Building Ideas

Roger David is president and CEO of Gold Star Chili, Inc., an iconic Cincinnati business with two well-known brands in its portfolio of companies – Gold Star and Tom & Chee.

Roger leads a team of dedicated professionals working to continue to build the brand his father and uncles started more than 50 years ago. Since being named president and CEO, Roger has grown Gold Star Chili, Inc. to include Tom & Chee, the famous grilled cheese and soup restaurant chain that rocketed to stardom thanks to an appearance on ABC’s “Shark Tank.” 

Under his leadership, Gold Star has completed strategic updates to all areas of its business in order to drive success and growth for the next 50 years and beyond. A $30 million investment translated into a new restaurant look, menu and guest experience for its 70+ locations throughout Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Roger believes restaurant brands are built tableside and has advanced the companies training and development efforts. The company also made a deliberate investment into facility efficiencies in order to build environmentally-friendly restaurants, which pays off for its franchise owners who are realizing improvements in labor costs, energy usage and employee productivity. Gold Star is in the process of bringing those same strategies to the Tom & Chee brand in order to position it for success for years to come.

Earlier in his career, Roger served as CEO of national sports restaurant franchise Buffalo Wings & Rings; director of brand strategy at Brandimage, a brand design and consultancy serving fortune 500 clients; and vice president of marketing at Gold Star. He has served a member of the Cincinnati Parks Foundation board, President of the Music Resource Center, Vice President of the Council on Child Abuse, and ArtWorks Big Pitch mentor and judge. Roger is currently in Leadership Cincinnati Class 47. 

Roger holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Cincinnati and an MBA from Xavier University. He is married to Ceci and has three children: Liza, Alex and Margo.

Karl Kadon, a lifelong resident of Cincinnati, is an alumnus of Walnut Hills High School, Miami University, and the Salmon P. Chase College of Law. Since 2006, he has served as a Criminal Chief, a federal prosecutor, stationed at the Cincinnati branch office of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio.

In his role, Kadon dedicated a significant portion of his federal career to the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, focusing on pursuing major drug dealers and drug cartels. In 2019, he was appointed as the Deputy Criminal Chief overseeing the Task Force. Shortly thereafter, he assumed the position of Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, where he took charge of all investigations and criminal cases. Over the past two decades, Kadon has either personally litigated or supervised some of the most notable federal prosecutions in the Southern District of Ohio, earning several awards and recognitions for his contributions.

Before becoming a federal prosecutor, Kadon served as the Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office. Prior to that, he held the position of Deputy City Solicitor for the City of Cincinnati, where he was responsible for managing all civil litigation and criminal prosecution matters. In 1987, he was commissioned as an officer in the United States Army Reserve, serving as a Judge Advocate ("JAG") in the Judge Advocate Generals Corps until his retirement in 2015 as a Lieutenant Colonel. His military service included mobilization for Operation DESERT STORM, deployment as Deputy Staff Judge Advocate for the Special Operations Component of U.S. Central Command during Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM, with assignments in the Gulf, Afghanistan, and other regions.

Beyond his professional and military commitments, Kadon has actively participated in youth soccer and the Boy Scouts. He previously served on the Board of Directors for the Dan Beard Council of the BSA and currently holds positions on the Board of Directors of the FC Cincinnati Foundation and the Miami University Alumni Association Advisory Board.

Rico Grant is the founder of Paloozanoire, creator of Gallery At Gumbo - the inclusive barbershop art gallery collaboration in the heart of OTR which hosts the regional focused podcast Gumbo Talks. Rico also serves as Executive Director of SoCap Accelerate based out of Northern Kentucky University, is the creator behind the Emmy award winning Black & Brown Faces art exhibition previously on exhibition at the Cincinnati Art Museum,  and the new regionally focused youth awards program "17 Under Seventeen" in partnership with The University of Cincinnati, FC Cincinnati, CVG. and Duke Energy  

Known as a connector throughout the city, Rico serves on several non-profit boards and advises for several startups and foundations around the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky region. In 2022 Rico launched Cinema, a premier bar & lounge dedicated to 90’s R&B and Classic Black Filmmakers as well as Fundnoire, a $1.5M fund dedicated to launching 24 new black owned small businesses throughout the city. In 2023, Rico launched his second bar and lounge LoVe which is located on 4th street in the central business district.

https://paloozanoire.com/

https://www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org/art/exhibitions/black-brown-faces-verified/

https://www.loveonfourth.com/

On this weeks' episode, we are joined by two senior officers of a university, as well as by MSA Design's Director of Preservation and Historic Rehabilitation to discuss a mid-century modern national landmark - the Mater Dei Chapel in Cincinnati.  Learn more about the Chapel by clicking this link: https://www.msj.edu/about/facilities/mater-dei-chapel/index.html

Jeffrey Briggs is the Chief Financial Officer of Mount Saint Joseph University in Cincinnati, Ohio.   Jeff holds a Bachelor of Science in Business, Accountancy, and Management Information Systems from Miami University, an M.B.A. from The Ohio State University, and is a Certified Public Accountant.  After a career in public accounting with EY, Jeff has worked in Higher Education finance roles for nearly 20 years.  He has been in his current role at the Mount since 2017.  Jeff has served several not-for-profit Board of Trustees and finance committees.  

In his spare time, he can usually be found at the Westside Brewery on Tuesday nights for trivia with his fellow dad-bros on "Team Bad Dad Joke."  He resides in Green Township, Ohio with his wife Judith and their two college-aged daughters.  

Sister Karen Elliott is the Chief Mission Officer of Mount Saint Joseph University.   A native of Dayton, Ohio, Sister Karen attended Julienne High School prior to attending Wright State University where she earned her bachelor’s degree in education with an emphasis on Learning Disabilities and Behavior Disorders.  During these years she earned eight varsity letters in volleyball, basketball, and softball.  In 1980 Karen entered the Sisters of the Precious Blood. Her graduate studies include a master’s degree in theology from St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont received in 1993, and a Doctor of Ministry degree with a concentration in Sacred Scripture from Barry University in Miami, Florida in 2004.  

Sister Karen has ministered as a teacher, Director of Religious Education, a youth minister, an athletic director, campus minister, as well as collegiate positions as chair of religious studies and full professor. Sister Karen has served as a faculty presenter on Sacred Scripture in the Lay Ministry Formation Program and a homiletics assessor for the Permanent Diaconate Program in the Diocese of Toledo. Sister Karen was a visiting professor Mumbai, India and was a presenter for the Australian Catholic University’s Campus Ministry Team in Melbourne.  She authored the book, Women in Ministry and the Writings of Paul, published in 2010 by Anselm Academic.    In a non-theological aspect of her life, Sister Karen was inducted into the Dayton Amateur Softball Commission’s Hall of Fame in September 2006 in recognition of her softball career.  

Madeline "Maddie" Williams is the Director of Preservation and Historic Rehabilitation at MSA Design. Maddie leads the Historic Preservation practice firm wide for MSA and serves as a resource to building owners, contractors, architects, and agencies on strategies to renovate and redevelop historic structures.  This includes advising on historic building assessments, grant applications, historic tax credits, and developing strategies to rehabilitate historic buildings.  

A native of Connecticut, her junior ice hockey career led to a scholarship at Lake Forest College in Chicago.   While at Lake Forest, she was named captain of the Forester Varsity Women's Ice Hockey Team.   Her interest in Preservation was sparked while surrounded by the architecture of Chicago and led her to complete a bachelor's degree in architectural history.   She then went on to earn a Master's in Historic Preservation at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.      

A self-proclaimed "Liberal Preservationist", Maddie believes that historic buildings should 'tell their story', but also be free to be adapted for modern uses.   Maddie, her husband, and two daughters reside in a small, historic town on the east side of Greater Cincinnati.