Driven By with Sam Coates

This family doesn’t care about taking Private Equity money and selling. They are all in on their 75-year history and 3rd generation family business. This family business started with Generation 1. Dr. Lloyd Reed founded this family business right after WW2. 75 Years later, Generation 3 is now running it with Generation 2, and they have no plans on slowing down. Dr. Kevin Reed is 2nd generation of...

My guest this week is Bill Courtney. Bill is the CEO and founder of Classic American Hardwoods. An 80 Million a year global lumber company based out of Memphis, TN. Bill started this company out of his living room in 2001. Bill is also the host of the Army of Normal Folks Podcast, a former High School Football Coach, Featured in the Award Winning Documentary Undefeated, plus much more. This interv...

My guest this week is Ryan Pryor. Ryan is an educator with Crosstown High School based out of Memphis, Tennessee. The Public School system in the United States is broken. To better understand this why I did  a podcast with an educator that’s not scared to do something different. Crosstown High School was started out of the XQ Institute which works directly with the Emerson Collective which has bee...

My guest this week is Danny Palo . Danny is the CEO of Vital Records Control . This company started in 1988 at $300,000.00 in annual revenue and today is at $300,000,000.00. Windjammer Capital now owns VRC and is in 80 markets with 2,000 employees. What’s even more impressive is that Danny’s only job prior was flipping hamburgers. He then started as a delivery driver, dropped out of college, and h...

My guest this week is Andy Heck. Andy is the Co-owner and President of Alpin Haus, an outdoor recreation powerhouse out of Amsterdam, New York. Alpin Haus has 300 employees and does 100 Million in revenue It is a third-generation private family business that started like many other great American companies with entrepreneurs and a dream. The outdoor recreation space has exploded, and this family b...

Hey Everybody, my guest this week is entrepreneur and founder of Alma Del Jaguar McCauley Williams. This episode was a blast. McCauley, a former corporate attorney and C.E.O. of Bluenote Bourbon and he went all in on this new tequila company earlier this year. As McCauley says, we’re overloaded with options as consumers, and authenticity and transparency matter more now than ever. McCauley has put...

My guest today is Bill Proctor. Bill is the President of Nexair. Nexair has been one of the largest independent packaged gas distributors in the United States and has a rich 73-year history. In early 2023, Nexair was acquired by Linde, the thirty-three billion dollar global multinational chemical company. Bill remains president through this acquisition. Nexair is a great American success story tha...

Hey everybody, I hope you're having a great summer. Today's podcast is one I produced for one of the largest privately owned orthopaedic organizations in the United States. Campbell Clinic is based out of Memphis, Tennessee, and has been a leader nationally and internationally in orthopaedics since 1909. And my guest this week is their Chief of Staff, Dr. Frederick Azar. I'm choosing to release th...

Hey Everybody, I hope you're having a great start to the summer. My guest today is Oscar Subrats; a previous guest suggested Oscar, and the more I looked into him, the more I was interested. Oscar is the President of College Prospects of America, a company that has helped over 35,000 students get an education and play college sports in the United States. Many of these students are international st...

My guest this week is the CEO of the nation’s largest three-service municipal utility service Doug McGowen. Former Top Gun Pilot, Navy Captain, City of Memphis COO, (plus more stops along the way) and now CEO of MLGW. I’ve heard many times that Doug simply knows how to get stuff done so it was a privilege to record this with him. His reputation did not disappoint. This is a great episode that cove...

Who would have thought an English mid-19th-century sport would empower inner-city students to overcome? My guest today is Shane Young . Shane co-founded Memphis Inner City Rugby and is a former Teach for America Educator. After working in the inner city school system and knowing there had to be a new way to additionally transform lives, Shane and his co-founder launched Memphis Inner City Rugby fr...

My guest today is Candace Steele Flippin, DM. Candace is currently the chief communications officer for Acuity Brands- a 4 Billion dollar revenue organization, and previously served as Chief Communications Officer of First Horizon Bank, a 3.49 Billion dollar revenue bank. Acuity has 11,500 employees, and First Horizon has 7,000 plus employees. She also has her Doctor of Management from Case Wester...

My guest this week is Memphis Fire, Chief Gina Sweat. Chief Sweat was selected to be the first female director of fire services in Memphis, TN, and there were only a handful of female fire chiefs nationally when she was selected. The world of fire departments is changing. Chief Sweat says in this episode 80% of their calls are medical, so gone are the days when you are only going to fight fires. T...

My guest this week is John Carroll. Lately, I’ve wondered how do you confidently promote a city with significant issues. John is behind the highly successful grassroots nonprofit Choose 901 and City Leadership out of Memphis, TN. What started as a bootstrapped nonprofit over a decade ago has now evolved into one of the top promotional brands in Memphis, TN. National Center on Charitable Statistics...

My guest today is Will Chase. This is the second time Will is on this podcast. I’ve heard great feedback about his episode #62, so check it out. This episode will be different and much shorter, and I am looking forward to it. Full disclosure, I was hired to produce work for this venture and this interview. But I was not hired to release it here on my podcast. That was my choice because Will knows...

My guest today is Bob Fockler, former investment banker turned Community builder and asset allocator. Americans gave away just over 484 billion dollars last year, so I wanted to know what this looks like when it's done right. Bob is currently the President of the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, which, as he says, is a billion-dollar financial institution. This is a great episode that cove...

My guest, today for the 2nd time, is Youth Villages CEO Pat Lawler. When someone has led an organization from less than 100 kids a year, a handful of staff, and evolved into an impact of more than 32,000 kids a year and over 3,600 staff and counting, they are going to have something to say that’s important to listen and learn from. It’s energizing how a dream can start small, with focus, resilienc...

My guest today is Frank Cianciola. I’m fortunate to interview many people across the country for the corporate interviews I produce. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last few years, it’s that if something works in one market, those principles will work in every market. It’s an absolute pleasure to release today’s episode with Banking entrepreneur and industry veteran Frank Cianciola. Fra...

My guest today is Duncan Williams. I wanted to have Duncan on this podcast because What started as a small regional municipal bond firm in 1969 grew to be one of the largest female-owned bond broker-dealers in the United States. In addition to this work, this family has a strong presence as a holding company in farmland, apartments, and senior living facilities in the southeastern part of the Unit...

My guest today is Scott Felsenthal. I wanted to have Scott on this podcast because he and his family are obviously doing something right. Only 3% of companies make it to the 4th generation, and their company Whitmor is one of them. Scott is the CEO of Whitmor, and it's a privilege to have him on this podcast. Whitmor started in Brooklyn, New York, in 1946; over 75 years later, it is running strong...

My guest today is Eric Barnes. Eric is the CEO of the Daily Memphian, the largest single market digital-only local news site in the United States. Starting his career as a staff reporter and worked his way up as an editorial assistant, editor, publisher, and now CEO, Eric has seen the downward spiral of traditional print firsthand and the digital growth of how news is consumed. What's fascinating...

My guest today is Tim Belk. Tim, his wife Sarah, and his children operate Wild Hope Farm out of Chester, South Carolina. This is a fantastic episode about leveraging your skill sets to make a true family affair. As Tim says, while being CEO of Belk, he and his wife Sarah were like two ships passing in the night. This organic farm allowed them to do something together and leverage her idea of becom...

My guest today is Mason George. Mason is an entrepreneur and business executive with IMC Companies. IMC Companies was started by his Father, Mark George, 40 years ago with just one driver. Today, it is one of the top Intermodal Carriers in the United States. At close to a billion dollars in revenue, it’s quite the story to take a company from one driver to where it is today. Our supply chain is mo...

My guest today is Rick Spell. Rick is the owner of Spell Restaurant group. Before acquiring and operating restaurants around the Southeastern United States, Rick spent decades building a highly successful career as an investment banker for Morgan Keegan (now Raymond James).  Rick employs over 500 people through their ownership group. As you may know, currently, more than 11 million jobs are open,...

My guest this week has a story that’s nuts! So far in my life, I have yet to meet someone who has overcome more obstacles in their life to become an entrepreneur in the United States and benefit from capitalism. My guest this week is Sandra Xing. Sandra’s parents were taken away by Mao Zedong’s red party when she was 8. She raised her brother and herself. She witnessed her Mother be shamed and pun...