Executive Breakthroughs Podcast

Diane Hessan (@dianehessan) is one of the most influential movers, shakers, thinkers, investors, entrepreneurs, artist, marketers, author and connectors that you will ever meet. TRUST me she has done more than her lifetime so far than you could ever dream up. And she is extremely well connected in Boston. I interviewed two Boston startups that Diane has invested in the same day I interviewed her. You can’t fully appreciate her hard work, expertise, breadth of experience and how much she cares unless you read her full biography.

Zac Sheffer (@zsheffer) is the CEO and co-founder of Elsen, and one of Boston’s hot startup companies. Elsen is a platform-as-a-service company that enables anyone at large financial institutions to harness massive quantities of data for better decision making and problem solving. An engineer by training, Zac worked at Schneider Electric before catching the finance bug. During a later position at Credit Suisse, he applied his engineering and programming skills to macroeconomic research. His ability to create solutions that address complex problems in manageable ways gave him the tools he needs to solve difficult finance problems, and led him to Elsen. What Zac loves most about Elsen is its talented team of dedicated people who want to do something incredible every day. When he’s not leading the team, he enjoys longboarding, surfing, cooking, watching Chef's Table, and playing board games. Zac holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University and holds several patents.

Byron Reese (@byronreese) is an investor, entrepreneur, publisher and futurist. He is the publisher of tech news site Gigaom and the founder of several high-tech companies. He has obtained or has pending patents in disciplines as varied as crowdsourcing, content creation, and psychographics. He is the author of the best selling book, Infinite Progress: How Technology and the Internet Will End Ignorance, Disease, Hunger, Poverty, and War. He currently serves as Chief Executive Officer for Knowingly, a venture-backed Internet startup based in Austin, Texas.He also has a TEDxAustin talk on “Achieving Greatness is a Choice.”

Tamsen Webster (@tamadear) is my incredible speaking coach I worked with over the past year. She is part "idea whisperer," part message strategist, and part presentation coach, Tamsen Webster helps people and organizations like Verizon, State Street Bank, Ericsson, Johnson & Johnson, and Disney find and communicate the power of their ideas. She is the Executive Producer of TEDxCambridge, one of the oldest and largest locally organized “TED talk” events in the world. In former lives, she worked in both agencies and at nonprofits heading up brand, marketing, and fundraising communication strategy, along with a brief but enduring turn as a change management consultant. She was a reluctant marathoner...twice; is a winning ballroom dancer (in her mind); and everything she knows about people, speaking, and change, she learned at Weight Watchers. True story.

Scott Baradell (@dallasinbound) is president of Idea Grove, oversees one of the fastest-growing inbound marketing agencies. Idea Grove focuses on helping technology companies reach media and buyers; and its clients range from venture-backed startups to Fortune 200 companies. Scott launched Idea Grove in 2005 along with his groundbreaking blog, Media Orchard. He has been a consistent innovator in the public relations and marketing space. Scott was among the first to understand the role of blogging in audience building. He was quick to recognize the vital importance of content quality and the power of social sharing.

Patrick MeLampy (@pmelampy) is the COO and Co-Founder of 128 Technology, one of the hottest startups in Boston (and has raised $57M to date). He’s been awarded 35 patents in telecommunications. Prior to 128 Technology, Patrick was the Vice President of Product Development at Oracle. Prior to Oracle, Mr. MeLampy was CTO and Founder of Acme Packet (NASDAQ: APKT) that was acquired by Oracle in February of 2013 for $2.1 billion dollars. He’s also on the board of directors at Ipswitch. Mr. MeLampy has an MBA from Boston University, and an Engineering Degree from University of Pittsburgh.

Becky Powell-Schwartz is the founder and CEO of The Powell Group, Becky Powell-Schwartz has been a thought partner to the C-suite for more than 25 years. Her depth of experience solving business and communications issues has made her a trusted advisor for executives of Fortune 500 and industry-leading companies across diverse business sectors. She is also Vistage International CEO group leader. Becky is a graduate of the Harvard University Mediation Training program, Leadership America, Leadership Texas and Leadership Dallas. She is also the recipient of the Most Powerful Women in PR Award from the Council of Public Relations. Additionally, she currently serves on the advisory boards of the Texas A&M Mays Business School Center for Retailing Studies; Leadership Women, the oldest women’s leadership program in North America; and Senior Source of Greater Dallas.

Dave Will (@propsdave) is a serial entrepreneur, and started a new company, PropFuel (focused on employee recognition and feedback). While working for SAP, a multi-billion dollar software company, nearly 20 years ago, he was advised to "walk faster and smile less, because perception is reality". He took this to heart and started a business based around the antithesis of this advice.​ In 2001, he started what became Peach, a Learning Platform software company, and sold his to AKKR, a private equity firm. He’s serving on EO (Entrepreneurs’ Organization) Boston's 2016-2017 board of directors as learning chair.

Stefania Mallet (@StefaniaMallett) is the CEO and co-founder of ezCater. She has spent over 25 years building and growing technology-enabled companies that solve real business problems. Stefania co-founded and successfully sold InSite Marketing Technology (now NASDAQ: KANA). Her tenure at National Logistics Management (a broker for $225M in transportation services) brought NLM to profitability for the first time in 4 years. At IntraNet (now NASDAQ:TSAI), Stefania revamped the firm and vaulted it to #1 in its market, a position it has maintained for 15+ years. Stefania also operates as a Director and advisor to many for-profit and non-profit firms. She has a BS and an MS from MIT.

Brent Brightwell (@doublehorn) is the Senior Vice President of Products & Strategy at DoubleHorn in Austin. Brent Brightwell is a Technology Leader and Entrepreneur with extensive Startup, SMB, and large Enterprise experience. He is currently the SVP of Products at DoubleHorn where he is responsible for R&D, Product Management, Marketing, Alliances, and Strategy.  Prior to DoubleHorn, Brent held positions such as CMO of Artisan Infrastructure, VP of Products for Gravitant, and Product Marketing Executive in the HP Helion Cloud organization. Brent has also led Global Marketing and did Technical Pre Sales for the HP Software Portfolio. Prior to Sales, he led R&D and Product Management for HP's strategic Solutions.