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

Jean-Christophe Bédos is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of Birks Group Inc., formerly Henry Birks & Sons, a leading manufacturer and retailer of luxury jewellery and watchmaking since 1879 in Canada. Before joining Birks, Mr. Bédos was formerly with the high-end jeweller, Boucheron International (Kering), in Paris, France, where he served as President and CEO after a distinguished career with the Richemont Group in Paris and London and at Cartier’s iconic Maison. In July 2018, Birks was prized with the prestigious Brand Of the Year Award. The prestigious World Branding Awards are the premier recognition programme of the UK-based World Branding Forum.  The annual event is the ultimate global brand recognition accolade and evaluates brands from around the world. The judging process involves a three-step procedure: brand evaluation, public online voting and consumer market research.  Birks is the only brand to receive the award in the Retail Jewellery category, surpassing the impressive competition for its dedication and passion behind the fine jewellery brand. Jean-Christophe Bédos currently serves on the Board of Directors of Birks Group Inc., and the Montreal General Hospital Foundation as Vice-Chair and is Chair of the Financial Resources Allocation Committee.  Mr. Bédos is a Member of the Board of the London Business School Global Advisory Council.  He is an active member on the committee “L’avenir de la rue Sainte-Catherine” project and has co-chaired the fundraising campaigns of the McCord Museum and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal.  Born in Morocco, he lived in France and England until 2011.  He now resides in Montreal, Canada with his wife and four children.  He is a skilled brand builder within the luxury retail sector, who brings a very relevant background having spent his entire career, for more than 30 years, within the high-end watch and jewellery industry.  Mr. Bédos earned a MSc in Business Management from London Business School – Sloan Fellowship Masters Programme, with Distinctions in Marketing and Brand Management; a BA in International Commercial Law from University of Paris Pantheon-Sorbonne; BA (Honors) in European Business from Trent University, Nottingham, England; BA in Business Administration from Toulouse Business School, Toulouse, France.

Kendra Reichenau is CEO of Heartland America. She is a transformational Global Senior Executive with extensive experience leading well-known consumer-facing brands spanning multinational public companies to owner-operator and founder-led organizations. Strong track record of driving results in general management, omnichannel, merchandising, consulting, and strategy development. A clear communicator and developer of high-performing teams and a cross-functional collaborator with global teams, vendors,  customers, and investors. Known for solving problems, creative rebranding, commitment to the customer, and positioning businesses for innovative growth and potential sale. 

David is the founder and CEO of multiple businesses. Most prominent among them is his longest-running company, ISU Corp. ISU is a custom software solutions company with clients ranging from start-ups to multi-million-dollar conglomerates like General Electric and Heinz. Located in Canada’s Silicon Valley, ISU Corp increases entrepreneurs’ net profits with exceptional custom software solutions. We have been granted awards like the “Best Innovative High-Tech Enterprise Software Company of the Year” from Global 100, and ACQ5’s “Game Changer of the Year” to attest to our excellence. Most recently, ISU Corp has been chosen as a recipient of the Canadian Business Excellence Award for the sixth year in a row as a recognition of our outstanding company culture and effective process (2018-2023). David Mansilla is passionate about inspiring others. A priority in his life is sharing his experiences in hopes of encouraging a new generation of entrepreneurs to reach their full potential. David is the host of The Break Free Podcast, where he invites a diverse set of guests to bring audiences valuable knowledge on living life on their own terms, whether it’s professionally or personally. David is also a #1 international bestselling author for his book, Breaking Out of Corporate Jail.

In the spirit of summer, we're taking a break from creating new content this August. We'll be back in September with fresh content, but in the meantime, we hope you'll enjoy some of our listeners' favorite episodes! Mike Capone is CEO of Qlik. He grew up in the Bronx (not Chicago, although he is distantly related to that branch of the Capone family), which he credits with giving him resilience and grit. He says his dad--one of the first CIOs who worked for JCPenney--challenged him and is one of his greatest mentors. Mike claims he could have applied himself better is school, but was more street smart and interested in sports. In this episode, he discusses his path to the corner office after he was told that no CIO would ever become a CEO (spoiler: he made it happen) and his leadership evolution as he progressed from CIO to COO to CEO. He extolls the virtues of "leading from the front" by spending time with everyone on the team, clearly explaining your expectations, and never asking anyone to do something that you wouldn't do yourself. Mike also shares what he looks for in a new hire--intelligence, passion, and someone who is "interesting"--and why he encourages others not to play it safe all the time by stepping up for the harder assignments. He gives an overview of Qlik and talks about the tech/social responsibility mix that he loves about the company, and its participation in C40 Cities.

Hollenstein joined the roster at eyebobs in July of 2016. As VP of Direct, Hollenstein was responsible for expanding the direct-to-consumer business, which includes e-commerce and catalog. In December of 2017, Hollenstein was named CEO and continues to utilize his collaborative style and passion for building eyebobs unique brand to drive the business forward. Prior to joining eyebobs, Hollenstein was Vice President, Merchandising for Sportsman's Guide. As leader of the product management team, he helped Sportsman's Guide deliver over $300M in annual volume. Previously, Hollenstein led the direct purchase division at G&K Services, and from 2000 to 2008 he helped build the Duluth Trading Co. business as Vice President of Product Development.

In the spirit of summer, we're taking a break from creating new content this August. We'll be back in September with fresh content, but in the meantime, we hope you'll enjoy some of our listeners' favorite episodes! Serhat Unsal is the Chief Executive Officer of Jackson, MI-based Dawn Foods. Sharing CEO responsibilities with Carrie Jones-Barber, he leverages his extensive global leadership experience to help drive greater growth and success for Dawn. Unsal joined Dawn in early 2011. As President International from 2011-2016, he led Dawn’s global growth in the company’s key European markets along with emerging markets in Africa, Middle East, Asia/Pacific, and Latin America. In his four years as President, he doubled the international divisions’ operating profit by developing and deploying completely new regional strategies for Europe, LATAM and AMEAP. During the same period, he also led Dawn’s corporate strategy development & execution. Prior to Dawn, Unsal spent 18 years with Unilever where he started his career as a Project Manager. By 2010, Unsal had risen to the role of Managing Director Unilever Foodsolutions Turkey, Central Asia & Caucasia. In this role, he doubled his division’s annual revenue and operating profit. He also served as a member of the Board of Directors for Unilever Turkey. Unsal earned a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and an MBA from the University of Toronto.

In the spirit of summer, we're taking a break from creating new content this August. We'll be back in September with fresh content, but in the meantime, we hope you'll enjoy some of our listeners' favorite episodes! Dale Easdon is currently CEO of Klosterman Baking Company. At the time of this episode's recording (way back for episode 15!) he was CEO of Snap Kitchen.  Dale Easdon is on a mission to scale clean eating without compromise. As the chief executive officer of Snap Kitchen, he is responsible for taking the company’s omnichannel business model to the next level. Under his leadership, the team is focused on introducing quick store pickup, healthy meal planning, and home delivery—all driven by the new digital app. Previously serving as the chief operating officer, Easdon’s tenure has been marked by an expansion to a state-of-the-art kitchen, wholesale growth, and a proven track record for building winning teams who focus on performance-based leadership. Dale’s commitment to cooking fresh hand- cooked meals to scale is a true differentiator for the brand. Before joining Snap Kitchen, Dale spent time at Taylor Farms, where he served as the chief operating officer. He also spent over eight years at LSG Sky Chefs, holding multiple positions within the company, including chief operating officer for the UK office. During his time at LSG Sky Chefs, Dale was responsible for various roles, including managing over 9,000 employees, strategic deployment, operational excellence globally and his final assignment which had him managing the US market with revenues of $850 million. Prior to LSG Sky Chefs, Dale spent over nine years as a senior director of food services at Continental Airlines during the business turnaround under the leadership of Gordon Bethune. Dale graduated from Manchester University and The Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene. He built his career driving lean manufacturing with training alongside The Porsche Group in Germany, where he also attended the Porsche Academy for Lean Logistics. Dale, originally from Scotland, lives in Austin with his wife Linda, and he is the proud father of four children.

In the spirit of summer, we're taking a break from creating new content this August. We'll be back in September with fresh content, but in the meantime, we hope you'll enjoy some of our listeners' favorite episodes! Stephen Wakeling is a wireless industry entrepreneur with a 10-year track record of developing disruptive, technology-powered services. He is the co-founder and CEO of Phobio, LLC -- a software development company that builds optimized software services to support wireless carriers and retailers. Phobio provides outstanding service and support to wireless retailers around the world and to technology companies, such as Apple, Verizon, and Samsung. Phobio’s flagship product is Safetrade, a device trade-in software that offers simple solutions, unmatched support, and a risk-free program that guarantees device values to wireless retailers. In 2017, Phobio successfully launched its second product -- Rodio -- which provides a two-way communication system designed specifically for enterprises to send important updates and messages to remote and geographically-dispersed teams with ease, and utilizes AI to maximize team engagement.  Stephen holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School. He is a journalist by education, a technologist at heart, and, as an entrepreneur, he thrives on start-up culture and his personal mission to build things better. Stephen is also an avid pilot, who has moved frequently in his career, living throughout the US, Australia, and Asia. Currently, he lives in Atlanta with his wife and two sons. Email - stephen.wakeling@phobio.com Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwakeling 

Dave Fink thinks the best-kept secret in marketing is hiding where you least expect it — your mailbox. Over a 20-year career he’s generated hundreds of millions of dollars in ad revenue, powered viral sensations like Dollar Shave Club, and helped launch celebrity startups for Jessica Simpson, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and Kate Bosworth. Now as founder and CEO of Postie, he’s out to reinvent direct mail marketing for a digital world. Dave’s first encounter with the awesome potential of digital marketing came during the dotcom boom of the late 90’s. He was working for a web 1.0 marketing company, watching his clients at legacy giants like Procter & Gamble and Clorox toiling away at the same cramped desks year after year. Meanwhile, his contacts at digitally-savvy tech startups were busy trading in their Hyundais for Ferraris. Something big was happening, and he was determined to be a part of it. Fast forward to the 2010’s, and Dave had transformed that determination into an incredible career as a multiple-time founder, early stage tech investor, and digital marketing guru. He learned to apply emerging AI and machine learning analysis to various digital marketing channels, fueling the launch of over 20 successful consumer internet startups in the process. But despite the success of his strategy, one advertising channel remained stubbornly resistant to his attempts at modernization — direct mail. After years of research, Dave cracked the problem. In early 2017 he unveiled Postie, finally empowering old-fashioned mail to perform as dynamically as the best modern digital channels. With a suite of powerful tools like real-time attribution and audience modeling, they’ve quickly become the preferred direct mail solution for top digitally native brands like Lyft, Postmates, Casper, Warby Parker, Stitch Fix, and more.

Bill Yoh is chairman of Yoh and co-owner of Day & Zimmermann, Yoh’s parent company. Bill’s prior experience includes president of Yoh and chief customer officer of Day & Zimmermann. A past chairman of the American Staffing Association, which represents the $150 billion US staffing industry, Bill has represented both Yoh and our industry around the country and internationally. Bill’s expertise also includes family business governance and succession, as Day & Zimmermann is one of the largest family businesses in the US as ranked by Forbes. Bill also recently published his first book, Our Way, a biography on his father and past Yoh president, Spike Yoh. More information at ourwaybook.com.