. of the National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals

Jason Dunn Sr. is the Chairman of NCBMP and has been a change-maker in Cincinnati and within the national hospitality industry for almost two decades. He has a drive to redefine how the industry thinks about multicultural and diversity meetings and...

Lisa Powers Struble of BANDED

With more than 25 years of experience in the apparel industry, Lisa Struble has led global teams in technical design and product development and has been featured in Sourcing Journal, Nashville Fashion Week, Textile Excellence and many more. After 15...

Kym Gold of True Religion Brand Jeans

Kym Gold is the original Co-founder/Designer for True Religion Brand Jeans. Her talent and passion for design has been translated into other premier brands like Babakul, Bella Dahl, Hippie Jeans, and most recently Style Union Home. “Fashion for the home,”...

Dr. Joseph Michelli of The Michelli Experience

Joseph A. Michelli, Ph.D., an internationally sought-after speaker, author, and organizational consultant. He is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Nielson BookScan, and New York Times #1 bestselling author of 9 books about companies like Starbucks, Mercedes-Benz, Zappos,...

Joseph Mannello of MYOS

Joseph is the CEO of MYOS RENS Technology Inc in Cedar Knolls, NJ, a research-based company focused on addressing musculoskeletal health through the development and commercialization of advanced nutrition products for both humans and pets. Prior to joining MYOS, Mannello...

Chuck Stokes of Memorial Hermann Health System

Charles (Chuck) D. Stokes, Former President and CEO of Memorial Hermann Health System, joined the system in 2008 as Chief Operating Officer (COO). In June 2017, he was named President and CEO of the System. In his role, Chuck was...

Meredith Stoddard of Fidelity Investments

Meredith Stoddard is currently Vice President, Life Events Planning at Fidelity Investments, a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing and other financial products and services to more than 26 million individuals, institutions and financial...

Jean Freeman of Zambezi

Jean Freeman is the Principal and CEO of the award-winning creative agency Zambezi, which is one of the largest, female-owned, full-service creative agencies in the country. Jean has successfully grown Zambezi to a thriving business.

Grant Aldrich of OnlineDegree

Grant Aldrich founded OnlineDegree.com with a purpose-driven mission: make higher education more accessible and affordable for everyone. After graduating college with an overwhelming amount of debt, he was determined to change how students embark on their college education. Grant has...

Mitch Luciano of Trailer Bridge

Mitch Luciano is President and CEO of the #1 Ocean Carrier Trailer Bridge, the #1 Place to Work in Jacksonville, and an Inc Best Workplace for 2020."Trailer Bridge was founded in 1991 by Malcom McLean, a true pioneer in the...

Anthony Denier of Webull Financial

Anthony Denier is the CEO of Webull Financial, a commission-free trading platform with over 11 million users worldwide. The platform offers online stock trading, ETF trading, real-time market quotes, and comprehensive market data from more than 100 exchanges and 90...

Winston Fisher of Fisher Brothers

Winston C. Fisher directs Fisher Brothers' financing/investing activities, property acquisitions and dispositions, and oversees all new development initiatives. With experience across a broad range of transactions, Mr. Fisher leads all financial analysis, due diligence, project capitalization efforts, and joint-venture partnerships...

Leesa Schipani of KardasLarson

"When KardasLarson began, it was founded by two women who were actually in competition with each other. Both were determined to use their expertise to help organizations strengthen their workplace practices ensuring compliance with ever changing laws and building effective...

Dave Krepcho of Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida

Dave Krepcho is President/CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida; a member of Feeding America, the largest domestic hunger-relief organization in the U.S. Second Harvest Food Bank serves a six County area in Central Florida through a network...

Cole Baker-Bagwell of Cool Audrey

Cole spent two decades working in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street, solving complex sales and strategy puzzles for some of the world’s largest companies. Her success during that period came from merging smart business strategy with her own long-standing...

Colin House of Intellibed

Colin House is an entrepreneur at heart and a highly seasoned professional in the sleep space. He entered the sleep market in an unusual way — through a friend who had assembled a team of brain scientists that developed a...

Jeramy Ragsdale of Thrive Senior Living

As founder and CEO of Thrive Senior Living, Jeramy Ragsdale is a man on a mission to nurture a business with people right at the heart. He is the founder behind Thrive, responsible for business development, strategic management and supporting...

Henry S. Givray of SmithBucklin

Henry S. Givray is the current Chairman and former President & CEO of SmithBucklin Corporation, an association management and services company. During Henry’s 13 years as CEO between 2002 and 2015, SmithBucklin achieved unprecedented success since its founding in 1949,...

Michael Stausholm of Sprout World

Michael Stausholm is the founder of Sprout — the company behind the first pencil in the world that can be planted and grown into herbs, vegetables, and flowers.Michael Stausholm began his career in the shipping industry, working for A.P. Møller/Mærsk....

Stephan Fortier of GrapeStars

With 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur, Stephan launched 30 startups including an app for celebrity wines and spirits (GrapeStars), a magazine (Ocean Drive Canada), a fashion line of custom sandals (Tuccia Di Capri), a modeling and talent agency...

Mark Testoni of SAP National Security Services

Mark Testoni is the CEO of SAP National Security Services (SAP NS2). We provide SAP solutions to the US National Security community under a special arrangement with the US government. Over the last 25 years, we have watched the national...

Haresh Mirpuri of Aranyani

Haresh Mirpuri is the Founder and Creative Director of Aranyani, the luxury Indian handbag company. He began his career in the manufacturing industry in Indonesia and worked in numerous positions throughout Southeast Asia. In 1996 Haresh founded a spinning mill...

Paul McKeon of Team Building with Taste

As part of my series about the “How Business Leaders Plan To Rebuild In The Post COVID Economy,” I had the pleasure of interviewing Paul McKeon, CEO of Team Building with Taste. Paul has merged his love of cooking with...

Clark Twiddy of Twiddy & Company

Clark is the President of Twiddy & Company, a family firm based along North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Specializing in the vacation rental market, Twiddy & Company manages more than 1,000 privately owned vacation homes and employs more than 125 full-time...

Joseph Meuse of Business GPS

A serial entrepreneur over the past 30 years, Mr. Meuse has started and built over a dozen successful businesses and in the process has also helped thousands of other US companies execute on their business plans. Sectors of experience span...

Mir Garvy of Job Market Solutions

In the career services world, Mir Garvy is a leading job search strategist, writer, and In the career services world, Mir Garvy is a leading job search strategist, writer, and speaker. An authority on resume writing, LinkedIn design and development,...

Tony Montero of Hai Hospitality

Tony Montero brings thirty years of industry experience to his role as CEO of the award-winning Hai Hospitality restaurant group. The Austin-based group includes concepts Uchi, Uchiko, Uchi Houston, Uchi Dallas, Uchiba, Uchi Denver, and Loro, with new locations on...

Vicki Benjamin of Karner Blue Capital

Vicki is a cofounder of Karner Blue Capital, LLC and has been its Chief Executive Officer since it commenced operations as an investment adviser in 2018. Ms. Benjamin was a partner at KPMG from September 2005 until February 2015, when...

Mark Crames of Northern Group

After 5 years as an Assistant State Attorney in Dade County Florida, Mark entered private practice where he represented a number of fragrance distribution companies. In 1986 he co-founded Northern Group, a distributor of fine fragrance that grew to $120,000,000...

Cindy DiBiasi of 3D Communications

Cindy DiBiasi is a Co-Founder of 3D Communications and 3D Executive Communications. As a leading communications consultant to Fortune 500 companies, Cindy specializes in helping executives become powerful communicators who inspire audiences — regardless of the complexity of the issue...

Adrian Rashad Driscoll of Driscoll Entertainment

From the small city of Barstow CA, (yeah, the pitstop on the way to Vegas) Adrian Rashad Driscoll followed his dream of becoming a professional actor and moved to Los Angeles. Shortly after that, he was woken up. After 9...

Mario Veraldo of Reinvention Revolution

Mario is the CEO of the start-up Reinvention Revolution. The time was right to help people reinvent themselves and their business due to the unprecedented development in multiple industries, the low barriers for entry in different businesses, and the convergence...

Paige Arnof-Fenn of Mavens & Moguls

Paige is the founder & CEO of global marketing and branding firm Mavens & Moguls based in Cambridge, MA. Her clients include Microsoft, Virgin, venture-backed startups as well as nonprofit organizations. She graduated from Stanford University and Harvard Business School....

Meryl Kennedy of Kennedy Rice Mill

Meryl Kennedy is the CEO of Kennedy Rice Mill, LLC and the founder of 4Sisters Rice. She was recently appointed Vice Chairman of the USA Rice Miller’s Board and is the first woman to ever hold the prestigious position.The youngest...

David and Marty Indursky of ENCON

David joined ENCON full-time in 1993 and worked his way up to president. He’s most thankful for having an incredible working relationship with his father Marty — who founded the business in 1968 — for over 26 years which is...

Sam Baker of Farm Flight

Sam Baker is the CFO and co-founder of Farm Flight. Sam oversees the day to day operations while also developing business strategies and key partnerships. His vision for the company is to make data-driven farming possible for every agricultural worker...

Jeff Zhou of Fig Loans

Fig partners with nonprofits to create socially responsible financial products for underbanked Americans. They started as a collaboration with the United Way and their latest product is called Fig36, which has been called Shopify for lending. Fig36 provides turnkey lending-as-a-service...

Kristy Lewis of Quinn Foods

Kristy Lewis is the Founder/CEO of Quinn Foods LLC, based in Louisville, CO. Kristy, mom of three little boys, and wife of Coulter Lewis, Founder/CEO Sunday, launched Quinn Foods with no prior food industry experience just three days after her...

Christian Giordano of Mancini Duffy

Christian is driven by a quest of disruption and innovation. He approaches each new undertaking — be it a design project, a business initiative, or an industry‑wide effort — with a desire to push boundaries, do it better, and solve...