Episodes

Aug. 29, 2024

#181: Fred DiSanto (Ancora) — Connecting Dots, Activist Investing, Me…

Fred DiSanto, Chairman and CEO of Ancora — the Cleveland-based investment firm with nearly $10B in assets under management and over 100 employees — which he’s led since 2006! Before Ancora, Fred had an expansive investing car...

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Aug. 22, 2024

#180: Taylor Evans (Rust Belt Recruiting) — Talent, Reindustrializati…

Taylor Evans — Founder and President of Rust Belt Recruiting, a leading local manufacturing recruiting agency, which also hosts a kindred-spirit podcast to Lay Of The Land, called Rust Belt Rundowns, where they are amplifying...

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Aug. 15, 2024

[Bonus] Weekly Impact: Craig Hassall (Playhouse Square), IoVs and, In…

My guests this week are my friends and partners over at Impact Architects —who many of you will note are the longest-time supporters of Lay of The Land and the community building work we’re doing together — Kris Snyder and Ji...

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Aug. 8, 2024

#178: Jared Anderson & Sandor Gyerman (Andor Creative) — 100M+ Organ…

Sandor Gyerman and Jared Anderson , the dynamic co-founders of Andor Creative. Founded in 2018 when they were Sophomores at Cleveland State University, Andor Creative was born to find more innovative ways to produce advertisi...

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Aug. 1, 2024

#177: Joshua Edmonds (DigitalC) — Bridging the Digital Divide in Clev…

Joshua Edmonds , CEO of DigitalC. The digital divide — this gap between people who have access to the internet and those who do not — is something you may have heard me bring up a few times before on this podcast — while not ...

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July 25, 2024

#176: Mike Malley (Malley’s Chocolates) — Coco, Milk, Sugar, and Clev…

Mike Malley, President and CEO of Malley's Chocolates . If you grew up in northeast Ohio it’s very likely you know of Malley’s Chocolates, a staple of this community, providing delicious chocolate candies & treats for over ei...

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July 18, 2024

#175: Craig Hassall (Playhouse Square) — Surprise & Inspire the World…

Craig Hassall , CEO of Playhouse Square Craig is a mainstay in the international theater community, with decades of experience operating and curating the most prestigious venues across Europe and Australia. Over his career, i...

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July 11, 2024

#174: Keith Gerchak & Marisa Guterman (Lost & Found In Cleveland) — T…

Keith Gerchak and Marisa Guterman — Founders @ Double G Films This is a truly special episode — I always love exploring the parallels between entrepreneurship and art and in our conversation today, we get to explore the fasci...

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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 27, 2024

#172: Ian Maurer (GenomOncology) — Precision Oncology, Convergence of…

Ian Maurer — Chief Technology Officer at GenomOncology and co-lead of the Cancer Informatics for Cancer Centers’ AI working group. With over two decades of software experience, Ian has led GenomOncology — a Cleveland-based so...

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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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June 6, 2024

#169: Aaron Slodov (Atomic Industries) — Techno-Industrial Optimism a…

Aaron Slodov — CEO of Atomic Industries, a company he co-founded back in 2019 and has raised over $20 million from leading investors like Toyota Ventures, Impatient Ventures, Narya Capital, 8090 Industries, and others! Atomic...

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May 30, 2024

#168: Darren Small (Oko) — Simplifying Logistics and Automating Supp…

Darren Small , co-founder and CEO of Oko . With over a decade of experience on Wall Street, Darren’s analytical background from the world of investment banking, stocks, and data, equipped him with a keen eye for efficiency an...

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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 16, 2024

#166: Adam Graybill (Journey Biosciences) — Shifting the Future of Di…

Adam Graybill , co-founder and CEO of Journey Biosciences . With a robust 20-year tenure in the diabetes market, Adam has been at the forefront of assembling purpose-driven teams and forging impactful strategic partnerships a...

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May 9, 2024

#165: Phil Londrico (JaTango) — Livestream Shopping — Fostering Intim…

Phil Londrico , Founder & CEO of JaTango — an interactive broadcasting and e-commerce platform that gives individuals the power to host their own live shopping channel anywhere. For many years now, we’ve seen e-commerce grow,...

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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 25, 2024

#163: Ryan McManus (SHARE Mobility) — Mobility as a Service & The Fut…

Ryan McManus — founder and CEO of SHARE Mobility Ryan is passionate about solving workforce and rural mobility challenges, creating and affording equitable access to transportation, and ultimately changing the way people actu...

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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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April 4, 2024

#161: Rick Stockburger (BRITE) — Unleashing the Energy Revolution

Rick Stockburger , CEO of BRITE Energy Innovators. Located in the City of Warren, just outside Youngstown in the Mahoning Valley, BRITE was founded in 2010 as a non-profit focused on the acceleration of energy technology in N...

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March 28, 2024

#160: Kyle Maggard (Over Easy)

Kyle Maggard , Founder & CEO of Over Easy. Kyle started OverEasy in the fall of 2018, reflecting on his time as a former college athlete at Westpoint and as an Army Captain where living a healthy and active life wasn’t just h...

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March 21, 2024

#159: Azadeh Hardiman (Level20 — Progressive Insurance)

Azadeh Hardiman — Business Leader of Level20, the new business incubator of Progressive Insurance, one of the largest insurance carriers in the US (which was founded and still headquartered here in Cleveland)! As the new busi...

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