Business Leadership Series

Business Leadership Series

Our audience is comprised of business owners, leaders, and entrepreneurs who desire to learn from our guests’ knowledge, advice, and experience for personal and professional growth. We interview pro athletes, rock and roll hall of famers, best selling authors, and other leaders with an inspiring story. We are also a syndicated  show regionally on ESPN radio. 

  1. CMO of the Atlanta Hawks

    3D AGO

    CMO of the Atlanta Hawks

    In this episode Derek talks with Melissa Proctor, Executive Vice President & CMO of the Atlanta Hawks. Melissa, the author of the book “From Ball Girl to CMO”, shares her inspiring personal story and recipes for ongoing success.BiographyMelissa Proctor began her NBA experience in highschool as the first ball girl for the Miami Heat. After highschool, she attended Wake Forest University where she got her Bachelor’s degree in communications and her masters degree in design studies/branding from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design at The London Institute. After obtaining her degree, she went on to work for Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. serving in senior brand development and strategy leadership positions. Proctor was with Turner for 9 years before moving on to the Atlanta Hawks as VP of brand strategy. She quickly made her way up and is now the executive vice president and chief marketing officer.Order Melissa’s new book here: https://melissamproctor.com/Business Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

    22 min
  2. From Refugee to Wall Street

    MAR 22

    From Refugee to Wall Street

    Derek Champagne interviews Quang X. Pham. Quang is a biotech executive, war veteran, author, speaker, and community leader with a remarkable journey shaped by resilience, service, and entrepreneurship. He made history as the first Vietnamese American to earn naval aviator wings in the Marine Corps and lead an initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq. His inspiring American underdog journey, told in first person, is unlike any other. Born in Saigon, South Vietnam, Quang and his family fled as refugees when he was 10, while his father, a Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilot, remained and was imprisoned for more than a decade. After earning a degree from UCLA, Quang served seven years on active duty, flying CH-46 helicopters in the Persian Gulf War, Somalia, and the Reserves. Following his military career, Quang transitioned into business, founding multiple pharmaceutical companies. In 2000, he launched MyDrugRep.com (which became Lathian Systems), an innovative online platform for physician marketing engagements, which was later acquired. In 2015, he founded Espero Pharmaceuticals and Jacksonville Pharmaceuticals. His leadership and entrepreneurial success earned him the Florida EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2018. Today Quang serves as Chairman and CEO, Cadrenal Therapeutics (Nasdaq: CVKD).Quang is also the author of the award-winning father-son memoir, A Sense of Duty: Our Journey from Vietnam (Penguin Random House), and his new book, Underdog Nation: Zero In on Effort and Results for Success (Forbes Books).Committed to giving back, Quang has served on the boards of private companies, veteran charities and educational organizations. He lives in Florida with his family, continuing to lead and inspire.Order Quang's new book here: https://quangxpham.com/books/Business Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

    39 min
  3. Building an A-Team

    MAR 15

    Building an A-Team

    Derek's guest this week is Whitney Johnson: Innovation and disruption theorist, keynote speaker, best-selling author, executive and performance coach.Whitney shares her unique journey and key concepts about how to motivate your employees from her book "Build an A Team: Play to Their Strengths and Lead Them Up the Learning Curve".Whitney Johnson was named one of the world's fifty most influential management thinkers by Thinkers50 in 2017.She is the author of the bestselling Build an A Team (Harvard Business Press, 2018), a Financial Times and CEO Read, Book of the Month, and the critically-acclaimed Disrupt Yourself: Putting the Power of Disruptive Innovation to Work (2015). Publisher's Weekly described it as "savvy...often counter-intuitive...superb" while the Boston Globe called it the "'What Color is Your Parachute?' career guide for the entrepreneurial age."Through writing, speaking, consulting and coaching, Whitney works with leaders to retain their top talent, to build an A team, and to help them earn the gold star–be a boss people love.She formerly was the co-founder of the Disruptive Innovation Fund with Harvard's Clayton Christensen, where they invested in and led the $8 million seed round for Korea’s Coupang, currently valued at $5+ billion. She was involved in fund formation, capital raising, and the development of the fund’s strategy. During her tenure, the CAGR of the Fund was 11.98% v. 1.22% for the S&P 500.She is also formerly an award-winning Wall Street analyst. She was an Institutional Investor-ranked equity research analyst for eight consecutive years, and was rated by Starmine as a superior stock-picker. As an equity analyst, stocks under coverage included America Movil (NYSE: AMX), Televisa (NYSE: TV) and Telmex (NYSE: TMX), which accounted for roughly 40% of Mexico's market capitalization.Whitney is a frequent contributor for the Harvard Business Review, she has over 1.5 million followers on Linkedin, was named one of LinkedIn's Top Voices in the Influencer category for 2018, and her LinkedIn course The Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship has 1 million+ views.She is a member of the original cohort of Marshall Goldsmith's #100 coaches.Learn more at https://whitneyjohnson.com/ Business Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

    23 min
  4. NY Times Best Selling Author Rich Horwath

    MAR 8

    NY Times Best Selling Author Rich Horwath

    Derek Champagne talks with Rich Horwath. Chief Executive Magazine describes Rich as "The world’s foremost expert on strategic thinking.” Rich has been featured on ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, CNN, and CNBC, and has worked with organizations such as ESPN, Google, Intel, FedEx, Bank of America, and many more. Rich is the founder and CEO of the Strategic Thinking Institute where he facilitates strategy workshops to help leadership teams think, plan, and act strategically to set direction, create advantage, and maximize their leadership performance. He is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of eight books on strategic thinking, including his newest book: STRATEGIC: The Skill to Set Direction, Create Advantage, and Achieve Executive Excellence.For free resources and to order STRATEGIC visit: https://www.strategyskills.com/Business Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

    37 min
  5. Shark Tank Veteran: Michael Dweck

    MAR 1

    Shark Tank Veteran: Michael Dweck

    Derek Champagne chats with Michael Dweck. Michael, the co-founder of Basic Outfitters, was named to Forbes 30 under 30 list and has appeared on the ABC hit t.v. show Shark Tank. He talks with Derek about his entrepreneurial journey, defining success, and his experience in "the tank".In 2014, Basic Outfitters co-founders Laura and Michael Dweck married and moved into a cozy apartment in NYC. It was quickly obvious whose clothing collection would take precedence in their precious and limited closet space. Michael’s eclectic and long-time accumulated sock and underwear assortment would have to go and be replaced by a fresh, new and curated collection of basics.When it came time to refill his drawers, Michael was faced with the choice of expensive designer products or cheap, generic and poorly made basics, both of which would entail a stressful shopping experience. Michael and Laura recognized the overwhelming need for superior and affordable men’s essentials offered to customers in a convenient, easy-to-use way. And thus, Basic Outfitters was born.Learn more at www.basicoutfitters.comBusiness Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

    38 min
  6. Unlikely Entrepreneurs with Lou Shipley

    FEB 23

    Unlikely Entrepreneurs with Lou Shipley

    Derek Champagne talks with Lou Shipley, author of Unlikely Entrepreneurs. Lou brings more than three decades of experience in enterprise software as an executive, entrepreneur, and sales leader. Previously, Shipley was President and CEO of Black Duck Software, where he repositioned the leader in open source license and compliance software into an open source security company which led it to a successful acquisition by Synopsys. Prior to Black Duck, Shipley served as President and CEO of Turbonomic (acquired by IBM), and Reflectent Software (acquired by Citrix Systems). Shipley serves on the boards of Wasabi, Fairmarkit and CustomerGauge. He serves on the advisory boards of Exodigo, Teamworks, RapidSOS, SpoilerAlert, Tomorrow..io and Logz.io.Shipley holds a degree in Economics from Trinity College-Hartford (where he also a Trustee), and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is currently a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School where he teaches four separate classes in Entrepreneurial Sales and go to market strategy.   In Unlikely Entrepreneurs: Wins, Losses and Crucial Advice in Building Great Companies, the authors―who hail from Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan School of Management―combine expert insights, elements of the case study method, and an engaging story-telling style to take a deep dive into the key challenges that founders face. They set the stage for each profile-―including those of entrepreneurs helming billion dollar companies to mom-and-pop businesses―whose colorful, unlikely stories showcase entrepreneurial best practices that readers can adopt to succeed. Order Unlikely EntrepreneursBusiness Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

    40 min
  7. The Patient As CEO

    FEB 15

    The Patient As CEO

    Derek Champagne talks with Robin Farmanfarmaian. Robin  is a futurist, health technologist and author of the new book “The Patient as CEO” (available now.) She is a highly-sought public speaker and business leader who is passionate about her message that “Technology is Hope.” As a teen, Robin was misdiagnosed with an autoimmune disease that led to forty-three hospitalizations and six major surgeries – many of them ultimately unnecessary. She has literally had to fight for her life on a regular basis and has made it her mission to improve health, wellness and medicine through technology. As an entrepreneur, Robin has worked on more than 10 early-stage start-up companies all dealing with cutting-edge technology, most in medicine and biotech. In “The Patient as CEO” she reveals the growing number of breakthroughs in biomedical technology, including wearable sensors, 3D printing, artificial intelligence, robotics and more, all set to fundamentally change healthcare and wellness. Learn more at www.robinff.comBusiness Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

    27 min
  8. Shark Tank Veteran & Founder of SandiLake Clothing: Melissa Lay

    FEB 8

    Shark Tank Veteran & Founder of SandiLake Clothing: Melissa Lay

    In this episode Derek Champagne, CEO of The Artist Evolution, interviews Melissa Lay.Melissa shares how she started her unique clothing company, her experience when she found her product in Target stores nationwide, being on Shark Tank, and growing her national lifestyle brand.Learn more at www.sandilakeclothing.comBusiness Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

    28 min
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5
out of 5
107 Ratings

About

Our audience is comprised of business owners, leaders, and entrepreneurs who desire to learn from our guests’ knowledge, advice, and experience for personal and professional growth. We interview pro athletes, rock and roll hall of famers, best selling authors, and other leaders with an inspiring story. We are also a syndicated  show regionally on ESPN radio. 

Information

  • Creator
    Business Leadership Series
  • Years Active
    2016 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Business Leadership Series
  • Show Website
    Business Leadership Series