Fred DiSanto, Chairman and CEO of Ancora — the Cleveland-based investment firm with nearly $10B in assets under management and over 100 employees — which he’s led since 2006!

Before Ancora, Fred had an expansive investing career, most recently overseeing investment management, private banking, and Trust and Banking Services at Fifth Third Bank. Fifth Third Bank acquired Maxus Investment Group in 2001, which previously merged with Gelfand Partners Asset Management back in 1997, where Fred served as Managing Partner.

Today, Fred sits on the boards of Ampco-Pittsburgh Corporation (AP), The Eastern Company (EML), and Regional Brands, Inc. (RGBD). He is the former Chair of the Board of Regents of St. Ignatius High School in Ohio City, the former Chair and current Trustee of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, and the current Chair of the Board of Trustees at Case Western Reserve University where he also earned his Bachelor’s and MBA!

This conversation is full of wisdom and amazing stories from Fred — we cover the influence of his competitive spirit, the business of activist investing — specifically exploring Fred’s approach through the lens of Ancora’s recent campaign to seat directors at Norfolk Southern in the wake of the catastrophic train derailment incident in East Palestine, Ohio — the lost of art of hand-written notes, lessons learned from his mentors, the power of employee ownership and incentives in driving behavior and outcomes, the importance of dot connecting, effective deal-making, and so much more!

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LINKS:
https://ancora.net/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/freddisanto/

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SPONSORS: John Carroll University Boler College of Business || Impact Architects & Ninety

John Carroll University Boler College of Business: https://business.jcu.edu/
As we’ve heard time and time again from entrepreneurs on Lay of The Land — many of whom are proud alumni of John Carroll University — success in this ever-changing world of business requires a dynamic and innovative mindset, deep understanding of emerging technology and systems, strong ethics, leadership prowess, acute business acumen… all qualities nurtured through the Boler College of Business!

With 4 different MBA programs of study — spanning Professional, Online, Hybrid, and 1-Year-Flexible — The Boler College of Business provides flexible timelines and various class structures for each MBA Track — including online, in-person, hybrid and asynchronous — to offer the most effective options for you, in addition to the ability to participate in an elective International Study Tour, providing unparalleled opportunities to expand your global business knowledge by networking with local companies overseas and experiencing a new culture.

The career impact of a Boler MBA is formative and will help prepare you for this future of business and get more out of your career. To learn more about John Carroll University’s Boler MBA programs, please go to business.jcu.edu

The Boler College of Business is fully accredited by AACSB International, the highest accreditation a College of Business can have.

Impact Architects & Ninety
Lay of The Land is brought to you by Ninety. As a Lay of The Land listener, you can leverage a free trial with Ninety, the platform that helps teams build great companies and the only officially licensed software for EOS® — used by over 7,000 companies and 100,000 users!

This episode is brought to you by Impact Architects. As we share the stories of entrepreneurs building incredible organizations throughout NEO, Impact Architects helps those leaders — many of whom we’ve heard from as guests on Lay of The Land — realize their visions and build great organizations. I believe in Impact Architects and the people behind it so much, that I have actually joined them personally in their mission to help leaders gain focus, align together, and thrive by doing what they love! As a listener, you can sit down for a free consultation with Impact Architects by visiting ia.layoftheland.fm!

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Past guests include Justin Bibb (Mayor of Cleveland), Pat Conway (Great Lakes Brewing), Steve Potash (OverDrive), Umberto P. Fedeli (The Fedeli Group), Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland), Stewart Kohl (The Riverside Company), Mitch Kroll (Findaway — Acquired by Spotify), and many more.

Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/

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https://www.jeffreys.page/

Ist das ein blauer Denkzettel für Mikl-Leitner, Herr Hajek?