Podcasts about headquartered

Get ready for an inspiring listen with author and founder of Busy Bee Advisors, Melissa Broughton, on Count Me In! Host Adam Larson sits down with Melissa as she shares her journey from watching her grandmother and mom work in bookkeeping to carving out her own path in accounting. Melissa brings you inside her world, from falling in love with paperwork as a kid, navigating corporate life, and boldly leaping into entrepreneurship with Busy Bee Advisors. You'll hear candid stories about the highs and lows: growing too fast, building a team, and learning how to course-correct. Melissa opens up about adapting to remote work during the pandemic and how that shift sparked new opportunities for her team. She also talks about launching the One Hour Bookkeeper, a project that helps stay-at-home parents and military spouses build careers on their own terms. Whether you're dreaming of starting your own business, seeking advice on managing growth, or just want to hear a real story about balancing family and ambition, this episode is for you. Grab your headphones, Melissa's story is full of motivation, practical tips, and a reminder that there is always a way forward. ___________________________________________________________BILL is a leading financial operations platform for startups to established brands. Headquartered in San Jose, California, we're a trusted partner of leading US financial institutions, accounting firms, and accounting software providers. We empower business owners, CFOs, controllers, and accountants to save time and take control of their payables, receivables, spend, and expense management. For more information, visit bill.com.

Chad Delligatti — CEO of InnoSourceChad Delligatti is the CEO of InnoSource — a more than two-decade-old, Ohio-based company that has grown into a national workforce solutions platform serving Fortune 500 and midsized organizations across the country.Since joining InnoSource in 2000 as one of its earliest employees, Chad has devoted his entire professional career to building the company — helping it evolve from a regional staffing firm into the leading HR, talent, outsourcing, and data solutions partner it is today, employing more than 2,000 associates across North America, partnering with clients to deliver highly customized recruiting and workforce management solutions.But this isn't just a story about staffing…From sweeping neighbors' floors in Bexley as a child, to running a lawn care business in Granville, to flipping Beanie Babies in college, Chad's entrepreneurial drive showed up early. And when faced with the choice between joining a large corporation or becoming one of the first employees at a small, fledgling company called InnoSource, he chose the entrepreneurial path — a decision that shaped the next 25 years of his life.In our conversation, Chad reflects on what it means to dedicate decades to building one company — the evolution of the staffing and outsourcing industry from newspaper classifieds to job boards to AI-driven recruiting — and how InnoSource is now entering a new chapter powered by technology.We unpack how the implementation of AI is reshaping hiring funnels, reducing time-to-offer, improving tenure, and fundamentally transforming how workforce solutions are delivered. We also explore what hasn't changed: the company's cultural anchors, leadership principles, and Chad's conviction that technology must enhance — not replace — the human touch.This conversation was a lot of fun — chad exudes passion for his work and it comes through in spades. Please So please enjoy this awesome discussion with Chad Delligatti.00:00 The Journey of InnoSource: A Personal Story15:07 InnoSource Today: Services and Innovations19:26 Evolution of the Staffing Industry: Adapting to Change26:47 AI in Recruitment: Transforming the Landscape31:20 The Human Touch: Balancing AI and Personal Connection33:13 Embracing Change in Recruitment37:22 Leadership Lessons from Experience46:59 Core Values and Company Culture55:24 Defining Success and Motivation01:01:21 Upskilling for Future Opportunities01:05:10 Outro-----LINKS:https://innosource.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/chad-delligatti-621bba2/-----SPONSOR:Roundstone InsuranceRoundstone Insurance is proud to sponsor Lay of The Land. Founder and CEO, Michael Schroeder, has committed full-year support for the podcast, recognizing its alignment with the company's passion for entrepreneurship, innovation, and community leadership.Headquartered in Rocky River, Ohio, Roundstone was founded in 2005 with a vision to deliver better healthcare outcomes at a more affordable cost. To bring that vision to life, the company pioneered the group medical captive model — a self-funded health insurance solution that provides small and mid-sized businesses with greater control and significant savings.Over the past two decades, Roundstone has grown rapidly, creating nearly 200 jobs in Northeast Ohio. The company works closely with employers and benefits advisors to navigate the complexities of commercial health insurance and build custom plans that prioritize employee well-being over shareholder returns. By focusing on aligned incentives and better health outcomes, Roundstone is helping businesses save thousands in Per Employee Per Year healthcare costs. Roundstone Insurance — Built for entrepreneurs. Backed by innovation. Committed to Cleveland.Cerity PartnersCerity Partners, a full-service investment and wealth management firm serving high-net-worth individuals, entrepreneurs, and business owners, is proud to sponsor Lay of The Land. The firm has local roots in Cleveland and across Ohio, and like this podcast, Cerity Partners advisors specialize in serving the interests of local entrepreneurs and business leaders. They understand how to manage the total picture of wealth, both personal and professional. Cerity Partners has a unified team of specialists who collaborate on almost every aspect of a client's financial life, including business ownership. The firm's national presence means it can offer the resources and specialized knowledge of the largest institutions with the independence and service of a neighbor. The Cerity Partners Cleveland team understands the complexity that comes with wealth, and they adhere to fiduciary standards. Discover the financial lay of your land.Learn more at ceritypartners.com/NPR or call 216-464-6266.-----Stay up to date by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here: https://layoftheland.ck.page/5f0c1e28faConnect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/Follow Lay of The Land on X @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

In this bonus episode of Count Me In, recorded live at Oracle NetSuite's SuiteConnect NYC, Adam Larson sits down with Sue Vestri, CFO at CRIO and a finance leader with a wealth of experience in startups, public companies, and private equity-backed businesses. Listen in as Sue shares real stories from her career, everything from wrangling accounting platforms for rapidly scaling teams to building a finance culture that embraces AI and continuous learning. Whether you're curious about growing a finance team from scratch, navigating the complexities of SaaS billing, or keeping your organization future-ready, Sue's practical perspectives and candid advice are sure to inspire. Perfect for finance professionals and anyone interested in how a modern CFO drives growth and innovation while building trust across the business. ___________________________________________________________BILL is a leading financial operations platform for startups to established brands. Headquartered in San Jose, California, we're a trusted partner of leading US financial institutions, accounting firms, and accounting software providers. We empower business owners, CFOs, controllers, and accountants to save time and take control of their payables, receivables, spend, and expense management. For more information, visit bill.com.

Send a textBall Watching hosts, Jake Koenig and Justin Graham, break down St. Louis CITY SC's 1-1 draw vs. Charlotte FC and the upcoming away match against San Diego FC!Follow the show on X and/or Instagram (@BallWatchingSTL)! Find our guest interviews and all episodes in video form on YouTube by searching https://www.youtube.com/@ballwatchingSTL. Be sure to hit subscribe and turn notifications on!Hoffmann Brothers is the 2025 presenting sponsor of Ball Watching! Headquartered right here in St. Louis for over 40 years, Hoffmann Brothers is a full-service residential & commercial provider, providing Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing, Drains, Sewer, Water Heaters, Duct Cleaning, Electrical and Appliance Repair services. Visit them online at hoffmannbros.com!Make The Pitch Athletic Club & Tavern (thepitch-stl.com) your St. Louis CITY SC pregame and postgame destination for all your food and drink needs! Tell them your friends at Ball Watching sent you... Seoul Juice is the official drink of Ball Watching and made with three clean simple ingredients: water, organic lemon juice, and Korean pear juice. Get yours at Dierbergs, Sams Club, or online at seouljuice.com. Use code "BALLWATCHING" at checkout for 20% off all online orders!Shop in-store or online at Series Six (seriessixcompany.com) and receive a 15% discount on all orders storewide using code "BALLWATCHING" at checkout!

Get ready for a fresh perspective on pricing in this engaging episode of Count Me In. Host Adam Larson welcomes behavioral pricing expert and Decision Alpha CEO Etinosa Agbonlahor to share how psychology, emotion, and real customer conversations can reshape the way businesses think about pricing. Forget relying only on cost-plus formulas or spreadsheets. Etinosa brings stories from the field, insights from brain science studies, and practical advice for using behavioral principles to set prices customers will value. Find out why understanding what customers care about and how they actually make purchase decisions can help you stand out from competitors. Learn how to confidently raise prices when needed and avoid common mistakes when communicating those changes. If you want your pricing to truly reflect the value you deliver, this episode has actionable tips, relatable examples, and fresh ideas worth hearing. Discover what happens when you combine financial know-how with a behavioral mindset, with guidance straight from Etinosa Agbonlahor. ___________________________________________________________BILL is a leading financial operations platform for startups to established brands. Headquartered in San Jose, California, we're a trusted partner of leading US financial institutions, accounting firms, and accounting software providers. We empower business owners, CFOs, controllers, and accountants to save time and take control of their payables, receivables, spend, and expense management. For more information, visit bill.com.

As the hydrogen economy is hitting its "industrial scale" phase, the focus is shifting from electrolyser counts and toward the complex reality of the midstream. How do we physically—and cost-effectively—connect, convert and move green molecules across the globe?In this episode, EAH sits down with Karlis Vasarais from Uniper's Innovation team to discuss the energy major's strategic evolution toward "Greener Gases". We explore:* The Policy Blueprint - What can 20 years of biogas policy history can teach us about the future of e-fuels and hydrogen. * Global Scale - Uniper's landmark 2026 agreement to offtake 500,000 tonnes of green ammonia from India and their broader European production aspirations.* The Midstream Missing Link - Why global supply chains—spanning transport, storage, and conversion—are the key to turning "stranded" green molecules into bankable commodities.* Enabling Mandates - The tool kit of regulatory levers and "mandate ingredients" required to spur innovation, reduce the price gap, and unlock private sector investmentAbout Karlis Vasarais:Karlis Vasarais works at Uniper as an Energy Transition Innovation Manager, where he's involved in activities related to carbon capture, utilisation and carbon-tech innovation. His role includes engagement with broader energy and climate innovation networks, particularly in carbon-tech and sustainability initiatives, aligning with Uniper's transition focus. He also engages with stakeholders around carbon capture, utilisation, and related technologies, including strategic discussions about scaling these solutions in Europe. Previously, Karlis led Valent alongside Tim Haig, both experienced entrepreneurs who have built significant expertise in fuels science, industrial process optimization, early-stage financing and technology scale-up. The team raised over $250 million for six companies, leading to the commercialization of numerous R&D-stage innovations in renewable energy and clean technologies in Canada, including BIOX (World Energy), Mara Renewables, and GreenMantra Technologies. About Uniper:Uniper is a European energy company focused on secure energy supply and the energy transition. Headquartered in Germany, Uniper operates power generation assets, energy trading, and gas infrastructure across several countries, while increasingly investing in low-carbon solutions such as hydrogen, carbon capture, and flexible power to support decarbonization and system reliability.--Links:Uniper - https://www.uniper.energy/Uniper Energy Transition - https://www.uniper.energy/sustainability

Setanta Space Systems (Setanta Space), a new Irish space technology start-up, has announced its official launch. The company is focused on developing novel modular onboard computing hardware and artificial intelligence (AI) software designed to make spacecraft more autonomous, resilient and capable. Founded by a team of engineers with backgrounds in European Space Agency (ESA) missions, launch vehicle systems and flight-ready embedded software, Setanta Space aims to address one of the most persistent limitations in modern spacecraft, the lack of high-performance, flexible computing at the edge. While satellites are generating increasing volumes of data and operating in more complex environments, much of today's avionics still relies on legacy architectures that constrain autonomy and require heavy dependence on ground operations. Setanta Space's new approach is to place intelligence directly onboard. The company is developing a family of modular and scalable computing platforms that combine radiation-tolerant electronics with deployable AI, enabling spacecraft to process sensor data, detect anomalies and make operational decisions in orbit rather than waiting for instructions from Earth. By reducing latency and bandwidth requirements, this architecture allows missions to respond faster, operate more independently and extract more value. "At Setanta Space, we believe spacecraft need to be smarter," said James Murphy, Founder and Chief Technical Officer. "Our goal is to provide the hardware and software foundation that enables true onboard autonomy, from health monitoring and anomaly detection to perception and real-time data processing. We want intelligence to be built into every mission from day one." Headquartered at NovaUCD in Dublin, Setanta Space is building its product line around a modular hardware concept that allows computing subsystems to be integrated, upgraded or reconfigured without redesigning an entire spacecraft avionics stack. This design philosophy is intended to shorten development cycles and give mission designers greater flexibility as requirements evolve. The company's roadmap includes scalable onboard computers, radiation-tolerant vision sensors and a software platform for developing and deploying AI workloads across flight hardware. Murphy added, "Over the coming year, Setanta Space plans to deliver early development kits and pilot projects with customers, expand partnerships with European and international integrators, and participate in ESA and EU innovation programmes to accelerate technology maturation. We also intend to establish a presence in the United States to support commercial growth and closer engagement with the broader aerospace ecosystem." He concluded, "Our ambition is to become a trusted provider of intelligent computing for space. Whether supporting a CubeSat, a constellation or a deep-space mission, we want our systems to give spacecraft the ability to sense, decide and act independently." In addition to James Murphy, founding team members, Adam Taylor, Jake O'Brien and Tomas Chester, bring experience spanning spacecraft electronics, embedded systems, FPGA design and applied machine learning. Team members have previously delivered flight systems for launch vehicles and deep space missions and have worked closely with ESA programmes and commercial partners across Europe. Setanta Space is also a client company of Enterprise Ireland, the Irish government's enterprise development agency. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: https://anchor.fm/irish-tech-news If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info...

Send a textBall Watching hosts, Jake Koenig and Justin Graham, welcome data analyst, Mike Sinnott (@ChatCityTactics), to the show to discuss the state of CITY's roster and predictions for the 2026 season. Additionally, they preview the upcoming season opener against Charlotte FC!Follow the show on X and/or Instagram (@BallWatchingSTL)! Find our guest interviews and all episodes in video form on YouTube by searching https://www.youtube.com/@ballwatchingSTL. Be sure to hit subscribe and turn notifications on!Hoffmann Brothers is the 2025 presenting sponsor of Ball Watching! Headquartered right here in St. Louis for over 40 years, Hoffmann Brothers is a full-service residential & commercial provider, providing Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing, Drains, Sewer, Water Heaters, Duct Cleaning, Electrical and Appliance Repair services. Visit them online at hoffmannbros.com!Make The Pitch Athletic Club & Tavern (thepitch-stl.com) your St. Louis CITY SC pregame and postgame destination for all your food and drink needs! Tell them your friends at Ball Watching sent you... Seoul Juice is the official drink of Ball Watching and made with three clean simple ingredients: water, organic lemon juice, and Korean pear juice. Get yours at Dierbergs, Sams Club, or online at seouljuice.com. Use code "BALLWATCHING" at checkout for 20% off all online orders!Shop in-store or online at Series Six (seriessixcompany.com) and receive a 15% discount on all orders storewide using code "BALLWATCHING" at checkout!

Guest Mike Logozzo is the Chief Executive Officer of reAlpha Tech Corp.Ticker: $AIREWebsitehttps://www.realpha.com/mortgageCompany BioAbout reAlpha reAlpha Tech Corp. (Nasdaq: AIRE) is an AI-driven real estate technology company redefining how Americans buy homes. Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, reAlpha is building an end-to-end, commission-free platform that integrates real estate brokerage, mortgage and title services into one seamless experience. By combining proprietary AI capabilities with a strategic, acquisition-led growth model, the company is creating a vertically integrated ecosystem that reduces costs, increases efficiency, and accelerates access to homeownership. Targeting the multi-trillion-dollar U.S. real estate services market, reAlpha aims to provide consumers with a smarter, faster, and more affordable path to buying a home, while setting a new standard for real estate innovation. CEO BioMike Logozzo - Chief Executive Officer Mike Logozzo is the Chief Executive Officer of reAlpha Tech Corp., where he leads operations, strategy, and delivery across the company's real estate technology platform. With more than two decades of experience, he has built a career at the intersection of financial services, technology, and innovation. He previously managed a $32 billion portfolio serving 1.2 million customers at BMW Financial Services, drove global operational efficiency at Microsoft, and advanced corporate innovation as Managing Director at L Marks, helping multinational enterprises accelerate adoption of emerging technologies. This combination of financial stewardship, operational excellence, and innovation leadership defines his approach to scaling businesses and creating long-term value for stakeholders.

Join host Adam Larson as he chats with David Frieder, Head of Corporate Payment Systems at US Bank, about his unique journey from college intern to leading payment innovation. David Frieder shares real stories on how banks build new products, why real-time payments are gaining momentum (and where they're not), and the practical challenges of bringing new tech to traditional finance teams. They cover everything from instant payments and AI-driven fraud prevention to what it takes to build trust and lasting relationships between banks and finance professionals. David also gives a behind-the-scenes look at how he leads his team with a focus on joy and purpose. Packed with actionable insights and candid advice, this episode is a must-listen for anyone curious about the future of payments, technology in banking, and how innovation really happens in finance. ___________________________________________________________BILL is a leading financial operations platform for startups to established brands. Headquartered in San Jose, California, we're a trusted partner of leading US financial institutions, accounting firms, and accounting software providers. We empower business owners, CFOs, controllers, and accountants to save time and take control of their payables, receivables, spend, and expense management. For more information, visit bill.com.

Today's show features: - Tully Williams, Fixed Operations Director of The Niello Company - Dave Thomas, Director of Content Marketing at CDK Global - Jim Sabino, Fixed Operations Director of All American Ford Paramus This episode is brought to you by: Foureyes – Foureyes helps dealers turn data into action. Starting with a clean, connected data foundation across dealership systems, Foureyes empowers dealerships to use that data to drive consistent execution throughout their business. The data stays dealer-owned, vendor-neutral, and works with any tools or partners. More than a CDP, Foureyes is a reset for how dealer data gets put to work. Headquartered in Oregon, Foureyes employees live in 20+ states to be closer to the communities where dealers are. Visit https://www.foureyes.io/ to learn more CDK Global – CDK joins the show to break down their new Affordability Tracker which takes a look at the cars average Americans are buying the most. CDK is also tracking incentives and trucks to get a pulse on the market that goes beyond the ATP. Plus, CDK's 5th annual Friction Points study is here and shows a marked improvement in the time it takes to sell a car. Only 35% of buyers now report a 2+ hour process, the lowest level yet, signaling meaningful progress in dealer speed and execution. https://www.cdkglobal.com/insights Check out Car Dealership Guy's stuff: CDG Circles ➤ ⁠https://cdgcircles.com/⁠ CDG News ➤ ⁠https://news.dealershipguy.com/⁠ CDG Jobs ➤ ⁠https://jobs.dealershipguy.com/⁠ CDG Recruiting ➤ ⁠https://www.cdgrecruiting.com/⁠ My Socials: X ➤ ⁠https://www.twitter.com/GuyDealership⁠ Instagram ➤ ⁠https://www.instagram.com/cardealershipguy/⁠ TikTok ➤ ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@guydealership⁠ LinkedIn ➤⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/company/cardealershipguy/⁠ Threads ➤ ⁠https://www.threads.net/@cardealershipguy⁠ Facebook ➤⁠ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077402857683⁠ Everything else ➤ ⁠dealershipguy.com

Matt Kalina — Founder and CEO of TandemStrideMatt Kalina is the Founder and CEO of TandemStride, a healthcare marketplace that connects trauma survivors with peers, care partners, and providers to support long-term recovery. Inspired by his family's firsthand experience with traumatic injury, Matt is dedicated to building solutions that close the gap between emergency care and ongoing support. With his leadership, TandemStride is advancing a more connected and compassionate model of recovery.In our conversation, Matt and I explore the often-overlooked realities of life after traumatic injury, why peer support is such a powerful layer of care, how his family adapted to his brother's traumatic loss of his both his legs in 2012 and have come together through TandemStride to  building the support platform they wish had existed by meeting people in moments of real crisis, not months later. We also talk about Matt's evolution as a leadership, his Ohio go-to-market strategy, the power of incentives, the business of trauma, working with his family in the company, empathy, and coming into your life's work. Matt is an inspiring entrepreneur and this was a really special conversation – please enjoy.00:00 Introduction to Tandem Stride02:46 Introduction and Personal Connection04:42 The Journey to Tandem Stride07:15 Identifying Gaps in Injury Care09:47 Understanding Patient Needs12:21 Building the Tandem Stride Platform15:13 Engagement and Outreach Strategies17:57 Navigating Healthcare Partnerships20:30 The Business Model and Future Vision33:39 Engaging in Healthcare Innovation34:42 Defining the Vision for TandemStride37:37 Creating a New Category in Injury Care40:09 Changing Incentives in Healthcare44:07 Long-Term Policy Initiatives45:05 Personal Growth as a Leader48:59 Family Dynamics in Business51:46 Exciting Developments Ahead54:53 Embracing Uncertainty in Entrepreneurship59:21 Outro-----LINKS:https://www.linkedin.com/in/kalinamatt/https://www.tandemstride.com/https://www.amazon.com/Cut-Through-Shortcut-That-Everything/dp/0960083766-----SPONSOR:Roundstone InsuranceRoundstone Insurance is proud to sponsor Lay of The Land. Founder and CEO, Michael Schroeder, has committed full-year support for the podcast, recognizing its alignment with the company's passion for entrepreneurship, innovation, and community leadership.Headquartered in Rocky River, Ohio, Roundstone was founded in 2005 with a vision to deliver better healthcare outcomes at a more affordable cost. To bring that vision to life, the company pioneered the group medical captive model — a self-funded health insurance solution that provides small and mid-sized businesses with greater control and significant savings.Over the past two decades, Roundstone has grown rapidly, creating nearly 200 jobs in Northeast Ohio. The company works closely with employers and benefits advisors to navigate the complexities of commercial health insurance and build custom plans that prioritize employee well-being over shareholder returns. By focusing on aligned incentives and better health outcomes, Roundstone is helping businesses save thousands in Per Employee Per Year healthcare costs. Roundstone Insurance — Built for entrepreneurs. Backed by innovation. Committed to Cleveland.Cerity PartnersCerity Partners, a full-service investment and wealth management firm serving high-net-worth individuals, entrepreneurs, and business owners, is proud to sponsor Lay of The Land. The firm has local roots in Cleveland and across Ohio, and like this podcast, Cerity Partners advisors specialize in serving the interests of local entrepreneurs and business leaders. They understand how to manage the total picture of wealth, both personal and professional. Cerity Partners has a unified team of specialists who collaborate on almost every aspect of a client's financial life, including business ownership. The firm's national presence means it can offer the resources and specialized knowledge of the largest institutions with the independence and service of a neighbor. The Cerity Partners Cleveland team understands the complexity that comes with wealth, and they adhere to fiduciary standards. Discover the financial lay of your land.Learn more at ceritypartners.com/NPR or call 216-464-6266.-----Stay up to date by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here: https://layoftheland.ck.page/5f0c1e28faConnect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/Follow Lay of The Land on X @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

In "Inside the DAT - Convoy Platform Deal: What This Acquisiton Means for the Freight Market", Joe Lynch and Bill Driegert, EVP of Convoy Platform - DAT Freight & Analytics, discuss how the integration of the Convoy Platform's automation and AI technology with DAT's massive freight marketplace will help brokers combat fraud, increase efficiency, and focus on high-value work. About Bill Driegert Bill Driegert is the EVP of Convoy Platform at DAT Freight & Analytics. He was previously the EVP of Trucking at Flexport and the co-founder and Head of Operations at Uber Freight, Uber's logistics business. Bill began his career in freight as the fourth employee at Coyote Logistics (acquired by UPS), where he grew the role to Chief Innovation Officer. Prior to joining Uber, he served as COO at Pillow Homes. He also spent time at Amazon as Director of Planning and Innovation. Bill holds an M.A. in Supply Chain from MIT, an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, and a B.A. from Southern Methodist University. About DAT Freight & Analytics DAT Freight & Analytics operates the DAT One truckload freight marketplace; Convoy Platform, an automated freight-matching technology; DAT iQ analytics service; Trucker Tools load-visibility platform; and Outgo factoring and financial services for truckers. Shippers, transportation brokers, carriers, news organizations, and industry analysts rely on DAT for market trends and data insights, informed by nearly 700,000 daily load posts and a database exceeding $1 trillion in freight market transactions. Founded in 1978, DAT is a business unit of Roper Technologies (Nasdaq: ROP), a constituent of the Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, and Fortune 1000. Headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, DAT continues to set the standard for innovation in the trucking and logistics industry. Visit dat.com for more information. Key Takeaways: Inside the DAT - Convoy Platform Deal: What This Acquisiton Means for the Freight Market In "Inside the DAT - Convoy Platform Deal: What This Acquisiton Means for the Freight Market", Joe Lynch and Bill Driegert, EVP of Convoy Platform - DAT Freight & Analytics, discuss how the integration of the Convoy Platform's automation and AI technology with DAT's massive freight marketplace will help brokers combat fraud, increase efficiency, and focus on high-value work. Solving Major Brokerage Challenges: The acquisition of the Convoy Platform is a strategic move by DAT to help freight brokers tackle significant industry challenges like fraud, the need for increased automation, and the integration of AI. Automation for Efficiency: By integrating the Convoy Platform, DAT aims to automate routine tasks, which will allow brokers to dedicate more time to complex, high-value work, such as building relationships with clients and carriers. Enhanced Fraud Prevention: The deal combines the Convoy Platform's advanced, machine-learning-powered fraud prevention technology with DAT's extensive network and data. This fusion is intended to create a safer and more secure environment for freight transactions. Augmenting the DAT One Platform: The Convoy technology will be incorporated into DAT's flagship product, DAT One. This integration will offer brokers and carriers new automated capabilities while ensuring that the core, familiar functions of the load board remain unchanged. Leveraging Bill Driegert's Expertise: Bill Driegert's background, including his leadership roles at Uber Freight and Coyote Logistics, is a crucial asset for DAT. His experience as a technologist and innovator in the freight industry is key to the successful integration and future development of the Convoy Platform. The Practical Role of AI: The interview clarifies that AI is not just a buzzword but a practical tool for improving freight operations. The technology will be used to enhance decision-making, optimize processes, and increase overall efficiency for the brokers DAT serves. Building a Comprehensive Ecosystem: The Convoy acquisition is part of a larger plan to unify DAT's recent acquisitions, including Trucker Tools and Outgo. The goal is to create a complete, integrated ecosystem that provides solutions for everything from freight matching and payment processing to carrier tracking and automation. Learn More About Inside the DAT - Convoy Platform Deal: What This Acquisiton Means for the Freight Market Bill Driegert | Linkedin DAT Freight & Analytics | Linkedin DAT DAT - Convoy Platform Convoy Platform - DAT DAT + The Convoy Platform: A new chapter in our marketplace evolution Infographic: Modernize your brokerage MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics with Chris Caplice Navigating Market Uncertainty with Sarah Bertram A Trillion Dollars in Freight Transactions with Ken Adamo DAT iQ: The Metrics that Matter with Samuel Parker Taking the Uncertainty and Risk Out of Freight with Erika Voss The Logistics of Logistics Podcast If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a positive review, subscribe, and share it with your friends and colleagues. The Logistics of Logistics Podcast: Google, Apple, Castbox, Spotify, Stitcher, PlayerFM, Tunein, Podbean, Owltail, Libsyn, Overcast Check out The Logistics of Logistics on Youtube

Today's show features: - Scott Simons, Dealer Principal of Simons Chevrolet GMC - John Ellis, CEO of Agile Auto - JR Toothman, Owner of Toothman Ford This episode is brought to you by: Foureyes – Foureyes helps dealers turn data into action. Starting with a clean, connected data foundation across dealership systems, Foureyes empowers dealerships to use that data to drive consistent execution throughout their business. The data stays dealer-owned, vendor-neutral, and works with any tools or partners. More than a CDP, Foureyes is a reset for how dealer data gets put to work. Headquartered in Oregon, Foureyes employees live in 20+ states to be closer to the communities where dealers are. Visit ⁠https://www.foureyes.io/⁠ to learn more Agile Auto – The first of its kind intelligence platform purpose built for used car operations. Trusted by performance driven dealerships across the US and Canada, Agile Auto layers on top of your existing systems to deliver dealer and market specific acquisition guidance and daily operational direction that turns data into confident decisions, faster turn, and measurable profit. Learn more at https://www.agileauto.io/ and take a two week test drive to see how disciplined intelligence transforms used car results. Check out Car Dealership Guy's stuff: CDG Circles ➤ ⁠https://cdgcircles.com/⁠ CDG News ➤ ⁠https://news.dealershipguy.com/⁠ CDG Jobs ➤ ⁠https://jobs.dealershipguy.com/⁠ CDG Recruiting ➤ ⁠https://www.cdgrecruiting.com/⁠ My Socials: X ➤ ⁠https://www.twitter.com/GuyDealership⁠ Instagram ➤ ⁠https://www.instagram.com/cardealershipguy/⁠ TikTok ➤ ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@guydealership⁠ LinkedIn ➤⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/company/cardealershipguy/⁠ Threads ➤ ⁠https://www.threads.net/@cardealershipguy⁠ Facebook ➤⁠ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077402857683⁠ Everything else ➤ ⁠dealershipguy.com

Send a textBall Watching hosts, Jake Koenig and Justin Graham, discuss the latest CITY news, preseason learnings, and the overall season preview for 2026. The season preview includes scheduling blocks, previewing the depth chart, predicting points tallies, and ideating on the biggest themes that CITY needs to go their way in 2026. In addition, we cover updates from around MLS, the CONCACAF Champions League, and answer some of your questions!Follow the show on X and/or Instagram (@BallWatchingSTL)! Find our guest interviews and all episodes in video form on YouTube by searching https://www.youtube.com/@ballwatchingSTL. Be sure to hit subscribe and turn notifications on!Hoffmann Brothers is the 2025 presenting sponsor of Ball Watching! Headquartered right here in St. Louis for over 40 years, Hoffmann Brothers is a full-service residential & commercial provider, providing Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing, Drains, Sewer, Water Heaters, Duct Cleaning, Electrical and Appliance Repair services. Visit them online at hoffmannbros.com!Make The Pitch Athletic Club & Tavern (thepitch-stl.com) your St. Louis CITY SC pregame and postgame destination for all your food and drink needs! Tell them your friends at Ball Watching sent you... Seoul Juice is the official drink of Ball Watching and made with three clean simple ingredients: water, organic lemon juice, and Korean pear juice. Get yours at Dierbergs, Sams Club, or online at seouljuice.com. Use code "BALLWATCHING" at checkout for 20% off all online orders!Shop in-store or online at Series Six (seriessixcompany.com) and receive a 15% discount on all orders storewide using code "BALLWATCHING" at checkout!

Today's show features: - Matt Bowers, Owner of Matt Bowers Automotive Group - Miguel Yelos San Martin, Principal of YSM Design, P.C. - Shane Wood, General Manager of Bruce Titus Automotive Group This episode is brought to you by: Foureyes – Foureyes helps dealers turn data into action. Starting with a clean, connected data foundation across dealership systems, Foureyes empowers dealerships to use that data to drive consistent execution throughout their business. The data stays dealer-owned, vendor-neutral, and works with any tools or partners. More than a CDP, Foureyes is a reset for how dealer data gets put to work. Headquartered in Oregon, Foureyes employees live in 20+ states to be closer to the communities where dealers are. Visit ⁠https://www.foureyes.io/⁠ to learn more YSM Designs – brings decades of experience helping dealers create facilities that are both brand-compliant and operationally efficient. Every design is tailored to the unique needs of the dealership, balancing OEM standards with real-world functionality. With over 30 years designing automotive facilities, YSM knows what works. Learn more at ⁠www.ysmdesign.com⁠ Check out Car Dealership Guy's stuff: CDG Circles ➤ ⁠https://cdgcircles.com/⁠ CDG News ➤ ⁠https://news.dealershipguy.com/⁠ CDG Jobs ➤ ⁠https://jobs.dealershipguy.com/⁠ CDG Recruiting ➤ ⁠https://www.cdgrecruiting.com/⁠ My Socials: X ➤ ⁠https://www.twitter.com/GuyDealership⁠ Instagram ➤ ⁠https://www.instagram.com/cardealershipguy/⁠ TikTok ➤ ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@guydealership⁠ LinkedIn ➤⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/company/cardealershipguy/⁠ Threads ➤ ⁠https://www.threads.net/@cardealershipguy⁠ Facebook ➤⁠ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077402857683⁠ Everything else ➤ ⁠dealershipguy.com

Ready for an inspiring career boost? In this episode of Count Me In, Adam Larson sits down with Isabelle Massaad, CFO at DSV, a global leader in transport and logistics. Isabelle's story is anything but ordinary: she began her professional journey at just 17, driven by curiosity, grit, and a knack for finding patterns in chaos. This conversation is full of practical advice and real stories—how Isabelle earned respect, led diverse teams, and transformed financial data into compelling business narratives. She opens up about what it means to be a transformative leader, the essential role of empathy in her leadership style, and why staying adaptable is crucial with so much rapid change in tech and AI. Whether you're just starting out or dreaming of the C-suite, you'll find plenty of actionable takeaways on building soft skills, networking, and embracing lifelong learning. Dive in for an engaging chat and get a fresh take on the future of finance, leadership, and the constantly evolving world of transport and logistics. ___________________________________________________________BILL is a leading financial operations platform for startups to established brands. Headquartered in San Jose, California, we're a trusted partner of leading US financial institutions, accounting firms, and accounting software providers. We empower business owners, CFOs, controllers, and accountants to save time and take control of their payables, receivables, spend, and expense management. For more information, visit bill.com.

ABOUT JOE BAER:Joe's LinkedIn profile: linkedin.com/in/joe-baer-4479385Websites:zengenius.com visual911.com Email: jbaer@zengenius.comBIO:Joe is the Co-Founder, Creative Director, and CEO of ZenGenius, Inc., an experiential design firm specializing in visual merchandising and event design. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Joe brings over three decades of mastery in innovative leadership and creative direction to the design, visual merchandising and special events industries. He has extensive knowledge of the customer journey from working in stores for decades and is a seasoned public speaker who has traveled the world to inspire and educate others through the art of visual merchandising, design and special events.Additionally, Joe has contributed his retail know-how to multiple publications, authored The Art of Visual Merchandising: Short North, and created one of my favorite events in the retail industry the Iron Merchant Challenge, a popular interactive visual merchandising competition held annually at the International Retail Design Conference. Joe's passion for the world of design is evident in his role as President of the PAVE Global leadership board - a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation with the mission to support, connect, and inspire the next generation of professionals in the retail design, visual merchandising, and consumer environments industry. He also holds Advisory Board roles at Columbus College of Art and Design and VMSD Magazine. SHOW INTROWelcome to Episode 85! of the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast…In every episode we follow our catch phrase of having “Dynamic Dialogues About DATA: Design, Architecture, Technology and the Arts.” And as we continue on this journey, we'll have guests that are thought provoking futurists, AI technology mavens, retailers, international hotel design executives as well as designers and architects of brand experience places.We'll talk with authors and people focused on wellness and sustainable design practices as well as neuroscientists who will continue to help us look at the built environment and the connections between our mind-body and the built world around us.If you like what you hear on the NXTLVL Experience Design show, make sure to subscribe, like, comment and share with colleagues, friends and family.The NXTLVL Experience Design podcast is always grateful for the support of VMSD magazine.VMSD brings us, in the brand experience world, the International Retail Design Conference. I think the IRDC is one of the best retail design conferences that there is bringing together the world of retailers, brands and experience place makers every year for two days of engaging conversations and pushing us to keep on talking about what makes retailing relevant. You will find the archive of the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast on VMSD.com.Thanks also goes to Shop Association the only global retail trade association dedicated to elevating the in-store experience. SHOP Association represents companies and affiliates from 25 countries and brings value to their members through research, networking, education, events and awards. Check then out on SHOPAssociation.org Today, EPISODE 85… I talk with Joe Baer of Zen Genius an experiential design firm specializing in visual merchandising and event design. Joe had spent more than 3 decades working the in the retail industry bringing visual merchandising know-how to the creation of emotionally resonant branded places. Visual merchandising is allot more than simply making things look good in a store. It's very much about 3D storytelling, sensory experiences, emotions and making places sing as Joe explains.We'll get there in a minute but... first a few thoughts…*                     *                          *                          *Monique worked in the visual merchandising departmentshe was the director there and I was the director in the interior design department our two programs ran concurrently we shared some students across our programs but we seldom actually shared lunchAnd so it was slightly strange but intriguing that she invited me to have lunch with her across the street from the college at a little Thai placeWe sat down, talked about students and then - more as a throw away - she said “they want me to go to Singapore…”And I waited for the next sentence.“But I don't really want to go to Singapore.” she said. “I'd have to leave here. I'd have to leave my son who's thinking about collage a few years and I'd really just prefer to stay in Montreal.”And then there was a silence.“Singapore?!” I said.“I don't even know where Singapore is. That's in Southeast Asia, right? ““yeah, it's like on the other side of the world.” she said.“Sounds exotic. I'd go for sure. Besides, I love Chinese food. I could eat it every day.”“Really?” she said .“Sure, why not? I'd love to go. I love the whole idea of adventure.” “Well anyway,” she said, “I don't know what they are going to do if I don't go. It's to be the Director of the visual merchandising program in an international fashion school and they've got no one else who could do it.” “No seriously, I'd go. I mean I have no idea about what you do and… I'm a guy and that means genetically I actually don't like shopping and I've only ever designed the escalator and fountain at the Eaton center. But let them know that I'd do it.”We finished lunch, climbed over the snowbank of freshly plowed snow, crossed the street to get back for afternoon classes and a few weeks later I was walking down the stairs of a plane in the stultifying humidity at Changi airport.Monday morning, I was the program Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School … in Singapore… and… I had no idea what I was doing but knew my career had taken a significant and abrupt turn.The world of retail design had found me, and I never looked back for the next 20 years.Over those 20 plus years I learned from some masters in retail design and visual merchandising. I arrived in New York after a year, spent an afternoon with Gene Moore, was introduced to Peter Glenn and ended up working with Joe Weishar New Vision Studios. I spent the next four years listening to and watching Joe talk about visual merchandising practice as both art and retail strategy.For Joe Weishar visual merchandising wasn't just a display tactic but was a creative discipline that blended art, design and retail psychology. He merged visual perception and design principles and he would layout a store or a wall with the same mechanics of laying out a composition of a painting – proportions, scale, focal points. He celebrated Visual merchandising as an art form that shaped memorable experiences rather than simply placing products on the shelvesAll of those basic art principles were things that I was deeply familiar with. I had been in private art studios that my parents put me in at the age of nine because they recognized my passion for painting.I had gone to architecture school and spent the first eight years of my career doing traditional architectural projects – museums, libraries, houses, schools… that sort of thing and I taught the design same principles of scale proportion, balance, color, harmony and how you could use those things ultimately to tell a story to students in a College's interior design program in Montreal.Even in those early years of my career in the late 90s, I was learning that retail stores needed to be engaging the senses, and we should be thinking about creatively implementing textures, variations in lighting as well as sound and scent and not just focusing on what customers would experience with their eyes.I was learning that the senses were conduits for emotion and memory - that if you implemented design principles and thoughtful sensory-based visual merchandising elements correctly, that they would help to fill shopping baskets and engage customers in long-term relationships with a brand. These sorts of environments that engaged the senses would increase loyalty and invite return visits because, in the end, the store was simply a backdrop, a theater set for the full-bodied experience of a brand where main feature was the merchandise.If you thought of merchandise as elements in a composition and wrapped them in memorable display moments, it could make stores sing.This sort of thinking positioned retail as experience design rather than a purely commercial layout. The goods were a necessary part of the equation to be sure, but as I working through the foundational years of a retail design career, I saw that great retail places were more than a depository for stuff to be consumed, they had a palpable emotional resonance, they had soul. It was remarkable to me then, as a young retail architect, that we were designing with the purpose of selling…but it was more than that. Great stores fulfilled basic needs, desires and dreams. They were places for relationship building, with people as well as brands.They were story telling places that helped to message group belonging, wellbeing, connection and status. They were places where displays weren't random; they were meant to guide customers through a narrative journey. Every element was intentional, geared towards telling a brand story that invited the customer to participate in the story's unfolding.All of the effort that the designers, merchants and visual teams put into making the store wasn't just about “making it look good,” but making it work well. The design and visual strategy had to be grounded in retail metrics and customer behavior. In the end, our job as co-authors of this retail experience script was to move product.We would calculate merchandising units per square foot. We thought about how product would flow through a department from delivery to markdown and how adjacencies were critical – why groups of products were located next to what other products. We knew how many units had to sell in a department to make the financials work. There was business behind the beauty. Visual merchandising was a silent seller as author Judy Bell would say.In my early years, we didn't think too much about what happened to all the stuff after the store had aged or the season had changed. Graphics, fixtures and display items shifted along with the seasonal changes, holidays or special promotions. And a lot of it just got trashed. We began to think more deeply about the sustainability factor of our work and the impact of retail place making on our environment. It was no longer acceptable that the disposable economy would direct the design of store without any consideration for how it was eventually ending up in landfill sites. Lighting, manufacturing processes, materials, and lifecycles came under more scrutiny. These days, thinking about the sustainable nature of how we design and build stores is very much at the forefront of our thinking from the get-go.  Design firms are becoming B-Corporations whose mission is to be better stewards of our little blue dot. Along the way, teaching - both our clients as well as students in design programs - was something that never left the radar. What had been the precipitating moment - going from teacher to running a visual merchandising program at an international school in Singapore - would remain key to my professional experience. And this is where we can bring in my guest Joe Baer   into the story. Joe's story is so familiar because it is so similar. While we came to the retail world from different angles, our paths have many parallels and similarity in purpose – despite being from different orientations in the retail place-making paradigm.Joe is the Co-Founder, Creative Director, and CEO of ZenGenius, Inc., an experiential design firm specializing in visual merchandising and event design. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Joe brings over three decades of mastery in innovative leadership and creative direction to the design, visual merchandising and special events industries. He has extensive knowledge of the customer journey from working in stores for decades and is a seasoned public speaker who has traveled the world to inspire and educate others through the art of visual merchandising, design and special events.Additionally, Joe has contributed his retail know-how to multiple publications, authored The Art of Visual Merchandising: Short North, and created one of my favorite events in the retail industry the Iron Merchant Challenge, a popular interactive visual merchandising competition held annually at the International Retail Design Conference. Joe's passion for the world of design is evident in his role as President of the PAVE Global leadership board - a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation with the mission to support, connect, and inspire the next generation of professionals in the retail design, visual merchandising, and consumer environments industry. He also holds Advisory Board roles at Columbus College of Art and Design and VMSD Magazine. Joe leads with passion, purpose, pure joy and believes in celebration so I see our conversation as a celebration of Joe Baer's commitment to his retail industry involvement.ABOUT DAVID KEPRON:LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582bWebsites: https://www.davidkepron.com    (personal website)vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645  (Blog)Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.comTwitter: DavidKepronPersonal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkepron/NXTLVL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nxtlvl_experience_design/Bio:David Kepron the Retail Studio Principal for the architecture and design firm Little (https://www.littleonline.com). He is a multifaceted creative professional with a deep curiosity to understand ‘why', ‘what's now' and ‘what's next'. He brings together his background as an architect, artist, educator, author, podcast host and builder to the making of meaningful and empathically-focused, community-centric customer connections at brand experience places around the globe. David is a former VP - Global Design Strategies at Marriott International. While at Marriott, his focus was on the creation of compelling customer experiences within Marriott's “Premium Distinctive” segment which included: Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels and Gaylord hotels. In 2020 Kepron founded NXTLVL Experience Design, a strategy and design consultancy, where he combines his multidisciplinary approach to the creation of relevant brand engagements with his passion for social and cultural anthropology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies. As a frequently requested international speaker at corporate events and international conferences focusing on CX, digital transformation, retail, hospitality, emerging technology, David shares his expertise on subjects ranging from consumer behaviors and trends, brain science and buying behavior, store design and visual merchandising, hotel design and strategy as well as creativity and innovation. In his talks, David shares visionary ideas on how brand strategy, brain science and emerging technologies are changing guest expectations about relationships they want to have with brands and how companies can remain relevant in a digitally enabled marketplace. David currently shares his experience and insight on various industry boards including: VMSD magazine's Editorial Advisory Board, the Interactive Customer Experience Association, Sign Research Foundation's Program Committee as well as the Center For Retail Transformation at George Mason University.He has held teaching positions at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), the Department of Architecture & Interior Design of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, the International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Montreal and he served as the Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore.  In 2014 Kepron published his first book titled: “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World” and he is currently working on his second book to be published soon. I caught up with Bryan at the SHOP Marketplace event in Charlotte and chatted about his focus on shaping what comes next in digital signage and experiential design. The NXTLVL Experience Design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production is by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.

Akram Boutros — Founder and CEO of Nexus Bedside.Akram brings more than 30 years of experience as a healthcare leader, executive, and clinician. He previously served as CEO of The MetroHealth System in Cleveland from 2013 to 2022, where he led a team of more than 6,000 employees and 3,500 medical staff, overseeing a nearly billion-dollar revenue operation and the complete transformation of the MetroHealth campus and care model. Prior to that, Akram held senior leadership roles at multiple health systems across the country, and he began his career as a physician, earning his Doctor of Medicine from SUNY Downstate Health Sciences.Akram is also a serial entrepreneur. In 2025, he raised a few million dollars of seed capital to found Nexus Bedside—a company reimagining inpatient nursing staffing and working to fundamentally improve outcomes for patients, nurses, and health systems overall.In this conversation, Akram and I unpack his full journey and perspective on healthcare and entrepreneurship—from immigrating to the U.S. and becoming a physician, to his decade leading MetroHealth, to navigating a public and controversial departure from the public health system, and ultimately experiencing the healthcare system as a patient himself. We explore how these experiences shaped his decision to start and build Nexus Bedside, his philosophy on leadership, lessons learned as an entrepreneur, the massive opportunity for AI in healthcare, and what he believes the future of inpatient care and nursing should be.Please enjoy this awesome conversation with Akram.00:00:00 - Introduction00:03:40 - The Journey of Akram Boutros, MD00:08:45 - Formative Experiences and Lessons Learned00:13:57 - The Complexity of Running a Health System00:19:08 - Defining the Ideal Health System00:25:42 - The Birth of Nexus Bedside: A New Approach to Nursing00:30:54 - Optimizing Patient Care Through Technology00:35:40 - Business Model and Client Success00:42:10 - Entrepreneurial Lessons in Healthcare00:46:44 - Building Nexus in Cleveland00:52:12 - Reflections on the Journey-----LINKS:https://www.linkedin.com/in/akramboutrosmd/https://nexus-rn.com/-----SPONSORS:Roundstone InsuranceRoundstone Insurance is proud to sponsor Lay of The Land. Founder and CEO, Michael Schroeder, has committed full-year support for the podcast, recognizing its alignment with the company's passion for entrepreneurship, innovation, and community leadership.Headquartered in Rocky River, Ohio, Roundstone was founded in 2005 with a vision to deliver better healthcare outcomes at a more affordable cost. To bring that vision to life, the company pioneered the group medical captive model — a self-funded health insurance solution that provides small and mid-sized businesses with greater control and significant savings.Over the past two decades, Roundstone has grown rapidly, creating nearly 200 jobs in Northeast Ohio. The company works closely with employers and benefits advisors to navigate the complexities of commercial health insurance and build custom plans that prioritize employee well-being over shareholder returns. By focusing on aligned incentives and better health outcomes, Roundstone is helping businesses save thousands in Per Employee Per Year healthcare costs. Roundstone Insurance — Built for entrepreneurs. Backed by innovation. Committed to Cleveland.Cerity PartnersCerity Partners, a full-service investment and wealth management firm serving high-net-worth individuals, entrepreneurs, and business owners, is proud to sponsor Lay of The Land. The firm has local roots in Cleveland and across Ohio, and like this podcast, Cerity Partners advisors specialize in serving the interests of local entrepreneurs and business leaders. They understand how to manage the total picture of wealth, both personal and professional. Cerity Partners has a unified team of specialists who collaborate on almost every aspect of a client's financial life, including business ownership. The firm's national presence means it can offer the resources and specialized knowledge of the largest institutions with the independence and service of a neighbor. The Cerity Partners Cleveland team understands the complexity that comes with wealth, and they adhere to fiduciary standards. Discover the financial lay of your land. Learn more at ceritypartners.com/NPR or call 216-464-6266.-----Stay up to date by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here: https://layoftheland.ck.page/5f0c1e28faConnect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/Follow Lay of The Land on X @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Send us a textBall Watching hosts, Jake Koenig and Justin Graham, discuss the latest CITY news, including the incoming deals for Polvara and Mbacke, the overall state of the roster, and how preseason is progressing. In addition, we discuss St. Louis' participation in the LA '28 Olympics, share updates from around MLS, and answer some of your questions!Follow the show on X and/or Instagram (@BallWatchingSTL)! Find our guest interviews and all episodes in video form on YouTube by searching https://www.youtube.com/@ballwatchingSTL. Be sure to hit subscribe and turn notifications on!Hoffmann Brothers is the 2025 presenting sponsor of Ball Watching! Headquartered right here in St. Louis for over 40 years, Hoffmann Brothers is a full-service residential & commercial provider, providing Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing, Drains, Sewer, Water Heaters, Duct Cleaning, Electrical and Appliance Repair services. Visit them online at hoffmannbros.com!Make The Pitch Athletic Club & Tavern (thepitch-stl.com) your St. Louis CITY SC pregame and postgame destination for all your food and drink needs! Tell them your friends at Ball Watching sent you... Seoul Juice is the official drink of Ball Watching and made with three clean simple ingredients: water, organic lemon juice, and Korean pear juice. Get yours at Dierbergs, Sams Club, or online at seouljuice.com. Use code "BALLWATCHING" at checkout for 20% off all online orders!Shop in-store or online at Series Six (seriessixcompany.com) and receive a 15% discount on all orders storewide using code "BALLWATCHING" at checkout!

Today's show features: - David Steinberg, CEO of Foureyes - Brian Benstock, Vice President & General Manager Paragon Honda and Paragon Acura - Robert Steenbergh, CEO of AutoPayPlus This episode is brought to you by: Siro – Your customer conversations are gold—but most dealerships never extract the insights trapped inside them. Siro helps your team tap that data for smarter coaching, consistent process adherence, and measurable PVR growth. Come visit us at NADA Show - Booth #6368 (North Hall), or book a 10-minute meeting for a chance to win some exciting prizes: https://www.siro.ai/event/nada2026 AutoPayPlus – AutoPayPlus is the premium biweekly payments provider in the country. By accelerating the equity in the vehicle on the consumer's behalf, AutoPayPlus shortens the loan term and reduces negative equity - all while increasing PVR and making consumer payments more affordable. E-mail Sales@Autopayplus.com for more information. Foureyes – Foureyes helps dealers turn data into action. Starting with a clean, connected data foundation across dealership systems, Foureyes empowers dealerships to use that data to drive consistent execution throughout their business. The data stays dealer-owned, vendor-neutral, and works with any tools or partners. More than a CDP, Foureyes is a reset for how dealer data gets put to work. Headquartered in Oregon, Foureyes employees live in 20+ states to be closer to the communities where dealers are. Visit https://www.foureyes.io/ to learn more Check out Car Dealership Guy's stuff: CDG Circles ➤ https://cdgcircles.com/ CDG News ➤ https://news.dealershipguy.com/ CDG Jobs ➤ https://jobs.dealershipguy.com/ CDG Recruiting ➤ https://www.cdgrecruiting.com/ My Socials: X ➤ https://www.twitter.com/GuyDealership Instagram ➤ https://www.instagram.com/cardealershipguy/ TikTok ➤ https://www.tiktok.com/@guydealership LinkedIn ➤ https://www.linkedin.com/company/cardealershipguy/ Threads ➤ https://www.threads.net/@cardealershipguy Facebook ➤ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077402857683

Ready for a fresh take on career transitions in finance? Tune into this engaging conversation with Steve McNally, a seasoned CFO and former global chair, as he sits down with Adam Larson to share real-world insights on what it takes to navigate change and earn your seat at the table. From jumping between Fortune 500 giants and small businesses to adapting to new roles and industries, Steve brings practical advice and lively stories—think learning operations on the factory floor and being the right-hand to the CEO. Discover why being inquisitive, building strong relationships, and developing real business acumen are essential for success. Plus, hear how staying curious and learning continuously keeps leaders ahead in a fast-moving world. Whether you're thinking about your next move or just want to hear what it's really like behind the scenes, this episode packs in thoughtful tips and inspiration for every finance professional. Don't miss it! ___________________________________________________________BILL is a leading financial operations platform for startups to established brands. Headquartered in San Jose, California, we're a trusted partner of leading US financial institutions, accounting firms, and accounting software providers. We empower business owners, CFOs, controllers, and accountants to save time and take control of their payables, receivables, spend, and expense management. For more information, visit bill.com.

Send us a textFormer FIFA Assistant Referee George Gansner joins Ball Watching hosts, Jake and Justin, to break down the most significant upcoming changes to officiating, VAR usage, and offside interpretation as FIFA prepares for the 2026 World Cup across the United States, Mexico, and Canada.Follow the show on X and/or Instagram (@BallWatchingSTL)! Find our guest interviews and all episodes in video form on YouTube by searching https://www.youtube.com/@ballwatchingSTL. Be sure to hit subscribe and turn notifications on!Hoffmann Brothers is the 2025 presenting sponsor of Ball Watching! Headquartered right here in St. Louis for over 40 years, Hoffmann Brothers is a full-service residential & commercial provider, providing Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing, Drains, Sewer, Water Heaters, Duct Cleaning, Electrical and Appliance Repair services. Visit them online at hoffmannbros.com!Make The Pitch Athletic Club & Tavern (thepitch-stl.com) your St. Louis CITY SC pregame and postgame destination for all your food and drink needs! Tell them your friends at Ball Watching sent you... Seoul Juice is the official drink of Ball Watching and made with three clean simple ingredients: water, organic lemon juice, and Korean pear juice. Get yours at Dierbergs, Sams Club, or online at seouljuice.com. Use code "BALLWATCHING" at checkout for 20% off all online orders!Shop in-store or online at Series Six (seriessixcompany.com) and receive a 15% discount on all orders storewide using code "BALLWATCHING" at checkout!

Tyler Dunagin is the founder and CEO of Turnserv, a Northeast Ohio–based platform company behind brands like ApartmentPainters.com, ApartmentFlooring.com, and Liquid Liner — each rethinking a critical piece of the residential turnover and value-add process for property owners and operators.In our conversation, Tyler traces his journey from early curiosity in real estate and the unlocking of his entrepreneurial spirit, to building a multi-brand platform that now partners with some of the largest property managers in the country, which has earned Turnserv a place on the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing companies, as it continues to expand its product-market fit across Ohio and beyond in this highly fragmented industry.We explore why speed and convenience matter more than ever in multifamily — and how a chance encounter in an apartment bathroom led Tyler down an unexpected path: learning chemistry, working with labs, and ultimately inventing Liquid Liner, a patented surface-restoration coating that's 30 times thicker than traditional sprays and now used at scale to renew bathtubs, tile, cabinets, and countertops — without replacement or specialized tools.We also dig into Tyler's evolution as a leader — from owner-operator to coach; from pure growth to purpose, culture, capital, and long-term value creation; and his deep pride in building from Northeast Ohio.Tyler brings a wonderful mix of humility, ambition, and thoughtfulness to everything he's building, and I had a great time learning from him in this awesome conversation — so please enjoy my discussion with Tyler Dunagin.00:00 The Journey Begins: Curiosity and Rebellion05:22 From Sports to Entrepreneurship: A Life Change08:34 Curiosity in Real Estate: Finding a Path11:17 Building TurnServe: Addressing Market Needs14:19 Identifying Problems: The Birth of Liquid Liner16:55 Innovating Solutions: The Refinishing Journey20:06 Scaling Up: The Growth of TurnServe22:52 The Evolution of Products: From Painters to Liquid Liner25:39 The Chemistry of Success: Creating Liquid Liner28:50 Reflecting on Growth: The Vision for TurnServe31:23 Funding the Future: Capital and Growth Strategies34:02 Breaking Barriers: Entering the Market38:59 Navigating Growth Capital: Lessons Learned43:54 Evolving Perspectives on Success48:32 Leadership Transformation: From Selfish to Selfless51:53 Convenience as a Driving Force57:38 The Future of Multifamily: Automation and Innovation01:02:29 Community Pride: Building in Northeast Ohio-----LINKS:https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerdunagin/https://www.turnserv.com/ApartmentFlooring.comApartmentPainters.com-----SPONSOR:Roundstone InsuranceRoundstone Insurance is proud to sponsor Lay of The Land. Founder and CEO, Michael Schroeder, has committed full-year support for the podcast, recognizing its alignment with the company's passion for entrepreneurship, innovation, and community leadership.Headquartered in Rocky River, Ohio, Roundstone was founded in 2005 with a vision to deliver better healthcare outcomes at a more affordable cost. To bring that vision to life, the company pioneered the group medical captive model — a self-funded health insurance solution that provides small and mid-sized businesses with greater control and significant savings.Over the past two decades, Roundstone has grown rapidly, creating nearly 200 jobs in Northeast Ohio. The company works closely with employers and benefits advisors to navigate the complexities of commercial health insurance and build custom plans that prioritize employee well-being over shareholder returns. By focusing on aligned incentives and better health outcomes, Roundstone is helping businesses save thousands in Per Employee Per Year healthcare costs.Roundstone Insurance — Built for entrepreneurs. Backed by innovation. Committed to Cleveland.-----Stay up to date by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here.Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/Follow Lay of The Land on X @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Send us a textBall Watching hosts, Jake Koenig and Justin Graham, discuss the latest CITY news, including Klauss' sale to LA Galaxy, potential new incomings of Polvara and Santos, the state of the roster, and the beginning of preseason. In addition, we discuss the US Open Cup, USL's new top division league, and new changes to MLS transfer windows and roster regulations!Follow the show on X and/or Instagram (@BallWatchingSTL)! Find our guest interviews and all episodes in video form on YouTube by searching https://www.youtube.com/@ballwatchingSTL. Be sure to hit subscribe and turn notifications on!Hoffmann Brothers is the 2025 presenting sponsor of Ball Watching! Headquartered right here in St. Louis for over 40 years, Hoffmann Brothers is a full-service residential & commercial provider, providing Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing, Drains, Sewer, Water Heaters, Duct Cleaning, Electrical and Appliance Repair services. Visit them online at hoffmannbros.com!Make The Pitch Athletic Club & Tavern (thepitch-stl.com) your St. Louis CITY SC pregame and postgame destination for all your food and drink needs! Tell them your friends at Ball Watching sent you... Seoul Juice is the official drink of Ball Watching and made with three clean simple ingredients: water, organic lemon juice, and Korean pear juice. Get yours at Dierbergs, Sams Club, or online at seouljuice.com. Use code "BALLWATCHING" at checkout for 20% off all online orders!Shop in-store or online at Series Six (seriessixcompany.com) and receive a 15% discount on all orders storewide using code "BALLWATCHING" at checkout!

Get ready for an insightful and practical conversation on AI in exam prep with special guest Brian Hock, renowned exam prep expert and founder of Hock International. In this episode of Count Me In, Brian sits down with host Adam Larson to talk candidly about how artificial intelligence is shaking up the study process for professional certifications like the CMA and CSCA. Bringing both his straightforward wisdom and a bit of humor, Brian breaks down the dos and don'ts of using AI tools for exam prep. He shares real-world examples of how students can get sidetracked by the endless stream of AI-generated questions and why understanding foundational concepts still matters more than ever. The conversation covers common mistakes, creative ways to use AI effectively, and how human experience and quality materials really make the difference. Whether you're prepping for an upcoming exam or just curious how technology is changing education, this episode is packed with hands-on advice, relatable stories, and clever insights. Tune in for a down-to-earth chat that will help you study smarter, not just harder! ___________________________________________________________BILL is a leading financial operations platform for startups to established brands. Headquartered in San Jose, California, we're a trusted partner of leading US financial institutions, accounting firms, and accounting software providers. We empower business owners, CFOs, controllers, and accountants to save time and take control of their payables, receivables, spend, and expense management. For more information, visit bill.com.

Michael and Tory Waxman — the founders of Sundays for Dogs, the Cleveland-based company designed to make dog parents' lives easy.What began with their own dog, Mabel, and a simple but powerful question — why does feeding dogs well have to be so difficult? — has grown into one of the most exciting consumer companies to emerge from Ohio. Led by loving dog parents Dr. Tory Waxman, a veterinarian, and Michael Waxman, a serial entrepreneur, Sundays pioneered human-grade, air-dried, zero-synthetics dog food designed to be healthier than kibble and easier than refrigerated alternatives.Since our last recorded conversation in 2023 (Lay of The Land Episode #123), Sundays has scaled dramatically. Having raised more than $55 million in capital and built out a Cleveland-based R&D Test Kitchen — where our conversation today took place — Sundays has grown from a direct-to-consumer upstart into a nationally recognized brand preparing for omni-channel distribution, creating a product that dogs love while positioning themselves at the forefront of the booming pet food market and the emerging ambient fresh movement.In our conversation, Michael and Tory share how they've navigated multiple chapters of scaling — including customer acquisition and brand evolution, balancing supply and demand, investing deeply in product innovation, and building a senior leadership team — while staying grounded in the mission that inspired Sundays from the start: making it easier to be an awesome dog parent. They also discuss what excites them most about the future and what comes next for Sundays as the company continues to grow.00:00:00 - "The World's Best Dog Food is Made in Cleveland"00:00:25 - Introduction: Sundays for Dogs00:05:20 - Building an In-House R&D Test Kitchen in Cleveland00:10:06 - Most Dogs Still Eat Kibble (And Why That's Changing)00:15:09 - Marketing Evolution: How Does Sundays for Dogs Stand Out?00:20:18 - New Recipe Launch Preview (From the Test Kitchen!)00:21:33 - Ohio: The Surprising Dog Food Capital of America00:25:36 - Supply Chain Stories & Lessons Learned00:30:39 - When Demand Outpaces Supply: A Good Problem?00:32:59 - Beyond DTC: Omnichannel Distribution Strategy00:38:21 - How AI Will Transform How People Buy Dog Food00:41:34 - Dogs as Family: Where Is Society Headed?00:46:44 - Building Company Culture at Sundays00:52:13 - The Vision: Making Sundays a Household Name00:55:18 - Where to Find Sundays for Dogs-----LINKS:https://sundaysfordogs.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelewaxmanhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/tory-waxman-87781b176/https://www.layoftheland.fm/123-tory-michael-waxman-sundays/-----SPONSOR:Roundstone InsuranceRoundstone Insurance is proud to sponsor Lay of The Land. Founder and CEO, Michael Schroeder, has committed full-year support for the podcast, recognizing its alignment with the company's passion for entrepreneurship, innovation, and community leadership.Headquartered in Rocky River, Ohio, Roundstone was founded in 2005 with a vision to deliver better healthcare outcomes at a more affordable cost. To bring that vision to life, the company pioneered the group medical captive model — a self-funded health insurance solution that provides small and mid-sized businesses with greater control and significant savings.Over the past two decades, Roundstone has grown rapidly, creating nearly 200 jobs in Northeast Ohio. The company works closely with employers and benefits advisors to navigate the complexities of commercial health insurance and build custom plans that prioritize employee well-being over shareholder returns. By focusing on aligned incentives and better health outcomes, Roundstone is helping businesses save thousands in Per Employee Per Year healthcare costs.Roundstone Insurance — Built for entrepreneurs. Backed by innovation. Committed to Cleveland.-----Stay up to date by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here.Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/Follow Lay of The Land on X @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

This week, we're excited to shine a spotlight on a company that's become a major force in the berry world — North Bay Produce. Known for their year-round supply of top-quality fruit and a global network of passionate growers, North Bay has been pushing the envelope in flavor, size, and eating experience.North Bay Produce is a cooperative of more than 30 grower-owners from North, Central, and South America, producing fresh fruits and vegetables year-round – from asparagus to apples, berries, and snow & sugar snap peas. Headquartered in Traverse City, the northwest corner of Michigan's lower peninsula, the international company markets and distributes its products worldwide.

Send us a textBall Watching hosts, Jake Koenig and Justin Graham, discuss the latest CITY news, including Daniel Edelman's new contract, Wallem's confirmed return, Mbacke Fall's link to the club, the beginning of preseason matches, and our full preseason schedule! In addition, we discuss Carolyn Kindle's comments made during the recent 'The CITY Voice' podcast episode, and what Sporting KC's majority ownership sale says about the club and the league overall.Follow the show on X and/or Instagram (@BallWatchingSTL)! Find our guest interviews and all episodes in video form on YouTube by searching https://www.youtube.com/@ballwatchingSTL. Be sure to hit subscribe and turn notifications on!Hoffmann Brothers is the 2025 presenting sponsor of Ball Watching! Headquartered right here in St. Louis for over 40 years, Hoffmann Brothers is a full-service residential & commercial provider, providing Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing, Drains, Sewer, Water Heaters, Duct Cleaning, Electrical and Appliance Repair services. Visit them online at hoffmannbros.com!Make The Pitch Athletic Club & Tavern (thepitch-stl.com) your St. Louis CITY SC pregame and postgame destination for all your food and drink needs! Tell them your friends at Ball Watching sent you... Seoul Juice is the official drink of Ball Watching and made with three clean simple ingredients: water, organic lemon juice, and Korean pear juice. Get yours at Dierbergs, Sams Club, or online at seouljuice.com. Use code "BALLWATCHING" at checkout for 20% off all online orders!Shop in-store or online at Series Six (seriessixcompany.com) and receive a 15% discount on all orders storewide using code "BALLWATCHING" at checkout!

Legal scholar Elizabeth Chamblee Burch focuses on three women with mesh implants who were targeted, manipulated, and violated—at their own expense. Through the searing stories of Sharon Gore, Barbara Shepard, and Jerri Plummer—middle-aged women separated by geography, education, and socioeconomic factors—Burch sheds light on not only the injustices of mass torts, which she describes as “personal-injury litigation on steroids,” but also the indignities endemic in women's healthcare.  Drawing on more than 150 interviews conducted over two years, backed by 209,000 pages of documentation, THE PAIN BROKERS is at once a critical work of public service journalism and a real-life thriller. As Burch unfolds each level of the scheme, readers meet: Vincent Chhabra, a Versace-clad entrepreneur and architect of Alpha Law, LLC—which, despite its name and partnerships with some actual lawyers, was a call center. Headquartered at 1000 Corporate Drive in south Florida, Alpha Law employed nearly two hundred operators in headsets who capitalized on patients' private medical records, obtained through a data breach in India, to make unsolicited calls to vulnerable women with mesh implants, including Sharon, Barbara, and Jerri.      Blake Barber, a hulking ex-paralegal with a flamingo pink goatee who turned women's medical fears into cash for third-party funders by orchestrating a ruthless “concierge service” that flew terrified patients to Florida chop shops to have their mesh removed. Dr. Christopher Walker, a Jamaican-born urogynecologist known by his Instagram handle @Dr.Downtown who, after losing his savings in a Ponzi scheme, went from inserting mesh to extracting it at breakneck speed for seven times his normal fee—a feat made possible by refusing to accept women's insurance and forcing them to sign liens against their future settlement proceeds.  J.R. Baxter, a newly minted small-town Arkansas lawyer and passionate crusader for justice who, against daunting odds, represented Sharon, Barbara, and Jerri, as well as 180 other women.And finally, J.R. 's unlikely ally, Barbara Binis, a seasoned Philadelphia defense attorney hired to do financial damage control for a mesh manufacturer who devoted nearly four years to uncovering the mass-tort scheme.           Centered on three women who went through the mesh mill, THE PAIN BROKERS exposes the profit-hungry scammers and unscrupulous doctors whom they trusted.           Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-like-it-s-live--4113802/support.

On this episode of Count Me In, Anne DeTraglia, Chief Auditor at Sabre Corporation, sits down with Adam Larson for an engaging and honest conversation about leadership, career growth, and the art of feedback. Anne opens up about her unique career path, how she found her way into auditing, and what it really means to be a “united leader.” She candidly shares the challenges and lessons learned as she moved up the ranks, highlighting the importance of collaboration and building strong teams at every level. You'll hear practical stories and advice, from embracing feedback (even when it's hard to hear) to finding the balance between authority and vulnerability. Anne discusses real leadership moments, like trusting her managers, letting go of the need to know everything, and even using AI to get creative with coaching. Whether you're leading a team, starting your career, or just want to get better at giving and receiving feedback, this episode is full of relatable, actionable insights and a good dose of humor. Tune in for a refreshing take on what it means to grow and succeed as a leader. BILL is a leading financial operations platform for startups to established brands. Headquartered in San Jose, California, we're a trusted partner of leading US financial institutions, accounting firms, and accounting software providers. We empower business owners, CFOs, controllers, and accountants to save time and take control of their payables, receivables, spend, and expense management. For more information, visit bill.com.

Today's episode was recorded live at Ohio VC Fest, where I hosted a panel on AI, joined by an incredible group of investors, including:Peggy Roberts, Managing Partner at The Riverside Company;Candice Matthews Brackeen, Founding Partner at Lightship Capital;Hardik Desai, Managing Partner at JumpStart Ventures;Jamie Weston, Managing Director at Spring Mountain Capital.Together, we walk through where real value is being created with AI, how founders can best leverage it in their business and in raising capital, and explore the vast opportunities and downstream implications of AI looking forward!00:00:00 Introduction to AI Investment Perspectives00:04:27 Understanding the AI Hype Cycle00:06:44 AI in Startups vs. Established Companies00:09:21 Defensibility and Team Dynamics in AI Investments00:12:25 AI's Impact on Business Operations00:15:15 Fundraising Strategies in the AI Landscape00:18:12 Evaluating AI Companies: Metrics and Expectations00:21:08 The Role of Education and Training in AI Adoption00:23:45 Future Predictions for AI in Various Industries00:26:27 Staying abreast AI's Evolution00:43:34 Closing Thoughts on AI-----LINKS:https://ohiovcfest.com/https://www.riversidecompany.com/https://www.lightship.capital/https://jumpstart.vc/https://www.springmountaincapital.com/https://jumpstartinc.org/https://www.linkedin.com/in/peggyrhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/candicebrackeen/https://www.linkedin.com/in/hardikadesai/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-weston-75136a2/-----SPONSOR:Roundstone InsuranceRoundstone Insurance is proud to sponsor Lay of The Land. Founder and CEO, Michael Schroeder, has committed full-year support for the podcast, recognizing its alignment with the company's passion for entrepreneurship, innovation, and community leadership.Headquartered in Rocky River, Ohio, Roundstone was founded in 2005 with a vision to deliver better healthcare outcomes at a more affordable cost. To bring that vision to life, the company pioneered the group medical captive model — a self-funded health insurance solution that provides small and mid-sized businesses with greater control and significant savings.Over the past two decades, Roundstone has grown rapidly, creating nearly 200 jobs in Northeast Ohio. The company works closely with employers and benefits advisors to navigate the complexities of commercial health insurance and build custom plans that prioritize employee well-being over shareholder returns. By focusing on aligned incentives and better health outcomes, Roundstone is helping businesses save thousands in Per Employee Per Year healthcare costs.Roundstone Insurance — Built for entrepreneurs. Backed by innovation. Committed to Cleveland.-----Stay up to date by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here.Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/Follow Lay of The Land on X @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Send us a textBall Watching hosts, Jake Koenig and Justin Graham, discuss the latest CITY news, including Yoann Damet's new technical staff, Daniel Edelman's signing, Wallem's supposed return, and our full preseason schedule! In addition, we break down the Josh Sargent transfer saga!Follow the show on X and/or Instagram (@BallWatchingSTL)! Find our guest interviews and all episodes in video form on YouTube by searching https://www.youtube.com/@ballwatchingSTL. Be sure to hit subscribe and turn notifications on!Hoffmann Brothers is the 2025 presenting sponsor of Ball Watching! Headquartered right here in St. Louis for over 40 years, Hoffmann Brothers is a full-service residential & commercial provider, providing Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing, Drains, Sewer, Water Heaters, Duct Cleaning, Electrical and Appliance Repair services. Visit them online at hoffmannbros.com!Make The Pitch Athletic Club & Tavern (thepitch-stl.com) your St. Louis CITY SC pregame and postgame destination for all your food and drink needs! Tell them your friends at Ball Watching sent you... Seoul Juice is the official drink of Ball Watching and made with three clean simple ingredients: water, organic lemon juice, and Korean pear juice. Get yours at Dierbergs, Sams Club, or online at seouljuice.com. Use code "BALLWATCHING" at checkout for 20% off all online orders!Shop in-store or online at Series Six (seriessixcompany.com) and receive a 15% discount on all orders storewide using code "BALLWATCHING" at checkout!

YouthLine is a peer-to-peer help, support and crisis line serving youth ages 10-24 across the United States since 2000. Headquartered in Oregon, YouthLine serves youth all across the nation. Pan Hamsa is the Outreach Coordinator for southern Oregon.

In this eye-opening episode of Count Me In, host Adam Larson sits down with fraud expert Rich Brody for a candid conversation about white collar and red collar crimes—no jargon, just real talk. Rich breaks down what actually counts as white collar crime, why society often overlooks its victims, and what happens when these crimes turn violent. From legendary cases like Madoff and Murdoch to the surprising ways technology has changed the game, this episode covers the impact of fraud in today's world. Plus, Rich shares practical tips for protecting yourself and your organization. If you're curious about the under-the-radar crimes that really shake up people's lives, this episode is a must-listen. BILL is a leading financial operations platform for startups to established brands. Headquartered in San Jose, California, we're a trusted partner of leading US financial institutions, accounting firms, and accounting software providers. We empower business owners, CFOs, controllers, and accountants to save time and take control of their payables, receivables, spend, and expense management. For more information, visit bill.com.

Send us a textBall Watching hosts, Jake Koenig and Justin Graham, reconvene to discuss CITY's "new dawn" memo, soccer's growth in America, the biggest MLS offseason moves thus far, looming changes to offsides, and the rebuild that both STL and SKC find themselves in the middle of.Follow the show on X and/or Instagram (@BallWatchingSTL)! Find our guest interviews and all episodes in video form on YouTube by searching https://www.youtube.com/@ballwatchingSTL. Be sure to hit subscribe and turn notifications on!Hoffmann Brothers is the 2025 presenting sponsor of Ball Watching! Headquartered right here in St. Louis for over 40 years, Hoffmann Brothers is a full-service residential & commercial provider, providing Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing, Drains, Sewer, Water Heaters, Duct Cleaning, Electrical and Appliance Repair services. Visit them online at hoffmannbros.com!Make The Pitch Athletic Club & Tavern (thepitch-stl.com) your St. Louis CITY SC pregame and postgame destination for all your food and drink needs! Tell them your friends at Ball Watching sent you... Seoul Juice is the official drink of Ball Watching and made with three clean simple ingredients: water, organic lemon juice, and Korean pear juice. Get yours at Dierbergs, Sams Club, or online at seouljuice.com. Use code "BALLWATCHING" at checkout for 20% off all online orders!Shop in-store or online at Series Six (seriessixcompany.com) and receive a 15% discount on all orders storewide using code "BALLWATCHING" at checkout!

Send us a textJohn O'Leary, motivational speaker, best-selling author, host of "Live Inspired" podcast, and subject for the recent film "Soul on Fire", joins 'Hope for the Holidays' for a special guest presentation! Follow the show on X and/or Instagram (@BallWatchingSTL)! Find our guest interviews and all episodes in video form on YouTube by searching https://www.youtube.com/@ballwatchingSTL. Be sure to hit subscribe and turn notifications on!Hoffmann Brothers is the 2025 presenting sponsor of Ball Watching! Headquartered right here in St. Louis for over 40 years, Hoffmann Brothers is a full-service residential & commercial provider, providing Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing, Drains, Sewer, Water Heaters, Duct Cleaning, Electrical and Appliance Repair services. Visit them online at hoffmannbros.com!Make The Pitch Athletic Club & Tavern (thepitch-stl.com) your St. Louis CITY SC pregame and postgame destination for all your food and drink needs! Tell them your friends at Ball Watching sent you... Seoul Juice is the official drink of Ball Watching and made with three clean simple ingredients: water, organic lemon juice, and Korean pear juice. Get yours at Dierbergs, Sams Club, or online at seouljuice.com. Use code "BALLWATCHING" at checkout for 20% off all online orders!Shop in-store or online at Series Six (seriessixcompany.com) and receive a 15% discount on all orders storewide using code "BALLWATCHING" at checkout!

A new week means new questions! Hope you have fun with these!The Oscars are presented by which professional honorary organization Headquartered in Beverly Hills, California?The French company Van Cleef & Arpels is a business mainly specializing in what?A quay is a structure primarily built on or along what kind of geographical feature?The first successful tornado warning in history occurred in 1948 at Tinker Air Field Air Force Base near what city?Till We Have Faces, The Great Divorce, and The Screwtape Letters are lesser-known novels by which author?In video and tabletop games, what does "NPC" stand for?Biellmann Spin, Lutz, and Crossover are all terms used in which sport?In a computer or video gaming system, what does the acronym GPU stand for?H2O2 is the chemical structure for what common product?In Greek myth, which monster was beheaded by the hero Perseus?Before decimalisation in the UK, how many pence made a shilling?The German state that existed from 1701 to 1918 was known as the Kingdom of what?Chad Kroeger and his Canadian chums enjoy this slightly sweet dark rye bread from Germany.In military tech, falconets, culverins, and carronades were all types of what?On The Office, what are the awards called that Michael hands out to his employees?MusicHot Swing, Fast Talkin, Bass Walker, Dances and Dames, Ambush by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Don't forget to follow us on social media:Patreon – patreon.com/quizbang – Please consider supporting us on Patreon. Check out our fun extras for patrons and help us keep this podcast going. We appreciate any level of support!Website – quizbangpod.com Check out our website, it will have all the links for social media that you need and while you're there, why not go to the contact us page and submit a question!Facebook – @quizbangpodcast – we post episode links and silly lego pictures to go with our trivia questions. Enjoy the silly picture and give your best guess, we will respond to your answer the next day to give everyone a chance to guess.Instagram – Quiz Quiz Bang Bang (quizquizbangbang), we post silly lego pictures to go with our trivia questions. Enjoy the silly picture and give your best guess, we will respond to your answer the next day to give everyone a chance to guess.Twitter – @quizbangpod We want to start a fun community for our fellow trivia lovers. If you hear/think of a fun or challenging trivia question, post it to our twitter feed and we will repost it so everyone can take a stab it. Come for the trivia – stay for the trivia.Ko-Fi – ko-fi.com/quizbangpod – Keep that sweet caffeine running through our body with a Ko-Fi, power us through a late night of fact checking and editing!

Craig Newmark is the founder of Craigslist and someone whose work has shaped the modern internet as we know it.Long before Craigslist became one of the most enduring, important, and frequented platforms on the web, long before the internet even connected all of us, Craig was a computer science student here in Cleveland at Case Western Reserve University — tinkering with early programming languages, studying neural networks and AI, and exploring the frontier of software engineering.The rest is history — an amazing history which we'll cover in our conversation today, how Craig became the accidental entrepreneur behind one of the most legendary companies of our time, and a driving force of the internet itself. Our conversation spans his path to Silicon Valley, the creation and stewardship of Craigslist, the moral compass that has guided his decision making along the way, his growth as an entrepreneur and leader, the implications and consequences of building one of the largest platforms of all time, and the work he's now doing to help meliorate the internet and country through his philanthropic initiatives with veterans, journalism, cybersecurity, and lots more.This was a truly special conversation, and I'm grateful to share it with you today — please enjoy this awesome discussion with Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist.00:00:00 Craig Newmark on Building Craigslist and the Early Internet00:03:52 From Case Western to Craigslist: Craig Newmark's Origin Story00:07:21 Why Craigslist Was an Accidental Startup, Not a Planned Company00:12:18 How Craigslist Helped Democratize the Internet for Everyday People00:15:28 The Birth of Craigslist: From Email List to Iconic Website00:18:31 Monetizing Craigslist Without Selling Out Users or Trust00:20:23 Turning Down Billions: Craig Newmark's Moral Compass at Craigslist00:23:39 Why Craigslist's Simple Design Beat Venture-Backed Competitors00:25:50 How Craigslist Survived While Startups Tried to Unbundle It00:30:22 What Craigslist Taught Craig Newmark About Human Behavior00:31:58 Balancing Crime Prevention and Civil Liberties on Craigslist00:36:00 Why Craigslist Became One of the Most Trusted Platforms Online00:41:12 The Craigslist Design Philosophy: Simple, Fast, and Human00:44:01 From Craigslist to Philanthropy: Craig Newmark's Next Chapter00:55:58 Craig Newmark's Advice for Founders-----LINKS:https://www.craigslist.org/https://craignewmarkphilanthropies.org/https://www.linkedin.com/in/craignewmark/https://pausetake9.org/-----SPONSOR:Roundstone InsuranceRoundstone Insurance is proud to sponsor Lay of The Land. Founder and CEO, Michael Schroeder, has committed full-year support for the podcast, recognizing its alignment with the company's passion for entrepreneurship, innovation, and community leadership.Headquartered in Rocky River, Ohio, Roundstone was founded in 2005 with a vision to deliver better healthcare outcomes at a more affordable cost. To bring that vision to life, the company pioneered the group medical captive model — a self-funded health insurance solution that provides small and mid-sized businesses with greater control and significant savings.Over the past two decades, Roundstone has grown rapidly, creating nearly 200 jobs in Northeast Ohio. The company works closely with employers and benefits advisors to navigate the complexities of commercial health insurance and build custom plans that prioritize employee well-being over shareholder returns. By focusing on aligned incentives and better health outcomes, Roundstone is helping businesses save thousands in Per Employee Per Year healthcare costs.Roundstone Insurance — Built for entrepreneurs. Backed by innovation. Committed to Cleveland.-----Stay up to date by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here.Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/Follow Lay of The Land on X @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

In "Fleet Profitability Unleashed: The Optimal Dynamics Advantage", Joe Lynch and Zach Schuchart, Senior Vice President, Head of Sales at Optimal Dynamics, discuss how decades of academic research and advanced decision intelligence are being used to automate complex logistics and maximize carrier profitability. Zach Schuchart Zach Schuchart is the Senior Vice President, Head of Sales at Optimal Dynamics. He has over 20 years of experience in the North American and European transportation industries, including roles at UPS, CHAINalytics, and XPO, he brings deep expertise and leadership to the Optimal Dynamics team. As Head of Sales, he oversees a talented group of Account Executives and Solutions Engineers, guiding prospective customers through the evaluation of advanced optimization solutions that drive operational success. About Optimal Dynamics  Optimal Dynamics provides the decision intelligence layer that powers logistics transformation. Born out of 40 years of research at Princeton University, Optimal Dynamics leverages proprietary artificial intelligence technology to automate, optimize, and radically improve decision-making across trucking and transportation operations. Headquartered in New York City, Optimal Dynamics is backed by marquee investors including Koch Disruptive Technologies, Bessemer Venture Partners, The Westly Group, and Activate Capital. Learn more at www.optimaldynamics.com. Key Takeaways: Fleet Profitability Unleashed: The Optimal Dynamics Advantage In "Fleet Profitability Unleashed: The Optimal Dynamics Advantage", Joe Lynch and Zach Schuchart, Senior Vice President, Head of Sales at Optimal Dynamics, discuss how decades of academic research and advanced decision intelligence are being used to automate complex logistics and maximize carrier profitability. From Research to Reality: The Princeton Pedigree. Optimal Dynamics isn't just another tech startup; it is built on 40 years of academic research from Princeton University. This provides a level of scientific rigor and proprietary AI that differentiates their solutions from standard off-the-shelf logistics software. The Power of "Decision Intelligence". While many platforms focus on data visibility (showing you what is happening), Zach highlights the shift toward Decision Intelligence. This layer automates and optimizes the choice itself, helping carriers move from reactive management to proactive, data-driven execution. Bridging the Gap Between Planning and Execution. Leveraging Zach's 20+ years of experience at giants like UPS and XPO, the episode explores how traditional planning often fails when it hits the "real world." Optimal Dynamics focuses on creating dynamic plans that account for the inherent volatility in trucking operations. Leveraging High-Dimensional Artificial Intelligence. The core technology focuses on solving "high-dimensional" problems. Instead of looking at simple variables, the platform uses AI to process thousands of data points simultaneously—such as driver hours, fuel costs, and lane profitability—to find the "Optimal" solution. Automating the Complexities of Trucking. Automation isn't just about replacing manual tasks; it's about augmenting human capability. Zach discusses how their solutions allow sales and operations teams to evaluate complex scenarios in minutes rather than days, drastically reducing the "evaluation-to-action" cycle. Maximizing Profitability in Volatile Markets. In an industry with razor-thin margins, "Optimal Dynamics" means finding the most profitable way to move freight despite fluctuating market conditions. The platform helps fleets identify which loads to accept and how to route them to ensure maximum fleet utilization. Strategic Backing for Long-Term Transformation. The company's growth is fueled by marquee investors like Bessemer Venture Partners and Koch Disruptive Technologies. This level of backing underscores the industry's belief that Optimal Dynamics is a foundational player in the future of global logistics infrastructure. Learn More About Fleet Profitability Unleashed: The Optimal Dynamics Advantage Zach Schuchart Optimal Dynamics | Linkedin Optimal Dynamics Optimizing for the Future: D.M. Bowman Embraces Decision Automation Shifting From Manual Grind to Automated Growth Driving Strategic Growth and Innovation with Decision Automation How Smarter Planning Leads to Stronger Performance Rapid Transformation and Record-Breaking Results at Grand Island Express During Freight Recession, BCB Transport Sees 19.6% Increase in Revenue Per Truck After Embracing Artificial Decision Intelligence The Logistics of Logistics Podcast If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a positive review, subscribe, and share it with your friends and colleagues. The Logistics of Logistics Podcast: Google, Apple, Castbox, Spotify, Stitcher, PlayerFM, Tunein, Podbean, Owltail, Libsyn, Overcast Check out The Logistics of Logistics on Youtube

On this episode, Pete and Julie share a special announcement and proudly unveil a new marquee sponsorship initiative to fuel the podcast's next wave of growth! Join HR & Payroll 2.0 in welcoming the cohort of brands that will power the show's educational content ad-free in 2026:  G-P (Globalization Partners) is the recognized leader in global employment, ranked No. 1 in every industry analyst report. G-P's global employment platform delivers everything companies of all sizes need to manage the full employee lifecycle with its trusted Global HR Agent, G-P Gia™, and AI-powered Employer of Record (EOR) and Contractor products. G-P supports teams in 180+ countries with more than a decade of global employment experience, the largest team of in-country HR, legal, and compliance experts, and its unmatched proprietary knowledge base. OneSource Virtual (OSV) delivers in-tenant technology and expert services to automate the administrative, transactional tasks of payroll, taxes, accounts payable, benefits, and earned wage access within Workday while ensuring compliance. OSV has worked exclusively with Workday customers for the past 15 years, with a services team that averages 10 years of Workday experience in addition to 20 years of industry experience. With over 1,400 customers, 95 percent retention, and $200 billion in treasury movement annually, OSV helps organizations take their teams from transactional to transformational.  With 55+ apps in nearly every major business category, Zoho Corporation is one of the world's most prolific technology companies. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with international headquarters in Chennai, India, Zoho is privately held and profitable with more than 18,000 employees.   Connect with the show: LinkedIn:  http://linkedin.com/company/hr-payroll-2-0 X: @HRPayroll2_0  X: @PeteTiliakos  X: @JulieFer_HR BlueSky: @hrpayroll2o.bsky.social YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HRPAYROLL2_0  WRKDefined Podcast Network: https://wrkdefined.com/podcast/hr-payroll-20  Thank you to our marquee sponsors for powering the HR & Payroll 2.0 podcast forward!  G-P ‘Globalization Partners': https://www.globalization-partners.com/ OneSource Virtual: https://hubs.ly/Q03YFNR90 Zoho: https://www.zoho.com/press.html

Kick off 2026 the right way with the first Count Me In episode of the year! Adam Larson sits down with Tim Naddy, VP of Finance for the famous Savannah Bananas, professor, and passionate accounting advocate, for a lively conversation that blends humor, real talk, and fresh perspective on what it means to build a career in accounting. From stories about melting copy machines during internships to reimagining how the next generation of accountants should be prepared, Tim shares why traditional education isn't enough for today's workforce, breaks down the challenges of first-year shock, and highlights the importance of mentorship and hands-on experience. Hear how Tim is bringing creativity, energy, and storytelling into accounting education and why these skills are more essential than ever. Whether you're a seasoned pro, new to the field, or just want a peek into what it takes to keep the wild Savannah Bananas thriving, this episode is the perfect way to set an inspired tone for the new year. Dive into a conversation that will motivate, inform, and maybe even make you laugh as you start 2026! BILL is a leading financial operations platform for startups to established brands. Headquartered in San Jose, California, we're a trusted partner of leading US financial institutions, accounting firms, and accounting software providers. We empower business owners, CFOs, controllers, and accountants to save time and take control of their payables, receivables, spend, and expense management. For more information, visit bill.com.

As saltwater anglers, we've all dealt with the ugly reality of bottom paint. You spend six figures on a beautiful boat, only to have someone slap what looks like an "ugly wig" on the hull. Then you're paying divers constantly to scrape it clean, dealing with toxic chemicals leaching into our fishing waters, and repeating this expensive, environmentally damaging cycle every single year. But what if I told you there's a game-changing technology that could eliminate bottom paint forever while actually protecting our marine environment? That's exactly what Dan Dillon from Aquaphobix has developed, and it's unlike anything I've seen in 30+ years of saltwater fishing. All of my other socials can be found here : https://linktr.ee/TomRowlandPodcast The Tom Rowland Podcast is presented by Star brite! Clean and protect with Star brite, a leading manufacturer of appearance, maintenance, and performance chemicals and accessories, serving the marine, RV, automotive, powersports, hardware, and home care industries for over 50 years. Headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, FL, and with its manufacturing plant in Montgomery, AL, the company produces "Made In The USA" products, including its flagship ethanol fuel treatment, Star Tron Enzyme Fuel Treatment. https://bit.ly/48tNW0y

COMMERCE AND THE ORIGINS OF THE FELLOWSHIP Colleague Charles Spicer. The Anglo-German Fellowship was headquartered at the Metropole Hotel in London in 1935, immediately attracting major business interests, including Unilever, which had vast assets in Germany and sought to avoid war to protect its commercial empire. While business leaders were initially anxious about the brutality of the Nazi regime, the stabilization following the Night of the Long Knives led optimists to believe the regime could be civilized. Ribbentrop took credit in Berlin for the Fellowship's success, which gave members extraordinary access to Hitler. The organization also attracted Germanindustrialists like Robert Bosch, who despised the Nazis but joined the Berlin counterpart, the Deutsch-Englische Gesellschaft, hoping to maintain international ties and prevent conflict. NUMBER 2 1945-46. TWO GERMAN ADMIRALS ACCUSED  N THE NUREMBERG TRISL

Send us a textBall Watching hosts, Jake Koenig and Justin Graham, recap SLU Men's Soccer's College Cup return, break down CITY's head coaching hire, dissect their three MLS Super Draft picks, discuss Bürki's place in MLS,  and a whole lot more!Follow the show on X and/or Instagram (@BallWatchingSTL)! Find our guest interviews and all episodes in video form on YouTube by searching https://www.youtube.com/@ballwatchingSTL. Be sure to hit subscribe and turn notifications on!Hoffmann Brothers is the 2025 presenting sponsor of Ball Watching! Headquartered right here in St. Louis for over 40 years, Hoffmann Brothers is a full-service residential & commercial provider, providing Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing, Drains, Sewer, Water Heaters, Duct Cleaning, Electrical and Appliance Repair services. Visit them online at hoffmannbros.com!Make The Pitch Athletic Club & Tavern (thepitch-stl.com) your St. Louis CITY SC pregame and postgame destination for all your food and drink needs! Tell them your friends at Ball Watching sent you... Seoul Juice is the official drink of Ball Watching and made with three clean simple ingredients: water, organic lemon juice, and Korean pear juice. Get yours at Dierbergs, Sams Club, or online at seouljuice.com. Use code "BALLWATCHING" at checkout for 20% off all online orders!Shop in-store or online at Series Six (seriessixcompany.com) and receive a 15% discount on all orders storewide using code "BALLWATCHING" at checkout!

Brad DeHays — Founder and CEO of Connect Real Estate and Connect Housing Blocks.Brad's journey spans from buying small distressed properties while still in college to leading one of the most ambitious housing manufacturing platforms in the country. Through Connect Real Estate, Brad has revitalized some of Ohio's most overlooked landmarks — transforming abandoned power plants, trolley barns, and historic buildings into vibrant new community anchors.That same entrepreneurial vision inspired him to launch Connect Housing Blocks (CHB), a 630,000-square-foot modular housing facility anchored in Ohio, now one of the largest modular housing factories in the world. Using state-of-the-art equipment and prefabrication methods, CHB produces high-quality apartments from start to finish, eliminating nearly all measuring, cutting, and heavy lifting—the result: faster, more consistent, and more affordable housing production at scale.In our conversation, which took place on site at CHB, Brad shares how he's navigated multiple chapters of starting and scaling Connect, the founding insight that drove him to take on industrial-scale modular housing, how he engages communities and leverages public–private partnerships, his unique approach to talent and culture, and his vision for solving the housing crisis by massively scaling up production capability.00:00:00 - The Birth of an Innovative Solution00:04:50 - Understanding the Housing Crisis00:09:56 - Reinventing Construction Processes00:15:59 - Scaling Modular Housing Production00:21:55 - Transforming the Construction Timeline00:32:46 - Vision for the Future of Housing00:36:43 - Scaling Modular Construction: A Game Changer00:42:34 - The Future of Modular Housing: Opportunities and Challenges00:47:17 - Design and Aesthetics in Modular Construction00:52:56 - Labor Challenges in the Construction Industry00:56:16 - Cultural Dynamics and Employee Empowerment01:01:05 - Looking Ahead: Growth and Future Prospects-----LINKS:https://connecthousingblocks.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/braddehays/-----SPONSOR:Roundstone InsuranceRoundstone Insurance is proud to sponsor Lay of The Land. Founder and CEO, Michael Schroeder, has committed full-year support for the podcast, recognizing its alignment with the company's passion for entrepreneurship, innovation, and community leadership.Headquartered in Rocky River, Ohio, Roundstone was founded in 2005 with a vision to deliver better healthcare outcomes at a more affordable cost. To bring that vision to life, the company pioneered the group medical captive model — a self-funded health insurance solution that provides small and mid-sized businesses with greater control and significant savings.Over the past two decades, Roundstone has grown rapidly, creating nearly 200 jobs in Northeast Ohio. The company works closely with employers and benefits advisors to navigate the complexities of commercial health insurance and build custom plans that prioritize employee well-being over shareholder returns. By focusing on aligned incentives and better health outcomes, Roundstone is helping businesses save thousands in Per Employee Per Year healthcare costs.Roundstone Insurance — Built for entrepreneurs. Backed by innovation. Committed to Cleveland.-----Stay up to date by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here.Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/Follow Lay of The Land on X @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Today's guest is Nicole Haverly, Vice President of Credit Unions at nCino. nCino is a provider of intelligent banking solutions. Headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, the company helps banks and credit unions modernize and streamline core banking tasks, empowering financial institutions of all sizes globally to deliver faster, more intelligent, and customer-friendly banking experiences. Nicole joins Emerj Senior Editor, Marilie Fouché, to discuss how credit unions can balance community-focused member experiences with the growing demand for digital-first engagement. Nicole also explains practical ways automation and AI can streamline account opening and lending, reduce manual data entry, and allow staff to focus on deeper, high-value member interactions, driving measurable results in efficiency, product adoption, and member retention. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj's flagship 'AI in Business' podcast!

Chaya Slain is the Founder, President, and Chief Investment Officer at Virtera Partners.After studying mathematics at Columbia University, she discovered her deeper interest in investing at Goldman Sachs. After several years in New York, she returned to Cleveland and joined Parkwood, the Mandel family investment office, where she spent more than a decade immersed in institutional investing. At Parkwood, she developed a disciplined, process-driven investment philosophy; built relationships with leading private equity, hedge fund, and real estate managers; and learned directly from Mort Mandel's cultural and strategic principles.In 2020, Chaya founded Virtera Partners, a boutique investment firm designed to offer ultra-high-net-worth families the sophistication of a top-tier institutional allocator with the personal attention of a single-family office. Virtera has grown into a platform providing clients access to differentiated public and private market opportunities — supported by deep sourcing, rigorous diligence, and a willingness to do things differently when the data points that way.In our conversation, we trace Chaya's journey from Wall Street to Cleveland; her early entrepreneurial spark running a deli during her time at Columbia University; the leap from investor to founder; and the empathy and insight that transition has given her when evaluating other entrepreneurs and investment managers. We explore behavioral discipline, portfolio construction in uncertain markets, long-term thinking, and what it means to build with integrity, excellence, and a true sense of stewardship.As someone who loves this intersection of investing and entrepreneurship, it was fun to hear Chaya's reflections on it and learn from her experience. Please enjoy this great conversation with Chaya Slain00:00 Chaya's Journey: From Goldman Sachs to Investing08:33 Lessons from Parkwood: Building a Network and Process12:06 The Entrepreneurial Spirit: Transitioning to Founding17:51 Investment Decision-Making: Process and Emotion21:34 Navigating Emotional Biases in Decision Making23:26 Investment Philosophy: Flexibility Over Boxes26:05 Contrarian Investments: The Case for Energy28:42 Cleveland vs. New York: The Advantage of Distance30:27 Lessons from Entrepreneurship: Empathy and Long-Term Thinking34:41 Evolving the Business: From Family Office to Fund37:24 Defining Success: Integrity and Performance38:29 Challenges of Being Different in Investing41:47 Current Market Concerns and Portfolio Construction43:46 The Importance of Alternative Investments-----LINKS:https://www.linkedin.com/in/chaya-slain/https://www.virterapartners.com/-----SPONSOR:Roundstone InsuranceRoundstone Insurance is proud to sponsor Lay of The Land. Founder and CEO, Michael Schroeder, has committed full-year support for the podcast, recognizing its alignment with the company's passion for entrepreneurship, innovation, and community leadership.Headquartered in Rocky River, Ohio, Roundstone was founded in 2005 with a vision to deliver better healthcare outcomes at a more affordable cost. To bring that vision to life, the company pioneered the group medical captive model — a self-funded health insurance solution that provides small and mid-sized businesses with greater control and significant savings.Over the past two decades, Roundstone has grown rapidly, creating nearly 200 jobs in Northeast Ohio. The company works closely with employers and benefits advisors to navigate the complexities of commercial health insurance and build custom plans that prioritize employee well-being over shareholder returns. By focusing on aligned incentives and better health outcomes, Roundstone is helping businesses save thousands in Per Employee Per Year healthcare costs.Roundstone Insurance — Built for entrepreneurs. Backed by innovation. Committed to Cleveland.-----Stay up to date by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here.Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/Follow Lay of The Land on X @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Commercial Interests and the Anglo-German Fellowship: Colleague Charles Spicer explores the founding of the Anglo-German Fellowship in 1935, headquartered at the Metropole Hotel, explaining that it attracted major financial and media interests such as Unilever, which sought to protect vast assets in Germany and avoid war; while the Fellowship is often viewed retrospectively as pro-Nazi, it included industrialists like Robert Bosch who despised the regime but joined to maintain influence, highlighting how business leaders utilized the Fellowship to navigate the complexities of the rising Third Reich. 1933