Driven By with Sam Coates

U.S. Attorney Mike Dunavant first came on Driven By in 2020. He was the 50th U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee then, and he’s back in the office now as the 54th.We sat down at his office downtown one year into the Memphis Safe Task Force. It’s a surge of 31 federal, state and local agencies, and it has made more than 13,000 arrests, with over 500 federal cases out of his office. He says violent crime in Memphis is down 42 percent, and childhood gunshot wounds treated at Le Bonheur are down 38 percent.We talk about how he’s running the office differently the second time, how he answers his critics and what it will take to keep the results going after the surge. He also talks about losing his wife Jackie in 2008, and how that experience shapes the way he does the job. He calls it “love in the negative.”In this episode:What changed between his first and second time as U.S. AttorneyHow the Memphis Safe Task Force works and what makes it different from Operation LegendFederal vs. state prosecution, and why he takes some cases from state courtPublic perception vs. the numbersUrban and rural crime in West Tennessee, including child exploitation casesLosing Jackie, and having sat in every seat in the courtroomHis advice to young lawyersWhy Memphis can be the next “it city”

Mark Halperin started at Boyle Investment Company in February 1973, making $600 a month. Fifty-three years later, he’s still there, now as EVP and COO.Boyle took 93 years to build about 4 million square feet in Memphis. In Nashville, they’ve done it in 25, sometimes at close to double the rent. Mark explains why, and what he thinks has held Memphis back.We get into:The COVID deal Boyle almost walked away from in March 2020Why Boyle’s success came from “the deals we didn’t do”The half-million-dollar check Boyle sent a tenant who never would have knownMemphis vs. Nashville: rents, taxes, leadership, and growthWhy Mark sees data centers as a potential “silver bullet” for Memphis, and what he asked after his tax consultants ran the numbers on oneGrowing up at MUS, meeting his mentor Henry Morgan, and the dove hunt that led to a job offerA heart attack at 39 in New York, and the tenant who sent his plane to fly him homeSaving, showing up, and why you should call people instead of emailing themThis is a conversation about doing what you say, keeping it simple, and showing up.Driven By is sponsored by AB Jets: abjets.com | 888-520-JETSMore at drivenbysamcoates.com

Retired Marine Sergeant Major and Navy Cross recipient JD LeHew returns for his third conversationon Driven By, five years after his first two. JD leads History Flight, the nonprofit that searches for,recovers, and identifies America's missing service members; more than 81,000 are still unaccountedfor since World War II.In 2022, JD asked a post office clerk why the POW/MIA flag wasn't flying. That five-minuteconversation led him to walk 3,365 miles from the deck of the USS Constitution in Boston to Newport,Oregon. We talk about what he found on that road, from a farm family's midnight harvest in theMidwest to a woman in Fredericksburg who said she had no connection to the military. We also getinto his 10-step rule for knowing when to leave the Marine Corps, why he chose to leave on one of hisbest days, and the Fred Smith deal where missing his fundraising targets turned into a bigger check.

Welcome back to the Driven By podcast. Today I'm sitting down with Dr. Sally Gates Parish, Vice Provost and Director of Schools at the University of Memphis. Sally runs University Schools — Tennessee's first Innovative School District. No entrance exam. Lottery-based admission. Kids from all 36 zip codes in Memphis. And the results are four times better than the district average — 87% reading proficiency versus 24% across Memphis Shelby County Schools. Same city, same population, different outcomes. Sally is a first-generation college graduate who grew up country poor in a log cabin in middle Tennessee with well water and a single parent household. She came to the University of Memphis on an academic scholarship, waited tables to pay for everything else, and now runs a school district serving 1,300 kids with 1,500 more on the waiting list. We cover how she accidentally became a superintendent, what it took to build a school district from scratch inside a university, and why the results keep speaking for themselves. Thanks for listening. Let's get to it.

Most people think nonprofits survive on grants and goodwill.Roshun Austin thinks that's the wrong mindset.As president and CEO of The Works, Inc., she's spent the last 14 years building one of Memphis' most impactful community development organizations by treating it like a business. Today, The Works has grown from fewer than five employees and a $2 million budget to more than 30 employees, a $10 million operating budget and major development projects transforming neighborhoods across Memphis.Her philosophy is simple:"We're a corporation, and corporations don't go in to lose money."In this episode of Driven By, Roshun shares how growing up in poverty, hearing "no" throughout her life and learning to think like an entrepreneur shaped her approach to leadership.She talks about raising $62 million in donor equity for the $82 million Northside Square redevelopment, why she believes every fundraiser is ultimately a salesperson and how she built a career by refusing to let rejection dictate her future.One of the most memorable moments comes when she explains her relationship with the word "no.""A no has never killed me. So, I'm gonna keep going back."The conversation also explores Memphis, faith, leadership and why fear is holding too many people back from doing meaningful work.If you've ever been told something couldn't be done, this episode is a masterclass in persistence, vision and believing in your mission long enough for others to believe in it too.In this episode:Why Roshun runs a nonprofit like a corporationThe leadership lessons she learned growing up in povertyHow she raised $62 million for one transformational projectWhy every leader needs to learn how to sellThe role faith plays in her work and decision-makingWhy she believes Memphis should love itself more

Most universities facing enrollment challenges have responded the same way: lower the bar and hope the numbers improve. Dr. Bill Hardgrave chose a different path.As President of the University of Memphis, Hardgrave made a controversial decision to significantly raise admissions standards, knowing it would come with short-term pain. In year one, freshman enrollment dropped 25%. Headlines followed, and critics questioned the move. But Hardgrave believed stronger outcomes mattered more than larger numbers.Now, the university is seeing quality rise, enrollment rebound and a bold vision begin to take shape.In this episode of Driven By, Sam sits down with Dr. Hardgrave to discuss the future of higher education, leadership in difficult moments and what it means to make decisions with the long game in mind. They also dive into Hardgrave’s own story from growing up in rural Arkansas as a first-generation high school graduate to leading one of Memphis’ most important institutions.In this episode you’ll learn:• Why higher education is approaching an “enrollment cliff” • The “bathtub effect” and making unpopular decisions • How the University of Memphis doubled annual fundraising in one year • Why athletics matter beyond the field or court • Leadership lessons from hard choices and long-term thinking • Why education remains one of the strongest drivers of opportunityThis conversation is about much more than higher education. It’s about leadership, vision and having the discipline to make hard decisions when the easy path is right in front of you.

Andy Kizzee didn’t set out to build a workforce model in one of Memphis’ most challenged neighborhoods. However, after moving into Binghampton and getting to know his neighbors, he began asking a different question: not just why people weren’t working, but what kind of work actually changes a life. A structural engineer by training, Andy spent six years in India before returning to Memphis with a conviction that a good job can solve more than just income: it can create stability, dignity and opportunity.Today, he leads the BDC Business Hub, an 80,000-square-foot recycling and logistics operation designed as a real job from day one. With almost no barriers to entry, the program hires individuals coming out of long-term unemployment, recovery and incarceration and puts them to work immediately, processing everything from streetlights and mattresses to large-scale e-commerce returns. Since launching, the Hub has hired 175 people and continues to grow through partnerships with major commercial and municipal projects.At the center of it all is a simple but powerful idea: work matters. Drawing on the concept of “gleaning” — leaving space for others to work alongside you rather than handing out aid — Andy has built a model rooted in dignity, not dependency. It’s not perfect, and it’s not easy, but it’s real. And in a city like Memphis, it may be one of the most scalable ways to create lasting change.Episode Highlights“God made us to work.”175 people hired through the BDC Business HubRecycling creates 7x more jobs than landfilling“Nobody joins because it’s a program. They join because it’s a job.”Peak volume: 40 trucks processed in a single week

In this episode of Driven By Sam Coates, Trent Williamson, head of school at Harding Academy, shares the story of a decision that defied expectations. At a time when many Memphis institutions were moving outward, Harding chose to stay rooted in the city — a move that brought short-term pain but long-term transformation.Trent offers an honest look at what that choice required: navigating family departures, weathering uncertainty and maintaining conviction when results were far from guaranteed. He discusses how the school gradually regained momentum, invested in its campus and students and built a community that more closely reflects the diversity and character of Memphis.The conversation also takes a deeply personal turn as Trent speaks about leading while facing stage IV pancreatic cancer. With unusual candor and steadiness, he reflects on perspective, gratitude and the role of faith in enduring hardship, adding a powerful human dimension to an already compelling leadership story.🎧 Listen to the full episode for a candid discussion on conviction, resilience, and purpose.Episode HighlightsThe pivotal decision to abandon a suburban move and remain in MemphisThe difficult consequences and lessons from enrollment declineHarding’s growth into an authentically diverse, city-centered schoolLeading with faith and perspective amid a stage IV cancer diagnosis

Some stories don’t fit neatly into a redemption arc. Melvin Cole’s is one of them.On the latest episode of Drive By with Sam Coates, Cole, founder of PURE Academy in Memphis, shares a raw, unpolished account of growing up in extreme poverty, entering the drug trade at age 11, surviving gun violence and ultimately choosing a radically different path. Raised by a heroin-addicted grandmother in South Memphis, Cole lost his sister as a toddler due to a medical misdiagnosis, experienced childhood sexual abuse and became a father at just 14. Survival wasn’t a philosophy: it was daily reality.Football once offered a way out. Cole earned a college scholarship and had NFL aspirations, until a drug deal gone wrong left him shot in the head and back. What followed was prison, where witnessing a brutal assault became a spiritual breaking point. In a moment of desperation, Cole made a promise: if he survived, he would dedicate his life to saving young men headed down the same road.When he was released after serving time for cocaine trafficking, Cole dug up more than $500,000 he had buried during his time dealing drugs, money he once saw as a retirement plan. Instead of returning to the streets, he used it to build PURE Academy, a year-round boarding school for at-risk Black boys in Memphis that focuses on discipline, structure, emotional intelligence, agriculture, academics and faith.Today, PURE Academy serves 61 students on full scholarship, operates on a $3.7 million budget and boasts an 83% college matriculation rate. Cole is candid about the challenges that remain — the temptation of his former life, frustrations with nonprofit systems and the emotional toll of leadership. But his mission is clear: remove boys from environments that trap them in cycles of poverty and give them the tools to build something better.This episode isn’t polished inspiration. It’s an honest conversation about trauma, responsibility, faith and what it actually takes to change outcomes: not just for individuals, but for communities.Episode Highlights“I Started Selling Drugs at 11 — Not to Rebel, But to Survive”Cole explains how poverty and fatherhood at 14 pushed him into the drug trade as a calculated business decision, not teenage rebellion.The Moment Prison Changed EverythingWitnessing a violent assault behind bars led to a desperate prayer and a life-altering promise that would shape PURE Academy’s mission.Burying $500K — Then Digging It Up for a SchoolThe drug money Cole once viewed as his future became the seed funding for a boarding school instead of a return to crime.Inside PURE Academy’s Daily DisciplineFrom 6 a.m. workouts and meditation to academics and agriculture, Cole breaks down how structure, not charity, changes lives.“You Feed One of Two Wolves”Cole speaks openly about the ongoing internal battle between his past and present, including why success doesn’t erase temptation — but purpose keeps him grounded.

Our next Driven By episode features Gary Stavrum, a Memphis entrepreneur whose career reflects exceptional grit, discipline and vision. A Christian Brothers alumnus, Gary built three med-device contract manufacturing companies, two of which he has sold, beginning with a startup launched in a garage in Covington, Tennessee, funded with just $20,000.His first company grew to 128 employees and $18 million in revenue in under seven years, without raising outside capital. This success came despite extraordinary challenges, including the sudden incarceration of his only machinist shortly after Gary took out a second mortgage to fund the business.Gary and his team repeated this achievement twice more. He formally retired at 39 but has since remained deeply active, helping raise $38 million for Christian Brothers High School, chairing the Campbell Clinic Foundation, forging titanium orthopedic implants in New Hampshire and developing private duck hunting properties that host more than 100 guests each year.Episode Highlights:How a Covington, TN garage startup grew from $20k to $18 million in revenue in under seven years.The story behind building and selling three med-device contract manufacturing companies, all without outside capital.Why the 1990s–2000s Memphis med-device boom created a once-in-a-generation window for blue-collar entrepreneurs.Gary’s role in helping Christian Brothers High School raise $38 million, far surpassing the original $7 million goal.Gary’s unexpected “retirement” running titanium forging operations and developing private duck hunting properties hosting 100+ guests a year.