The Mark Haney Podcast

Lauren Johnson is an athlete-turned-mental performance coach, who is highly motivating, and relatable with a passion for developing the minds of the elite. From the playing field to the boardroom, Lauren helps elite performers develop mental toughness so they can be their best regardless of circumstance. She joins Mark for an engaging and informative conversation about what it takes - from clarity...

Meet Adrian Blanco, founder of Adrian Blanco Jewelry in Folsom which has been voted the best local business, the best jeweler and the best jewelry store in Folsom and El Dorado Hills.  Throughout his engaging conversation with Mark, Adrian’s personal drive, strong commitment to community, and his relationship first approach to life shine through.  Tune in and learn more about the jewelry industry...

Mark talks with visionary civic leaders, Kevin Spease and Darrell Doan from the City of Elk Grove, about how they, along with a strong and collaborative group of leaders, have effectively positioned Elk Grove as a hub of tech innovation and a startup friendly community.  By offering early-stage companies that locate in the city incentives like non-dilutive funding, permit assistance and free space...

Data, Diversity and the Future Workforce Sadie St Lawrence, Founder and CEO of Women in Data, the #1 Community for Women in AI and Tech joins Mark to talk about how and why she got started, the explosion and importance of data related careers, and how data touches all of our lives.   Sadie has trained over 400,000 people in data science and has developed multiple programs in machine learning and c...

Arik Levy, Founder of Luxer One and General Partner in Locker One Ventures and Robert Morin, owner of Lux Powder Coat, join Mark to talk about the power of entrepreneurs helping entrepreneurs and in doing so, creating new ventures in our region. They share the story of Robbie’s journey starting as a 19-year-old employee of Luxer One.  Arik speaks to the talent and drive he saw in Robbie and the ex...

Derek Chase is at it again.  After selling his last company, a services-based business in the Solar Industry, he has founded Onsight Technology (which is one of our Growth Factory portfolio companies).  Onsight Technology enables Utility Solar Asset Owners get more power out of their systems with lower costs by automating the inspection process and giving them unparalleled access to data on their...

Mark sits down with Willy Duncan, President of Sierra College, to talk about the critical role that this community college plays in paving the path to success for students of all ages in our region.  From offering an affordable and accessible steppingstone to a four-year degree to upskilling mid-career adults and so much more, Sierra College has a demonstrated track record of being agile, responsi...

#1 in agriculture, veterinary medicine, winemaking, sustainability and diversity, inclusiveness and internationalization among many other things, UC Davis is a beacon for talented students and faculty who are known for world class research aimed at solving some of our most critical global challenges.  Mark talks with Chancellor Gary May about what it takes to lead this complex, high performing org...

Jim Corbett, Former Chairman at Bay Equity and Founder of the Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy (SEA), has not only navigated his own entrepreneurial journey culminating with a successful exit but has positively impacted the journey of so many others.  He founded SEA in 1986 before entrepreneurship was a household term and over the years has worked to support nearly 1000 entrepreneurs including...

Braydan Young is the co-founder and Chief Alliances Officer of Sendoso, the world’s first Sending Platform that provides a fully integrated solution to help companies easily source, store, ship, and track ROI for everything they ever need to send: direct mail, physical gifts, plants, perishables, customer rewards, company swag, handwritten notes, gift cards, and anything else -- kind of a remote s...

Like many business leaders, Jason Hanson, President and CEO of Sierra Pacific Home & Comfort, Inc. , has faced a number of major challenges over the last decade plus from the 2008 economic downturn to the recent pandemic.  He talks about how he led the company through both with clear direction setting, rapid decision making and by building a culture of excellence.  He differentiates his compan...

Christina Dyer, Certified Professional Coach, Organizational Change Consultant and Founder & CEO of Noble Adventures joins Mark for a fascinating discussion about one of his favorite topics: Leadership.  Christina, an expert in helping to unleash the potential of leaders around the world, talks about her approach to working with individuals and teams and her perspectives on the qualities of ef...

What makes you different?  According to Katherine Bateman, President of Kayelbee Associates and a Fractional CMO, this is a critical question that today’s brands need to answer.  Listen in as she and Mark talk about the importance of brand building and how resource constrained early-stage startups can achieve results on a budget with scalable outsourced marketing talent.  

Kelly Resendez, EVP of Talent Acquisition and Development at GoodLeap, Speaker and Best-Selling Author shares a little about her philosophies on life, parenting, and professional success with a notable focus on cultivating an abundance mindset and putting the right people in your life.  She talks specifically about how Masterminds, which offer a curated peer group experience, can fuel personal and...

Jennifer Edwards, the co-author of Bridge the Gap, a new book written in collaboration with Katie McCleary,  joins Mark to talk about the tools for becoming a strong communicator and why this matters for leaders striving to build great companies.   From exploring what gets in the way to learning how to cultivate authentic curiosity and active listening, Jennifer offers a peek into the work that sh...

In addition to their core business – basketball – the Sacramento Kings are well known for their entrepreneurial owners, building the most high-tech arena in the world in the middle of downtown Sacramento, and for being an engaged member of the broader Sacramento community. In this segment, Mark sits down with John Rinehart, President of Business Operations at the Sacramento Kings to talk about the...

Zach Denning and Jeremy Spillman, co-founders of Hank, a cloud based HVAC software platform startup that was recently acquired by JLL, join Mark to talk about their experience in building the company and leading it through an acquisition by a strategic investor.  Throughout this discussion, they continually emphasize what we know to be true: nobody builds (or exits) a truly great company alone.  Z...

After 20 years leading advertising and marketing campaigns, in 2004 Anne founded Sagent in response to a dare: “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?” Her answer: create an agency focused exclusively on creating positive social change that has a healthy culture and workplace.  Sagent is now an award-winning company and Sacramento’s only certified B Corp that develops strategic branding...

Join Mark for this engaging discussion with Manvir Sandhu, Co-founder, and CEO of Zennify, an award-winning technology consulting firm and platinum Salesforce partner based in the Sacramento region that enables clients to drive change through digital transformation. Manvir left his corporate job of 19 years in 2012, and he and his co-founders Nathan Mueller and Jesse Barker set off to do a project...

Meet Captain Augustine Joesph, founder of the Advanced International Aviation Academy and JetEXE Aviation Corp.  He is an entrepreneur, military veteran, pilot, and fountain of hard-earned and intentionally developed wisdom.  He recounts fascinating stories of his life from becoming a fighter pilot to his study of world religions including time at monasteries in the Himalayas, to surviving a helic...

Marcos Fernandez is the Managing Partner at Fiat Ventures and a Partner at Fiat Growth. He has an extensive background in the Fintech space having led Go-to-Market (GTM) strategy at SoFi and BD/Partnerships efforts most recently at Ripple. Outside of his day-to-day responsibilities Marcos has also spent a large part of the last decade advising and investing in companies in the Fintech space includ...

Rebecca Ye is the co-founder and CEO of Kyros.ai , an AI-powered College Prep and College Admission platform on a mission to be the Virtual Counselor & the GPS System for high school students and families on their journey to dream Colleges. Kyros.ai uses Machine Learning to provide the largest knowledge repository, objective benchmark, and profile-based recommendations, deriving insights from...

Aaron Anderson runs the Student Startup Center at UC Davis, overseeing undergraduate education and programs in technology entrepreneurship and is also a principal investor at the early-stage venture firm Impact Venture Capital where he focuses on corporate venture capital and regulated tech industries.  Previously, Aaron served as the Harvard Business School Leadership Fellow and Director of Busin...

From seeding ideas to scaling technologies that solve global challenges, capital is a critical component to catalyzing and commercializing innovation.  Grants – including $750B of Federal dollars – are a unique, non-dilutive part of the capital stack that can play a powerful role in funding this work.  Unfortunately, there are significant issues around efficiency, transparency, traceability and eq...

Most entrepreneurs featured on the show are driven by passion and purpose.  Jon Shumate, founder of Remember.us , takes both of these to the next level and adds a huge dose of authenticity and creativity to the mix.  He’s a really special person – as you’ll quickly discern from this segment - and we are thrilled to have him as a part of our first Growth Factory cohort. Join Mark as he and Jon talk...