Andrew Hurst is the founder and CEO of Delivered, a fast-scaling logistics platform revolutionizing parcel shipping with faster, more reliable deliveries at lower costs. He also serves as CEO of Ark Transportation, where he led a fivefold revenue increase in just five years, and is the founder of Veroot, a compliance platform now trusted by thousands of logistics teams nationwide. Under his leadership, and across all three companies, Andrew is bringing an entrepreneurial lens to the freight indu...
Aug 14, 2025•1 hr 9 min
Dale Wollschleger is the Founder and former CEO of Cleveland-based ExactCare Pharmacy and the developer of the ExactPack™—a patient-specific medication packaging system designed to simplify complex medication regimens. This conversation with Dale dives into the unlikely journey of a pharmacist-turned-entrepreneur who started in the back of a small Cleveland pharmacy and built a billion-dollar organization serving patients across the country. ExactCare’s meteoric growth—from inception to a multi-...
Jul 31, 2025•53 min
Sanjay Singh is a thoughtful strategist, seasoned executive, and business philosopher whose journey to leading the iconic Cleveland brand Mace Security—and his reflections on it—are remarkable. Sanjay’s story weaves together a deep appreciation for manufacturing and a career shaped by curiosity, resilience, and a knack for doing hard things—ultimately culminating in a personal philosophy grounded in introspection and presence. From navigating activist shareholders during a turnaround at Mace to ...
Jul 24, 2025•1 hr 6 min
Kelcey Lehrich is the Co-Founder and CEO of 365 Holdings, based in Akron, Ohio. 365 Holdings acquires and operates consumer products companies, with a focus on eCommerce and a goal of long-term ownership. In our conversation, Kelcey shares his path to entrepreneurship and his evolution from making his first acquisition to becoming a seasoned operator. He weaves in lessons from challenging ventures, unconventional acquisitions, and the earned wisdom of building durable businesses in the competiti...
Jul 17, 2025•57 min
TJ Dembinski is the co-founder and CEO of Eagle Electronics, dedicated to on-shoring America’s critical technology supply chain, starting with the IoT and automotive-grade cellular modules! This journey traces a fascinating arc — one that begins with the macro and geopolitical forces shaping global commerce and lands in a Northeast Ohio advanced micro-electronic manufacturing floor where Eagle Electronics is domestically building one of the most critical pieces of our digital infrastructure: the...
Jul 10, 2025•49 min
Ibrahim Mohmed is the founder of CourtSide Media Group and the co-founder & CEO of Taja AI. His entrepreneurial journey began right here in Ohio, where he launched CourtSide Media, a digital media agency that serves influencers with audiences ranging from 1 million to 75 million followers across various social platforms. Through CourtSide Media, Ibrahim has collaborated with high-profile clients including NBA legend Kevin Garnett, Cleveland’s FutureLAND annual conference, and prominent influ...
Jun 26, 2025•50 min
Carey Jaros joined GOJO in 2014 as a board member, later taking on executive roles as Chief Strategy Officer—where she oversaw Marketing, Product Management, and Innovation—and as Chief Operating Officer, before becoming President and CEO in January 2020. Our conversation today covers Carey’s call to lead—shaped by a lifelong passion for solving problems and telling stories—her reflections on leadership and decision-making, GOJO’s extraordinary legacy, and its ongoing commitment to innovation. W...
Jun 19, 2025•1 hr 3 min
Today, we’re picking up with the second part of my conversation with Jodi Berg, the former President & CEO of Vitamix. In Part 1 , we explored Jodi’s career, the history, evolution, and family legacy of Vitamix, and her leadership journey in growing the company into the global brand it is today. In Part 2, we continue with her reflections on stepping away from the business—and dive deeper into her philosophy of purpose, the DANCE framework she’s developing to help others lead more intentiona...
Jun 12, 2025•1 hr 21 min
Jodi Berg, PhD recently retired as the fourth-generation President and CEO of Vitamix, having joined the family business in 1997 with the directive to lead the company’s overseas expansion, later serving as director of international, household and commercial divisions, and then ultimately as Executive Vice President in 2007, President in 2009, and CEO in 2011. Under her leadership, Jodi built on the 100+ year history and legacy of her family’s business, — founded in 1921 and headquartered in Olm...
Jun 05, 2025•1 hr 5 min
Max Pennington is the Co-Founder & CEO of CLEANR, an innovative company that uses filters to prevent microplastics from entering water streams. Max graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Chemical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University, where he co-developed CLEANR’s innovative VORTX filtration technologyb. Inspired by nature, VORTX biomimcry is capable of removing over 90% of microplastics from washing machine wastewater. Microplastics pollution is a severe and growing environm...
May 29, 2025•1 hr 7 min
I’m very excited to welcome Umberto Fedeli back for his third conversation. In our first two conversations — episode 135 and episode 171 — we explored Umberto’s remarkable life journey, deep-rooted wisdom, and how he's mastered the craft of building authentic relationships and connecting people across business, politics, and philanthropy. Those episodes are timeless and packed with valuable insights — I highly recommend listening to them to set the stage for today’s discussion. In this episode, ...
May 15, 2025•1 hr 13 min
Daniel Anstandig is the CEO of Futuri Media, a leading AI-driven platform he founded in Cleveland in 2009 to help companies build and monetize engaged audiences. Today, Futuri’s sales, content, and audience technology serves over 7,000 media brands across 22 countries, powered by a bold and passionate team recognized on the Inc. 5000 list of America’s Fastest-Growing Companies for nine years. Daniel has advised The Wall Street Journal, CBS News, Clear Channel R&D, the White House Commission ...
May 08, 2025•1 hr 16 min
Sonia Winner is the CEO of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. In July 2018, she became the 10th director of the Museum in its more than 100-year history, dating back to 1920. Since then, she has spearheaded a $150 million reinvention of the institution—reimagining its campus and exhibits to highlight the interconnectedness of life on Earth. Under her leadership, the Museum continues its century-long legacy as one of the nation’s top natural history institutions, stewarding over 12,000 acre...
May 01, 2025•1 hr 1 min
DJ Eidson is the President and Co-founder of Limitless Minds, where he spearheads efforts to make elite mindset coaching accessible to everyone. Through their digital platform and programs, Limitless Minds has empowered hundreds of individuals and teams across organizations like Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Chick-fil-A, Bristol Myers Squibb, Goldman Sachs, Harvard Business School, and many others to enhance their performance and gain a competitive edge—just as Super Bowl-winning quarterback...
Apr 24, 2025•54 min
Blake Squires began his journey in the mid-90s in Los Angeles, capitalizing early on the convergence of technology and media. He soon returned to his hometown of Cleveland to co-found Everstream with Steve McHale (episode 196) and Charlie Lougheed (episode 42 , and also my co-founder at Axuall). Blake served as COO until Everstream’s acquisition by Concurrent Computer Corp in 2005. Next, he co-founded Findaway, a global leader in digital audiobook distribution and creators of PLAYAWAY, a line of...
Apr 17, 2025•1 hr 7 min
Carl Walz is an astronaut, a pioneer of space exploration, and a proud Clevelander! As an astronaut, Carl is a veteran of four spaceflights, logging a total of 231 days in outer space and performing three spacewalks during that time. A physicist by training, with degrees from Kent State and John Carroll University, Carl made his way to NASA via the Air Force, where he served as a flight test engineer and managed all engineering activities related to F-16 avionics and armaments. At NASA, he was a...
Apr 10, 2025•53 min
Paul Roetzer is the founder and CEO of SmarterX and the Marketing AI Institute—a media, event, and online education company that he started back in 2016 to make AI accessible, approachable, and actionable for marketers and business leaders. Through the institute, he created MAICON—the leading annual Marketing AI conference, which is hosted here in Cleveland! He is also the co-author of Marketing Artificial Intelligence: AI, Marketing, and the Future of Business , the co-host of The Artificial ...
Mar 27, 2025•1 hr 5 min
Geoff Bruder, co-founder of GhostWorks Engineering and Sonic Fire Tech—a company redefining fire suppression—is fighting fires with acoustic wave technology. Geoff's journey is rooted in his work at NASA Glenn Research Center here in Cleveland, where he focused as a Research Engineer on projects like the Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG), thermoacoustic stirling heat engine designs, and led the design for the Glenn Extreme Environment Rig (GEER) — the largest chamber on earth able ...
Mar 20, 2025•40 min
Jared Semik, founder of Eternium Aerospace, a long-range, zero-emissions aircraft development company, is focused on sustainable transatlantic flight. A multi-service military aviation veteran with three global deployments, Jared began his career in the Marine Corps in 1999. He is an aerospace research and development engineer with over 20 years of experience working with next-generation zero-emissions aircraft systems. His expertise spans R&D, aircraft systems engineering, program managemen...
Mar 06, 2025•1 hr
Robert Marks founded Fidelity Voice and Data in 1999 with just a $600 investment, which he grew into a business generating over $30 million in revenue, making it one of the largest telecommunications and cloud services competitors throughout the Midwest. The company focused on providing high-speed Internet access to various industries. After selling the company in 2015, Robert turned his attention to giving back to his local community through various philanthropic initiatives. In 2020, however, ...
Feb 27, 2025•1 hr 3 min
Andy Tran has lived more lives than just about anyone I know. He’s a serial entrepreneur who has started multiple businesses across industries, including tech, ammunition manufacturing, defense contracting, and tequila, among many others. Andy is a true modern Renaissance man whose path defies convention and serves as a testament to his deep curiosity, creativity, ability to execute, and humility. He has alpine mountaineered in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego while living out of the back of a tru...
Feb 13, 2025•55 min
John Knific is a serial entrepreneur and investor who has built three venture-backed software companies here in Cleveland. His latest venture, Squad, is a peer discovery platform designed to gamify ratings and rankings for Gen Z, starting on college campuses, delivering valuable preference data to marketers. Before Squad, John co-founded Wisr, a virtual communities platform that transformed how universities engage students. Wisr ultimately served nearly one million active users before being acqu...
Feb 06, 2025•1 hr 6 min
Rob van Haaren is a Dutch-born entrepreneur and CEO of Proximal Energy, a Cleveland-based SaaS company transforming asset management for solar and energy storage projects. Rob has long been interested in renewable energy engineering — he holds a Master’s from Columbia University in Earth and Environmental Engineering and a PhD from Columbia as well with a focus on utility-scale energy storage optimization and engineering. He also has over a decade of experience blending bridging academia and ind...
Jan 30, 2025•1 hr 3 min
Ali Bonar — CEO & Co-Founder of Oat Haus, a food company bringing fun and play to eating. Their flagship product, Granola Butter, is the world's first oat-based spread and while Oat Haus was born out of Ali's decade-long battle with an eating disorder, and it's now her mission to help others feel less alone. Since its beginnings in 2018, Oat Haus has evolved from Ali’s personal project to a Cleveland-based, nationwide company with distribution in over 5,000 stores, including Target, Whole Fo...
Jan 23, 2025•58 min
Stephen McHale — a long-time Cleveland serial entrepreneur with a 40-year career founding, investing in, and building companies. Most notably, Steve served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Explorys, which he formed in 2009 in partnership with The Cleveland Clinic. He co-founded and funded Explorys with Charlie Lougheed, one of my former co-founders from Axuall, where Steve is also a board member. In six years, Explorys became the leader in leveraging electronic medical rec...
Jan 16, 2025•52 min
Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Lay of The Land podcast. Today, we're doing something a bit different as I take on the role of guest on other podcasts to discuss recent developments in my journey and offer a glimpse of what lies ahead. As some of you may know, I've recently embarked on a new professional path by joining the founding team of The O.H.I.O. Fund. In the near future, I'll be recording a dedicated episode to delve deeper into The O.H.I.O. Fund alongside some of my partners. ...
Jan 09, 2025•49 min
Throughout his career, Hanna Kassis has overseen $1.5 billion in capital deployment. Hanna began his entrepreneurial journey in Youngstown, where he managed Tim Ryan's congressional campaign from 2008 to 2011. This early taste of independence would prove formative for his future ventures. Though he initially pursued law school in Chicago with intentions of becoming a tax attorney, Hanna's entrepreneurial spirit led him to found OAREX Capital Markets while still a student. The company secured see...
Dec 19, 2024•51 min
It is with a heavy heart that I honor Bob Sopko’s memory by revisiting Lay of The Land 's 12th episode . While no conversation could ever fully capture the breadth or depth of his legacy, I hope this episode relays an essence of his spirit, his unwavering commitment to supporting others, and his vision for Cleveland’s entrepreneurial future. Bob will be deeply missed, but I believe his influence will continue to resonate through the community he devoted himself to and the people whose lives he t...
Dec 10, 2024•59 min
Ryan Schreiber is a long-time Clevelander and major advocate for the city, as well as the founder and CEO of Streamline, an innovative mobile platform tackling one of the streaming industry's most pressing challenges—helping users navigate the increasingly fragmented world of content and entertainment, from sports to shows and movies, across over 200 streaming platforms. With over $1.6 million in funding raised since founding the company earlier in 2024, Ryan is on a mission to transform how we ...
Nov 21, 2024•56 min
Jim Weisman, CEO of Ingine, exploring deep into the intersection of artificial intelligence and healthcare In our world where healthcare costs are soaring and drug development timelines stretch into decades, Ingine is revolutionizing how we can analyze complex medical and healthcare data to produce better knowledge to create better medicine. By leveraging quantum mechanics principles and advanced probabilistic mathematics, they're tackling some of healthcare's most pressing challenges - from dru...
Nov 14, 2024•53 min
