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Past Episodes

May 8, 2025
Juice, eggs and cooking up the next generation of leaders with First Watch’s Lilah Taha-Rippett

Lilah (pronounced like Layla) has overseen the supply chain for east Manatee County-based First Watch since 2017. She’s been in food service supply and logistics for some 30 years, working …

May 1, 2025
From farming in Colorado to growing leaders in the community w/ University Area CDC’s Sarah Combs

A nonprofit executive, Sarah has been with the University Area CDC since 2010 and executive director and CEO since 2015. The University Area CDC is a nonprofit public/private partnership supporting …

April 24, 2025
Growing a bank in a crowded market while leading for the long term with Sam Guerrieri

Sam Guerrieri is an executive vice president with the Canandaigua National Trust Co., where, among other units, he oversees CNB Wealth Management, Canandaigua National Trust Company of Florida. The Florida …

April 17, 2025
Building a mission-driven nonprofit quickly w/ Habitat for Humanity Tampa Bay Gulfside Mike Sutton

Mike Sutton was named CEO of the Tampa Bay Gulfside unit a decade ago, when it had just finished house No. 280 and was only in Pinellas County. Now it’s …

April 10, 2025
Succession & sustainability with Gulf Coast Community Foundation President & CEO Phillip Lanham

Phillip Lanham is approaching his two-year anniversary of being named president and CEO of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, one of the largest, and most visible, foundations in the region. …

April 3, 2025
Manifesting success and jettisoning self-doubt with Jen Hemmerdinger

Jennifer Hemmerdinger has been in the media and public relations business for some two decades, going back to when she was a DJ on FM radio in New Hampshire in …

March 27, 2025
Taking chances, selling groceries and building luxury condo towers w/ billionaire John Catsimatidis

John Catsimatidis has garnered a net worth of $4.5 billion through grit, guts and guile. Raised in a tight-knit Greek-American family, Catsimatidis learned how to hustle and get along with …

March 20, 2025
Building communities where people want to live with Wellen Park’s Rick Severance

Rick Severance has worked for some of the largest development communities in Florida, leading up to his current post, as president of Wellen Park, a master-planned community in south Sarasota …

March 13, 2025
Nothing fishy about it: Overseeing one of the largest aquariums in Florida with Roger Germann

Roger Germann has overseen a major growth spurt and expansion at the Florida Aquarium in the past five-plus years. The budget has grown from $21 million to $42 million in …

March 6, 2025
I’ll be here all week: Les McCurdy and the business of comedy

Les McCurdy wasn’t born funny. But he’s learned a lot about the business of being funny in nearly 40 years of running a comedy club. McCurdy’s, in downtown Sarasota, draws …

« 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 »

Team

Host

Mark Gordon

Mark Gordon is the managing editor of the Business Observer. Mark has been a business journalist and editor for more than 20 years, and one of his passions is writing about leadership. That led to Mark to start writing a leadership column in 2021 in the Business Observer, called Leadership Matters. It also led to the creation of the From the Corner Office podcast in June 2023.

Producer

Read Corley

Read attended elementary, middle and high school in Manatee County. After graduating from Florida State University and navigating the pandemic, Read joined up with his father to create the podcast I 501(c) You - The Podcast for Nonprofit Board Members. As the podcast has grown, Read has created a path producing podcasts for others, including the Business Observer.

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