Sean is the Executive Director of Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, a #nonprofit which provides college education, life skills and re-entry support to incarcerated men and women so they can make a positive impact on their own lives, their families and communities, resulting in lower rates of recidivism, incarceration and poverty. 

Sean shares his incredible story of teenage and early adulthood #incarceration, the mentors he had along the way, fear of re-entering a seemingly unknown world, and his passion for helping others succeed. His #passion, #positivity, and #integrity pervade his conversation with RoomReady's #chiefheartofficer, Phil. 

#hudsonlink #nonprofit #stories #education #humanconnection #avintegrator

Eric is the #CEO and Co-Founder of #Hudexo, a global Technology Installation & Maintenance partner, specializing in the implementation of #AudioVisual and Collaboration Technology products. After 20 years of experience in #networkinfrastructure and #telepresence Eric decided to take a leap of faith and start his own business with a partner in the UK. 

Phil, the #chiefheartofficer of RoomReady, and Eric discuss Eric's early-life introductions to the audio industry, starting Hudexo, the evolution of his business model, and 2021 industry trends. 

#AVindustry #AVintegrator #leapoffaith #smallbusiness #smallbusinessCEO #audiovisual

John Haller is the Vice President of Global Sales for PTC's Product Lifecycle Management Software, #Windchill​. Between significant tenures with #IBM​ and #PTC​, John has 20+ years of experience in technical sales.

In this episode we discuss his career progression, including the ups and downs, and exchange some funny sales stories. John discusses one former CTO customer who explained his company's offering "sucks less" and a former field tech of his who ate a customer's cookies on the job.

#techsales​ #ITsales​ #salesexecutive​ #AVintegrators​ #techtalks​ #salesstories​ #success​ #optimism​

Sunil is crushing it! He started his AV career out of school in India.  From selling LCD panels, to learning AMX programming, to leading a team of design engineers at a large North East integrator Sunil picked up a ton of talents that launched him into starting his own business.  AV Design Labs outsources engineering, CAD work, and programming to a talented team of 40 young / hungry team members in India.  Sunil has a growing customer list in the US that boasts many of our bigger competitors.  

Sunil and I met a few weeks ago when a friend of mine from Crossfit who knew both of us encouraged us to connect.  Even though we used to be on opposing teams, we found a ton of common ground in how we approach life, people, and business.  

Sunil was a fantastic guest and is quickly becoming a good friend.  Thanks Sunil!

I sat down with my dad  to talk about how he's watched technology impact education.  Now 73 years young, he became a High School Principal in a rural Illinois school district in the early 80s.  He tells me about first uses of Computers in Schools starting with administration and moving into the classroom.  We talked about computer labs before the internet, and his first experiences with distance learning.  

He is currently working on writing grants for rural school districts to have access to video conferencing technology.  Rural school districts can then take advantage of opportunities to partner with larger school districts to get access to classes and programs previously unavailable to them.  

I had a blast talking with Brent McArdle! Thanks Pop!

Listen in to Episode 1 of the Room For Heart Podcast where Gerry Genna (of Cisco) and Phil McArdle (of RoomReady) discuss topics from early days in sales, selling video conference rooms in NYC, crayons, gratitude, taking risks, translating Italian impromptu during a live surgery, COVID meeting adoption, and the list goes on.  

Mentioned in the podcast: 
Old Try    (https://theoldtry.com)
RoomReady  (https://roomready.com)
Cisco WebexOne December 8th and 9th (https://www.webex.com/webexone.html)