Office Hours with David Meltzer

Jeff Webb In July, the International Olympic Committee officially recognized cheerleading as an Olympic sport. Jeff’s comments: “The IOC’s actions have created a monumental milestone for cheerleading… This decision will greatly assist us as we strive to create opportunities for healthy participation and competition for millions of cheerleading athletes worldwide.” Dan Sanborn Joining the company i...

Ken Ahn [3:28] He serves as President of Marketplace & Radius at Hagerty, in addition to being a Partner and CEO of Broad Arrow Group. Hagerty Marketplace is a digital classifieds platform where anyone is welcome to buy cars, trucks, and motorcycles. They offer both car classifieds and auctions. Broad Arrow Group, a Hagerty (NYSE: HGTY) company, is an advisor, market maker, and financier for c...

Mike Kaeding [0:00] His parents had a family business. However, just a few years after joining the business, his dad unexpectedly passed away. Suddenly, he had what felt like the weight of the world on his shoulders. He had to lead the business with no preconceived notion of "the way things are done" in the industry. He was struggling to the point where the city briefly shut them down, shattering...

Ari Wallach He developed his provocative ideas (the Longpath perspective) as a result of his unique upbringing. He originally hails from Guadalajara, his father was a Holocaust survivor & a member of the underground; his mother, a respected SF artist, studied under Buckminster Fuller. Propelled by these twin influences--large-scale tragedy and the desire to design a better future--Ari hungered...

Donald Thompson He is CEO of The Diversity Movement, a results-oriented, data-driven strategic firm offering clients a productized DEI (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion) journey built on digital learning tools and content, conversational AI, and analytics. In addition, Donald serves on the boards for Walk West, Vidant Medical Center, Raleigh Chamber, TowneBank Raleigh, and several other organiza...

David Livermore He is a social scientist & thought leader devoted to the topics of cultural intelligence & global leadership. He’s a founder of the Cultural Intelligence Center in East Lansing, Michigan, & a research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He spent twenty years in leadership positions with a variety of nonprofit organizations around the world and taugh...

Elan Lee He is the Co-Creator and CEO of Exploding Kittens, the hit tabletop game company. In this role, he oversees the operations of the company, and the development of new games and other corporate initiatives. His pioneering work in entertainment has spanned everything from multiple startups raising millions of dollars to creating the Alternate Reality Game (ARG) genre Tyler Williams He is the...

Michael Barlow [0:00] Michael is the co-founder and CEO of Fernish, a premium furniture and decor rental service on a mission to make it effortless to create your home. It lets clients choose from a curated selection of furniture essentials, knick-knacks, and things that just make you feel good. Clients can pay monthly and decide later what they want to keep, return, or swap out. Michael completed...

Aakash Shah [0:00] He’s a founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Wyndly. He’s helped found & grow a number of startups, helping to navigate two of them through successful acquisitions. In 2020, Aakash joined forces with his cousin, Dr. Manan Shah, to help turn Manan’s in-person practice into a 5-star online telehealth experience, using his business expertise to build Wyndly & expand co...

Precious Williams She is a 13-time national elevator pitch champion who has also successfully appeared on ABC's “Shark Tank," CNN, Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Black Enterprise Magazine. She has even slayed 2 TEDx Talks! Precious, through her pitching skills and talents, has also watched her clients win millions of dollars in pitch competition money, secure lucrative speaking and corporate trai...

Dr. Cindy McGovern Known as the “First Lady of Sales” Dr. Cindy has worked with major organizations for the last 14 years to not only help them grow, but also turn their human capital into confident sales people at every level of their company. Using tools from her Doctorate in Organizational Communication and years of consulting, Dr. Cindy developed sales cultures across various industries to cha...

Piers Ridyard He’s the CEO of Radix, the only decentralized network where developers will be able to build quickly without the constant threat of exploits and hacks, “where every improvement will get rewarded, and where scale will never be a bottleneck”. Rob Lee Andrews They provide job readiness instruction, life skills training, professional clothing, connections to businesses, support services...

Kyle Sullivan He’s a former drug dealer (while being a D1 athlete). After being jumped at a drug deal, he found faith & a relationship with Jesus, leading to be a pastor for 12 years before launching Unleash the Champ during the peak of the pandemic in 2020. Amanda Holmes She’s the CEO of Chet Holmes International (CHI) which has worked with over 250,000 businesses worldwide. At age 24, she in...

Jason Reid After the suicide of his 14-year-old son in 2018, Jason started the foundation ChooseLife.org , a nonprofit organization that encourages parents to own their children’s mental health. He is a partner at CEO International, where he coaches CEOs on how to be successful. He also co-founded National Services Group, which employs 2500 people across three brands nationwide. He is a leader, en...

Adam Jablin [0:00] His 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. John Jennings [17:00] John is president and chief strategist of St. Louis Trust & Family Offic...

Tiffani Bova [0:00] Her newest book is THE EXPERIENCE MINDSET: Changing the Way You Think About Growth. Topics include: who owns the employee experience at your company, how you can lead a people-centered turnaround at a company like Best Buy did, whether you’re prioritizing CX at the expense of EX, how people, process, technology and culture play a role in boosting both EX and CX, & how you c...

Brian Littlefield His devotion to health & wellness is rooted in his first-hand experience with his brother’s battle with childhood cancer & his father’s passion for a healthy diet & natural products. Even as he pursued a formal education and career in business, he continued to study nutrition & holistic medicine, as he believes they’re the difference between simply living & th...

Nicole Cassier-Mason She joined Lemonade Day to serve as its national CEO in early June 2021. Nicole has nearly 20 years of non-profit organization experience providing leadership in operations, fundraising, capital campaigns, marketing and community relations, cultivating and stewarding business partnerships, and implementing strategic initiatives. Vispi Daver He is the SVP of Global Sales at Wha...

Ross Dawson He is a world-leading futurist, entrepreneur, and keynote speaker. He is Founding Chairman of the Advanced Human Technologies group of companies, which explores new models for value creation & tapping human potential with clients including industry leaders such as Citibank, Coca-Cola, Google, Microsoft, News Limited, Procter & Gamble, PwC, & Walmart Fran Harris She is the f...

Susie Carder She started out as a low paid hairdresser trying to support her 2 little girls. But working for someone else became a challenge (to say the least). So she decided to do whatever it took to create her own business. After much blood sweat and tears (mixed with cheap mascara) she went on to create, not one, but two $10 Million companies Jess Ekstrom The moment that inspired her to become...

Dani Ruffolo The inner pocket pouch of the Handy Hat has a very unique design. The pouch comes in a variety of colors based on the style and model of hat. Each hat features a kangaroo on the logo because just as a kangaroo's pouch holds the baby kangaroo securely in place, the Handy Hat pouch securely holds your everyday needs in an innovative way. Trevor G. Blake He says that “Rare is the person...

Joe Benjamin [0:26] He’s the Founder & CEO of youngStartup Ventures. Founded in 1999, the company was built on the dream of assisting entrepreneurs in building successful enterprises. During this time, youngStartup has connected hundreds of emerging startups with VCs, corporate investors, angel investors, and investment bankers. Its annual conferences in NYC, New England, and California are hu...

Matthew May [8:00] Matthew May is the President of Acuity Accounting, a virtual accounting solution for entrepreneurs backed by the expertise of CFOs. This is twenty-first century accounting, built on the latest technology and managed by a dedicated team of accounting experts. They are the most certified cloud accounting experts in the nation. Acuity also launched a process-based, remote accountin...

Lisa Gable Lisa Gable has served four U.S. presidents and two governors, counseled Fortune 500 CEOs, and represented global public-private partnerships and nonprofits with an end goal of moving organizations to higher levels of performance. She’s the CEO of FARE, whose mission is to improve the quality of life and the health of individuals with food allergies and to provide them hope through the p...

Jacob Rothman He was a member of MIT’s varsity baseball team when he herniated a disc in his back while doing a warm-up set of squats. He believes he could have avoided injury if he had lifted the weight properly, but he couldn’t always have a strength coach looking over his shoulder, so he & some fellow MIT student-athletes – Nate Rodman and Jordan Lucier – decided to build a coach of their o...