Community Episodes

May 15, 2025

#210: Umberto Fedeli Round III — Patience & Persistence, Progress & P…

I’m very excited to welcome Umberto Fedeli back for his third conversation. In our first two conversations — episode 135 and episode 171 — we explored Umberto’s remarkable life journey, deep-rooted wisdom, and how he's master...

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May 1, 2025

#208: Sonia Winner (Cleveland Museum of Natural History) - $150m Cent…

Sonia Winner is the CEO of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. In July 2018, she became the 10th director of the Museum in its more than 100-year history, dating back to 1920. Since then, she has spearheaded a $150 milli...

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April 10, 2025

#205: Carl Walz (NASA Astronaut) — 230+ Days In Outer Space

Carl Walz is an astronaut, a pioneer of space exploration, and a proud Clevelander! As an astronaut, Carl is a veteran of four spaceflights, logging a total of 231 days in outer space and performing three spacewalks during th...

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March 27, 2025

#204: Paul Roetzer (SmarterX & Marketing AI Institute) — Accelerating…

Paul Roetzer is the founder and CEO of SmarterX and the Marketing AI Institute—a media, event, and online education company that he started back in 2016 to make AI accessible, approachable, and actionable for marketers and bu...

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Feb. 27, 2025

#201: Robert Marks (Projector) — Keepsake and Personal Streaming for …

Robert Marks founded Fidelity Voice and Data in 1999 with just a $600 investment, which he grew into a business generating over $30 million in revenue, making it one of the largest telecommunications and cloud services compet...

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Jan. 16, 2025

#196: Stephen McHale (Graici & Unify Labs) — Serial Entrepreneurship …

Stephen McHale — a long-time Cleveland serial entrepreneur with a 40-year career founding, investing in, and building companies. Most notably, Steve served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Explorys, whi...

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Jan. 9, 2025

[Bonus] Rust Belt Rundown featuring Jeffrey Stern of The O.H.I.O. Fund

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Lay of The Land podcast. Today, we're doing something a bit different as I take on the role of guest on other podcasts to discuss recent developments in my journey and offer a glimpse...

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Dec. 10, 2024

[In Honor Of] Bob Sopko

It is with a heavy heart that I honor Bob Sopko’s memory by revisiting Lay of The Land 's 12th episode . While no conversation could ever fully capture the breadth or depth of his legacy, I hope this episode relays an essence...

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Oct. 17, 2024

#188: Joe Pulizzi (Tilt Publishing & Content Entrepreneur Expo) — Con…

Joe Pulizzi is a serial entrepreneur and deeply passionate about all things content marketing and entrepreneurship — he is the bestselling author of seven books including Content Inc. , selling over 500,000 copies worldwide w...

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Sept. 19, 2024

#184: John Vickers (Blue Abyss) — Building the World’s Foremost Extre…

John Vickers , Founder & CEO of Blue Abyss. John is building one of the most ambitious and inspiring projects I’ve encountered while exploring what people are building in Cleveland! After spending eight years in the British A...

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Sept. 5, 2024

#182: Dan Nitowsky (Tiger21) —  Wealth Preservation, Legacy, and Ultr…

Dan Nitowsky, Chair of TIGER 21 Cleveland. Dan, like me is a native New Yorker who has made Cleveland his home & has spent 30 years here in Cleveland as a highly accomplished executive with a proven history of success in dist...

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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 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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