Building Excellence

#124: Mike Linch is the Senior Pastor of Northstar Church in Kennesaw, Georgia. He is also the host of the Linch with a Leader Podcast. Mike grew up in Georgia and played baseball at Liberty University under legendary New York Yankee great Bobby Richardson. After college he felt called to step into full time vocational ministry. However that didn’t stop his love for athletics. He serves as the pit...

#123: Anson Dorrance is a 21x National Champion Coach for the University of North Carolina’s Women's Soccer Program & led the United States Women’s National Team to their first World Cup title in 1991, where he served as the head coach from 1986-1994. In 2008 he was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame. He has one of the most successful records in all of sports with 1,093 games...

#122: Dr. David Burkus’ is one of the world’s leading business thinkers. His forward-thinking ideas and bestselling books are helping leaders build their best team ever. He is the bestselling author of five books about business and leadership. His books have won multiple awards and have been translated into dozens of languages. Since 2017, David has been ranked multiple times as one of the world’s...

#121: Pat Williams is the co-founder of the Orlando Magic and a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame. He has also been the former GM of the Chicago Bulls, Atlanta Hawks, Orlando Magic, and the Philadelphia 76ers, where he helped lead to the NBA title in1983. He has drafted players like Shaquille O’Neil, Charles Barkley, & Penny Hardaway and built rosters with players like Julis Erving, Mauric...

#120: Omar Ahmadieh is a partner & financial advisor with JM Brown Financial Partners, as well as an entrepreneur with multiple businesses across different sectors. Omar grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but his story is anything but normal. An entrepreneur at heart, he was always findings ways to sell things and start little ventures when he was in elementary school. Unfortunately, while in early h...

#119: Swen Nater is a former NBA & ABA player. He is a two time NCAA national champion and played under legendary Coach John Wooden at UCLA. As a man of many talents he has been a championship player and coach, author, speaker, poet, and businessman.  Swen was born in the Netherlands and immigrated to the US after living in an orphanage for 5 years. Through a series of events he was reunited w...

#118: Steve Whitaker is CEO & Senior Pastor of John 3:16 Mission. He has served and led at the mission since 1989 and is a 10th generation minister.  Since 1952 John 3:16 Mission has been focused on reclaiming lives and restoring hope serving Tulsa’s homeless and at risk men, women, and children as it ministers to their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs. Just in the last month a...

#117: Matt Doherty is the former University of North Carolina head men’s basketball coach, player, and national champion. He was also head coach at Notre Dame, SMU, & Florida Atlantic. Matt grew up in New York with a close family and parents who led by example. His hard work and discipline enabled him to earn a scholarship to play at UNC. Matt was a starter on the 1982 UNC National Championshi...

#116: Joshua Medcalf is a bestselling author of books like Chop Wood Carry Water, Pound the Stone, and many others, as well as a keynote speaker and founder of Train 2 Be Clutch. He works with some of the top high performing teams, brands, and organizations. Joshua played soccer at Vanderbilt and then Duke University. While at Duke he learned about the mental aspect of training and performance. Fr...

#115: Charles O’Bannon is a former professional basketball player. He was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in the 1997 NBA Draft. Chuck grew up in Compton, California and went to school at the basketball powerhouse Artesia. While at Artesia he was a 3x state champion and All American. He then went to UCLA where he was able to play with his brother and win the 1995 NCAA National Championship. After g...

#114: Daniel Grothe is the associate senior pastor at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, CO. He is also the author of Chasing Wisdom & The Power of Place. Daniel grew up in Tulsa, OK and attended ORU where he played basketball. After college he stepped into full time ministry. Unfortunately, he was hit quickly with two tragic and significant events involving the resignation of the lead pasto...

#113: Steve Robinson is the former Executive Vice President & Chief marketing officer of Chick-Fil-A from 1981-2015. He currently serves as a consultant, speaker, and author on organizational culture, brand strategy, marketing and advertising, as well as leadership development. Steve went to Faulkner State where he played baseball and then finished his college at Auburn University with a bache...

#112: Matt Wells is currently a football coach at the University of Oklahoma. He was formerly the head football coach at Texas Tech & Utah State.  Coach Wells spent 3 years at Texas Tech and 6 years at Utah State as a the head coach. After his time at USU he closed his tenure as the second winningest coach in program history, leading them to five different bowl games in those 6 seasons. Before...

#111: Suzy Sevier and Michael Barnhart are the Founders of Adventurous Real Estate Investors. They specialize in Return on Impact. Through real estate investing they create immeasurable impacts; in their family, with their friends, in their community, with the families (residents) they serve, in the spaces where they want to be generous.... everywhere and anywhere! Suzy is Real Estate Professional...

#110: Kevin Hambly is the Head Coach and Director of Women’s Volleyball at Stanford University. Under his leadership over the last 6 seasons, Stanford has won 2 National Championships, 4 Pac 12 Championships, and he has been named Pac 12 Coach of the Year multiple times. Kevin played Volleyball at BYU and was a first team All American and eventually played professionally after college. After playi...

#109: John Ballenger recently retired from serving as a Marine One Pilot, which is the helicopter responsible for flying the President of the United States around.  Today John is an entrepreneur, Co-Owner of Aspire Development Group, and an Executive Consultant with his company 8:28 Ventures. John grow up in Tulsa, Oklahoma and attended Oral Roberts University for college. Towards the end of his c...

#108: Darleen Santore “Coach Dar” is a Board Certified Occupational Therapist, business executive, author and highly sought after motivational speaker. She is passionate about helping people break through barriers to achieve their goals. She is also the former Phoenix Suns mental skills coach and a leadership and mental edge coach to many professional athletes, CEO’s, and business leaders around t...

#107: Chris Powers is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Fort Capital and the host of The FORT podcast . Chris is a serial entrepreneur with more than 18 years of real estate development and investment experience. Since founding Fort Capital, the company has invested over $2.1B in Class B industrial, commercial, multifamily, student housing, and residential and land development projects through...

#106: Jamion Christian is a highly accomplished American college basketball coach, formerly as the Head Men’s Basketball Coach at George Washington University.  At 29 years old, Jamion became the Head Basketball Coach at Mt. Saint Mary’s where he was one of the youngest coaches, if not the youngest, in all of college basketball. As a young coach, Jamion learned from some of the best coaches in the...

#105: Justin Donald is the #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Lifestyle Investor book and has been called the “Warren Buffett of Lifestyle Investing” by Entrepreneur Magazine. He is a master of low-risk cash flow investing, specializing in simplifying complex financial strategies, structuring deals, and disciplined investment systems that consistently produce profitable results. Not...

#104: Jade Gordon is a keynote speaker and certified workshop facilitator with the Jon Gordon Companies.  She is a graduate of Clemson University with a degree in communications and also worked with the Clemson football program. After college she moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting while working at Nobu Malibu, a world famous restaurant. She learned the art of great customer service by loving an...

#103: Ryan Folmar is the head baseball coach at Oral Roberts University.  He is in his 11th year as the head coach of the Golden Eagles. During his time as head coach he has earned the Summit League Coach of the Year Award 5 times, taken ORU to 7 NCAA post season appearances, and coached numerous professional players. Even greater than that, as you will see on the show, he has helped his players b...

#102: Mike Hearne is the host of the This Is Oklahoma Podcast, where he interviews Oklahomans and those who have made Oklahoma home. On the show he dives into their businesses and why they love Oklahoma and more.  Mike grew up in Wales and then earned a golf scholarship at Southern Nazarene University. After graduating he got into the real estate and eventually started his podcast. He has intervie...

#101: Stu Grazier is a retired Navy pilot & Co-founder of Storehouse 310. As a retired Naval Officer with 20 years of military experience, Stu spent time flying the MH-60 Sierra Knighthawk helicopter and later the C-40. He also spent time in leadership overseeing hundreds of people. Throughout his time in the military Stu started his own entrepreneurship journey through investing in real estat...

#100: Sam Acho is a former nine-year NFL veteran, current in studio analyst for ESPN, author, public speaker, humanitarian, and committed Christian. Sam played college football at the University of Texas at Austin, where he was recently inducted into the University of Texas Athletics Hall of Honor.  While at Texas he received the William V. Campbell Trophy for being college football’s top scholar-...