Community Episodes

July 4, 2024

#173: Mitchell Vargo (Forward Hospitality Group) — The Business of Ho…

Mitchell Vargo, Partner at Forward Hospitality Group. Since its founding in 2015, the Cleveland-based Hospitality Group has built out unique entertainment, bar, and restaurant experiences locally and all across the country — ...

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June 20, 2024

#171: Umberto Fedeli Round II — Lifelong Learning, Happiness, Wealth,…

Umberto P. Fedeli — Founder, President, and CEO of The Fedeli Group I first had the opportunity to speak with Umberto on this podcast just over a year ago! At the time, our conversation extended far beyond what we were able ...

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June 13, 2024

#170: Matt Buder Shapiro Round II — Investing in Cleveland, Storytell…

Matt Buder Shapiro — Chief Marketing Officer at Vytalize Health, Previously Founder at MedPilot (Acquired) I first spoke to Matt on this podcast 3 years ago. At the time, as a co-founder and chief marketing officer of MedPilo...

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May 23, 2024

#167: John Kempf (Advancing Eco Agriculture) — Regenerative Agricultu…

John Kempf — founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA), a regenerative agronomy company started back in 2006 to share the knowledge, tools, and systems that regenerate farm profitability, soil health, and plant health, all w...

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May 2, 2024

#164: Dr. James Kenyon (NASA Glenn) — To the Moon, Mars and Beyond, F…

Dr. James Kenyon , Director of NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio The road to the Moon goes through Cleveland. With a budget of approximately $900 million, a staff of more than 3,200 civil servants, over 725 pate...

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April 18, 2024

[REWIND] #89: Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland) — Local Journalism in Cle…

Today we’re running a replay of one of my favorite conversations from 2022 with Lila Mills of Signal Cleveland . Since we last spoke, Signal Cleveland has continuously produced reliable daily journalism across a plethora of l...

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April 11, 2024

#162: Andre Cisco (MGK's Manager, XX Brands, Dead Logic, 27 Club) — K…

Andre Cisco — Manager for MGK and XX Brands, Brand Strategist and Investor, co-owner of the 27 Club — the coffee lounge and kitchen here in Cleveland — and Managing Partner at Dead Logic, a marketing strategy and brand manage...

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March 14, 2024

#158: Nick Dadas (University Tees, SISU Lifestyle, Acton Academy Lake…

Nick Dadas — Co-Founder of University Tees, SISU Lifestyle, Acton Academy Lakeside, ISI, and MasterPlan Coach. In 2003, still a sophomore at Miami University, Nick co-founded University Tees after trying to organize a t-shirt...

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Dec. 14, 2023

#146: Megan Mayhugh (People Architects)

Meg Mayhugh, Founder and Managing Partner at People Architects as well as the Head of Talent & people at Ninety.io the leading cloud-based business operating system and only officially licensed software for EOS (the Entrepren...

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Oct. 26, 2023

#140: Tracy Strobel (Cuyahoga County Public Library)

Tracy Strobel — CEO of the Cuyahoga County Public Library (CCPL) Tracy Strobel was appointed Chief Executive Officer of CCPL in July 2019 after serving in the Deputy Director role for nearly 15 years. CCPL has 27 branches tha...

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Oct. 19, 2023

#139: Ethan Karp (MAGNET)

Ethan Karp — President and CEO of MAGNET: The Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network which, founded in 1984, has been dedicated to fostering local manufacturing and supporting local manufacturing businesses across technolo...

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Sept. 21, 2023

#135: Umberto P. Fedeli (The Fedeli Group)

Umberto Fedeli — Founder, President, and CEO of the Fedeli group — one of the largest risk management and insurance firms in the state of Ohio. This conversation is packed full of Umberto’s earned wisdom over his career and h...

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July 20, 2023

#126: Michael Goldberg (Case Western Reserve University & CWRU Alumn…

Michael Goldberg, Executive Director of the Veale Institute for Entrepreneurship, as well as an Associate Professor of Design and Innovation at the Weatherhead School of Management at CWRU where he teaches courses on entrepre...

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March 2, 2023

#108: Michael Murphy (Cleveland Soccer Group)

Michael Murphy, on a mission to bring professional soccer to Cleveland as the Co-founder and CEO of the Cleveland Soccer Group. Previously, Michael served as President of Gravitas Ventures — whose story we featured back on La...

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Jan. 26, 2023

#103: Dr. Elad Granot (John Carroll University, Boler College of Busi…

Dr. Elad Granot — Dean of John Carroll University’s Boler College of Business, co-founder and managing member of an early-stage technology Venture Capital fund, and advisor to a $450mm VC fund — on what Cleveland can learn from Startup Nation and Elad’s time in Israel, the role of academia in foste…

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