Outstanding Ohioans

For Episodes 36 & 37 of the Outstanding Ohioans show, I had the pleasure of interviewing Matt Mayer, President of Opportunity Ohio.  Opportunity Ohio (O2) is dedicated to enhancing prosperity for Ohioans through educating policymakers and citizens. We pay particular attention to the impact of state and local government decisions and how they foster or hinder job creation and economic growth. Our strategic aim is to provide our leaders with sound policies for a better tomorrow.

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Matt A. Mayer serves as President of Opportunity Ohio. Previously, Mayer wrote and spoke on national security and federalism issues as a Visiting Fellow with The Heritage Foundation. His Heritage federalism work earned the runner-up prize in the 2012 Better Government Competition. Mayer has been a national policy leader for more than a decade.

Mayer is the author of three books.  Mayer’s first book, Homeland Security and Federalism: Protecting America from Outside the Beltway (with Foreward by the Honorable Edwin Meese III), argued for reversing the nationalization of homeland security by returning power to states and localities. His second book, Taxpayers Don’t Stand a Chance: Why Battleground Ohio Loses No Matter Who Wins (And What To Do About It), exposes systemic problems that have made Ohio fall from a national leader to a laggard. His third book, The Founding Debate: Where Should the Power Over Our Lives Reside?, highlights to top five arguments from the Federalist and Anti-Federalist, as well as excerpts from ten key Supreme Court cases, to help readers decide where they think the power should be.

Prior to his public policy work, Mayer was a senior official at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under the leadership of Secretaries Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff where he provided DHS leaders with policy and operational advice as the Counselor to the Deputy Secretary and where he headed the $3.5 billion terrorism preparedness office charged with developing initiatives to transform America to meet the demands of a post-9/11 environment.

Mayer came to DHS from Colorado where he served Governor Bill Owens as the Deputy Director for the Department of Regulatory Agencies. Mayer co-developed Colorado’s Regulatory Notice system that utilizes electronic mail to notify stakeholders of all proposed regulations before those regulations become final. The Regulatory Notice system earned the Denver Business Journal’s 2003 “Innovative Product/Service Award” for making government more transparent and accountable.

Prior to joining Governor Owens’ team, Mayer served as a deputy in Colorado Senator Wayne Allard’s reelection effort in 2002, and ran a widely hailed congressional campaign for a first-time candidate. As a result of his campaign work, the Colorado Statesman selected Mayer for its 2002 “Rising Star Award.”

Mayer was a 2007 Lincoln Fellow with The Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy and a 2006 American Marshall Memorial Fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the United States. In September 2005, The Ohio State University Alumni Association awarded Mayer the William Thompson Oxley Award for early career achievement. At the age of 29, the Denver Business Journal recognized Mayer as one of Colorado’s young leaders by naming him to its “Forty Under 4

For the Episode 35, I had the pleasure of interviewing Aaron Harris, the Deputy Communications Director/Central Committee Member/Spokesman for the Libertarian Party of Ohio.

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Aaron became involved in the Libertarian Party when he felt the Republican Party was not representing his views on liberty and fiscal management.  Here were the topics we discussed:

I admire Aaron because he believes strongly in his cause, and he takes massive action to move his cause forward.  I believe the "silent majority" supports most libertarian viewpoints, and it is my hope that more support goes toward 

To connect with Aaron, you can call him at 937.825.0204 or email at [email protected].  

Here are my previous podcasts talking about libertarian viewpoints:

Interview #1 with Reason TV's Nick Gillespie

Interview #2 with Reason TV's Nick Gillespie

For the Episode 34, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tiffany Young, the owner of the Young Leaders Learning Center in Ross, Ohio.  Tiffany is passionate and strongly committed to serving youngsters and providing a strong educational foundation to last a lifetime.

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Here were the topics we discussed:

Back from our summer break....thank you to tuning into Episode 33. I had the pleasure of Sheila Fox.  I sought out the interview because of her role as the Executive Director of the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame.  During the interview, I also learned that Sheila owns a successful event planning business called Event In Site.  

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Here were some of the topics we discussed:

For episodes 31 & 32, I had the privilege of interviewing Mark Eppler of Mark Eppler International.  Mark works as a speaker, seminar leader, and author.  He also provides leadership ministry for the Cincinnati City Gospel.  Mark's work focuses on leadership, change, management, customer service, or personal effectiveness.

Mark is the author of two books with a third one coming out soon.  His books are:

Management Mess-ups: 57 Pitfalls You Can Avoid (and Stories of Those Who Didn't)

To listen to the show, click on one of the following:

Here are some highlights from his interview:

For episodes 31 & 32, I had the privilege of interviewing Mark Eppler of Mark Eppler International.  Mark works as a speaker, seminar leader, and author.  He also provides leadership ministry for the Cincinnati City Gospel.  Mark's work focuses on leadership, change, management, customer service, or personal effectiveness.

Mark is the author of two books with a third one coming out soon.  His books are:

Management Mess-ups: 57 Pitfalls You Can Avoid (and Stories of Those Who Didn't)

To listen to the show, click on one of the following:

Here are some highlights from his interview:

For Episode 30, I had the privilege of interviewing Laura DeYoung, Executive Director of Urban Shepherds, Co-Owner of Spicy Lamb Farm, and Environmental Planner for NEFCO.

I came across Laura's work while reading Episode 7 guest Gene Logsdon's weekly blog post.  In this post, Mr. Logsdon referenced an event discussing an upcoming Urban Shepherd program.  I spoke to Laura a few days before this event.

Laura's purpose is the result of two of her interests, the environment and sheep.  One mission is to have homeowners use their yards as pasture, rather than using lawn mowers, as part of a neighborhood grazing program.

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For episode 29, I had the pleasure of interviewing Cafe O Play Co-Owners John and Carolyn Green from Stow, Ohio.

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Here were some highlights from our conversation:

As today is Opening Day, it is fitting that this podcast interview is about baseball.  I had the pleasure of interviewing Rick Huhn, Baseball Biographer, regarding his book The Sizzler:  George Sisler, Baseball's Forgotten Great, about native Ohioan and Baseball Hall of Famer George Sisler.

In a legendary career as an amateur player, professional player, and professional baseball management, George Sisler set many records and was regarded by his peers as one of the all-time greats.  After his playing career ended, Sisler faded from the limelight and many fans' memories.  Rick Huhn took a look at why this happened at the behest of Sisler's son George Sisler Jr.  Rick has compiled an outstanding biography with great detail that any baseball fan will love.

To listen to the show, click on one of the following:

Here were some highlights from our conversation:

For the next three podcast episodes, I had the pleasure of talking to Matt Kramer, a terrific High School Basketball Coach and Author.  Matt currently resides in Georgia, but was born and raised in Northeast Ohio.  His current team Milton High School is one of the outstanding programs in Georgia with national-level aspirations.

Coach Kramer is the co-author of the great book The Best-Laid Plans of a High School Basketball CEO, which he wrote with legendary Ohio High School Basketball Coach Randy Montgomery.  Coach Kramer wrote the book to document his journey and provide a resource for up and coming coaches.

Here are the fantastic highlights from our great conversation: