Building Ideas

Tianay Amat is the President & CEO of Cincinnati Works. She believes in the resiliency of the human spirit and is passionate about eliminating poverty through education and employment. Ms. Amat also has over two decades in public education.  She has served as an Interim Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent, Principal and Teacher in both urban and suburban school districts.   Ms. Amat was recogniz...

Roger David is president and CEO of Gold Star Chili, Inc., an iconic Cincinnati business with two well-known brands in its portfolio of companies – Gold Star and Tom & Chee.   Roger leads a team of dedicated professionals working to continue to build the brand his father and uncles started more than 50 years ago. Since being named president and CEO, Roger has grown Gold Star Chili, Inc. to include...

Karl Kadon, a lifelong resident of Cincinnati, is an alumnus of Walnut Hills High School, Miami University, and the Salmon P. Chase College of Law. Since 2006, he has served as a Criminal Chief, a federal prosecutor, stationed at the Cincinnati branch office of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio. In his role, Kadon dedicated a significant portion of his federal c...

Siobhan Taylor believes that transformational education changes not only students but also families and communities. She was named the second president of DePaul Cristo Rey High School (DPCR) in Cincinnati in August 2020. A Cincinnati native, Siobhan is a graduate of Ursuline Academy, Miami University and the University of Michigan. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and anthropolo...

Rico Grant is the founder of Paloozanoire, creator of Gallery At Gumbo - the inclusive barbershop art gallery collaboration in the heart of OTR which hosts the regional focused podcast Gumbo Talks. Rico also serves as Executive Director of SoCap Accelerate based out of Northern Kentucky University, is the creator behind the Emmy award winning Black & Brown Faces art exhibition previously on exhibi...

Michele A. O'Rourke - CEO of O'Rourke Wrecking Company Michele A. O'Rourke is the visionary CEO of O'Rourke Wrecking Company, a leading name in the demolition and environmental industry. Since taking the helm in 2019, O'ROURKE has consistently ranked among the Top 15 largest demolition contractors in the United States according to ENR Magazine. What began as a small excavation firm in 1962 has evo...

Dr. David Lawrence was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, and is a 1984 graduate of Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. He has more than 27 years of experience in public education, having served in a variety of roles throughout his career. Dr. Lawrence has taught at Edwin Joel Brown Middle School, Meadowdale High School, has served as Assistant Principal at Stivers School for the Arts, and Principal a...

Robert A. Bedinghaus (Bob) currently serves as the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Cincinnati Federal and its holding company, Cincinnati Bancorp, Inc. He is a former Hamilton County Commissioner (1996-2001) and served as Director, Business Development, for the Cincinnati Bengals, from 2004 until 2019. Additionally, he currently serves on the board of trustees for Activities B...

On this weeks' episode, we are joined by two senior officers of a university, as well as by MSA Design's Director of Preservation and Historic Rehabilitation to discuss a mid-century modern national landmark - the Mater Dei Chapel in Cincinnati.  Learn more about the Chapel by clicking this link: https://www.msj.edu/about/facilities/mater-dei-chapel/index.html   Jeffrey Briggs is the Chief Financi...

Kent Wellington has a diverse practice with an emphasis in litigation and labor/employment law, and advising start-ups, having run his own family foundation for the past 16 years. Kent has tried cases to favorable jury verdicts in all the local state and federal courts, but prides himself on avoiding litigation and getting cases resolved quickly and cost effectively. Kent is a former member of the...

Bill Connelly began his life in the sports business as an Athletic Trainer for the Cincinnati Stingers of the World Hockey Association and wrapped it up as a Special Projects Manager for FC Cincinnati of Major League Soccer. However, the majority of his storied career was spent with the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League - where he retired in 2017 as the team's Director of Operatio...

Keith Hall is Principal of the Columbus Studio and Owner at MSA Design, a national award-winning architecture, interior design, graphic design, and historic preservation firm. Throughout the nearly 40 year history of MSA Design, the firm has received 100+ design awards and been awarded the AIA Ohio "Gold Medal Firm" Award. Keith is a Southwest Ohio / Northern Kentucky native, spending his childhoo...

John Cunningham has proven to be the perfect fit for the Bearcats, packing win after win into his time on Clifton Heights since taking the helm at the University of Cincinnati in December 2019. In his first few months on campus, Cunningham led the Bearcats' response to the COVID-19 pandemic and created the Next Level Success Fund to provide the necessary resources to achieve competitive success an...

Chelsea Sanders is the Director of Graphic Design and an Associate at MSA Design, a national architecture, interior design, graphic design, and historic preservation firm headquartered in Cincinnati with offices in Columbus and Atlanta. Chelsea is a Cincinnati native, spending her early childhood in the City's Pleasant Ridge neighborhood and her teenage years in the northeast suburb of Loveland. S...

Mr. Tom Burton, superintendent of Princeton City Schools, is a proven and dynamic school educator, well known and praised for his leadership. He believes that creating a collaborative environment with all stakeholders will help ensure that each child's needs are met. Serving as an educator since 1987 and at Princeton City Schools since 2015, Tom lives out the Princeton mission to empower each stud...

Bob Fregolle was born in Detroit, Michigan and has been married to his Michigan sweetheart, Lori, for +41 years (married really young!) with two grown children and two grandchildren. Bob graduated with a BBA in 1979 from The Michigan Business School. Bob spent the next 35 years with Procter & Gamble, eighteen of those years abroad on seven international assignments across Europe and Asia and retir...

Madeline "Maddie" Williams is the Director of Preservation and Historic Rehabilitation at MSA Design. Maddie leads the Historic Preservation practice firm-wide for MSA and serves as a resource to building owners, contractors, architects, and agencies on strategies to renovate and redevelop historic structures. This includes advising on historic building assessments, grant applications, historic ta...

Jeremy Barker is a Senior Project Architect and Associate at MSA Design. A native of the small Ohio city of Findlay, his journey as an Architect began at the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning. After working for several firms and freelancing on his own, he joined MSA in 2004 and has risen through the ranks to become a leading Sports Designer, Architect, and...

Gary Vance is a national leader in the planning, design and construction industry and specializes in health and wellness initiatives and projects. As a forty-four year seasoned professional architect, he is an advocate for the architectural profession and related professions. This advocacy takes a variety of forms including mentoring the next generation of architects, improving the collaboration o...

Tricia Gargari is an Associate and Project Architect at MSA Design. This Northern Kentucky native is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame where she majored in Architecture. During her career she has been involved in multiple commercial, retail, institutional, civic, and sports projects across the Midwest. Since joining MSA Design, she has been promoted to Associate in the firm and been instr...

Andy Farfsing is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Purcell Marian High School, located in the Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati. He and his team have led a transformative turnaround of this historic inner-city Catholic High School that counts business leaders, community leaders, and professional athletes among the list of famous alumni - including Dallas Cowboys NFL star, business...

Annie Angueira is President of A2 Project Services, a North-Carolina based Owners Representation and Construction Consulting Practice. She was raised in Miami and is a first generation American born to parents who fled the Cuban Communist revolution. Annie graduated in Civil Engineering from the University of Florida and began her career working on government infrastructure projects with a large i...

Chris Bujnak joins us for our second annual "Holiday Episode" of Building Ideas. Chris is an Architect and Principal at MSA Design. A proud native of the Cleveland suburb of Parma Heights, he is a 2002 graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning. During his nearly two decades with the firm he has been involved in some of their most significant and co...

Tom Gelehrter is the President & Founder of 4th Floor Creative. For the past six seasons, Tom has led the FC Cincinnati broadcast team, bringing 21 years of experience to the booth. Gelehrter served as the “Voice of FC Cincinnati” throughout the USL era and has extensive experience on both television and radio, having called games for ESPNU, ESPN3, FOX Sports Ohio and 700-WLW. Before founding his...

Jamie currently is the Publisher/Market President of the Cincinnati Business Courier and has held that position since February 2011. He was previously Director of Advertising with the Courier since 2003. Jamie has over 35 years of media experience. After graduating from the University of Kentucky with a degree in marketing he was an account executive for The Recorder Newspapers of Northern Kentuc...