The A-State Advantage: Catalyst Conversations

The founder title is romanticized, but the daily work is often brutal and isolating. Serial entrepreneur Eric Howerton breaks down the grit required to survive and why scalable video is your safest asset.

We examine why brands waste capital on high-gloss production. Today's algorithms and younger demographics demand raw, conversational video. Eric explains how standardizing a content assembly line drives down costs and generates the...

Bringing a major conference to life requires more than just a good idea. James (Seung Ho Jeon) breaks down the logistics of reviving TEDx Arkansas State University and leading through daily consistency.

Organizing 105 speaker applications for a 100-seat room means rejecting serious talent while navigating strict parameters. James unpacks the administrative friction of failing his first TEDx application and pivoting the entire event ...

Isolation and anxiety are threatening the next generation of professionals before they even hit the workforce. Right now, students need real-world connection and guidance more than ever to transition from the classroom to their careers successfully. Dr. Patricia Quinn Johnston and Sandy Al sit down to share how the Center for Leadership Excellence at Arkansas State University is building a 10-year legacy of bridging that gap.

We sit...

Decisions made in a university boardroom today will dictate the workforce and economy of a state twenty years from now. With higher education facing rapid shifts in technology, student needs, and financial viability, understanding who steers the ship has never been more critical. Bishop Robert Rudolph, Chair of the Board of Trustees for the ASU system, joins us to unpack the weight of managing public trust across seven distinct ins...

If you do not innovate in modern manufacturing, your business will die. With billions of dollars pouring into domestic production and artificial intelligence transforming age-old heavy industries, understanding the shifting landscape of American manufacturing has never been more critical. Dan Brown, Executive Vice President of U.S. Steel and Chief Operating Officer at Big River Steel, breaks down what it takes to build, staff, and ...

Infrastructure delays and disconnected communities are silent killers of regional economic growth. With Northeast Arkansas experiencing massive population booms and industrial expansion, understanding how real estate, roadways, and higher education intersect has never been more critical for local leaders and investors. To break down how these pieces fit together, we sit down with Arkansas Highway Commissioner Jerry Halsey, a fourth...

Selling raw crops leaves massive revenue on the table, and walking away from a stable corporate career to bet on rural revitalization is a high-stakes gamble. In a crowded marketplace, building sustainable local momentum demands an aggressive pivot from commodity farming to premium brand creation. We talk with Harvey Williams, co-founder and CEO of Delta Dirt Distillery, who returned home to Helena, Arkansas, to transform his famil...

$22 billion in transportation needs and only about $2 billion to fund them. That single gap explains a lot of what people feel when a project takes longer than expected, a corridor upgrade lands on a distant timeline, or a community wonders how decisions get made.

We’re joined by Jared Wiley, Director of the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT), to talk about what it really takes to deliver safe, efficient hig...

Arkansas is launching its first College of Veterinary Medicine, and the numbers are already staggering: roughly 1,500 started applications within days of opening. We talk with Dr. Calvin White, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost at Arkansas State University, and Dr. Heidi Banse, the founding dean, about what that surge reveals about pent-up demand for veterinary education in Arkansas and why so many future vets want to train clo...

Steel has a reputation for being dirty and dangerous, but that framing misses the real point. When you’re working around heat, heavy equipment, and molten metal, the job is unforgiving, and that means the difference between a safe shift and a life-changing injury comes down to culture, systems, and leadership that refuses to bend.

We sit down with Raymond Tarnow, Director of Safety and Health Services at Big River Stee...

Cities are where Arkansas actually runs, and Mark Hayes spends his days making sure they can keep running. Mark is the Executive Director of the Arkansas Municipal League, representing 500+ cities and towns, and he joins us to connect the dots between municipal government, economic development, and the talent pipeline coming out of Arkansas State University.

We talk about why convening matters and why Catalyst Northeast Arka...

A blizzard couldn’t stop more than 600 people from showing up to Catalyst Northeast Arkansas, and that tells you something important: Northeast Arkansas is hungry for a bigger story about growth, jobs, and what’s possible next. From Arkansas State University’s new recording studio, we talk with Heather Nelson, Vice Chancellor for External Affairs and Strategic Initiatives, about how momentum like that gets created...