In Pursuit

As Briar Cliff University’s 11th President, Dr. Keck (née Karstens) was appointed in 2018, and is a compassionate and proven leader with a background in higher education, law, and fundraising.

An Iowa native and one of nine children, Dr. Keck graduated from Wartburg College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, after which she earned her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Iowa College of Law and then her Doctor of Philosophy degree in Education from Drake University. A lifelong learner, Dr. Keck is proud to be a first-generation college student, as well as the first in her family to earn an advanced degree. Her PhD research explored the experiences of college and university presidents as fundraisers while leading private, nonprofit institutions of higher education.

Dr. Keck began her career as an assistant prosecutor and associate attorney before establishing her own law firm. During this time, she also served on the Wartburg College Board of Regents and participated in their presidential search. It was during this process she determined she wanted to work in higher education in a leadership role.

This new passion for higher education eventually led Dr. Keck to philanthropy roles at the University of Iowa Foundation as their Director of Planned Giving, and then at Indian Hills Community College as their Executive Director of Philanthropy and Alumni Relations.

In addition to her success as a lawyer, business owner and university executive, Dr. Keck is also a lifelong believer in, and practitioner of, volunteerism. She currently serves in a board of director capacity for the following organizations:  Leadership Siouxland, UnityPoint Health – St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center, Girls Inc. of Sioux City, and Iowa Sister States.

Dr. Keck exemplifies Briar Cliff’s Catholic Franciscan values, demonstrating service and openness to all, both personally and professionally. She has received accolades for her collaborative leadership style, an approach she has practiced since her days in the courtroom, fostering strong relationships through collaboration. Dr. Keck and her husband Jim reside in Sioux City. Additionally, Dr. Keck’s two adult children, Clara and Grant, reside in the Des Moines metro area.

Colonel Bruce Hurd is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and command pilot, logging thousands of flight hours in KC-10 and KC-135 air refueling tankers. He completed a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding 30-year military career in 2007 and was honored to serve as squadron and group commander of two award-winning flying units, among many assignments.

In 2019, he wrote and published his memoir, "Aim Point: An Air Force Pilot's Lessons for Navigating Life," which instantly became an Amazon #1 bestseller. Recognizing a huge unmet need to provide direct assistance to the 80% of adults who rightfully feel they have a great book within them, he founded Aim Point LLC in 2020.

His company is dedicated to helping veterans and other first-time authors write, edit, and publish their books through a series of writing retreats and individualized author coaching. Graduates of his program have written international #1 bestsellers and earned numerous recognitions, including being named as #1 new release in Air Force biographies.

Recognizing the importance of having a forward-looking vision and a positive self-image, Bruce shares the important people and experiences throughout his life that helped shape his perception of himself and contributed to his many successes.

Dallas Dean Clark (born June 12, 1979) is a former American football tight end who played 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Iowa, earned unanimous All-American honors, and was recognized as the top college tight end in the nation. He was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the first round of the 2003 NFL Draft and he was a member of their Super Bowl XLI championship team against the Chicago Bears. He also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Baltimore Ravens.

Clark attended the University of Iowa, where he played for the Iowa Hawkeyes football team from 1999 to 2002. He did not see action during the 1999 season, but he finally saw the field in 2000. He played on special teams and made six tackles during the season as a linebacker. Prior to the 2001 season, the Iowa coaching staff decided to move Clark to the tight end position.

Clark was the 2002 recipient of the John Mackey Award which is presented to the most outstanding tight end in college football, a first-team All-Big Ten selection, and a unanimous first-team All-American.[3] He won the Kenny Yana Award at the end of the 2002 season as well, as he helped lead Iowa to the Big Ten title and an 11-2 record. Although he had one more year of eligibility remaining, Clark decided to enter the 2003 NFL Draft. He left Iowa with 1,281 career receiving yards in just two years at the tight end position.

Clark was chosen in the first round of the 2003 NFL draft by the Indianapolis Colts with the 24th pick. When drafted, the Colts called Clark a "perfect fit" for their system, eventually replacing Marcus Pollard and Ken Dilger at the position.[6] He started 10 games as a rookie and had 340 receiving yards before suffering a broken leg against the New England Patriots. He started 15 games in 2004 and had 423 yards receiving with five touchdown receptions.

In Episode 11, we talk with Tori Ganahl, a truly inspiring and trailblazing leader for a company called The She Factor.

Growing up, I was surrounded by powerful women who were thought-leaders, entrepreneurs and trail-blazers. One specifically was my mom, Heidi Ganahl – founder of Camp Bow Wow, the world’s largest pet-care franchise.

But when it came time to go off on my own, I was determined to pave my own path. During my time at the University of Oregon, I did everything I could to grow, learn and lead. I dove deep into my education, taking extra classes and joining clubs to further my knowledge. I led the largest sorority on campus as President, which then led me to become Panhellenic President and a leader of the FSL community. But something was missing.

As everyone around me was deciding where they would move or what job they would take, I was discouraged. Even after 45 informational interviews, I was feeling like I would never find the perfect match. A week later, I got a call from a recruiter and solidified a position in Portland, OR in IT staffing. After a year with the company, even though I was on the path to success, I was still feeling like there was something more for me – I was craving passion and purpose.

Enter SHEFACTOR™ – a brand my mom and I built together that inspires young women to live life with greater authenticity, empowerment, and joy. And it’s changed everything for me – I’ve learned so much about myself and pushed myself harder than I knew possible. I’ve identified what makes me tick, what I value, and how to be the best version of myself. But how could my journey have been different if I had a roadmap to help me realize my full potential sooner?

There’s more pressure than ever for young women to succeed in their career, but no focus on a holistic approach to balancing everything in their lives, to feeling fulfilled. By giving women the tools, mentorship, community, and empowerment to succeed, SHEFACTOR™ is helping women become confident, successful leaders of their lives and create the life they love – their “Journey to She”.

Kevin Blake Weldon is a Nashville Country Music Recording artist, professional Mindset coach and 30 year veteran in the network marketing industry. As a recording artist, Kevin has 8 albums to his credit, 7 music videos, 2 top 40 hits and a #1 in Europe. To date His music videos have been viewed over 30 million times and his latest album, "Jeans", was released this summer.

As a professional mindset coach, Kevin is certified with the Proctor Gallagher Institute and is a graduate of the prestigious PGI Matrixx program. Actively studying advanced mindset under Bob Proctor in Bob's Inner Circle, Kevin has completed the Lead The Field program and is certified in the Thinking Into Results program as well. Kevin is also the co-founder of Sea Clearly Now, a professional mindset consulting business with his fiancee, Natalie Bouchard, former #3 in the world in women's fitness bodybuilding.

In his Network Marketing career Kevin has risen to the top 3 income earners with 3 different companies and the #1 earner with his last company. With a true servant leader's heart, Kevin has built personal downlines of over 550,000 while hosting in excess of 1000 training calls, zoom webinars and promotional videos. He was heavily involved in field development and served on several advisory boards and business development committees.

Kevin is a proud father of 2 amazing daughters who served 4 years in the USMC and when not on the road, spends his time between his hometown in east Texas, Nashville and Airdrie, Alberta.

Martin Strel, a legendary Guinness record marathon swimmer, has always been looking for the challenges of impossible and the Amazon was the recent one. On April 7th, 2007 Martin Strel completed his epic Amazon river swim all the way from Atalaya (Peru) to the Atlantic Ocean at Belém (Brazil). He was struggling the river for 66 days for more than 10 hours a day and totally swam 5268 kms or 3274 miles. He became a wordwide hero.

Martin was born in Slovenia. Slovenia is a small Central European country located south of Austria. He taught himself to swim when he was 6, in a nearby stream, and became a professional marathon swimmer in 1978. Earlier in his life, he was a successful guitar player. He still plays a guitar nowadays a little.

Martin has been swimming ultra-marathons and raising an important awareness of clean waters for many years. He has dedicated several swims to the protection of environmental resources.

Many people still cannot believe what he has done so far, so that’s why they sometimes describe him as “Daredevil”, “Fishman”, “Human Fish” or even “The Craziest Man in the World”.

Of his many achievements, the greatest of these are the following:1997: Africa - Europe, Mediterranean Sea between Tunisia and Italy, 78 kms
29 hrs, 36 min, 57 s - Martin became the first to cross the sea from Africa to Europe. 7 swimmers have attempted this before, all failed. Martin swam without a wetsuit under FINA (International Swimming Federation) supervision with 7 international judges.

2000: Europe (10 countries) - Danube River, 3004 kms
58 days - a new world long-distance record. Martin goes for the first time in the Guinness Book of Records. He was the first to swim the whole Danube from source to estuary.
He decided to make a difference for entering into a new millennium era.

2001: Europe – Danube River, 504.5 kms Non Stop
84 hrs, 10 min – a new world record in non-stop swimming achieved on the Danube in July 2001. Martin first beat the record by Argentinean Ricardo Hoffman (481,5km, 84hrs 37min), then proceeded to swim on and finishing at 504.5 km, after 84 hrs 10 min.
2002: USA (10 states) - Mississippi River, 3797 kms
68 days - Martin swam the entire length of the Mississippi in the USA. The project was entitled Eye to Eye. Martin was the first to swim the river from source to estuary and he surpassed his Danube record and entered in the Guinness Book of Records again. He also dedicated his great sporting achievement, covered by all of the world´s major media, to peace, friendship and clean waters. He particularly reached out to the American public by stating that he lays his historic swim on the altar of remembrance of the victims of September 11.

2007: Peru, Brazil - Amazon River, 5268 kms
66 days: Most of the people could not believed it until it happened. The Amazon is known as largest, longest and the most dangerous river in the world. Martin decided to risk his life and made a history. For him this was a story of “Achieving the Impossible”. Martin wanted to show the world that people can achieve their dreams and goals with hard work and persistence. He also promoted the importance of preservation of the Rain forest, the biggest oxygen producer on the planet. A new Guinness Record has been broken again. The whole world was following this amazing historical event and American filmmakers produced an award winning (Sundance 2009) feature-length documentary called Big River Man which is distributed by Discovery Channel in North America. The book: The man who swam the Amazon has been released in many countries worldwidee

Les Norman is a syndicated sports radio host, TV analyst, author and motivational speaker. Norman also used to play baseball for the Kansas City Royals during the 95’ & 96’ seasons as an outfielder and pursued baseball heavily from a young age.

Rising from the ashes of poverty and childhood abuse, Les defeated the odds and rose to prominence by earning a Junior Olympic Gold Medal and playing Major League Baseball.

Along with his syndicated sports radio show, “Breakin’ the Norm”, heard weekly, his high energy presentations inspire others to break through, push forward and become not just what they want to be, but what they never imagined they could be!

Scott Duffy began his career working for best-selling author and speaker, Tony Robbins, and went on to work for several small businesses that became big media brands like CBS Sportsline, NBC Internet, and FOXSports.com. Next, he founded Smart Charter, an online booking tool for private aviation, which was acquired by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group.

Today, Scott’s mission is to help change the world through entrepreneurship. He leads the conversations that spark new ideas, innovations, that help entrepreneurs achieve exponential growth. He is the Host of “What Now? with Scott Duffy”, has been listed as a “Top 10 Speaker” by Entrepreneur, spoken at the NYSE and provided commentary in numerous media outlets including CNBC, FOX News, and CBS Radio. He is a 2x best-selling author on entrepreneurship. His latest book, “Breakthrough” is published by Entrepreneur Magazine/Press.

Connect with Scott online at www.scottduffy.com or via Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn @scottduffymedia.

Referred to as the "Ambassador of Country Music," Shawn Parr has spent 20 plus years on the Los Angeles country music scene. His involvement in country music spans from his current radio shows to television and the Academy of country music.

Parr has a passion and a long-term involvement with country music. He is heavily involved with the Academy of Country Music and hosted the Academy's Bash in Irvine, California in 2006.

Shawn Parr is a Southern Californian native. He grew up in Norwalk, California and attended John Glenn High School, spending a lot of his youth in the "O.C." (Orange County).

He began his career at local dance venues and launched into his current career by becoming the warm-up personality for the TV show "Hot Country Nights." As the Announcer for the Academy of Country Music Awards, KZLA brought him on board at the helm of the KZLA Morning Show and later to the mid-day shift.

His career also includes acting with roles in such films as "Lucky You" and "Waist Deep." Parr is also the voice of many awards shows such as the Golden Globes, the California Speedway, numerous commercials voice-overs, and the American Music Awards for the 16th year in a row.

Jon McGraw co-founded Vision Pursue (VP) after its principles radically shifted his mindset, performance, and overall life experience.

He's since guided and assisted in the successful application of these principles inside hundreds of corporate teams and sports franchises. He's a sought after keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, and Performance Mindset trainer.

Before VP, Jon played 10 years in the NFL. plus completed business management and entrepreneurship programs at Harvard Business School and Wharton Business School.