Conquering Columbus Podcast

Deirdre DeWeese is the Vice President of Philanthropy for the Girl Scouts of Ohio’s Heartland – if you’re followers of the show, you might remember we had Tammy Wharton on the show previously from the Girl Scouts as well. Deirdre has worked in fundraising and development across a variety of organizations throughout her career, and …

Dr. Zeenia Kaul, CEO and CSO at ReHeva Biosciences. ReHeva Biosciences, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical startup founded in 2016, is discovering and developing naturally occurring, complex botanical agents to treat and manage cancer. Their goal is to help people live longer and healthier with cancer, ultimately transforming cancer treatment into disease management. They recently started their &#...

Matt Wyckhouse is the Founder and CEO of Finite State. Finite State automates product security for connected devices and embedded systems, enabling developers and security teams to ship their products with confidence.

Ernest Levert Jr is the founder of the Royal Oak Initiative, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that focuses on developing community through the game of chess. What started as a bi-weekly meetup has grown into a community of chess enthusiasts as well as a chess-based mentoring program, and the Royal Oak Chess Initiative recently signed a …

Jacob Block is the CEO and Founder of American Nitrile, a disposable glove manufacturer headquartered here in Columbus. Jacob founded American Nitrile in 2021 in an effort to combat the PPE shortage that hit the U.S. and the world due to the COVID pandemic. With the motto “Bring Manufacturing Back Home,” Jacob and the American …

Matt Scantland is the Founder and CEO of AndHealth, a digital health company with the mission of helping people reverse chronic disease, which he started after his own battle with chronic disease. AndHealth is the world’s first virtual Center of Excellence for migraine reversal, and is soon launching a virtual Center of Excellence for autoimmune …

Jay Harkrider is the Managing Director of Foxen, a software company that started out by focusing on helping property managers better track and manage renter’s insurance across their tenants. However, over just a few years, Foxen has evolved into a FinTech company providing innovative financial solutions for residential and commercial real estate companies. On top …

Tom Dailey provides independent expert strategic and practical advice to merchants, payment processors, investors, law firms, and other organizations. He is a recognized, trusted expert in the card and payments space. As a senior executive at Discover, he managed the multi-billion dollar merchant business unit, including a team of over 2,000 across 28 facilities. More …

5.Life is a collection of world-class climbing facilities based in the Midwest and has been in business for thirty years in Columbus, Ohio. The first facility, Vertical Adventures was hand-built by Alexis and Carrie Roccos, with the help of their friends, and opened in 1994 in Columbus, Ohio. Since then, the business and climbing community …

Ernie Knight is the Managing Director and CEO of Valley Growth Ventures. Valley Growth Ventures is a “micro” venture capital investment fund created to support high-growth, early-stage companies across the state of Ohio, with a preference for those in the Mahoning Valley. Formed in collaboration between five area organizations, VGV serves to aid in the …

Joe Petrelli is the President and Co-Founder of Demotech, the first insurer rating service to review independent regional and specialty insurers. At the time of the founding of Demotech in 1985, the insurance rating industry was controlled by a few key players, and many of them said it would be impossible to rate smaller regional …

Esther is the Founder of Benesafe Solutions. Benesafe Solutions LLC manufactures, produces, and sells eco-friendly, plant-based insect repellents without harsh chemicals making them safe for families, pets, and the environment. Their goal is to create products that are in line with their values and minimize the impact on the environment and the planet. Prior to …

Brian Gregory is the CEO and a Co-Founder of FMX. FMX is a facilities management software company founded in 2012 that has grown to serve over 1,500 customers across the world today. Prior to co-founding FMX, Brian was an engineer working in the energy services industry, and he graduated from the Ohio State University with …

Sean and Addison are the Co-Founders of S’wich Social, a build-your-own ice cream sandwich shop based in Italian Village! Sean and Addison launched S’wich Social in March of 2021.

Gus Hashem is a Co-founder of T-CETRA, a company focused on solving the challenges of a massive problem in the U.S. – serving the 84 million people who lack access to bank accounts or other traditional financial products and services. These un/underbanked individuals still need to interact with an increasingly digital world, and that is …

David Bullivant is the founder and CEO of Yellow Weld, a startup welding company here in Columbus. David studied Welding Engineering at Ohio State before founding Yellow Weld in June of 2020.

Brent is the Principal and Founder of Crawford Hoying, a real estate development firm managing several communities throughout Ohio. Brent is responsible for managing $1.3 billion in development and over 16 million square feet of properties. Brent taught property management and real estate trends at The Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University …

Adam Carr is the Master Integrator at Save a Warrior, an organization dedicated to ending the epidemic of suicide among our nations’ military, veterans, and first responders. He is also the Founder and CEO of the Western Zen, a leadership and development company based out of Columbus and focused on serving corporations, academia, and first-responder …

Josh Curtis is the Managing Director of Footprint Capital. Footprint Capital assists owners of privately held companies with mergers and acquisitions, strategic decisions, ownership transition planning, and corporate finance. As Managing Director, Josh works directly with business leaders to help strategize and plan these complex transactions.

Jim McGuire is the CEO of Entrotech, a vertically integrated provider of advanced material solutions. Jim studied Chemistry at Ohio State and founded Entrotech in 1999. Today, the Entrotech group includes several companies such as Advanced Paint Technology, Entrochem, inc., and Entrotech Life Sciences.

Giri Devnaur is the CEO of reAlpha, a fintech company with the mission of democratizing real estate. Their AI finds the best potential properties for investment, and those properties are listed on their digital marketplace where you can invest in them.

Angie Lloyd is the Executive Director of the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation. The Ohio Access to Justice Foundation, founded in 1994 as the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation and located in Columbus, is a statewide, nonprofit organization committed to ensuring that civil legal aid is available to all low-income Ohioans. The Foundation’s board is composed …

Lauren Culley and Jeff Excell are the Founders of Fox in the Snow – a bakery, coffee shop serving up rustic-style baked goods and hand-poured drinks out of three quaint shops in the Italian Village, German Village and New Albany neighborhoods of Columbus, Ohio.

Brian Billingsley is a Co-Founder of Basis Theory, a tokenization API to help secure any data. Basis Theory helps developers build secure and compliant applications faster, and helps clients secure data such as credit card information, HIPPA-related data, credentials, banking information, and more.

Matt Benson is the CEO and Founder of eFuse. eFuse was founded in 2018 and is the place where gamers meet, compete, & are discovered. Available in the form of a web and mobile application, eFuse connects the highly fragmented gaming community and provides tools for individuals to build a unique gaming portfolio, collaborate professionally, …