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

Fee Stubblefield is the CEO, Founder and President of The Springs Living with its home office in McMinnville, Oregon. Fee started The Springs Living in 1996, with an idea to build a retirement community his grandmother would want to live in as she faced the challenges of aging. Today there are 12 communities in Oregon and 5 communities in Montana. They offer senior living with options for independent retirement living, assisted living and memory care. The Springs Living has never focused on being the biggest, but simply to offer a high-quality experience for its customers and employees. Fee embraces the fact that the “magic” of our profession is in the daily interactions between the residents and direct care staff. The Springs Living has grown organically through acquisition and ground up development. The Springs at Lake Oswego, Oregon and The Springs at Bozeman, Montana are the newest communities that opened in the winter of 2019. Each community offers a full continuum of living options that include independent living, assisted living and memory care. Fee is married and has three adult children. He is the Immediate Past Chair of the Oregon Health Care Association (OHCA) and on the Operator Advisory Board of the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC).

David Lancashire is the Co-Founder & CEO of projekt202, an experience-driven transformation firm headquartered in Dallas, TX. Over the past 16 years, projekt202 has refined a methodology for creating and delivering improved experiences for employees and customers everywhere. By observing people in their everyday environments, projekt202 can reveal the reality of their needs to drive real technology innovation. Under Mr. Lancashire’s leadership, projekt202 made the Inc. 5000 list for seven consecutive years and the Dallas 100 list of fastest-growing privately-held companies for six straight years. Today the company has over 400 employees with offices in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Renowned industry analyst firm Gartner noted, “The perspectives and processes projekt202 is focusing on will, over time, become standard operating procedure for any application development project.” Before joining projekt202, Mr. Lancashire was the founder and CEO of Geniant, a technology management consulting firm. From its inception in 1998 to its acquisition of three business units by 2005, Geniant became the third fastest-growing tech company in the FastTech 50, gained recognition as one of Microsoft’s top National Partners and was a three-time Dallas 100 award winner. Geniant’s success led to its 2007 sale to EMC, a transaction valued at 181 times the original invested capital. Mr. Lancashire has previously served in senior management roles for ObjectSpace, Uniplex, and Amstrad PLC. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business, graduating from the CASS Business School in London. Mr. Lancashire and his family reside in Dallas.

Steven J. Shifman is the President & Chief Executive Officer of Michelman, a large privately held global technology and manufacturing company. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, and employing approximately 500 associates Michelman has sales and administrative offices, technology centers, and manufacturing operations in the United States, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Singapore, China, India, and Japan. Michelman’s purpose is to Innovate a Sustainable Future with Expert Materials, providing solutions through applied chemistry in a variety of industrial market segments ranging from printing and packaging, to industrial coatings, to glass and carbon fibers. Industry leaders call upon Michelman to develop sustainable solutions that help them to address their challenges, deal with a rapidly changing global and regulatory environment, and to grow their businesses. Steve has had a diverse career both before and at Michelman. His experience has ranged from sales and sales management, to Finance where he served as the company’s Chief Financial Officer, to leadership of one of the company’s business units, ultimately culminating in his appointment as the Chief Executive Officer in 2003. During his tenure, Michelman has quadrupled in size and profitability, and has become a much more global business. Originally, primarily a North American business, over this 16-year period, the company has diversified globally with now more than 50% of its business being generated outside of the United States. The global business has been built both organically and through acquisition. For these accomplishments, Steve Shifman was named the Ernst & Young Regional Entrepreneur of the Year for the manufacturing sector in 2013. Shifman is a progressive leader whose results are measured not only in the impressive numbers Michelman has delivered but also in the dedication and commitment his team offers to all of the company’s stakeholders. Shifman is a firm believer in purpose driven leadership, and has worked to engage every Michelman associate in the organization’s journey. Under his leadership Michelman lives by the values of Integrity, Respect, Success, Collaboration, Curiosity, and Giving. These values inform both Shifman’s leadership philosophy and the company’s decisions around strategy, hiring, and investments. Michelman is committed to building its business for generations to come, while at the same time delivering against aggressive annual performance expectations. And, Michelman associates are actively engaged in communities around the globe. You’ll find members of the Michelman team serving on boards, coaching, tutoring, mentoring, and raising funds for those in need. In addition to serving on the Michelman Board of Directors, Shifman also serves on the Board of Magnum Venus Products, a private business based in Knoxville, TN. He also has a portfolio of community board responsibilities, including serving as the Vice-Chair of the Cincinnati Regional Business Committee, as the Chairman of the United Way of Greater Cincinnati, and was a founding member of the Board of the Preschool Promise. He recently completed a term as the Board Chair for Teach for America in Southwest Ohio. He is currently serving on the RESTART Cincinnati task force charged with leading Cincinnati out of the Covid-19 crisis. Steve and his wife Julie reside in Cincinnati, Ohio, and have four adult sons. Along with his business and community commitments, Steve is an avid cyclist, skier, hiker, and runner. He is also passionate about travel, the arts, great food and wine. Steve got one new grandson in 2020.

About Jonas Bordo Jonas Bordo is the CEO and Co-Founder of Dwellsy, the free residential rental marketplace that makes it easy to find hard-to-find rentals. Prior to co-founding Dwellsy, Jonas was a senior executive at several leading real estate firms including Essex Property Trust and Bentall GreenOak and was with the Boston Consulting Group after graduating with his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Jonas has had the good fortune to build, re-build and lead amazing teams across the multifamily and commercial real estate operational and strategic spectrum, manage large P&Ls, deliver big profit increases, orchestrate the sale of several businesses, develop a strategic plan for one of the world’s leading symphony orchestras, implement a Toyota production system and create more than 40 brands. He is husband to Rosalind and father to Bailey, Zach and Thea, an avid hiker, a lifelong learner and a maker of things, sometimes out of wood. About Dwellsy Dwellsy is a comprehensive residential home rentals marketplace based on the radical concept that true, organic search in a free eco-system creates more value than the pay-to-play model embraced by all of the current rental listing services. Indeed, while barely more than a year old, Dwellsy has more residential rental listings than any of the major listing sites—as well as the most diverse set of listings—including both affordable and higher-end properties. Dwellsy’s entirely different approach to residential rental listings focuses on presenting houses and apartments based on features renters need and want — not based on how much landlords pay to show their listings. Dwellsy investors include Blackhorn Ventures, Anne Wojcicki, Stanford Professors, and a number of residential real estate industry insiders.

Julie Tupler is a Registered Nurse, Certified Personal Trainer and Childbirth Educator. She is in the ‘better belly” business. Better belly after having a baby, better belly after abdominal surgery, and better belly after doing improper abdominal exercises like crunches. Pregnancy, abdominal surgery and crunches separate your abdominal muscles causing back pain, umbilical hernia, poor posture and GI and pelvic floor problems to name a few. This medical condition where your abdominal muscles separate is called diastasis recti and can also put a pregnant woman at risk for an unnecessary C section and a patient having abdominal surgery at risk for an incisional hernia where the stiches come undone after surgery. Her goal is that Everybelly® should be checked for a diastasis recti as part of any medical or fitness evaluation. That is because most people have this condition and just don’t know it! She says that you can only have a better belly, a flat belly and strong core that supports your back and organs if your abdominal muscles are close together! Julie has developed her research and evidenced based program called the Tupler Technique® to treat diastasis recti over twenty years. Dr Oz calls her an expert on treating Diastasis recti. She has written three books on the topic and produced five videos for women, men, children, pregnant women preparing for labor and patients having abdominal surgery to prepare for their surgery. She has developed a Diastasis Rehab Splint® and a Diastometer for measuring diastasis recti. Her program has been translated into six different languages. Julie trains medical and fitness professionals all over the world how to teach her program and is a frequent speaker at medical and fitness conferences. She is on the advisory board of Medical Fitness Network, Fit Pregnancy, Women's Health Foundation and the Women's Sports Foundation. If you should happen to get the opportunity to meet her, she is always glad to check you for a diastasis! Her website is TuplerTechnique.com

ACBL named Mark Knoy as its president and chief executive officer in August 2011. Prior to joining ACBL, he was vice president of American Electric Power’s (AEP) Fuel, Emissions and Logistics Group and president of AEP River Operations, having joined AEP with its 2001 purchase of MEMCO Barge Line. From 1984 to 1994, he was owner/operator of The Mark Twain Towing Company and Delmar Marine, Inc., Pekin, Illinois. Knoy began his career in 1973 working aboard towboats on the inland waterways as a deck hand and then as a captain. Knoy serves as a director of the Corps of Engineer’s Inland Waterways Users Board, a Board of Trustees’ member for both the Coast Guard Foundation and The Seamen’s Church Institute and its Center for Maritime Education and Ministry on the River, chairman of the National Waterways Foundation, board member for the H.T. Pott Inland Waterways Library at the University of Missouri – St. Louis, treasurer of the Marine Transportation Council and former member of the Board of Directors for the Fund for the Arts and the Boy Scouts of America, Greater St. Louis Area Council. He is a past chairman of both the Waterways Council, Inc. and the Midwest Region of the American Waterways Operators. Mark lives with his wife, Mary, in Louisville and together they have three grown children.

For someone who left home with $40 in her pocket to fetch a job in a call center in Mumbai, Anu Shah has come a long way in her career, overtaking challenges & hurdles head-on. Her career kickstarted with an FMCG company in Mumbai where she had to demonstrate extreme endurance in blazing heat for over 8 hours a day to cover 40 shops, to earn a commission of a mere $10 a month. From there she has come a long way as a serial entrepreneur with two exits under the belt, prior experience of working in M&A, Strategy Consulting, and Private Equity. Anu has lived in 4 continents and major metropolitan cities such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, London, and New York. Most recently she donated $7mn to UNHCRs refugee rehabilitation program and held an honorary role at UN to design a program to establish gender parity through entrepreneurship and innovation

Mark’s business career started in Indianapolis with the Burroughs Corporation where he played a business development role in their financial services division. After three years with Burroughs, Mark was offered a payroll market development position with a regional bank holding company who provided payroll and related services to both bank and non-bank clients. At the ripe age of 29, Mark and two other colleagues formed Interlogic Systems, a payroll processing company, where he stayed for more than 10 years. Mark formed TruPay in 2003 where he and his talented team have successfully built the company providing payroll and HCM services to over 1700 organizations with locations in every US State and territory. Mark grew up in Muncie, Indiana, and earned his bachelor’s degree in Economics in 1981, from Ball State University.

Mike Grossman has 25 years of entrepreneurial and executive experience. Currently CEO of Inflection, the country's fastest growing background screening provider, he has also been CEO of a diverse set of innovative, VC-funded software companies, including LiveCapital, Tempo, Attributor, SugarSync, and Zetta, all of which were ultimately acquired. Mike’s experience in large companies includes leadership positions at Intuit and Johnson & Johnson, and board roles at Borders and Quicken. He started his career as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company in San Francisco and Sydney. Mike holds an A.B. in Economics and a J.D. from Harvard University. He is passionate about his family, his cats (4 at present), international travel, science fiction films, tennis, creative writing (when time permits), and quiet irreverence.

Michael Castagna is our Chief Executive Officer and serves on the Board of Directors for MannKind Corporation. Dr. Castagna has over 20 years of experience in healthcare, pharmaceutical, biotech, and specialty pharmacy industries. He joins MannKind from Amgen, Inc., where he spent over three years as Vice President, Global Commercial Lead for a portfolio of nine biosimilar drugs, and Vice President, Global Lifecycle Management. Prior to Amgen, Dr. Castagna, was Executive Director of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Immunology franchise, where he served as co-lead to relaunch Orencia IV and launch Orencia SC, both rheumatoid arthritis drugs. Before BMS, Dr. Castagna was with Sandoz (Novartis) as Vice President and Division Head for Biopharmaceuticals, North America, where he established the US Biologics Business Unit and relaunched its lead product, Omnitrope, a human growth hormone. Prior to Sandoz, he held a variety of positions with EMD (Merck), Serono, Pharmasset and DuPont Pharmaceuticals. He received his Bachelors of Science – Pharmacy degree from Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, his Doctor of Pharmacy from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, and his MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.