805conversations

Primo Custodio is the Executive in Residence at California Lutheran Univesity's School of Management. His career of 44 years working in human resources qualifies him to bring real-world experience into the classroom. Primo has seen it all as it relates to Talent Management, starting with his first job at Yosemite where he eventually became the head of personnel and unionized the bus drivers. That early exposure led to a career that included six mergers and acquisitions while at NBC Universal. He's seen every type of leadership style as it relates to managing personnel. He goes into an interesting dissection of the style of Human Resources over the past four decades: 80's - Lot's of M&A activity driven by Wall Street created massive culture clashes on the resultant pairings 90's - Re-engineering, including downsizing and consolidating 00's - The rise of HR related technologies 10's - A new term: Human Captial Management Current - Where Talent Management is aligned with Business Strategy We finished with a lengthy discussion about a new word (for us) called Encore Career. Listen and learn what this might mean for you.

Dan Weeks has precisely the type of personality you want in a mentor. Upbeat, optimistic, boundless business savvy and is a committed citizen. Dan spent most of his career at HP, which was famous for their corporate culture, The HP Way. Dan started off our interview by reciting their core idea: Catch people doing something right. He's a part of SLO Partners, who, in conjunction with the SLO County of Education, the Economic Vitality Corporation and the leadership of San Luis Obispo are working to solve an impending economic reality that is coming in seven years. The challenge is to solve the problem of the closing of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant which is estimated to have a $1B economic impact on the community and be closed by 2025. Communities all over the country have had to deal with the issue of industries leaving the area. Examples are numerous, steel plants closing, furniture manufacturing moving to China, endless businesses disrupted by technologies that make them obsolete. The SLO Partners builds on a combination of education and business, as exemplified at the SLO Hothouse, where Dan is an entrepreneur in residence. He and the other co-founder, Michael Specchierla of the County Office of Education, have implemented a program to train tech employees and build a new workforce. As the tech sector is growing by leaps and bounds in SLO, there's increasing demand for a trained workforce. Dan says after talking with business leaders and owners, they heard, "We want competent people everyone wants to work with." They were looking for people who'd make great team members, not just skilled workers. They've created a curriculum in conjunction with CompTIA's IT-Ready Career program, which assesses, trains, certifies and places unemployed and under-employed adults in their first jobs in the tech field, which has a shortage of qualified workers. The program has had two cohorts and promises to be a success. The program solves one piece of the puzzle if SLO is going to find a way to replace that $1B that will eventually go away. You get a sense of confidence and optimism in listening to Dan that they're going to be successful.

Joanne Kuchera-Morin is on the faculty at UCSB and is the Professor of Media Arts and Technology and the Director of the Allosphere. Her facility is in the same building as the California Nanosystems Institute. She's been on the cutting edge of digital media for many years. She gave a TED talk in Long Beach on the Allosphere in 2009. She started learning Music and Theory when she was 19 in Palm Beach, FL and since 1984 has been involved in media composition. Her dream, to create an interactive laboratory that can be used to travel through massive datasets has taken ten years to develop the software. JoAnn is a force of nature and has found a way, as a creative person, to work within the data-driven world of theoretical physics, nanosystems research and a myriad of interesting projects dreamed up by her colleagues at UCSB.

Sean Bhardwaj is the Founder and CEO of Aspire3, based at the Ventura Ventures Technology Center. He sat with Mark and Patrick to talk about his view of what entrepreneurs need to be successful and the program he's created to deliver the missing pieces. Sean looks at the intersection of education and entrepreneurship and how the missing piece in a lot of co-working spaces is mentorships. He also understands the importance of programmatic elements, such as marketing, sales, management and leadership training. He and his team have developed their curricula and have had students as young as ten go through the program. They have taught over 2,000 students and incubated 36 startups with over 50 entrepreneurs. He has a good model for how to prepare students how to understand a problem; it's solution and the market fit. They have a 16 weeks program with two classes a week, of 2 hours each. It's an accelerator program that only takes 30 people at term. They did the first of this new series in January and are currently in the second session of this year. When looking at potential members, they look at their passion, their desire to learn and their ability to take the initiative. He says that in the educational environment, there's no real-life business pressure, so he looks for self-starters with strong follow through. We know that Sean's working hard at making a difference in Ventura County and wish him and the program a lot of success.

Yelena Lipovetskaya wants to make an impact in the world. And her company Cospheric is doing just that, one microsphere at a time. Yelena is from Ukraine and works at the micro-level of manufacturing. We've had other companies that build things on the how, but not someone who makes a product that is 1/1000 of the width of a human hair. Not quite nano-small, but still very small. Her company makes these microspheres, essentially tiny balls, in all colors, materials, and properties. Sometimes one of her 6,000 clients will only need one. Yes. One small microsphere. She started work as a materials scientist at Xerox in the toner division. You know the black powder that spills out of the copier when you change the cartridge. Well, it turns out there's a lot of science involved in making that product, which she parlayed into an entire business. These microspheres, made of glass and other materials are enabling breakthroughs in a variety of sciences and medicine. The challenges researchers are trying to solve at the micro-level require high precision, microscopic spheres that can run through various mechanisms, including the human body, to trace any number of potential outcomes. She gives a few examples of what researchers are doing with the spheres that will amaze you when you hear them. It turns out there's a massive gap in the market Cospheric fills very nicely from their offices here in the 805. In over nine years of operations, they still don't have a direct competitor. I asked to get a tour of the facility, but it turns out the process is highly confidential, and they're very protective. We understand. We covered a lot of ground, as we have a natural curiosity about all things small, and with the California Nanosystems Institute here at UCSB, have a fascination with conversations related to this new world.

Dusty Stutsman is the co-founder of Nightout.com and SBMenus. One could say they backed into the business when they saw a gap in the market. He and partner Bryan Brand, noticed that one page on SBMenus.com was getting a lot of traction. People were spending more time on the Bar Specials and Entertainment page which got them to thinking, "What if we created an entire site for entertainment?". Nightout.com was born soon after and what a great URL that is too. Thinking bigger than just delivering information, or food, they approached the project as an opportunity to create a platform, not just a website. The resulting software project now is a complete ticketing and event site that producers can use to manage events. They're full service now, doing the marketing, selling, even scanning and validating tickets at the event. Dusty's parents are both entrepreneurs, so his exposure to thinking about ideas and turning them into businesses is a part of his DNA. He explained how he and Bryan developed a 3-sided marketplace for SBMenus that is composed of Consumers, Restaurants, and the Drivers. As a pure E-commerce play, they optimised each aspect of the business to be as efficient as possible. Dusty admits to being fixated on the Delivery Tracker, so he knows where all the drivers are - making sure clients get their meals hot and quick. Nightout.com sees 30,000 visitors a day, as people look for events nationwide. The platform's services are easily integrated into any website, and the entire ticketing experience can be added to an existing business. He sees a tremendous upside here, even in a crowded market.

Theo Stephan, the founder and life force behind Global Gardens tells us a great story of how she's brought her Greek culture and passion for food to Los Olivos. Theo is interested in permaculture, resilience, and food. She trained as a graphic designer and escaped LA a couple of decades ago. She's been an entrepreneur since she was eight (selling seeds she saw in an ad in the back of a comic book), then started a recycling business at twelve. When she moved to the Santa Ynez Valley, she imported 500 trees form Crete and started an Olive orchard. That grew to 2000 trees before she eventually sold that farm. She now maintains 60 trees that she uses to harvest table olives. Her main public presence now is a farm stand in Los Olivos where she sells amazing olive oils, olives, nuts and spectacularly tasty vinegar. We did a tasting on the air, hard to convey the deliciousness over a podcast, but we tried. Theo can talk all day about the deeper senses that food can touch, and you can tell in a minute how much she cares about the impact her foods can have. She also has a unique claim to fame; she was the first in the US to have a monthly subscription based Food Club. She's still running that club and curating selections for her members. Listeners know that I am a Chef and it was one of the rare interviews where I could go deep on food and entrepreneurs. You'll love the insight Theo offers on this episode.

Grandmaster Dave Wheaton, a past guest on the show, joined us to talk about aging and his hero Jack LaLanne. Dave is the founder of Hapkido International and is in the Martial Arts Hall of Fame. He sat down to talk with Mark and Patrick about his wellness regimen and a recent trip to Japan where he embarked on the Samurai Trail (Nakasendo Way). Dave was influenced early in life by Jack Lalanne who said, "Exercise is King, nutrition is queen." Dave embodies this philosophy in his martial arts teaching and through the KUT (Kickboxers Ultimate Training) program pioneered at his dojo, Martial Arts Family Fitness, based in Santa Barbara, California. Dave says that his Italian upbringing and a diet heavy in carbs lead to him being 'husky.' He now lives by the diet advocated by his wife and wellness expert, Melodee Meyer, author of the book: Clean Food Diet. Much of the conversation focused on the magic that Dave encountered on the Samurai Trail. We talked at length about Mushasi, author of the Book of Five Rings and the impact he had on martial arts. He was the most notorious samurai of his time and never lost a battle.

Doug Margerum was honored as the 2017 Vintner of the Year by the Arthritis Foundation and recently took time to chat with Mark and Patrick about Santa Barbara County winemaking. Doug's been involved in hospitality since his early days at UCSB, the Lobster House, in Santa Barbara and Borsodis (great coffee house in the 70's in Isla Vista). He's been an entrepreneur since his early teens, climbing up trees to harvest mistletoe during the holidays, and setting up a restaurant in the front yard of his home. Doug has always had a position of responsibility, from the early days with his mentor, a neighbor judge with homing pigeons, to now, as one of the most respected voices in the wine industry in Santa Ynez. Locals will know his Margerum Tasting Room in the El Paseo and remember his earlier venture as one of the founders of the Wine Cask. He made the transition from restaurateur to vintner after a trip to New Orleans where he met Emeril's sommelier and decided to make the leap. He started with 400 cases and this year, 2017, Margerum Wines will produce 16,000 cases from their home base in Santa Ynez. His story of the past decade takes him from renting space from friends and winemakers to getting his own place in Buellton on Industrial Way. We want to thank Doug for taking us to school on the geology of our region, the history of winemaking here in Santa Barbara County and a deep dive into why this region is responsible for some of the top wines in the world.

Kerri Murray, the President of ShelterBox USA, was late to our recording session because she was on the phone all morning with FEMA. Her organization was one of the many NGO's responding to Hurricane Harvey that was poised to hit the south Texas coast in hours. We gave her a pass and hope that people are as safe as they can be in this natural disaster. Kerry has been at the helm of ShelterBox for just a few short years. She came to Santa Barbara to work at Direct Relief as part of a six-month deployment with her employer, Glaxo SmithKline. Their Pulse program matches employee skills with non-profit needs. In this case, her background in Marketing and Communications proved to be extremely useful. She fell in love with Santa Barbara, and when the opportunity came up with ShelterBox, she took it. Kerri says that their relationship with the people they serve is typically on the worst day of their life when they've lost everything. Kerri explained that there are over 85 million displaced people in the world at any given moment and of those, 60 million is as a result of a conflict. She explained in harrowing detail the challenges they have of providing shelter in war-torn Aleppo in Syria. ShelterBox provided 1/3 of the housing during the 2010 Haitian earthquake and is directly involved with over 20 areas that need help around the world on any given day. Kerri explained how the network of volunteers, trained extensively, provide first responder services to provide shelter, to augment the food and water provided by other organizations. The tactical logistics of responding to natural disasters and conflicts are intense, and you can tell that they've amassed a tremendous amount of expertise so that they can be one of the first on site immediately after a disaster. That's what the FEMA call was about so that their pre positioned ShelterBoxes and other services could be deployed as soon as today (the day after Harvey touched the mainland.) Kerri said that a big part of the success of the organization is due to the relationship they have with Rotary International. The team works in close collaboration with hundreds of partners, such as Virgin Airlines to get products into place so that they're available at a moments notice. Kerri has a compelling personal story that started when she was 6, working at her father's fabric show in Connecticut. He worked seven days a week and would take her with him on Sunday mornings at 4 am to the Flea Market, where she learned how to talk with people and sell $1 toys. She saw first hand from her father how philanthropy was a very local-focused, community activity and has continued that throughout her life. She had advice for non-profits that are looking to improve their marketing: focus on what makes you unique, and use stories that illustrate the impact you're making in the community.