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

JR Canada Restaurant Group Ltd. (JRC) was founded in 2015 by Canadian business entrepreneur Lewis Gelmon, better known as the original master developer for Domino’s Pizza in Canada. In 2015, JRC purchased the Canadian Master Development rights (“Master License Agreement”) for Johnny Rockets, an iconic world renowned “Americana” restaurant brand. Gelmon raised and contributed to the initial equity seed capital of $8.8 million with plans to expand JRC across Canada via acquisition and franchising. By the end of 2019, JRC had proven out the Johnny Rockets brand having reported consolidated store profitability on its corporate locations, including same store annual sales growth of 12.5%. JRC entered the COVID-19 pandemic in an enviable position of a strong balance sheet with zero debt, solid management, capital reserves and a robust online delivery component. JRC’s decision in 2018 to decelerate growth and embrace third party delivery, rather than open additional locations, gave JRC a significant advantage from March 2020 and beyond. Unlike many of its competitors who were forced to implement delivery haphazardly, Johnny Rockets Canadian store sales were only marginally impacted (down 20%) and did not suffer the significant fiscal losses and store closures that became common in the industry.

April Foster is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Inked Brands, where she's obsessed with starting & scaling microbrands, many of which are founded by influencers or media companies. Prior to founding Inked, April co-founded Studio Calico, a leader in the direct-to-consumer paper-crafting category, where she pioneered subscription services and organically scaled from a $4k initial investment to multiple 7-figures in a few years. April has been named an Entrepreneur of the Year in Kentucky as well as been recognized on the Inc5000 list of fastest-growing companies in three consecutive years. She’s obsessed with combining relevant products, paid content, and smart marketing with influencer brands such as Studio DIY, The Bucket List Family, Meghan Rienks, and Ali Edwards. She's most proud of her family, however. April lives on a farm in Bowling Green, Kentucky with her husband, Greg, and their five children: Claire (10), Cal (8), Sam (8), Kit (6), and baby Nell.

Matt is a leader with a contagious passion for great customer engagement, and the economic and business impacts created when customers are engaged in exactly the right way. Prior to founding XSELL, Matt had the opportunity to work with many quintessential brands including Disney, Apple, Carnival, AT&T, GE, Walgreens helping them to bring their customer experience to life. His experience in these environments led to his observation of a power law in sales, regardless of the brand, wherein top performing agents were not marginally better than their peers - they were multiples better and they delivered disproportionately successful results. This observation drove Matt’s curiosity around the ability to scale the actions, tactics, and strategies of top performers to an entire enterprise. Matt founded XSELL Technologies on the premise that this was not only possible but when done exceedingly well it would radically transform the digital customer experience. Matt has since grown XSELL to deliver on this premise, leading XSELL’s clients to experience transformative business results. Matt has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Illinois State University. He is married to his college sweetheart Kerri; they have three kids - Emma (21), Charlie (18) and Henry (16), all of whom are top performers.

Tom Dickson is from San Francisco. He graduated from BYU in 1971 and moved back home with the intentions of signing up for the National Guard. His degree was in manufacturing engineering and he landed a job with Alza, one of the inventors of the birth control pill.  Tom had always had an interest in bread making and that hobby led him to start a business called Harvest House Food & Grains. He specialized in creating safer packaging for wheat. One day he spilled some grain and found that when he sucked it up with his vacuum, it acted as a wheat grinder. That was the beginning of the Magic Mill which would later lead him to make blenders and starting Blendtec.  The company has continued to grow since then, leading Tom and his team of engineers to come up with many variations of the home blender and turning him into an internet celebrity through the “Will It Blend?” YouTube series.

Josh Singer is founder & CEO of Kognitive Marketing. Since its inception in 2006, the company has grown to over 800 full and part-time staff located in almost every major market across Canada. Currently, Kognitive is the #1 rated sales & marketing agency in Canada on Glassdoor. The company has also been awarded the #1 Canada’s fastest growing marketing company in Canada and the 6th fastest overall growing company in Canada on Canadian Business Magazine’s Profit 500 list. Due to the company’s successes, Singer was named Marketing Magazine’s 30 under 30. Singer is also the founder & CEO of Optimy.ai; a tech company providing a video-based plug-in to eCommerce websites to enable staff to support customers online just like they do in store. Outside of work, Singer enjoys running, riding his bike and playing hockey. He is an avid traveler and a huge football fan; cheering for both the Ohio State Buckeyes and New Orleans Saints.

Gilbert was born in San Antonio, Texas to an alcoholic mother and a drug-addicted father, but God had a plan. Through a journey of hope and miracles God made a way. He graduated from South San West Campus. He then attended International Bible College where he graduated in 1996 and completed his Master’s in Theology. Gilbert has been in ministry since the age of fourteen and became a Youth Pastor at the age of eighteen. Gilbert always had a passion to impact young people with the life changing gospel of Jesus. His passion for Christ has opened doors for him to speak at conferences all over the United States, Central America and Europe. Gilbert is married to Hilda Hernandez his wife of 14 years and serves as the CEO of SAYFC. Through his leadership SAYFC has grown steady over the last 10 years to become a model for YFC ministry in large cities. Gilbert also serves on the National Youth for Christ board.

Travis Penfield is the Founder and CEO of 49 Financial.  Travis graduated Magna Cum Laude from Texas A&M University in 2011 with a degree in Finance from Mays Business School. Upon graduating from A&M, he worked at Deloitte Consulting until November of 2012 when he started his career as a financial advisor at AXA Advisors.  While at AXA, early on in his career, Travis started building a team of advisors. Under Travis’ leadership, his group broke all the records in hiring, retention, and development in a very established and long-standing company. Travis and his emerging leaders hired primarily new college graduates, giving them a  vision of how their values can and should inform their work, and how great an impact they can have on people’s lives through finance.  In October of 2019, Travis transitioned and started an independent financial planning firm. As a privately owned and fully independent company, 49 Financial will grow to over 200 advisors in its first official year of operation.   Travis and his founding partners developed the name and brand of 49 Financial. The entire business model is based on the firm’s motto, “Two are better than one”, which centers its focus on the principle that doing things together with others on a similar mission will always result in a greater impact than doing it on your own. This motto comes from Ecclesiastes 4:9 which says, “Two are better than one for they get a better return for their labor”.  49 Financial is headquartered in Austin, Texas with offices in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Atlanta. The firm plans to expand to 10 new cities over the coming 3 years to keep up with its unprecedented growth in the industry.   Travis lives in Austin with his wife Jaclyn, their daughters Charlotte and Olivia, and their golden doodle Duncan. In his spare time, you can find Travis playing with his girls, playing golf, catching a Peloton ride,  or enjoying wine and good food. 49 Financial may utilize third-party websites, including social media websites, blogs, and other interactive content. We consider all interactions with clients, prospective clients, and the general public on these sites to be advertisements under the securities regulations. As such, we generally retain copies of information that we or third-parties may contribute to such sites. This information is subject to review and inspection by the CCO of the Thrivent Advisor Network or the securities regulators. Advisory Persons of Thrivent provide advisory services under a practice name or “doing business as” name or may have their own legal business entities. However, advisory services are engaged exclusively through Thrivent Advisor Network, LLC, a registered investment adviser. 49 Financial and Thrivent Advisor Network, LLC are not affiliated companies.

My name is Thomas Foster and my wife Donna, my son Douglas, and I own Strapworks.com. Sewing straps began with a love for rafting. I founded the rafting program as a sophomore at UC Davis California in 1974. In 1975 Donna and I started Sierra Whitewater Expeditions Rafting Company, taking guests on river trips all over California, Oregon, and Washington. In 1976 we started Strapworks as our rafting supply company, specializing in straps. We were the first company to truly offer any length and any color for any strap our customers needed. Unfortunately in 1991 our offices were broken into, checkbooks stolen, and bank accounts emptied. The person was caught, but the money was gone, and bankruptcy soon became a reality. We did our best to take care of our family, driving around at night putting flyers in mailboxes, offering to mow a lawn or fix a roof. In 1999, during a family Christmas, I decided I wanted to sell straps again (much easier than roofing!) and asked Douglas to help me build a website. I put a sewing machine in a bedroom, a computer in one closet, and a few rolls of webbing in another. My first order was for one buckle that I didn't even have and I had to drive to the local hardware store to get one to ship. We met with our vendors at our kitchen table and started to negotiate purchasing larger amounts of product. In 2005 we moved into our first 3,000 square foot warehouse with 3 employees. In 2009 we bought an 8,000 square foot warehouse on 4 acres (for future expansion!). In 2013 we built our own 30,000 square foot warehouse... and we're still growing! Now, in 2017, we're adding another 22,000 square feet to our warehouse. We have over 60,000 square feet of warehouse and almost 75 employees. We are an American company utilizing American workers with American pride. Strapworks truly is a family company. In 2015 my daughter and son-in-law joined the company and our daughter-in-law and grandchildren help out when needed. We treat all of our employees like family as well: We throw fun company parties for every holiday and take employees to social events such as University of Oregon football games. We also like to give back to the community with various fundraisers and donation events throughout the year. Over the years we have worked with over 400,000 customers in every industry, on every continent, and even in space! Customers ranging from National Geographic, NASA, SeaWorld, Disney, Nike, Cabelas, CirqueDuSoleil, Warner Brothers Studios, Boston Red Sox, Superbowl XLII, Walgreens, Amazon, Target, "O" The Oprah Winfrey Network, FBI, NSA, CIA, thousands of State/County/Local Law Enforcement and Fire Agencies, and hundreds of State/County/Local Hospitals and Care Centers. We pride ourselves in being the only US based manufacturer truly offering strap customization from quantity 1 to over 100,000 and anything in between for everyone, business or individual. Strapworks also offers the widest selection of webbing sizes and colors, all shipped to you faster than any other supplier. Are you a business and looking for Wholesale Pricing? Email us at wholesale@strapworks.com Are you looking for a custom product you can't find on our site? Email us at custom@strapworks.com Thank you for visiting from everyone at Strapworks.com, the Worldwide Leader in Straps!

About Tom: Tom Gardner and his wife Janeen of 26 years and their 4 sons live in Pittsville, WI, the central Wisconsin town where Tom grew up. Tom is the Chief Stewarding Officer of Hay Creek Companies. Tom launched Hay Creek as a trucking company as a one-truck owner/operator in 1985, then grew to a multi-truck trucking company in 1993, and eventually evolved into a pallet company in 2000. Hay Creek Companies manufactures new pallets and recycles broken pallets and waste wood into colored landscape mulch, animal bedding, and wood fuel pellets. Along with the wood pallet business, Tom also operates Hay Creek Cranberry. Partnering with his brother Butch, he operates Gardner Cranberry and Badger State Fruit processing. About Hay Creek: Hay Creek Pallet Co., Inc., was founded in January of 2000 when the opportunity to acquire a small pallet rebuilding operation provided the means to produce and market pallets in Wisconsin, a product that many transportation customers needed. Today, that company has expanded to Hay Creek Companies, a manufacturing operation that has extended its reach with additional industries. Our operation consists of a fully automated saw room that produces our component parts, a new pallet assembly line, a repair and remanufacture assembly line and a pallet dismantle line - all fitted with or powered by some of the latest technology in the industry. The company is a full-service pallet manufacturing operation providing businesses in the food industries, the paper industry and a variety of other industries, with reconditioned, remanufactured and new pallets. Additionally, as a by-product utilization, the company also manufactures premium wood heat pellets, wood landscape mulches and shredded wood animal bedding by recycling wood waste material. Hay Creek Companies is a member of The National Wooden Pallet & Container Association (NWPCA), which is the largest organization of wood packaging professionals in the world.

On each #GivingTuesday, we like to highlight our guests from the nonprofit sector and the amazing work they are doing. Bill Dwyer is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Helping Hand Center. Helping Hand Center serves the Chicago land area and was started in the early 1950s to provide education, independence, and vocational training to people of all ages with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Bill offers over 20 years of experience with children and adult nonprofit organizations. He holds a Masters degree in Counseling with a concentration on Marriage and Family and many Leadership and Management certifications. Bill Dwyer is best recognized in his field as being forward-looking with his vision, empowering the people around him to reach their fullest potential, and maintaining the respect and dignity of the people he serves.