Building Excellence

#190: General Robert F. “Bob” Dees served for 31 years in the U.S. Army in a wide variety of command and staff positions culminating in his last three assignments as Assistant  Division Commander for Operations, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault); Commander,  Second Infantry Division, United States Forces Korea; and as Deputy Commanding General,  V (US/GE) Corps in Europe, concurrently serving...

#189: Roland Thornqvist is the University of Florida Women’s Tennis former head coach and 4X National Champion. Thornqvist owns a remarkable 582-157 head coaching record in 28 years, including a 507-107 mark at Florida. In 20+ years with Thornqvist on the sidelines, some of Florida’s more significant highlights include four NCAA Team National Championships (2003, 2011, 2012, & 2017), as well a...

#188: Matt Pinnell is the Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma. Pinnell is President of the Oklahoma State Senate and serves on multiple constitutional boards and commissions, including serving as Chairman of the Oklahoma Tourism Commission and Route 66 Centennial Commission. He has set his Lt. Governor agenda focused on workforce and economic development issues. Pinnell is the chief marketer of Oklaho...

Chris Acker is the Long Beach State University Men’s Basketball Head Coach. Acker has spent the last five seasons as an assistant coach at San Diego State, playing a crucial role in the team’s recent success. The Aztecs have reached the NCAA tournament in each of the last four seasons and were 30-2 in 2019-20 prior to the COVID shutdown. In 2022-23, SDSU reached the National Championship game and...

#186: Robin Siegfried is the former Co-Owner & CEO of NORDAM, which stands for Northeastern Oklahoma Research, Development, & Manufacturing. Chances are if you have ever flown on a plane you have interacted with many of NORDAM’s products even if you weren’t aware of it. NORDAM is a top choice for engineering, manufacturing, maintaining, and repairing components for business jets, commercia...

#185: Bubba Cunningham is the University of North Carolina Director of Athletics. Under his leadership, the athletic department has accomplished numerous academic and athletic achievements. The Tar Heels have won 22 national titles and made an additional 14 runner-up finishes. More than 3,500 student-athletes have made the ACC Academic Honor Roll -- which requires a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better...

#184: Kevin Deshazo is the Co-Founder of BETTER and a partner at global leadership development firm GiANT. He works with some of the best leaders, teams, and organizations in the industry of sports on mindset, leadership, and performance. A sought after speaker and consultant, he has presented on more than 400 college campuses, dozens of fortune 100 companies, and headlined top conferences and con...

#183: Pat Chambers is the Florida Gulf Coast University men’s basketball head coach. He is the former head coach at Penn State and Boston University, as well as the associate head coach at Villanova. Pat did not know he wanted to be a college basketball coach. For the first 8 years out of college he started in business and was quickly very successful. However, a near death experience helped him fi...

#182: Daniel Lamarre is Vice Chairman and former CEO of Cirque Du Soleil. As CEO he guided the organization through a period of astounding growth and then brought it back to life during the massive upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic. When Daniel joined in 2001 as president of new ventures, Cirque Du Soleil had two thousand employees and seven shows in performance. Five years later he became chief e...

#181: Chris Haack is the University of Georgia Head Men’s Golf Coach. Haack has coached the Bulldogs to two national championships (the only two in school history), eight SEC titles, 67 team tournament titles, and virtually every squad and individual records. Under his tutelage, 27 Bulldogs have accumulated 63 medalist titles. Thirty-one of his players have rolled up 70 All-America honors, while 3...

#180: Taylor Edge is the Founder and CEO of Season Builder. The Season Builder Foundation's mission is to help students and young adults define direction and equip them to pursue it with purpose. Taylor is the creator of the Season Builder framework as well as former college athlete, successful entrepreneur, corporate employee, UAH Men’s and Women’s Basketball Character Coach, public servant,...

#179: Admiral Mike Manazir is a retired US Navy Admiral who is a Top Gun fighter pilot and instructor who commanded the aircraft carrier the USS Nimitz, an F-14 squadron, and a Carrier Strike Group. He completed 15 overseas deployments, qualified in the F-14 and the F/A-18 and has flown 3,750 fighter hours with 1,240 arrested landings on multiple aircraft carriers. He also completed five tours in...

John Rossman is the author of four books on leadership and business innovation including the best seller The Amazon Way and Big Bet Leadership . He is an early Amazon executive who played a key role in launching the Amazon marketplace business in 2002. Today he is a leading keynote speake r on leadership for innovation and transformation. John is an operator and builder whose love is diving into b...

#177: Mike Morrell is the UNC Asheville men’s basketball head coach. In 2023 he was selected as the Big South Coach of the Year and led UNCA to a Big South Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance.  In the last two years the Bulldogs are one of the winningest programs in college basketball. In 2023 he guided UNCA to a school record 27 wins.  Before moving to Asheville Coach Morrell coached alon...

Ken Coleman is the three-time bestselling author of Find the Work You're Wired to Do , From Paycheck to Purpose, The Proximity Principle, and host of The Ken Coleman Show . As America’s Work Expert, he helps people discover what they do best so they can do work they love and produce the results that matter most to them. Whether they’re looking for a complete career change or they’re just unsu...

#175: Alan bowman is the staring quarterback at Oklahoma State University. With currently less than two weeks before the start of the 2024 season, Alan has been selected on the Manning Award, Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, and Wuerffel Trophy watchlists. The AP Top 25 rankings has the Cowboys at 17 as they look to build upon last year’s great season. Last season Alan helped lead OSU to a Big 12 C...

Tony Monetti is a former B2 Stealth Bomber Pilot and currently leads Stealth Advantage Consulting as CEO. Tony is a U.S. Air Force Academy graduate, and holds two Masters Degrees. During his exemplary Air Force career, he led the 13th Bomb Squadron’s as Director of Operations, one of two operational B-2 Stealth squadrons. He has flown multiple planes including the B2 Stealth, B1, B52, and many oth...

#173: Lorenzo Romar is one of college basketball’s all time winningest and most accomplished coaches. More importantly he is one of the most respected coaches. He has served as the head coach at the University of Washington, Pepperdine, and Saint Louis. He is currently an assistant coach a Loyola Marymount University.  As a head coach, he's had 18 players taken in the NBA Draft. As either a h...

#172: Scott Mabrey is Chief Executive Officer of Mabrey Bank. Mabrey Bank is a $1.7 billion community bank with 15 locations throughout Oklahoma. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Mabrey Bank and Mabrey Bancorporation. Scott first joined the bank in 2001 after working 3.5 years at Bank of Oklahoma in Corporate Lending. An active civic member, Scott has served on the boards or volunteere...

#171: Jeremy Foley is the University of Florida Athletic Director Emeritus and served as the Athletic Director from 1992-2016.  During his tenure leading the University of Florida, the Gators accumulated 27 National Titles, made numerous athletic facility improvements, he handled virtually every aspect of the $119.3 million athletic program during his athletic administrative career, and he won mul...

#170: Wayne Simien is a former NBA world champion with the Miami Heat, Kansas basketball player, and current KU athletics associate AD. Growing up Wayne had two very important role models being his parents. He quickly excelled at basketball and was a part of a 6A State Championship team and became a McDonald's High School All-American. As a player at the University of Kansas he was coached by...

#169: Howard Behar is the former President of Starbucks Coffee Company. During his time at Starbucks he helped the company grow from 28 stores to over 15,000 stores all over the world. Not only does he share some great stories and principles from his time at Starbucks, but also from his early years growing up around the retail business. Howard currently travels around the world speaking to leaders...

#168: 7x MLB All-Star & hosts of the Table 40 podcast, Matt & Leslee Holliday share their journey, as well as lessons in faith, marriage, leadership, and being present.  Matt & Leslee met while Leslee was in college and Matt had just started his professional baseball career. They share their experiences and what it was like to have a great marriage, live out their faith, and still rais...

#113: Steve Robinson is the former Executive Vice President & Chief marketing officer of Chick-Fil-A from 1981-2015. He currently serves as a consultant, speaker, and author on organizational culture, brand strategy, marketing and advertising, as well as leadership development. Steve went to Faulkner State where he played baseball and then finished his college at Auburn University with a bache...

#166: Chad Hennings is a 3 time Super Bowl Champion with the Dallas Cowboys, A10 fighter pilot, real estate businessmen, author, speaker, and ministry founder. In order to achieve a legacy of excellence, one must live a life of integrity and purpose. Excellence isn’t a destination; it’s an identity. Chad Hennings has lived this message through a nine year NFL career and three Super Bowl Championsh...