Second in Command: The Chief Behind the Chief with Cameron Herold

What does it take to build a global team from scratch when a pandemic hits weeks into your new job?

In this episode, our co-host, Lindsay Smith, sits down with Awa Kone, Head of Finance at Caliza. Awa previously served as COO of Corridor and as global head of operations at Flutterwave.

Awa shares why she never expects the fires to stop, how she works with a CEO without being a yes-woman, and what it takes to keep a culture intact across continents.

Listen now.

Cadre AI - If you are ready to turn AI into real growth for your business rather than just more tools, visit Cadre AI, our Gold Partner, to discover how their team helps companies increase revenue, improve profitability, and implement AI that truly delivers results: https://www.cadreai.com/coo

02:44 Early Life in Ivory Coast & Actuarial Career

06:42 Joining Flutterwave During COVID

08:09 Building Remote Teams in a Pandemic

12:29 Scaling Infrastructure Without Breaking

14:30 Working With the CEO as Second in Command

17:56 Fire Prevention vs Firefighting in Operations

19:54 Different Titles, Same Core Role

25:30 Maintaining Culture Across Global Markets

29:29 Team Retreats and Face-to-Face Connection

32:48 Training and Onboarding in Startups

Awa Kone is Head of Finance at Caliza, a global operator who helps high-growth companies build the operational and financial infrastructure to scale without breaking. She previously served as COO of Corridor and spent five and a half years at Flutterwave as global head of operations, where she built and scaled teams, treasury operations, and critical infrastructure through a period of extraordinary growth. She holds an MBA from MIT Sloan, is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, and has built her career across the US, Europe, and Africa.

Flutterwave

MIT Sloan School of Management

Swiss Re

Milliman

PwC

Society of Actuaries

Slack

Zoom

WhatsApp

Invest In Your Leaders

Lindsay Smith is an experience-driven growth strategist and former Chief Strategy Officer. She previously scaled a new region without a traditional sales team or bloated marketing budget by turning relationships, culture, and execution into revenue. She is the author of No One Needs Another Company Mug, Stop Branding, Start Experiencing, and helps leadership teams use experience as a competitive growth lever.

Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedIn

Explore the COO Alliance – The World’s Leading Community for Seconds in Command

Get Cameron’s book: Second in Command, Unleash the Power of Your COO Book

Take his course: Invest In Your Leaders Online Course (Use promo code PODCAST10 before the end of the month for 10% off)

Chat or video call with AI Cameron via Delphi

What does it take to go from Chief of Staff to running your own business unit before turning 30?

In this Fan Favorite episode, Cameron Herold sits down with Melisa Tokmak, former General Manager of Document AI at Scale AI and now founder of Netic, to revisit one of the show's most insightful conversations on building teams and leading fast.

Melisa's path is rare: a tiny village in Turkey, Stanford, Facebook, then right hand to Scale's CEO. She breaks down what a chief of staff really does, how she wins over senior candidates when she is younger than most, and why doing everything yourself is the hardest habit to break.

Whether you are building a team or chasing a bigger role, this conversation is a masterclass in taking the elevator. Listen now.

STS Capital Partners - Your expert guides on the journey to an Extraordinary Exit™. To learn more about STS Capital Partners and how they achieve maximum value by Selling to Strategics™, check out here.

Timestamped Highlights

05:48 Attracting Top Talent

08:42 Leadership Development

11:20 Transitioning to Scale AI

14:40 Defining Chief of Staff

18:59 Overcoming Growth Challenges

22:33 Focusing on Priorities

26:02 Hiring and Culture

30:04 Identifying Candidates

33:33 First Principles Approach

36:40 Career Advice and Closing

Melisa Tokmak is the founder of Netic. At the time of this recording, she was General Manager of Document AI at Scale AI, where she led a team of engineers, machine learning scientists, and product, operations, sales, and marketing talent building fine-tuned models for logistics, financial services, healthcare, and government. She joined Scale two years out of college as Chief of Staff to CEO Alexandr Wang, then founded the company's government unit, whose customers included the U.S. Army, the Defense Innovation Unit, and the U.S. Air Force.

Scale AI

Stanford University

Meta (Facebook)

1-800-GOT-JUNK?

Defense Innovation Unit

Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedIn

Explore the COO Alliance – The World's Leading Community for Seconds in Command

Get Cameron's book: Second in Command, Unleash the Power of Your COO Book

Claim your FREE copy: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book

Take his course: Invest In Your Leaders Online Course (Use promo code PODCAST10 before the end of the month for 10% off)

Chat or video call with AI Cameron via Delphi

What does it take to keep a brewery's supply chain running when a hurricane floods it six feet deep, four days after you start the job?

In this episode, Lindsay Smith sits down with Tom O'Connell, Chief Supply Chain Officer at New Belgium Beer. Tom brings nearly 28 years in brewing, including 25 years at Anheuser-Busch where he led more than 1,400 employees across 46 locations, before joining New Belgium in 2024 to oversee brewing operations across its four US breweries.

Tom breaks down what it actually means to own everything from raw materials to the last mile of delivery, how New Belgium keeps culture consistent across four very different regions, and what he learned leading the Asheville brewery through Hurricane Helene, a crisis that tested the company's people first philosophy in real time.

Listen now.

Sponsored by:

Genius Network, an exclusive community for highly successful entrepreneurs, that connects you with top-tier leaders, strategic insights, and powerful relationships to help you grow your business faster and smarter. Learn more here.

Timestamped Highlights

00:33 Meet Tom O'Connell, Chief Supply Chain Officer

02:00 How Tom Got Into Beer by Fate

02:54 25 Years at Anheuser-Busch

04:14 What the Chief Supply Chain Officer Role Covers

09:56 The Annual Leadership Retreat

12:06 Managing Culture Across Four Regions

14:42 Innovation Engine: Voodoo Ranger, RTDs, and Kirin

25:20 Hurricane Helene Hits Asheville

27:56 Crisis Leadership: People First

44:07 Rising Costs and Supply Chain Disruptions

About the Guest

Tom O'Connell is Chief Supply Chain Officer at New Belgium Beer, where he oversees brewing operations and supply chain strategy across the company's four US breweries. He brings nearly 28 years of brewing experience, including 25 years at Anheuser-Busch, where he rose from intern to Vice President of Brewing and Quality for North America, leading a team of more than 1,400 employees across 46 locations. He joined New Belgium in 2024 and led the Asheville brewery's recovery after Hurricane Helene flooded the facility just days into his tenure.

Mentioned Resources

Anheuser-Busch

New Belgium Brewing

Bell's Brewery

About the Co-Host

Lindsay Smith is an experience-driven growth strategist and former Chief Strategy Officer. She previously scaled a new region without a traditional sales team or bloated marketing budget by turning relationships, culture, and execution into revenue. She is the author of No One Needs Another Company Mug, Stop Branding, Start Experiencing, and helps leadership teams use experience as a competitive growth lever.

Important Links

Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedIn

Explore the COO Alliance – The World's Leading Community for Seconds in Command

Get Cameron's book: Second in Command, Unleash the Power of Your COO Book

Claim your FREE copy: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book

Take his course: Invest In Your Leaders Online Course (Use promo code PODCAST10 before the end of the month for 10% off)

Chat or video call with AI Cameron via Delphi

Ep. 608 - FAN FAVORITE | YPO President and COO Sean Magennis - Lead With a Servant's Heart

What does it take to lead an organization of 27,600 CEOs across 135 countries while still leading with a servant's heart?

In this Fan Favorite episode, Cameron Herold sits down with Sean Magennis, former International Chairman of the Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) and former President and COO of YPO, now EVP at Scouting America, to revisit one of the show's most insightful conversations on peer leadership.

Sean's path is rare: he bootstrapped his own business from South Africa to Canada with no debt and no laptop, then spent over two decades immersed in confidential peer groups before helping run one of the largest CEO communities in the world.

They get into how YPO's confidential "Forum" model teaches CEOs to speak from experience rather than give advice, why businesses evolve through life stages the same way people do, and the exact habits that keep his partnership with YPO's CEO in sync.

Listen now.

Sponsored by:

Redirect Health offers healthcare benefits that finally make health insurance optional: a 24-hour online primary care and RX membership that protects your business by guiding employees before problems happen. Learn more: redirectcoo.com

Timestamped Highlights

00:00 YPO and the Mastermind Landscape for Entrepreneurs

02:10 Sean Magennis: From EO Forum Committee to YPO

07:15 The Volunteer Addiction: 23 Years of Peer Group Leadership

10:05 Inside YPO Today: 27,600 Members and $9 Trillion in Member Sales

13:40 The Forum: YPO's Confidential Peer Group Model for CEOs

16:20 How YPO Teaches Vulnerability and Builds Trust Among CEOs

19:00 Forum in Business: Bringing Peer Principles to the Workplace

27:00 How Businesses Evolve Through Lifecycle Stages Like Humans

36:20 Sean's Key COO Skills: Ego Management, Coaching, and Coordination

43:00 The CEO-COO Partnership and Sean's Biggest Lesson

About the Guest

Sean Magennis is EVP at Scouting America. At the time of this recording, he was President and COO of YPO, the global community of chief executives, where he led alongside a 27-year YPO member CEO and a board of 17 CEOs overseeing 27,600 members in 135 countries. He began his career in South Africa before moving to Canada in 1990, where he bootstrapped an organizational development and executive search business across Canada, the US, and Mexico, and served as past International Chairman of the Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO).

Mentioned Resources

Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO)

Dow Limited

College Pro Painters

Fortune's Best Places to Work list

Important Links

Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedIn

Explore the COO Alliance – The World's Leading Community for Seconds in Command

Get Cameron's book: Second in Command, Unleash the Power of Your COO Book

Claim your FREE copy: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book

Take his course: Invest In Your Leaders Online Course (Use promo code PODCAST10 before the end of the month for 10% off)

Chat or video call with AI Cameron via Delphi

What happens when a company builds its growth strategy around reviving forgotten small towns instead of chasing the next big metro?

In this episode our co-host, Lindsay Smith, sits down with Nick Murphy, COO of Optomi Professional Services, a 100% US based technology firm operating through two brands: Optomi, which delivers high-end IT staffing, and Provalus, which brings IT and business process consulting to centers of excellence in rural America.

He built his career across investment banking, a decade at The Home Depot, and a senior finance role at Ibotta before joining Optomi in 2023 and being appointed COO in December 2025.

Together they get into the exact criteria Provalus uses before betting on a town, how one Wall Street Journal feature turned into a wave of national press, and why Nick says his people are the closest thing his company has to inventory.

Listen now.

Sponsored by:

Cadre AI - If you are ready to turn AI into real growth for your business rather than just more tools visit Cadre AI to discover how their team helps companies increase revenue, improve profitability, and implement AI that truly delivers results: https://www.cadreai.com/coo

Timestamped Highlights

0:00 — Staying Close to the Business

0:44 — Nick Murphy Introduction

6:25 — "Business Partners First, Finance Partners Second"

10:41 — Wall Street Journal Feature

12:10 — "A Company of Firsts"

13:25 — Untapped Talent in Rural America

15:56 — Revitalizing Main Street

20:08 — Paying 100% of Benefits

29:43 — Most Exciting Career Moment

33:08 — "Executive Amnesia" and the CEO Relationship

34:15 — Challenging the CEO

40:05 — "If I'm the Bottleneck, We've Got a Busted Process"

41:50 — AI as a Growth Vector

46:16 — Childhood Dream: School Bus Driver

About the Guest

Nick Murphy is COO of Optomi Professional Services, where he oversees both the Optomi staffing brand and the Provalus managed services brand. He built his career across investment banking with SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, nearly a decade at The Home Depot spanning finance, merchandising, e-commerce, and marketing, and a senior finance role at Ibotta. He joined Optomi in 2023, built out FP&A, marketing, PR, and enterprise strategy, and was appointed COO in December 2025.

Mentioned Resources

SunTrust Robinson Humphrey

The Home Depot

Ibotta

Wall Street Journal

Fox Business

News Nation

Newsweek

cooalliance.com/freebook

About the Co-Host

Lindsay Smith is an experience-driven growth strategist and former Chief Strategy Officer. She previously scaled a new region without a traditional sales team or bloated marketing budget by turning relationships, culture, and execution into revenue. She is the author of No One Needs Another Company Mug, Stop Branding, Start Experiencing, and helps leadership teams use experience as a competitive growth lever.

Important Links

Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedIn

Explore the COO Alliance – The World's Leading Community for Seconds in Command

Get Cameron's book: Second in Command, Unleash the Power of Your COO Book

Claim your FREE copy: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book

Take his course: Invest In Your Leaders Online Course (Use promo code PODCAST10 before the end of the month for 10% off)

Chat or video call with AI Cameron via Delphi

What does it take to sit at the right hand of three different CEOs, back to back, and make each partnership work?

In this Fan Favorite episode, Cameron Herold sits down with Laurie Aaron, former Chief of Staff at AT&T and now founder of Arron Coaching, LLC, to revisit one of the show's most clarifying conversations on a role almost nobody truly understands.

Laurie's path is rare: 30 years inside AT&T and three successive CEOs gave her a front-row seat to how the chief of staff role must reinvent itself with every leader. She breaks down what separates a chief of staff from a COO and an executive assistant, and why the best ones prevent problems the CEO never even sees.

Whether you're wondering if you need a chief of staff, or wondering if you already are one, this conversation demystifies the role end to end. Listen now.

Sponsored by:

AMP - a practical, proven methodology that helps teams move from trying to do more with AI to achieving more because of it, replacing fragmented experimentation with real AI Operations capability. Through personalized training, strategy, and hands-on support, teams get a clear path to build momentum and embed AI into daily work. Learn more here.

Timestamped Highlights

00:00 Why the Chief of Staff Role Is So Misunderstood

02:10 The Origins: From the Military to the Corporate World

04:30 What Every Effective Chief of Staff Has in Common

07:15 Chief of Staff vs. COO: Where the Roles Diverge

10:05 My Right Hand and My Left Hand: Chief of Staff vs. Executive Assistant

13:40 How Title Inflation Diluted the Role

16:20 What Chiefs of Staff Are Actually Paid

19:00 Writing Who Has Your Back?

21:30 Can Any C-Suite Leader Have a Chief of Staff?

24:15 Where the Best Chiefs of Staff Really Come From

27:00 Why You Should Look Internally First

30:10 Building the Interview Squad

33:45 How Trust Gets Built Between a CEO and Their Chief

36:20 The Handshake Meeting: Setting the Vows

39:50 Knowing When and How to Challenge a CEO

43:00 Coaching CEOs and Chiefs of Staff as a Team

45:30 Speak Yourself Into the Room: Laurie's Advice to Her Younger Self

About the Guest

Laurie Aaron built her expertise on the chief of staff role over 30 years at AT&T, where she served as chief of staff to three different CEOs in succession. She is now the founder and CEO of Arron Coaching, LLC, a trusted advisor and executive coach to C-Suite leaders and chiefs of staff, and the author of Who Has Your Back?: A Leader's Guide to Getting the Support You Need by the Chief of Staff You Deserve.

Mentioned Resources

Who Has Your Back?

Hit The Ground Running

AT&T

The Misunderstood Role of the COO

cooalliance.com/freebook

Important Links

Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedIn

Explore the COO Alliance – The World's Leading Community for Seconds in Command

Get Cameron's book: Second in Command, Unleash the Power of Your COO Book

Claim your FREE copy: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book

Take his course: Invest In Your Leaders Online Course (Use promo code PODCAST10 before the end of the month for 10% off)

Chat or video call with AI Cameron via Delphi

Most operators never learn to fight autopilot, the quiet enemy of excellence.

In this episode, Lindsay Smith sits down with Mike Fedorov, COO of Applied AI Labs. With 26 years in operations and supply chain, as a former Accenture Director and Mars operations leader, Mike built his reputation staying on-site, in the detail, close to where the work breaks.

He shares his philosophy that a COO's first job is to keep the lights on, and the second is to keep them on better, explaining why flat structures are replacing layers of management, how AI works best as a coordination layer, and the defining power of mentorship in his career.

Sponsored by:

STS Capital Partners - Your expert guides on the journey to an Extraordinary Exit™. To learn more about STS Capital Partners and how they achieve maximum value by Selling to Strategics™, complete the inquiry form here: https://stscapital.com/coo-alliance/

Timestemped Highlights

00:00 The Future of Flat Organizational Structures

01:44 What Applied AI Labs Does

02:38 The COO's Real Job: Keep the Lights On, and Better

05:11 A COO Who Watches Two Operations at Once

08:08 Scaling After Excelling: The Contractor Approach

09:18 Why Flat Structures Are Replacing Layers of Management

11:01 What Big Companies Get Right About Operations

12:45 Nimbleness vs. Routine: Autopilot as the Enemy of Excellence

16:06 How AI Actually Helps Operations: The Coordination Layer

18:44 AI as a Copilot, Not a Replacement

20:06 AI in Recruiting: What Works and What Fails

27:34 Defining Moments: The Power of Mentorship

30:52 How to Find and Structure Mentorship

38:55 What's Next for Applied AI Labs

43:55 Personal Growth: Knowing What You Don't Know

About the guest

Mike has 26 years of experience in operations and supply chain, as a former Accenture Director and, before that, leading operations planning and execution for Mars. He has run and turned around operations for some of the most complex and demanding companies in the world, and has saved major clients that were ready to walk. He leads engagements the way he has always worked: on-site, in the detail, close to the people who know where the work breaks. Operators trust Mike because he has done their job.

Mentioned Resources

Mars

Accenture

About the Co-Host

Lindsay Smith is an experience-driven growth strategist and former Chief Strategy Officer. She previously scaled a new region without a traditional sales team or bloated marketing budget by turning relationships, culture, and execution into revenue. She is the author of No One Needs Another Company Mug, Stop Branding, Start Experiencing, and helps leadership teams use experience as a competitive growth lever.

Important Links

Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedIn

Explore the COO Alliance – The World’s Leading Community for Seconds in Command

Get Cameron’s book: Second in Command, Unleash the Power of Your COO Book

Claim your FREE copy: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book

Take his course: Invest In Your Leaders Online Course (Use promo code PODCAST10 before the end of the month for 10% off)

Chat or video call with AI Cameron via Delphi

How do you walk into a company of nearly 800 people as its first-ever president and win over the ones who wanted your job?

We are bringing this one back because it keeps landing with second-in-command leaders. Cameron sits down with Sameer Kazi, the first president in ActiveCampaign's history, who joined a fast-growing company of nearly 800 people and had to earn trust from day one.

Sameer traces his path from employee 200 at ExactTarget through the Salesforce acquisition, KKR, Bessemer, and running Cheetah Digital, then unpacks how he split responsibilities with the CEO, why he brings non-finance leaders close to the numbers, and how he decides with incomplete information.

If you are stepping into a senior seat or scaling a business without losing its edge, this one is worth the revisit. Listen now.

Sponsored by:

This episode is brought to you by our Silver Sponsor, Next Level Growth.

They help COOs and leadership teams build Elite Organizations through a proven, customizable framework built around the Five Obsessions of Elite Organizations.

If you and your leadership team are ready to operate at the next level, take the Elite Organizations Assessment and receive a free 20-page customized report based on your answers, plus a complimentary one-hour coaching session with a Next Level Growth Partner and Business Guide to begin implementing tools that will help you build an even more elite business.

Complete the assessment here to get started - nextlevelgrowth.com/cooassessment

02:35 Employee 200 at a "tiny little company" called ExactTarget

03:15 Filing an S-1 in 2008, right as the markets fell apart

03:50 Why the growth never actually slowed down

05:37 The years between Salesforce and ActiveCampaign

08:50 Walking into KKR and asking, "Barbarians at the Gate?"

10:38 The boardroom lesson from a business with declining growth

12:38 What an MBA is actually good for

13:38 Reading Salesforce's income statement before SaaS was cool

14:48 The 54% lever that only works while growth holds

15:52 Quitting his job to raise money with twins on the way

16:32 Why ActiveCampaign came looking for him

19:23 Why the role was never about empire building

21:46 Winning over the people who wanted his seat

25:11 How you know when you know enough to decide

26:24 What ActiveCampaign really does

34:47 Why every non-finance leader should learn the numbers

37:25 The advice he would give his 21-year-old self

Sameer Kazi was serving as President of ActiveCampaign at the time of this recording, the first person to hold that title in the company's history, reporting to founder and CEO Jason VandeBoom. A veteran SaaS operator, he was an early executive at ExactTarget (employee 200) through its acquisition by Salesforce and ran EMEA operations from London. He later served as interim CEO of Simply Measured and CEO of Cheetah Digital, and worked alongside investors including KKR and Bessemer. He holds an MBA and describes himself as a sleeves-rolled-up, sweat-the-details operator. Sameer is now the Chief Executive Officer at Pantheon Platform.

🔗 LinkedIn

• ActiveCampaign
• Salesforce, formerly ExactTarget
• Simply Measured - acquired by Sprout Social
• Cheetah Digital - now Marigold
• KKR
• Bessemer Venture Partners
• Experian
• Silversmith Capital Partners
• True
• Cisco
• Zapier
• 1-800-GOT-JUNK

• Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedIn
• Explore the COO Alliance - The World's Leading Community for Seconds in Command
• Get Cameron's book: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book
• Claim your FREE copy: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book
• Take his course: Invest In Your Leaders Online Course (Use promo code PODCAST10 before the end of the month for 10% off)
• Chat or video call with AI Cameron via Delphi

Note: This Fan Favorite episode is a recast of one of our most impactful interviews, still packed with insights for second-in-command leaders. Whether it is your first listen or a revisit, there is timeless value inside.

The Second in Command Podcast is an original production hosted by Cameron Herold. Brought to you by COO Alliance. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.

Sponsored by:

This episode is brought to you by our Silver Sponsor, Next Level Growth.

They help COOs and leadership teams build Elite Organizations through a proven, customizable framework built around the Five Obsessions of Elite Organizations.

If you and your leadership team are ready to operate at the next level, take the Elite Organizations Assessment and receive a free 20-page customized report based on your answers, plus a complimentary one-hour coaching session with a Next Level Growth Partner and Business Guide to begin implementing tools that will help you build an even more elite business.

Complete the assessment here to get started - nextlevelgrowth.com/cooassessment

What does it really take to turn a single-family ranch into a thriving, multi-stream meat company that families and top chefs trust?

In this episode, Lindsay Smith sits down with Conner Hackett, General Manager of Stemple Creek Ranch, to unpack how a small California ranch grew into a multichannel meat company without ever cutting corners.

Conner shares why culture and purpose matter more than technical skill, how one ranch became farmers markets, direct-to-consumer, events, and ranch stays, and what it actually takes to build a resilient local food system that keeps the dollars pointed back at the people on the ground.

If you lead operations and want a real playbook for scaling with legacy and integrity intact, this conversation delivers. Listen now.

Sponsored by:

Genius Network - An exclusive community for highly successful entrepreneurs, connecting you with top-tier leaders, strategic insights, and powerful relationships to help you grow your business faster and smarter.

Learn more: https://www.geniusnetwork.com/

00:17 - How a fifth-generation rancher ended up leading a meat company

01:14 - Why he walked away from a finance internship at Merrill Lynch

03:14 - What it is really like to join a company whose culture is already built

04:28 - The complex work of turning whole animals into a real business

07:11 - The hidden hurdle most small producers underestimate

09:49 - Why the meat company only works if it serves the rancher first

10:52 - How Stemple Creek builds fierce loyalty one customer at a time

15:27 - What actually happens behind the booth at a world-class farmers market

24:04 - The most defining moment: getting the whole team under one roof

26:16 - Wearing every hat as GM, and the surprise he did not expect

30:01 - Why the why matters more than the technical skill set

31:52 - The weight of legacy, and the moment it flipped for him

37:50 - The direct-to-consumer bet that could define the next chapter

Conner Hackett is the General Manager of Stemple Creek Ranch, a fourth-generation family ranch near Tomales, California that raises grass-fed beef and lamb and has grown into a multichannel meat company. A fifth-generation rancher himself, Conner came up in agriculture, worked in the Bay Area meat and restaurant world, and founded his own consulting business before joining Stemple Creek, where he now leads finance, marketing, and operations for the meat enterprise.

🔗 LinkedIn | Website

• Integrate Consulting
• Merrill Lynch
• Leopold Conservation Award

Lindsay Smith is an experience-driven growth strategist and former Chief Strategy Officer. She previously scaled a new region without a traditional sales team or bloated marketing budget by turning relationships, culture, and execution into revenue. She is the author of No One Needs Another Company Mug, Stop Branding, Start Experiencing, and helps leadership teams use experience as a competitive growth lever.

🔗 Connect with Lindsay on LinkedIn

• Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedIn
• Explore the COO Alliance - The World's Leading Community for Seconds in Command
• Get Cameron's book: Second in Command, Unleash the Power of Your COO Book
• Claim your FREE copy: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book
• Take his course: Invest In Your Leaders Online Course (Use promo code PODCAST10 before the end of the month for 10% off)
• Chat or video call with AI Cameron via Delphi

The Second in Command Podcast is an original production hosted by Cameron Herold and co-hosted by Lindsay Smith. Brought to you by COO Alliance. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.

Sponsored by:

Genius Network - An exclusive community for highly successful entrepreneurs, connecting you with top-tier leaders, strategic insights, and powerful relationships to help you grow your business faster and smarter.

Learn more: https://www.geniusnetwork.com/

What does it take to go from astrophysics to running operations at one of the fastest-growing AI companies in the world?

In this Fan Favorite episode, Cameron Herold sits down with Victoria Weller, former Chief of Staff and now Lead of Operations at ElevenLabs, to revisit one of the show’s most fascinating conversations. Victoria’s path is rare: astrophysics, space medicine, quantum encryption, and Palantir, before landing at the AI voice company reshaping how the world listens.

She breaks down what a Chief of Staff really does at an early-stage startup, how she cleared SOC 2 compliance in seven weeks, and why ElevenLabs grew so fast. They also get into voice cloning, deepfake safeguards, and surprising use cases across hospitals, transit, and accessibility.

Whether you want a COO seat or you are building functions from nothing, Victoria’s story is a masterclass in figuring it out fast. Listen now.

Redirect Health - Affordable healthcare benefits designed to make traditional insurance optional, with 24/7 access to primary care and Rx support that helps businesses reduce costs while keeping employees covered.

Learn more: http://www.redirectcoo.com/

[00:00:44] – The ElevenLabs mission, and why an EPUB can become an instant audiobook

[00:02:55] – Munich to Edinburgh to Berlin to New York: a career across four countries

[00:04:06] – What actually happens to an astronaut’s blood in zero gravity

[00:07:54] – Lasers, quantum encryption, and the pivot toward tech

[00:13:06] – Cameron asks the big ones: aliens, and are we living in a simulation?

[00:19:12] – What ElevenLabs is really building, explained simply

[00:20:50] – How context lets an AI voice sound genuinely sad or genuinely happy

[00:28:12] – The accessibility use cases the team never saw coming

[00:31:03] – Cloning a late loved one’s voice, and the compliance behind it

[00:33:16] – Stopping deepfake voice scams: watermarks and the AI Speech Classifier

[00:38:31] – What a Chief of Staff actually does, and why it feels like a SWAT team

[00:40:32] – Does a great Chief of Staff work themselves out of a job?

[00:47:07] – The advice Victoria would give her 21-year-old self

Victoria Weller is the former Chief of Staff and now the Lead of Operations at ElevenLabs, the AI voice company behind lifelike text-to-speech and voice cloning, where she owns internal operations, compliance, and hiring. She cleared the company’s SOC 2 process in seven weeks. Before ElevenLabs she was a reliability engineer at Palantir Technologies in New York and London. Her background spans astrophysics at the University of Edinburgh, space-medicine research in Berlin, and a master’s in applied physics from Columbia University.

🔗 LinkedIn | Website

• Palantir
• Columbia University
• Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
• OpenAI (ChatGPT)
• Midjourney
• There’s An AI For That
• TED

• Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedIn
• Explore the COO Alliance - The World’s Leading Community for Seconds in Command
• Get Cameron’s book: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book
• Claim your FREE copy: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book
• Take his course: Invest In Your Leaders Online Course (Use promo code PODCAST10 before the end of the month for 10% off)
• Chat or video call with AI Cameron via Delphi

Note: This Fan Favorite episode is a recast of one of our most impactful interviews, still packed with insights for second-in-command leaders. Whether it is your first listen or a revisit, there is timeless value inside.

The Second in Command Podcast is an original production hosted by Cameron Herold. Brought to you by COO Alliance. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.

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