Episodes

July 10, 2025

#216: TJ Dembinski (Eagle Electronics) — Onshoring America's Critical…

TJ Dembinski is the co-founder and CEO of Eagle Electronics, dedicated to on-shoring America’s critical technology supply chain, starting with the IoT and automotive-grade cellular modules! This journey traces a fascinating a...

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June 26, 2025

#215: Ibrahim Mohmed (CourtSide Media & Taja AI) — Revolutionizing Co…

Ibrahim Mohmed is the founder of CourtSide Media Group and the co-founder & CEO of Taja AI. His entrepreneurial journey began right here in Ohio, where he launched CourtSide Media, a digital media agency that serves influence...

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June 19, 2025

#214: Carey Jaros (GOJO — Makers of PURELL®) — 80 Years of Ohio Legac…

Carey Jaros joined GOJO in 2014 as a board member, later taking on executive roles as Chief Strategy Officer—where she oversaw Marketing, Product Management, and Innovation—and as Chief Operating Officer, before becoming Pres...

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June 12, 2025

#213: Jodi Berg, PhD (Vitamix) Pt. 2 — Resilience, Succession, and Pu…

Today, we’re picking up with the second part of my conversation with Jodi Berg, the former President & CEO of Vitamix. In Part 1 , we explored Jodi’s career, the history, evolution, and family legacy of Vitamix, and her leade...

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June 5, 2025

#212: Jodi Berg, PhD (Vitamix) Pt. 1 — Delivering Quality, Leading wi…

Jodi Berg, PhD recently retired as the fourth-generation President and CEO of Vitamix, having joined the family business in 1997 with the directive to lead the company’s overseas expansion, later serving as director of intern...

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May 29, 2025

#211: Max Pennington (CLEANR) — Microplastics, Macro Solutions

Max Pennington is the Co-Founder & CEO of CLEANR, an innovative company that uses filters to prevent microplastics from entering water streams. Max graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Chemical Engineering from Case Wes...

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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 8, 2025

#209: Daniel Anstandig (Futuri Media) - AI, Future of Media, Music, a…

Daniel Anstandig is the CEO of Futuri Media, a leading AI-driven platform he founded in Cleveland in 2009 to help companies build and monetize engaged audiences. Today, Futuri’s sales, content, and audience technology serves ...

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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 24, 2025

#207: DJ Eidson (Limitless Minds) - Peak Performance, Deep Humility, …

DJ Eidson is the President and Co-founder of Limitless Minds, where he spearheads efforts to make elite mindset coaching accessible to everyone. Through their digital platform and programs, Limitless Minds has empowered hundr...

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April 17, 2025

#206: Blake Squires (Findaway, Movable, and Stubl) - Serial Entrepren…

Blake Squires began his journey in the mid-90s in Los Angeles, capitalizing early on the convergence of technology and media. He soon returned to his hometown of Cleveland to co-found Everstream with Steve McHale (episode 196...

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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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March 20, 2025

#203: Geoff Bruder (Sonic Fire Tech) — Fighting Fires with Sound and …

Geoff Bruder, co-founder of GhostWorks Engineering and Sonic Fire Tech—a company redefining fire suppression—is fighting fires with acoustic wave technology. Geoff's journey is rooted in his work at NASA Glenn Research Center...

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March 6, 2025

#202: Jared Semik (Eternium Aerospace) — Transcontinental Electric Fl…

Jared Semik, founder of Eternium Aerospace, a long-range, zero-emissions aircraft development company, is focused on sustainable transatlantic flight. A multi-service military aviation veteran with three global deployments, J...

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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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Feb. 13, 2025

#200: Andy Tran (Arthur Street Ventures) — A Modern Renaissance Man

Andy Tran has lived more lives than just about anyone I know. He’s a serial entrepreneur who has started multiple businesses across industries, including tech, ammunition manufacturing, defense contracting, and tequila, among...

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Feb. 6, 2025

#199: John Knific (Squad) — The EdTech Guru

John Knific is a serial entrepreneur and investor who has built three venture-backed software companies here in Cleveland. His latest venture, Squad, is a peer discovery platform designed to gamify ratings and rankings for Ge...

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Jan. 30, 2025

#198: Rob van Haaren (Proximal Energy) — Powering The Solar Revolution

Rob van Haaren is a Dutch-born entrepreneur and CEO of Proximal Energy, a Cleveland-based SaaS company transforming asset management for solar and energy storage projects. Rob has long been interested in renewable energy engi...

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Jan. 23, 2025

#197: Ali Bonar (Oat Haus) — The Granola Butter Company

Ali Bonar — CEO & Co-Founder of Oat Haus, a food company bringing fun and play to eating. Their flagship product, Granola Butter, is the world's first oat-based spread and while Oat Haus was born out of Ali's decade-long batt...

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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. 19, 2024

#194: Hanna Kassis (Babylon Asset Management) — Business Financing, P…

Hanna Kassis — founder @ Babylon Asset Management — who has deployed over $1.5 billion in capital throughout his career in alternative lending. Starting with Tim Ryan's congressional campaign in Youngstown, Hanna went on to build OAREX Capital Markets while still in law school, securing seed fun…

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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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