People Business w/ O'Brien McMahon

Jessica Zweig is the Founder & CEO of SimplyBe. , a premier personal branding company based in Chicago.  She is an internationally award-winning entrepreneur who was named a “Personal Branding Expert” (Forbes) and a "Top Digital Marketer To Watch" (INC.) as well as a dynamic and highly sought-after speaker and presenter. Jessica has spoken on national and international stages, includ...

Amelia Forczak is the Founder of Pithy Wordsmithery , a firm that specializes in helping people write and market their books.  She and her team members work with executives and entrepreneurs across a range of industries to help them build and monetize their thought leadership and grow their businesses.   Over the past 10 years, Amelia has ghostwritten 10 business books, including five bestsellers....

 Dr. Jeff Spencer is a former Olympic cyclist turned personal and professional coach who makes winning big the normal. He has helped clients like Hitachi, U2, and Tiger Woods master their mindset and achieve their most aspirational goals. He’s been featured in Fortune magazine, Huffington Post, and the LA Times. With all his outward success, his greatest achievement is raising his adopted daughter...

Erich Kurschat is the owner of Harmony Insights LLC , a company that helps organizations and consultants leverage the DISC personality assessment.  A self-proclaimed "DISC Nerd", Erich shares in this conversation the history of assessments, the major ones currently used by employers, and how to make the most of whichever tool you choose (especially DISC). Erich is also the founder of HRH...

Niyum Gandhi is the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Population Health Officer for Mount Sinai Health System in New York. With over 40,000 employees, Mount Sinai is the largest employer in New York City's five boroughs. In this episode, Niyum shares his perspective as the Finance leader and how that's changed from his days in the operations and clinical side of the business. He talks ab...

Elizabeth Lotardo is a Vice President at McLeod & More, Inc , a sales and leadership consulting firm. Her work centers around helping companies, teams, and individuals find the purpose in their work and use it to drive better business results. She is the co-author of the book, Selling with Noble Purpose: How to Drive Revenue and Do Work that Makes You Proud . She has also been featured in The...

Dr. Colleen Hacker is a Professor of Kinesiology at Pacific Lutheran University as well as Mental Skills Coach to numerous professional and Olympic teams and athletes. She worked with the US Women's National Soccer Team in the late 1990's and early 2000's when they won multiple Olympic and World Cup gold medals. Since 2011, she's served at the Mental Skills coach for the US Wom...

Brian Bogert is a human behavior and performance coach, professional speaker, business strategist, and philanthropic leader. He teaches individuals how to leverage their authenticity and awareness to create the intentional life of their dreams. In this conversation, we discuss Brian's philosophy of embracing pain to avoid suffering. He shares his personal journal (which includes having his ar...

Brett Walsh is the Executive Vice President of Human Resources & Organizational Development for Graycor , a privately held family of companies employing more than 1,200 construction specialists. Brett is a member of the Graycor executive leadership team and is responsible for delivering people programs in the areas of recruitment and selection, talent development, succession planning, retentio...

Buff Burkel is a Retired United States Air Force Colonel and inspirational/motivational speaker. On October 11, 2015, the helicopter she and eight others were flying in crashed inside a NATO compound in Afghanistan. The crash killed five of the passengers and injured four, including Buff, who was left with a severely broken neck (the same injury that paralyzed Christopher Reeve from the neck down)...

Dr. Ray Sylvester is an Associate Professor of Marketing & Personal Branding at Anderson University . He was a senior lecturer and leader of two music business programs at Buckinghamshire New University in Wycombe, England outside London and co-wrote the first music business program in Europe in 1996. Ray has presented across both Europe and the US on the topic of personal branding, is publish...

Mary Mosqueda is the Practice Leader for Lockton 's Total Rewards & Compensation Practice . With over two decades of experience in compensation, human resources, and work/life programs, she is an expert at designing and implementing compensation, executive compensation, and total rewards programs for both public and private businesses. She is also a national speaker on these subjects and...

Dr. Sunitha Chandy is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist with Artesian Collaborative, LLC . She has been working with diverse people and communities since 2000 to help them tap into their resources during painful and tense situations.  Dr. Chandy specializes in developmental psychology, cross-cultural engagement, and high-risk populations. She guides teams - even those with intense conflict - to a p...

Paycor is a technology company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio providing Human Capital Management ( HCM ) software to small and mid-size employers. With over 2,000 employees, they help companies manage their people processes, including everything from recruiting to time & attendance to payroll to reporting.  Nathan Pierson, VP of HR, and Bill Neese, SVP of Talent Acquisition, join the show t...

Amy Cheronis co-founded The Scratch Collective in 2020 to bring big brand and ad agency thinking and expertise to the world of startups and innovators. This fast-growing boutique works across industries to deliver specialized, on-call talent focused on helping good people win. Prior to scratching that itch (pun intended), Amy was US Chief Integration Officer at PR firm MSL , where she led high-per...

Dr. Tim Holcomb is the Chair & Director of the John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship at Miami University (OH) . Dr. Holcomb has more than 30 years of strategy consulting, international business, and startup experience, including work in the U.S. and more than 25 countries. He has founded eight startups, raising more than $20 million in venture funding for those companies. He has also b...

Greg Tall is the Director of Learning & Development with JB Training Solutions , a training firm helping employees through the entirety of their career, from their first day on the job to leading high functioning teams.  Greg is a high-energy facilitator and trainer with over 15 years of experience in Talent Acquisition and Development, including stints with Teach For America, a Fortune 100 Be...

Desmond Clark spent 12 years as a Tight End in the NFL, playing with the Denver Broncos, Miami Dolphins, and most notably, for eight years with the Chicago Bears, where he is second only to Mike Ditka in receptions by a tight end. After the NFL, Desmond got into business, working as a financial advisor before founding Desmond Clark Investment Group and The Insurance People .  He is the author of P...

Sankar Venkatraman is Chief Evangelist at LinkedIn Talent Solutions . As part of this role, he is responsible for bringing the voice of the customer to the product development team and drive product development that helps connect talent with opportunity for LinkedIn’s members.   Sankar has a PhD in Biochemical Engineering from Rutgers University and an MBA from Cornell and is based out of LinkedIn...

Miranda Nicholson is the Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Formstack , a workplace productivity solution that empowers anyone to digitize what matters, automate workflows, and fix processes—all without code. With a decade of experience managing corporate HR activities, Miranda currently leads the acquisition, onboarding, and retention of current and future Formstack employees. Even prior...

Gary Noesner (pronounced "ness-ner") retired from the FBI in 2003 following a thirty-year career.  Twenty-three of those years were spent as an FBI hostage negotiator, where he retired as Chief of the FBI’s Crisis Negotiation Unit, Critical Incident Response Group , the first person to hold that position. In that capacity, Gary was heavily involved in numerous hostage, barricade, and sui...

Alex Perry spent two decades as a Speech Language Pathologist, working with patients to regain their ability to speak after illness or injury. She then launched her business, Practically Speaking , to help professionals improve their communication skills and connect better with their audience. She hosts the Practically Speaking Podcast and is the author of Minivan Mogul: A Crash Course in Confiden...

Byron Clymer is the Chief Information Officer for Lockton Companies , responsible for driving the people, process, and technology transformation taking Lockton into the next decade. In this episode, he shares best practices for aligning technology with the people functions of a business. Prior to Lockton, Byron ran Approach Logic, a consulting firm helping businesses navigate the complex IT landsc...

On paper, Sonny Garg and Samir Wagle had achieved the American Dream. They were corporate executives, making lots of money, with great families and nice homes. The problem was, they were both miserable. This led each man on a journey of self-discovery that changed their lives. After meeting, the two decided to partner together to help others define their own lives in more meaningful ways. In 2015,...

Bobby Powers is the head of HR and Learning & Development for Gravity Payments in Seattle. Gravity became famous several years ago when founder Dan Price decided to take a 90% pay cut and raise the minimum wage at his company to $70,000 per year . That, along with several other "radical" business principles, has led to tremendous growth. It was this unique culture that led Bobby into...