Deirdre DeWeese is the Vice President of Philanthropy for the Girl Scouts of Ohio’s Heartland – if you’re followers of the show, you might remember we had Tammy Wharton on the show previously from the Girl Scouts as well. Deirdre has worked in fundraising and development across a variety of organizations throughout her career, and …

Dr. Zeenia Kaul, CEO and CSO at ReHeva Biosciences. ReHeva Biosciences, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical startup founded in 2016, is discovering and developing naturally occurring, complex botanical agents to treat and manage cancer. Their goal is to help people live longer and healthier with cancer, ultimately transforming cancer treatment into disease management. They recently started their …

Matt Wyckhouse is the Founder and CEO of Finite State. Finite State automates product security for connected devices and embedded systems, enabling developers and security teams to ship their products with confidence.

Ernest Levert Jr is the founder of the Royal Oak Initiative, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that focuses on developing community through the game of chess. What started as a bi-weekly meetup has grown into a community of chess enthusiasts as well as a chess-based mentoring program, and the Royal Oak Chess Initiative recently signed a …

Jacob Block is the CEO and Founder of American Nitrile, a disposable glove manufacturer headquartered here in Columbus. Jacob founded American Nitrile in 2021 in an effort to combat the PPE shortage that hit the U.S. and the world due to the COVID pandemic. With the motto “Bring Manufacturing Back Home,” Jacob and the American …

Matt Scantland is the Founder and CEO of AndHealth, a digital health company with the mission of helping people reverse chronic disease, which he started after his own battle with chronic disease. AndHealth is the world’s first virtual Center of Excellence for migraine reversal, and is soon launching a virtual Center of Excellence for autoimmune …

Jay Harkrider is the Managing Director of Foxen, a software company that started out by focusing on helping property managers better track and manage renter’s insurance across their tenants. However, over just a few years, Foxen has evolved into a FinTech company providing innovative financial solutions for residential and commercial real estate companies. On top …

Tom Dailey provides independent expert strategic and practical advice to merchants, payment processors, investors, law firms, and other organizations. He is a recognized, trusted expert in the card and payments space. As a senior executive at Discover, he managed the multi-billion dollar merchant business unit, including a team of over 2,000 across 28 facilities. More …

5.Life is a collection of world-class climbing facilities based in the Midwest and has been in business for thirty years in Columbus, Ohio. The first facility, Vertical Adventures was hand-built by Alexis and Carrie Roccos, with the help of their friends, and opened in 1994 in Columbus, Ohio. Since then, the business and climbing community …

Ernie Knight is the Managing Director and CEO of Valley Growth Ventures. Valley Growth Ventures is a “micro” venture capital investment fund created to support high-growth, early-stage companies across the state of Ohio, with a preference for those in the Mahoning Valley. Formed in collaboration between five area organizations, VGV serves to aid in the …