Risk & Resolve

In this episode of Risk & Resolve, Ben Conner and Todd Hufford sit down with Randy Otto—internationally recognized Winston Churchill portrayer, keynote speaker, and Churchill historian—to explore how one man’s lifelong passion became a calling. Randy shares the childhood moment that first connected him to Churchill, the mentor who shaped his path, and the actor who helped him transform admiration into embodiment. From Churchill’s leadership, magnanimity, and preparation to the urgent importance of studying history in a fragmented age, this conversation is a powerful reminder that the past still has something vital to teach us.

Main Talking Points

• Randy’s upbringing in Milwaukee and the formative influence of his World War II veteran father
• The moment that changed everything: watching Winston Churchill’s funeral at age 12
• How a college professor and mentor helped turn curiosity into lifelong pursuit
• The journey from actor to wealth manager while continuing to portray Churchill for decades
• What Randy learned performing for the “Greatest Generation” and how that shaped his message
• The pivotal meeting with Hal Holbrook that freed Randy to tell stories rather than chase a perfect script
• How Randy thinks about becoming Churchill on stage—and bringing the audience into that experience
• Churchill’s discipline, preparation, and ability to anticipate attacks before they came
• The role Churchill’s speech challenges and dyslexia played in sharpening his communication
• Why Churchill’s magnanimity and refusal to hold grudges mattered as much as his courage
• What younger generations need to know: study history, seek truth, and understand what freedom costs
• Randy’s reflections on passion, purpose, and the book he still feels called to write

In this episode of Risk & Resolve, Ben Conner and Todd Hufford sit down with Brent Yeagy, President and CEO of Wabash, to explore his journey from small-town Indiana to the U.S. Navy submarine force and ultimately to leading one of America’s largest transportation equipment manufacturers. Brent shares how military pressure shaped his leadership, what it took to guide Wabash through COVID, why he refuses to accept the status quo in healthcare, and how leaders can drive breakthrough change by owning outcomes instead of delegating them away. This is a conversation about resilience, responsibility, and leading with clarity when the stakes are high.

Main Talking Points

• Brent’s Indiana roots, early dream of becoming a doctor, and formative years in Alexandria
• His nonlinear path from Purdue to enlisting in the U.S. Navy during the first Gulf War
• How leading young sailors on a nuclear submarine shaped his view of pressure, responsibility, and leadership
• Wabash’s origin story: disrupting the trailer industry through customization and entrepreneurial speed
• Brent’s rise through multiple roles at Wabash after joining in 2003
• The career-defining risk of moving into manufacturing leadership with only 24 hours to decide
• What changed when he became CEO in 2018
• How Wabash responded to COVID after losing roughly 70% of backlog in weeks
• Why command-and-control leadership was necessary in moments of crisis
• Turning crisis into opportunity by recapitalizing, reorganizing, and reshaping the business
• Brent’s philosophy on healthcare: leaders are responsible for outcomes, not just costs
• Why CEOs cannot delegate away stewardship of employee health
• His vision for Wabash’s future through resilience, culture, and strategic transformation

In this special in-person episode of Risk & Resolve, Ben Conner and Todd Hufford sit down with Jim Conner—second-generation insurance entrepreneur and former president of Conner Insurance—to unpack five decades of risk-taking, family business, faith-driven leadership, and hard-earned lessons. From buying the agency at age 22 with a $50,000 note to navigating acquisitions, expansion failures, carrier relationships, and generational transition, Jim shares what it really takes to build—and sustain—a family enterprise. This is a candid conversation about ownership, conviction, legacy, and why burning the ships might be the only way forward.

Main Talking Points:

• The 1973 decision: four brothers buying the family agency with a $50,000 bank note
• Lessons from Jim’s father: war survivor, project-driven entrepreneur, relentless relationship builder
• Why “burning the ships” shaped their mindset toward business survival
• Growing from $150K in revenue to multi-location expansion across Indiana
• The risks and realities of managing satellite offices before technology
• Negotiating underwriting authority and building carrier leverage (the Maryland story)
• Why autonomy without accountability exposed the limits of expansion
• Flatline years, hard cash-flow seasons, and bearing leadership pressure alone
• Integrating faith and business through CBMC, mentorship, and personal conviction
• The challenges—and necessity—of generational succession
• Why ownership changes everything
• Legacy thinking: shifting from building a company to investing in grandchildren

In this powerful episode of Risk and Resolve, Wendell Potter shares his journey from health insurance executive at Cigna and Humana to becoming one of the most prominent whistleblowers in American healthcare reform. After decades inside the system, Wendell reveals how corporate priorities, shareholder pressure, and political influence shaped the modern insurance landscape—and why he ultimately chose to testify before Congress.

Main Talking Points:
        •        Growing up in rural Tennessee and early journalism career
        •        Transition from reporter to insurance executive at Humana and Cigna
        •        Inside look at shareholder-driven healthcare corporations
        •        How propaganda shaped public opinion on healthcare reform
        •        The rise of high-deductible plans and “consumer-driven healthcare”
        •        The Clinton healthcare battle and the Affordable Care Act
        •        Medicare Advantage, vertical integration, and PBMs explained
        •        The “road to Damascus” moment that changed his life
        •        Testifying before Congress and becoming a whistleblower
        •        What a fair and sustainable healthcare system could look like

In this episode of Risk & Resolve, Ben Conner and Todd Hufford sit down with Erik Cooper, a leader whose career path moved from music to accounting to ministry—and back into the marketplace with a mission. Erik shares how CRF (Community Reinvestment Foundation) leverages affordable housing and assisted living to generate profits that fund global missions through The Stone Table. They unpack the sacred–secular divide, what it means to work from “it is finished,” and how business leaders can view their work as worship and service. From family legacy and nonprofit strategy to the Great Commission and the unreached, this conversation is a blueprint for mission-minded leadership in the marketplace.

Main Talking Points:

• Erik’s nonlinear journey: Belmont music major → IU accounting → worship pastor → church planter → nonprofit president
• The founding model of CRF: acquiring affordable housing to generate profits for global missions
• How nonprofit real estate can combine high-quality housing impact with sustainable mission funding
• Why The Stone Table was created to bring missions giving and marketplace mobilization in-house
• The meaning behind “The Stone Table” (Narnia inspiration) and anchoring the org to the gospel story
• “Tetelestai” / “It is finished” as the foundation for work, identity, and purpose in business
• Dismantling the sacred–secular divide: why marketplace work matters to God
• Practical coaching for leaders: putting your work inside God’s story, not asking God to bless your story
• “Avodah” (labor / worship / service) and viewing everyday work as worshipful service
• Marketplace as missions strategy: why business is often the access point in unreached regions
• Family leadership dynamics: working with his dad and daughter; legacy and stewardship
• Risk & Resolve: church planting as entrepreneurial risk; unfinished goals (kids debt-free + global gospel access)

In this episode of Risk & Resolve, Ben Conner and Todd Hufford sit down with Indiana Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith to explore his journey from ministry and agriculture into statewide leadership. Beckwith shares why he believes faith and politics are inseparable, how grassroots organizing reshaped Indiana’s lieutenant governor race, and why rural communities and agriculture are central to America’s future. From culture wars and education to farming, governance, and the risks of public service, this episode offers a candid look at leadership rooted in conviction.

Main Talking Points:

• Beckwith’s upbringing in agriculture and the dairy industry, including the Moose Tracks origin story
• From worship pastor to politician: why ministry led him into public office
• The role of faith in governance and why churches should engage civic life
• Public education, parental rights, and cultural influence on the next generation
• COVID-era leadership, religious exemptions, and defending individual liberty
• How Indiana’s lieutenant governor is chosen through a delegate convention
• Grassroots politics: visiting all 92 counties and winning by 63 votes
• Checks and balances between governor and lieutenant governor
• Agriculture as national security and Indiana’s economic backbone
• Revitalizing rural Indiana through infrastructure, broadband, and Main Street investment
• Risks of leadership, public criticism, and standing firm in conviction

Growth comes from clear values, brave creativity, and showing up for clients when it matters most. In this episode, we sit down with Chance Benbow, CEO of JDA Worldwide, to explore how a client-first mindset and faith-informed leadership drive measurable results across brand, digital, PR, and media.

We dig into how courageous creativity, face-to-face trust, and service orientation turned a Midwestern agency into a long-term growth partner for purpose-driven brands. Chance shares lessons from his career, including:

• Childhood lessons decoding ads
 • Launching an agency in his twenties
 • Faith-driven values and leadership
 • Beating the 18-month client churn
 • Building culture through in-person collaboration
 • Creativity across brand, web, PR, and media
 • CEO personal branding and impactful PR
 • Risk, resolve, and founding Intersection

Chance also shares candid insights on pride, legacy, hiring for temperament over résumé, and anchoring campaigns to measurable growth goals rather than shiny deliverables.

If this episode resonates, subscribe, share with a teammate, and leave a review—then ask yourself: what part of your growth plan needs more courage and clarity today?

Cyber Risk Isn’t Just Tech—It’s Business Continuity

Cyber threats aren’t just a tech problem—they’re a business problem. In this episode, we bring together a CISO and a senior cyber broker to show how organizations can prepare, protect, and recover when ransomware, email compromise, or vendor outages hit at the worst possible moment.

You’ll learn:

• What the latest FBI numbers really mean and why human error drives most losses
• How to move from vague worry to an evidence-based risk register leadership can fund and track
• The essential building blocks of a modern security program: policies people follow, technical controls that stick, and alignment to frameworks like NIST CSF 2.0 or CIS Controls
• Recovery strategies that work under pressure: tested business continuity, documented incident response plans, disaster recovery, and the 3-2-1 backup strategy with routine restore testing
• Cyber insurance demystified: first- and third-party coverage, breach response, forensic support, business interruption, cyber extortion, social engineering, regulatory actions, and reputational harm
• What underwriters expect today—MFA, EDR, offline backups, and phishing training—and how brokers can advocate for better terms
• AI-driven scams and verification protocols to strengthen defenses

We also break down how to align your cyber insurance with your security posture, so coverage responds when you need it most. With layered defenses, practiced playbooks, and clear coverage, you can absorb shocks and keep revenue moving.

If this episode helps you spot a gap in your defenses, subscribe, share with a teammate, and leave a review highlighting the one control you’ll implement this quarter.

In this powerful episode of Risk & Resolve, Ben Conner and Todd Hufford sit down with Chris Deacon—former New Jersey Treasury official, whistleblower, and author of The Great American Healthcare Heist. Chris shares how she uncovered widespread fraud and manipulation in one of the country’s largest public health plans, why she walked away from her role, and the moral, personal, and professional cost of exposing the truth. From pharmacy benefit games to $100M settlements, this is a rare, behind-the-scenes look into how the system really works—and what it takes to change it.

Main Talking Points

• Chris’s background: from bankruptcy attorney to managing an 820,000-member state health plan
• The questions that exposed flaws: “Discount off what?” and “Don’t we want smart disruption?”
•  Her discovery: being billed $2.1M for a $675K procedure—and the rigged system behind it
• How vendors manipulated EOBs and plan billing against contract terms
• Filing the whistleblower case that led to a $100M+ recovery for New Jersey
• Why she left government—and the chilling threats she faced afterward
• The broader problem with PBMs, rebates, and healthcare middlemen
• Her call to action for fiduciaries and employers to stop accepting “that’s just how it’s done”
• Her book, The Great American Healthcare Heist, and what it reveals
• What’s next: unsealing the rest of the case and continuing the fight for transparency
   
  
  

In this forward-looking episode of Risk & Resolve, Ben Conner and Todd Hufford share predictions for 2026 across interest rates, employment trends, healthcare innovation, and the rising costs of insurance. They discuss the economic forces driving employer benefits strategy, how drugs like Zepbound and Mounjaro are reshaping budgets, and why some employers may start treating healthcare like a utility. From remote work realignment to the rise of PBM bypass tools, this is a must-listen for CFOs, benefits advisors, and business leaders planning ahead.

Main Talking Points

• Interest rate history, outlook, and its downstream impact on business investment
• Return-to-office movement: trends, motives, and generational career impact
• The GLP-1 effect: Zepbound, Mounjaro, and why Eli Lilly is reshaping Indiana’s economy
• Why 2026 might be the most expensive year yet for employer health plans
• Large claimants and unit cost inflation as primary insurance drivers
• The potential return of Medicare-for-All momentum and political implications
• Direct-to-consumer pharma: LillyDirect, Trump Rx, and bypassing the PBM
• How GoodRx, Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus, and Scriptco are disrupting traditional pharmacy
• Employers rethinking benefits: the need for felt value and compensation ROI
• Long-term goal: managing health plans to CPI, not medical inflation myths