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In this episode, sociologist Brandon Vaidyanathan interviews Andy Youniss, founder and former President and CEO of Rocket Software. 

Andy has been the guiding force behind Rocket’s innovation, acquisitions, partnerships, strategy, culture, and values since the company launched in 1990. Today, Rocket serves a diverse customer community all around the globe and continues to differentiate itself by delivering exceptional customer experiences and living its core values of empathy, humanity, trust, and love. Andy currently serves as the company's executive chairman.

Andy has been recognized as New England Technology Entrepreneur of the Year (2017) by EY and is one of the world’s foremost experts on making an impact through innovation in, and modernization of, mission-critical legacy technology. He has been a guest lecturer at Babson College, Berklee College of Music, The Catholic University of America, and Tufts University, and has inspired many through his TEDx talk about the meaningful intersection of music and technology throughout his life. In addition to his role as executive chairman at Rocket, Andy is a trustee at Boston Medical Center and at Berklee.  He also mentors, coaches, and advises rising leaders and growing organizations such as Spoonfuls, The Record Co. and We Make Noise.

Youniss is also an accomplished pianist and guitarist who has performed on stage in Boston and Las Vegas, solo and with the Rocket Band, and has opened for Aerosmith, Elton John, Maroon 5, Gwen Stefani, Elvis Costello, and others.

In this first part of our conversation, we talk about:

• The impact of Andy's early musical experiences
• How Andy developed a passion for software development
• The role of music in integrating personal and professional life
• The beauty of problem-solving in both music and software
• The transformative power of creativity and personal expression

To learn more about Andy and his work at Rocket Software, you can find him at:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-youniss-3093b664
Website: https://www.rocketsoftware.com/
X: https://x.com/Rocket 

This episode is sponsored by:
John Templeton Foundation (https://www.templeton.org/)
Templeton Religion Trust (https://templetonreligiontrust.org/)

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