CEOs and ABCs

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin and Jen sit down with Ekta Chopra, Chief Technology and AI Officer at e.l.f. Beauty, to explore what it takes to lead a company through the AI era without losing the human at the center of it, and why her “human first, human last” rule works just as well at the kitchen table as it does in the boardroom. Ekta started her career in aerospace, moved into priv...

Claude Silver has a job title that stops people mid-sentence: Chief Heart Officer. But at VaynerX, the independently owned agency built by Gary Vaynerchuk, that role is not a feel-good label. It is the architecture behind how thousands of people treat each other, get hired, and grow. Claude became a mother at an age most people assume the window has closed. Her partner had their daughters. Eddie i...

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Stacey Pool, Chief Growth Officer at Ziggi's Coffee and former Chief Marketing Officer at Noodles & Company, to explore what it takes to be unapologetically ambitious and still show up for the people who need you most. They get into why the question "Am I doing the very best I can in this moment?" matters just as much at the kitchen tabl...

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin pulls together seven conversations with executives who learned what it costs to expect perfection from yourself at work and at home at the same time. It starts with a phrase most leaders grew up on, good is the enemy of great, and asks what happens when a high-pressure job and kids flip it around, so that chasing great becomes the thing that keeps you from...

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Amber Wendover, Founder & President of Thinking People, to explore why capable, high-performing people keep sacrificing themselves for work long after the cost outweighs the reward, and why that pattern shows up in a boardroom exactly the same way it shows up at the dinner table. Before starting her own coaching practice, Amber held lead...

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Kipp Bodnar, Chief Marketing Officer at HubSpot, to explore what ambition actually costs and what it takes to stay present in spite of it, and why that discipline matters just as much at home as it does in an industry that's changing faster than ever. Kipp joined HubSpot running the company blog and was named Chief Marketing Officer five yea...

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin pulls together six conversations he's had with CEOs and CMOs over the past year to answer one question almost none of them answered directly: how do you actually manage a career and a family without one costing the other? Instead of one new interview, this is the chorus, and then the answer that finally clicked once Kevin heard all six side by side. Deena...

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Barbara Perry and Harry Hutson, co-authors of Hope at Work, to explore why hope isn't a soft, passive emotion but an active, strategic capability, optimism combined with agency, and why that same combination is what moves a leader, a team, or a family from merely surviving to truly thriving. Barbara Perry is a cultural anthropologist who has...

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Adam Vasallo, chief marketing officer of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, to explore what actually happens when you set out to mentor someone, and why the person doing the giving so often ends up changed the most. Adam has spent his career building stories that move people, from local television news, to the Home Shopping Network, to lea...

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Doug Zarkin, former CMO of Pearle Vision and Take Five Oil Change, to explore what happens when you stop arriving with a playbook and start arriving with a notebook, and why that shift matters just as much at home as it does in the boardroom. Doug has led transformational marketing agendas at some of the most recognisable brands in America....

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Jennie Magiera, Global Head of Education and Impact at Google, to explore the six years she spent trying to become a mother while ascending through some of the most demanding roles in education technology, and what that journey taught her about presence, purpose, and raising children in an AI world. Jennie went through multiple rounds of IVF...

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Cameron Herold, the COO who helped scale 1-800-GOT-JUNK from $2 million to $106 million, to explore what happens when someone who built their identity around business finally decides to build a life instead. Cameron did not slow down quietly. He left 1-800-GOT-JUNK and spent four months not returning a single email. He journaled every day, m...

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Jeanniey Walden, CEO of Liftoff Enterprises, bestselling author of The Trust Threshold, and TV host reaching 81 million households, to explore what a substitute teacher turned CMO learned about earning attention, building trust, and why the same principles that grow businesses are the ones that keep families together. Jeanniey's career defie...

In this episode, Linda Bethea shares her journey of balancing a successful executive career with motherhood, emphasizing the importance of authenticity, vulnerability, and intentionality in leadership and parenting. She discusses her experiences with work-life integration, supporting working parents, and fostering strong relationships with her daughter. From Frito-Lay to PepsiCo to Diageo to CMO o...

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Isabelle Brenton, former Chief Communications Officer at IPG Mediabrands and recipient of the 2026 Working Mother of the Year award from She Runs It, to explore what it actually costs to hide a part of yourself at work and what becomes possible when you finally stop. Isabelle spent the early years of her career in fast-paced agency and media...

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Anthony Valletta, CEO of BarTaco, to explore what two decades in hospitality taught him about making people feel like a priority, and how long it took him to bring that same thinking home. Anthony has built his career across Michelin-starred dining rooms, fast casuals, and everything in between. Today he leads BarTaco with a single filter: d...

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Desiree Motamedi, Chief Marketing Officer of Salesforce's NextGen platform, to explore what happens when AI stops being a work tool and starts becoming a way of life, at the office and at home. Desiree has built her career across Adobe, Google, Meta, and Shopify before landing at Salesforce, where she now oversees a 12 billion dollar portfol...

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Jennifer Kattula, Global CMO of Microsoft Advertising, to explore what happens when a systems thinker applies the same rigour she uses to lead AI transformation at scale to the way she designs her family life at home. Jennifer's path to one of the most senior marketing roles in tech started in chemical engineering, wound through the early da...

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Becca Chambers, Chief Marketing Officer of Scale Venture Partners and one of LinkedIn's most followed voices on authentic leadership, to explore what happens when you stop trying to fit a mold that was never made for you. Becca opens with a story most high-performers will recognise but rarely say out loud: she started her career with a faile...

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Shachar Orren, co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer of EX.CO, to explore what it really costs to build something from nothing and what becomes available when family arrives after you have already built yourself. Shachar spent over a decade growing EX.CO from six people to a 115-person global company, helping publishers and media companies su...

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Matt Eisenacher, Chief Brand Officer at First Watch, to explore what it actually takes to become a leader of leaders and why the hardest part isn't learning new skills, it's letting go of old ones. Matt opens with a story most high-performers will recognise: the moment you realise your presence in the room is the problem. From removing himse...

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Eliot Hamlisch, Chief Commercial Officer at Amtrak, to explore what it really means to lead with humanity, at work and at home. From transforming customer experience at some of the world’s biggest brands to raising two children while balancing a demanding executive career, Eliot shares the mindset shifts, rituals, and values that have shaped...

What if the future of leadership isn’t about control, authority, or climbing higher… but about creating environments where people genuinely feel seen, trusted, and valued? In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Rachel Wallis Andreasson, former CEO of a multi-billion-dollar family business, leadership expert, and author of The Sixth Level. Rachel shares her extraordinary journey f...

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Camille Hymes, former Chief Operating Officer of Smoothie King and former executive leader at Starbucks, Jack in the Box, and ExxonMobil, to explore what it means to lead with intention, both at work and at home. Camille shares how a deeply personal mission statement became the compass for her career: “to live in peace and bliss and to help...

In this episode of CEOs & ABCs, Kevin sits down with Karen Robinovitz, co-founder of Sloomoo Institute, to explore a journey that moves from pioneering the creator economy to rebuilding a life through something as simple and powerful as play. Karen was early to everything, journalism, digital media, and influencer marketing, helping shape how brands and creators work together today. But behind...