To wrap up the first year of The Career Vision Podcast, host Michael Piff met with Pan American Bank & Trust President & CEO Frank Cerrone at his office in in Melrose Park. They discussed Frank’s career journey in banking, how he got started at a young age, what he learned, growing as a leader, how important his community is to him and Pan American Bank & Trust, and his advice to someone interested in what he does.

You’ll also hear Frank read a mantra about ‘Attitude’ that is framed in his office. Below is a photo of the mantra to read for yourself.

Our sponsor, Career Vision and the Ball Foundation help students and professionals discover their strengths and navigate their career opportunities. Learn more at CareerVision.org.

And you can subscribe to the Career Vision Podcast with Michael Piff on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Radio and podcast host. TV personality. Columnist. Author. Certified animal behavioral consultant. Animal advocate. Those are just a few titles on Steve Dale’s resume, which makes him a perfect guest for the Career Vision Podcast with Michael Piff.

Steve has so many stories that we will have to do a Part II episode to cover more. But in this episode, Steve talks about where his love for both radio and animals came from, how far back he goes with WGN-TV political analyst Paul Lisnek, how he first got on the radio, the multiple writing jobs he had at Chicago newspapers, how he incorporated his love for pets and animals in his work, advice he got from Lucille Ball (YES, THAT LUCILLE BALL!), his new book (Ask The Dog!), how the Booth 46 Podcast at Petterino’s came to be, his own advice for those wanting to do what he does, and so much more!

Our sponsor, Career Vision and the Ball Foundation help students and professionals discover their strengths and navigate their career opportunities. Learn more at CareerVision.org.

And you can subscribe to the Career Vision Podcast with Michael Piff on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Every Saturday from 10 AM to 1 PM, David Hochberg and his weekly guests help WGN Radio listeners and prospective homeowners with all the questions and challenges someone in the Chicagoland area could think of. David’s career on the radio spans decades, and his career as a mortgage lender goes back even further. He joined Michael Piff on the Career Vision Podcast to talk about…

And if you love Chicago radio, you’re going to love listening to his stories too.

Listen to Home Sweet Home Chicago on WGN Radio and WGNRadio.com. Ask him for a loan at Homeside.com!

Our sponsor, Career Vision and the Ball Foundation help students and professionals discover their strengths and navigate their career opportunities. Learn more at CareerVision.org.

And you can subscribe to the Career Vision Podcast with Michael Piff on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

As WGN Radio sports director Dave Eanet prepares for his last morning shift, he sits down with Michael Piff on the Career Vision Podcast to talk about his career in Chicago media and play-by-play broadcasting. Dave’s career story deserves its own podcast series, but they were able to cover the following:

…and so much more. Listen to the full conversation below:

Our sponsor, Career Vision and the Ball Foundation help students and professionals discover their strengths and navigate their career opportunities. Learn more at CareerVision.org.

And you can subscribe to the Career Vision Podcast with Michael Piff on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Marv Ritter, co-founder of Rite-Way Custom Homes, joined Michael Piff on The Career Vision Podcast to talk about his professional life, which has taken turn, after turn, after turn…

When he graduated from Drake University, Marv had no idea that he would end up where he has, but he knew he didn’t want to sell insurance like his dad did in his hometown of Winterset, Iowa. From consulting for the predecessor of Accenture, to CIO of Fossett Corporation, to president of a subsidiary of Hull Trading Company, to the inventor of the first handheld stock execution device, to CIO and CTO of the world’s largest advertising organization, to leaving the corporate world and running his luxury home building business…there’s a lot to Marv’s story to learn from. Listen to the full episode below:

Our sponsor, Career Vision and the Ball Foundation help students and professionals discover their strengths and navigate their career opportunities. Learn more at CareerVision.org.

And you can subscribe to the Career Vision Podcast with Michael Piff on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

At a young age, Jimmy ‘Mac’ McInerney loved music, radio and Star Wars. Little did he know that he would eventually make those things into an incredible career, with tons of stories that deserve to be told as their own podcast stories. Fortunately for us, we get to enjoy a number of them on the latest episode of the Career Vision Podcast.

Jimmy Mac joined fellow WGN Radio teammate and Career Vision Podcast host Michael Piff for a long, entertaining and insightful conversation that covers his humble beginnings growing up in the area where John Hughes was filming his famous ‘Brat Pack’ era films, going to Kansas University for radio and finding his groove at Columbia College, breaking into the industry at WLUP The Loop, producing for Jonathon Brandmeier, meeting his wife/Chicago radio legend Wendy Snyder, getting in on the ground floor of the podcasting industry, developing and growing the premiere Star Wars podcast, Rebel Force Radio, trips around the world (including Skywalker Ranch), and much more! Listen below:

For anyone interested in starting a podcast and making it into a serious part of their career, take notes. Lots of notes.

Our sponsor, Career Vision and the Ball Foundation help students and professionals discover their strengths and navigate their career opportunities. Learn more at CareerVision.org.

And you can subscribe to the Career Vision Podcast with Michael Piff on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Jennifer Jendras didn’t know anything about environmental health and safety before studying it at Illinois State University, but she did know that there would be work available for her after she graduated.

On the latest episode of the Career Vision Podcast, host Michael Piff met up with Safety and Occupational Health Manager Jennifer Jendras at the Career Vision office in Glen Ellyn, IL to talk about her career journey, her children’s experience taking Career Vision’s aptitude tests and what they learned from the results. Listen below to find out where Jennifer’s career in the federal government has taken her, how important internships and training programs were to her development, how her priorities changed over the years, her advice for anyone interested in her profession and more!

Our sponsor, Career Vision and the Ball Foundation help students and professionals discover their strengths and navigate their career opportunities. Learn more at CareerVision.org.

And you can subscribe to the Career Vision Podcast with Michael Piff on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

The story behind Matt Lindner’s resume deserves multiple episodes, but he and host Michael Piff try to fit as much as they can in the latest edition of the Career Vision Podcast.

Today, Matt is the marketing manager at WTWH, but he had dreams of being a sports writer and broadcaster when he was graduating from Lake Zurich High School. There are plenty of lessons to be learned from Matt’s career, for both students and professionals. From his first job as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers‘ gameday staff (which includes the famous Sausage Races), to a broadcast journalist in the Quad Cities, to a salesperson for the Chicago Tribune, to a writer for RedEye Chicago, all while building his personal brand on social media and prioritizing a work/life balance for him and his family – listen for it all and more below:

Follow Matt on Twitter/X, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Our sponsor, Career Vision and the Ball Foundation help students and professionals discover their strengths and navigate their career opportunities. Learn more at CareerVision.org.

And you can subscribe to the Career Vision Podcast with Michael Piff on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

In 2018, Kacy Standohar took a chance and moved to Chicago with dreams of becoming a sports journalist. She didn’t know anyone in the market, but that didn’t stop her from networking, getting in reps on-camera, and putting herself out there for opportunities. Fast forward to 2025 and she is now a sports reporter and anchor for NBC Chicago, and a sideline reporter for FS1 and the Big East!

Kacy joined Michael Piff on the Career Vision Podcast to talk to about her career journey, how she began as a TV producer, when she decided to pursue sports broadcasting, balancing marketing jobs while covering high school sports, softball and minor league baseball, the opportunities that followed, helping launch a new Chicago sports outlet like CHGO, her day-to-day at NBC Chicago, what she’s learned over the years and so much more. Listen to the full conversation below:

Follow Kacy on Instagram and Twitter/X, and TUNE IN to watch her on NBC 5 Chicago (WMAQ).

Our sponsor, Career Vision and the Ball Foundation help students and professionals discover their strengths and navigate their career opportunities. Learn more at CareerVision.org.

And you can subscribe to the Career Vision Podcast with Michael Piff on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

When Ken Edwards (Executive Director of the National Coalition of Labor), Ed Maher (Associate Executive Director of the National Coalition of Labor), and Phil Davidson (Director of Communications of the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council) teamed up to host The Workers’ Mic on WGN Radio, their goal was to bring awareness and educate listeners on what workers and their unions are dealing with on a regular basis, and bring labor news and topics to the forefront with other credible voices.

On the latest episode of The Career Vision Podcast, Ken, Ed and Phil joined host Michael Piff to talk about who they were and their interests when they were younger, their journeys that have led to worker advocacy as a profession, how someone interested in the trades is introduced to a union, what their union can do for them (as long as they are putting in the work themselves), and much more. One was in a metal band. Another was a standup comedian. Listen to the full episode below to find out who:

TUNE IN for The Workers’ Mic on Sunday mornings at 8 AM on WGN Radio. Stream on wgnradio.com and catch up on past episodes on The Workers’ Mic page or wherever you get your podcasts.

Our sponsor, Career Vision and the Ball Foundation help students and professionals discover their strengths and navigate their career opportunities. Learn more at CareerVision.org.

And you can subscribe to the Career Vision Podcast with Michael Piff on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.