The SALA Series Podcast

Stu Jackson has spent decades shaping the game of basketball from nearly every level imaginable — first as a college basketball player, then as one of the youngest head coaches in NBA history with the New York Knicks, later helping launch the Vancouver Grizzlies as Team President and General Manager, and now serving as commissioner of the West Coast Conference and a member of the NCAA Division I M...

Marcia Chatelain, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, has built her work around uncovering the deeper stories that shape American life. Through acclaimed books like Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America, Chatelain examines the intersection of race, capitalism, and culture, revealing how systems of power influence opportunity, identity, and comm...

Jennifer Peter has spent her career leading newsrooms through some of the most consequential moments in modern journalism. From overseeing The Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing to now serving as Editor-in-Chief of The Marshall Project, Peter has built a reputation for guiding organizations through complexity with clarity, urgency, and purpose. The Marsha...

Jen Loving, CEO of Destination: Home and one of the nation’s leading voices on homelessness systems change, joins host Jeff Olivet — nationally recognized homelessness policy expert, former Executive Director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness  — for a conversation grounded in what it actually takes to reduce homelessness at scale. With more than two decades of experience across gover...

As America approaches its 250th anniversary, author and scholar Eddie Glaude Jr. asks a deeper question: what stories do we tell ourselves about who we are—and what truths do we leave out? Known for his intellectual rigor and unflinching honesty, Glaude explores the enduring tension between freedom, democracy, and race that has shaped the nation from its founding to today. Drawing from works inclu...

Well beyond his extraordinary on-field accomplishments, Paul Rabil has reimagined what the sport of lacrosse can become—and expanded who it’s for. For those familiar with his story, it’s no surprise.  As the sport’s first “million-dollar athlete,” Rabil always had a clear vision for building his personal brand and leveraging his success as a standout collegiate and professional player. But his amb...

Fidel Vargas’ story comes full circle. Once a recipient of Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) scholarships at Harvard and Harvard Business School, he now leads the organization as President and CEO—guiding one of the nation’s most impactful institutions advancing access to higher education, with programs serving 12,500+ students and parents in more than 2,900+ cities in all 50 states and U.S. territo...

Jimmer Fredette’s journey has been anything but linear. Lightly recruited out of high school and overlooked by major programs, he went on to become the 2011 Naismith College Player of the Year at BYU—captivating the country as one of the most electric scorers in college basketball. His rise to national stardom was as unexpected as it was unforgettable. In this episode, he reflects on what it takes...

After serving as the 18th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey carried his leadership philosophy into a new arena—one where the stakes are different, but the need for alignment, trust, and performance remains essential. In this episode, General Dempsey shares how principles forged at the highest levels of military command translate into building elite teams on the global s...

Michelle Nunn has spent her career building and leading organizations rooted in service—from founding Hands On Atlanta to scaling Points of Light into a global volunteer network, and now as CEO of CARE USA. In this episode, she shares what it really takes to lead mission-driven organizations at scale while staying anchored in purpose. Michelle reflects on the challenges of mobilizing millions of p...

Jim Tooley, CEO of USA Basketball, joins the conversation to explore what it means to lead one of the most visible programs in global sport. Drawing on more than three decades with USA Basketball, Tooley reflects on leadership across eras, from Jerry Colangelo to Coach K to Gregg Popovich, and the cultural principles that sustain excellence at the highest level. He discusses building trust and acc...

Dr. Richard Carmona’s life is a blueprint for service: Vietnam combat medic, trauma surgeon, sheriff’s deputy, professor, and ultimately the 17th Surgeon General of the United States—the first Hispanic man to hold the role. In this episode of the SALA Series Podcast, Dr. Carmona reflects on the experiences that shaped his approach to leadership, public health, and service. Raised in poverty in the...

Together with Lawrence E. Adjah, ordained minister, social entrepreneur, and best-selling author, Karida Brown, Professor of Sociology at Emory University and author of multiple award-winning works on race has a wide-ranging conversation on the inherent tension between systems and human agency. Dr. Brown draws on decades of scholarship to examine how racial difference is historically constructed,...

In this episode Gary Pinkus, former Chairman and Managing Partner of McKinsey & Company’s North America practice, reflects on leadership, governance, and building enduring impact inside complex institutions. Drawing on nearly four decades at McKinsey where he helped found and lead the firm’s global Private Equity & Principal Investors practice and later guided its North American business P...

In this episode Garry W. Jenkins, President of Bates College, joins Marshall Hatch Jr., Co-Founder and Executive Director of the MAAFA Redemption Project, for a conversation on leadership, institutions, and democratic responsibility. President Jenkins brings nationally recognized expertise in nonprofit governance, law, and higher education leadership, shaped by his tenure as Dean of the University...

Best known for his work on geopolitics, emerging technologies like AI, international institutions, and the future of democracy, Gordon LaForge turns his analytical lens inward—to fatherhood. Becoming a father has prompted deep personal reflection, mirroring the broader evolution of what fatherhood means in contemporary society. In this themed series, LaForge explores fatherhood as both personal re...

In this conversation, Rev. Dr. Kevin R. Johnson, Senior Pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church, reflects on the weight and responsibility of leading one of America’s most storied congregations at a moment of national fracture.  Drawing on Abyssinian’s historic legacy and prophetic tradition, Dr. Johnson explores how the church can remain rooted in faith while expanding its reach—engaging younger gene...

Two visionary leaders in higher education—Aimée Eubanks-Davis, Co-Founder and CEO of Braven, and Dr. Lynn Mahoney, President of San Francisco State University—join host Jeff Olivet, Executive Director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, for a timely and inspiring conversation on the future of college and career pathways. Together, they examine how the partnership between Braven and Sa...

One of America’s most respected and influential religious thinkers, David Wolpe is our featured guest in a grounded, timely, and deeply human conversation about the questions of the day. With clarity and compassion, Rabbi Wolpe reflects on the rise of antisemitism following October 7th, the growing polarization across campuses and civic spaces, and how we can confront these fractures directly and...

Dr. Jim O’Connell has spent nearly forty years building Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, a best-of-class, consumer-led model that delivers medical care directly to shelters, soup kitchens, and the streets. His friend and board member Francis Hyatt, EVP & Chief Community Investments and Sustainability Officer at Liberty Mutual, offers the perspective of a 'stakeholder' leader commit...

They're back!  And picking up right where they left off - in between laughs, Dalen Cuff and Monica McNutt's catch-up on life and the world, including Monica’s major life changes, marriage, Mayor Mamdani and their own fresh takes on the Epstein Files.  Always fun to see old friends coming back together, especially when they're our hosts !!

In this deeply reflective episode, educators Lindsay Whorton, President of The Holdsworth Center, and Dr. Ruth Simmons, trailblazing university president and author of New York Times bestseller Up Home: One Girl’s Journey, explore what it means to lead with purpose in education.  In discussing the moral dimension of school leadership, Whorton and Simmons are aligned around the need to cultivate em...

Marlon Marshall leads The City Fund, a national organization committed to ensuring that every child—no matter their zip code—has access to a high-quality public education. A veteran of the Obama White House and one of today’s most influential voices in school reform, Marshall brings both political insight and deeply personal conviction to one of America’s most pressing challenges. In this conversa...

Sean O’Brien, the fiery and plainspoken President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, leads one of the most storied labor unions in the United States—representing more than 1.4 million workers across logistics, transportation, and countless essential industries. In this conversation, O’Brien reflects on a lifetime shaped by the labor movement—from growing up in a Teamster family in Bost...

Faith, community and a calling.  In leading New Pilgrim Baptist Church on Chicago's west side for over three decades, Reverend Marshall Hatch serves the community from the pulpit.  Meanwhile, his son, Marshall Hatch Jr., also an ordained minister, leads from a grassroots level in the same West Garfield Park community as Executive Director of The MAAFA Redemption Project.   In a remarkable discussi...