The Climb - Cross Roads & Defining Moments

Larry Autrey is the CEO & Managing Partner of Whitley Penn. He has more than 30 years of tax, advisory and business valuation experience focused on public and private clients. His areas of practice include mergers and acquisitions, manufacturing, distribution, profit enhancement, professional services, business valuations, and estate planning. In this episode, we discuss: - How AI and Blockcha...

George has nearly 17 years of hands-on experience in the parking realm, focusing on managing the parking operations of class-A office garage facilities and comparable top-tier parking operations across the continental United States. He prides himself on deep domain knowledge of the event parking space and providing a comprehensive suite of services both software and hardware to support his ever-gr...

Mike has twenty-five years of real estate and finance experience. His experience includes structuring joint ventures, acquisitions, development, accounting, and investment management; with acquisition officer responsibility for approximately $1 billion in investment across asset classes and in multiple U.S. markets. On this episode, we discuss: - Growing up with Best disease (vitelliform macular d...

Philip is a Partner in the Corporate team at Knights PLC . Experienced in a wide range of corporate transactions, Philip specializes in domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions and has advised on many high-value and complex corporate transactions. Philip’s experience covers UK and international transactions across a wide range of sectors, including building products, house building, oil...

Anna M. Alvarado is a business-oriented, operationally focused executive who is bilingual (fluent in Spanish) and bicultural. In her role as Managing Director and Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary of Texas Capital Bank and its parent company, Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ®: TCBI), she is responsible for supervising and coordinating all legal services for the company, serving as...

Business owner, designer, mentor, and passionate activist, Nancy Gale is an inspiring individual with a fascinating story of overcoming hardship and turning it into something beautiful. A strong force not only in the entrepreneurial world but also in shaping future generations, Nancy is the founder and creative vision behind JAMAH, an American luxury, Made in the USA bespoke handbag brand, featuri...

CT Charlton currently serves as the President of the Charlton Group.  Leaving a career in finance to officially join the Charlton team in 2011, CT was responsible for starting the industrial division which has been an area of steady growth and diversification across all business units.  Over the following 10 years, CT has held roles in Chicago and Seattle before moving to Detroit in 2020.  Under C...

Tony Iannessa is the Founder and CEO of BIG Construction. Born in Chicago, Tony Iannessa is driven by the work ethic he inherited from his family, who immigrated from Italy in the early 1950s. Having built a foundation working in the trades, Tony’s roots in construction trace back to his youth, when he spent summers as a concrete laborer and interning with an electrical contractor. On this episode...

Bob Kinnan is the resident historian of the legendary King Ranch, which now covers 825,000 acres—more land than the state of Rhode Island. Over 160 years, King Ranch led some of the first cattle drives, developed the Santa Gertrudis and Santa Cruz cattle breeds, bred the finest Quarter Horses, and produced champion Thoroughbreds—all under its iconic Running W® brand. Bob dives deep into the histor...

Links: Breneman Capital The Rise and Invest Podcast Topics: (0:14) - Drew’s background and career (3:55) - What do you think inspired your entrepreneurial curiosity? (5:39) - Drew’s family dynamic (7:27) - How did you qualify for your first loan? (8:50) - What was your first deal? (9:19) - What would you tell new investors looking at getting into Real Estate? (15:22) - Are there things about RE in...

Ryan "Birdman" Parrott is a US Navy SEAL and joins us on the podcast to give us an inside look at the BUD/S training process, his life prior to joining up, his philanthropy work with Veterans and so much more. Enjoy the Climb! Links: Sons of the Flag American Extreme Birds Eye View Project Ryan Birdman Parrott on Instagram Sons of the Flag book by Ryan Parrot Topics: (2:13) - Ryan’s background and...

Matt Johnson is a North Texas Business Titan. His has successful ventures across a variety of industries including automotive, entertainment, and firearms. He joins us today to discuss his approach to building businesses through customer service, how he disrupts industries, and diversifying himself as an entrepreneur. We also touch on the politically volatile nature of some of his businesses, fire...

Lindsay Androski serves as President and CEO of Roivant Social Ventures. Shei joined Roivant Sciences as one of its earliest employees, and built and led the team responsible for the in-licensing or acquisition of more than 30 therapeutic programs, resulting in the launch and incubation of 16 subsidiary biotechs and several successful IPOs. Lindsay has likewise demonstrated a longstanding commitme...

Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker joins us on The Climb to discuss her journey from small-town Texas to the youngest mayor of a major city in the country. We talk about equality and democracy, how social media pushes us to the fringes, solutions to bring us back to the middle, building community, and the future of Fort Worth. Enjoy The Climb! Links: Go Time in Fort Worth with Mayor Mattie Parker: htt...

Rhett Keisler is the Co-Founder of the Texas Beer staple: Revolver Brewing. After being acquired by Molson-Coors in 2016, Rhett founded Watertight Cocktail Co. which prides itself on using 100% real ingredients in their canned cocktails. On this episode, Rhett describes the journey of building Revolver, the story behind the acquisition from Molson-Coors and his incredible new canned cocktails at W...

Prior to founding Firebrand, John served as Managing Director for Techstars, a leading startup accelerator with over 40 programs around the world. While at Techstars he ran three accelerator programs in Kansas City and invested in 30 startups. John was previously a part of five startups, including one he cofounded. Before Techstars he spent nine years at UnitedHealth Group, managing large scale pr...

Matt Homan is the President and GM at Dickie’s Arena in Fort Worth, TX. On this episode we deep dive into Matt’s career in event management and how it led to his leadership in helping create one of the most beautiful arenas in the country. We also discuss the intricacies of the public/private partnership for the arena, adapting events in light of the pandemic and the Las Vegas shooting, virtual ev...

We've got one of the most special episodes ever recorded on this podcast. I am joined by my brother Philip and 3 of my lifelong friends, Roy, Rick and Ryan Seiders. We reflect back on our childhood growing up in Dripping Springs, our parental influences and trace our family lineages in Texas back to the early 1800's. We also talk about where the boys are today: We break down Philip's career in ren...

Michael’s work life has been spent in the electronics industry where he has worked for three component manufacturers (two start-ups and one publicly traded) ranging in size from national to global, one rep firm, and one software company. On this episode we discuss Michael’s unique upbringing that led him to riding a motorcycle cross-country to begin his career in Silicon Valley. Michael is describ...

Jim & Ashley Walsh are the Father-Daughter duo behind Kimo Sabe Mezcal. Jim is also the founder of Hawaiian Vintage Chocolate, and Ashley is the founder of Inner State, a Psilocybin-based wellness company. On this episode, we discuss Jim's entrepreneurial parenting style, their move to Hawaii for a "1950's-style" family experience, starting the first chocolate company on the islands and eventu...

Katie Spotz is an endurance athlete, charitable ambassador, author and world-record holder. The list of accomplishments to her name is long, and includes five Ironman triathlons, cycling across the country, a 325-mile river swim, running 100 miles nonstop in under 20 hours, and a solo row across the Atlantic Ocean. On this episode we talk with Katie about her childhood and what drew her to enduran...

Mike Berry is the President of Hillwood, a Perot Company. Mike began his real estate career in North Texas in 1982 and has been involved in real estate development projects for over 38 years. On this episode, Mike tells his story of growing up in Fort Worth, his family of 4 daughters and his journey of becoming friends with Ross Perot Jr. and their journey of the introduction of Alliance, Texas. M...

Hugo Del Pozzo is the managing director of Bravo Equity Partners & Co-Founder of Pinea Wine. Hugo has significant cross- border operation experience and has spent his career executing strategic alliances, buyouts and assisting high-growth companies. On this episode, Hugo discusses his upbringing in Mexico City before moving to the United States and the immense cultural shift that impacted his...

Karen Gutekanst is the Executive Managing Director of Clune Construction, and has been with the firm for 28 years. Clune is $1.4 Billion General Contractor based in Chicago. On this episode, Karen discusses her upbringing in downtown Chicago as the daughter of two police officers. She tells some phenomenal stories of her father working in the Organized Crime Unit, growing up with a working mom, he...

Betsy Price is the 44th Mayor of Fort Worth, TX, the 13th largest city in the United States. She is also the longest-serving Mayor in the history of Fort Worth. On this episode, we discuss Betsy's early life and her journey into the political world. We also talk about the impact of social media on politics, the future of Fort Worth & the DFW Metroplex and much more. Enjoy The Climb! (1:37) - M...