Upside: The Business Growth Podcast

An empowering and proven leader, Carla Moore currently serves as Vice President of Sales Strategy and Education for Home Box Office (HBO) in New York. She began her career with HBO as an entry-level sales trainer 20 years ago and worked her way up, working in multiple departments. Before taking on her current role, Carla was Vice President of Domestic Network Distribution, leading a sales and marketing team that served millions of subscribers. Now Carla and her team are helping to redefine the company’s brand training narrative, discover new sales approach strategies and develop specialized sales training curriculum and continuous education programs for sales brand ambassadors. She is constantly pushing for her team to bring themselves forward, think higher, more critically and globally in order to find new and innovative approaches to help better achieve these goals. Carla is an active public speaker, delivering conference keynotes and facilitating workshops on a variety of subjects, including her passion– activating personal power. She has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, Forbes, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Channel 4 News, and other outlets and has also served as a panelist at leadership summits and career management events. Carla is an active member in the media industry and currently sits on the national board of National Association of Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC.) She holds an MBA from Keller Graduate School of Business in Chicago and is a graduate of two leading industry programs, CTAM-U at Harvard Business School and NAMIC’s ELDP at Darden School of Business at UVA. She is the author of CRASH! Leading Through The Wreckage: Using Personal Power to Transform Your Leadership.

Shawn C. Jones, MD is an ear, nose and throat physician and head and neck surgeon who was board certified in Otolaryngology in 1994. He is the senior and founding member of his specialty group, Purchase ENT, in Paducah, KY and is a member of the gratis faculty of the University of Louisville School of Medicine in the Department of Otolaryngology. He is the Author of the book Find The Heart In Art: A Surgeon’s Renaissance Approach to Healing Modern Medical Burnout. Service has always been important to Dr. Jones. He joined the U.S. Army Reserve 1983 and served on Active Duty in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm in 1991 as a Captain in the Medical Corps. He has also given back on overseas medical mission trips to Romania, Kenya, and Honduras.

Rob Ristagno is the founder and CEO of Sterling Woods Group and an author and keynote speaker focused on sharing new ways to use data to drive business results.  He combines his expertise in data science with proven sales and marketing strategies to help established middle-market companies quickly generate new revenue by improving the way they gather and utilize data. At the helm of Sterling Woods Group, Ristagno leads his team to provide practical, actionable analysis and strategies that organically grow sales for clients across a variety of industries, including business services, software, media, retail/e-commerce and manufacturing. Sterling Woods team members possess extensive operational experience and superior analytical skills, having begun their careers in organizations such as McKinsey, Y&R, McDonald’s, Pepsi, Johnson & Johnson, Kimberly Clark, Pfizer, Visa, AT&T and Comcast. Ristagno shares his expertise at conferences around the world as an in-demand keynote speaker on data-driven leadership and growth strategies. He has spoken at the Digital Innovators Summit, Business Media Leadership Summit, Mega-Conference, AAMP Annual Conference, Specialized Information Publishers Association Conference, Strategic Fulfillment Group Partner Conference, Super Niche Conference, Niche CEO Summit, Business Information and Media Summit and Niche Digital Summit. Ristagno earned his bachelor's degree in economics from Dartmouth College and his Master of Business Administration in general management from Harvard Business School. He currently lives in Newton, Mass., with his wife, Kate, his daughter, Leni, and his black lab, Royce. For more information, please visit www.sterlingwoods.com.

Johnny Merritt, an equity partner of Hajjar Peters, LLP, is an attorney with over three decades of experience in complex corporate and real estate matters. For the majority of his career, he has also served as outside general counsel for billion dollar companies involved with interstate commerce. Merritt began his legal career as a litigation attorney, gaining proficiency in attention to detail and effective client communication. He has been a transactional attorney for more than 20 years, concentrating in ongoing business operations, business acquisitions and developments, real estate purchases, sales and development and structuring business organizations.   Merritt expanded his legal career to Austin, becoming a partner at the full-service business law firm Hajjar Peters LLP, where he oversees a variety of legal matters. He utilizes this in-depth look at high-trust relationships to direct and connect with his clients. In addition to his legal work, Merritt is also a founder and board member of Keystone Bank, an Austin-based community bank obsessed with delivering the latest in banking technology and first-class customer service. He also serves as the ambassador of The Bless Foundation, a faith-based organization mobilizing people and resources to reach the unreached throughout the world. 

Jim Guilkey, Ph.D. is an expert in instructional design and has more than 20 years’ experience in leading the design, development, and implementation of web-based training solutions. As a co-founder of S4 NetQuest, Jim has led all client partnering relationships and design of innovative learning solutions for the medical/healthcare industry, financial industry, retail industry, and other top fortune 500 companies.   -Published author and highly sought-after national speaker -Developed FAA National Safety Program – teaching pilots to be better problem-solvers -Assistant Director of Flight Education – The Ohio State University   Jim received his B.S. in Aviation from Ohio State University. He then went on to complete his M.A. and Ph.D. in Instructional Design and Technology at Ohio State University   He is the author of  M-Pact Learning: The New Competitive Advantage; : What All Executives Need To Know.

Sharon Hulce is President/CEO of Employment Resource Group, Inc. (ERG) and a 24 year veteran of Executive Search industry. Sharon is known in her industry as an innovation leader and works tirelessly on not only finding the right talent for her clients; she also works diligently on the empowerment and retention of that talent. Sharon clearly understands the emotional intelligence, competencies, knowledge and social interaction necessary to integrate new hires into a corporate culture for success.  Pinnacle Talent, a division of ERG provides consulting services in areas of values alignment, retention strategies, innovation summits for high performing and high potential employees, talent planning from strategic plan and succession planning. Sharon is a frequent speaker at national conferences. She has received many awards for her work, is also a ForbesBooks author - her new book is title A Well Done Professional Midlife Crisis.

Bill is the “Culture King” and is known for building and transforming cultures and improving lives. He is the author of Culture Code Champions: 7 Steps to Scaling and Succeeding in Business as well as other articles, podcasts and his first book, The Mustang Story.  Bill and his co-founders at Mustang Engineering did what six in a million startups do - they grew the business to over $1 billion in revenue and the company continues today. This success was directly a result of a people oriented culture.  In an industry of cutthroat competition, employee apathy and gastly cost overruns, Bill and his co-founders set out on a remarkable journey that changed the global face of capital projects.

Today’s guest is Joel Louis, founder and CEO of Integrator and Co., a digital marketing agency that helps experts reach more people, scale their business and increase online sales. Joel and his team specialize in funnel strategy, funnel design, funnel repair, and funnel building. In addition to generating millions of dollars and thousands of leads for his clients, Joel is a father of three and is passionate about the intersection of fatherhood and entrepreneurship.

Ande has made it her mission to break down the emotional, behavioral and societal barriers that stand between women and strong financial foundations. Early in her more than 25 year career she rejected traditional planning methods that didn’t account for how emotions factor into financial decision making. Wanting to do things differently, she developed an expertise in behavioral finance. In the years to follow, she saw again and again that conventional wisdom about women and money was flawed: It’s not women’s finances that determine their self-worth. It’s women’s sense of self-worth that determines their finances. And like that, a new philosophy was born. In late 2018, Ande launched myWorth, a media community that’s inspiring a financial awakening among women who are eager to take control of their financial journeys. She built myWorth on two core beliefs: Traditional approaches to speaking to women about money are broken. And conversations about money must align directly with women’s personal values and goals. Ande rose to the top of the primarily male-dominated insurance world as the former head of a multi-million-dollar fintech company and VP at Penn Mutual. She is now widely recognized as a driving force in the financial community, holding multiple finance and insurance designations including a CFP®, CLU, ChFC, RICP, BFATM and ChSNC. She regularly appears on top national media outlets to speak about topics at the intersection of women and finance And she has been named one of the “Top 100 in Finance” in 2019 and “Top 50 Women of 2019” by Top 100 Magazine, as well as one of Bristol’s “Who’s Who Among Distinguished Professionals and Executives.” In addition, she is a Gold Stevie Award winner for Female Executive of the Year (Consumer Services 10 employees or less) for 2019. Her book Financially Free: 11 Conversations To Have With Yourself About Life, Money, And Worth was released on March 10, 2020. Ande lives in New York and is married with two children. For more information about Ande, go www.andefrazier.com.

Steve Palmer is the managing partner and founder of The Indigo Road Hospitality Group which operates twenty-four restaurants in six states. Steve has been recognized by the New York Times, L.A. Times, NPR, Southern Living, Food & Wine and Forbes Small Business Giants for his growing presence in the hospitality industry, as well as his charitable and community efforts. In 2016, Palmer co-founded Ben’s Friends, the food-and-beverage industry support group offering hope, fellowship and a path forward to industry professionals struggling with substance abuse and addiction. He has presented on addiction in the industry at TEDx Charleston and various culinary events. Steve is the author of, Say Grace:  How The Restaurant Business Saved My Life which was released on November 19, 2019.

Jeff Rogers founded Stewardship Legacy Coaching, LLC with a desire to help high-net-worth people create a legacy that will inspire a thriving family for generations to come. In addition to being a co-author of unPrepared: Heirs at Risk: 14 Elements for Successful Wealth Transfer, Jeff is also the ForbesBooks featured author of Create a Thriving Family Legacy: How to Share your Wisdom and Wealth with Your Children and Grandchildren. His extensive experience in combining effective wealth transfer with intentional wisdom transfer, and preparing heirs through the transfer of virtues and family values, has allowed him to bring clarity to even the most complex family and business legacy situations. Jeff enjoys exploring God’s creation and traveling with his wife, Cathy, as well as hunting, boating, and leading Bible studies.

Specialty apparel retailing pioneer Bob Fisch has spent over 30 years as a CEO. Most notably, Bob transformed retailer rue21 into an industry powerhouse, boasting 11 consecutive years of growth in sales and profitability by energizing and inspiring his team at unprecedented levels. A master motivator, Bob has developed management and leadership techniques that have led him to his transformational mutual mentoring approach. His generation splicing framework helps different generations in the workplace gain an understanding of and learn from one another. Bob’s passion for helping people reach their full potential has been a career-long guiding light, and he’s excited to share his wisdom with the world. His new book Fisch Tales: The Making Of A Millennial Baby Boomer was released in August 2019.

Throughout her career, Alyssa Rapp has not been afraid to ask, Now what? From training as a competitive gymnast to advising startups and running companies, she has always been used to working her tail off and looking ahead. By the time she added parenthood to the list, she quickly discovered the need to “hack” the system – find ways to work more efficiently, productively, and achieving at least episodic balance. Alyssa fell in love with her first entrepreneurial idea while studying at Stanford Business School, and, for the better part of the next decade, ran an e-commerce business called Bottlenotes. Partway through the journey, Bottlenotes pivoted, transforming into a leading digital media company in the US wine industry. From 2015-2017. Alyssa advised startups and private equity-backed companies alike through AJR Ventures; she also taught a course at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business on the Global Dynamics of the Wine Industry. In 2017, Alyssa and her family decided to move to Chicago where, as of of January 2018, Alyssa was named the CEO of Surgical Solutions by private equity firm Sterling Partners. Within six months, she was named one of Crain’s Chicago’s “Notable Women in Health Care” and made the list for a second year in a row in 2019. Within the same year the company made the 2019 Top 50 Healthcare Companies and Top 100 Leaders in Healthcare. Alyssa continues to teach at Stanford Business School and has recently been named Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago’s Booth Business School. She also serves as a gubernatorial appointee to the Illinois Housing Development Authority board. When not immersed in business and civic life, Alyssa loves to run track, do yoga, ski fast, and spend time with her family. Her second book, Leadership and Life Hacks: Insights from a Mom, Wife, Entrepreneur and Executive was just released last year.

Rocco A. Carriero is the author of Three Cords Approach to Life and Wealth Management for Business Owners. Rocco is an established wealth management advisor with nearly two decades of experience. He is passionate about creating financial plans that help his clients achieve their individual, professional, and familial aspirations, taking the necessary time to discover each client’s unique needs rather than defaulting to the garden-variety wealth management options. Rocco also shares financial advice and his Three Cords Approach to Life with audiences across the country, speaking at company events, industry conventions, and more.

Andreas Wilderer was born and raised in Germany, where he also met his wife, Mirka—today CEO of DeNora WT. His business coaching company GLOBULARiTY uses a strengths-based philosophy to help Leaders navigate change through Adaptability (AQ).  As an entrepreneur and business leader, Andreas has also spent time in the home, raising his children and supporting his executive wife in her business aspirations. His new book, Lean On: The Five Pillars of Support for Women in Leadership, releases today. In it he shares his story and inspires other men to do the same. Andreas recognizes that gender roles today are shifting rapidly and that we need to adapt for the sake of our families.

Nancy Eberhardt is an Executive and Gazelles-certified Coach and strategic communications consultant for entrepreneurs, corporations, professional practices, nonprofits and B- Corps.  She is author of Uncommon Candor, A Leader's Guide to Straight Talk, just released by ForbesBooks. A former regional bank president, Nancy led several successful mergers and $1 billion in customer relationships. Nancy taught Business Communications and Ethics for Jack Welch’s Executive MBA program and has been a board member of a community bank, a social venture corporation, the only national park for the performing arts, and a baseball stadium authority.

Tim Bornholdt is an entrepreneur, software developer, podcaster, and the founder of The Jed Mahonis Group. There, Tim specializes in helping businesses to strategize, design, develop, and deploy custom iOS and Android mobile application systems that optimize a business's processes and improve their bottom line. Tim takes pride in not only building powerful mobile apps, but building powerful long-lasting relationships with his clients as he helps them scale, grow, and automate their businesses. The Jed Mahonis Group has been delivering custom-built iOS and Android applications to businesses of all kinds since 2012. Past applications include the Great Clips, Kwikly, and Green Mill apps that allow salon customers to check into salons, dental offices to find and hire temporary staff, and customers of a regional pizza chain to browse menus and place orders respectively, all from their mobile devices. Tim got his start in web development in the first grade and built the internet's most popular Ralph Wiggum fan page, the now-defunct That's Unpossible. When he isn't spending time with his family or training for another ultramarathon, he is most likely podcasting; he co-produces the C Tolle Run podcast with Olympian Carrie Tollefson and hosts his own show called Constant Variables.

Brett Beveridge is a serial entrepreneur who thrives on building businesses from the ground up and prides himself on being at the forefront of technology. Since founding The Revenue Optimization Companies (T-ROC), the Founder/CEO has helped propel the parent company of six brands to become a leader in the wireless, electronics, software and retail industries, assisting many big-box retailers and Fortune 500 companies such as Apple, Sprint, AT&T, Walmart, Comcast, and many more. Beveridge believes in combining people and technology to help companies reduce costs and increase sales whilst always exceeding customers’ expectations.

Lizanne Falsetto epitomizes today’s woman. She is a celebrated CEO & founder of thinkThin® ( the lifestyle brand she sold in late 2015), health and wellness visionary, retail trend spotter, sought-after business media commentator, and advisor to the next-generation of entrepreneurs. While a successful fashion model in the 1990s, she hungered for a protein-rich, high-energy on-the-go snack, that was low in sugar and gluten-free. thinkThin® was founded to address this market opportunity. Crafted by hand from a personal recipe, thinkThin® quickly scaled nationally and globally. What began as a clear market opportunity in health foods ended up as a 20-year tenure as CEO of one of the fastest-growing health food snacks in history. After thinkThin® was acquired in December of 2015, Lizanne began a new chapter as an advisor to CEOs and early stage entrepreneurs with clear track records in product design, market share capture, and revenue-relevant business leadership.    A natural explorer with an affinity for spotting retail trends long before they come into popularity, Lizanne started lizannefalsetto.com in 2018 as a wellness platform to share insights as she travels the world trying new and ancient foods, herbal remedies and products that are said to increase energy, stamina, and promote wellness & longevity. She looks for clues from the past to help create a simpler healthier future. Focusing on three key pillars: Advisory, Food and Wellness - lizannefalsetto.com is an opportunity to share not only her experiences in building a national lifestyle brand and support other entrepreneurs (Advisory), but to go on an adventure to discover health and well-being through nutrition, traditional Chinese herbs, recipes, trends in food/food science, DIY natural beauty tips and reviews on organic products.   
Lizanne divides her time between Los Angeles and her organic ranch in Ojai, where she raises her two children and tends to her avocado orchard & garden.

Armed with only $3,000, gut-wrenching fear, and absolutely no real estate experience... Mark bought his first few parcels of raw land in 2001. Today Mark is the owner of Frontier Properties, a very reputable and successful land investing company, and has been buying and selling land full time since 2001. By focusing on working smart, not hard, he has completed over 5,000 land deals with an average ROI of over 300% on cash flips, and over 1,000% on the deals he sells with financing terms. Prior to his land investing success, Mark had a high-stress, soulless corporate job, and felt trapped in a state of solo-economic-dependency (i.e. his income stopped as soon as he stopped working). Escaping solo-economic dependency changed Mark’s life in so many positive ways that he decided to teach, coach and mentor others to help them achieve their financial goals. Even though Mark invests a lot of his time helping others, he stays actively involved in running his land investing business, and is dedicated to teaching the most current and relevant “real world” land investing methods to his students.

Since 2010 Jacob ran his own Leadership and training organization, Yeda LLC, which gives seminars and courses to entrepreneurs and business owners. Currently, most of his work is consulting and training for organizations that are looking to implement best of class leadership and management practices. In 2011 Jacob was featured in a weekly newspaper in a yearlong column of leadership and management. This eventually turned into a book writing project, which is now complete. “The Prosperous Leader” is now available on Amazon. (Audio as well). Jacob is passionate about helping entrepreneurs and business owners succeed in their businesses. His mission is to empower leaders and managers through giving them the knowledge to change (Yeda” in Hebrew is knowledge) and helping them implement the changes in their organizations. Jacob is a Certified Myers Briggs evaluator, Certified 7 Habits for highly effective people facilitator, Certified Positive Psychology coach and trained with Roy Cammarano, Author and Consultant on his Entrepreneurial Transitions theory. Previously Jacob was the COO of a 200MM family food and real estate enterprise. Jacob is the author of The Prosperous Leader – How Smart People Achieve Success. (www.theprosperousleader.com).

Imtiaz Patel is a management consultant who has a proven track record of driving significant growth and profit improvement. He has extensive experience in a variety of industries, including retail, consumer goods, media, cybersecurity and financial services. As a consultant, he has led engagements for some of the best-known brands in the US and Europe and as an operator, he has conceived and launched businesses that have generated hundreds of millions in revenue.   Prior to launching his own consulting firm, Imtiaz was the Head of Strategy & Business Development for The Children’s Place, where he was also the interim Chief Marketing Officer, led the international business and eCommerce.  He also held a number of strategy and operational roles at Dow Jones & Company, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal. His tenure there was focused on driving a number of major transformation initiatives, including developing and executing on turnaround plans. His efforts resulted in a doubling of circulation revenue for The WSJ which a substantial increase in profitability. While at The WSJ, he also launched new businesses that extended the brand into new categories, including wine and travel. He has also spent 12 years in management consulting with Kurt Salmon Associates, Deloitte Consulting, and Scient, focused on the retail industry developing growth strategy, marketing strategy, customer analytics, cost reduction and new concept development.   Imtiaz graduated from The London School of Economics with a B.Sc in Economics, Accounting, and Finance and earned his MBA from Columbia Business School.

Heather Dominick is a woman who is impressively successful, and highly spiritual. A former high school drama teacher who collaborated with none other than Bette Midler. A graduate of NYU where she received her first coach training. Heather is the winner of the 2015 Best of Manhattan Coaching Award and creator of the 2014 Stevie Award winning virtual event A Course In Business Miracles®: 21-Day Discovery Series that attracted close to 6,000 official registrants from all around the world including: Iceland, Nigeria, Russia, Asia, South America, Australia, Europe and the U.S.   She has appeared on Lifetime Television and has been published in numerous books including Stepping Stones to Success alongside Deepak Chopra   An exceptional facilitator and teacher Heather is known for creating a safe, sacred community for true transformation whether she is teaching a Business Miracles® Class, delivering training online or in-person or mentoring members of her Business Miracles Community in her various Mentoring Programs. She has helped thousands of HSE®s release life-long limiting beliefs, overcome fears and learn how to build their business in a way that actually feels so good that they can’t help but create solid, sustainable, high level financial success. Heather is also the founder and leader of the Highly Sensitive Entrepreneur® movement.

Raméz A. Baassiri is first a student of the world and considers himself a global citizen.   Through his experience working for over the past 2 decades in his multigenerational Family buisness AHB Group Investments , on his local board of his YPO chapter ;  as well as serving on several other privately and publicly traded companies. He has gathered some unique insights on interruptions in business and shares those insights in his groundbreaking / amazon best selling Forbes Books release Interrupted Entrepreneurship - Embracing change in the family business, where he provides powerful insights that provide perspectives to manage a range of interruptions in family business.   Through strategies that work, to stories that relate, Raméz gets to the core of the elements that matter to individuals and by extension their businesses. His positive approach is a voice that stands out in a sea of interruptions over time and  provides a beacon of hope for family business across lands.   He ventured  to write his Book , after the unexpected passing for his father , who was the entrepreneurial force of their family business .   Ramez’s goal is  to seek answers to what else might he face going forward by learning from  others interruptions and how they might have dealt with such changes across other family businesses ..     He notes that the experience was very enlightening , where he found a number of common lessons on his journey researching the book .. forming a tapestry of images that he is hear  to share some of it with us ...

Derek Gallimore is a serial entrepreneur who has experienced the fullest highs and lows of the entrepreneurial roller coaster.  He has built multimillion-dollar property portfolios, has bootstrapped a 20 million dollar business and has seen it all come crumbling down.     Derek has lived and worked in five countries and travelled through dozens more.  He has embodied remote, online and international work since 2008 - well before the phrases were even coined.   Derek has been outsourcing in Philippines since 2011 and believes that outsourcing is one of the most potent and transformative business tools available today.  As a result, he founded Outsource Accelerator, which as the 'Alibaba of outsourcing', provides the gateway for businesses to connect with outsourcing suppliers.

Peter is an entrepreneurial-minded leader who leverages the power of internal and external relationships to accelerate growth within emerging and high-potential companies that have powerful intellectual property. His accomplishments include start-ups, turnarounds, and M&A (in the b2b services sector)—with results driven by practical strategy, focused execution, and a disciplined method of cost control. He has over twenty years of experience and has worked with a variety of thought leaders. He expertly leverages that along with his experience with such clients as IBM, Kraft, Microsoft, Avon, Hyatt and more.  In addition, he has built and managed several consulting and professional development organizations. Peter is an information junkie and an avid reader of business books.  He believes that taking great content and creating a platform to best support it takes a combination of art, science, logic, focus, passion and creativity.

ark Deutschmann is an entrepreneur, CEO, author and community builder who has worked with neighbors, city leaders and nonprofits for 30-plus years while helping shape development in Nashville and revitalizing the city’s most sought-after neighborhoods.   Mark started selling real estate in 1986 and founded Village Real Estate Services in 1996, which now employs more than 350 agents and staff. In 2003, he started Core Development Services, a company actively developing Nashville’s urban center with adaptive reuse and mixed-use infill development. The Village Fund, the nonprofit and charitable arm of Village Real Estate Services, has provided $2 million in grants to organizations helping to enrich and strengthen Nashville.   Mark is chair of the Urban Land Institute Nashville and recently stepped down after 6.5 years as president of Greenways for Nashville. He served on Nashville Mayor Megan Barry’s Transit and Affordability Task Force.  He received the Community Service award from the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors in 2013 and the Sustainable Tennessee Award from the Tennessee Environmental Council in 2014.   In his book One-Mile Radius – Building Community from the Core, Deutschmann shares what he has learned about activating Nashville’s neighborhoods, connecting them and helping them become sustainable, and using business as a tool for positive social change.  

AJ Wilcox is a LinkedIn Ads pro who founded B2Linked.com, a LinkedIn Ads-specific ad agency, in 2014. As official LinkedIn partners, they manage among the world’s most sophisticated advertising accounts worldwide. He's a ginger & triathlete. He & his wife live in Utah, with their 4 kids, and his company car is a wicked-fast gokart.

Dr. Ronit Molko is the founder and principal of Empowering Synergy. Recognized as a thought leader and subject matter expert in autism spectrum disorders, developmental disabilities and behavioral healthcare, she is a dynamic senior executive, entrepreneur and strategist.   In 2001, Dr. Molko cofounded Autism Spectrum Therapies Inc. (AST), which grew into a highly respected, multi-state provider of services for individuals on the autism spectrum. In 2014, she sold her company to a private equity backed strategic buyer, and then served as President of Autism Services for the combined family of companies until early 2016.   Today, as founder and Principal of Empowering Synergy, Dr. Molko conducts due diligence for investors exploring acquisitions in the behavioral healthcare space. She also consults as an expert in the field of service delivery for healthcare, with a special focus on behavioral healthcare and companies that provide services to families affected by autism and developmental disabilities.   Dr. Molko has received several awards in recognition of her achievements in business as well as her leadership abilities and support for expanding opportunities for women. Most recently, she was recognized with a 2017 Woman of Influence Award by the Los Angeles Business Journal.   In 2018, she released her latest work, “Autism Matters: Empowering Investors, Providers and the Autism Community to Advance Autism Services,” published by ForbesBooks, in which she takes a critical look at the autism services industry and identifies opportunities for advancement of services and business.

After growing one of his first PPC clients from 25 to 250 employees, Jacob realized he had a gift for using pay-per-click marketing to drive dramatic business results. To help more companies succeed online, Jake founded Disruptive Advertising, a PPC, and CRO management agency that has helped hundreds of companies realize unprecedented growth and profitability from the online advertising.   In the four years since its founding, Disruptive Advertising has grown from two employees working in Jacob’s basement to a flourishing agency with more than 90 employees and a run rate of over $12 million- putting it at #145 on the 2017 Inc 500 list!   Jake has spoken at numerous events and webinars including SMX, Kissmetrics,  Create Nation, Unbounce, PRSA, Starfest, VWO and others and has a gift for both entertaining and educating his audience.

Carl Gould is a business growth expert who advises organizations to get to the next level. He is an entrepreneur who built three multi-million dollar businesses by age 40. His consulting firm has mentioned the launch of over five thousand businesses in 35 countries, and his team of mentor coaches have conducted over 75,000 sessions with entrepreneurs and executives worldwide. He has advised over 100 of the Inc. 500/500 Fastest-Growing Companies.     Carl has written seven books on the subject of business strategy, leadership and personal growth, and co-authored "Blueprint of Success" with Stephen R. Covey and Ken Blanchard. He co-hosts "Quit and Get Rich", a weekly radio program, and is here today to share his insights from working with top companies from around the world.  

Dr. Klauer is a lifelong resident of Granger, Indiana. He pursued his Bachelor of Science degree at Notre Dame University and later earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery at Ohio State University. His passion is educating his patients and giving them the tools to live healthier lives, often independent of medications and quick fixes. Since 2013, Dr. Klauer chose to limit his practice, TMJ & Sleep Therapy Centre of Northern Indiana, to treating patients with craniofacial pain, TMD, and sleep breathing disorders. As he learned to identify the origin of patients' pain and sleep problems, it became increasingly clear that he could drastically impact their lives - now and in the future. Dr. Klauer is board certified with the American Board of Craniofacial Dental Sleep Medicine and is also Diplomate Eligible with the American Board of Oralfacial Pain. In addition to treating patients at his practice, Dr. Klauer is a sought after lecturer for dental professionals across the globe. Outside of the office, Dr. Klauer enjoys an active life with his wife and four young children. He is the author of Achieve Your Victory: Solutions for TMD and Sleep Apnea.

As graduate of  the University of California’s School of Dentistry, Dr. Patel is a leader in the movement to bring environmental health and well-being into the dental world. Dr. Patel has been in practice for 13 years. She believes in providing her patients with more than just world-class dental care. She also helps patients recognize the vital connection between dental health and whole body health.   From the spa like comforts to high-tech non-invasive treatments, every aspect of her practice is thoughtfully designed and focused on cosmetics, comfort, and your lifelong health.   Her mission in life is to help people live longer joyful lives and to build a nonprofit to help the underserved in India. Currently, she is writing a book, Age in Style, a guide to a youthful smile and healthy living with ForbesBooks.

Over the past 27 years, Randy Nelson built and eventually sold two successful businesses which have produced over $1 billion in sales. He is currently the CEO of Gold Dolphins, LLC, a coaching, speaking and consulting firm for entrepreneurial leaders and their leadership teams. Randy is a founding member of the Raleigh, NC chapter of the Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO). He has been a member of Vistage since 2004, and has attended the EO Birthing of Giants and EO Advanced Business Program at MIT, and the EO London Business School. Nicknamed the “Triangle’s Yoda”, he has a lifelong passion and successful track record for entrepreneurship and leadership. He served six and a half years as a Lieutenant in the Navy Nuclear Engineering Program, completing three years on the USS James Madison, a Nuclear Ballistic Missile Submarine from 1984-1987.   Randy Nelson is a contributor to Forbes, and was selected as one of the initial authors to publish under the brand new ForbesBooks imprint. His first book in his Decision Series for Entrepreneurs®, The Second Decision, is an Amazon # 1 best-seller. Randy has served on the General H. Hugh Shelton Leadership Center Advisory Board at NC State University in Raleigh, NC for the past 15 years, chairing the Board in 2014-2015. General Shelton served as the nations’ #1 military advisor to both President Clinton and President George W. Bush during his service as Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff (1997-2001).

Peter Horst is a Fortune 500 CMO, having led marketing teams at Hershey, Capital One, TD Ameritrade and others. He’s built and managed some of the world’s most iconic brands and marketing campaigns. Peter now leads CMO Inc, a marketing consultancy, where he advises companies on brand and marketing strategy. He’s also a Forbes contributor, highly-rated keynote speaker and author of the book Marketing in the Fake News Era.

Ben is a seasoned finance and investment professional with 15 years of experience ranging from start-ups to Fortune 50 companies. He is the founder of First Water, a Relational Finance firm providing finance function transformation and capital solutions to small and midsize businesses (SMBs) and private equity portfolio companies. Since inception, First Water has partnered with dozens of companies, private equity firms, credit funds, and family offices to drive better business visibility, accelerated growth, improved profitability, and efficient execution on capital and transaction initiatives.   Prior to First Water, Ben served in multiple institutional investment roles in New York City. He was a member of the Private Equity team at Fortress Investment Group, part of the Global Structured Solutions Group within the Fixed Income Capital Markets division of Citigroup, and an Investment Officer for credit opportunities and internal M&A for CapitalSource Finance. Over the course of his career, Ben has played an integral role in the execution of over $5B in debt and equity transactions.   Ben graduated from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Economics and concentrations in Finance and Accounting. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst, a holder of the FINRA Series 79 and 63 securities licenses, an Eagle Scout, a former competitive chess player, and the author of the upcoming book Relational Finance: Better Teams. Better Growth. Better Deals.

Denise Walsh has helped over a million people find their purpose and fulfill on their God-given destiny. She started her career by working with families at a local mental health agency as a clinical psychologist, and has continued on to use her talents with It Works Global to build a large team of motivated, positive, and enthusiastic business owners. Her impact as a leader in the direct selling industry as a top income earner with It Works has given her a unique insight on what drives people to action.   As a certified trainer with Jack Canfield, an elite coach with the John Maxwell Team, and the author of the Amazon best-seller, Retire Your Husband, Denise knows how to tap into a person’s ultimate potential and find their greatness. In her new workbook, she’s tapping into a combination of cutting-edge neuroscience, Biblical principles, and captivating real-world stories.

Dr. Joseph S. Galati, a native of Long Island, New York, was raised in a family where good nutrition and family were ways of life. Today, his practice, Liver Specialists of Texas and the Metabolic and Fatty Liver Center, is devoted to the care of patients with all facets of liver diseases, obesity, fatty liver, and nutrition-related disorders.   Dr. Galati has been involved in clinical research in liver disease for the past thirty years, conducting studies in viral hepatitis and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. A Fellow in the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and American College of Gastroenterology, Dr. Galati has been an invited speaker both nationally and internationally, having lectured in Latin America, Europe, and Asia. He is a Diplomat in the American Board of Internal Medicine-Gastroenterology. Currently, Dr. Galati is the Medical Director of the Sherrie and Alan Conover Center for Liver Disease & Transplantation at Houston Methodist Hospital, one of the finest hospitals and research institutes in the United States.   He is the founder of Your Health First Education, a 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to provide education and support to the public, raising awareness about liver disease, obesity, alcohol abuse, nutrition, disease screening, and early intervention. He is the author of Eating Yourself Sick: How to Stop Obesity, Fatty Liver, and Diabetes from Killing You and Your Family.  

Larry Miles is a Principal of AdvicePeriod, a firm whose mission is to reinvent wealth management. His primary focus is providing strategic leadership for growth and profitability, while driving and maintaining a culture of excellence.   Over a nearly two decade career, Larry has developed a wealth of leadership and business development experience. His teams have won “#1 Best Place to Work in Los Angeles” two different years at two different companies—the only leader to ever accomplish this.     Larry earned a Bachelors degree from Amherst College, a Masters from the London School of Economics, and has taught courses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a member of Young Presidents Organization and is the author of It's That Simple - a book on how to build the professional services firm of the future, due out later this year.  

Kevin G. Armstrong is an author, speaker, business advisor, disruptor and authority in implementing simple, proven management solutions – but simple doesn’t mean easy. In his diverse and accomplished career, he has taught at the high school and college levels, owned and sold small businesses, been an investment firm top seller, and worked in management as a VP at the corporate level, overseeing agencies throughout North America. Kevin has decades of experience helping business owners—from “mom and pops” to Fortune 500s—get more out of their business. Kevin currently leads a group of advisors at the Interdependent Training Group (ITG) which advises business leaders on creating clear vision and implementing strategies to hold their management teams accountable for delivering on their vision. For the past 20+ years of his career, Kevin has studied the important differences between the roles of ‘leader’ and ‘manager’ in business. His speaking engagements expand on this concept in an interactive, thought-provoking manner which disrupts current thinking and leaves audiences with a new understanding of how leaders can be leveraged through exceptional management to achieve business and personal success. Kevin is the author of The Miracle Manager: Why True Leaders Rarely Make Great Managers.

Tarek Morshed is an expert on all things Austin, Texas. He is known for impactfully navigating business leaders, entrepreneurs and creatives through the city’s rapidly changing real estate market – as well as its cultural scene – as a Platinum Top 50 Realtor and purpose-driven entrepreneur.   One of Sotheby’s market leaders in Austin, Morshed represents clients buying and selling premiere residential real estate in Central Texas. A resident of Austin for over 20 years, he bought his first investment property as a student at University of Texas. Before graduating, Morshed had invested in a handful of single-family homes and a small apartment complex. These experiences gave him an acute sense of Austin’s dynamic economy and the challenges of buying and selling across multiple types of real estate.   In addition to his Austin Platinum Top 50 status, Morshed is a Texas Monthly 5-Star Professional, a member of the Institute of Luxury Home Marketing, a Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist, a member of the Austin Chamber of Commerce and a member of the board of the Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce.  

E-K title: Founder, President, and Managing Partner J. Eduardo is a seasoned strategist who designs sustainable solutions by building bridges across diverse groups. After creating business growth opportunities on four continents through his leadership roles at PwC, Embraer, and Bell Canada, he spent thirteen years at Microsoft, first as a cybersecurity advisor, then leading innovative Microsoft projects at the highest levels of government in the US and abroad. Today, J. Eduardo is realizing his dream of building a better tomorrow by leading his consulting firm, Embedded Knowledge, Inc., to develop value propositions, customize business strategies, and form partnerships that enable organizations and entrepreneurs to design creative solutions for their complex problems.   E-K title: Founder, Vice-President, and Partner Erica is seasoned compliance professional who is passionate about using her skills to build transparent, ethical, and sustainable relationships across diverse groups. Currently a Compliance senior lead for Microsoft, Erica leverages her twenty-five-plus years in global management roles in large corporations in the financial (ABN Amro Banco Real) and consulting (PwC) industries. Applying her agile collaboration, influencing, and negotiation skills to support the interests of all stakeholders, Erica has a solid record of designing solutions that mutually benefit all involved.  

Jason Treu (Troy) is an executive coach who works with executives, managers, and their teams (along with startups) to maximize their leadership potential and performance, and build and execute their career blueprint. He's the best-selling author of Social Wealth, a how-to-guide on building extraordinary business relationships. He was a featured speaker at TEDxWilmington 2017, where he debuted his breakthrough team building game Cards Against Mundanity. Finally, he is the host of the Executive Breakthroughs podcast which brings game-changing CEOs, entrepreneurs, and experts that share their breakthroughs and breakdowns.

Shila Morris worked her way up after her parents put it all on the line to purchase the Squeeze In restaurant in Truckee, CA. With a passion for education, she turned a once struggling business into 5 family owned locations and a rapidly expanding multi-million dollar franchise company. A John C. Maxwell certified speaker, trainer, and coach, she continues to grow Squeeze In in her role as President while consulting with independent restaurant owners to begin, build, and grow their own businesses! Kay Salerno grew up serving at the Squeeze In restaurants and learned early on how to manage and market the company. With a flare for capturing an audience, she went on to serve as President of the social media marketing company, YoungSocial. She has trained BY Facebook and has been featured in Forbes for her social media strategy and implementation. In her role as Vice President of Squeeze In, Kay uses her John C. Maxwell certification to both grow the family business and to teach, coach, and train independent owners to achieve their restaurant dreams too!

Geoff Colvin is an award-winning thinker, author, broadcaster, and speaker on today's most significant trends in business. As a longtime editor and columnist for FORTUNE, he has become one of America's sharpest and most respected commentators on leadership, globalization, wealth creation, the infotech revolution, and related issues.   Geoff’s latest book is Humans Are Underrated: What High Achievers Know That Brilliant Machines Never Will. The New York Times calls it “profound.” His groundbreaking bestseller Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers From Everybody Else received the Harold A. Longman Award for Best Business Book of the year and has been translated into more than a dozen languages. Geoff’s book The Upside of the Downturn: Management Strategies for Difficult Times was named the best management book of the year by Strategy + Business magazine.

Sterling Staffing Solutions, headquartered in Sugar Land, Texas, and founded in 2011, staffs more than 800 physical, occupational and speech licensed therapists, nurses and medical social workers throughout Texas and Oklahoma. It has twice won the Gold Stevie Award in the category of Minority Owned Business from The American Business Awards in 2017 and 2018. It also won the Gold Stevie Award in the category of Veteran Owned Business in 2018. The business has been named to the Inc. 2017 5000 list for the second consecutive year. It was a 2017 Black Enterprise Family Business of The Year Finalist and won the Greater Houston Black Chamber’s 23rd Annual Pinnacle Award and the Greater Houston Better Business Bureau’s 2017 Pinnacle Award. The business has been featured in local to national publications. For more information visit SterilingStaffingSolutions.com.

Dr. Tim Thayne is pioneering the movement to eliminate relapse.  After receiving his Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy from Virginia Tech, he spent the last 25+ years creating coaching models for organizations, owning adolescent treatment programs, and working with families around the world in their homes.  His team’s solution focused approach has led to the development a proven model that supports young people in maintaining the successes and progress found in treatment. His book Not by Chance: How Parents Boost Their Teen’s Success In and After Treatment, and mobile app Rallyest are used by some of the world’s best treatment programs.

Scott Beebe is the Founder and Head Coach of MyBusinessOnPurpose.com, and the host of the Business On Purpose podcast.  Scott and the Business On Purpose team liberate Small Business owners from the chaos of working IN their business and help them get their lives back by articulating and implementing intentional Vision/Mission/Values, Systems and Processes.

After more than 25 years in the corporate world as a professional trainer, supervisor and director, Jim Rowell turned his knowledge to the world of leadership fitness. As the CEO and co-founder of Rising Sun Consultants, LLC, Jim assists clients in building the health and well-being of their organizational cultures. Drawing from a personal passion toward the development of thoughtful leadership practices, he works with executives, leaders, supervisors and their teams to: Increase productivity through smart time and people management practices; Retain and recharge their team members and processes for the benefit of their internal and external company stakeholders; and Prime their organizations for physical, client and/or revenue growth. He is the author of The 10 Keys of Effective Supervision: Building Healthy Organizational Cultures Through Servant Leadership.

#1 Best Selling Author, International Speaker, Business Consultant, Coach and Trainer. Willard Barth has gone from a life of total devastation to being one of the leading consultants in his field. His system and book “The Anatomy of Transformation” is the result of more than 27 years spent working with and observing tens of thousands of individuals and hundreds of companies. Willard is the Founder of Willard Barth Enterprises. He has been involved in the development of numerous businesses in various industries. He has discovered that for a business to be successful, they must follow a repetitive cycle which he labels “The Anatomy Of Transformation”. This cycle is a 7 Phase process that he has implemented in his consulting and coaching business and has created dramatic results for the people he has worked with.

Dr. Craig Dowden  is the President of Craig Dowden & Associates, a firm focused on supporting their clients in achieving leadership and organization excellence by leveraging the science of peak performance. A top-ranked speaker and endorsed by the Financial Times for his expertise in delivering exceptional leadership development workshops, Craig has been a regular columnist for various high-profile HR and business publications, including the Huffington Post (U.S.), Financial Post, and Psychology Today. In 2009, Craig was recognized as one of Ottawa’s “Forty under 40” business leaders by the Ottawa Business Journal. He will be a contributor to Forbes.com later this year.