Raji Sankar — co-founder of Wholesome International & co-CEO of Choolaah — on building best-in-class restaurants, culture, and customer experiences after more than a decade in the restaurant industry.
Lukas Minkov & Logan Schouman — Co-Founders at afters.io & IDRA — on unlocking the value of instant local delivery services!
Ed Weinfurtner — Executive Chairman of Great Day Improvements (one of NEO's largest companies employing over 2,000 people) & Co-Founder at Blue Olive Partners — on growing Great Day Improvements from $44M to $922M in sales in just 7 years …
Chef Douglas Katz — chef & owner of Amba, Chimi, Zhug — on creating fulfilling, transportive experiences that nurture and inspire guests, his own passion and journey through the world of food, and Cleveland's culinary scene!
Michael Kubinski — Founder & CEO of Cleveland Clothing Company — on spreading Cleveland pride, one t-shirt at a time since 2008
Leopoldo Peña — Co-Founder & CEO of Presta ($3.3mm Raised) — on startups, his passion for expanding access to those who historically haven't had it, Cleveland's ecosystem, and the trials and tribulations of entrepreneurship — from failures to acquisitions.
Heather Lenz — Founder & CEO of Sangfroid Strategy — on her entrepreneurial journey, how data is currently used in the nonprofit sector, and where societally we have a massive opportunity right now to leverage advances in technology — automation, …
Pat Conway & Mark King — Co-founder & CEO respectively of Great Lakes Brewing Company — on building Ohio’s original craft brewery, celebrating 34 years of sustained success and continuous innovation, the history of beer production in Cleveland, brewing good …
Lila Mills — founding editor-in-chief of Signal Cleveland — on starting a newsroom from scratch and building the trust required to be the source of daily news and information for Greater Clevelanders.
Anne Skoch — Founder and CEO of Anne Cate — on how to marry art and business, pursue your passion as a profession, and building her made‐in‐Cleveland accessories brand and manufacturing firm!
Sherrill Paul Witt — founder of Lolly The Trolley — on running one of Cleveland's most beloved icons since 1985, covering 3.1 million miles during its 37 years on the road and introducing so many to the hidden gems of …
Dallas Hogensen — CEO of Felux (>$24mm raised) — on marketplaces, importance of culture, and creating the world’s largest operating platform and marketplace to help solve commerce for the steel industry.
Shawn Rech — Co-Founder/CEO/Director at Transition Studios, AGTV & TruBlu — on growing Cleveland's permanent media industry, the importance of factual programming and positively affecting history through truth-telling and documentary production!
Graham Veysey & Fisk Biggar — founders of Graham+Fisk’s Wine-In-A-Can \\ Firehouse Can Co. — on building the first exclusive wine-in-a-can company!
Tom Tyrrell — founder and Chairman of Great Lakes Biomimicry & co-founder of Segmint — on the power of biomimicry and harnessing the intelligence found in nature’s 3.8 billion years of R&D (asking questions nature has already found the answers …
Baiju Shah — President and CEO of Greater Cleveland Partnership (GCP) — on economic development in Cleveland and leading the largest metropolitan chamber of commerce in the nation!
David Sylvan — president of UH Ventures, the innovation and commercialization division of University Hospitals, a Cleveland-based health system with two dozen hospitals, more than 50 health centers, and outpatient facilities, and over 200 physician offices located throughout 16 counties.
Dr. Colleen M. Lorber — Founder & CEO of Wraparound Experts — on the current state of our society’s mental health and the work to be done to address it concentrating on our basic human needs which include not only …
David Davis II — Founder & CEO of FBA Flip — on entrepenuership, the changing dynamics of the modern internet-first world we find ourselves in, and the challenges, opportunities, and prospects for his home of Cleveland.
William (Billy) Littlefield II — President & CTO of Wizest — on Wizest's (recently raised $1.7mm) vision to democratize access to financial expertise to his own path to Cleveland, to digital normadacy, philosophy, and more!
Dr. Chelsea Monty-Bromer — founder & CEO of SweatID (aka RooSense) — on bridging the academic-entrepreneurial gap, the implications of bio-electrochemical interfaces, building a company capitalizing on them, and the future of wearables!
Mark D’Agostino — founder and president of ConnectedHR — on the changing macro-dynamics of employment, how the nature of work is changing, the business of fractional Human Resources, and the journey Mark has been on building ConnectedHR!
Chris Wentz — Founder and CEO of Everykey — on taking an idea at his Case Western entrepreneurship class to building a leading cybersecurity company, offering a patented universal smart key replacing passwords and keys, to consumers, enterprises, and governments.
Dennis Althar — Founder & CEO of Althar Audio and All-tronics Medical Systems — on everything from his prodigal expertise in electronics, to the US Airforce, to medical technology, to Steve Wozniak, to audible literacy, to Cleveland manufacturing, to