Ann Smith is Founder & President of Portland based communications firm A.wordsmith. In this episode Ann gives strategic and tactical advice for emerging companies to create thought leadership. We also discuss the journey of founding and building A.wordsmith, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

John Nee is the Founder & President of Act 1 Partners. In this episode we discuss the importance of Sales & Marketing alignment, his journey from corporate executive to staring his own business and recommendations for colleagues looking to make a similar leap. More info on John's company can be found at https://www.act1partners.com/

Natalie Fung is the CEO of Portland based AnswerConnect. In this episode we discussed how Natalie's team has scaled the business with a remote team, and lessons they have learned along the way.

Nathan Christensen is the CEO of Portland based Mammoth HR. In our conversation we dig into Nathan's unique path to becoming CEO of Mammoth. Nathan also gives his insights and data from Mammoth for best practices to drive employee engagement, how Portland has been great for Mammoth since relocating from Silicon Valley and advice to companies looking to relocate here.

Ep # 53: Cinthia Manuel, Director of Emerging Leaders for Portland Leadership Foundation by Dan Bruton

Ep # 52: Ryan Beckley,Founder & President of TerraFirma by Dan Bruton

Angela Earl is the Founder of Portland agency Haatzama Marketing. In this episode we break down the evolution of the agency model and how Angela's company is embracing the independent workforce.

It is rare that you meet CEOs that are willing to have the hard conversations and tackle problems like creating a diverse workforce, especially when it is your own company you have to improve first. Ryan Carson's enthusiasm is infectious and it was great to learn how his company, Treehouse, is partnering with community groups and companies to grow diverse tech talent.

Though we are a non-partisan podcast, every election is critical and we felt it was important to invite both leading candidates for Oregon Governor on the podcast. For this episode, we sat down with the Republican candidate for Governor, Knute Buehler, to discuss his background, why he got into politics and the issues that are important to business leaders in Oregon. We have invited Governor Kate Brown on the podcast, and are in contact with her communications staff to schedule an interview.

You might have heard that it takes 10 years and almost a $1 billion to bring a new drug to market. In this episode we talk with Jennifer Fox about how PSU is working with early stage bioscience companies to develop new drugs & vaccines. Jennifer is also a Board Member of the Portland Innovation Quadrant, and we discussed how the community is coming together to develop real estate that will fuel growth of innovation in Portland.