“ Strategy is a fancy word for making informed choices to meet your business objectives.” Nag-Bushan Odekar, vice president and head of marketing/individual markets for Great-West Financial, is a marketing executive with superior analytical/problem-solving skills, creativity, strategic agility, and entrepreneurial drive. He began his financial services career at Fidelity Investments in 1999. Nag also has prior experience as the co-founder and CMO at ForeverCar.com, an online retailer that enable...
Dec 13, 2018•32 min•Season 1Ep. 245
“LinkedIn is by far the easiest network in the world to go viral on.” AJ Wilcox is a long-time digital marketer who fell in love with the LinkedIn Ads platform back in 2011. Since then, he's scaled and managed among the world's most sophisticated accounts worldwide. In 2014, he founded B2Linked.com which specializes in LinkedIn Ads training, consulting, and account management. He is globally recognized as one of the top LinkedIn Ads experts, and he speaks with, trains, presents, and manages adve...
Dec 10, 2018•30 min•Season 1Ep. 244
“Humans are emotional buyers.” Jeffrey Shaw is the author of LINGO: Discover Your Ideal Customer's Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible . Jeffrey helps his clients understand the "lingo" of their ideal customers they want to reach and the audience they want to impact. Jeffrey believes that to understand the lingo of those you want to attract is to know their essence, their values, and what emotionally triggers them so that you stand out, and that to build a successful business is ...
Dec 04, 2018•31 min•Season 1Ep. 243
“Strategy and branding are one.” Manny Rodriguez is the chief marketing and experience officer for UCHealth, a nationally recognized Colorado health system comprised of leading community hospitals and the region’s top academic medical center. Manny is responsible for overseeing brand, marketing, advertising, sponsorships, public relations, and patient experience. A seasoned marketing executive with proven success, Manny is an expert in brand positioning and building, consumer marketing, communit...
Dec 03, 2018•31 min•Season 1Ep. 242
“It’s about harnessing the love.” Gavin Zuchlinski is the founder of Acuity Scheduling, a platform with a mission to be “the slickest way for businesses to automate and manage their appointments online, allowing clients to schedule themselves.” He is a self-professed tech geek and believes wholeheartedly that business should be fun. Acuity Scheduling supports over 50,000 businesses of all sizes, from people working for themselves to major corporations with thousands of employees. The company’s c...
Nov 29, 2018•24 min•Season 1Ep. 241
“Consumers deserve perfect information everywhere.” Jeff Rohrs is a creative, strategic, and experienced marketing leader with a passion for collaboration, innovation, and building dynamic brands in today's fragmented media landscape. He is the chief marketing officer for Yext and the author of Audience: Marketing In The Age Of Subscribers, Fans & Followers , in which he establishes "proprietary audience development," explores the flip-side of content marketing, and sets forth a modern marke...
Nov 27, 2018•34 min•Season 1Ep. 340
“There are no paved roads where we’re going.” Prior to becoming the vice president of Industry Insights for Yext, Duane Forrester accumulated over 20 years’ experience in the search and social fields. He is the author of How To Make Money With Your Blog and Turn Clicks Into Customers . Duane has worked in marketing and PR with Caesar’s Palace, run his own websites, communities, and consultancy, and worked for small and enterprise publishers online. Past work includes almost nine years with Micro...
Nov 26, 2018•35 min•Season 1Ep. 239
“Cybercrime is real, they are coming to get you, your beliefs about it are getting in the way, but the answer is really, really simple.” Adam Anderson is CSO of Element Security Group. His 15 years of entrepreneurial startup experience and his knowledge Enterprise Cyber Defense gives him a window into what’s wrong with communication between large and small companies. He combined this knowledge and the good works from the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Cyber Security Framework t...
Nov 15, 2018•27 min•Season 1Ep. 238
“Why are you managing 21 st century tools with a 20 th century technology?” Anita is the founder and CEO of CabinetM, a marketing technology management company. CabinetM’s platform makes it easy to find and manage marketing technology. She has spent most of her career as a high tech marketer working for companies from inception to M&A and IPO, and has had extensive experience addressing the marketing challenges that come with fast-growing businesses. In addition to her marketing roles, Anita...
Nov 13, 2018•22 min•Season 1Ep. 237
“Video is changing everything.” Jason Hsaio is the chief video officer and co-Founder of Animoto (animoto.com), an award-winning online video maker that makes it easy for anyone to create a professional-quality video. Used by millions of consumers, businesses, photographers, and educators, Animoto is deeply rooted in the belief that making videos should be simple, cost-effective, and accessible to everyone. Prior to Animoto, Jason served as a television producer for MTV Networks. Listen And Lear...
Nov 12, 2018•30 min•Season 1Ep. 236
“Social media has by far the best ROI for any advertising that’s out there.” Michael Koral, a sales and marketing expert, is the co-founder and COO at Needls.com , a social media advertising platform that allows businesses to automatically create, target, and optimize digital ads. Michael leads customer acquisition and operations at Needls. He and his team automate the creation, curation, and optimization of digital ads across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram through the deployment of the Needls...
Nov 08, 2018•31 min•Season 1Ep. 235
“Thinking about leadership is a vastly different thing than doing leadership.” Tricia Halsey is co-founder and executive director of The Big Idea Project, a company in Denver that is “solving the leadership crisis” in our nation by “raising up a generation of generous leaders who are unafraid to creatively solve challenging social problems.” Tricia builds leaders, teams, and organizations. Wherever she looks, she sees untapped potential and a vision for what could be. She brings the right people...
Nov 06, 2018•39 min•Season 1Ep. 234
“It’s so noisy out there, but we still need to be everywhere.” Ryan Coté is the director of digital services and partner at Ballantine, a third generation family-owned direct mail and digital marketing company based out of Fairfield, NJ. The business was started in 1966 by Ryan’s grandfather and great-uncle, and its mission is to make their clients’ marketing initiatives more successful through expert guidance, flawless execution, and remarkable service. He currently manages the growing digital ...
Nov 05, 2018•29 min•Season 1Ep. 233
“When a woman takes on a business, it becomes part of her skin.” Cheryl Leitschuh has spent 25 years focusing on leadership development for individuals, teams, and organizations. She has a doctorate in psychology and brings astute insights to complicated situations that provide targeted leadership results. As a Leadership Energy Guru and founder of The Leadership Energy Model, Cheryl is a nationally known speaker on cutting-edge leadership tools and resources. Her recent book, Straight Talk for ...
Nov 01, 2018•23 min•Season 1Ep. 232
“Saying ‘I’m busy’ should not be a badge of honor.” Bob Tipton, founder and CEO of Team Tipton and organizational transformation architect, has been working as an entrepreneur in professional services since 1986. He is a high-energy, innovative, and insightful transformational change architect, leadership facilitator, keynote speaker, and author. For over 30 years he has been refining Team Tipton’s innovative approach for guiding businesses through future-forward, results-focused transformationa...
Oct 30, 2018•34 min•Season 1Ep. 231
“The good thing about being strange is that it’s also memorable.” Patrick Scott rarely does anything halfway. As a sophomore at Harvard, he took a job as a deliveryman for a student-run laundry service; a year later I was elected president of the Harvard Student Agencies, the largest student-run business in the world with over 600 employees and $5 million in annual revenue. After graduating from college, he entered a training program at Kraft Heinz; a year later he had redesigned and managed the...
Oct 29, 2018•25 min•Season 1Ep. 230
“Our value proposition really has nothing to do with a specific delivery, but rather on the WHY and the HOW we deliver the service to (our customers).” Paul Duncan co-founded Pie Consulting & Engineering in 1999. As president and CEO, he is the managing partner and leads all aspects of the business including oversight of the corporate office in Colorado and regional offices in Minnesota, Texas, Florida, and California. He has consulted on projects nationwide with services on large commercial...
Oct 25, 2018•31 min•Season 1Ep. 229
“I.T. needs to look at things horizontally; we cannot operate in a vertical because I.T. touches all the departments.” Rick Gemereth is the chief information officer and senior vice president for Lionel, the iconic American designer and importer of toy trains and model railroads, based in Concord, NC. Rick provides corporate technology leadership and oversees many of the company’s business processes, including ERP and financial systems integration, as well as many other technologies used to stre...
Oct 23, 2018•31 min•Season 1Ep. 228
“Visual search has become table stakes.” Ted Mann is the CEO of Slyce, the market leader in image recognition and visual search. Slyce has created the first computer vision system for visual product search and has led to customers like Macy's, Home Depot, JC Penney, Neiman Marcus, Best Buy, and Urban Outfitters to deploy image recognition in their apps. Before Slyce, Ted founded SnipSnap, the first mobile app to let consumers save printed coupons to their smartphone and redeem in store. At the t...
Oct 22, 2018•28 min•Season 1Ep. 227
“Brands should have character. Brands should stand up and take a stand and be human.” Erik Reynolds, vice president of product marketing and communications for Loot Crate, is an 18-year veteran of the video game, tech and entertainment industries. Erik has worked with some of the most impactful brands and talent to help them craft the public story of their IP, and deliver those narratives in an engaging and audience-friendly manner. From executive producing an hour-long special about 50 Cent and...
Oct 18, 2018•36 min•Season 1Ep. 226
“Give your teams time to be thoughtful.” Erika Eklund is director of communications at HGA Architects and Engineers, a national multi-disciplinary design firm rooted in architecture and engineering. The company has more than 850 people in 10 offices from coast to coast and works to make a positive, lasting impact for clients in healthcare, arts and culture, community, corporate, education, government, and energy markets. In her role Erika oversees firm-wide internal and external communications, ...
Oct 16, 2018•30 min•Season 1Ep. 225
“People don’t buy from companies, they buy from people.” As chief marketing officer and chief operating officer at Steiner Sports, Kelvin is at the intersection of sports marketing and finance. A CPA, former CFO, and business owner, he utilizes his extensive experience in business consulting to help businesses grow and profit by identifying and leveraging sports, athletes and major events with a constant eye on the bottom line. Kelvin helps companies – from new startups to Fortune 500s – monetiz...
Oct 15, 2018•22 min•Season 1Ep. 224
“I don’t want to lose ourselves and I never want to take the easy path just so we can pick up a little bit more business.” Daniel Alarik is founder and CEO of Grunt Style, a highly motivated group of veterans and patriots who love three things: “PT, freedom, and bacon.” For Daniel, what you wear is more than just a necessity to be clothed. It's about attitude! Daniel and his team have taken the American fighting spirit and instilled it in everything they do. His mission is to deliver the highest...
Oct 11, 2018•34 min•Season 1Ep. 223
“When a customer gets a personalized treatment, they tend to buy more.” As CEO of Brightpearl, Derek O’Carroll is responsible for the overall company strategy and for delivering on Brightpearl’s mission to automate retail. Brightpearl is a scalable cloud platform designed especially for high-growth multi-channel retailers wishing to automate and integrate their e-Commerce and accounting operations. He has spent his career developing a highly successful track record of creating value to IT compan...
Oct 09, 2018•27 min•Season 1Ep. 222
“Don’t be afraid to over-communicate.” Ryan DeWard is president and CEO of Unique Truck Equipment, a Michigan-based company that serves the Heavy Duty Trucking industry by providing safety products and tools to help drivers and mechanics work more safely and efficiently. As the company’s leader, Ryan’s responsibilities include strategic planning, sales and marketing, human resources, budgeting, accounting, contract negotiations, and vendor relations. Over the years Unique has grown into a multi-...
Oct 08, 2018•23 min•Season 1Ep. 221
“You might think you know what the customer wants and needs. But, sometimes as marketers, we have to get off our high horse and ask the consumer what they think. You might realize that you don’t know.” Erin Dwyer, vice president of digital at the skincare brand, Drunk Elephant, is a dynamic marketing executive with a 15-year progressive career and unique blend of experience that bridges gaps at the intersections of digital marketing, strategy, product, and technology. She is a confident strategi...
Oct 04, 2018•32 min•Season 1Ep. 220
“Embrace the change. Be the change.” Justin Sessink is director of digital shopping and e-Commerce at Meijer, a regional American supercenter chain with its corporate headquarters in Walker, Michigan. He is responsible for leading cross-functional teams to develop and execute Meijer’s overall digital shopping strategy, including technology, operations, fulfillment, and other key aspects of omnichannel offerings. Justin also leads the site merchandising and product teams that support digital shop...
Oct 02, 2018•30 min•Season 1Ep. 219
“If you’re ‘binge listening,’ but then not actually implement anything that you’ve learned then what have you gained?” Kevin T. Payne is founder of kevintpayne.com and a growth and content marketing consultant. He helps early-stage startups implement growth marketing campaigns to increase their inbound leads, increase website traffic, and speed up their sales cycles by using marketing automation software. He is the creator of Growth Driven Marketing For SaaS Startups, a 12-week online intensive ...
Oct 01, 2018•20 min•Season 1Ep. 218
“I’d rather not hire someone than hire the wrong person.” Marshall Rule is president of SCOTTeVEST, a company that designs innovative apparel for people who need quick and convenient access to all of their belongings at any time. Marshall’s primary responsibilities in the company are to manage the operations of every department, oversee general brand strategy as well as leverage opportunities to increase market share, and steadily drive monthly and yearly growth. Listen And Learn: Why it’s so im...
Sep 27, 2018•32 min•Season 1Ep. 217
“If you want your people to be reliable and have integrity, you must go first.” Dr. Gustavo Grodnitzky is a speaker, author, consultant, and psychologist whose diverse background brings a unique and multidimensional perspective to his global clients. After obtaining his Ph.D. in clinical and school psychology, he completed post-docs in both cognitive therapy and forensic psychology. He has previously run an inpatient drug rehabilitation unit in a correctional institution and an outpatient mental...
Sep 25, 2018•33 min•Season 1Ep. 216
