ROI’s Into the Corner Office Podcast: Powerhouse Middle Market CEOs Telling it Real—Unexpected Caree...

Syed Barizuddin, Ph.D is a researcher, an academic, and an entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience. Syed’s bachelor’s degree and subsequent work experience of 5 years gave him the expertise in Electronics Engineering, Power Systems, Telecommunication Engineering, and Control Systems. The Master’s degree research imbedded the expertise on Nanotechnology, Chemical Engineering and Energetics. His Doctorate education and subsequent work experience of 10 years encompassed expertise in Bio-Medical Engineering, Microbiology, Optics, Diagnostic Systems and other areas of science and technology. More recently, his work experience has focused on Environmental Engineering and Green Technology projects.  Also unique to Syed’s experience is, how intrinsically he is aware of the academic and industrial setting and their workings. He has been on both sides and has led project teams as the Principal Investigator, as well as founded two start-up companies and was an equal partner in the third.  He has worked on projects for federal agencies such as the DoD, NSF, NIH, EPA, and many multinational companies. He insists on how important and meaningful partnerships can be - be it with the industry partners or government agencies. His experiences over the years and the acquired nuances in the interactions and engagement with corporates, industry partners, and government agencies provide an advantage for his start-ups to succeed. In my current position as the Chief Executive Officer of Plasmonic Diagnostics, he is busy leading the company to commercialize a disruptive non-invasive and ultra-sensitive technology in the infectious disease space. Born in Hyderabad (central/South), India, Syed moved to the United States more than two decades ago. He has mostly resided in the midwest. His reason for not making a move from Missouri according to him are the courteous drivers and people kindly holding the doors for you to pass!

Donald Bloom is the President & CEO of Prime Retail Services, Inc., an international company with operations in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Prime provides construction services, equipment installation, technology deployment and multi-site electrical services to national and international, multi-site property owners and managers.  Since 2003, the team of professionals at Prime has offered excellent services to its clients by keeping operation focused project teams. Donald holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Georgia and has held a CPA license. After graduation, Donald worked with regional CPA firms working with audit, tax, and business consulting clients. The experience in public accounting provided Donald with the experience to start other business ventures in Georgia.  Donald was a founder of Cagle, Bloom and Company which provide capital funding guidance to business owners in North Georgia. Donald was a founder in Tab Merchandising which provided retail teams for big box store set-ups and remodel programs.  The mission of Prime is to be great at managing projects and to make a lifetime impact on each person it encounters. This has been Donald’s greatest passion and is lived out both personally and professionally. His wife, Joy, and twelve children also share in the pursuit of this daily purpose. This positive impact is created by living out the core values of Prime which are: honesty, integrity, hard work, putting others above themselves and thanking God for His provision.  Donald’s family mission is to love his wife as Christ loved the Church. He measures this by asking his wife and children for frequent feedback and in doing so, has generated strong support of this mission by everyone in the family. Donald and Joy both strive to encourage other husbands and wives to pursue a flourishing marriage. 

Leo Resig is the Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder at Atmosphere, the world's leading streaming TV service for businesses.  A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in Management, Leo tested a range of career paths -- everything from screenwriting to personal banking -- before discovering digital advertising in its nascent stages in 2002. He cut his teeth on the agency side as a digital media Ad Ops manager in Hollywood at Crew Creative. He then joined Gorilla Nation (now Evolve Media), on the publisher side with roles in ad operations and graphic design.  Leo and his brother, John Resig, started theCHIVE.com in 2008 as a one-stop shop for viral photos and videos. theCHIVE became a global lifestyle movement and CHIVE Media Group became the umbrella company for theCHIVE.com, their ecommerce business The Chivery, a 501c3 non-profit called Chive Charities, and streaming OTT app, CHIVE TV.  The brothers spun the idea for Atmosphere TV over beers at a local bar, after realizing that the experience of consuming content on TV’s outside the home could be elevated. This was the birth of CHIVE TV, which became the flagship channel within Atmosphere’s streaming platform, which now houses over 50 TV channels.  Along the way, Leo also went on to co-found a golf apparel company called William Murray Golf with Bill Murray and his brother John. He also launched a top 50 US-brewery called Resignation Brewery in 2014 selling KCCO Beer. Philanthropy has always been important to Leo and he and his brother established Chive Charities in 2011 which has helped raise and donate over $20M to help individuals with rare medical disorders, veterans and first responders.  Family has always come first for Leo. He is a proud father to two amazing children and husband to his wife, Tiffany. Hailing from Fort Wayne, Indiana, Leo now resides in Austin, TX by way of Chicago and Venice Beach

Rodolfo is a global consumer products executive with a consistent track record of improving operating performance and increasing shareholder value across multiple categories, in established and emerging markets, at a diverse set of FMCG companies. He has achieved above-market revenue and profit by successfully integrating organizational, strategic, operational, and financial dimensions of complex businesses.  Rodolfo has broad experience in leading organizations across many geographies and business situations (turnaround, rapid growth, category creation,  integration, acquisitions, and divestiture) and he is a builder of strong and connected teams, creating winning cultures in multiple business environments. Rodolfo is currently the CEO of NatureSweet, and his past roles include: Present President, Pet Consumer Products, Central Garden & Pet Global President, Nutro and North America Pet Specialty, Mars Inc. General Manager, Mars Caribbean and Central America Vice-President Marketing Consumer Growth, Del Monte Foods  Vice-President Marketing, StarKist Seafood Vice-President Marketing, Pet Food USA Director Marketing, Pet Food USA  Director Marketing, Pet Snacks, H.J. Heinz Senior Brand Manager, Dog Snacks, H.J. Proctor & Gamble Chile  Brand Manager, Fabric and Home Care, H.J. Proctor & Gamble Chile 

Deverl Maserang  President, Chief Executive Officer, & Director Deverl Maserang II is an innovative food & beverage industry leader with more than three decades of successful experience. He joined Farmer Brothers in 2019 as President,  Chief Executive Officer of the Company, and member of the Board of Directors,  shepherding the company successfully through the turbulence of the COVID-19  pandemic. Respected as an entrepreneurial innovator with a social conscience, he has led multiple turnarounds and global supply-chain transformations in addition to consulting for many well-known, successful corporations to provide strategic business guidance.  Prior to taking the helm at Farmer Brothers, Mr. Maserang served as President and CEO  of Earthbound Farm Organic, an independent division of Danone, where his dynamic leadership fostered a successful turnaround of the legacy organic brand between 2017  and 2019. From 2013 to 2016, Mr. Maserang was Executive Vice President of Global  Supply Chain for Starbucks Corporation where he was responsible for end-to-end global supply chain operations spanning manufacturing, engineering, procurement,  distribution, planning, transportation, inventory management, and sourcing. Mr.  Maserang has also held leadership roles with Chiquita Brands International, TADD  Holdings, Peak Management Group, FreedomPay, Installation Included, Pepsi Bottling  Group, and United Parcel Service.   Mr. Maserang received his Bachelor of Science degree from Texas Tech University.

Jon Abbott is the president and CEO of GBH, America’s leading multiplatform creator for public media and the largest producer of content for PBS and partner to NPR and PRX. A nationally recognized public media leader, Abbott has transformed the way GBH creates and distributes diverse educational content to millions of Americans throughout New England and across the nation. Abbott has expanded GBH’s investment, impact and reach in communities across Massachusetts with multiplatform services online and on the air and a significant expansion of local journalism, including launching GBH 89.7, an NPR news affiliate in Boston with regional bureaus that cover and connect the Commonwealth. His commitment to equity and accessibility to media that fosters citizenship and learning led to the launch of PBS LearningMedia, a free, national online service offering classroom-ready digital resources for educators in all 50 states. He collaborated on the creation of two national digital television services, WORLD and CREATE, in partnership with PBS, and has championed innovations to strengthen the entire public media system. Abbott joined GBH in 1998 and was named President and CEO in 2007. Prior to GBH, he served as Senior Vice President for Development and Corporate Relations at PBS and in senior management with San Francisco public station KQED. He began his career in broadcasting in 1981 at Columbia University Station WKCR-FM. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Columbia University and an MBA from Stanford University. He is a member of the boards of PBS, National Public Media, Contributor Development Partnership (CDP), PBS Distribution and Project Healthy Children. He is also working with the Commissioner of the Department of Early Education and Care to guide child care innovation in the Commonwealth. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the recipient of the John Jay Award from Columbia University.

Claudia A. Eisenmann is the current Chief Executive Officer of Deaconess Gibson Hospital in Princeton, IN and Deaconess Union County Hospital in Morganfield, KY.  She is also the System Vice President of Critical Access Hospitals for Deaconess Health, a Regional Health System based in Evansville, IN. Claudia has a long and diverse healthcare leadership background with C-suite appointments in organizations that vary in size from 300-bed tertiary hospitals to specialty hospitals and more recently, Critical Access Hospitals. She has particular expertise in turning around distressed healthcare institutions, both acute and post-acute, with an emphasis on changing culture, creating joy, and elevating the standard of care by engaging physicians and activating teams to drive out variability, embrace mission, and seek benchmark performance in all areas of the operation. Claudia is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and is active in both the Kentucky Hospital Association and the Indiana Rural Health Association. When she is not working, you can find Claudia somewhere outside where she enjoys restoring native wildlife habitat, fishing, and spending time on her farms.

Tim Bessell loves his job. He combines lifelong surfing experience with expert craftsmanship to create some of the best custom surfboards in the world. Surfboard shapers and surfers alike, from all over the world, know the name, Tim Bessell. From world-class professionals to weekend warriors, ask anyone who knows him and they'll tell you the same thing: Tim is more than a shaper, he's an artist. History of Bessell Surfboards At a very young age, Tim Bessell was exposed to the infectious world of art by his mother. As A result, Tim gained an interest and appreciation for the sub-culture that would coincidentally influence and shape his future to come. Tim began his professional surfboard shaping career when he began working at Sunset Surfboards. By the age of thirteen, Tim began shaping surfboards from the beautiful town known as La Jolla, California. He was one of the youngest surfboard shapers in the industry, but he was already making a name for himself as a surfer and as a shaper in and around his home break of Windansea Beach in La Jolla, California. A Surfboard Shapers Journey Three years later Tim moved to Hawaii to prove he has what it takes to be a shaper on the North Shore. He began shaping custom surfboards for Lightning Bolt, one of Hawaii's premier surfboard manufacturers known for the infamous lightning gun shape of the 70's ridden by legendary Gerry Lopez. In fact, Tim Bessell would later become one of the few shapers allowed to manufacture surfboards under the Lightning Bolt name. After legitimizing himself as a shaper, Tim returned to San Diego, California to open Bessell Surfboards. By 1987, Bessell Surfboards had grown into one of the largest surfboard manufacturers in Southern California. Tim also made a name for himself as an artist, with exhibitions as far away as Japan. Tim branched off into the world of apparel when he started his own clothing line in 1992. He designed every item himself, and his unique touch of style was an instant hit. Tim even helped design styles for other clothing companies such as Hurley, T&C Hawaii, and Billabong. In 1997 Tim decided to focus once again on surfboards when he returned to the shaping room to reinvent Bessell Surfboards. He built primarily custom-shaped boards for surfers who demanded more than the typical cookie-cutter shapes typically offer. Tim's willingness to work individually with each customer has helped build a reputation few surfboard shapers can match. To date, Tim has produced over 46,000 surfboards. His boards have graced the covers of Surfer Magazine, Surfing Magazine, Beach Culture, and countless other surfing magazines. Many world-class surfers have ridden Bessell Surfboards including Peter King, Luke Egan, Jon Roseman, Glen Winton, Brad Gerlach, Vetea David, Ricky Irons, David MacAulay, Saxon Boucher, Debbie Melville Beacham, Ryder Mackey, Chris O'Rourke, Billy Choe, Simon Law, Juston Postin, David Eggers, Davie Miller, Richard Kenvin and more. Bessell Surfboards are currently sold throughout the world with distributors in Japan, South America, and Europe. If you're lucky enough to visit Tavarua Island, you'll notice Tim's trademark guns are standard equipment on the island. Wherever you end up, chances are there is someone riding a Bessell. Currently, Tim and his team at Bessell surfboards are starting many new exciting projects. These projects include Watershed Productions, a new film production company that is focusing on cutting-edge surf films. Most notably Tim Bessell has teamed up with the Warhol Foundation to reconnect the much-forgotten love that Andy Warhol had for surfing and the surfing counter-culture. “How I Met Andy”, is a short film that tells the story of how Tim met Andy Warhol and why his artistic inspiration never left him and how eventually this became the "Bessell Warhol Project.” In this project, Tim has created an extensive collection of surfboards with licensed Warhol art imposed on his signature surfboard shapes. This has created an international buzz once again and many of these boards can be found in art galleries and collector homes all over the world. With the love for shaping boards Tim gained when he was thirteen combined with the experience, inspiration, and reputation he has gained along the way, Bessell Surfboards remains one of the top custom surfboard manufacturers in the world.

Mirko Marich has a solid track record in business. He is devoted to his family and friends and committed to his community.  His history is a classic American success story. Born the son of a Yugoslavian immigrant who came to America with little more than the shirt on his back, he was taught to work hard. be a good family man and friend, and do right by all. President of CSG: Mirko is the co-founding partner of Staff Source. Prior to establishing the Company, Mirko successfully led the sales efforts for Labor World in their largest Chicago market. During his time there, he assisted in reorganizing two distressed offices and expanding sales in his territories through growing existing business relationships and generating new customers turning them into the most profitable offices in North America. As part of his day-to-day responsibilities, Mirko consults with Staff Source and other business entities while assisting in managing the CSG lines of business.

Lothar Krinke, Ph.D., is the CEO of Welcony, the global neurotechnology leader that supports thousands of research labs, clinics, hospitals, and universities that focus on mental health, brain disorders, cognitive neuroscience, and neuromonitoring. Welcony’s  Inspired Neurotechnology is changing lives worldwide, and Dr. Krinke’s passion is to help improve patient outcomes. Welcony brands include Magstim Magnetic Stimulation, Magstim EGI high-density EEG, Technomed Clinical Neurophysiology, and Neurosign Nerve Safety Monitoring. Prior to leading Welcony, Dr. Krinke was the Vice President & General Manager of the Medtronic Brain Modulation (DBS) business. He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor position in Neuroscience at West Virginia University. “Neuroscience innovations offer a new level of patient and treatment insights that help physicians and clinicians in their life-saving work,” said Dr. Krinke. “Our combined strength leads to great solutions, and we all contribute to the quality and success of Welcony.”