August 14, 2023 • 44 mins
Michelle Carfagno Founder & CEO The Greater Knead www.thegreaterknead.com
Susan Buehler VP, CFO & Treasurer; Susan COO PJM Interconnection www.pjm.com
Dave Ennist CEO; Chief Science Officer Origent origent.com
Lisa Firestone President Sedgewick Government Solutions www.managedcareadvisors.com / https://www.sedgwickgovernment.com/about/ lfirestone@managedcareadvisors.com
Susan Buehler VP, CFO & Treasurer; Susan COO PJM Interconnection www.pjm.com
Dave Ennist CEO; Chief Science Officer Origent origent.com
Lisa Firestone President Sedgewick Government Solutions www.managedcareadvisors.com / https://www.sedgwickgovernment.com/about/ lfirestone@managedcareadvisors.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:10):
Welcome to Executive Leaders Radio, yourspot in the corner office, the radio
show where executives share their secrets tosuccess. Executive Leaders Radio. You're listening
to Executive Leaders Radio, Real WorldLeaders. This is your host, Herb
Cohen and we have a great letupof guests few and our show, including
(00:30):
Lisa Firestone, President of Sedgwick GovernmentSolutions, Dave Ennist, CEO of Origent,
Michelle Carfagna, founder and CEO ofthe Greater Need, and Susan Bueller,
chief Communications officer of PGM Interconnection.Let's get to know our first guest,
Lisa Firestone, President of SEDWI GovernmentSolutions. Lisa, what is Government
(00:51):
Solutions? What are you guys doing? Sedwick Government Solutions is the federal contracting
arm of Sedgwick, which is aleader provider of technology enabled risks ben have
been integrated business solutions. And howmany employees are there in the total company
and how many are on your team? There's thirty one thousand colleagues across Sedgwick
(01:11):
and we have approximately three hundred onthe federal team right now. And where
you from originally? How many brothersare sisters? And where are you in
the pecking order I'm from Maryland.There's two kids. I'm the youngest already
in eight to fourteen. What kindof stuff were you going through eight to
fourteen years old? Eight to fourteenwas a very kind of learning, tumultuous
stage for me. I was learninghow to kind of live in the world.
(01:38):
I mentioned you were trying to figureout wfe. What do you mean
you were trying to figure out wrife? What are you talking about? A
kind of a quiet kid in apretty rough neighborhood trying to make sense of
why things were happening to me?Ah, what kind of stuff you're talking
about? What do you mean?You know, finally get a pair of
shoes, they get stolen, youget then it was a rough place.
(02:02):
Let me ask you a question.The fact that you show your shoes got
stolen, you got beat up.What's that have to do with your managing
three hundred people? It's such withgovernment solutions. I think it has to
do it. My whole career inwording to understand people and why things happen,
not be angry. But why wouldsomebody do that? Do they need
(02:22):
that more than I do? Waita minute, I thought, if you're
the boss, do you tell peoplewhat to do. If they don't do
it, you fire them. Whatdo you mean you don't get angry?
Oh, I get angry. Butyou know, running a company is not
an individual sport. It's a teamsport. You're not going to get anywhere
if you can't work with the peoplefrom top, bottom, bottom up.
(02:46):
How young were you when you startedmaking money around fourteen fifteen? What were
you doing? I was a lifeguardtaught swimming lessons. So you were a
lifeguard and then you figured out youcan make some money teaching swimming lessons make
good money. What'd you do withthe money? I saved it. I
used it to buy things that Ineeded or wanted, but saved it.
(03:09):
You're pretty resourceful. As a kid, you didn't have a lot of extra
money you got You're pretty resourceful.What's that have to do with running this
business? I think everything that it'sit's you've got to work hard right from
top one. You do you dowhat you have to to be successful,
to make money, but not doit at the cost of individuals. Do
(03:31):
it doing the right thing? Lisa, are you more like your mom or
your dad? And which values andtrades do you take with you to work?
Every day. Okay, well that'skind of a difficult question. I'm
more like my mom. I reallydon't know my biological father, so I'd
say I'm more like my mom.And she was. She was tough.
(03:53):
She was a single parent when Iwas four years old, never worked,
and you know, I didn't appreciateit till later on in life to see
how hard she worked. And wedidn't want me realize we had nothing because
she didn't let us. Was it? What's the what's the upside of growing
up with nothing? I mean,I'm sure it was difficult back then,
(04:14):
growing up with a single mom.What's the upside? What's the benefit?
Nowadays? You learn you have toearn everything. Nothing's handy to you,
so you you earn it. It'sa work ethic. I see it in
my kids, I see it inmy employees. You don't take things for
granted. I get up every morningand I'm grateful for what's in front of
me, for what I have.Brian, could you give me a hand
(04:38):
getting to know Lisa? Yes?How did you figure out you want to
go on the healthcare industry in yourreal life? Guard? And then what
else did you do? I wasa candy striper. I wanted to go
into I wanted to be a doctor. I'm not sure exactly why, but
I wanted to. So I workedin a physical therapy office, went to
undergraduate school for physical therapy, wasready to go off to get ready for
(05:00):
medical school until I was told bymy guidance counselor that as a woman,
you would never have a family,never get married, too small, too
weak to be an orthopedic surgeon.So I basically said, then I'm going
to run the hospital and run theindustry. How did that make you do
what you said that? Obviously Ithink I was. I was angry,
(05:23):
I was disappointed. It made menot believe in myself and you just have
to keep going forward and find yourpassion. Well, how's that helping you?
How's that affecting your management style?Nowadays? I don't throw roadblocks in
people's way. You know, there'smany times I look back and what if
(05:45):
I had gone to medical school.But I think it's more important to help
people find their path and not forcethem down a path that they might not
be dol at. It's like tohave the right people on the bus,
but are they sitting in the rightseats? Isn't that what you do?
Isn't that what your business does foryour clients? Your patients. Absolutely,
(06:06):
we run into people probably in theworst day or during the worst time.
They've been injured, they lost theirhome, they were in an accident,
and it's our job to support themin getting what they need to find to
recover, to be productive, tomake sure that, you know, they
(06:26):
get the benefits they're entitled. So, yeah, you're leading a very successful
career. Is your mom is yourmom? Or was your mom aware of
the success you were beginning to enjoy. I think she was, you know,
she passed away, you know,several years ago. I think she
was very proud. You know,she got to come to my company,
in to my office, and Ican still hear her running down the halls,
(06:48):
you know, telling everybody, that'smy daughter, that's my daughter.
And why was she proud? Ithink she just spoke, you know,
she knows we had a rough start, and I think she just always wanted
us to do better. She's proud, so that that that issue about doing
(07:10):
better. What do you mean dobetter? What are you talking about?
He you know, she wanted us, she always said to being you know,
find a great relationship, but alwaysbe able to be independent. Don't
walk into somebody else's shadow. Dowhat you feel is right. And you
know I've been blessed with both.You've been blessed with both. What do
(07:32):
you mean. I have a greathusband, great family, and I looking
back because I'm kind of, youknow, nearing some changes, I can
say that I never walked in anyone's shadow. You know I had.
You know, there's this famous songby Whitney Houston. You have to learn
to depend on me, And Ithink once I got that confidence on the
(07:55):
accidental entrepreneur. I never thought i'drun a company, and I did it
because I psyched myself up and saidI can do this. You know.
So as opposed to losing faith inyourself and not having confidence to yourself because
of what and guidance counselor once saidto you, you're the opposite. Nowadays,
you really do have confidence in yourself, and in fact, you're trying
(08:16):
to do that for others. You'reyou're the master guidance counselor. If I'm
reading it correctly, I call myselfthe chief motivational officer. Definitely doubt the
chief motivational officer. But it sayson this piece of paper, you're the
president. What do you mean.I try to do what I can.
We spend the people around me,make them feel good, make them feel
(08:39):
wanted. I'll give you an example. Every single person under you know,
my umbrella, their birthday is recognized, their anniversary with the company is recognized
because their individuals that give a goodpart of their life to help others and
help this organizam whose idea was thatto recognize birthdays in verseries mine? Why
(09:01):
do you take the time to dothat because we're dealing with individuals. We're
dealing with humans to take the goodpart of their life out of their day
to help other people, to helpan organization. So it must have been
pretty paid. I mean, youknow, considering how sensitive and how empathetic
you are to your team, itmust have been pretty painful when you were
a kid. How do your sneakersstolen and getting beat up? You know,
(09:24):
considering how sensitive you are? AmI reading that correctly? Oh yeah,
it was, you know, Ithink it was more devastating, you
know, to just not not seethat that this isn't the way things need
to be. Me and my parentsfound a way out and moved us.
Hey, there was no safety.It sounds like you're providing safety for your
(09:46):
team. I hope, so,I hope it's a safe space. You
know you can't. You know you'reyou're never going to be able to help
everyone, and there are going tobe the time you've got to make hard
decisions and help people out of yourorganization. But you know, culture is
everything to me. When I soldmy company in September twenty twenty one,
(10:07):
I went to a company with similarvalues and tlpore what's the website address for
this organization? And as Sedate GovernmentSolutions Sedate Government Solutions dot com. We've
been speaking with Lisa Firestone, presidentat Sederate Government Solutions here on Executive Leaders
Radio or Real World Leaders. Don'twe get to visit our websites Executive Leaders
Radio dot com and Real World Leadersdot org. Executive Leaders Radio dot com
(10:31):
and Real World Leaders dot org tolearn more about our executive leaders. Stick
around. We be back in amoment right after this quick break. This
is herbco. When you're hosted ExecutiveLeaders Radio dot com. Regarding your career,
if you're trying to figure out howto make the most money and also
enjoy your career. That's enjoy yourcareer, I mean really enjoy your career
(10:54):
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order to make the most money andreally enjoy your career. Email us consult
(11:18):
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(11:54):
year host Term Cohen with my cohost I Lead and Brian and let's get
to know Dave Nis see of Origin. Dave, what is Origin? What
are you guys doing? Origin DataSciences makes predictions for patients and we use
those predictions to improve clinical trials,mainly for als Luke Garrett's disease. Cool
(12:15):
were from originally how many brothers andsisters and where are you in the packing
order. I was born in Venezuelaand number four of six, got two
brothers, two sisters. And soyou mentioned that you came from Venezuela to
New Jersey when you were about five. When we were talking in the green
room, and you remember that youwere bored and one day you got suspended
(12:39):
and you were sitting in the principal'soffice and it was a big it was
a pivot in your life. Whathappened in that principal's office. Yeah,
I kind of sat there for threedays wondering why I'm sitting in the principal's
office, and realized I was bored. And so with that, I decided
that I would start going to summerschool and pick up the classes that I
(13:00):
was missing and so I could getin the more advanced classes. So what
did you begin to study and whatbegan happening. Yeah, it was that
summer. I had a really goodteacher. It was a really good summer
school teacher, which is I thinkdifferent than a regular school teacher. And
I really got into math and science. Math and science. And you mentioned
(13:22):
that you'd like soccer is a kid, what was your role in the soccer
team. Yeah, I played defenseand I was made captain, and I
think, really it's about team.I think that's why I was made captain
because I saw that, Okay,we got to put this team together with
this a bunch of guys from town. So what's this math and science being
(13:43):
captured of the soccer team have todo with your role as CEO of war
Jen. It's about leading a teamand realizing that, yeah, I've got
the privilege of leading this team,but really everybody else's is contributing to this
and I've got to let them dowhat they do best. M Ale,
(14:05):
How young were you when you startedmaking money and what did you do different
than the other kids. Yeah,I was fifteen when I started working at
a burger joint. I ended upflipping burgers. I think what was different
was I saved the money, whichwasn't much. It was a dollar seventy
five an hour, and they keptsix cents an hour because they figured me
(14:26):
would eat six cents worth of foodat every hour, which is crazy.
But yeah, no, I savedit, and I was saving that to
get to college. M what's that? What's that saving money have to do
with the way you run this business? Yeah, I gotta watch the pennies.
I gotta keep track of that.I got to look forward to,
(14:48):
well, where are we going tobe at the end of the year.
And I got to make sure Ican pay everybody's salary and keep the company
going and keep it growing. Andit's all about how much money comes in
and how which goes out. Whichis learned as a kid working at the
burger joint. Brian, can youget me are getting in the days?
What are your hobbies now? Yeah? Mostly I do birding and I also
(15:13):
work in our garden. I reallygrow flowers. You like to grow flowers,
watch them grow? I mean,how does that How does it equate
to your job today? Yeah,it's fun watching something grow at all.
In spring there's nothing but the garden'sempty, and this time of year there's
like it's just loaded with flowers.And that's what it is. It's making
(15:35):
that. Is that related to yourbusiness or related to your employees? Yeah,
no, it speaks right to it. And also it's a way of
totally relaxing for the business. Butyou know, really it's the same making
stuff grow. You mentioned that youhad a vision once about using computers in
biology. What was that all about. Yeah, so I saw that.
(15:58):
You know, I kind of grewup in the time of DNA and all
that and keeping track of all that, and I realized that the way to
do that is through computers, andthat eventually led big data and big databases
led to where I am now reallyanalyzing patients data and trying to figure out
(16:18):
how bad their disease is going tobe in a year. So you're living
the business is fundamentally focused on usingcomputers in biology and are there are limited
opportunities here or there are a lotof opportunities, a lot of opportunities.
(16:38):
Basically, every disease has problems indrug development and that's what we approach with
data. Tell me more about that. Yeah, So we take a bunch
of data and where previously people weren'table to kind of figure out where how
bad patients disease would be in ayear, where we can do a pretty
(16:59):
good job of that. And thatreally helps find the right patients for a
clinical trial that to really show whethera drug works. And the whole thing
that we're our mission is to improvedrug development so that we can get those
drugs out to patients whose idea wasthis this really started from a guy who
(17:22):
had ALS started a nonprofit and heput out this, uh, this contest
to develop this disease progression algorithm forals uh and uh we joined it and
won the contest, and then theidea of the business stemmed from that.
Yeah. So the former CEO,he started getting calls from a drug companies
(17:47):
wanting to use the model, andhe realized, hey, there's a company
here, and so so we starteda company. And the where the venture
capital come from the start this business. Actually, we've got a group of
physicians who got us started, andsince then we've worked on a lot of
government grants and also client We workwith some of the major biotechs. And
(18:10):
I guess one of the advantages ofbeing the CEO is you get to go
in at ten or eleven o'clock andleave at three or four and a half
a long lunches, right, yeah, right, yeah, Now get starts
in the middle of the night.I have an idea, I lean over
in my pad and I write itdown, so that first thing in the
morning I get right to work onit. So you've a pad of paper
next year back because you don't wantto forget the ideas that you're thinking about
(18:33):
huh exactly. And don't forget thepen either. It's the paper on Oh
excuse me, peoper and pen.And you mentioned that when you were a
kid, you went to work atthat burger joint and you and your girlfriend
decided that you were going to gomake money. So you really enjoy close
relationships. Yeah, it really isabout relationships. I probably don't have a
(18:55):
lot of relationships. But the relationshipsI have are clothes. So whatever happened
to that girlfriend, A married her. Uh, we're still we're married fifty
years later. Wow, you areabout relationships. So what's this relationship thing
I have to do with business?Yeah? So that's what you have to
let everybody who works with you growinto what they can become, what they
(19:22):
want to do. Uh. Andand my job is to find and make
the match with what we need inthe company to make to find people that
want to do that, uh andthen literally let them do that. And
I kind of step aside, uhand let let people figure out that,
hey, you know, this iswhat the company needs and this is what
(19:45):
I want to do. Uh.And that's uh, it's really a lot
of fun seeing individuals grow like thatinto money. I can understand how you're
you know, you're bringing computers tobiology. On the other hand, it
sounds like, you know, you'regirlfriend really had a major effect on your
life when your business career, becauseyou're all about the people's side of it
as well. Am I seeing thatright? She absolutely? She absolutely has.
(20:08):
Yes, what's this? Do youhave any kids? Two kids,
boy and girl. What's a similaritybetween being a CEO and being a dad?
Oh yeah, it's yeah, it'sthe same thing, letting them grow
into who they who they want tobecome. Our daughter is a kindergarten teacher
and our son is a scientist.So when you so when you bring people
(20:29):
onto the team, you're really tryingto figure out who they are and you
want them to play to their strengths. It sounds like as opposed to trying
to force them to do stuff.Huh. Yeah. Absolutely. And in
a small company like ours, everybodybasically has to do everything. It has
to be prepared to do everything,and so it's all about being transparent in
what the company is doing. Andthen everybody just jumps in and sayd hey,
(20:52):
I can do that, I cando that. And so you're you're
really enjoying the business side of theof the business, it sounds like,
as well as the science side.Yeah. Yeah, I still think of
myself as mainly a scientist, butyeah, I'm a scientist who runs a
business. You're a scientist who runsa business, and it sounds like you're
(21:15):
running it. Sounds like you're prettyobsessed with it, if you're writing notes
to yourself to three in the morning. Yeah, but it sounds like you
have a long term relationship with yourwife says she sort of knew who she
married. What's the what's the websiteaddressed for this organization known as Origin.
It's Origin dot com. How doyou spell that? Or I g e
nt dot com. We've been speakingwith Dave Nis, CEO of Origin here
(21:37):
on Executive Leaders Radio or Real WorldLeaders. Don't forget to visit our websites
Executive Leaders Radio dot com. It'sExecutive Leaders Radio dot com and Real World
Leaders dot org. Real World Leadersdot org to learn more about our executive
leaders. Stick around and dot ina moment was right after this quick break,
(22:07):
we're back. You're listening to ExecutiveLeaders Radio. Real World Leaders.
Is your host her Cohen. Let'sget to know Michelle Carfagno, the founder
and CEO of the Greater Need.Michelle, what is the Greater Need?
What are you guys doing? TheGreater Need is an allergen free baked goods
company. We sell nationwide and directedconsumer bagels and soft pretzels that are free
(22:30):
from the top nine allergens. Allrighty? Where you're from originally? How
many brothers and sisters? And whereare you in the pecking order? I'm
from Bucks County and I am thesecond oldest of three girls and one boy.
All righty, So Bucks County isa suburb of Philadelphia for those and
other parts of the country, You'rethe second of four and eight to fourteen.
What's that list look like of stuffyou were doing as a kid?
(22:53):
I was working at a T shirtshop, I was baking as a hobby,
and I was doing competitive cheerleading.So how young were you when you
got involved with baking and how didyou get involved with baking? I was
ten years old and I was bakinga lot with my aunt. We were
making birthday cakes for everybody's birthday.And then I also got sick with tonsilitis
(23:18):
for a little while, and Istarted baking as a hobby to keep myself
busy. So what's all that stuffhave to do with your role as founder
and CEO of the Greater Need.It really fueled my passion for what I
do. I was able to createa hobby something I love and turn it
into a business. I see.And you mentioned that you were working folding
(23:41):
T shirts. How'd you get thatjob and what did you think about that
job? It was a friend ofmy mom's and it was the first job
that I could get being that Iwas only thirteen. I really liked it,
especially getting my first paycheck and havingmy own independence. So what's what's
getting your first paycheck having that independencehave to do with your role as father
(24:03):
and CEO of the Greater Need.It's really helped me and shape me become
a leader of my company and havethat independence to have my own company.
And you mentioned you were involved withcheerleading. How's cheerleading affecting you nowadays?
What's cheerleading all about? It's competitivecheerleading, So definitely taught me how to
compete, be my best, andput the work in to be the best
(24:26):
of what you do. Well,there's some real connections from who your were
to who you is I mean,give me him please, Michelle. You
mentioned that you had tonsillitis and soyou were at home from school. How
did that impact you academically and howdid you get through any of those challenges.
I had to work hard to staycaught up with my school work,
(24:48):
but I was able to do thatin focus, and then in my free
time, I watched the Food Network, which was another inspiration that got me
baking, and I begged my parentsto give me baking mix so that I
could start making stuff at home.So the fact that this sells me like
your tonsils actually helps you further launchthis business. Am I reading that correctly?
(25:10):
Yeah? Alrighty, that is pleasegive me a here. Hey,
Michell, So I know you havea ton of products, So what is
your favorite product at the current month? So it used to be the Everything
bagel, but we launched ourself pretzelsabout a year ago and they're just such
a great snack, So that's mynew favorite. How'd you come up with
these products? How'd you come upwith the ideas for these products? In
(25:33):
twenty twelve of my sister my grandfatherwere diagnosed with stealeiac disease, which is
an allergy to gluten, and that'swhat got me excited about creating products for
people with food allergies. But couldn'tyou just go to the store and buy
stuff for him? Yeah? ButI've always wanted to start a business for
as long as I can remember,and so knowing that it could be in
food, once I got that inspiration, there was nothing stopping me. Well,
(26:00):
question you got for Michelle? Whatdo you think in Silas? Alrighty
and Michelle, of you have otherproducts of mind? You have other ideas
in mind for the business we do. Yeah, we're constantly working on new
ideas, probably something for like alunch or dinner time occasion. Since we
(26:21):
have a breakfast product, a snackproduct, that'll probably be something we do
next. So are you constantly thinkingabout new ideas for this business? I
am. That's what keeps me excitedbecause that's what I loved about the business
was the idea of creating and bakingnew recipes. So I kind of have
to do that for myself to stayexcited about what I'm doing. So you
really enjoy you really enjoy your business. It's a creative outlet for you.
(26:45):
Yeah, definitely, Silas. Areyou still there? There? We go
how't well, how you been doingyour job for I've been doing this for
eleven years and the mirror your termwe'll question you have for Michelle. Is
there any stores that your product isnot indvidual like it to be in.
(27:07):
Yeah, we just want to reallylaunch nationwide with Whole Foods. We're in
the mid Atlantic, so that's oneof our goals. Our dream retailers is
definitely a Whole Foods nationwide. Meyour term book question do you have for
Michelle? If you had to pickone of your items, what is your
least favorite item? So we dobagel chips just online, which I didn't
(27:29):
really talk much about because it's myleast favorite item. They proved to be
a lot harder to manufacturer than weoriginally thought. M So you really have
to make sure that when you're bakingthese goods that they taste good for a
period of time you're able to shipthem. There's a lot involved with this.
It's not just baking, is it. Yeah, definitely. There's a
(27:51):
lot of science that goes into it. A lot of science. Interesting,
I lean, what's your next questionfor Michelle? Till you mentioned that you'd
loved and competitive cheer, what lessonsdid you have being a competitive cheerleader that
you apply to who you are asa CEO of your company today. Yeah,
I think the leadership skills, youknow, being like in the front
(28:11):
row with like all of my dances, I always had people looking at me
and leading others. We had youngergirls on a team too, so coaching
them that's helped me be a coachto my employees. And then also that
competitive side, like knowing that youmay not always win, but if you
put the work in and you bringyour best that you can, you know
you're going to make it to thenext competition and get to try again.
(28:34):
Jet us, what's your next questionfor Michelle? So how big is your
company and are we where is locatedand where we are we looking to expand?
Yeah, so we have ten employees. We're located in Ben Salem,
Pennsylvania, right outside of Philadelphia.That's where we do all of our manufacturing.
And yes, we're trying to expandnationwide with more retailers. We do
(28:56):
have like Sprouts, wegments upright,and a lot of other like smaller independent
stores, but always looking to expandour footprint to get it to more people
who need our products. Sols.Do you have another question for Michelle?
Alrighty, Michelle, how high isup? I mean how far? How
(29:18):
would you see a limit to thegrowth of this business? No, I
really don't. I think that wehave so much potential, not only because
of the industry that we're in andthe growing need for things that are allergen
free, but also because of meand my team's persistence, and you know,
we know that we'll constantly keep innovating. So if there's a new product
(29:40):
that makes more sense, like justthe sky's the limit for what we can
do as long as we continue topush forward. So you have a lot
of product ideas, and it soundsto me like you're going to be releasing
these ideas, introducing these ideas slow, but sure, How do you know
if it's a good idea or abad idea? We tested on our website.
We do out of surveys with ourconsumers, and we take our time
(30:02):
because it can be very expensive tomake the wrong decision and launch that in
retail, So we take our time. That's why we only really have these
two core products over eleven years.But we're constantly thinking of the next thing
and testing it behind the scenes.And what's the advantage of having a direct
relationship with your clients, with yourcustomers over the web, what's the benefit
(30:23):
there. Yeah, the reason thatwe do that is so that we know
who they are, we can communicatewith them, We can learn what they
like, what they don't like,what all their pain points are, so
we can really create products that aretruly made for them. So you get
your ideas from your customers. Yeah, we did a survey about what product
(30:44):
they missed the most back in twentytwenty one, and that's when we came
up with the self pretzel because thatwas one of the number one things that
people said that they were missing.So, on one hand, you actually
ask your customers what they like,what they think, and do you ever
bounce your ideas off of them.So we gave them like a list because
I had a hunch that pretzels weresomething that was missed in the market.
(31:04):
So we made a list of pretzels, donuts, buns, pizza crust,
you know, all those things thatwe kind of saw an opportunity for and
we let them pick the one thatthey missed the most. See, you
listen to your customers. How didyou learn that? How'd you figured that
out. I think just wanting tobe authentic and like really truly make something
(31:27):
that was for them, because Istarted it for my sister and my grandfather,
so I wanted to always be listeningto them. They're the ones with
the food allergies. I did nothave a food allergy. I found out
now that I'm lacto us intolerant,but at that point I didn't know that,
and I think listening to what theywanted was a big part of what
created the brand. So do youhave any mentors who helps you? Yes,
(31:53):
I do have mentors. My fatherwas a business owner and so he
was a big mentor for me whenhe was alive. And then my best
friend's father growing up is still amentor for me. He has a trucking
company. And then I have abusiness coach as well, and I have
a board. And what's the websiteaddressed for the Greater Need? It is
(32:15):
the Greater Need spelled knead dot com. We would speak with Michelle Carfagna,
founder and CEO of the Greater Needhere on Executive Leaders Radio and Real World
Leaders are going to visit our website. Executive Leaders Radio dot com and Reward
Leaders dot org to learn more aboutour executive leaders would be back in a
moment. Ramps this quick brain coand your Executive Leader radio host and the
(32:37):
CEOs we've interviewed on this show.We're interested in helping you get your business
started and helping you grow your business. Whether you're aware of the issues or
whether you want the CEOs to giveyour hand identifying the issues in getting your
business started and or in growing yourbusiness, why don't email us at consult
(33:04):
at Executive Leaders Radio dot com.That's consult at Executive Leaders Radio dot com.
Whether you're interested in having our CEOsspeak with you regarding getting your business
started or growing your business, sendus an email at consult at Executive Leaders
(33:24):
Radio dot com and we'll be sureto get back to you shortly with some
help. We're back. You're listeningto Executive Leaders Radio, Real World Leaders.
(33:51):
It's your host, Herb Goen liketo introduce Susan Bueller, who is
the chief Communications Officer of PJM Interconnection. Susan, what is PJM Interconnect.
What are you guys doing? Wherewe are the electricity grid? Herb for
sixty five million consumers from Chicago toNew York and all the way down to
North Carolina we operate the flow ofelectricity. Were you from originally? How
(34:14):
many brothers and sisters? And whereare you in the pecking order? Well,
I think I have a lot incommon with Michelle. I grew up
in Bucks County. I'm the youngestof three girls. All right in Bucks
County is a suburb of Philadelphia andeight to fourteen. What kind of stuff
are you up to? What's thatlist look like? Well, I definitely
took piano lessons, I was involvedin music. I was really involved in
(34:37):
softball. I did some cheerleading,and I was also on the swim team
in the green room. When wewere talking, you mentioned that you felt
like you were a tomboy. Howdo how'd that come about? You know,
in my younger years, I wasvery athletic. I was playing in
the neighborhood with a lot of neighborhoodkids. You know, that was when
(34:58):
you stayed outside all and played sports. And I did a lot of kickball
and softball and athletic things. Buton the softball team, what was the
role? What position did you playand why did that position suit your personality?
Yeah, I was a first baseman. I love to catch, and
I was also the fourth hitter onthe team, and so I loved being
(35:21):
a cleanup hitter a lot of pressure. I loved scoring runs, and I
just liked that role being, youknow, a hitter. So what's I
have to do with your role?Is the chief communications officer at PJM Interconnection
that serves sixty five million electrical customers. Sometimes I feel like I'm a cleanup
(35:42):
hitter at work too. I think, you know, you need to be
a leader, you need to becollaborative. We work a lot on the
important messaging about what we do andhow we do it, and so the
role is similar to that of somebodywho plays on a softball team. So
piano, what did you learn frompiano? Has anything to do with your
role nowadays? What's a connection there? I loved piano and I was a
(36:06):
singer for a very very long time. I think there's a lot of collaboration
and brain work and practice. Youpractice a lot over and over and over,
and we do that at PGM aswe practice how we talk about the
electricity grid and how we translate thatmessage to consumers. Interesting, my lean,
(36:28):
Could you give me a hand please? Yeah, Susan it sounds like
you did a lot of different thingswhile you're growing up. How did you
learn to manage your time as achild and how does that apply to who
you are as a director of communications. You know, it's funny. I
often say the more time you have, the more time it takes you to
get something done. So I liketo be busy. I like a busy
(36:51):
schedule. I think I get moredone. I'm more organized. And that's
what my day is like every day. It's tightly scheduled and very organized.
That is what question you got forSusan. As communicatings officer, you know,
how do you get across to allthe different sections in your company and
how do you you know, drawthat line of communications. We work really
(37:14):
hard on messaging and creating, youknow, throughout each and every department.
If there's an issue or something weneed to talk about, when work hard
on creating the narrative and the messagingand then making sure that we're answering the
questions that people have about us.So let you have a question for Susan.
(37:34):
What did you do for your lifetime? Yeah? What do you do
aside from working? Susan? Yeah, so I still am very active in
music, but for the most part, I have become addicted to pickleball.
I love pickleball. I think it'sa great workout. It's fun to play,
you know, mixed doubles or withladies groups. So I played pickleball
(37:57):
that four or five times a week. Lamier your turn? What question you
got for Susan? There's any ofa business idea? Would start another business?
Well, that's a really great question. I don't think I'm in the
market right now to start another business, but I could do a consultancy for
(38:19):
communications and kind of teach people.Media training and presentation training would be something
that I think I'd be pretty goodat and I could certainly do that.
Emilia, your turn. What questionyou got for Susan? What is your
ly's favorite thing to do on yourwork day? Well, when I have
back to back meetings all day long, it's difficult to actually get the work
(38:40):
done, so I try not todo that. I try to have space
along the way so I can getsome work done and I'm not working all
evening Answering emails, Ellie, whatdo you guys? Yes, so you
had some Can you tell us howyou work through challenges from when you were
a kid and how you work throughchallenges in your in your current role.
(39:06):
Well, there are always challenges nomatter what, whether it's your life or
your personal work. For sure,I think staying organized, staying focused,
remembering who you are, where youcame from, and what you're good at,
and just working through each and everychallenge. It sounds me like you
really enjoy working as part of ateam. When you were talking when we
(39:29):
were talking in the green room,you mentioned there were a lot of kids
in the neighborhood and you really enjoyedhanging out with the kids in the neighborhood.
It sounds the same thing goes ona work where you really enjoy the
camaraderie. Am I am I pickingthat up correctly. I do. I
do enjoy understanding diversity of thoughts.I like leading a team and understanding,
(39:52):
you know, different perspectives on issuesand then bringing everybody together to make a
decision on how to move forward.So you're all about understanding the individuals,
yet you're comfortable making a decision andorganizing everybody. I am, and I
really think we get to a betterplace after we've heard everybody's individual feelings or
(40:14):
thoughts about a particular issue when youwhen you were a kid, were you
organizing all the other kids in theneighborhood. I am a bit of an
organizer, as if you can't tell, but I did organize games and you
know, softball games and places tomeet in, places to play. I
did, do you have Dennis?All right? Everything? You stole a
(40:35):
little bit of my question, butit was more do you think you know,
did you pick yourself as getting intocommunications and do you think that the
sports was a big part of howyou kind of got in and and kind
of kind of made up for whatyou do now? Yeah, I think
you've up keyed on a couple ofthings. I'm definitely extroverted. My original
(40:59):
thought was I was going to bein music. I was going to be
a singer or a music teacher.But my parents convinced me that it was
going to be difficult to make agood living doing that. Teachers make a
good living, but not if you'rea singer and you don't really make it.
So I took a media and reportingclass, and I really loved communications,
and my first my first job wasactually in television news, and then
(41:21):
I became a communications specialist. Sothis job that you have as Chief Communications
Officer with PJM Interconnection. Did youstart in that role and how long have
you been with PJM Interconnection. Yeah, no, her, I have only
(41:42):
been at PGM about seven years.My first career was in television news and
so I did a lot of reporting, reporting and anchoring, and then I
moved into communications consulting at an advertisingand public relations firm for a while.
It was after that that I cameto PGM. So because you've had the
(42:02):
experience with the anchoring and then workingfor an agency, you've seen it all.
So if PGM Interconnection, you've gota broad background in terms of communications
to really help the company communicate.Yeah. I think that's what's really been
helpful is that from the media experience, I was able to translate that and
(42:25):
understand what media and what consumers mightwant to know, and so it's easy
for me to or easier for meto come up with the communication strategies and
messaging. So because you've had theexperience, you have the insight to understand
what to do and how to doit. I guess if you're dealing with
sixty five million customers, there's awhole message communication that's going on back and
(42:51):
forth all the time. Are youinvolved with that flow of information. Yeah.
We developed the messaging on how weoperate the electric grid, how we
run a fifty billion dollar market atPJM, how we're planning for the grid
of the future and figuring out electrificationand things like that. A lot of
communication, so it's not just amatter of communicating. You know, this
(43:15):
is your bill and you know thisis but it's also communicating about alternative energy.
It's about communicating the future of theorganization. You've got a lot of
constituents, don't you. Yeah,we communicate on how we operate through say
win or storm Elliott. You know, how we were able to keep the
lights on when other parts of thecountry we're in difficulty, how we're going
(43:39):
to move renewables onto our system,wind and solar, and everybody wants to
talk about renewable energy. So there'sa lot of messaging going on. The
ebisite address for PJM Interconnection is PGIMdot com. PGM dot com. We've
been speaking with Susan Bueller, chiefCommunications officer of PGM Interconnection. This is
(44:00):
your host, Hard Cohen, andtoday we've had the opportunity of speaking with
and getting to know Lisa Firestone,President of Suguate Government Solutions, Dave Venice,
CEO of Origent, Michelle Carfagno,founder and CEO of the Greater Need
In Susan Bueller, Chief Communications Officerof PGM Interconnection. Don't forget to visit
our websites Executive Leaders Radio dot com. That's Executive Leaders Radio dot com and
(44:22):
Real World Leaders dot org Real WorldLeaders dot org to learn more about our
executive leaders. Thank you for joiningus today and have a nice day. Bye bye
Welcome to Executive Leaders Radio, yourspot in the corner office, the radio
show where executives share their secrets tosuccess. Executive Leaders Radio. You're listening
to Executive Leaders Radio, Real WorldLeaders. This is your host, Herb
Cohen and we have a great letupof guests few and our show, including
(00:30):
Lisa Firestone, President of Sedgwick GovernmentSolutions, Dave Ennist, CEO of Origent,
Michelle Carfagna, founder and CEO ofthe Greater Need, and Susan Bueller,
chief Communications officer of PGM Interconnection.Let's get to know our first guest,
Lisa Firestone, President of SEDWI GovernmentSolutions. Lisa, what is Government
(00:51):
Solutions? What are you guys doing? Sedwick Government Solutions is the federal contracting
arm of Sedgwick, which is aleader provider of technology enabled risks ben have
been integrated business solutions. And howmany employees are there in the total company
and how many are on your team? There's thirty one thousand colleagues across Sedgwick
(01:11):
and we have approximately three hundred onthe federal team right now. And where
you from originally? How many brothersare sisters? And where are you in
the pecking order I'm from Maryland.There's two kids. I'm the youngest already
in eight to fourteen. What kindof stuff were you going through eight to
fourteen years old? Eight to fourteenwas a very kind of learning, tumultuous
stage for me. I was learninghow to kind of live in the world.
(01:38):
I mentioned you were trying to figureout wfe. What do you mean
you were trying to figure out wrife? What are you talking about? A
kind of a quiet kid in apretty rough neighborhood trying to make sense of
why things were happening to me?Ah, what kind of stuff you're talking
about? What do you mean?You know, finally get a pair of
shoes, they get stolen, youget then it was a rough place.
(02:02):
Let me ask you a question.The fact that you show your shoes got
stolen, you got beat up.What's that have to do with your managing
three hundred people? It's such withgovernment solutions. I think it has to
do it. My whole career inwording to understand people and why things happen,
not be angry. But why wouldsomebody do that? Do they need
(02:22):
that more than I do? Waita minute, I thought, if you're
the boss, do you tell peoplewhat to do. If they don't do
it, you fire them. Whatdo you mean you don't get angry?
Oh, I get angry. Butyou know, running a company is not
an individual sport. It's a teamsport. You're not going to get anywhere
if you can't work with the peoplefrom top, bottom, bottom up.
(02:46):
How young were you when you startedmaking money around fourteen fifteen? What were
you doing? I was a lifeguardtaught swimming lessons. So you were a
lifeguard and then you figured out youcan make some money teaching swimming lessons make
good money. What'd you do withthe money? I saved it. I
used it to buy things that Ineeded or wanted, but saved it.
(03:09):
You're pretty resourceful. As a kid, you didn't have a lot of extra
money you got You're pretty resourceful.What's that have to do with running this
business? I think everything that it'sit's you've got to work hard right from
top one. You do you dowhat you have to to be successful,
to make money, but not doit at the cost of individuals. Do
(03:31):
it doing the right thing? Lisa, are you more like your mom or
your dad? And which values andtrades do you take with you to work?
Every day. Okay, well that'skind of a difficult question. I'm
more like my mom. I reallydon't know my biological father, so I'd
say I'm more like my mom.And she was. She was tough.
(03:53):
She was a single parent when Iwas four years old, never worked,
and you know, I didn't appreciateit till later on in life to see
how hard she worked. And wedidn't want me realize we had nothing because
she didn't let us. Was it? What's the what's the upside of growing
up with nothing? I mean,I'm sure it was difficult back then,
(04:14):
growing up with a single mom.What's the upside? What's the benefit?
Nowadays? You learn you have toearn everything. Nothing's handy to you,
so you you earn it. It'sa work ethic. I see it in
my kids, I see it inmy employees. You don't take things for
granted. I get up every morningand I'm grateful for what's in front of
me, for what I have.Brian, could you give me a hand
(04:38):
getting to know Lisa? Yes?How did you figure out you want to
go on the healthcare industry in yourreal life? Guard? And then what
else did you do? I wasa candy striper. I wanted to go
into I wanted to be a doctor. I'm not sure exactly why, but
I wanted to. So I workedin a physical therapy office, went to
undergraduate school for physical therapy, wasready to go off to get ready for
(05:00):
medical school until I was told bymy guidance counselor that as a woman,
you would never have a family,never get married, too small, too
weak to be an orthopedic surgeon.So I basically said, then I'm going
to run the hospital and run theindustry. How did that make you do
what you said that? Obviously Ithink I was. I was angry,
(05:23):
I was disappointed. It made menot believe in myself and you just have
to keep going forward and find yourpassion. Well, how's that helping you?
How's that affecting your management style?Nowadays? I don't throw roadblocks in
people's way. You know, there'smany times I look back and what if
(05:45):
I had gone to medical school.But I think it's more important to help
people find their path and not forcethem down a path that they might not
be dol at. It's like tohave the right people on the bus,
but are they sitting in the rightseats? Isn't that what you do?
Isn't that what your business does foryour clients? Your patients. Absolutely,
(06:06):
we run into people probably in theworst day or during the worst time.
They've been injured, they lost theirhome, they were in an accident,
and it's our job to support themin getting what they need to find to
recover, to be productive, tomake sure that, you know, they
(06:26):
get the benefits they're entitled. So, yeah, you're leading a very successful
career. Is your mom is yourmom? Or was your mom aware of
the success you were beginning to enjoy. I think she was, you know,
she passed away, you know,several years ago. I think she
was very proud. You know,she got to come to my company,
in to my office, and Ican still hear her running down the halls,
(06:48):
you know, telling everybody, that'smy daughter, that's my daughter.
And why was she proud? Ithink she just spoke, you know,
she knows we had a rough start, and I think she just always wanted
us to do better. She's proud, so that that that issue about doing
(07:10):
better. What do you mean dobetter? What are you talking about?
He you know, she wanted us, she always said to being you know,
find a great relationship, but alwaysbe able to be independent. Don't
walk into somebody else's shadow. Dowhat you feel is right. And you
know I've been blessed with both.You've been blessed with both. What do
(07:32):
you mean. I have a greathusband, great family, and I looking
back because I'm kind of, youknow, nearing some changes, I can
say that I never walked in anyone's shadow. You know I had.
You know, there's this famous songby Whitney Houston. You have to learn
to depend on me, And Ithink once I got that confidence on the
(07:55):
accidental entrepreneur. I never thought i'drun a company, and I did it
because I psyched myself up and saidI can do this. You know.
So as opposed to losing faith inyourself and not having confidence to yourself because
of what and guidance counselor once saidto you, you're the opposite. Nowadays,
you really do have confidence in yourself, and in fact, you're trying
(08:16):
to do that for others. You'reyou're the master guidance counselor. If I'm
reading it correctly, I call myselfthe chief motivational officer. Definitely doubt the
chief motivational officer. But it sayson this piece of paper, you're the
president. What do you mean.I try to do what I can.
We spend the people around me,make them feel good, make them feel
(08:39):
wanted. I'll give you an example. Every single person under you know,
my umbrella, their birthday is recognized, their anniversary with the company is recognized
because their individuals that give a goodpart of their life to help others and
help this organizam whose idea was thatto recognize birthdays in verseries mine? Why
(09:01):
do you take the time to dothat because we're dealing with individuals. We're
dealing with humans to take the goodpart of their life out of their day
to help other people, to helpan organization. So it must have been
pretty paid. I mean, youknow, considering how sensitive and how empathetic
you are to your team, itmust have been pretty painful when you were
a kid. How do your sneakersstolen and getting beat up? You know,
(09:24):
considering how sensitive you are? AmI reading that correctly? Oh yeah,
it was, you know, Ithink it was more devastating, you
know, to just not not seethat that this isn't the way things need
to be. Me and my parentsfound a way out and moved us.
Hey, there was no safety.It sounds like you're providing safety for your
(09:46):
team. I hope, so,I hope it's a safe space. You
know you can't. You know you'reyou're never going to be able to help
everyone, and there are going tobe the time you've got to make hard
decisions and help people out of yourorganization. But you know, culture is
everything to me. When I soldmy company in September twenty twenty one,
(10:07):
I went to a company with similarvalues and tlpore what's the website address for
this organization? And as Sedate GovernmentSolutions Sedate Government Solutions dot com. We've
been speaking with Lisa Firestone, presidentat Sederate Government Solutions here on Executive Leaders
Radio or Real World Leaders. Don'twe get to visit our websites Executive Leaders
Radio dot com and Real World Leadersdot org. Executive Leaders Radio dot com
(10:31):
and Real World Leaders dot org tolearn more about our executive leaders. Stick
around. We be back in amoment right after this quick break. This
is herbco. When you're hosted ExecutiveLeaders Radio dot com. Regarding your career,
if you're trying to figure out howto make the most money and also
enjoy your career. That's enjoy yourcareer, I mean really enjoy your career
(10:54):
and make the most money. Youought to talk to our CEOs. They've
got the bird's eye view of wherethe really profitable jobs are, where the
really profitable jobs are going to be, and they're willing to speak with you
regarding their vision for the future andwhere you may fit into it. In
order to make the most money andreally enjoy your career. Email us consult
(11:18):
at Executive Leaders Radio dot com.That's consult at Executive Leaders Radio dot com
to get help from our CEOs regardingwhere you may want to go in your
career to make the most money andreally enjoy your career. Consult at Executive
Leaders Radio dot com. We're back. You're listening to Executive Leaders Radio this
(11:54):
year host Term Cohen with my cohost I Lead and Brian and let's get
to know Dave Nis see of Origin. Dave, what is Origin? What
are you guys doing? Origin DataSciences makes predictions for patients and we use
those predictions to improve clinical trials,mainly for als Luke Garrett's disease. Cool
(12:15):
were from originally how many brothers andsisters and where are you in the packing
order. I was born in Venezuelaand number four of six, got two
brothers, two sisters. And soyou mentioned that you came from Venezuela to
New Jersey when you were about five. When we were talking in the green
room, and you remember that youwere bored and one day you got suspended
(12:39):
and you were sitting in the principal'soffice and it was a big it was
a pivot in your life. Whathappened in that principal's office. Yeah,
I kind of sat there for threedays wondering why I'm sitting in the principal's
office, and realized I was bored. And so with that, I decided
that I would start going to summerschool and pick up the classes that I
(13:00):
was missing and so I could getin the more advanced classes. So what
did you begin to study and whatbegan happening. Yeah, it was that
summer. I had a really goodteacher. It was a really good summer
school teacher, which is I thinkdifferent than a regular school teacher. And
I really got into math and science. Math and science. And you mentioned
(13:22):
that you'd like soccer is a kid, what was your role in the soccer
team. Yeah, I played defenseand I was made captain, and I
think, really it's about team.I think that's why I was made captain
because I saw that, Okay,we got to put this team together with
this a bunch of guys from town. So what's this math and science being
(13:43):
captured of the soccer team have todo with your role as CEO of war
Jen. It's about leading a teamand realizing that, yeah, I've got
the privilege of leading this team,but really everybody else's is contributing to this
and I've got to let them dowhat they do best. M Ale,
(14:05):
How young were you when you startedmaking money and what did you do different
than the other kids. Yeah,I was fifteen when I started working at
a burger joint. I ended upflipping burgers. I think what was different
was I saved the money, whichwasn't much. It was a dollar seventy
five an hour, and they keptsix cents an hour because they figured me
(14:26):
would eat six cents worth of foodat every hour, which is crazy.
But yeah, no, I savedit, and I was saving that to
get to college. M what's that? What's that saving money have to do
with the way you run this business? Yeah, I gotta watch the pennies.
I gotta keep track of that.I got to look forward to,
(14:48):
well, where are we going tobe at the end of the year.
And I got to make sure Ican pay everybody's salary and keep the company
going and keep it growing. Andit's all about how much money comes in
and how which goes out. Whichis learned as a kid working at the
burger joint. Brian, can youget me are getting in the days?
What are your hobbies now? Yeah? Mostly I do birding and I also
(15:13):
work in our garden. I reallygrow flowers. You like to grow flowers,
watch them grow? I mean,how does that How does it equate
to your job today? Yeah,it's fun watching something grow at all.
In spring there's nothing but the garden'sempty, and this time of year there's
like it's just loaded with flowers.And that's what it is. It's making
(15:35):
that. Is that related to yourbusiness or related to your employees? Yeah,
no, it speaks right to it. And also it's a way of
totally relaxing for the business. Butyou know, really it's the same making
stuff grow. You mentioned that youhad a vision once about using computers in
biology. What was that all about. Yeah, so I saw that.
(15:58):
You know, I kind of grewup in the time of DNA and all
that and keeping track of all that, and I realized that the way to
do that is through computers, andthat eventually led big data and big databases
led to where I am now reallyanalyzing patients data and trying to figure out
(16:18):
how bad their disease is going tobe in a year. So you're living
the business is fundamentally focused on usingcomputers in biology and are there are limited
opportunities here or there are a lotof opportunities, a lot of opportunities.
(16:38):
Basically, every disease has problems indrug development and that's what we approach with
data. Tell me more about that. Yeah, So we take a bunch
of data and where previously people weren'table to kind of figure out where how
bad patients disease would be in ayear, where we can do a pretty
(16:59):
good job of that. And thatreally helps find the right patients for a
clinical trial that to really show whethera drug works. And the whole thing
that we're our mission is to improvedrug development so that we can get those
drugs out to patients whose idea wasthis this really started from a guy who
(17:22):
had ALS started a nonprofit and heput out this, uh, this contest
to develop this disease progression algorithm forals uh and uh we joined it and
won the contest, and then theidea of the business stemmed from that.
Yeah. So the former CEO,he started getting calls from a drug companies
(17:47):
wanting to use the model, andhe realized, hey, there's a company
here, and so so we starteda company. And the where the venture
capital come from the start this business. Actually, we've got a group of
physicians who got us started, andsince then we've worked on a lot of
government grants and also client We workwith some of the major biotechs. And
(18:10):
I guess one of the advantages ofbeing the CEO is you get to go
in at ten or eleven o'clock andleave at three or four and a half
a long lunches, right, yeah, right, yeah, Now get starts
in the middle of the night.I have an idea, I lean over
in my pad and I write itdown, so that first thing in the
morning I get right to work onit. So you've a pad of paper
next year back because you don't wantto forget the ideas that you're thinking about
(18:33):
huh exactly. And don't forget thepen either. It's the paper on Oh
excuse me, peoper and pen.And you mentioned that when you were a
kid, you went to work atthat burger joint and you and your girlfriend
decided that you were going to gomake money. So you really enjoy close
relationships. Yeah, it really isabout relationships. I probably don't have a
(18:55):
lot of relationships. But the relationshipsI have are clothes. So whatever happened
to that girlfriend, A married her. Uh, we're still we're married fifty
years later. Wow, you areabout relationships. So what's this relationship thing
I have to do with business?Yeah? So that's what you have to
let everybody who works with you growinto what they can become, what they
(19:22):
want to do. Uh. Andand my job is to find and make
the match with what we need inthe company to make to find people that
want to do that, uh andthen literally let them do that. And
I kind of step aside, uhand let let people figure out that,
hey, you know, this iswhat the company needs and this is what
(19:45):
I want to do. Uh.And that's uh, it's really a lot
of fun seeing individuals grow like thatinto money. I can understand how you're
you know, you're bringing computers tobiology. On the other hand, it
sounds like, you know, you'regirlfriend really had a major effect on your
life when your business career, becauseyou're all about the people's side of it
as well. Am I seeing thatright? She absolutely? She absolutely has.
(20:08):
Yes, what's this? Do youhave any kids? Two kids,
boy and girl. What's a similaritybetween being a CEO and being a dad?
Oh yeah, it's yeah, it'sthe same thing, letting them grow
into who they who they want tobecome. Our daughter is a kindergarten teacher
and our son is a scientist.So when you so when you bring people
(20:29):
onto the team, you're really tryingto figure out who they are and you
want them to play to their strengths. It sounds like as opposed to trying
to force them to do stuff.Huh. Yeah. Absolutely. And in
a small company like ours, everybodybasically has to do everything. It has
to be prepared to do everything,and so it's all about being transparent in
what the company is doing. Andthen everybody just jumps in and sayd hey,
(20:52):
I can do that, I cando that. And so you're you're
really enjoying the business side of theof the business, it sounds like,
as well as the science side.Yeah. Yeah, I still think of
myself as mainly a scientist, butyeah, I'm a scientist who runs a
business. You're a scientist who runsa business, and it sounds like you're
(21:15):
running it. Sounds like you're prettyobsessed with it, if you're writing notes
to yourself to three in the morning. Yeah, but it sounds like you
have a long term relationship with yourwife says she sort of knew who she
married. What's the what's the websiteaddressed for this organization known as Origin.
It's Origin dot com. How doyou spell that? Or I g e
nt dot com. We've been speakingwith Dave Nis, CEO of Origin here
(21:37):
on Executive Leaders Radio or Real WorldLeaders. Don't forget to visit our websites
Executive Leaders Radio dot com. It'sExecutive Leaders Radio dot com and Real World
Leaders dot org. Real World Leadersdot org to learn more about our executive
leaders. Stick around and dot ina moment was right after this quick break,
(22:07):
we're back. You're listening to ExecutiveLeaders Radio. Real World Leaders.
Is your host her Cohen. Let'sget to know Michelle Carfagno, the founder
and CEO of the Greater Need.Michelle, what is the Greater Need?
What are you guys doing? TheGreater Need is an allergen free baked goods
company. We sell nationwide and directedconsumer bagels and soft pretzels that are free
(22:30):
from the top nine allergens. Allrighty? Where you're from originally? How
many brothers and sisters? And whereare you in the pecking order? I'm
from Bucks County and I am thesecond oldest of three girls and one boy.
All righty, So Bucks County isa suburb of Philadelphia for those and
other parts of the country, You'rethe second of four and eight to fourteen.
What's that list look like of stuffyou were doing as a kid?
(22:53):
I was working at a T shirtshop, I was baking as a hobby,
and I was doing competitive cheerleading.So how young were you when you
got involved with baking and how didyou get involved with baking? I was
ten years old and I was bakinga lot with my aunt. We were
making birthday cakes for everybody's birthday.And then I also got sick with tonsilitis
(23:18):
for a little while, and Istarted baking as a hobby to keep myself
busy. So what's all that stuffhave to do with your role as founder
and CEO of the Greater Need.It really fueled my passion for what I
do. I was able to createa hobby something I love and turn it
into a business. I see.And you mentioned that you were working folding
(23:41):
T shirts. How'd you get thatjob and what did you think about that
job? It was a friend ofmy mom's and it was the first job
that I could get being that Iwas only thirteen. I really liked it,
especially getting my first paycheck and havingmy own independence. So what's what's
getting your first paycheck having that independencehave to do with your role as father
(24:03):
and CEO of the Greater Need.It's really helped me and shape me become
a leader of my company and havethat independence to have my own company.
And you mentioned you were involved withcheerleading. How's cheerleading affecting you nowadays?
What's cheerleading all about? It's competitivecheerleading, So definitely taught me how to
compete, be my best, andput the work in to be the best
(24:26):
of what you do. Well,there's some real connections from who your were
to who you is I mean,give me him please, Michelle. You
mentioned that you had tonsillitis and soyou were at home from school. How
did that impact you academically and howdid you get through any of those challenges.
I had to work hard to staycaught up with my school work,
(24:48):
but I was able to do thatin focus, and then in my free
time, I watched the Food Network, which was another inspiration that got me
baking, and I begged my parentsto give me baking mix so that I
could start making stuff at home.So the fact that this sells me like
your tonsils actually helps you further launchthis business. Am I reading that correctly?
(25:10):
Yeah? Alrighty, that is pleasegive me a here. Hey,
Michell, So I know you havea ton of products, So what is
your favorite product at the current month? So it used to be the Everything
bagel, but we launched ourself pretzelsabout a year ago and they're just such
a great snack, So that's mynew favorite. How'd you come up with
these products? How'd you come upwith the ideas for these products? In
(25:33):
twenty twelve of my sister my grandfatherwere diagnosed with stealeiac disease, which is
an allergy to gluten, and that'swhat got me excited about creating products for
people with food allergies. But couldn'tyou just go to the store and buy
stuff for him? Yeah? ButI've always wanted to start a business for
as long as I can remember,and so knowing that it could be in
food, once I got that inspiration, there was nothing stopping me. Well,
(26:00):
question you got for Michelle? Whatdo you think in Silas? Alrighty
and Michelle, of you have otherproducts of mind? You have other ideas
in mind for the business we do. Yeah, we're constantly working on new
ideas, probably something for like alunch or dinner time occasion. Since we
(26:21):
have a breakfast product, a snackproduct, that'll probably be something we do
next. So are you constantly thinkingabout new ideas for this business? I
am. That's what keeps me excitedbecause that's what I loved about the business
was the idea of creating and bakingnew recipes. So I kind of have
to do that for myself to stayexcited about what I'm doing. So you
really enjoy you really enjoy your business. It's a creative outlet for you.
(26:45):
Yeah, definitely, Silas. Areyou still there? There? We go
how't well, how you been doingyour job for I've been doing this for
eleven years and the mirror your termwe'll question you have for Michelle. Is
there any stores that your product isnot indvidual like it to be in.
(27:07):
Yeah, we just want to reallylaunch nationwide with Whole Foods. We're in
the mid Atlantic, so that's oneof our goals. Our dream retailers is
definitely a Whole Foods nationwide. Meyour term book question do you have for
Michelle? If you had to pickone of your items, what is your
least favorite item? So we dobagel chips just online, which I didn't
(27:29):
really talk much about because it's myleast favorite item. They proved to be
a lot harder to manufacturer than weoriginally thought. M So you really have
to make sure that when you're bakingthese goods that they taste good for a
period of time you're able to shipthem. There's a lot involved with this.
It's not just baking, is it. Yeah, definitely. There's a
(27:51):
lot of science that goes into it. A lot of science. Interesting,
I lean, what's your next questionfor Michelle? Till you mentioned that you'd
loved and competitive cheer, what lessonsdid you have being a competitive cheerleader that
you apply to who you are asa CEO of your company today. Yeah,
I think the leadership skills, youknow, being like in the front
(28:11):
row with like all of my dances, I always had people looking at me
and leading others. We had youngergirls on a team too, so coaching
them that's helped me be a coachto my employees. And then also that
competitive side, like knowing that youmay not always win, but if you
put the work in and you bringyour best that you can, you know
you're going to make it to thenext competition and get to try again.
(28:34):
Jet us, what's your next questionfor Michelle? So how big is your
company and are we where is locatedand where we are we looking to expand?
Yeah, so we have ten employees. We're located in Ben Salem,
Pennsylvania, right outside of Philadelphia.That's where we do all of our manufacturing.
And yes, we're trying to expandnationwide with more retailers. We do
(28:56):
have like Sprouts, wegments upright,and a lot of other like smaller independent
stores, but always looking to expandour footprint to get it to more people
who need our products. Sols.Do you have another question for Michelle?
Alrighty, Michelle, how high isup? I mean how far? How
(29:18):
would you see a limit to thegrowth of this business? No, I
really don't. I think that wehave so much potential, not only because
of the industry that we're in andthe growing need for things that are allergen
free, but also because of meand my team's persistence, and you know,
we know that we'll constantly keep innovating. So if there's a new product
(29:40):
that makes more sense, like justthe sky's the limit for what we can
do as long as we continue topush forward. So you have a lot
of product ideas, and it soundsto me like you're going to be releasing
these ideas, introducing these ideas slow, but sure, How do you know
if it's a good idea or abad idea? We tested on our website.
We do out of surveys with ourconsumers, and we take our time
(30:02):
because it can be very expensive tomake the wrong decision and launch that in
retail, So we take our time. That's why we only really have these
two core products over eleven years.But we're constantly thinking of the next thing
and testing it behind the scenes.And what's the advantage of having a direct
relationship with your clients, with yourcustomers over the web, what's the benefit
(30:23):
there. Yeah, the reason thatwe do that is so that we know
who they are, we can communicatewith them, We can learn what they
like, what they don't like,what all their pain points are, so
we can really create products that aretruly made for them. So you get
your ideas from your customers. Yeah, we did a survey about what product
(30:44):
they missed the most back in twentytwenty one, and that's when we came
up with the self pretzel because thatwas one of the number one things that
people said that they were missing.So, on one hand, you actually
ask your customers what they like,what they think, and do you ever
bounce your ideas off of them.So we gave them like a list because
I had a hunch that pretzels weresomething that was missed in the market.
(31:04):
So we made a list of pretzels, donuts, buns, pizza crust,
you know, all those things thatwe kind of saw an opportunity for and
we let them pick the one thatthey missed the most. See, you
listen to your customers. How didyou learn that? How'd you figured that
out. I think just wanting tobe authentic and like really truly make something
(31:27):
that was for them, because Istarted it for my sister and my grandfather,
so I wanted to always be listeningto them. They're the ones with
the food allergies. I did nothave a food allergy. I found out
now that I'm lacto us intolerant,but at that point I didn't know that,
and I think listening to what theywanted was a big part of what
created the brand. So do youhave any mentors who helps you? Yes,
(31:53):
I do have mentors. My fatherwas a business owner and so he
was a big mentor for me whenhe was alive. And then my best
friend's father growing up is still amentor for me. He has a trucking
company. And then I have abusiness coach as well, and I have
a board. And what's the websiteaddressed for the Greater Need? It is
(32:15):
the Greater Need spelled knead dot com. We would speak with Michelle Carfagna,
founder and CEO of the Greater Needhere on Executive Leaders Radio and Real World
Leaders are going to visit our website. Executive Leaders Radio dot com and Reward
Leaders dot org to learn more aboutour executive leaders would be back in a
moment. Ramps this quick brain coand your Executive Leader radio host and the
(32:37):
CEOs we've interviewed on this show.We're interested in helping you get your business
started and helping you grow your business. Whether you're aware of the issues or
whether you want the CEOs to giveyour hand identifying the issues in getting your
business started and or in growing yourbusiness, why don't email us at consult
(33:04):
at Executive Leaders Radio dot com.That's consult at Executive Leaders Radio dot com.
Whether you're interested in having our CEOsspeak with you regarding getting your business
started or growing your business, sendus an email at consult at Executive Leaders
(33:24):
Radio dot com and we'll be sureto get back to you shortly with some
help. We're back. You're listeningto Executive Leaders Radio, Real World Leaders.
(33:51):
It's your host, Herb Goen liketo introduce Susan Bueller, who is
the chief Communications Officer of PJM Interconnection. Susan, what is PJM Interconnect.
What are you guys doing? Wherewe are the electricity grid? Herb for
sixty five million consumers from Chicago toNew York and all the way down to
North Carolina we operate the flow ofelectricity. Were you from originally? How
(34:14):
many brothers and sisters? And whereare you in the pecking order? Well,
I think I have a lot incommon with Michelle. I grew up
in Bucks County. I'm the youngestof three girls. All right in Bucks
County is a suburb of Philadelphia andeight to fourteen. What kind of stuff
are you up to? What's thatlist look like? Well, I definitely
took piano lessons, I was involvedin music. I was really involved in
(34:37):
softball. I did some cheerleading,and I was also on the swim team
in the green room. When wewere talking, you mentioned that you felt
like you were a tomboy. Howdo how'd that come about? You know,
in my younger years, I wasvery athletic. I was playing in
the neighborhood with a lot of neighborhoodkids. You know, that was when
(34:58):
you stayed outside all and played sports. And I did a lot of kickball
and softball and athletic things. Buton the softball team, what was the
role? What position did you playand why did that position suit your personality?
Yeah, I was a first baseman. I love to catch, and
I was also the fourth hitter onthe team, and so I loved being
(35:21):
a cleanup hitter a lot of pressure. I loved scoring runs, and I
just liked that role being, youknow, a hitter. So what's I
have to do with your role?Is the chief communications officer at PJM Interconnection
that serves sixty five million electrical customers. Sometimes I feel like I'm a cleanup
(35:42):
hitter at work too. I think, you know, you need to be
a leader, you need to becollaborative. We work a lot on the
important messaging about what we do andhow we do it, and so the
role is similar to that of somebodywho plays on a softball team. So
piano, what did you learn frompiano? Has anything to do with your
role nowadays? What's a connection there? I loved piano and I was a
(36:06):
singer for a very very long time. I think there's a lot of collaboration
and brain work and practice. Youpractice a lot over and over and over,
and we do that at PGM aswe practice how we talk about the
electricity grid and how we translate thatmessage to consumers. Interesting, my lean,
(36:28):
Could you give me a hand please? Yeah, Susan it sounds like
you did a lot of different thingswhile you're growing up. How did you
learn to manage your time as achild and how does that apply to who
you are as a director of communications. You know, it's funny. I
often say the more time you have, the more time it takes you to
get something done. So I liketo be busy. I like a busy
(36:51):
schedule. I think I get moredone. I'm more organized. And that's
what my day is like every day. It's tightly scheduled and very organized.
That is what question you got forSusan. As communicatings officer, you know,
how do you get across to allthe different sections in your company and
how do you you know, drawthat line of communications. We work really
(37:14):
hard on messaging and creating, youknow, throughout each and every department.
If there's an issue or something weneed to talk about, when work hard
on creating the narrative and the messagingand then making sure that we're answering the
questions that people have about us.So let you have a question for Susan.
(37:34):
What did you do for your lifetime? Yeah? What do you do
aside from working? Susan? Yeah, so I still am very active in
music, but for the most part, I have become addicted to pickleball.
I love pickleball. I think it'sa great workout. It's fun to play,
you know, mixed doubles or withladies groups. So I played pickleball
(37:57):
that four or five times a week. Lamier your turn? What question you
got for Susan? There's any ofa business idea? Would start another business?
Well, that's a really great question. I don't think I'm in the
market right now to start another business, but I could do a consultancy for
(38:19):
communications and kind of teach people.Media training and presentation training would be something
that I think I'd be pretty goodat and I could certainly do that.
Emilia, your turn. What questionyou got for Susan? What is your
ly's favorite thing to do on yourwork day? Well, when I have
back to back meetings all day long, it's difficult to actually get the work
(38:40):
done, so I try not todo that. I try to have space
along the way so I can getsome work done and I'm not working all
evening Answering emails, Ellie, whatdo you guys? Yes, so you
had some Can you tell us howyou work through challenges from when you were
a kid and how you work throughchallenges in your in your current role.
(39:06):
Well, there are always challenges nomatter what, whether it's your life or
your personal work. For sure,I think staying organized, staying focused,
remembering who you are, where youcame from, and what you're good at,
and just working through each and everychallenge. It sounds me like you
really enjoy working as part of ateam. When you were talking when we
(39:29):
were talking in the green room,you mentioned there were a lot of kids
in the neighborhood and you really enjoyedhanging out with the kids in the neighborhood.
It sounds the same thing goes ona work where you really enjoy the
camaraderie. Am I am I pickingthat up correctly. I do. I
do enjoy understanding diversity of thoughts.I like leading a team and understanding,
(39:52):
you know, different perspectives on issuesand then bringing everybody together to make a
decision on how to move forward.So you're all about understanding the individuals,
yet you're comfortable making a decision andorganizing everybody. I am, and I
really think we get to a betterplace after we've heard everybody's individual feelings or
(40:14):
thoughts about a particular issue when youwhen you were a kid, were you
organizing all the other kids in theneighborhood. I am a bit of an
organizer, as if you can't tell, but I did organize games and you
know, softball games and places tomeet in, places to play. I
did, do you have Dennis?All right? Everything? You stole a
(40:35):
little bit of my question, butit was more do you think you know,
did you pick yourself as getting intocommunications and do you think that the
sports was a big part of howyou kind of got in and and kind
of kind of made up for whatyou do now? Yeah, I think
you've up keyed on a couple ofthings. I'm definitely extroverted. My original
(40:59):
thought was I was going to bein music. I was going to be
a singer or a music teacher.But my parents convinced me that it was
going to be difficult to make agood living doing that. Teachers make a
good living, but not if you'rea singer and you don't really make it.
So I took a media and reportingclass, and I really loved communications,
and my first my first job wasactually in television news, and then
(41:21):
I became a communications specialist. Sothis job that you have as Chief Communications
Officer with PJM Interconnection. Did youstart in that role and how long have
you been with PJM Interconnection. Yeah, no, her, I have only
(41:42):
been at PGM about seven years.My first career was in television news and
so I did a lot of reporting, reporting and anchoring, and then I
moved into communications consulting at an advertisingand public relations firm for a while.
It was after that that I cameto PGM. So because you've had the
(42:02):
experience with the anchoring and then workingfor an agency, you've seen it all.
So if PGM Interconnection, you've gota broad background in terms of communications
to really help the company communicate.Yeah. I think that's what's really been
helpful is that from the media experience, I was able to translate that and
(42:25):
understand what media and what consumers mightwant to know, and so it's easy
for me to or easier for meto come up with the communication strategies and
messaging. So because you've had theexperience, you have the insight to understand
what to do and how to doit. I guess if you're dealing with
sixty five million customers, there's awhole message communication that's going on back and
(42:51):
forth all the time. Are youinvolved with that flow of information. Yeah.
We developed the messaging on how weoperate the electric grid, how we
run a fifty billion dollar market atPJM, how we're planning for the grid
of the future and figuring out electrificationand things like that. A lot of
communication, so it's not just amatter of communicating. You know, this
(43:15):
is your bill and you know thisis but it's also communicating about alternative energy.
It's about communicating the future of theorganization. You've got a lot of
constituents, don't you. Yeah,we communicate on how we operate through say
win or storm Elliott. You know, how we were able to keep the
lights on when other parts of thecountry we're in difficulty, how we're going
(43:39):
to move renewables onto our system,wind and solar, and everybody wants to
talk about renewable energy. So there'sa lot of messaging going on. The
ebisite address for PJM Interconnection is PGIMdot com. PGM dot com. We've
been speaking with Susan Bueller, chiefCommunications officer of PGM Interconnection. This is
(44:00):
your host, Hard Cohen, andtoday we've had the opportunity of speaking with
and getting to know Lisa Firestone,President of Suguate Government Solutions, Dave Venice,
CEO of Origent, Michelle Carfagno,founder and CEO of the Greater Need
In Susan Bueller, Chief Communications Officerof PGM Interconnection. Don't forget to visit
our websites Executive Leaders Radio dot com. That's Executive Leaders Radio dot com and
(44:22):
Real World Leaders dot org Real WorldLeaders dot org to learn more about our
executive leaders. Thank you for joiningus today and have a nice day. Bye bye
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