Office Hours with David Meltzer

Dr. Sam Adeyemi [0:00] Atlanta-based Dr. Sam Adeyemi is founder and executive director of Daystar Leadership Academy (DLA). More than 45,000 alumni have graduated from DLA programs, and more than 3 million CEOs and high performing individuals follow him on top social media sites. He also has a podcast called Fit to Lead, which covers all aspects of leadership from lowest level to highest level of...

Dr. Leah Weiss She’s also the co-founder of Skylyte, a company that specializes in using the latest neuroscience and behavior change to empower high-performing leaders and managers prevent burnout for themselves and their teams, she has partnered with such clients as Stanford Health, the Mayo Clinic, Genentech, Google, Nike, NASA, and the European Commission. Dr. Greg Hammer Dr. Hammer is a pediat...

Michelle Cordeiro Michelle launched LIVELY in 2016 and has since fostered a network of 150,000+ ambassadors, developed retail partnerships, opened four stores, and coined the term "Leisurée". She can discuss the concrete steps she took to launch LIVELY once she knew it was her goal, including working at Thrillist Media Group for 2 years to get her "degree" in startups, creating a network of people...

John Joseph and Greg McHale Datanomix is a software company empowering precision manufacturers to transform their business through data. John and Greg founded Datanomix on the premise that the 4th industrial revolution would require turnkey products that integrate seamlessly with how manufacturers work today. Christy Whitman In addition to being a multiple-time NYT best-selling author, she hosts T...

Alexa Carlin Her company, Women Empower X, helps women entrepreneurs grow their businesses and brands through WEX's cutting edge courses, events, and publishing division, WEX Press. As CEO, Alexa uses her infectious energy and courageous spirit to empower women to turn their obstacles into opportunities and pursue their dreams. She started first business when she was 17 years old, becoming sole li...

Immad Akhund Immad Akhund was born in Pakistan and moved to/was educated in the UK before coming to Silicon Valley. He founded/sold several companies, and in doing so realized how onerous traditional banks were for entrepreneurs who had to go to a branch in person, fill out paperwork, do backflips to initiate a wire transfer etc. Mercury Bank is “Banking built for startups”, which allows them to s...

David Hoffman [0:00] He was an economist in Washington, DC, before moving to Charlotte, NC, in 2005, when he founded David Hoffman Realty, an Inc. 5000 fastest-growing privately held company. His business serves people from all walks of life, ranging from high-profile clients in search of multimillion-dollar estates. He is also the founder of Covenant First Mortgage and Beyond Title. Nitin Rakesh...

Shawn Kaplan [2:28] Shawn Kaplan has been a licensed mortgage banker for over 22 years now. He has personally funded in excess of $1 Billion dollars in residential real estate volume with a clientele base currently exceeding over 10,000 families. His success has been consistently recognized nationally by Scotsman Guide’s Top Originators rankings. Kirk McLaren [15:25] He’s the CEO of Foresight CFO...

Saeju Jong As a South Korean immigrant born into a family of doctors, Saeju knew his life’s work, would be dedicated to improving the well-being of others. After meeting his co-founder by chance, he created Noom and hasn't looked back, even when nearly on the verge of bankruptcy. The company now has over 500 million downloads and in 2019 the company's revenue has surpassed $237 million, growing ov...

Bobby Ghoshal Before Carrot, Bobby was the Co-founder of Candid, a digital platform for oral healthcare (CEO Nick Greenfield was on Office Hours earlier this year). During his time there, they were able to raise over $150 million. Contributing to his 15 years of experience as a business focused designer, product leader and user experience, he previously worked as Head of Design and Growth at Wewor...

Kenny Lofton Is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder, where he was a six-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner and amongst the all-time leaders in stolen bases (15th). He is the co-founder of blockchain solutions platform CenterBlock Asset Management and film company Filmpool. He’s a member of the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame. J’on Dennis Is a Certified Public Accountant t...

Meredith Bell She is co-founder and President of Performance Support Systems. Her company publishes books and software tools that help companies grow strong leaders and teams by improving the way they connect with each other. She is also the host of the popular Grow Strong Leaders podcast, which Blaine has been on and David will be going on. She’s published 125 episodes featuring “business leaders...

Melinda Briana Epler As CEO of Change Catalyst, she works with the tech industry to solve diversity and inclusion issues. Her popular TED talk “3 Ways to Be a Better Ally in the Workplace” reached one million views in the first 24 days of its release. She is also host of the popular podcast series “Leading With Empathy & Allyship,” and has, spoken on hundreds of global stages, including SXSW,...

Scott Donnell [0:00] Scott is the Founder of GravyStack, the world’s first gamified banking platform for kids and teens. They offer a comprehensive package including a complete bank account, debit card, and financial empowerment games. Their mission is to tackle the issue of financial illiteracy among high school students, as three out of four graduates struggle with basic financial tasks like ope...

Heidi Bach-Harod [1:45] Heidi is the Executive Director of Women’s Voices Now, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to advancing girls' and women's rights globally through the use of film. She empowers filmmakers, produces social-change films, and engages audiences to promote girls’ and women’s rights. The organization achieves its mission through a film festival, a youth program, and a f...

Dr. Vonda Wright As an accomplished researcher and author of Guide to Thrive, she speaks worldwide and develops programs for optimizing performance and minimizing injury from the ball field to the boardroom. Dr. Wright is also the founder of the Performance and Research Initiative for Masters Athletes (PRIMA), a one-of-a-kind program for maximizing performance and minimizing injury. Her award-winn...

Tony Potts Tony is an emmy-winning anchor, writer, producer and executive that has had a, successful career in platforms such as news, entertainment, sports, esports, and DTC. He is the Co-Founder of the Content Artist, a global content strategist creating and delivering award-winning content solutions across all distribution platforms, and with exclusive DOOH partnerships. Alex Israel Alex Israel...

Bill Pidto He was one of the original hires at ESPN2 in 1993 and is now hosting Knicks, games on MSG. While he was at ESPN he hosted “SportsSmash” in the inaugural year of ESPN2 and anchored “NHL 2Night,” “NFL Primetime,” “Baseball Tonight” and “SportsCenter”. Angelique Rewers She is building her company while also being mother to twins. She is a mother , entrepreneur and in-demand business adviso...

Kyle Kiser Kyle has helped create the nation's largest price transparency network, between payers, PBMs, providers, and EHR vendors. He focuses on helping partners improve prescription workflows and lower the cost of care. Prior to RxRevu, Kyle was an early employee at Welltok and Catapult Health, and a senior leader at Principal Wellness Company. He has helped develop incentive strategies for som...

Dr. Yuvay Meyers Ferguson She is the Assistant Dean of Impact and Engagement and an Associate Professor of Marketing at Howard University’s School of Business. She teaches Marketing Communications, Consumer Behavior, Digital Marketing, Marketing Strategy, and Brand Management. Her research interest is focused on the representation of Blacks and Millennials in advertising and their consumer behavio...

Buck Wise [0:00] In 2022, Buck founded #ClosingDay Agency, a full-service agency that specializes in helping business owners achieve fast and effective results. #ClosingDay Agency takes a data-proven approach to marketing, which enables us to save owners time and drive more sales to scale your business faster. Talia Fox [15:19] She's the CEO of KUSI Global, Inc. She holds an M.Ed. in psychology an...

Adam Jablin Adam’s book, Lotsaholic: From a sick to Sober Superman is about his journey of facing all of his addictions and dependencies, including alcohol and drugs. He shares the very tools & secrets that helped him overcome his addiction & live the life he only could have dreamt about. Hussein Hallak In his previous role as Evangelist & General Manager at Launch Academy, he mentored...

Kimberly Reed She is the founder of the Reed Development Group, the author of Optimists, Always Win: Moving from Defeat to Life's C-Suite, s he also helped launch a new brand and joint partnership called Kaleidoscope Diversity, based in Houston, Texas, “the only omnibus approach to organizational diversity based on performance metrics and supplier diversity”. Andre Fluellen He is an avid investor...

Maureen Plowman With more than 6 million members, and millions of connections across more than 30,000 local communities, Alignable is the largest referral network for small business owners. She joined the company's executive leadership team as Vice President of Marketing in February 2021. With over 6 million members and millions of connections across more than 30,000 local communities, Alignable i...

Shauna Shapiro Is a professor at Santa Clara University and has published over 150 papers and three critically acclaimed books, translated into 16 languages. She is also a Fellow of the Mind and Life Institute, co-founded by the Dalai Lama. Huy Nguyen Is a successful growth marketer with extensive experience in digital marketing, online business development and Amazon marketplace operations. He ha...