Career Catalyst

The next guest is another healthcare professional, but much of his story reflects the lessons of many business/finance tracks. His name is Anthony Dalponte, and he is the GVP of Pharmacy Operations at Albertsons. Tony is responsible for the operation and management of over 1700 pharmacies around the US. His career path as a pharmacist started out with a simple visit to an academic advisors office at the University of Iowa. I am certain you’ll enjoy both Tony’s tremendous energy and career insights, but also his story of how he wound up as a senior executive at a multi billion dollar organization.

Our next guest is a change up from some of our previous guests, as he is the first chiropractor on the show. His name is Dr David Huff and he shares his story of pursuing a career in the health and wellness space. Dr Huff’s passions started at a young age and peaked while in undergrad. 

Although he has dedicated his life's work to helping people become healthier versions of themselves, many of the career insights are relevant to anyone seeking to align a passion with a profession.  His opportunities opened up when he had access to a large community of Chiropractors participating in post grad work and then he shaped his vision for his own practice by working for different types of practices early on his journey.

Dr Huff has a great journey pursuing his passions and he is working hard to share those passions with others.

On the next episode, we speak to Dennis Koutoudis a bestselling author and a globally recognized LinkedIn Coach who has helped thousands of individuals and companies accomplish their professional goals. He has a community of over 3 million people following him on Social Media while he has been featured in Forbes, Fortune, CNN and many other esteemed publications.

Dennis's passion for building a network and helping anyone, be it an individual trying to strengthen their professional network or a major company trying to build awareness, leverage the power of a well developed online/social presence.  His story is also filled with insights about finding your passions and pursuing what will bring you joy.  Finally, his energy is infectious and you can feel how passionate he is about what he does.

On the next episode of Career Catalyst, I speak with Michael Sorich, a plaintiff's personal injury lawyer in Chicago. Michael shares his story of how he found a passion for law, worked his way through the State Attorney’s office and is currently a senior partner at the well respected Cavanagh Law Group. At first glance, this is a good example of a successful career in the legal field, but when you hear how Michael approached his path, there are excellent lessons for anyone in any field.

Career Catalyst is a podcast that explores the unique journeys individuals take in their career, and the various insights and perspectives that emerge as each person shares their pursuit of purpose and passion  The goal of the podcast is to build a series of stories that explore various career journeys and illustrate that there are lots of paths that can be taken and, in many cases, how those paths lead to different outcomes than originally planned. The podcast was started because there is a tremendous amount of value in hearing the stories of individuals and their life journeys.  Lastly, I just find it extremely inspiring to hear the stories of my friends, peers and colleagues, how they are thinking about careers and fulfilling life goals.

Cameron Walker shares his career story that winds through some of the coolest companies of the last 2 decades.  His genuine demeanor mixed with his intelligence and business acumen has put him in many unique opportunities ranging from Twitter where he was one of the first 300 employees to Pixar where he was one of the few "business" people at the company.  These opportunities have also given him exposure to some of the bigger personalities and celebrity leaders as well, ranging from Steve Jobs at Pixar and Jack Dorsey at Twitter.  Cameron's outlook on how to think about career moves, what to look for in opportunities, and how to build a strong network by just being a good person are great career lessons.  He has a good approach to balancing his passion in his career and life and uses it to help him find meaningful opportunities throughout his journey.

In our first episode of the fourth season of Career Catalyst, we sit-down with Annie Early, a lobbyist in the State of Wisconsin.  Among many great insights from her very successful career, Annie shares her story that starts out with her taking advantage of an opportunity in a firm and transforming that into an equity partner role.  Unlike some of our other guests, Annie's story doesn't necessarily change a whole lot, but she has had plenty of challenges, obstacles, and decision points which has taught her important lessons about developing mentors, finding the right circles of people as advisors, and cultivating a strong network.

Not only does she talk about building her career, she also talks about how creating flexibility and control in her worklife has become a critically important aspect of her professional life.  Being able to watch her daughter's basketball game or be home for important moments is a result of Annie's hard work and focus early in her career.

In this episode, we talk to Erin Armendinger, the CEO of Compass Experience Labs, a boutique business process outsource company that offers solutions to support customer experiences for retailers and DTC brands.  Her journey starts out in government at Lockheed-Martin, but quickly winds into banking at MetLife, and after completing her MBA at Wharton, she pivoted into the world of Retail.  Since then, she has had a number of leadership roles at major brands and retailers such as Tiffany's and Walmart, Commercial-Retail Real Estate, and six years leading Wharton's Baker Retailing Center.  

Erin's shares a great story filled with insights about how she has used her natural curiosity and passion for learning to develop a strong network that has created a number of unique career opportunities.  Some great examples and advice for how being open to potential and cultivating strong relationships can pay dividends in a career.

In this episode, we sit down with Adam Duggins, the Co-founder and Managing Partner of New Page Capital, a firm that acquires and operates manufacturing and industrial companies.  Adam shares his story about starting out in Finance, earning an MBA and following the traditional post-graduate path into consulting where he realized the potential in buying/operating his own companies.  His path also helped him realize what his true passion was, and his perspective on "finding your passion" is inspiring.  This is a great discussion that explores the hidden opportunities in entrepreneurship, SMB management, and how to cultivate a strong network.

In the next episode of season 3, we talk to Mary Ellen Kelleher who is the VP of Product Management at Smokeball, a legal software-as-a-service company.  In this discussion, Mary Ellen shares her story about how she turned a Political Science degree into a successful care leading the product management function at a tech/software company.  She has great insights about the twists and turns of a career path, as well as an exceptional perspective based in systems thinking and how she talks about what she refers to as infrastructure.  

In this episode, we speak with Tony Grant, who is the CEO of Northern United Brewing, a craft beer company and restaurant operator in Michigan.  Tony has a great story that starts with an Electrical Engineering degree, a brief stint in the National Football League, and then an "accidental" journey into the retail industry.  Now, Tony claims to be a full-blown retail geek and loves the constant activity that a career in the retail industry requires.  In the discussion, he shares his insights on how and why he made certain decisions, why its so important to find opportunities that help you grow and learn, and why he's found great satisfaction in the smaller company. 

On the 6th episode of season 3, we welcome Chad Shackford who is an Aviation Safety Inspector for the Federal Aviation Authority, and has spent his career living out his childhood dream to be a pilot.  Oddly enough though, halfway his career he pursued an opportunity that meant he would not actively fly commercial airplanes.  Chad has a great story with lessons that are applicable to any career, including many decisions to balance family / work-life and choice of where he wanted to live.  If you have ever dreamed of being a pilot or have a lifelong passion, this is a great career story told by a great guy.

Season 3 interviews kick-off with an interview of Amanda Gettes, who is the Executive Dean of Urban Agriculture at City Colleges of Chicago, where she is on the leading edge of building education programs for the development of Cannabis and other urban farming initiatives.  She started her career in environmental science, but pivoted into public service, then pursued an opportunity in higher education.  Her story is filled with critical decision points leading to career changes that set-up her role leading strategic initiatives at Olive Harvey College, and eventually her role leading the Urban Agriculture program.  Not only does Amanda have a great career story, she's also my little cousin, so I cannot stress how proud I am to know her both personally and professionally.

Finishing off our look back at previous episodes, we revisit the discussion with Tony Giberti, which is one of the most popular episodes we have had on Career Catalyst.  In this episode, we focus on a few of the insights Tony has on his career as he discusses the importance of finding your passion and understanding how you can make an impact to achieve a rewarding career.  He has shares his story with how he landed a leadership role at the start-up Wellnecity and how he manages stress in daily routines.  If you enjoy these insights, we highly recommend you listen to the complete episode (004), season 1, episode 4.

In this episode, we continue the "highlight" format, pulling together some great insights from Meredith Smith's interview (Season 2, Episode 1) where she talks about her "non-linear" career.  Meredith has some fantastic insights about how to think about your career like a sculpture, first taking large chunks out of the block of wood (or marble, or ice....whatever your material), then starting to get more finite with your touches, brushing and sanding to get more fine tuned.  She also talks about how important it is to find good people to help you understand and learn throughout your career, and avoid those who can work against you. 

In the spring of 2021, we sat down with Rob Cancilla, a career coach and executive recruiter who has amassed a large following on TikTok with his expert advice for job seekers.  In this highlight episode, we focus on some of the key insights from the full episode, focusing on how he has leveraged his network to successfully navigate 6 career changes and how he found his way to TikTok as a content creator.

Rob has a great story that starts at Syracuse University where he went in pursuing a film production degree, but wound up obtaining a communications degree.  He has moved from managing customer support teams to leading development efforts at non-profit, and more recently stints at digital start-ups and major tech companies like Facebook and Pinterest.  He now is the Talent Strategy Director at Hunt Club, a venture backed search agency focused on changing the way companies (and individuals) go about finding their next candidate (or career move).

We kick-off season 3 of Career Catalyst, we are testing out some new formats and going back into the first 2 seasons to highlight some of the insights our guests shared about career development and how to create your own career story.  Also, I have a new partner on the show, Zach Jewell, who is a broadcast engineer for Learfield Sports and is considerably younger than I.  He offers up some excellent alternative perspectives on the discussions.

In the first episode of season 3, we revisit the conversation with Neely Tamminga, who describes herself as a "Economic Nutritionist" and after nearly three decades in banking and on Wall Street, she and a partner started their own boardroom advisory business called Distilled.  The original discussion was published in November of 2020, but so much of her insights and perspectives certainly have a long shelf-life.  We focus on a few of the key themes she has built her career on, including having intentionality, building strong relationships with mentors, and navigating tough decisions.

On this final episode of season 2, I talk with a unique guest who has forged his own path in a career that has ranged from insurance sales, to rental car agency management, to payment processing, and most recently in a financial management role at Northwestern Mutual. His name is Terrence Floyd, and he shares his story about the importance of perseverance, setting personal goals, and creating independent income streams. His insights are unique and helpful, and many of his quotes are memorable.

The fascinating twist was that his journey had a very interesting turn early on, when. his roommate at Delaware St inadvertently brought nunchucks to their dorm room, resulting in Terrence transferring to North Carolina A&T.  In addition to the sticky situation with the marital arts weapons, he spent 6 years studying a field he wound up pivoting out of immediately after finishing his masters degree.

For anyone who has contemplated 100% commission roles or starting a business in an open territory, this is a great conversation to learn about the ups and downs of being in business for yourself.

On the next episode, my guest has a career story that ranges running tech start-ups, grinding at IBM, owning pizza franchise and writing a book. His name is Erik Severinghaus and he talks about the highs and lows of his journey, and why those life lessons propelled him to the top of Mt Everest.

Erik has his first book coming out in May called “Scale Your Everest: How to Be A Resilient Entrepreneur” and he shares some of the inspiration for writing the book in our discussion. He also talks about how he used his experience at IBM to polish his business skills and apply it to other companies he would start later in his career. The discussion includes great insights about the difficulties and hardships of being an entrepreneur, and how to overcome some of the most difficult moments.

Whether you are looking to start your own company or just contemplating your next steps in your career, Erik shares strong insights and perspectives about why being resilient can lead to success in any type of career journey.

In the next episode of Career Catalyst, I have a conversation with a guy who has had a wide ranging career and finds himself today creating job searching and career planning advice content on TikTok and LinkedIn.  His name is Rob Cancilla and his career journey has spanned high end credit card customer service, program management for executive education at the Harvard Business School, consulting at PWC, working at video/content ventures, leading efforts at a career development firm for the visually impaired, and, most recently, an executive recruiter for a tech enabled search start-up.  

Along with a fascinating career story, Rob shares great advice on how to think about a career.  He also provides some perspective about where job search and career planning efforts are going as new platforms continue to mature and employers get smarter about how they evaluate and hire talent.

After you listen to the show, be sure to check him out on TikTok and on LinkedIn, as he gives some powerful advice about all sorts of topics related to building a strong profile on LinkedIn, to how to prepare for an interview and what to do when negotiating your offer with a company.

In the 5th episode of season 2, I speak with Dan Moriarty the Digital Leader for both the Chicago Bulls and the Chicago White Sox.  Dan's career story starts out with a brief attempt as an entrepreneur, and then launches into a great path in digital strategy.  His journey is fully aligned with the digital wave of the last 2 decades, and starts in an agency, goes to a large hotel chain and then lands him in an opportunity to connect fans with the Bulls and White Sox through digital touchpoint.  Dan is a digital expert and has been on the cutting edge of many digital experiences at Hyatt Hotels and now in sports.

Dan provides great advice about how to build your skills and focus on opportunities that will create new paths, versus simply chasing compensation.  He references a great quote about the challenge with life, in that it is best understood backwards, but you are forced to live it forward.  Anyone looking to find a path in digital experiences and marketing will want to check out this conversation.

In the 4th episode of season 2, I talk with an old friend and fellow Northern Michigan University graduate, Braden Graham.  Braden has had a fascinating career in experiential marketing, creating brand experiences all around the country and working with great brands like Cadillac.  He is an expert in combining the brand promise with the moment or event that brings to life what that brand wants people to feel when experiencing their product.  These experiences range racing cars around test tracks or going inside the design of a high performance vehicle.

Braden talks about the importance of learning how to do the work at an early age; when he was 14, he went to work at resorts near his hometown in Michigan.  He feels strongly about the importance of mentors in his life and why finding good mentors and great leaders is the key to success in any career.  Also, why being able to look at yourself in the mirror and have the honest conversation about what your good at, and what your are not.

A great conversation all around and some strong advice on how to work your way up in any career.

In the 3rd episode of Season 2, I talk with a former coworker and friend, Joanna Scott, who has had a great career in Corporate Finance.  Joanna's career story starts when she was hit by car while training as a member of the Central Michigan University distance running team and how that event put her on a path to study Business/Finance at Eastern Michigan University.  She talks about why Finance is an excellent field for her, and how it has created a number of opportunities to learn new businesses and different functions with a corporate organization.  

Joanna has learned a lot in her career, like taking a public company private, changing a fiscal year of an organization, and the process of spinning off a business.  She also talks about the importance of stepping back a bit, finding more time for life and working less.  

Like other guests, Joanna has experienced a lot of success by staying close to her network and jumping at opportunities, while also recognizing when it might be time to find a new role.  A great conversation all around.

In this episode, my guest Kevin Robinson talks about how his early aspirations to be a teacher shifted while attending the University of Notre Dame and how he found himself in a career in program management.  Kevin has relied on his strong belief system and core values to make tough decisions about career pursuits.  Also, how he has focused on cultivating strong relationships and used self-reflection to find success and satisfaction in his career journey.  Kevin recently started Liberty Corner, a consultancy focused on helping purpose driven organizations reach the aspirations of their missions.

To kick-off the second season of Career Catalyst, my guest in the first episode is Meredith Smith, and Innovation Consultant based in London.  Meredith's job is to work with some of the world's most fascinating organizations and brands to build innovation and create inspiring concepts through human-centric approaches and consumer research.  She talks about how she found her way early on at major retailers like Target, created a unique role for herself that eventually put her on a path to study innovation and design in London, and how she found herself where she is today.  Meredith has great advice on career management, accepting the non-linear nature of careers, and how to embrace risks in life that can open up tremendous opportunities.

You know from the get go that Neely is going to be a special kind of guest when she describes herself as an "economic nutritionist."  She has built her career in research, starting out in banking, then moving to Piper Jaffery where she led the consumer practice, and then in 2016 struck off on her own to start an advisory firm called DISTILL.  In here latest venture, she advises executives and C-Level leaders.  Neely's wit and humor make her insights that much more enjoyable, especially when it comes to learning how to listen to the advice from the people closest to you, or how to really understand what is most important to you.

Neely covers a lot of ground and has some great perspective on the "pushes" and "pulls" of your career, how to think about creating value, having options, and appreciating intentionality.  Not to mention, she has a great Tedx talk about "Mindful Consumption"  (Tedx talk:  https://youtu.be/ZEi1JKQ7maE).

In this episode, Paul Giudice talks about not having a great plan for what he wanted to do coming out of school.  While working in the service industry as a server and in security at restaurants and clubs in LA, he was punched in the face during a bar fight.  That moment put him on a path into sales where he found success working with companies like Salesforce, Square, Predict Spring and now a start-up called Avochato.  

Paul talks about learning how to grind early on and how that set him up down the road by learning how to be comfortable with uncomfortable situations.  He also talks about how important it is to surround yourself with smart people who will push you to challenge yourself and grow outside your immediate circles.

A great conversation, perfect for someone looking at a career in sales and a great example about how you sometimes just have to grind it out to find your path.

In Episode 6, Kurt Phillips shares his background growing up in Wisconsin and finding his path in finance.  He has built a great career working with technology enabled growth companies, helping those organizations transition from a focus on small-medium business offerings to scaling operations to deliver larger enterprise solutions.  Kurt talks about how he has built a strong morale foundation and uses his strong value system to guide his management style.  Leveraging great mentors and a MBA from a top-tier graduate school, he provides excellent perspective on how to build a rewarding career in finance.

In episode 5, I talk with Kat Van Fossen, who used a MBA from a top tier school to make a career pivot from the Insurance industry to leading a brand strategy agency that focuses on behavioral science and consumer insights.  She explains how she has built a strong professional network, seeker advice for tough career decisions, and found opportunities to stretch herself.  Kat also talks about some mistakes she has made in pursuing promotions and overcoming tough situations in her career journey.  Kat has spent most of her career in large corporate organizations ranging from Progressive Insurance, PepsiCo, and VF Corporation, but now has found career satisfaction in running her own business.

When Tony started at West Point in the late nineties, he knew he was committing to serve his country.  Four years later, after the 9/11 attacks, he was leading a platoon of tanks in Iraq.  After 5 years of service, he came back to the US to  complete an MBA at the Tuck School of Business and start a decade long career in consulting.  Today he has switched his attention to smaller, faster moving growth companies, leading the operations of Wellnecity, a business focused on transforming how businesses manage their health insurance programs.

Adam is a serial entrepreneur who has gone from creating metal sculptures at the College of Charleston, to producing a web TV series where he took people like Snoop Dog and Kevin Costner fishing, to running a company that is capturing some of the most unique live music experiences in the world.  He talks about how to deal with getting punched in the face and strengthening your BS filter, and how learning from both of those experiences makes him more confident about the work that he does today.  Adam is a high energy, entertaining guy and has a great story to tell about his career.

Heather has built a great career in the retail industry, starting out in stores and working her way up through buyer roles and merchandising teams.  She has worked for some great brands including Tommy Bahama, Nordstrom and The North Face; and has worked on both sides of the retail spectrum, with physical stores and online.  Heather has a great perspective on how to take risks and how to think about long term goals when you are starting out.

Matt is a Partner at Hall & Partners, a boutique consumer insights and analytics agency.  He has spent most of his career with H&P and talks candidly about how he found success by joining a small, but growing agency, and was able to build his career along the way.  Matt grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and received an Economics degree from Northern Michigan University.

I created this podcast as a way to share the stories of individuals and how they have navigated their careers.  Each person I talk to has taken a different path and has been faced with various decisions along the way.  They talk about where they started, what they did early on in their careers, and how they made decisions to get to where they are now and how they believe this has positioned them for the future. 

Most of the individuals in the first set of conversations are in smaller, entrepreneurial organizations today, but many have spent time in large corporations and will share how they navigated the big companies and why they find themselves in smaller companies or pursuing their own individual endeavors.

These first few episodes are certainly "prototype" conversations, so I welcome feedback and comments, as it will definitely help me understand how to make the podcast better in the future.  I appreciate your willingness to listen and I hope you enjoy.