People Business w/ O'Brien McMahon

Dr. Clare Purvis is the Senior Director of Behavioral Science at Headspace . Bridging science and innovation, Clare is committed to developing and scaling health products that support people in living full and vital lives. Clare leads the company’s Behavioral Science team, which focuses on integrating behavioral science into company operations at scale, ensuring that Headspace inspires, guides, an...

Kaitlyn Lyons is the founder and CEO of Delightful Movement Coaching . She helps stressed, overworked, burned-out professionals restore energy, enthusiasm, and joy. After 10 years in Fortune 300 organizations as a strategic advisor, internal consultant, and project manager, Kaitlyn excelled at challenging, high-visibility, high-pressure projects. She also burned out. Now she helps hard-charging in...

Elise Gelwicks founded her first company in college to help students secure internships through networking. After working at Kimberly-Clark and in management consulting, she founded Eleview Consulting . Eleview works with companies to give their teams the skills, tools, and resources to successfully navigate the delicate dynamics of the working world. Elise has been featured in the New York Times,...

Dan Rogers never expected to go from rolling burritos to becoming the CEO of his own company. He always looks to challenge the status quo, and in doing so he helped to grow a quick-serve restaurant chain, tripled annual sales for a transportation business , and then bought and pivoted that same company to navigate tremendous growth. Point to Point has been listed for seven consecutive years on the...

Sam Yagan and Lindsay Verstegan worked together as the CEO and CHRO of ShopRunner from 2016 until it sold to Fedex in early 2021. These two leaders worked closely from day one, setting a purposeful people strategy that led to 300% growth during their four years together. This conversation was recorded as part of Chicago SHRM 's "HR Strategy Series". Chicago SHRM is a regional chapte...

Imran Khan is the Founder & CEO of Embarc , a leading organization in the movement for experiential learning. He has spent the last 12 years of his career connecting students, teachers, and schools to learning beyond the classroom, first as a teacher on the south side of Chicago, then with Embarc. Embarc has been recognized by the UChicago Consortium as one of the best at designing development...

Justin Breen is CEO of the PR firm BrEpic Communications and author of the best-selling book, Epic Business . Justin is hard-wired to seek out and create viral, thought-provoking stories that the media craves. And he finds the best stories when he networks with visionary entrepreneurs and executives who understand the value of investing in themselves and their businesses. Justin is an active membe...

Dr. Ari Levy is in the business of helping people live better. As the founder of Shift , he is focused on the intersections of neuroscience, immune-physiology, and allostatic load (wear-and-tear on the body). His work and research are redefining the way we think about managing and building health and personal well-being. He joins the podcast to talk about what it means to be, and how we can all be...

James Hornick is a Partner at Hirewell , where he has specialized in the recruitment of marketing and technology professionals since 2005. He created Hirewell’s Digital Experience & Marketing recruiting practice while also leading the firm’s internal strategy, marketing, and business development initiatives. James is a proponent of value-driven content and regularly shares his perspective on t...

Linnea Gandhi is a researcher, teacher, and practitioner of behavioral science in business settings. And she’s obsessed with error; studying it, fixing it, and even embracing it to enable better decisions by individuals and organizations. Her work on error intentionally straddles academia and the real world: She teaches decision science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, studie...

Andy Riise is currently a Mental Skills Coach for the Cincinnati Reds. Originally from Oakdale, CA, Andy is an Eagle Scout, West Point graduate, and former Army Football player. Over his decorated 20 year military career as a Field Artillery Officer, Andy led Soldiers in a variety of overseas missions highlighted by multiple combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and serving five years in two...

James Madison is the Founder and CEO of On Purpose Life , where he helps professionals become more effective and inspiring leaders.  His superpowers are connecting, encouraging, and maximizing professional and personal development.  James is an Army veteran who served in Germany and participated in Operation Desert Storm. After serving in the military, he spent 25 years in supply chain leadership,...

Diane Allen was the Concertmaster (lead violinist) of the Central Oregon Symphony for 15 years, a well sought-after violin teacher for 28 years, and the author of sixteen music workbooks sold worldwide. Today, she consults and speaks with individuals and organizations on the Flow State . Diane has developed a proprietary process that enables people to be at their best anytime, anyplace, no matter...

Mary Herrmann is the Managing Director of the Global Executive Coaching practice of BPI Group . She leads a team of professional coaches in the U.S. and abroad, helping organizations drive change and deliver results through proven best practices in leadership and executive team development. With a wide range of executive coaching and team assignments under her belt, Mary offers clients leading edg...

Leah Stallone is the founder of The Career Edit LLC , a full-service career strategy firm partnering with those ready to write, or rewrite, their career story. As a life-long career junkie, Leah spent the first 15 years of her professional life in talent management helping others find their professional sparkle. As “The Career Editor", Leah shares the power of storytelling to help clients cre...

Bill Bloom is the founder and CEO of Bloom Financial , a financial advisory firm focused on helping individuals "Retire as You Desire". Among other clients, Bill works with business leaders and entrepreneurs to help them figure out what to do with their money and when. In this conversation, Bill shares his insight on our most common money issues, investing in ourselves and others, and ho...

Marcy Twete is a leader in Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability with a history of working with multinational Fortune 500 companies. She has a background both broad and deep in ESG (environmental, social, governance) factors, ethical decision-making, marketing, and communications. She is the founder and CEO of Marcy Twete Consulting where she advises corporations of all sizes, their invest...

Stephanie Waite is the co-founder of ChangeNerd , an online community for change management professionals.  She is also the Founder & CEO of 7 AIR, a people strategy firm that unlocks & activates the people potential within organizations through consulting, executive coaching, and designing large-scale people systems, experiences, and strategies.  Stephanie serves as the President of the A...

Christian Espinosa is the Founder and CEO of Alpine Security , a cybersecurity firm now part of Cerberus Sential . He is an Air Force veteran, an Ironman triathlete, and a lover of heavy metal music. Christian used to value being "the smartest guy in the room” but realized that to be his best and to win the fight against cybercriminals, he had to check his ego and build his emotional intellig...

Tracey Wik is a business leader focused on helping women who’ve broken through the glass ceiling survive out on the glass cliff. A growing body of research shows that women who achieve leadership roles often do so in times of crisis or downturn, when the chance of failure is highest. On top of that, they are often given shorter timelines and fewer resources than their male counterparts. In this co...

Chris Schmitt and Scott Morley are West Point Grads, Army Special Forces "Green Berets", and corporate leadership coaches with Azimuth Leadership . Chris founded Azimuth after 30 years in the Army to continue his life of service and pass along the leadership lessons he'd spent a lifetime learning. Whether it's through their one-on-one and group coaching or their outdoor leaders...

Gaye van den Hombergh is a Senior Partner with Partners in Leadership . She has more than 25 years of experience as a business leader, operating executive, and senior advisor in large, middle-market, start-up, and non-profit organizations. At Partners In Leadership, Gaye has led large culture transformation efforts with large and small companies. She has a deep understanding and appreciation for t...

Pam Evanson is a Sales & Business Coach with Lappin180 , a high-performance sales consulting firm working to disrupt conventional sales norms and affect change.  Pam works with business-to-business sales professionals, helping them get out of their own way so they can truly connect and serve their prospects and customers (and, of course, generate more sales). She has an uncanny ability to conn...

Nate Guggia is the Co-Founder of Before You Apply , a  creative studio and content platform that helps companies and their recruiting teams give candidates an insider's look at their work and culture. They work with growth-focused organizations in highly competitive markets to help companies and talent teams hire fast. In this episode, we talk about the importance of employer branding to both...

Julie Billingsley is the Vice President of Human Resources at ZS Associates , a global professional services and consulting firm with 10,000 employees and contractors spanning 13 countries. Julie has been with ZS for 26+ years, helping them grow double digits year-over-year while purposely building and expanding their workforce and corporate culture. She has been integral to establishing their coa...