Conquering Columbus Podcast

Larry Connor is a founder and CEO / Managing Partner of the Connor Group. Larry got his first taste of entrepreneurship in High School after starting a painting business with a close friend. That taste led to a career in entrepreneurship (with a few pit stops along the way). Larry has founded companies from the …

Dr. Rustin Morse is the Chief Medical Officer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. As CMO, Dr. Morse leads key operational areas such as clinical care and medical education. He also guides programs like their quality and safety program, Zero Hero (More on that to come). Dr. Morse is a faculty member at the Ohio State University …

Dr. Annalies Corbin is a nationally recognized researcher, speaker, author, and foremost expert connecting scientific research with education and business, and industry within communities. Affectionately called, the Chief Goddess, Annalies has spent more than 20 years as Founder, President, and CEO of the PAST Foundation – an educational non-profit organization. She is also the host …

Tom Burden is a former Air Force mechanic turned entrepreneur after encountering a problem at his job – there wasn’t a good way to hold tools, especially when working on aircraft with a lot of different angles you might have to position yourself on. So he invented Grypmat – a heat-resistant, gripping tool mat that …

Chris Hawker is a serial entrepreneur, inventor, and professional speaker. Some of his products and companies include (but aren’t limited to): Trident Design, PowerSquid, Thirsty Light, WaveRider Design, Zilla, and Straptor. Most recently, he’s been working on a SaaS venture, OMS.

Founded in 2014 by James Forbes and his mother, Jane, North Country Charcuterie is a small business offering hand-cured meats and salamis made locally in Columbus, Ohio. Their products include traditional salamis and edgier options, such as coffee bacon. You can find North Country Charcuterie at eateries and gourmet grocers across Ohio. mi

Paul Powers is the CEO and Founder of Physna, a software company that helps companies take 3D models and turn them into usable data for software applications — This helps increase productivity in manufacturing and empowers companies to better utilize emerging technologies such as 3D printing, as well as augmented and virtual reality.

Lindsey is the COO at the Wellington School, a private, pre K-12, co-educational, college preparatory school located in Upper Arlington. Prior to taking on the COO role, Lindsey served as the Athletic Director for the Wellington School. She has also been an L1 Advisory Board Member for Crossfit, Inc, as well as being a Crossfit …

Linda is the CEO of MedVet, one of the more well-known and fastest-growing groups of emergency and specialty referral veterinary hospitals for companion animals. Linda joined MedVet as a Staff Cardiologist back in 2000, and over the past 20 years has moved her way up to take on the CEO role in 2019.

Dr. Kevin Klingele is the Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, as well as Director of the Nationwide Children’s Fellowship program. He is also the Surgical Director of Sports Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. He received his medical …

Saket Agrawal and Navin Goyal are the CEO and Cofounder, respectively, of OFFOR Health, a mobile anesthesia and healthcare company, which currently servicing patients in 3 states. Navin also serves as Co-Founder and CEO of Loud Capital, a venture capital firm focused on empowering founders utilizing a unique investment model.

Rob Ouellette is a Partner at Ice Miller, and he focuses his practice on complex corporate transactions, mergers and acquisitions (particularly private equity investments and transactions), and a range of financing transactions.

Chris Sauerzopf is the Founder and CEO of SafeWire, a company designed to stop the rampant wire fraud seen today in real estate. Nearly 1 in every 450 real estate transactions has associated fraud reported, costing consumers and businesses over $221 million in 2019. SafeWire is a software program that allows digital authentication of buyers …

Eric Jenkusky is CEO and a Cofounder of Matrix Meats. Matrix Meats designs and manufactures novel three-dimensional (3D) nanofiber scaffolds for the culturing of meat in cellular agriculture. Eric is also a serial entrepreneur, having founded several other companies, and currently, he also serves as a Cofounder at T.J. Clark International, which focuses on the …

Steve is a Cofounder and the CEO of Branch Insurance, an insurance firm founded in 2018 and headquartered Columbus, Ohio. Branch’s biggest differentiator is their ability to bundle home and auto insurance faster than anyone because they are the first company to sell it online with just a customer’s name and address. Steve came together …

Dr. Greg Berlet is the Managing Partner of The Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Center (OFAC), a practice devoted to multi-disciplinary foot and ankle care in Westerville, Ohio. He is also a past Chairman of the Education Committee for the American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society and a past board member of the American Academy of …

Andy Panos is a Cofounder and the COO of Cloudbreak Health, and Jamey Edwards is a Cofounder and the CEO at Cloudbreak Health. We previously had Andy on the show to talk about the story behind Cloudbreak Health and how the company got started, but it was recently announced that Cloudbreak Health will be merging …

Jim Merkel is the Founder and CEO of Rockbridge, a private investment firm headquartered in Columbus, Ohio that has been focused on the hospitality industry since 1999. Rockbridge has made more than 260 real estate and hospitality investments in 38 states, worth over $8.5 Billion in total capitalization. In 2011, Jim also founded RBHD, a …

High Bank Distillery Co. is a distillery and restaurant located in Grandview, OH. The team at High Bank distills Whiskey, Vodka, Gin, and Rum, and their restaurant serves a variety of options that change fairly often with the seasons. They’re most known for their world-class meals, award winning cocktails, and unmatched environment.

Matter is the only women-owned, non-profit, investigative local news outlet. Matter was founded a little over two years ago, with the mission of covering the most pressing issues for Central Ohio,

Matthew is the Senior Vice President of Culinary and Menu Innovation at Piada. Prior to joining the Piada team, Matthew was the Corporate Executive Chef at Brio. Previously, Matthew spent time as an Executive Chef at a variety of restaurants, including Lindey’s, and his cooking career has brought him all over the world to places …

Don M. Casto, III is a partner of CASTO. Prior to joining the organization in 1971, he was in the private practice of law in San Francisco, California. Casto is a graduate of Stanford University and Stanford Law School and holds a master’s degree in Natural Resource Law from George Washington University. He is actively …

Andy Hays is the Co-founder and President of Copper Run, an investment banking firm focused on helping their clients manage acquisitions, company sales, and “Taking some chips off the table.” Prior to co-founding Copper Run, Andy worked for, and helped found, Cantor Fitzgerald’s investment banking group on Wall Street, after 9/11. Cantor’s investment banking group …

Ryan Sevey is the General Manager at DataRobot. Prior to joining DataRobot Ryan was the CEO and a Co-Founder of Nexosis. Nexosis was a provider of machine learning API for developers, which was then acquired by DataRobot in 2018.

Outern is a revolutionary early careers jobs tryout platform; it allows companies to source and evaluate talent at scale, and from anywhere, through the power of data, video content, and remote work. The company is aiming to level the playing field by making opportunity dependent upon what candidates can do, rather than where they come …