Top Of The Game

FRED’S BIO Fred Rivera is as accomplished as he is a terrific human being and has had a remarkable career. He is one of the highest ranking (and few) Latinos in the business of American professional sports. He currently serves as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the Seattle Mariners, loves the game, started pitching as a young kid (great curveball), played in college, and deeply kn...

TED’S BIO If you start doing something at the age of 2, you may get pretty good at it and such is the case with Ted and skiing. A true pioneer with a distinctive, unparalleled, lightning-fast and highly aggressive carving style he perfected playing around with his childhood friends in Park City, where he grew up. Still in his 30’s, Ted retired from skiing a few years ago and is by far one of the b...

PHILLIS’ BIO Phyllis Campbell is one of the most prolific leaders in the Pacific Northwest and has had a remarkable five-decade career. She currently serves on the boards of Remitly, SanMar, Air Transport Services Group, Allen Institute and is the Edward Fritzky Chair in Leadership at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business. Until a few years ago, she served as Chairman of the Pac...

JOSE’S BIO Jose Minaya is CEO of Nuveen, a leading global asset management firm with more than $1 trillion under management. He chairs Nuveen’s Executive Committee, is a member of parent company TIAA’s Executive Committee, and serves as the executive sponsor of the Inclusion and Diversity initiative for TIAA. He previously served as President and CIO of Nuveen and  joined TIAA in 2004 after more t...

DANTE’S BIO Dante Disparte’s story starts inside the jungles of Puerto Rico, eventually becoming the first in his family with a formal education.  He is the Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy for Circle, a leading global financial technology firm and the issuer of USDC. USDC has supported more than $10 trillion in cumulative transactions on the public internet and a global payment ne...

HEATHER’S BIO Heather has a number of interesting endeavors in her portfolio of activities and throughout her career. Equally interesting and unique, especially for a Stanford Law School graduate, is that she was raised in a series of communes in rural Oregon and west coast. Yes, communes. She is  Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Flying Fish Partners, a venture firm with investments in generat...

NOTE| This episode is longer than usual→ ‘Top Of The Game (in) Overtime’ shows are released occasionally XAVIER’S BIO Xavier Gutierrez is the first Latino President CEO in the National Hockey League, leading the Arizona Coyotes Hockey Club for which he also serves as Alternative Governor. Previously, he served as Managing Director at Clearlake Capital Group, a leading private investment firm that...

NOTE| This episode is longer than usual→ ‘Top Of The Game (in) Overtime’ shows are released occasionally BRAD’S BIO Brad Gerstner is a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist and hedge fund manager. He is founder, chairman and CEO of Altimeter Capital, a leading technology investment firm he started during the 2008 financial crisis. Brad and his team are known for fundamental analysis and deep exp...

YEMI’S BIO This episode is a master class in emerging markets investing, capital allocation and developing economies by one of the best in the game. He was very early investing capital in two consequential geographies, China in the early 2000’s and Africa a few years later. He is now a London-based Partner & Head of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at TPG, a leading global investment firm...

DIANKHA’S BIO Diankha Linear is one of the few women in America, let alone African American Women, to both lead a VC-backed company and raise tens of millions of growth capital for it. But what led her here started in a Seattle community center followed by an incredible career which includes 16 years of United States Army service, part of it, as a Judge Advocate General's (JAG) Corps - Captain (Ai...

MANNY’S BIO Manuel D. Medina (Manny)  is a remarkable human being - from an idyllic early childhood in Cuba to seeking asylum in the USA to an amazing success, and uniquely American story. He is a highly successful entrepreneur and investor with many decades of leadership experience in the IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, software and data analytics sectors. He is Executive Chairman of Cyxtera, t...

TOM’S BIO One week ago, Thomas Monahan was announced as the new CEO of Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. (NASDAQ: HSII), one of the preeminent global executive search, leadership development, and management consulting firms. Previously, Tom served as CEO and President of DeVry University until Oct 2023 and remains the organization's Vice Chairman. Prior to that, he served as Chief Execu...

FAYE’S BIO Faye owns and runs the best bar and restaurant in the United States, Double Chicken Please, located in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. But the improbable and head spinning story that culminated in what is now one of the hottest places to eat and drink in America is truly the stuff of legend. An amazing woman, Faye got into the business as a teenager, first serving drinks in a pub in Taipei...

OSCAR’S BIO Oscar is the former Executive Chairman & CEO of United Airlines Holdings. He led the airline’s stunning turnaround which is remarkable on its own, but what makes his story so singular is that 37 days after taking the helm at the company he suffered a massive heart attack that eventually led to a heart transplant. Perseverance, grit, dedication, motivation, and humanity are some wor...

This is a very interesting talk about capitalism and its evolution from Adam Smith to Milton Friedman to what he terms “patriotic capitalism”. ROY’S BIO Roy Swan leads the Ford Foundation’s Mission Investments team,  investing $1 billion of the endowment in opportunities that generate financial and social returns in the United States and the Global South. Roy also oversees Ford’s program-related i...

HAPPY 2024 TO ALL! Thank you for your support, listening and all the feedback. This is a super short bonus drop to kickoff 2024. Our first episode this year (#26) will be released on January 10th.  GENERAL INFO| TOP OF THE GAME: Official website: https://topofthegame-thepod.com/ RSS Feed: https://feed.podbean.com/topofthegame-thepod/feed.xml Hosting service show website: https://topofthegame-thepo...

This is our 25th show and on this one, we flip the tables on Javier. Why is he doing this and what has he learned? Lori Sunn guest-hosts and asks him similar questions to the ones he asks guests of Top Of The Game. This episode is a few minutes longer than usual--> ‘Top of The Game (in) Overtime’ shows are released occasionally. JAVIER'S BIO Javier Saade is Founder & Managing Partner of Imp...

RAJ’S BIO Raj Date is one of the most prolific and multi-lensed people in finance. He also happens to be an incredible human being, a dear friend and business partner. He is Managing Partner of Fenway Summer, an advisory and investment firm focused on financial services and financial technology. He chairs the investment committee of Fenway Summer Ventures and is a general partner of Crossbeam Vent...

SANDRA'S BIO Sandra Campos has had an incredible career at the intersection of fashion, retail, lifestyle and digital transformation. A child of immigrant entrepreneurs, she was hands-on with her family’s tortilla business which led her to experiment with her own ventures in the fashion world, like making prom dresses for her girlfriends. She is a 3x CEO, 2x entrepreneur, and board member.   Throu...

THE TERRERO BIOS This is our second episode ever with two guests and because it’s our 22nd, it’s therefore apt to have remarkable twin brothers as our guests: Sinohe and Kenny Terrero. With Dominican parents that raised them in the Bronx, their early days were as humble as apple pie, or mangu. The brothers thought they were going to be in the music business but life had different plans for them. T...

ROGER’S BIO Roger W. Ferguson Jr. has remarkably been dealing with numbers that have four commas (trillions of dollars) for decades from a variety of vantage points. From a very humble start as a black child in a lower middle class household in Washington DC, his accomplishments when taken together are astounding. He has been at the top of his game for decades as an American economist, attorney an...

HENRIQUE’S BIO Henrique Dubugras is one of the most accomplished entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and the world's youngest self-made billionaire added to the Forbes List in 2022. A true master, an entrepreneur who is now 28 years old and inarguably at the top of his game. His company building path started when he was twelve, when he started his first company. In his words: “I started coding when I...

MARLA’S BIO Marla is a multi sector athlete that has built a stellar career in the private, public and philanthropic sectors. We talk often and the conversations are always engaging, thoughtful and rich - including this one.  She is an accomplished leader with a unique perspective formed at the intersection of capitalism and social impact which informs her current role as President and COO of the...

LADI’S BIO Ladi Balogun is one of the most accomplished business leaders in Africa. As he puts it: “My mission is to help ethical leaders build legacies that will advance us towards a highly skilled, healthy and prosperous Africa. I do this primarily through the tools of finance, sharing knowledge and providing access to supportive ecosystems.” Ladi has led the transformation of a boutique merchan...

NATE’S BIO Nate’s journey started in Eritrea, a small country in the Horn of Africa where Tes, Nate’s remarkable dad, became a freedom fighter in the struggle for liberty  who one day stepped into a landmine that cost him an eye. The family entered the United States under political asylum as refugees in upstate New York. Tes’ belief in democracy and the values of equality, self-autonomy and hard w...