Sports to Business

Shannon "The Cannon" Hudson, founder and CEO of 9Round Franchising, LLC, is a former IKF Light Middleweight Kickboxing Champion of the World. After over  70 bouts in the ring, Shannon could not find a place where the average person could be exposed to the "Top Secret" training of some of the best fighters in the world. That is where his vision for 9Round began. He knew that if he could take the gruelling workouts he did in the ring, and create a non-intimidating, convenient circuit workout format, then the average person could enjoy the benefits of boxing and kickboxing only available to professional athletes. Shannon and his wife, Heather, opened their first 9Round studio in 2008 in Greenville, SC. Since then, the brand has grown to more than 600 locations across 41 states and 18 countries, plus many more in various stages of development – all delivering on the promise of making members stronger in 30 minutes, physically and mentally.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Shannon's story on founding 9Round fitness
• How different teams across functions come together to drive growth
• Shannon's framework to leading at the highest level, and why taking care of yourself must be a priority
• Importance of strong execution, and how Shannon aligns his team to metrics
• How to measure and track progress for a unified vision
• 9Round fitness franchising and its competitive advantage compared to other fitness brands

Carla Rosenberg is Senior Vice President of Charity & Events Management for global sports marketing agency SPORTFIVE and is part of the leadership team. Based in Dallas, Carla runs the Charity and Events Management practice and offers additional event and production capabilities alongside Rooftop2 Productions, the agency’s New York-based experiential marketing and production division. Carla’s team also provides philanthropic expertise to many of SPORTFIVE’S more than 250 athlete clients looking to build or enhance their charitable activities.   

Prior to joining SPORTFIVE, Carla founded Matchpoint Agency and served as Chief Visionary Officer, working with athletes, professional sports teams and nonprofit clients to achieve their philanthropic goals. In May 2018, Matchpoint Agency joined Lagardère Plus, the global partnership marketing agency of Lagardère Sports and Entertainment, which was rebranded to SPORTFIVE in May. Carla’s first entrée into the agency setting was as Sports Marketing Director for SCA Promotions. Before that, she spent eight seasons in the professional sports industry.   

Carla began her career working for the President of the Texas Rangers Baseball Club and later served as Senior Director of Community Marketing for the Dallas Stars Hockey Club and Executive Director of the Dallas Stars Foundation. These experiences, along with her natural business acumen, introduced her to new people, big ideas and winning strategies that helped inspire the evolution of Matchpoint. While helping athletes manage their Foundations and having her finger on the pulse of the professional sports landscape and philanthropic scene, her ability to maximize revenue opportunities and execute championship-level charity events has earned her notoriety as a game changer in the industry. From professional tennis tournaments to galas, she and her team have planned and executed some of the nation’s highest-profile events.   

In 2019, Carla was selected as a recipient of Sports Business Journal’s Game Changers Awards, which honors a select group of women who are having a major impact in transforming the sports business industry. Carla currently serves as President on the board of Dallas Influencers Sport & Entertainment (DISE) and sits on the Board of Directors for PwC SMU Athletic Forum, Nancy Lieberman Charities, and The Sandlot Children’s Charity. She is on The University of Dallas MBA Advisory Board and The Dallas Stars Hockey Hall of Fame Nomination Committee. She volunteered her time as a former Board of Trustee member for ten years with The National Multiple Sclerosis Society.   

Born and raised in South Africa, Carla holds a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she played four years of tennis on an NCAA Division-I Athletic Scholarship. She graduated with highest honors, as well as Academic All-American and All-Big Ten accolades. She also achieved her Master of Business Administration in Marketing/Sports & Entertainment Management from the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas.   

In this episode, we discuss: 

- Carla's love of tennis and her journey through NCAA as a D1 athlete 

- How Carla began her business journey in sports marketing while completing her MBA 

- Why saying yes to the hard things has the biggest results 

- How Carla started her own agency, and why saying "no" to certain projects allowed Matchpoint to scale 

- Story behind Matchpoint acquisition, and key takeaways for current business leaders 

- How Carla leveraged the pandemic to rethink and come out stronger

Sean McCall is the Managing Vice President at Pariveda Solutions.  With 25+ years of experience across various roles within consulting, Sean has deep experience in human performance, small teams, and purpose-driven leadership. An elite athlete as well, Sean draws on his experience as a player, captain, coach, and architect to help organizations create clarity in purpose, the connection amongst team members, forward-looking vision, member autonomy, active retention, and brave spaces to accelerate the development potential of the team. Sean is a well-respected speaker and visionary who can inspire teams to greatness.  

Sean played various youth sports before committing to swimming full time in high school and college, representing his teams at the highest levels possible (state, NCAA, respectively). Following a decorated swimming career, Sean went on to play a nearly 30-year Ultimate Frisbee career as a former semipro athlete being selected to three USA National Teams, captaining twice, earning three World Championships and achieving over 30 “caps” for international game appearances.  

In this episode, we discuss: 

- How Sean stays young, both from a physical and mental standpoint 

- How the challenges that Sean faced as a kid shaped his future 

- How to not let metrics and data drive wrong behaviours in your organization 

- Why failure makes winning that much sweeter 

- How Sean deals with failure both as a parent and as a leader 

- Why the best advice for leaders is to be authentic and to not be afraid of being vulnerable 

- Why the experience in sports is regarded highly by employers 

- How Pariveda is redefining the consulting and implementation space

Paul Fioroni, a Mississauga native, is a former pro-hockey player and is currently the CEO of Matador Medical Management LLC. Matador currently works with the best air tech in the market- partnering with IVP, Aerobiotix, UV Angel and Kontrol Technologies who have brought the BioCloud to market. Paul is now working on launching his first 2 IP's with Matador which will revolutionize the personal and real-time air we live in.   

We discuss: 

- Paul's hockey beginnings that brought him to Texas 

- Paul's beginnings in sales, and what made him successful 

- How humans and lobsters share the same serotonin levels, and why these matter in business 

- How to compete with your teammates, but win together as one team 

- How Paul found opportunities during COVID, and insights into his mentality 

- Why sometimes a leader needs to give tough love when issues continue to persist 

- Paul's journey at Stryker, Spineart, and building his own company 

- Why sales are all about networking and relationships

Sam Sebastian is the President & CEO of Pelmorex Corp., the parent company of The Weather Network. Pelmorex is a market leader in operating multi-platform TV, Web and Mobile services in weather-related information categories under the leading brands; The Weather Network, MétéoMédia, eltiempo.es and Clima. The company also operates Canada’s National Alerting Aggregation and Dissemination System, Alert Ready.  

Before joining Pelmorex, Sam was the VP & Managing Director of Google Canada, from 2013 - 2017, where he was responsible for Google’s Canadian operations. He joined Google in 2006 in Chicago and held a variety of executive-level roles in the U.S. before moving to Canada. Prior to Google, he was a General Manager and Senior Vice-President at a large online classified business, Classified Ventures (cars.com, apartments.com), and started his career at Arthur Andersen as an accountant and consultant.  

Sam is a member of the Business Council of Canada and a Director on several Boards including Tennis Canada and Bridgit, a Kitchener-Waterloo internet start-up in the construction industry.  

Sam graduated from The Ohio State University and holds an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. At Ohio State, he played Division I NCAA tennis, where he was a two-time Captain, Big Ten Champion and Academic All American.  

We discuss: 

- Why Sam gets more done and is more confident when he has more going on (and why that works) 

- How Sam led Pelmorex during the Pandemic: two things he told the team when the Panemdic struck 

- Why a great strategy and a great team that works together towards the same goals allow you to become a powerhouse 

- Why being authentic is the most important trait for leadership today 

- Why you need to fail, and how a big failure allowed Sam to grow into his leadership roles 

- How leaders can encourage failure, and why it's important 

- Why we need to pay it forward, in order to win as an individual and as a collective team

Emily is a Vice President, Product Manager at Franklin Templeton, a global investment firm with ~$1.5 trillion under management. Prior to that she held various marketing roles at BlackRock, worked in investor relations at a small-cap medical technology company, and worked on a major political campaign. 

Emily has also built a successful freelance career in admissions consulting, where she coaches applicants targeting top-ranked MBA programs.   

Additionally, she is the author of the #1 Amazon Bestselling Book, No Drama First-Time Mama: A Practical Guide to Living Your Best Life as A New Mother, and an advocate for maternal mental health. 

Emily obtained an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and an MBA from the Haas School of Business, University of California – Berkeley. She was a two-year letter winner in swimming while at Princeton and is a five-time marathoner (New York x3, Boston, and Chicago).   

A proud Montana native, Emily now lives in Salt Lake City with her husband and two children.  

We discuss:          

- Emily's journey to Princeton and athletic career         

- How Emily is able to get 8 hours of sleep despite working full time, being a consultant, an author, a mom of two, and never misses a workout         

- The story behind Emily's bestselling book, and her message around prioritizing your health and wellbeing as a mom, is something that doesn't get enough focus      

- Why being efficient and doing a few things really well results in the biggest gains         

- How empathetic leadership is important, and caring about your people         

- How we assign our self worth to our work, and how Emily was able to move forward when she decided to leave the swimming team         

- Networking with others and why it's even more important when working remotely

Luke Mohamed is the Director, Partnership Sales for the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Vandergrift, PA native joined the team in February 2020 and is responsible for generating new corporate partnerships. He also self-appointed himself somewhere on the emergency goalie depth chart.  

Prior to the Penguins, Luke spent five years with Major League Soccer’s D.C. United. At D.C. United, he managed a sales team responsible for the Club’s non-ticket revenue streams, including the 2018 opening of their new stadium, Audi Field. During his tenure, the team grew from last in MLS partnership revenue to a Top 5 club.   

Luke spent the remainder of his time in the nation’s capital as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown, a member of DC SCORES’ Advisory Council, and reminding locals that the Penguins had won four more Stanley Cups than the Capitals.   

Before D.C. United, Luke had partnership roles with the Tampa Bay Sports Commission and IRONMAN Triathlon, and the DICK’S Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon.     

Luke earned an MBA/MS in Sport & Entertainment Management from the University of South Florida in 2015 and his Bachelor’s degree in Sport Management and Accounting from The Robert Morris University in 2010.   

In this episode, we discuss:  

- The amazing story behind Luke's career in sports management 

- What he learned from Wayne Rooney at D.C. United 

- How putting in the work and taking on tough roles allowed Luke to land his dream job 

- What it's like to be in the same organization as Sidney Crosby 

- The amazing work that Luke and the Penguins are doing for the community 

- Why we need to strive for greatness, and why that's different than being good enough

Scott is the CEO of Ren's Pets, a former captain and football player for Simon Fraser University, and an experienced marketing and sales executive.   

In this episode, we discuss:

-  Scott's football days at Simon Fraser University, and how he battled back from a really bad knee injury 

- How those principles of hard work have carried through in his career 

- How the hard things Scott did prepared him for his executive career 

- Scott shares why every leader must understand their "WHY", and how to stay focused as an executive on what truly matters for you personally and your business 

- Ren's Pets story - how it grew from a few stores to 40+, and the leadership lessons behind the brand's success

Brian Vahaly is Chief Executive Officer, YouFit Gyms, the nationwide chain of affordable, personalized fitness clubs. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to his more than 10 years in the fitness industry as a successful private equity executive and former professional tennis player. Prior to YouFit, Vahaly was CFO for the boutique fitness group [solidcore], where he grew the business from ten studios to eighty in just over two years.   

He served as COO for venture capital firms, Venturehouse Group and NextGen Venture Partners, and began his finance career with McLean Capital, a private equity fund.   

A lifelong athlete, Vahaly was an internationally ranked professional tennis player, retiring in 2007, with wins over several top ten ranked players such as French Open champions Michael Chang and Juan Carlos Ferrero.    

He is currently the only gay player in history to ever come out on the ATP tour and serves on the board of directors for the United States Tennis Association. He earned his BS degree in Finance and Business Management from the University of Virginia, where he was a three-time All-American. Vahaly lives with his husband and two children in the Washington D.C. area.  

In this episode, we dive into: 

 - Brian's love for tennis, and how he managed school and tennis at the same time 

- Brian talks about how he handled failure as a player, and how he handles it now as a CEO  

- Brian discusses how playing in the Australian Open against Andre Agassi - the pressure - actually prepared him to take on business roles in uncertain and high-pressure environments  

- Why sleep is a great remedy to shaking off failures 

- How to focus in distracting environments and why Brian turns his phone away from time-to-time 

- Brian talks about being the only gay player in the history of the ATP tour, and the work that he is doing today in his business and with the US Tennis Association  

- How Brian manages his team, especially in the health and wellness space during the pandemic  

- Why it's important to surround yourself with great people - a recipe for success in Tennis and as a CEO

Quinton Porter, Vice President of North America for Pico - Get Personal, has been scaling startup tech companies and sales teams for 10 years since retiring from football. He played quarterback at Boston College where he completed his MBA, played 2 years in the NFL with the Houston Texans and Carolina Panthers, and 5 years in the CFL with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. As a native of Portland, Maine, he has created a community initiative that maximizes the benefits of athletic training and wellness through a state-of-the-art indoor sports complex and programming in partnerships with the local university.   

Pico - Get Personal:  Pico's SaaS technology turns brands and sports teams from data renters intro data owners by identifying anonymous Digital audience members, progressively gathering actionable data, and leveraging it to efficiently drive their business objectives.   

In this episode, Quinton dives into:  

- His transition from football to executive within the tech space
- Why during the toughest moments - it's only up to us to make it happen
- How Quinton's morning practices made him a better business leader
- Why the "keep going and pushing mentality" will win over talent alone
- How Quinton, during moments of pressure and failure was able to remove himself from the results
- All that there is, is right now - how to live
- Why Quinton hires in pairs!   

Matt Rogers is a Director of Recruitment for a Wealth Management Firm in NY, and a Career Tour guide at Matt Rogers Consulting. He has over 20 Years of Coaching and Strength Training experience with youth, High School, Master's, NCAA, and Olympic Trial Level Athletes. As a “Career Tour Guide,” Matt works with NCAA and elite-level athletes to help them transition from sports or different careers.  

In this episode, we discuss:         

- Matt's experience as an athlete in university and his transition to a coach         

- How to find your passion and build a career you love         

- The recent rule change that allows NCAA students to monetize their name, image, and likeliness        

- Strategies for student-athletes to better prepare for the world after sports         

- Skillsets that allow you to take on a completely new role with no experience 

- How to network the right way to maximize future opportunities

Femi is a former NFL player, founder of Health Reel, NASA Technology partner, a human performance expert and a certified nutritionist. After graduating from San Diego State University with a BA in Psychology, Femi played 11 amazing years in the NFL, was a member of the Ravens 2000 Super Bowl Championship Team, and was voted NFLPA representative by teammates in Arizona from 2005-2007.  

From 2010 to 2014, before founding HealthReel and right out of retirement, Femi co-founded a fitness facility as a personal trainer, nutrition specialist and speed/agility coach. Femi then entered the MBA program at Johns Hopkins with an emphasis in Digital Health. This is where the idea for HealthReel started. He graduated from Hopkins in 2016 and formed HealthReel in late 2017.  

HealthReel is a digital Self-Health assessment and education platform. HealthReel views customers holistically and understands the interconnected relationship between mental, emotional and physical health outcomes. The proprietary blend of algorithms generates personalized health information in minutes via any smart device from any location the customer desires. The HealthReel report generates over 20 data points covering mental health, physical fitness, healthy weight recommendations, metabolic performance and nutritional guidance. Last but not least HealthReel supplements reporting with video content. This “user journey” experience is designed to deploy one new video a week covering HealthReel’s four levers of Self-Health as well as addressing misinformation about nutrition, exercise, fad diets and many other hot button topics.   

In this episode, we dive into: 

- Femi's journey from the NFL to entrepreneurship, and becoming the first NFL player NASA Tech Partner         
- Why Femi believes you need to always be building your tool box         
- Story behind founding HealthReel during his MBA         
- How Femi deals with naysayers         
- How Femi's early childhood growing up influenced his NFL and business career

Anna Foli is a Senior Director in the Power & Renewable Energy practice at FTI Consulting, a $4.8 billion global management consulting firm, where she leads business transformation initiatives focused on performance improvement and Mergers & Acquisitions. Ms. Foli has held various senior strategic and operational roles in private equity-held and publicly traded international companies, where she’s driven $40 million of revenue and profit growth through comprehensive business plans for countries, local markets, and global product lines. Ms. Foli has completed over $100 million of M&A ventures across all phases of a deal cycle and built enterprise M&A programs.  

Ms. Foli was recently the VP of M&A Integration at United Site Services, a $1 billion privately held US market leader in portable sanitation, as part of a private equity turnaround. Previously as VP of Customer Experience with the firm, Ms. Foli transformed the 250-employee customer service, inside sales, and order support teams through a full organizational redesign. Prior to United Site Services, Ms. Foli spent 8 years at Aggreko, a global £2.2 billion public organization in the temporary power generation and temperature control rental space. She served as a strategic advisor to multiple Managing Directors for large business units and global product lines. Ms. Foli began her career as a Continuous Improvement Black Belt leading global operational excellence initiatives.  

Ms. Foli holds an M.B.A. and a B.S.B.A from The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business. She is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. She is also part of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and an honorary member of the International Women’s Forum (IWF). Ms. Foli was born in Poland, grew up near Paris, France, speaks three languages, and is an accomplished world traveler. She is a former elite international volleyball athlete, Team Captain of The Ohio State Women’s Volleyball Team, and French National Team where she competed in 16 International Tournaments in 10 countries including the University Olympic Games in Bangkok.   

In this episode, we discuss:   

- Anna's journey to the French national volleyball team and Ohio State 

- How she handled captain duties at Ohio State while obtaining a dual degree, including her MBA 

- How focusing on giving back and focusing on others will help you during your toughest moments 

- The importance of a strong support system 

- Why it's all about getting better every day 

- Why feedback needs to be objective and immediate vs. in 6-month chunks 

- How can leaders increase accountability by owning up to mistakes

Pat Woodcock is a former NFL and CFL player turned entrepreneur.  During his 8-year playing career, he won a Grey Cup Championship, was named Most Outstanding Canadian Player and was named a Division All-Star.  

Pat joined Momentum Elite in 2021 as a keynote speaker and coach. Pat is a respected and sought-after speaker and presenter for conferences, organizations, and companies.  Some of the companies he has worked with include Football Canada, CBC Hockey Nation, Royal Bank of Canada, Mackenzie Investments, and the Catalyst Conference.  

Pat is also a strength, speed, & conditioning coach, personal trainer, and nutrition/supplement coach. He has coached professional athletes in football, basketball, lacrosse, and soccer, won a Grey Cup Championship as the Head Strength Coordinator of the CFL’s Ottawa RedBlacks, and is a multi-year nominee as Ottawa’s Top Personal Trainer. 

Pat was also named to Ottawa’s Top 40 Under 40 Business People as the owner of Elite Performance Academy, one of the premier Health, Fitness, and Human Performance facilities in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.  

Pat also helps Entrepreneurs, Executives, CEOs, and busy Dads all over the world build the Lean & Muscular Physique they’ve always wanted, while they Optimize Health, Energy, & Productivity, to match their high-performing status and help them DOMINATE every aspect of their life.  Pat earned his Bachelor of Science from Syracuse University, and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the NSCA, a National Level 3 Performance Specialist through the Poliquin Group, a Level 1 Certified Precision Nutrition Coach, a Level 1 Certified Hormone Specialist through the Nutritional Coaching Institute, and is Titleist Performance Institute Certified.   

We discuss:        

- Pat's journey from a small town in Canada to one of the top NCAA Football programs         

- The learning curve Pat experienced when he went from NCAA to the NFL         

- How Pat transitioned from football to entrepreneurship and started his business        

- The keys to pushing through failures, and tips that Pat used during his career        

- Advice for everyone working hard and putting in the long hours in the new uncertain future

Chris is a master high-performance coach, facilitator, and keynote speaker in taking achievers to the next level.   

For more than two decades, Chris has been passionately teaching, training, and coaching the modern skills for success and fulfillment. He brings a profound understanding of what drives human performance and sustainable behaviour change combining insights from the fields of leadership, sport, and modern science.  

As Founder and Principal Coach of The Ignition Company and its group of brands, Chris has traveled over 1,000,000 km to facilitate workshops and events in more than 30 countries across The Americas, Europe, Asia, Middle East, and Australia.  

He has been a highly-regarded advisor and performance coach for some of the world’s top-performing companies including Apple, eBay, Vodafone, Boston Consulting Group, General Electric, EA Games, Microsoft, BBC Worldwide, Rogers, and Goldman Sachs plus has been a contributing expert to CNN, ESPN, Runner’s World and Active.com.  

He was named runner-up as Trainer/Speaker of the Year and Mover/Shaker of the Year by the Association of Professional Coaches, Trainers, and Consultants and serves as a Trainer & former Elite Results Coach for the internationally renowned Anthony Robbins Companies, a recognized authority on leadership and peak performance.   

In this episode, we discuss:         

- The proven principles that separate peak performance athletes from others         

- The #1 thing that people need to perform at their best is A Manager or A Leader that cares about them at an individual level        

- Why most business teams are spending 85-90% of their team only at 30% effectiveness; too many meetings with no agendas         

- Why you should add an agenda first to a meeting invite, before scheduling a meeting         

- Growing up in a small town, Chris had to change his perspective about his ability to accomplish a lot more than what he gave himself credit for         

- Chris' personal Mantra 

- Leading a team, but managing individuals         

- Why coaches always go back to basics when a team or player is struggling         

- The importance of recovery in business and what we can learn from the best athletes          

- When to take the shot as a leader, and when to let the team take the shot

Dan Hannigan-Daley is the CEO of Sports Info Solutions (SIS), a company that provides in-depth, and timely baseball, football, and basketball data, including cutting-edge research and analysis, striving to educate teams and the public about sports analytics.   

Dan is an experienced and passionate Product and Business Leader with a focus on sports data, consumption, and sports gaming.  

Prior to SIS, Dan spent over 5 years DraftKings as a Director of Sportsbook Product and also as a Product Management Consultant. Dan also worked oversees with BD Sports in London, UK.   

Dan is a former 2 sport college athlete. He played Varsity Soccer at Brock University and was an OUA All-Star. He also played Hockey for the Port Colborne Sailors Junior B Hockey Team during University.   

In this episode, we discuss: 

- Dan's early life playing hockey and soccer and love of sports 

- How he handled University Varsity Soccer and Hockey as a two-sport student-athlete 

- Dan's career beginnings in sports management and his one way trip to London 

- How Dan handled the ups and downs and carved his own path 

- Some exciting stuff that he's doing today at Sports Info Solutions as their new CEO  

🏈 WEBSITE 🏈 https://momentumelite.com/ 

🎙PODCAST🎙 https://tanvirbhangoo.com/podcast/ 

Marques Ogden is an inspirational keynote speaker and marketing leader.  

Growing up in a single-parent home with a father that inspired perseverance and fairness, Marques learned how to define his values and set goals.   Ogden attended Howard University from 1998-2002 where he played Division I football. 

Ogden then followed his dream and his brother Jonathan’s footsteps, eventually getting drafted into the NFL in 2003. Overall, he played for five years as an offensive lineman with the Titans, Bills, Ravens, and Jaguars.

Following his NFL career Ogden started Kayden Premier Enterprises, a construction company in 2007 which quickly escalated to being a multi-million dollar construction firm. 2013 it all crashed down around him when Ogden got involved with a bad business deal, he ended up losing everything.  

Ogden became a speaker to help others succeed where he failed. As a keynote speaker, executive coach, and corporate trainer his passion is to create value for every client. Ogden’s clients consist of AXA Advisors, The Home Depot, JP Morgan, and Chase, to name a few.  

In this episode, we dive into: 

- Marques' journey from high school to NFL 

- The biggest change from university football to NFL 

- How Marques built a very successful business after the NFL but then lost it all in a matter of a few months 

- How Marques rose back from hitting rock bottom and the key lessons he learned 

- Why it's all about being servant leaders and every business needs to be about culture  

🏈 WEBSITE 🏈

 https://momentumelite.com/ 

🎙PODCAST🎙 

https://momentumelite.com/category/podcast/

Lauren Lee is a VP at JPMorgan Asset Management and a former NCAA Field Hockey Player.  

A tech innovation, transformations, and operations leader, Lauren is motivated by data-driven decisions that enable businesses to run more efficiently, reliably, and sustainably. Lauren focused on strategy and transformation, including regional and global target operating models, large-scale technology innovation, and industry change.  

Prior to JP Morgan Asset Management, Lauren was a VP at Goldman Sachs.   

In this episode, we discuss:         

- Why Lauren chose field hockey as her favourite sport coming out of high school        

- How she made the decision to choose Hofstra University when deciding on her NCAA playing career         

- Why Lauren believes digital transformations are all about people         

- One trick we can all use when we feel like not giving our best in a certain role         

- How Lauren hires her team in a large organization        

- And one thing every executive can do to come out of this pandemic stronger

🏈 WEBSITE 🏈 http://tanvirbhangoo.com/

🎙PODCAST🎙 https://tanvirbhangoo.com/podcast/

Let's Connect:

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/tanvir.bhangoo/

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanvirbhangoo/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/tanvirbhangoo

Cedric Clark is the VP of Operations for Sam's Club, one of the largest retailers in America and a Walmart Company.

He also hosts ‎The DäBU Podcast.  He is a former NCAA D1 Basketball Player and played for Washington State University.

He started his career at Walmart and over the years, worked his way up to the role of a Regional VP. He was then appointed to VP of Ops at Sam's Club.

In this episode we dive into:

- Cedric's early life growing up and love of basketball

- How Cedric willed his way to D1 NCAA career by embracing the opportunity to practice with U. of. Arizona's Women's basketball team

- Why the pain of discipline is better than the pain of regret

- How tech and ops teams can work together in retail businesses

- How Cedric's past allowed him to build a strong corporate career

- Why leaders must develop internal talent and focus on strengths over weaknesses

- How Cedric took the concept of mission to milestones from the court to business

Remember to subscribe to Cedric's ‎The DäBU podcast and don't forget to leave your reviews for the episode.

🏈 WEBSITE 🏈 http://tanvirbhangoo.com/

🎙PODCAST🎙 https://tanvirbhangoo.com/podcast/

Let's Connect:

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/tanvir.bhangoo/

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanvirbhangoo/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/tanvirbhangoo

TJ Galiardi is a former NHL player who played 8 seasons in the NHL. Post NHL, he co-founded Outcast Foods, a sustainable food tech company that makes beautiful food out of ugly produce and is currently in major retailers across Canada. TJ was drafted 55th overall in NHL's 07 drafted by Colorado Avalanche.

He played junior hockey in Calgary and also played collegiate hockey at Dartmouth College.

Some things we dive into on this episode include:

- TJ's early life growing up and playing Hockey

- How to build a good working relationship with your teammates, despite differences

- Why life gets better when you are grateful vs. having a big ego (even at NHL Level)

- How TJ founded Outcast Foods and success

- Why TJ believes networking is so powerful at any stage of your career

- Advantage that student-athletes have when it comes to business

Remember to follow TJ on all social platforms and check out his company at outcastfoods.com

🏈 WEBSITE 🏈

http://tanvirbhangoo.com/ 

🎙PODCAST🎙

https://tanvirbhangoo.com/podcast/

 Let's Connect: 

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/tanvir.bhangoo/ 

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanvirbhangoo/ 

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/tanvirbhangoo

Adam Zeitsiff is the President and CEO at Intelivideo -  a video on demand live-streaming and digital platform, for gyms, health clubs, and fitness businesses.

Adam was the former President and CEO of Gold's Gym, one of the world's top 100 most recognized brands, with more than 650 locations in 29 countries.

Prior to Gold's Gym, Adam was the CIO at Smoothie King, and also held the position of CIO for Gold's Gym and President of Jonas Fitness.

Adam began his career as an entrepreneur where he co-founded and helped build the business from the ground-up into a leading national provider of video conferencing and integrated audio-visual solutions – growing from zero to $35M in revenues and 2 to 85 employees over 8 years.

In this episode we walk-through:

- Adam's early career and how entrepreneurship helped him become a well-rounded leader

- Influence his early education and family had on his career

- Why it's ok to fail quickly and how to rebound

- How he handled uncertainty over the last year during the pandemic

- How Adam has been able to connect business and technology to drive business growth

- Foundations to moving fast in a large, franchised business

🏈 WEBSITE 🏈

http://tanvirbhangoo.com/

🎙PODCAST🎙

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Mr. Del Leonard Jones is a novelist and former reporter with a career spanning 18 years at USA Today. Mr. Jones wrote more than 300 cover stories at USA Today and received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for beat reporting.

He covered the corporate management money section, worked with thousands of CEOs, and wrote more cover stories than any other USA today reporter in any section! Selected twice as USA Today Enterprise All-Star reporter. 

Recently Mr. Jones wrote two novels. The Cremation of Sam McGee and At the Bat: The Strikeout that Shamed America.

The latter ranked #9 on Goodreads list of 112 greatest baseball novels of all time. You can find At the Bat on Amazon - just search "Strikeout" on Amazon. 

He also officiates high school and collegiate sports in the Washington D.C. area.

In this episode we discuss: 

- Mr. Jones' early life and how he got started in journalism 

- History of the game of baseball, and how much power the umpires really had 

- Some of his stories during his time interviewing CEOs of Fortune 500s 

- Some of the things he did to get in front of the right folks 

- Building strong teams and what he saw as key strategies across the business landscape 

- The motivation and story behind his novel At the Bat  Remember to follow and check out his book on Amazon, and don't forget to subscribe to our podcast on Youtube, Apple, or Spotify!  

🏈 WEBSITE 🏈 

http://tanvirbhangoo.com/ 

🎙PODCAST🎙 

https://tanvirbhangoo.com/podcast/ 

Let's Connect:  

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/tanvir.bhangoo/ 

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanvirbhangoo/ 

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/tanvirbhangoo

Dr. Nick Bontis is a Professional Keynote Speaker, Award-winning Business Professor, and the President of Canada Soccer. Dr. Bontis was an all-star soccer student-athlete at the University of Western Ontario.He is the world’s leading expert on intellectual capital and its impact on performance and was named as one of the Top 30 Management Gurus world-wide. He helps organizations leverage their most important intangible asset for sustainable competitive advantage. Dr. Bontis has been immersed in the field since 1991 when a cover story in Fortune Magazine, titled “Brainpower”, changed the course of his life. Risking a secure future, he left a promising banking career to pursue a Ph.D. in the field. His groundbreaking doctoral dissertation went on to become the #1 selling thesis in Canada. His accomplishments thus far could fill a volume.Today, Dr. Bontis is:

• Award-winning academic researcher, Chair of Strategic Management at DeGroote School of Business
• Recently appointed president of Soccer Canada!
• Management consultant; Director at the Institute for Intellectual Capital Research
• Professional keynote speaker who has been hand-picked by UN, Microsoft, IBM, Accenture, amongst many others

Dr. Bontis has over a dozen research/teaching awards, and Macleans has identified him as McMaster's most popular business professor for six years in a row. And was also awarded the 3M National Teaching Fellowship.Some Things Dr. Bontis Discusses In This Episode:

• Why you need to build rapport, and how to do it in a digital world
• Why he shook the hand of every single player of the opposing team after a tough loss during his college soccer career
• Why the only way to thrive is to strive to become inimitable
• How he manages his team as President of Canada Soccer and what business execs can learn from his strategy
• What you should do when you're in a role that you don't like
• How student-athletes can navigate the next few years post-Covid

Devon Harris is - founder member of the Jamaican bobsled team, a military officer, and an author and a motivational speaker.

He was one of the founding members of the Jamaica national bobsled team, which first competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta (shoutout to Canada!) 

As an original member of the 1988 Jamaican bobsled team and captain of the 1992 and 1998 teams; 3-time Olympian, Devon Harris achieved his grand dream. His current dream is to inspire others to achieve theirs. As an international motivational keynote speaker, Devon is tapping the same energy, determination and skills that enabled him to bobsled with the best in the world and is now sparking audiences of all ages to dream big and take their “game” to the next level. 

Born on Christmas Day, 1964, Devon Harris was raised in the violent ghetto environment of Olympic Gardens in Kingston, Jamaica. The greatest gift he ever received was the belief that a positive attitude and a never say die philosophy would carry him farther than a sense of injustice and a heart filled with anger. 

Devon Harris graduated from the prestigious Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in England and received a Queen’s Commission in December 1985 and served in the officer corps of the Jamaica Defence Force until December 1992 when he retired as a Captain.

 In 2006, Harris founded the Keep On Pushing Foundation which supports the education of kids in disadvantaged communities  During the 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang, Devon was honoured by the World Olympians Association and inducted as an Olympian For Life in recognition of the significant contribution he has made to society in inspiring others never to give up. 

In this episode, Devon and I chat about: 

- The story behind Devon's Olympic dream back in the 80's 

- Why never giving up is different than what we think (Vision vs. Task) 

- How to enjoy the journey while not losing track of the destination 

- How good things take time - it's a long process that you can't cheat 

- No matter how bad things are, you need to take ownership and responsibility to succeed 

- Devon's Keep on Pushing Foundation and its story

You can learn more about Devon on his website at Devonharris.com and follow him on all major social media platforms.

Visit my website to learn about Sports to Business:

https://tanvirbhangoo.com/

On this week’s podcast, I chat with Andrew Kinnear,  Co-Founder and President  of yellofruit,- a plant based alternative to ice cream, which is now in over 1200 retailers across Canada.

Andrew built the business from the ground up with his wife, when they first realized they need a solution to regular ice cream in 2016.

Prior to yellofruit, Andrew worked as a consultant helping businesses on their digital marketing and tech journeys. He also spent some time in Tim Hortons, and OLG, where he was responsible for all non-paid media and direct-to-consumer marketing technology platforms for the Lottery business unit, including systems and platforms at Ontario's 10,000 Lottery Retailers

On this episode, we discuss:

• How Andrew built a plant based CPG business
  
• Some of the challenges he faced while getting into 1200 retailers
  
• The future of D2C industry
  
• What Andrew believes is key success factor for businesses on a digital journey
  
• How to shift your strategy on tech as an entrepreneur, to a small business, to multinational
  

Be sure to checkout yellofruit at your major grocery and independent retailers, and check out their website at yellofruit.com

Jeremiah Brown is a keynote speaker,  silver medalist Olympian, and a best selling author of the book The 4 Year Olympian. Jeremiah started his athletic career as an Offensive Lineman at McMaster University.

He had never played football prior to that! After his football career was over, Brown decided to move to British Columbia to begin his transition to rowing after watching the Canadian men's eights win gold at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He started a learn-to-row program with the Canadian national program and spent 1,700 hours in training to learn the sport.

In his competitive career he won a silver medal at the 2010 nationals as a singles sculler and he next achieved success when he won a bronze at the 2011 World Rowing Championships. Today, Jeremiah shares his story with audiences across numerous industries including - Twitter, Marsh Insurance, TD Bank, the Ontario Ministry of Education, amongst many others."

tanvirbhangoo.com

TBX Digital inc.

Back in my college days, I used to think leadership was when someone knew all the answers and directed the team on what to do.

A lot of that came from what I had seen on TV growing up, and some of that came from experience seeing leaders execute.

The one thing however that I realized as I embarked on my tech career was that the leaders that are actually successful - are the ones that are able to earn the respect of their teams, and not necessarily those who are liked or make the most popular choices. 

This was further solidified as I started to look back at some of my great coaches, and one thing that stood out was their ability to lead a team, being respected, and being there every step of the way.

If you're looking to further uncover this, then this week's episode is for you.

Brian Michael Cooper is a member of the Houston office of Frost Brown Todd LLC specializing in sports, entertainment, and media transactions. He is admitted to practice in Texas, New York, and Colorado.  Brian has served as president of two professional sports teams, most recently the XFL Houston Roughnecks, where he received recognition for his work in the Sports Business Journal. 

tanvirbhangoo.com

TBX Digital inc. 

This week, I had the honour of chatting with Jesse Lumsden - 3x Olympian

Lumsden is a McMaster product and a Hec Crighton Trophy winner,  invited to the East-West Shrine Game. Drafted 6th overall in CFL draft in 05, Jesse Lumsden spent some time with NFL's Seattle Seahawks and Washington Redskins and later played for Hamilton TiCats, Edmonton, and Calgary.   

Lumsden currently leads strategic partnerships for Neo Financial, a Fintech Startup.

tanvirbhangoo.com

TBX Digital Inc.

On this week's episode, I chat with Austin Sadnick, Director of Therapy Management at United Health Group, a Fortune 5 organization. 

Austin is also an accomplished commercial strategist, sales leader, speaker, and former NCAA athlete.  

Leading a team focused on bringing innovative and novel new products or capabilities to the market while also ensuring continued progress and sales outcomes, he is no stranger to high-performance expectations and elevated pressure situations.  

Layered around discipline, mental conditioning, and self-belief his thought concepts are often untamed but consistent. Through personal networks and social media, Austin strives to share his vision with thousands of people and inspire them to explore their own potential.

Known for his energy and passion for mental fortitude, he is the founder of his sole proprietor coaching firm capable mentality.  

His visionary perspective has earned him opportunities to work on nationally prominent campaigns, speak on summit stages, and design life-changing products. Austin is based out of Chicago IL.   

Watch full episode here https://tanvirbhangoo.com/2020/09/28/ep-10-austin-sadnick-spend-time-building-your-foundation/

tanvirbhangoo.com 

TBX Digital Inc.

In this episode, I chat with Mike Morreale, the CEO and Commissioner of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL), Canada's professional basketball league. 

Mike was an all-star football player at McMaster University and went on to have a monstrous 12 year career in the CFL. 

This included:

- 2 Time Grey Cup Champion – 1996,1999

- CFL Most Outstanding Canadian Player - 2008

- Grey Cup Canadian MVP – 1999

Post CFL, Mike held the role of President at CFL Players Association. Subsequently, he held the position of Director at Airsprint.

In 2018, Mike led the launch of CEBL's first inaugural season and in May 2019 launched the first season across Canada. Inaugural teams are located in Saskatoon, Edmonton, Fraser Valley, Hamilton, Guelph, and Niagara. In 2020 the CEBL welcomed its 7th team the Ottawa BlackJacks. The CEBL provides sports fans, partners, and sponsors with a premium entertainment option while growing the sport of basketball at the highest level in Canada. The CEBL is the Official Men’s Division 1 Professional Partner of Canada Basketball

The 2020 season dubbed the “CEBL Summer Series” saw the CEBL become the first pro league to return to play in Canada during the COVID pandemic and subsequently finish with 26 games and a new Champion the Edmonton Stingers. 

Watch the episode here:

http://tanvirbhangoo.com/2020/09/21/ep-9-mike-morreale-encourage-failure-or-risk-being-average/

tanvirbhangoo.com

TBX Digital Inc.

Here is a podcast where I was a guest on Emerson Taymor's podcast "Fail Faster"

I shared how my college football days helped me shape how I think about building teams. I also discussed how I think about partnering, building or buying for big tech projects.  I hope you enjoy!

tanvirbhangoo.com

TBX Digital Inc. 

In this episode, I chat with Devon McDonald, Partner at OpenView Ventures. An expansion stage venture capital firm investing in high-growth software companies such as Calendly, Datadog, Workfront, and Expensify.

Devon was an NCAA D1 college basketball athlete at Colgate University. After college, she started her career at Michael Page as Manager of Sales and Marketing.

Looking to grow and build her own career path, Devon then went on and carved a role for herself at OpenView in 2009, in a position that was really a guinea pig experiment.

Taking that role head-on, she crushed it, and since then has held various roles and projects in many different areas of the firm, and is now a Partner.

A story that is filled with strength, optimism, humility, and drive.
Devon was also voted 20 women to watch in sales lead management

You can follow Devon on LinkedIn, and on Twitter - at DevMcDee

tanvirbhangoo.com
TBX Digital Inc.

This week, I chat with Alessandro Francella, MD, a sports Medicine Physician at Cleveland Clinic Canada and someone whom I called a teammate at McMaster.

Dr. Francella has a strong interest in sport and exercise medicine, physical activity promotion, emergency medicine, and sideline and event coverage.

At McMaster, Alex graduated with an Honors Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology. He played 4 years of varsity football for the Marauders, where he was a 3-time Marauder Scholar, and 2-time Academic All-Canadian. In his final year, he was also nominated for the Russ Jackson Award, given annually to the Canadian university football player who best exemplifies the attributes of football skill, academic achievement and citizenship.

Dr. Francella obtained his Doctor of Medicine from the Saba University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in Family Medicine at the University of Toronto, where he was Chief Resident in his final year.

Dr. Francella is dedicated to working with his patients to develop individualized treatment plans to help them return to their activity or sport of choice. He believes in exercise as a first-line treatment for a variety of medical conditions - not simply musculoskeletal-related injuries. He is also involved in a variety of educational and research endeavours to ensure he remains up to date and providing the best treatment to his patients. He is contributing editor to the educational website www.sportmedschool.com.

tanvirbhangoo.com

TBX Digital Inc.

I recently had the opportunity to chat with Zack Oates - CEO of Ovation, a guest feedback platform with a feedback loop that gives businesses operational insights, instant guest recovery, and data to drive revenue. 

Zack and I chatted about the future of the restaurant industry, how brands can take advantage of the current landscape, and why it's important to block out the noise and be focused on the journey.

Here is a repost from from the episode which was originally posted on the Ovation website. You can visit their website here at - ovationup.com

tanvirbhangoo.com

TBX Digital Inc.

Kristen Holmes is the VP of Performance Science at Whoop, a personalized fitness tracking startup making big waves. And she's also one of the most succesful NCAA coaches in NCAA history, and was a two sport, hockey and basketball athlete and AA national champion.

As Vice President of Performance Science at WHOOP, Kristen drives thought leadership by engaging with industry leading researchers and partners to better understand individual and team biometric and performance data across high stakes verticals. Kristen also works with hundreds of the best tactical, professional, surgical teams, and NCAA Athletes/Teams in the world helping them interpret WHOOP data to optimize training, recovery, and sleep behaviour.

As an athlete, Kristen was a 3x All American, 2 x Big 10 Athlete of the year at the University of Iowa competing in both Field Hockey and Basketball. 7 year member of the U.S. National Field Hockey Team and one of the most successful coaches in Ivy League history, having won 12 league titles in 13 seasons and a National Championship at Princeton University. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan Executive MBA Candidate (‘20), MIT Sloan Artificial Intelligence Certificate, M.A. Psychology and Sports Performance, B.S., Political Science, University of Iowa.

Today she is focused on investigating and interrogating the science behind the physiological, psychological, and organizational factors that interact to either promote or degrade performance.

You can follow Kristen and her work on Instagram and LinkedIn, and visit Whoop.com to learn about the groundbreaking tech!

tanvirbhangoo.com
TBX Digital Inc.