Episode 276: David Dennis, CEO, Eckerd Connects, Gameness: Land on your Feet, not on your feelings.

This week, we interviewed David Dennis. David is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Eckerd Connects, one of the nation’s largest nonprofits providing workforce development, Job Corps, juvenile justice, and child welfare services across the country. We talked about his book Gameness: Land on your Feet, not on your feelings. He has earned certifications as a licensed professional counselor, marriage and family therapist, and childcare administrator. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma Baptist University and a master’s degree in marriage and family counseling from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his wife Becky live in Clearwater, Florida. They have five grown children.

This week, we interviewed Lori Chmura, the Chief Executive Officer and Board Director at Nyra Medical, an innovative medical device company developing a next-generation transcatheter mitral valve repair technology. Before joining Nyra Medical, she served as Chief Executive Officer, and Board Director at Soundbite Medical Solutions and Dune Medical Devices, where she led the restructuring of both businesses resulting in a cross-border licensing deal at one company, and an acquisition of the other. In addition, Lori brings leadership experience in several large multi-national medical device companies, including positions with Medtronic, Covidien and Johnson and Johnson, where she led the growth of the businesses in the United States and globally. Lori previously served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors at Bluestem Medical. She has also served on the Board of Directors, Audit Committee and Deal Team at OpSens Medical (TSX- OPS), which was acquired by Haemonetics (NYSE-HAE) in 2023, and on the Board of Standard Molecular. Ms. Chmura holds an MBA from Duke University and received her Bachelor of Science in nursing from Southern Connecticut State University.

This week, we interviewed Laura Stoltenberg. Laura is the President and Chief Executive Officer at Cryosa. Laura brings nearly three decades of experience in strategy, business development, and global general management. She has a passion for developing and commercializing novel products to improve the standard of care. Most recently, Laura was Sector Chief Executive at Halma PLC, responsible for $1B in revenue. While at Medtronic, she served as Vice President and General Manager at Medtronic Diabetes and built a new business focused on Type 2 patients. Laura served as Chief Commercial Officer at Exact Sciences Corporation, where she was responsible for developing the global commercial strategy prior to FDA approval. Earlier in her career, she held escalating commercial and leadership roles at General Electric, including leading GE Healthcare’s global bone densitometry business and completing a number of acquisitions. Laura earned an MBA at Columbia Business School and bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering and management at Bucknell University.

This week, we interviewed Chuck Brynelsen. Chuck is currently the Chair of the Board of Directors at Envoy Medical; he serves on the board of Alebra Technologies and is a Venture Partner at SpringRock Ventures. Previously, Chuck served as a Senior Vice President of Abbot Vascular; Chuck Brynelsen led an organization focused on reducing cardiovascular disease's global impact. Chuck was previously the Global President of Early Technologies for Medtronic and President of Early Technologies for Covidien. Chuck has also spent seven years as CEO of Intrapace, a start-up medical device company treating obesity. Before Intrapace, Check spent 24 years at Medtronic in various regional, business unit, and corporate leadership roles. The company went from a $250 million pacemaker company to a diversified medical technology enterprise with over $10 billion in revenues.

This week, we interviewed John Hironimus. John is the CEO of Origami Surgical, an accomplished medical device executive with a track record of successfully commercializing novel medical devices. He has focused on scaling new technologies and applications to benefit patients, clinicians, and providers. His 25 years of experience span numerous areas of healthcare. An entrepreneur at heart, his passion is building world-class teams who relentlessly focus on improving patient care.   John began his career with United States Surgical Corporation, helping surgeons provide advanced procedures to their patients. He then built the domestic and international commercial team for Salient Surgical Technologies, culminating in a successful acquisition by Medtronic in 2011. Under his leadership, the business grew from $40M in revenue to over $350M. John has most recently led commercial teams at Outset Medical and Dilon Technologies.    John graduated from Indiana University, earning a Public Financial Management degree.

This week, we revisit our interview with Keith Grossman. He currently serves as Chairman of Nevro Corp. (NVRO), Vice-Chairman of Alcon, Inc. (ALC), and Lead Director of Outset Medical, Inc. (OM). Previously, Keith was the CEO and President of Nevro. Keith has over 40 years of experience in the medical device field. He served most recently, and for the second time, as the President, Chief Executive Officer, and director of Thoratec Corporation, leading up to its 2015 sale to St. Jude Medical.   Before Thoratec, he served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and director of Conceptus, a women’s health medical device company, leading up to its sale to Bayer Healthcare. Before Conceptus, Keith served as managing director of TPG (Texas Pacific Group), a private equity firm, and was a member of its healthcare investment team. Prior to TPG, Keith served as Thoratec’s President, Chief Executive Officer, and director for the first ten years of its growth as a commercial company.  Keith was chronicled in the book “Executive Intelligence: What All Great Leaders Have”, was named among the “Business Leaders to Watch” and the “40 Under 40” lists in the Bay Area and was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by his Medical Device CEO peers. Keith received a B.S. in life sciences from The Ohio State University and an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University.

This week, we welcome back Chuck Bolton. Chuck is a six-time bestselling author and executive coach to CEO's. As founder of The Bolton Group LLC, he provides leadership coaching and consulting in the medtech and healthtech sectors. We discuss Chuck's new book The CEO's AI Playbook and how a leader can lead with vision and purpose in the age of AI.He addresses how to build an AI-ready culture that puts humans first. Through The Reinvention Solution LLC, Chuck delivers Gen AI education and consulting to B2B clients. His acclaimed Gen Ai for CEOs and Gen Ai for Boards crash courses are essential learning for senior executives and board members seeking to create value through AI.

This week, we revisit our interview with Kara Goldin, the Founder of Hint, Inc., best known for its award-winning Hint® water, the leading unsweetened flavored water, and the author of Undaunted.   Kara has been named among Fortune's Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs and Forbes' 40 Women to Watch Over 40. She is an active speaker & writer and hosts the podcast The Kara Goldin Show, where she interviews founders, entrepreneurs, and other disruptors across various industries. She lives in the Bay Area.   Follow Kara on all social handles @KaraGoldin  

This week we revisit our interview with Michael Bungay Stanier. Michael is the author of six books and is best known for The Coaching Habit, the best-selling coaching book of the century with over a million copies sold and already recognized as a classic. We discuss Michael’s brand-new book, How To Begin. Michael was a Rhodes Scholar and plays the ukulele badly. He’s Australian and lives in Toronto, Canada. Learn more at www.MBS.works.

This week, we revisit our interview with Aidan Kehoe. Aidan is currently the Founder and Managing Partner of Nadia Partners. Previously, he was the founder and CEO of SKOUT Cybersecurity (Acquired by Barracuda Networks). Mr. Kehoe was actively involved in all aspects of the firm's development and expansion since its launch in 2014. Prior to Skout, Aidan founded several other enterprises, including Oxford Global, a global risk management company, which was acquired by Willis Towers Watson in 2013. He also has many years of experience working in an investment capacity with an institutionally sized private family office investing in both private and public investment vehicles. Aidan is the chairman of the U.S. Leaders Council of Cordaid, serving the most vulnerable people in the most fragile places in the world. He also serves on the board of Autism Speaks. Originally from Ireland, he has served as a board member to both public and private equity-backed companies throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. He has extensive experience in leading and building teams who tackle the hardest problems.