School for Startups Radio

March 2, 2026 – Hacking the Human Mind MichaelAaron Flicker and Business Beyond Borders Dean Foster

MichaelAaron Flicker – Founder/CEO of XenoPsi and Author of Hacking the Human Mind: The behavioral science secrets behind 17 of the world’s best brands
The power of words are very commonly underestimatedby entrepreneurs, by marketers.
MichaelAaron Flicker is an American entrepreneur and behavioral science strategist who serves as the founder and chief executive officer of XenoPsi Ventures, a brand incubator that provides financial, marketing, and intellectual capital to a diverse portfolio of companies. He started XenoPsi when he was just a young teenager and has grown it into one of America’s fastest-growing private firms, leading nine operating companies and consulting with more than 100 brands across sectors. MichaelAaron is co-author of Hacking the Human Mind: The behavioral science secrets behind 17 of the world’s best brands, a book that reveals how top companies use behavioral science to drive lasting growth. A recognized thought leader at the intersection of business and marketing, he founded the Consumer Behavior Lab to help brands apply behavioral science principles, and he co-hosts the Behavioral Science for Brands podcast exploring the latest insights in human decision making. His work has been featured in Fast Company and other industry publications, and he has been honored as one of NJBIZ’s “40 Under 40.” He holds degrees in political science and philosophy from Boston College and lives in New Jersey with his wife and three children.Dean Foster – International Business Expert and Author of Business Beyond Borders: Stories, Tales and Lessons Learned from Working in 100 Cultures Around the World
You can’t change the culture that you’re choosing to work with. That’snot your job, and it’s a long process to try to do that, but you can manageit and manage it for success.
Dean is the founder of DFA Intercultural Global Solutions ,and founder and former Worldwide Director of Berlitz Cross-Cultural. Based in New York City, Dean has played a central role in the development of the field of cross-cultural training and consulting. Dean has worked with most major Fortune 500 companies, national governments and NGOs (the United Nations and World Trade Institutes, among others), and as guest lecturer and faculty for premier educational institutions, including Harvard Business School, Columbia University School of Business, New York University, and Darden Business School. His work has taken him to more than 100 countries. He is the host on CNN of the nationwide “Doing Business in… ” series; a frequent guest commentator on culture, global work and social issues for CNN, CNBC, the BBC and other radio and TV shows; and has been interviewed in Newsweek, USA Today, New York Times, and elsewhere. He is the creator and host of the more than irreverent podcast, “Oops, Your Culture’s Showing!” Dean is a frequent presenter at major international conferences related to global work and cultural issues. He has been an active member of and speaker at the annual international conferences of Worldwide ERC©, the National Foreign Trade Council, the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), the International Institute for Human Resources (IIHR), and other organizations. In 2012 Dean was inducted into Worldwide ERC’s prestigious “Hall of Leaders”; in 2013 he received the Forum for Expatriate Management’s acclaimed Lifetime Achievement Award. Dean has written many articles and published six books, including “Bargaining Across Borders“, voted as one of the top ten business books of the year by the American Library Association. As a contributing editor with National Geographic, he wrote the monthly “CultureWise” column appearing in National Geographic Traveler Magazine. His latest book, “BUSINESS BEYOND BORDERS: Stories, Tales and Lessons Learned from Working in 100 Cultures Around the World” was published, November 2025. Dean is on the faculty of American University’s Intercultural Management Institute in Washington, DC. He received his Master’s degree in Sociology from the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research, NYC.

February 27, 2026 - So Worth It Kaelyn Query and Building Authority Rusty Shelton

Kaelyn Query – Award-winning Event Producer and Author of So Worth It! 
We actually make more money doing less events because we’re spendingmore time on each these clients then become repeat clients. A lot of ourcorporate clients were on retainer for them, and so we actually do betterwith less events. What a wild concept, right?
Kaelyn Query Caldwell is an award-winning event producer, small business owner, serial entrepreneur, author of So Worth It!, consultant, professor, and public speaker based in Lexington, Kentucky whose work spans clients across the United States and beyond. She began her career in events and hospitality during high school and turned her passion into a professional venture in 2013, eventually founding multiple successful companies including Kentucky Event Company, LexEffect Venues, and My Wedding Planner while producing countless events nationally and internationally. Kaelyn hosts the Big Ideas Small Business podcast and serves as the Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Transylvania University, where she mentors and teaches aspiring business leaders. Her entrepreneurial achievements have earned her numerous honors such as Entrepreneur of the Year and Top Event Planner recognitions, and she is active in her community through leadership and board roles. When she is not creating experiences or writing, Kaelyn enjoys travel, cooking, and time with her wife and son.Rusty Shelton – Founder of Zilker Media and Co-Author of “The Authority Advantage: Building Thought Leadership Focused on Impact Not Ego“
The way you punch above your weight class today is not to leadas a company with something to sell. Instead, it’s to lead as athought leader with something to teach.
Rusty Shelton is the Founder of Zilker Media and Co-Author of “The Authority Advantage: Building Thought Leadership Focused on Impact Not Ego“. Rusty Shelton first spoke at Harvard on the changing world of marketing and PR at the age of 23. He is a bestselling author, dynamic keynote speaker and successful entrepreneur who has focused his career on helping leaders build thought leadership focused on impact, not ego, writing three acclaimed books and speaking around the world to a variety of audiences, from YPO to SXSW Interactive to Forbes. He is Chairman of Zilker Media, an award-winning agency based in Austin, TX that builds people-driven brands and Senior Marketing Strategist at Forbes Books. Rusty’s keynotes blend humor and targeted examples to challenge assumptions about personal branding, showing audiences how to build authentic thought leadership focused on impact, not ego. He’s known for a mix of story-telling, candor and practical, put-it-into-action-next-week guidance – showing leaders how to make an impact and build trust in an increasingly skeptical world – and have a lot of fun along the way. He has shared the stage with Steve Forbes and Alan Mulally, spoken for YPO, EO, SXSW Interactive, the University of Texas, numerous Fortune 1000 companies and served on the faculty at more than 20 Harvard Medical School CME courses. He is the co-author (alongside Adam Witty) of The Authority Advantage: Building Thought Leadership Focused on Impact, Not Ego (ForbesBooks, 2023), which features a foreword from David Meerman Scott, Authority Marketing: How to Leverage 7 Pillars of Thought Leadership to Make Competition Irrelevant (ForbesBooks, 2018), which features a foreword from Steve Forbes, and co-author (alongside Barbara Cave Henricks) of Mastering the New Media Landscape: Embrace the Micromedia Mindset (Berrett-Koehler, 2016). An avid Texas Longhorns fan, he sits on the University of Texas Texas Exes PR Committee and is a proud member of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) in Austin, where he serves on the board. He lives just west of Austin in Spicewood with his wife, Paige and three children (Luke, Brady & Sadie) and their very rowdy black lab, Charlie. Rusty loves to play golf, fish, coach his sons’ sports teams and is the QB for Lake Travis’ top “old man” flag football team.

February 26, 2026 – Doc Holiday Will Cooper and Brian Will

Will Cooper – AKA Doc Holiday – Founder of Stock Market Ping Pong
We’re not looking for miracles. We’re not looking for home runs. We’re looking for safe, simple, repeatable, profitable trades.
Will Cooper is a serial entrepreneur turned professional day trader with more than 15 years of experience building companies in the Oil and Gas industry. During that time, he founded and helped develop seven start ups that collectively generated more than $500 million in gross revenue. When the COVID pandemic disrupted the energy sector, Will shifted his focus to the financial markets, transforming a long standing personal interest into a full time profession. Over the next two years, he developed a proprietary trading protocol and algorithm designed to identify repeatable opportunities using a disciplined, rules based approach. Today, nearly six years into his trading career, Will trades independently from his laptop, applying the same structured thinking that guided his success as an entrepreneur. He now shares his experience and methodology with others, helping traders understand the principles of consistency, discipline, and process that drive long term performance in the markets.Brian Will – Serial Entrepreneur and Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling Author of The Dropout Multi-Millionaire: 37 Business Lessons on How to Succeed in Business With No Money, No Education and No Clue
I had always build businesses that don’t require me to actually be in them and working them.
Brian Will is a serial entrepreneur who has created or co-created seven very successful companies in four different industries over the last thirty-five years. These companies were worth over a half a billion dollars at their peak. His first business was a 10-year stint in the landscaping industry that he started when he was twenty years old. This was followed by three online internet start-up companies during the dot.com boom of the late nineties and early 2000s. Today, Brian owns a growing chain of restaurants in the Atlanta area as well as an Insurance and Technology company based on Denver and a residential and commercial Real Estate business in Georgia and Florida. He also serves on city council in his hometown of Alpharetta, Georgia. Brian is an industry leading Business and Sales Management Consultant to companies from startups to fortune 500. During the course of this career Brian has done multiple turn around projects and helped those organizations drive billions of dollars in sales. He now owns a growing chain of restaurants in the Atlanta area, an Insurance and Technology company in Denver and a residential and commercial Real Estate business in Georgia and Florida.

February 24, 2026 – Land Sales Brent Bowers, Storm Chaser Josh Morgerman and IBM Salima Lin

Brent Bowers – Land Coach at The Land Sharks
There’s this special thing about American landthat people just want to own it.
Brent Bowers is a real estate investor, entrepreneur, and educator who serves as the CEO of Zech Buys Houses LLC and a Land Coach at The Land Sharks, where he helps investors build passive income through buying and selling vacant land. A former U.S. Army officer with more than eight years of service, Brent began investing in real estate in 2007 with the goal of creating financial stability and spending more time with his family. Over time, he shifted his focus from traditional residential investing to land investing, recognizing its simplicity, scalability, and ability to generate recurring income without the challenges of tenants or property maintenance. As the president of Zech Buys Houses LLC, he has built a portfolio of land and real estate investments and developed systems that generate consistent monthly income. Through The Land Sharks, Brent now mentors and trains investors on his proven strategies for finding, acquiring, and reselling vacant land, helping others create reliable cash flow and long term wealth through land investing.
Josh Morgerman – Founder of iCyclone 
People ask me this all the time. They’re like, what’s wrong with you?And all I can say is, listen, honestly, I was born this way.
Founded by storm chaser and adrenaline junkie Josh Morgerman, iCyclone is the brand name under which he chases hurricanes and collaborates with others on weather-related projects. The iCyclone team is a loosely-affiliated, cross-functional club of chasers, researchers, and meteorologists unified by their shared passion for Earth’s mightiest spectacle: the hurricane. The iCyclone mission has always been to penetrate, experience, and document the inner cores of hurricanes as they thrust ashore—via video, data collection, and blogging. iCyclone’s original chase turf was exclusively the USA. That changed in 2007, when Josh Morgerman singlehandedly hunted ferocious Category-5 Hurricane Dean on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula—the only chaser to do so. This splashy debut launched a string of solo, daredevil Mexican chases that have established Morgerman as the most prolific chaser of Mexican hurricanes and a specialist in this region. Since 2007, he’s logged a whopping eight successful hurricane chases in Mexico, on both the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts and in doing so has captured rare video footage and useful data for the USA’s National Hurricane Center. In 2013, when the Atlantic failed to produce any chaseable hurricanes, Morgerman and the iCyclone team expanded their focus to East Asia, chasing and penetrating the inner cores of an incredible four typhoons in just over a month, including Category-5 Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in the Philippines. Recent high-profile chases include devastating Hurricane Odile in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in 2014; Typhoon Goni in Ishigaki-jima, Japan, in 2015; Typhoon Dujuan in Su’ao, Taiwan, in 2015; and the incredible Category-5 Hurricane Patricia in Jalisco, Mexico, in 2015.
Salima Lin – Managing Partner, Strategy, M&A, Transformation, and Thought Leadership at IBM Consulting
Humans as humans, those who haveAI will replace those who don’t use it.
Salima Lin has more than 25 years of management consulting and leadership experience in developing and executing business and operating strategies, driving transformation, developing new business models and operationalizing process improvement. During her career, she has advised numerous Fortune 500 companies, primarily in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, diagnostics, medical devices, managed care, and healthcare delivery. Her experience spans strategy development in the Americas, with strategy and transformation across industries and domains for IBM’s consulting business globally. She has a master’s degree in health policy and administration from Harvard, and a bachelor’s degree in business administration and biology from Simon Fraser University.

February 23, 2026 – Disney Lessons Vance Morris, Superperformers George Pesansky and Fly to Moon Fabiana Neves

Vance Morris – Former Area Food & Beverage Manager at Walt Disney World and President & Chief Experience Officer of Deliver Service Now institute
Your marketing is designed to do two things, attract the peopleyou want and repel the people you don’t want.
Vance Morris is a customer experience strategist, entrepreneur, speaker, and the President and Chief Experience Officer of the Deliver Service Now Institute. He is widely recognized for helping businesses transform ordinary transactions into extraordinary customer experiences that drive loyalty, referrals, and long-term profitability. Vance spent more than a decade as a senior leader at Walt Disney World, where he served as an Area Food and Beverage Manager and helped oversee operations in one of the world’s most respected service organizations. During his time with Disney, he learned firsthand the systems and operational discipline behind creating memorable guest experiences, building customer loyalty, and delivering consistent service excellence at scale. Following his Disney career, Vance became an entrepreneur and successfully built and operated multiple home service businesses. Drawing on his Disney experience and real-world ownership perspective, he founded the Deliver Service Now Institute in 2013 to help business owners escape price competition and instead compete on customer experience and perceived value. Through his proprietary XPerience Service System, he has helped more than 1,100 businesses improve customer retention, increase profitability, and create lasting client relationships. Today, Vance works with entrepreneurs, service professionals, and organizations across industries through consulting, coaching, speaking, and immersive training programs. His work focuses on helping companies create customers for life by delivering intentional, memorable experiences at every stage of the customer journey. Vance Morris is considered one of the leading voices in applying Disney-style service principles to small and mid-sized businesses, showing owners how to turn service into a competitive advantage and a powerful driver of growth.
George Pesansky – Forbes Councils Contributor at Forbes Coaches Council and Author of Superperformance: 8 Strategies to Reach Full Potential for Yourself, Your Team, and Your Organization
When we become the managers of our own improvement factory, wecan really hold ourselves to a whole different level of accountability.
George Pesansky is an operational excellence expert, executive coach, author, and performance strategist with more than three decades of experience helping individuals and organizations achieve consistent, high-level results. He is widely recognized for his work in leadership development, process improvement, and building repeatable systems that enable sustainable peak performance. Throughout his career, George has worked extensively with Fortune 500 organizations, developing innovative methodologies that streamline operations, eliminate ambiguity, and create cultures of clarity and accountability. He has trained and supported more than 10,000 professionals in Six Sigma, Lean, and World Class Manufacturing principles, helping organizations improve efficiency, strengthen leadership capability, and drive measurable business outcomes. George is also the founder of Capacity2Care, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping high-performing professionals contribute their expertise to charitable organizations, creating meaningful operational and social impact. In addition to his coaching and consulting work, he is the author of Superperformance, a book that teaches leaders and professionals how to identify, replicate, and sustain their highest levels of performance by turning best practices into standard practices. Today, George works with executives, teams, and organizations around the world through coaching, speaking, and training programs, helping them unlock potential, improve performance, and build systems that produce consistent, long-term success.Fabiana Neves – CEO of Castrol Americas
There is a lot going on, on joining forces of the private sector,the government, the industry, universities, right? So to lookafter ways of sustainable human presence in the moon.
Fabiana Neves is the President and CEO of Castrol Americas, part of the bp group, where she leads one of the world’s most recognized lubricant businesses across North and South America. In this role, she is responsible for driving business growth, strengthening Castrol’s market leadership, and advancing innovation across automotive, industrial, and energy sectors. Fabiana brings more than two decades of leadership experience within Castrol and bp, having held senior roles across marketing, business development, and general management. Her career includes positions such as Vice President of Business Development and Integration for Latin America at bp, as well as multiple leadership roles at Castrol, including General Manager, industrial marketing leader, and regional commercial executive. Through these roles, she has led strategic initiatives focused on brand growth, customer engagement, and commercial performance across global and regional markets. Prior to becoming CEO of Castrol Americas, Fabiana served as Vice President for Castrol Americas, where she helped lead major brand initiatives and partnerships, while supporting Castrol’s mission to develop high-performance lubricants and advanced technologies for demanding environments, including space and next-generation mobility applications. Known for her strategic leadership and deep expertise in global energy and lubricant markets, Fabiana has built a reputation for driving transformation, strengthening customer relationships, and leading high-performing teams. Today, she continues to guide Castrol Americas through a period of innovation and growth, helping shape the future of mobility, industrial performance, and energy solutions.

February 20, 2026 – Insider Trading Tom Hardin and Brendan Keegan

Tom Hardin – Founder of Tipper X
The hardest part is just to accept responsibility and own it. And actually,the hardest part also is to forgive yourself. I mean, that’s still what I gothrough today. Sometimes it’s just sort of that stuff. Sort of that selfforgiveness, because we can be, you know, our internal voices ofour thought can be, can be pretty, pretty negative at times.
Tom Hardin is the founder of Tipper X and a globally recognized keynote speaker, corporate trainer, and advisor specializing in ethics, compliance, and culture risk. Early in his career, he worked as a financial analyst in New York City, where he became involved in insider trading and later cooperated with federal authorities as an undercover informant in one of the largest insider trading investigations in Wall Street history. Operating under the codename “Tipper X,” his cooperation helped federal investigators build cases against major financial figures and exposed widespread ethical failures within the hedge fund industry. Today, Hardin has transformed his experience into a platform for education and prevention. Through Tipper X, he delivers keynote presentations, compliance training, and advisory services to corporations, financial institutions, and universities around the world. His work focuses on helping organizations understand the psychological and cultural factors that lead to ethical breakdowns, and how to build stronger ethical decision making systems. He is also the author of Wired on Wall Street, which shares his firsthand account of financial misconduct, cooperation with federal authorities, and his personal journey toward accountability and redemption.Brendan Keegan – CEO of Merchants Fleet and Author of The FUD Factor: Overcoming Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt to Achieve the Impossible – Overcoming Fear
Leaders are not born. They’re made. And the first thing that reallyhas to happen is someone just needs to make a conscious decisionthat they want to be a leader. Some people come to that decision ontheir own. Others, somebody sees it in them and taps into their leadership.But leadership has nothing to do with title. It has to do with doing little extra.Picking up the basketballs. Raising your hand before you even know what theproject is. Informally, you’re putting yourself into a leadership role, and that’sreally powerful.
Brendan Keegan is chairman, CEO and president of the board for Merchants Fleet, the fastest-growing fleet technology company in North America. Brendan is the creator of the bFEARLESS movement. He also is the author of three books, including his newest, The FUD Factor: Overcoming Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt to Achieve the Impossible. Keegan has contributed more than 200 articles to Fast Company, Inc. Media, Entrepreneur, Newsweek, Fox Business and Harvard Business Review. During Keegan’s time at Merchants Fleet, the company has been named a two-time Inc 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Company, Deloitte Best Managed Company and a Fast Company Top 10 Most Innovative Company.  Brendan P. Keegan has spent a lifetime facing down fear, uncertainty and doubt in order to make his visions a reality. And for the hundreds of thousands of people who have been inspired by his revolutionary approach to leadership, he offers an unmatched mix of creativity, generosity, wisdom and tenacious commitment to making a positive impact on the world. An award-winning six-time president and chief executive officer, Brendan is well-known in the business world for his ability to envision outcomes that seem audacious, or even impossible — until he makes them a reality. As the current Chairman, CEO & President of the Board for Merchants Fleet, the fastest-growing fleet technology company in North America, he has created a culture of innovation that empowers employees, partners and investors to transform the industry. Brendan has dedicated himself to cracking his own code and building simple, repeatable systems that anyone can use to live and lead without limits. He shares his insights through regular contributions to Forbes, Fast Company, Inc., Newsweek and other publications, along with his books, blog posts, podcasts and speaking engagements.

February 19, 2026 – Human Potential Activator Maria Martinez and NYTimes Bestselling Author Steve Berry

Maria Martinez – Human Potential Activator, Wealth Consciousness Activator, Multi-Dimensional Healer 
If you want to become a millionaire, embody the millionaire mindset,embody the millionaire habits, embody the millionaire behavior.
Maria Martinez’s extensive expertise as a Human Potential Activator, Wealth Consciousness Activator, Multi-Dimensional Healer, Energy Alchemist, and Business Success Coach seamlessly integrates Functional Medicine practices to enhance her existing services. Through Functional Medicine principles, Maria delve deeper into identifying the root causes of her clients’ challenges and stagnation. Functional Medicine emphasizes understanding the interconnectedness of various aspects of health, including physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Through this approach, Maria helps her clients uncover underlying imbalances contributing to their struggles and limiting beliefs. Utilizing Functional Medicine tools, Maria assist her clients in exploring how their words, thoughts, choices, and actions influence their reality. By empowering clients to recognize and address these influences, Maria supports them in healing themselves, releasing what no longer serves their highest good, and aligning with their Divine Path. Furthermore, Maria’s profound connection with source and higher-dimensional light beings enables her to serve as a conduit for healing energy and intuitive insights. Integrating Functional Medicine concepts into her healing processes allows Maria to offer comprehensive support for her clients’ physical, emotional, and spiritual transformation. In essence, incorporating Functional Medicine principles into her existing services, Maria deepens her impact, facilitate profound healing and transformation, and empower her clients to live joyfully, abundantly, and fulfilled lives aligned with their true potential.Steve Berry – NY Times Best Selling Author of The Atlas Maneuver (Cotton Malone Book 18)
Just you got to write a good book. You got to work hard. You got tohang with it. You got to stay to it and just keep plowing along. If youget rejected, you write another book, and you just keep going untilyou find a story that they like. And it’s really a game of perseverance.I tell people all the time. I may not know anything about writing, butI consider myself a world class expert on rejection.
Steve Berry is the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of sixteen Cotton Malone adventures, five stand-alone thrillers, and several works of short fiction. His books have been translated into 41 languages with 25,000,000 copies in 52 countries. They consistently appear in the top echelon of The New York Times, USA Today, and Indie bestseller lists. Somewhere in the world, every thirty seconds, a Steve Berry book is sold. History lies at the heart of every Steve Berry novel. It’s his passion, one he shares with his wife, Elizabeth, which led them to create History Matters, a foundation dedicated to historic preservation. Since 2009 Steve and Elizabeth have crossed the country to save endangered historic treasures, raising money via lectures, receptions, galas, luncheons, dinners, and their popular writers’ workshops. To date, 3,500 students have attended those workshops, with over $1.5 million dollars raised. Steve’s devotion to historic preservation was recognized by the American Library Association, which named Steve its spokesperson for National Preservation Week. Among his other honors are the Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author Award; the Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award given by Poets & Writers; the Anne Frank Human Writes Award; and the Silver Bullet, bestowed by International Thriller Writers for his philanthropic work. He has been chosen both the Florida and Georgia Writer of the Year. He’s also an emeritus member of the Smithsonian Libraries Advisory Board. In 2010, an NPR survey named The Templar Legacy one of the top 100 thrillers ever written. Steve was born and raised in Georgia, graduating from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University. He was a trial lawyer for 30 years and held elective office for 14 of those years. He is a founding member of International Thriller Writers—a group of nearly 6,000 thriller writers from around the world—and served three years as its co-president.

February 17, 2026 – Rocket Dollar Henry Yoshida and Grace under Pressure John Baldoni

Henry Yoshida – CEO & Co-Founder of Rocket Dollar 
The road to building that business is hard, and we’re talking about kindof the high points. People only read about those, but there are many, manymore low points. So this little one is like a mini dopamine hit that just kind ofreassures you that, hey, someone took a chance, someone bought yourproduct, someone paid you money.
Henry Yoshida
Henry Yoshida is the CEO and Co-Founder of Rocket Dollar, a fintech company based in Austin, Texas that enables individuals to take control of their retirement savings by investing in alternative assets such as real estate, startups, cryptocurrency, and private equity through self-directed retirement accounts. He founded Rocket Dollar in 2018 with the mission of making retirement investing more flexible and accessible, helping investors move beyond traditional stock and bond portfolios and gain broader diversification opportunities. Yoshida is a seasoned entrepreneur and financial expert with more than two decades of experience in wealth management, retirement planning, and fintech innovation. Prior to Rocket Dollar, he co-founded Honest Dollar, a venture-backed robo-advisor retirement platform that was acquired by Goldman Sachs and later integrated into Marcus Invest. He also founded MY Group, an investment advisory firm managing billions in assets that was later acquired by CAPTRUST, and he previously served as a Vice President at Merrill Lynch, where he built extensive expertise in retirement and investment strategies. A Certified Financial Planner and recognized leader in the fintech and retirement industry, Yoshida has helped bring innovative investment products and platforms to market throughout his career. He holds a degree from The University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from Cornell University, and he continues to advocate for empowering individuals to diversify their portfolios and gain greater control over their financial futures through modern retirement investing solutions.John Baldoni – Top 10 Thought Leader and Author of Grace Under Pressure: Leading Through Change and Crisis
View people with an open heart, give them the benefit of the doubt.And sometimes, you know that’s going to be tested, but if you do that,I want to say that better things will happen. Some people will disappointyou, of course, but when you act that way, people will remember you as,you know, Jim. He acted with an open heart. He viewed people, he treatedpeople with dignity. He gave them the respect they deserve.
John Baldoni
John Baldoni is an internationally recognized keynote speaker and author of 16 books that have been translated into ten languages. He is also ranked globally as a top ten leadership coach. John’s thought leadership is reflected in his writing as well as his choice of media: columns, videos and books. John also integrates piano improvisations into his keynotes which he illustrates with his still life photos. John is also the host of LinkedIn Live’s GRACE under pressure interview series, a platform that has enabled him to interview more a hundred global business, academic and thought leaders and doers. John’s books include Grace Under Pressure: Leading Through Change and Crisis; Grace Notes: Leading in an Upside-Down World; GRACE: A Leader’s Guide to a Better Us; MOXIE: The Secret to Bold and Gutsy Leadership; Lead with Purpose; Lead Your Boss and The Leader’s Pocket Guide. In 2022, Thinkers 360 named John a Top 10 Thought Leader for both Leadership and Management. Also in 2022, Global Gurus ranked John a Top 20 global leadership expert, a list he has been on since 2007. In 2021, the International Federation of Learning and Development named John a World-Class Mentor and named him to its Hall of Fame. In 2018 Inc.com named John a Top 100 speaker and Trust Across America honored John with its Lifetime Achievement Award for Trust. In 2014 Inc.com listed John as a Top 50 leadership expert. John is also a member of the renowned 100 Coaches, a group of executive coaches and thought leaders from the worlds of business, academia and social service. 100 Coaches was founded by Marshall Goldsmith. John established a career as a highly sought-after executive coach, where he has had the privilege of working with senior leaders in virtually every industry from pharmaceutical to real estate, packaged goods to automobiles, and finance to health care. John has authored more than 800 leadership columns for a variety of online publications including Forbes, Harvard Business Review and Inc.com. John also produced and appears in a video coaching series for SmartBrief, a news channel with over 4 million readers. John is the author and host of two online leadership courses: “Leading through Change & Crisis” and “Leading with Resilience + Grace” for Methods of Leaders/100 Coaches.

February 16, 2026 – Business Sergeant Chris Hallberg and NYC Billionaire John Catsimatidis

Chris Hallberg – President  & Founder of GoExpand
So it was great just to get outside my comfort zone, be stretched, do thingsI didn’t think I could do, overcome adversity again and again and again andstill find a way to win. So like military, people are resilient, and that’s whythey make great leaders in business.
Chris Hallberg, known as the “Business Sergeant”, is a top-ranked leadership expert, military veteran, and serial entrepreneur who transforms good companies into great ones, fast. Ranked #9 on Inc. Magazine’s Top 50 Leadership & Management Experts – ahead of Simon Sinek – Chris blends battlefield-tested leadership with the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) to deliver proven results. He scaled and sold a startup during the Great Recession at an 8× multiple, built royalty-generating sales systems, and became Colorado’s first EOS Implementer, guiding 100+ teams to achieve 90%+ employee engagement rates and 100+ Best Places to Work awards. Today, he co-builds a $5M AI-driven EOS platform while coaching billion-dollar contractors, national chains, and franchises with a remarkable 85% success rate. With his no-nonsense, high-energy style, Chris simplifies strategy, strengthens culture, and shows leaders how to drive 30%+ EBIT on predictable systems.John Catsimatidis – CEO of The Red Apple Group and the Author of How Far Do You Want to Go?: Lessons from a Common-Sense Billionaire
I hate doing nothing. I hate to have a day without accomplishment. Itry to accomplish something every day. And how do I relax? Maybeon a Saturday night or Sunday night, we watch these new series ontelevision, like succession, or like Tulsa. And I know when we watchedsuccession last week, we were up to two o’clock in the morningwatching it, when finally we said, enough is enough.
Billionaire entrepreneur John Catsimatidis, owner and CEO of the Red Apple Group, reveals how his instincts and common sense have propelled him to massive business success in this detailed account of an incredible rags-to-riches story. Born on the small Greek island of Nisyros, John Catsimatidis immigrated to the States with his family and quickly became a true New Yorker, raised in Harlem. He went to school by day and worked in a small grocery store by night to help his parents pay the bills until, just eight credits short of graduating from New York University, he opted to work in the grocery business full-time. Today, that grocery business has become the Red Apple Group, a conglomerate with interests in energy, real estate, aviation, baseball, entertainment, and media, including the iconic radio station WABC, where John hosts leading figures in government, politics, business, and economics.  As Catsimatidis has discovered, the American Dream doesn’t come with an instruction manual—or even a sign to let you know when you’ve arrived at the finish line. How Far Do You Want to Go? tells Catsimatidis’s dynamic story, from his beginnings in the grocery business to entering the political arena, including a New York City mayoral campaign. He’s tried his hand at nearly everything, but he’s far from finished with his adventures. Now, he offers readers a glimpse into the wisdom he’s gained—and the excitement he has for what the future holds in store.

February 13, 2026 – Relationship Currency Ravi Rajani and Speaking in Public Isobel Rimmer

Ravi Rajani – International Keynote Speaker and Author of Relationship Currency: Five Communication Habits For Limitless Influence and Business Success
Since the beginning of time, the one currency that hasalways mattered in any area of our life is relationships.
Ravi Rajani is an international keynote speaker, communication expert, transformational coach, and LinkedIn Learning instructor known for helping leaders, entrepreneurs, and sales teams communicate with influence and build trusted relationships that drive growth. He has partnered with major organizations such as Oracle NetSuite, T-Mobile, and Sherwin-Williams, teaching professionals how to master effective communication and create meaningful business connections. Rajani is the author of Relationship Currency: Five Communication Habits for Limitless Influence and Business Success, a book that equips readers with practical strategies to build trust, spark influence, and communicate with clarity, charisma, and confidence. Recognized as a leading thought leader on storytelling and communication, he has trained tens of thousands of professionals through his courses on conscious and charismatic communication. His career reflects a lifelong focus on the art of communication, shaped by early experiences in dance and theatre and later strengthened through roles in investment banking and technology sales leadership. Today, Rajani delivers keynote speeches, workshops, and coaching programs designed to help audiences unlock human connection, cultivate trust, and inspire action through influential storytelling.Isobel Rimmer – Owner and CEO of Masterclass Training, Bestselling Author, & a Award-Winning Speaker
The purpose of a visual aid is not for the speaker to have theirnotes or their bullets and to know what they’re going to say next.It’s to help the audience understand what you’re saying.
Isobel Rimmer is the Founder, CEO, and Lead Trainer at Masterclass Training, an international leadership and business development consultancy that delivers training programmes through a global team of consultants and facilitators. She is also a speaker, educator, executive coach, and accredited facilitator for leadership frameworks such as The Leadership Challenge and The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership. A graduate of the University of Surrey, Rimmer began her career working in France before joining Digital Equipment on its fast track graduate programme. With more than 25 years as a business leader, coach, and mentor, she has designed award winning leadership programmes for organizations including Hertz, PwC, Accenture, and IBM, helping leaders communicate effectively and deliver with impact. Rimmer is the author of the #1 Amazon bestseller Natural Business Development and Present with Presence, books focused on unlocking employee potential, strengthening communication, and driving revenue growth. Known for her pragmatic, results driven approach, she works with both private and public sector clients and regularly speaks at conferences and industry events across the UK, Europe, and the United States.