MO - Business Interviews with Entrepreneurs, CEO's, Founders, Funding Sources, and Policy Makers

May3

“Technology – specifically mobile devices – can help to capture students’ interest and attention in the classroom.”

Justina Nixon Saintil

Verizon Foundation

Director of Education Programs

http://www.VerizonFoundation.org/

The Verizon Foundation is the philanthropic entity of Verizon. We are focused on accelerating social change by using the company’s innovative technology to help solve pressing problems in education, healthcare and energy management. The Foundation has several education programs focused on developing students’ interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

Some of those key highlights are:

- The Verizon Innovative App Challenge – launched last Fall, this competition tasked high- and middle- schools across the country to come up with an innovative app concept for the chance to win $10,000 for their school and get a Samsung tablet, courtesy of Samsung Mobile! The competition closed Jan. 18 and the 10 winning teams – 5 high schools and 5 middle schools – of the Verizon Innovative App Challenge were recently announced. The 10 winning teams have begun to work with MIT Media Labs to learn about the basics of coding to build their app and bring it to life, using the MIT App Inventor tool, a free tool which allows anyone — young students — to be able to fully develop an app from scratch with limited technical knowledge. We will work with these students to bring their apps to the Google Play Store by the end of this summer.

- The Verizon Innovative Learning School (VILS)- this is the Verizon Foundation’s program where it partnered with ISTE (ISTE.org) to provide teachers with training on how to effectively integrate technology into the classroom to help increase student interest in STEM subjects. Note, while many schools have mobile technology in the classroom it is not used effectively… many times students are using it to do online searches or to watch YouTube. When taught how to integrate mobile devices into the classroom, teachers are offered a real-time view of how well students understood the course material that was just covered (for instance, teachers can conduct instant polling) and students can use those devices to better understand subjects that are tough for them (for instance interactive games to learn about fractions or other subjects).

MO: Why has the Verizon Foundation chosen to focus resources on helping to increase the interest of students on the core subjects of STEM?

May3

“Fighting Childhood Obesity One Child (or a million) At A Time!”

Len Saunders

Author & Motivational Speaker

http://www.LenSaunders.com

Len Saunders graduated from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut, majoring in Physical Education. He later went on to receive a Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology from Montclair State University in New Jersey.

Len is an award winning / best-selling author, motivational speaker in the fight against childhood obesity, and nationally recognized for his innovative wellness events. Recently, you may have seen Len on such media giants as CNN, Good Morning America, CNBC, The Today Show, ESPN, Nickelodeon, MSNBC, The Fox Channel, as well as the front page of The Wall Street Journal.

MO: Where does your passion for eliminating childhood obesity come from?

May3

“Make your business the place they WANT to work.”

Clara Lippert Glenn

The Oxford Princeton Programme

President and CEO

http://www.OxfordPrinceton.com

Clara Lippert Glenn is the President and CEO of The Oxford Princeton Programme, created Princeton Energy Programme in 1992 and PrincetonLive.com in 1999. In 2000, she engineered the merger with The College of Petroleum and Energy Studies, forming The Oxford Princeton Programme, of which she became President and CEO. She has provided the vision and leadership behind The Oxford Princeton Programme’s innovative and successful approach to interactive professional education, building it into the global leading provider of energy education.

The Oxford Princeton Programme provides the most effective and flexible approach to educating professionals worldwide on the business and trading of energy. With customizable programmes for on-site team training, more than 200 public courses in 23 energy hubs globally, and the most extensive library of web-based courses available 24/7 on www.princetonlive.com, The Oxford Princeton Programme is responsible for training a literal who’s who in oil, gas, power and much more. Courses are taught by renowned experts offering dynamic and interactive instruction. With more focus, experience, and depth of industry knowledge, The Oxford Princeton Programme provides today’s professionals with the tools and know-how for optimal performance. For more information, log onto www.oxfordprinceton.com.

MO: How did you come up with the concept for the Princeton Energy Programme?

May2

“Are you ready to stop playing victim to the times??”

Bruce Hodes

CMI

CEO & President

http://www.CMITeamwork.com

CMI and Bruce Hodes are the Chicago land experts in corporate team building education and strategic business planning. CMI successfully develops performance oriented work cultures in small companies to mid-sized companies. CMI is dedicated to creating a work environment where vision, planning and commitment dictate implementation.

Around Bruce companies grow and prosper. The focus of his work is developing organizations, work teams, business leaders and executives into powerful performers. He has an MBA from Northwestern University and a Master’s Degree in Clinical Social Work. As a business strategy consultant and a recovering psychotherapist, Bruce brings a diverse blend of skills and education to his work with teams, business leaders and executives.

MO: Can you tell us a little about yourself and what CMI does?

May2

“Pay very close attention to a candidate’s behavior & personality. You want to hire someone that you feel comfortable with.”

Charles A. Krugel

Labor & Employment Law

Attorney/Owner

http://www.CharlesAKrugel.com/

Labor & Employment Law on Behalf of Business; Human Resources Attorney & Counselor

As a management side labor and employment attorney and human resources (HR) counselor, Charles Krugel has 17-plus years of experience in the field and has been running his own practice for 12-plus years. Charles has worked on both “sides of the fence;” that is, he’s worked for management & as an in-house counsel for a labor union. These experiences have taught him that he’s much more sympathetic to the needs of business rather than 3rd party interveners like government regulators & labor unions.

Charles’ clients are small to medium sized companies in a variety of industries such as options & securities trading, technology, baking & manufacturing. In addition to providing them traditional labor and employment law services, he represents companies desiring to institute preventive and proactive HR functions. These functions include policies & procedures, which help to efficiently and discreetly resolve issues in-house & prevent lawsuits & complaints. They also help to reduce costs & act as catalysts for increasing productivity & profits. For analysis of what clients think of him, please see his “Client Testimonials” web page.

MO: How much did your father owning a chain of pharmacies and your grandfather owning and running his own grocery stores inspire your path of entrepreneurship?

May2

“I’m hoping to share my passion for the American Dream and for women achieving professional success with an audience that shares this passion!”

Alicia Vanderschuere

RosieMADE

Founder & CEO

http://www.RosieMADE.com

Alicia Vanderschuere, is a USA manufacturing advocate, an idealist, a champion for women, a believer in good, a corporate survivor, a spreadsheet and organizational junkie, a healthy living proponent, a wife, a mother, and an entrepreneur.

RosieMADE is a USA made online gift shop. They sell products from women friendly companies. The team hopes to use consumer spending targeted at women in business to help women increase their influence in the world, especially since women are responsible for 80-85% of consumer spending, although have only 15-20% of key decision making roles in large corporations and public policy.

MO: How did you come up with the concept for rosieMADE?

May2

“An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure”

Zabi Kator

guardNOW

President & CEO

http://www.guardNOW.com

guardNOW provides skilled professional security guards who know what to do in the event of an unforeseen incident. Guards are able to come to a location in just two hours without the need of a long term contract. Clients include small businesses, residences where the owners may be out of town, neighborhood surveillance, construction sites or vacant building that needs to be supervised. guardNOW also caters to special events for weddings, bar mitzvahs, quinceaneras, and birthday parties. Specializing in nontraditional security guard services, guardNOW offers premium service for safety and security needs.

MO: How does guardNOW work?

May1

“Running two businesses at once is a definite challenge but it also lets you diversify a bit so all your eggs aren’t in one basket. I’d say the key is a strong co-founder and team.”

Will Von Bernuth

AppMyWorld & Block Island Organics

Co-Founder

With hundreds of thousands of iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and Mac apps to choose from today how do you know what the best apps are? You could search through multiple review sites but wouldn’t it be great if one site aggregated all the reviews into one score – making it easy for you to make informed decisions?

AppMyWorld does just that! They comb prominent app review sites and aggregate the review scores into that we call an AppScore.

The Block Island Organics mission is to give everyone access to safe, effective, and lovable non-toxic sun care products. They believe in living outside and enjoying the sun and not hiding from it.

MO: Can you expand on how you came to launch two totally different types of companies?

May1

“In the next decade, the way the world works is going to fundamentally change.”

Bryce Maddock

TaskUs

CEO

http://TaskUs.com

Bryce Maddock is the CEO of TaskUs, a leading provider of outsourced customer support, photo editing, data entry and product description generation for rapidly growing internet companies.

Four years ago, Bryce started with a small team of five offshore agents. He and the TaskUs team have since scaled to one of the most talented workforces on the planet, over 450 strong. With headquarters in Santa Monica, California and a call center in Manila, Philippines, TaskUs continues to power the daily operations of the world’s fastest scaling internet businesses.

MO: Can you talk about launching your first business when you were just 19 and how you’ve managed to leverage your early success into other ventures?

May1

“If you don’t have a plan to pay less taxes, you won’t.”

John Beidle

1040 Wealth Designs, LLC

Enrolled Agent

http://TaxPlanningSTL.com

John Beidle offers a tax planning service focused on helping small business owners and real estate investors pay the least amount of tax as legally possible.

Gus: What are your top three tips for small businesses that are just starting to work on their income taxes?

May1

“We work hard to make sure everyone feels like they are not working in just another day job, but instead they are working to shape this company… and that not only makes things pretty fun, but is a foundation of our success.”

Amy Balliett

Killer Infographics

Co-founder & Chief Swiss Army Knife

http://www.KillerInfographics.com

Killer Infographics is a boutique data, design and distribution firm located in the heart of Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood. In just 2 short years, they have become one of the top infographic design agencies in the world with over 3000 infographic designs to their name and 250+ global clients including Pepsico, Toyota, Dow Jones, Adobe, T-Mobile and more. They offer a turnkey service from research to design to promotion of your static infographic, motion graphic or interactive design.

While Killer Infographics has become a leading infographic agency, it continues to operate as a scrappy startup able to shift focus quickly for its wide array of clientele. Founded in late 2010 by two online marketers, Killer Infographics proudly hosts a team of marketers mixed with some of Seattle’s best designers, to bring a unique level of service and strategy to the infographic industry. We sat down with Killer Infographics co-founder and Chief Swiss Army Knife, Amy Balliett (aptly named based on the many tasks she tackles in a given day), to see what keeps this agency running strong.

MO: You and your partner have bootstrapped the company from day 1. Can you expand on why you’ve never taken funding and even walked away from a high-paying acquisition?

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Spotlight Interview: Gordon Logan

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“Technology – specifically mobile devices – can help to capture students’ interest and attention in the classroom.”

“Make your business the place they WANT to work.”

“Are you ready to stop playing victim to the times??”

“Pay very close attention to a candidate’s behavior & personality. You want to hire someone that you feel comfortable with.”

“An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure”

“Running two businesses at once is a definite challenge but it also lets you diversify a bit so all your eggs aren’t in one basket. I’d say the key is a strong co-founder and team.”

“In the next decade, the way the world works is going to fundamentally change.”

“If you don’t have a plan to pay less taxes, you won’t.”

“We work hard to make sure everyone feels like they are not working in just another day job, but instead they are working to shape this company… and that not only makes things pretty fun, but is a foundation of our success.”

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