Beyond High Street

Mary Tehrani talks about her career so far, her time at the Farmer School and Miami University, and how she learned that Smart Cars and Oxford winters don't mix very well.

As Farmer School dean Jenny Darroch takes the helm of Beyond High Street, she talks with the man who made it all possible: David Schwab, who created 97 episodes with a variety of Farmer School and Miami University alumni over the last three years. Jenny and David talk about his time at Miami and his experiences since graduating. The Farmer School and Jenny thank David for his work, and look forwar...

Big news ahead for Beyond High Street but before I share, please let me reminisce for a moment. When I started Beyond High Street three years ago, I set forth to find the commonality for Miamians and all of us that ventured through the cornfields into Oxford, beautiful Oxford. But I learned and gained so much more. I built new and deep friendships, created mentor and mentee experiences and even pe...

Ryan Graves (former Uber CEO) and Adam Bain (former Twitter COO) join the Beyond High Street together as the first-ever guest duo. A brilliant conversation on how their careers have compared and contrasted, scaling businesses and the power of operational success, feeling comfortable being uncomfortable and a big stroll down memory lane in Oxford, OH and Miami University. Stay for the tips they pro...

Chris Wittine is an agent in CAA’s digital media business representing some of the world’s best gamers, esports athletes and streamers. It’s a thoughtful discussion for students as Chris like many of his peers joined the workforce in a digital-first era. He gives tips to the students in Oxford about how to process what is next and steps to take forward. Hint: relationships are key. The gaming indu...

Mike Whan, the Commissioner of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), was a wonderful guest as we make our return to Beyond High Street after a hiatus. The conversation starts with a question I have been asking many – “what have you learned the most about yourself the past six months during COVID-19?” The conversation goes deeper into the value of mentorship (and who he still calls on we...

Andrea Saia is a Miami University alum, member of the school’s Business Advisory Council and a must-listen. She has had a wealth of business success yet she credits the most important decision and job to her first at Proctor & Gamble – learning the consumer and satisfying the customer need. It’s this statement that has guided much of her career. We jump from business challenges (like a product rec...

Megan Fischer is the CEO and Founder at Sweet Cheeks Diaper Bank, a non-profit donating more than 175,000 diapers to needy families monthly (serving more than 3,500 babies). We have a great discussion about filtering out areas of “no-interest” to ultimately get you to the passions that drive your every day. From her Pre-Med major to Journalism and from textbook publishing work to non-profit, each...

Eric Lange is a Critics Choice nominee (Escape at Dannemora), 20-year+ professional actor and he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Miami. He has appeared in dozens (and dozens) of television shows, feature films, Broadway and brand ads; most notably as villain Stuart Radzinksy in LOST and Erwin Sikowitz in Victorious (as my kids remind me often). Our conversation bounces from ‘learning how t...

Kurt Donnell is a President of Freestar, one of the fastest growing private business in the States and a self-professed deal junkie. He comes from a full Miami family – parents, brother, sister and uncle. That’s right. All Miamians. As an accounting major, turned lawyer,  turned entrepreneur, Kurt credits his entrepreneurial spirit to growing up in Ohio and living in-and-around small business owne...

Kevyn Adams is the real deal and he has also come full circle in life. A Miami student-athlete and alum, a merger, Stanley Cup winner, business man and now, a father of a Miami student living in the same dorm he did 20+ years ago. As you’ll hear, the journey wasn’t straight and certainly not easy. But grit, perseverance, putting your work every day helped push him forward. You need to back it up a...

Spence Stiles oversees Stryker’s Joint Replacement, Trauma, Extremities and Spine business. But the title doesn’t do him justice. He is laser focused on helping people get healthier, developing leaders and giving back. We spend a lot of time in the pod talking about the power of Miami and what it meant to him personally and with the 70 plus alumni that are working today at Stryker. He is passionat...

Katie Quinn is a video creator, host and soon to be Harper Collins published author….and as you hear in her own words, quite quirky.  She thinks there’s a story to be told everywhere, especially in the connection between food and people. Our conversation jumps from balancing her brain’s quirkiness and entrepreneurial spirit to figuring out what she wanted to do in life via a process of elimination...

Johnny Sirpilla is a fast, new friend. His story from the days in the accountancy program at Miami and becoming a Miami Merger, to working for, running and ultimately selling and IPO’ing a business are fascinating, touching and meaningful. As he says in the conversation, life will be hard but it will be OK is not only a lesson for students but for himself and everyone listening (including me!). He...

Maria Casey is the CEO and Founder of BUHO, the first sustainable e-commerce hub offering ethical, sustainable and vintage products for women, men, kids and home. She is a fascinating woman and a great storyteller. We swiftly move in the pod from starting a business at Miami to entering the peace corps in Bangladesh. We then jump to her time as a bartender in New York and how that job changed her...

Melissa Pawlowicz is a multi-talented commercial lead at the Kellogg Company. She has been with the business for nearly 17 years, gone through many roles and continually evolves, learns and thrives. We examine the differences between working for a brand and agency life, where she first began her career. Like many, the relationships from young-to-old have helped her succeed in life. We also explore...

Matt Kamienski, the Executive Director of The Presidents Cup, is now in countdown mode. The world’s greatest golfers will descend onto Melbourne, Australia at Royal Melbourne Country Club for the bi-annual event in December. Kamienski’s golf business career is twenty-years strong but little known fact, he started as a pre-med major at Miami. Relationships, mentors and learning guided him down the...

Marc Rubin is Dean of the Farmer Business School at Miami, and after 29 years educating students, retirement awaits next spring. We started our conversation by going back to the Fall of 1971 when he showed up on campus without any technology, not even an adding calculator (that happened two years later!). He shares a wonderful story about his mentor and former accountancy Dean Harry Lyle and how y...

My conversation with Brandon Smith, NOOMA co-Founder, took place as he was driving with his brother and two work colleagues in a car from Cleveland to Baltimore for a Natural Products Expo show. Exactly what entrepreneurs are doing every single day of the year. Really appreciated Miami University’s Director of External Relations and alum Nick Petraglia for connecting the dots and making the conver...

I love any podcast where the guest wants to take the Skippers’ Cheese Fries product and create an advertising campaign around it. And you know what? David DeMuth could do just that. He is the CEO of Doner Advertising , a world-class shop with 600+ employees. We talk about his first job in a grocery store and trying to guess what people would buy and why they would pick a brand over the other. That...

Special guest on the pod today – Chipotle Mexican Grill CEO Brian Niccol (Chipotle now has more than 2,500 restaurants!). A rapid fire discussion on innovation, learning daily, mentorship and dealing with conflicts/problems. He takes us on a journey of finding an internship that led to his first job (P&G for 10 years) and the power of problem solving. We also talk about the balance of daily execut...

Cam Cummins is co-Founder of Pivotal Growth Partners, Owner of inHOUSE Marketing and is quite simply, a great person. We have spent quite a bit of time together on Miami University’s Entrepreneurship Board and I learn something from Cam every time I see him. Today’s conversation stretches from the art-and-science of franchising to the power of Miamians in Chicago. We also touch on taking unpaved p...

It is incredibly impressive to see what Austin Mace has managed to accomplish despite being just four years removed from his graduation at Miami. He is the Co-Founder and COO of Subvrsive , a  company developing exciting new ways to capture content across a variety of mediums. Like many guests on the pod, he identified something he was passionate about while at Miami and figured out a way to make...

Each time I listen to Jeff Kadlic I learn something new. He is a 25-year friend (and our wives were housemates at Miami too!) and a Founding Partner at Evolution Capital Partners. Our discussion spans from goal setting (and the moment he figured out the importance of that trait) to an 101 on the financial capital markets. Like many, he credits Miami for the opportunity to think and the experience...

Ron Carson is the creator and founder of Cool Action Suits , a first of its kind suit company that brings moisture wicking fabric technology to formal wear. Ron had the idea on a hot tarmac in New Delhi as a logistics, security lead for President Obama that there has to be a better way to dress (formally) in heat. And as they say, the rest is history. In our conversation, he shares a wonderful sto...