Joining Matt on this week's episode is Cara Osborne, Assistant Professor within the Walton College in the Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Venture and Innovation Department. Cara is also the founder and Chief Clinical Officer at Baby+Co, founder at Blaize & Brooks Bourbon, owner of the Butcher Rose bed and breakfast and a former nursing professor for the University of Arkansas. In the episode Cara highlights her entrepreneurial journey and her use of human centered design/design thinking when it comes to developing a company and product.

In this week’s episode Matt sits down with Ambassador Delano Lewis, former President and CEO of NPR, and US Ambassador to South Africa, to discuss his expansive career in business and government. Lewis also highlights how understanding the organization’s culture was a game changer in expanding his leadership skills at NPR. He also discusses the unique experience he had as US Ambassador to South Africa and shares what he learned from Nelson Mandela. Learn more about Ambassador Lewis' books and podcast here: https://www.lrfef.org/

Phil Shellhammer, Director of the Greenhouse Outdoor Recreation Program (GORP) at the University of Arkansas sits down with Matt on this episode of the Be Epic podcast. They discuss GORP’s mission as a business incubation program that is focused on developing entrepreneurs who are creating innovative products and services within the outdoor recreation industry. With an extensive background at Procter and Gamble, Best Buy, Sam’s Club, starting his own businesses, and franchising, Shellhammer is leading the way in guiding entrepreneurs to success in the outdoor recreation industry. Learn more about the Greenhouse Outdoor Recreation Program (GORP) here: https://entrepreneurship.uark.edu/programs/greenhouseoutdoorincubator.php

In this episode of the Be Epic podcast, Matt talks with Robert Burns, Director of the Home Region for the Walton Family Foundation. Robert provided an overview of the Walton Family Foundation, which was founded by Sam and Helen Walton and is currently led by their children and grandchildren here in Northwest Arkansas. He explained what the three pillars of the foundation are (K-12 education, environment and home region) and discusses the work that the home region focuses on in Northwest Arkansas. Matt and Robert further discuss how the foundation is focused on continuing to build our vibrant, inclusive community here in Northwest Arkansas. Learn more about the Walton Family Foundation here: https://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/

Tom Tedford, President and CEO of ACCO Brands, joins Matt to discuss the skills behind effectively managing brand acquisitions and leading a company with a complex product portfolio. He also touches on how to keep up with technology and global challenges in your businesses. ACCO Brands owns a variety of well known brands including MEAD, Five Star, Swingline and much more, doing business in over 100 countries. Learn more about ACCO brands: https://www.accobrands.com/

This week Matt sat down with Michael Wilmot, Assistant Professor of Management in the Walton College, to discuss his recently published paper on agreeableness and it's consequences. He also discusses the other five traits of personality and their relation to agreeableness and the effects of each in the workplace and on job performance. You can read the full paper here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001879121001275?via%3Dihub

This week Matt sat down with Dr. Aunna Herbst, Chief Medical Officer and co-founder of SALT Health. In the episode she highlights ways to prioritize your health and mental wellness, the importance of sleep, exercise and diet in improving your overall well being as well as an overview of functional medicine. Dr. Herbst started the first functional medicine clinic in the world at Cleveland Clinic before moving to Bentonville to start SALT Health. Learn more about SALT Health here: https://salt-health.com/about/primary-care/

In this week's episode Matt sits down with Cedric Penix, Senior Advisory for Enterprise Management Advisors and alum of the Walton College. Cedric discusses his vast experience in the private equity space especially with entrepreneurial ventures and his journey from Thornton, Arkansas to working around the world in mergers and acquisitions, internal auditing, private equity and advising. He shares his lessons learned along the way including tips for students to make the most of their time in college.

Charley Boyce, president of Paschal Air, Plumbing & Electric, talks about the challenges in expanding his company, lessons learned in baseball that apply to the business world and how business is a team sport.Learn more about Charley here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charleyboyce/ along with Paschal Air, Plumbing & Electric here: https://gopaschal.com.

This week Matt sat down for a special episode with three full time MBA students who built their own custom track in the Walton MBA program. The track is called marketing and the art of storytelling and it explores the creative side of marketing in addition to the traditional science as well as the power of storytelling for marketing and leadership. They also discussed other innovations within the Walton College including the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, McMillon Innovation Studio and Venture Intern Program. Finally, they touched on the viral Coinbase superbowl ad and analyzed why it was successful and "sticky" with a variety of consumers. Learn more about the Walton MBA program here: https://walton.uark.edu/graduate-programs/mba-masters-degree-program/index.php and the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation here: https://entrepreneurship.uark.edu/