McKinney Momentum

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of McKinney Momentum, Luke sits down with Rudy DiPietro, President of Kroger Texas, for a conversation about growth, grocery, leadership, local investment, and why Collin County continues to be one of the most exciting places in Texas. Rudy shares his journey from growing up in Maine and starting in the grocery industry as a dishwasher and prep cook to now leading...

Send us Fan Mail When cardiac arrest hits, every minute without help drops survival by 10%.  In this episode, Battalion Chief Ben Jones of the McKinney Fire Department sits down with Luke Gajary to share how the city is becoming a "4-Minute City," where an AED can reach anyone in town within four minutes. Ben walks through the journey from a 10% cardiac survival rate to nearly 47% in 202...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to move from writing checks to actually building a thriving innovation ecosystem? In this SZN2 Premiere episode of the McKinney Momentum Podcast, Luke Gajary sits down with Troy Billett to unpack the evolution of McKinney’s Innovation Fund into something much bigger. What started as a grant program has grown into a multi-layered ecosystem designed to support foun...

Send us Fan Mail This week on McKinney Momentum we feature Dana Riley and Jill Scigliano from the Samaritan Inn right here in McKinney. The Samaritan Inn was founded in 1984 as a 10-bed single men’s homeless shelter. Since then, it has grown to become one of the largest shelters for our unhoused neighbors in North Texas. They serve single men, women, and families and have the capacity to serve up...

Send us Fan Mail This week, our own Madison Clark Interviews Tom Currier, founder and CEO of Maverick Power. Tom has been the driving force behind the company's strategic growth and innovation since January 2020. In his role at Maverick Power, Tom leads the organization with a clear vision, ensuring operational excellence and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. Maverick Power has s...

Send us Fan Mail Blue screen of death? IT Issues all day? Grounded flights?  What is going on???  Join us today as Rick Webster from Falkon, Josh Aaron from Aiden, and Stan Golubchik from ContraForce share a concise view of what happened across the globe in cyber security, explain the incident, and share tips on how people can stay ahead of either malicious or neglectful IT and cybersecurity probl...

Send us Fan Mail This week, our own Madison Clark Interviews Shawn Pratt, McKinney ISD Superintendent, about his origins growing up in Collin County, serving MISD for over 30 years, and some stand-out moments he's experienced. We also talk about ways we can better support educators, and some new initiatives the district is implementing to better help high schoolers with personal financial lit...

Send us Fan Mail This week, our President Michael Kowski Interviewed Sheila Due, the president of the McKinney Education Foundation. Sheila masterfully unpacks how the MEF works, how many students they've helped, how it all started, and how the everyday McKinney residents can get involved and make a difference. Plus, we learn about a new hot spot for chicken fingers in McKinney!  Learn more a...

Send us Fan Mail Today’s episode is a fun one! Two companies who met through their connection to the Innovation Fund have partnered together, and Mike Wilkes sits down with the founders to chat all things sports tech, fan engagement, the World Cup 2026, and more.  Meet Andrew Naugher of Rikodi, and Denny Darmo of Snipitz on today’s episode of McKinney Momentum and hear about their partnership Read...

Send us Fan Mail We’ve had 2 major announcements recently with global tech platform Plug N Play, and today we pull back the curtain a bit to unpack a little more of how this works with connecting startups to corporate partners. This week on McKinney Momentum, MEDC’s Michael Talley sits down with Plug and Play partner Kevin Parakkattu and discusses how the partnership came to be, how it builds on o...

Send us Fan Mail Join MEDC marketing manager Luke Gajary today as he jumps out from behind the camera to interview startup founder Adam McAbee of StadiumDrop - an Innovation Fund portfolio company. Adam shares the story of how he and his wife started the company, how COVID19 affected their launch, and some unique achievements they've made along the way. StadiumDrop is a game changing mobile o...

Send us Fan Mail Join Madison Clark in our MEDC studio today as she interviews our new president and CEO, Michael Kowski.  Kowski brings extensive long-term city planning experience to MEDC, including urban development and design, land acquisition, and capital improvement projects. He most recently served as the Director of Parks and Recreation for the City of McKinney where he oversaw projects li...

Send us Fan Mail Join our own Mike Wilkes in our MEDC studio today as he interviews Jake Hamann and talk about his company, Autix, his entrepreneurship start, the vision for his company, rethinking how we price, sell,  and build cars, and of course, the impact of the Innovation Fund.  A seasoned economic, ecosystem, and entrepreneurial development thought leader, Jake has not only built and grown...

Send us Fan Mail Today in the McKinney Momentum studio, we sit down with Lauren Smith and Kierstin Marchal from HUGS Cafe right here in McKinney. Lauren shares the story of HUGS, and the four main initiatives they are focused on - including some very unique inclusive employment curriculum opportunities. Kierstin shares the culture of HUGS, and how the opportunities provided her has changed her car...

Send us Fan Mail Join our SVP Michael Talley in our MEDC studio today as he interviews Denny Darmo and talk about his company, Snipitz, his entrepreneurship start, the vision for his company, rethinking how we consume media, and of course, the impact of the Innovation Fund.  Snipitz Founder, Visionary and CEO, Denny Darmo’s professional career began on Wall Street in 1994, soon transitioning into...

Send us Fan Mail Join our SVP Michael Talley in our MEDC studio today as he interviews Ranjith Raghunath and talk about his company, CX Data Labs, tech background, customer data and privacy, and of course the impact of the Innovation Fund.  Ranjith Raghunath is a customer experience (CX) wizard, coming from companies like Amazon, Samsung, and GSK before eventually starting his own company right he...

Send us Fan Mail Join our SVP Michael Talley, and project manager Mike Wilkes, in our MEDC studio today as they interview Greg Head and talk all things startup culture, VC funding, bootstrapping a company, and learning how to better foster the tech ecosystem as a whole in DFW.  Greg Head is a 30-year software industry veteran who was part of the startup-to-scale journeys of three different softwar...

Send us Fan Mail Today on McKinney Momentum, our Business Retention Expansion and Workforce Director Madison Clark interviews Rey Colon from Lyric Health, a local tele-health company based here in McKinney. Rey shares his company journey, how he ended up in McKinney, and some major wins they are experiencing in the space.  Learn more about Lyric Health:  https://getlyric.com/ Follow Rey on LinkedI...

Send us Fan Mail Today on McKinney Momentum, our Business Retention Expansion and Workforce Director Madison Clark interviews Kevin Shatley from the Dallas Regional Chamber. Kevin talks about the partnerships in the region, life science industries, and overall growth happening in DFW. Enjoy!  Learn more about the DRC:  https://www.dallaschamber.org/ Follow DRC on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com...

Send us Fan Mail This month on McKinney Momentum, we host Angie Woods in the studio from the MCDC. She shares about her involvement in serving and what being committed to a board has meant to her, as well as pulls back the curtain on some current MCDC projects and initiatives.  Learn more about the MCDC:  https://www.mckinneycdc.org/ Follow MCDC on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/McKinney-Commu...

Send us Fan Mail This week on McKinney Momentum, Luke Gajary and Caroline Causey from the MEDC host Lisa Hermes of the McKinney Chamber of Commerce as we discuss community involvement, leadership development, and economic development from the perspective of the Chamber of Commerce.

Send us Fan Mail Today on McKinney Momentum, Madison Clark sits down with the director of Visit McKinney to talk all things tourism, events, and the economic impact of the AT&T Byron Nelson. 

Send us Fan Mail Entrepreneur Dru Riess joins Madison Clark this week to talk all things McKinney, and share about his new venture in McKinney called ILS Gummies.  Audio: http://mckinneymomentum.com About Innovative Life Sciences ILS Gummies is a new company, formerly TMM Gummies. TMM Gummies was acquired by private-equity firm, Rosewood Private Investments in early 2022. Rosewood PI is the privat...

Send us Fan Mail McKinney Mayor George Fuller joins us this week for a chat about the growth in McKinney, leadership challenges, and some upcoming projects.

Send us Fan Mail Meet our president, Peter Tokar III! MEDC Marketing Manager Luke Gajary sits down with Peter to hear about his back story of economic development, what brought him to McKinney, and his vision for the economic growth of our city.