Banking on Integrity

Hazem Ahmed
  • 5.0 (14)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

Explore the heart of Houston's business community with Banking on Integrity, brought to you by Integrity Bank. Join founders Hazem Ahmad and Mack Neff as they interview local entrepreneurs, sharing their journeys of success, overcoming challenges, and driving Houston forward.

  1. 3d ago

    She Made 75 Cold Calls a Day. Now She Serves 450 Businesses.

    A great office does more than look good. It makes people feel cared for. Hazem and Mack sit down with Shelli Lambert, founder of Interior Green International, to hear how she turned creativity, cold calls, and a willingness to learn the hard parts of business into a 30-year Houston company serving roughly 450 corporate clients. Shelli shares what plants can do for an office, why her technicians are the heart of the company, and how a business that began with one tree grew into a major interior, exterior, and holiday-design operation. Learn more about Interior Green International (https://igiplants.com/). To learn more about Integrity Bank, go to itx.bank. Subscribe to Banking on Integrity on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts! Key Takeaways 1. Shelli always knew she wanted to own a business, but she found her path after leaving an unfulfilling sales job, working for another plant company, and starting Interior Green International. 2. The company grew through persistence. Shelli recalls setting aside full days to make as many as 75 cold calls, learning how to earn appointments and build long-term client relationships. 3. Interior Green serves roughly 450 corporate accounts through weekly plant care, design, maintenance, and replacement, taking the burden of plant care off office teams. 4. Holiday design became a major extension of the business. The company begins production in July, installs interior and exterior décor in the fall, and continues removals well into the new year. 5. Shelli credits much of her longevity to taking care of employees. Some team members have been with her for nearly 20 years, and their relationships with clients are central to the company’s success. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  2. Oct 13

    Two Years of Integrity: Hazem and Mack on Building a Bank From Scratch

    You can measure a bank in assets. Or you can measure it in the people who trust you with their next step. Hazem and Mack mark Integrity Bank’s two-year anniversary with a candid conversation about building a community bank from the ground up, approaching $400 million in assets, and earning the trust of customers through referrals and relationships. They discuss interest rates, bank consolidation, hiring experienced bankers, supporting Houston nonprofits, future branches, and why the best measure of growth is not a balance-sheet number but the businesses, families, and employees behind it. To learn more about Integrity Bank, go to itx.bank. Subscribe to Banking on Integrity on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts! Key Takeaways 1. Integrity Bank approaches its two-year anniversary with nearly $400 million in assets, surpassing the original projections Hazem and Mack made during the chartering process. 2. The bank has grown through relationships and referrals, not simply by chasing deposits or loans. Hazem and Mack emphasize learning each customer’s story, needs, and goals. 3. Integrity Bank’s roughly 27 employees bring an average of 22 to 23 years of experience, combining seasoned bankers with younger talent who may become the next generation of community bankers. 4. Community involvement is part of the model, not an afterthought. The bank supports efforts including turkey drives, schools, and other Houston nonprofit organizations. 5. Hazem and Mack believe community banks remain essential because customers need decision-makers who know them personally, understand their businesses, and can help them navigate both opportunity and risk. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  3. Oct 6

    They’re Building a Business Around the Injury No One Can See

    A normal scan does not always mean a brain is okay. Hazem and Mack sit down with Bishoi Attia and Michael Darrow of Brain Injury Blood Test, also known as Head Got Hurt, to explore how blood biomarkers may help identify traumatic brain injury after car accidents, concussions, and other impacts that do not always show up on traditional imaging. Bishoi shares the personal experience that drew him toward brain health, while Michael, a biomedical engineer and neuroscience researcher, explains the science behind biomarkers, recovery, and earlier intervention. To learn more about Integrity Bank, go to itx.bank. Subscribe to Banking on Integrity on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts! Learn more about Head Got Hurt (https://braininjurybloodtest.com/). Key Takeaways 1. Traditional imaging looks for structural damage, but a concussion or traumatic brain injury may not show an obvious lesion even when a patient has real symptoms. 2. Head Got Hurt uses a blood test and proprietary scoring approach to examine biomarkers, symptoms, timing, and injury factors that may help clarify brain injury risk and recovery needs. 3. The company focuses largely on personal injury cases, helping people and attorneys document potential brain injury after car wrecks and find appropriate rehabilitation resources. 4. Michael explains that biomarkers have always existed in the body. Advances in research and testing now make it possible to identify and interpret them more effectively. 5. Bishoi and Michael see future applications beyond car accidents, including proactive brain-health monitoring, military care, and eventually youth and collegiate sports. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  4. Sep 29

    He Took Over a Struggling Family Business at 27

    A family business can become your future faster than you ever planned. Hazem and Mack sit down with Fred Leonard, longtime leader of Val-Tex, to hear how he stepped into his father’s struggling valve lubricant and sealant company, lost his father just a few years later, and spent decades rebuilding the business one customer and one carton at a time. Fred shares what community banking meant when the company needed someone to believe in it, why he chose patience over overreach, and what he learned after selling Val-Tex in 2015. Key Takeaways 1. Fred joined his father’s company after college, then assumed far greater responsibility when his father’s illness and death left him leading a business with deep operational and financial challenges. 2. Val-Tex survived by becoming smaller before it could grow, shedding unprofitable operations, lowering its payroll, and focusing on its specialty manufacturing business. 3. Fred built Val-Tex through patience, describing the work as growing the company “a carton at a time” without overextending its resources. 4. Community banks gave the company its footing when larger institutions showed little interest, creating a relationship that became a decades-long friendship with Mack. 5. Fred sold Val-Tex in 2015 after more than 47 years with the company. What he missed most was not the work itself, but the people who had built the business alongside him. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  5. Jul 28

    Season Two Recap: Food, Family, and Integrity

    Hazem and Mack close out season two by revisiting Houston restaurant families and the bankers who helped build Integrity Bank. From Mama Ninfa’s tortilla and pizza factory to the new Integrity team, they highlight how family, work ethic, and community banking together create gathering places for a growing city. To learn more about Integrity Bank, go to itx.bank. Subscribe to Banking on Integrity on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts! Key Takeaways Phyllis Mandola’s family turned a tortilla and pizza factory into the original Ninfa’s, shaping Houston’s Tex‑Mex identity. Her story shows hospitality as “my house is your house,” with guests treated like visitors in the family home. Domenic Laurenzo recalls Ninfa’s growing alongside “Boomtown”‑era Houston, making tacos al carbón and Tex‑Mex widely popular. Judy Budnik shares a full‑circle path from special assets and Houston National Bank to Integrity Bank’s relationship‑driven culture. The recap ties restaurant legacy and community banking together as different expressions of the same values: integrity, service, and neighborhood roots. Timestamped Overview 00:33 Hazem sets the intention to keep the recap brief while honoring the people and themes that defined the season before heading into season three. 00:52 He begins with Phyllis Mandola, describing how her family turned a tortilla and pizza factory on Navigation into the original Ninfa’s and shaped Houston’s food identity. 02:00 Phyllis shares her “homemade entrepreneur” parents, creative extended family, and grandparents who fled Mexico and rebuilt their lives in Texas. 04:00 She explains the mix of tortillas and pizza, the Italian‑Mexican family roots, and her uncle’s invention of the tortilla machine that helped launch the business. 06:00 Hazem recalls Tony Mandola’s restaurant as a constant celebration space, and Phyllis credits Tony’s hospitality and “mi casa es su casa” philosophy for that atmosphere. 07:35 Hazem transitions to Domenic Laurenzo, noting the Laurenzo name many Houstonians grew up with and how it has expanded into concepts like Lorenzo’s Cantina. 08:00 Domenic describes growing up as Ninfa’s expanded from Navigation to Westheimer and Gulf Freeway, and how the restaurant grew alongside booming “Boomtown” Houston. 10:00 He reflects on his grandmother’s practice of greeting guests at the door and the way Tex‑Mex, tacos al carbón, and simple comfort food spread across the city. 12:00 Hazem connects these restaurant stories to Integrity Bank’s own beginnings, emphasizing that both are rooted in family, work ethic, and service. 14:00 The recap turns to Judy Budnik, who started in special assets, learned “what not to do,” and then joined Mack at Houston National Bank. 16:00 Judy shares how mentors like Mike Moser and Mack shaped her path, and how she transitioned from credit analysis to lending and business development. 18:52 She describes joining Integrity Bank as a full‑circle moment, seeing the bank as a family and a chance to fill a niche left by consolidation in the market. 21:00 Hazem and Mack reflect on community banking’s role in supporting multiple generations of business owners and the satisfaction of seeing customers’ children take over. 23:00 They tie together the season’s themes: restaurant families, bankers, and entrepreneurs all building gathering places and businesses rooted in integrity. 25:00 Hazem invites listeners to learn more about Integrity Bank, to nominate entrepreneurs whose integrity and impact deserve a microphone, and notes that season three will start in September. 27:00 Mack and Hazem thank listeners for joining them through season two and reiterate their commitment to sharing more Houston stories in the next season. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  6. Jul 21

    How a First‑Generation Houstonian Became Integrity Bank's CFO

    Hazem sits down with Integrity Bank CFO Betsy Reese to unpack what makes a bank financially strong and how small business owners can read the signals. Betsy shares her journey from first‑generation immigrant and deposit ops clerk to lender, CPA‑track accountant, and Rice MBA graduate leading the bank’s financial health and safety. To learn more about Integrity Bank, go to itx.bank. Subscribe to Banking on Integrity on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts! Key Takeaways 1. Betsy’s banking career began in high school in deposit operations, where she learned payments and reconciliations from the ground up. 2. Moving into lending pushed her from introvert to people‑focused banker, giving her a view of customers and credit. 3. Merger uncertainty led her to pursue an MBA at Rice while working and parenting full time. 4. She gained hard‑earned experience guiding a troubled bank back to “safe and sound” under regulatory scrutiny during COVID. 5. Betsy stresses that becoming a CFO requires understanding accounting, operations, lending, and regulation, not just classroom knowledge. Timestamped Overview 02:00 Betsy shares her background as a first‑generation Chinese immigrant in Houston and her first job in deposit operations reconciling accounts and learning the payments system. 04:00 She describes leaving deposit ops for lending to avoid repetitive work, joining the chief lending officer’s team, and confronting her introversion as she started dealing with people. 06:00 Betsy talks about how lending work changed her personality, gave her customer exposure, and set the stage for later roles in accounting and finance. 08:00 She explains why bank mergers often eliminate roles like CFO, her dislike of uncertainty, and her long‑standing question about whether to sit for the CPA exam. 10:00 Betsy recounts choosing instead to pursue a full‑time MBA at Rice University while working full time and raising children, highlighting the support of her husband and classmates. 12:00 She describes navigating five different CEOs in one institution over five years, the bank’s COVID‑era troubles, and regulators pausing operations with a “speeding ticket.” 14:00 Betsy explains what “safe and sound” means in practice and how that experience taught her to run a bank more conservatively and with stronger discipline. 16:00 Hazem asks about the path to becoming a CFO, and Betsy walks through the need to understand accounting, operations, lending, and regulation before leading the bank’s finances. 18:00 She talks about measuring the bank’s health day to day—looking at capital, liquidity, asset quality, and profitability—and how those numbers fit together. 20:00 The conversation turns to how small and medium‑sized business owners can interpret basic bank performance indicators and why they should care about their bank’s strength. 22:00 Betsy reflects on Houston’s role in her career, the opportunities the city provided, and why she chose to stay in community banking rather than move to a Big Four track. 24:00 Hazem and Betsy discuss balancing growth with prudence, what “too much growth” can look like in banking, and how Integrity Bank aims to avoid those pitfalls. 26:00 She shares what a “good day” looks like for her as CFO and how she thinks about protecting both depositors and shareholders while supporting customers. 28:00 Hazem closes by tying Betsy’s story back to Integrity Bank’s mission and the importance of disciplined, relationship‑driven community banking. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  7. Jul 14

    How Tough Cycles Can Teach You How to Lend With Discipline

    Booms can make you careless. Busts can teach you how you never want to run a business again.Hazem and Mack sit down with Wade Comeaux, CEO of Catalyst Funding, a Houston-based lender focused on real estate investors, to talk about what he learned from the pre‑crisis mortgage world and why he built his company to behave differently. Wade shares how government pressure, exotic loan products, and easy money contributed to the last meltdown, why Catalyst focuses on fix‑to‑rent, DSCR loans, and long‑term partnerships, and how he thinks about leadership, culture, and concentration risk when the cycle inevitably turns. Learn more about Catalyst Funding (https://catalystfdg.com/). To learn more about Integrity Bank, go to itx.bank. Subscribe to Banking on Integrity on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts! Key Takeaways 1. Wade’s early years in national mortgage lending showed him how quickly good intentions and flexible products can morph into bad credit. He describes the pre‑crisis environment of stated‑income loans, high‑LTV deals, and pressure to lend into certain zip codes, and how that experience shaped his approach. 2. Catalyst Funding was founded in 2014 to be more countercyclical and investor‑focused. Instead of chasing refi waves, the company centers its business on fix‑to‑rent, fix‑and‑flip, and long‑term DSCR loans that help real estate investors build wealth over time. 3. Loan size is only one piece of risk; the borrower is the other. Wade explains why Catalyst has done loans up to the low‑million‑dollar range, but how experience, track record, and overall exposure to a single client matter as much as the dollar amount itself. 4. Banks like Integrity are key capital partners, and they care deeply about concentration. Wade walks through how he talks to banks about larger loans, what they look for in “compensating factors,” and why a strong narrative and data‑driven underwriting can unlock exceptions when it makes sense. 5. Leadership through cycles is about culture, not just spreadsheets. The conversation closes with Wade’s thoughts on avoiding whipsaw hiring and layoffs, building a team that understands risk, and remembering that you can borrow money and ideas—but conviction about your model has to be earned the hard way. Timestamped Overview 01:10 Wade traces his career through large mortgage lenders and describes the pre‑crisis boom in creative home loan products02:30 How government policy and pressure around certain zip codes and income levels helped fuel looser credit decisions03:50 Stated‑income, high‑leverage loans, and the mindset that home prices could only go up05:30 Why Wade chose to launch Catalyst Funding in 2014 after living through layoffs and volatility in the mortgage business07:25 Grassroots beginnings: finding his first clients, doing early hard money deals, and blending investor and lender experience09:00 What Catalyst funds today: fix‑to‑rent, fix‑and‑flip, DSCR loans, and conventional refinances for real estate investors11:00 Minimum fees, typical loan sizes, and why Catalyst’s largest loans have been around the low‑million‑dollar range12:30 How banks that fund Catalyst think about single‑borrower and single‑loan concentration, and when they’ll stretch14:00 The importance of borrower experience, underwriting, and story when asking capital partners to take more risk16:30 Wade’s view on leading through interest rate moves and cycles, from hiring decisions to communicating with investors19:00 Why he believes culture and conviction matter more than chasing the hottest product of the moment21:00 Closing thoughts from Hazem and Mack on partnering with lenders like Catalyst and helping investors build responsibly See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  8. Jul 7

    Starting a Running Shoe Company in College: Veloci’s Origin Story

    Dreams can stay on the track. Or they can turn into something you stand on every day.Hazem and Mack speak with Tyler Strothman, collegiate distance runner and founder of Veloci, a performance running shoe company he started while at Rice University. Tyler shares how small town miles, sport management classes, and a simple desire to keep people comfortable and pain free led him to launch a brand focused on helping runners and everyday athletes stay active longer. Learn more about Veloci (https://velocirunning.com/) To learn more about Integrity Bank, go to itx.bank. Subscribe to Banking on Integrity on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts! Key Takeaways 1. Tyler built Veloci out of his own life in running, treating the brand as a way to give back to the sport and community that shaped him, not just a way to sell product. 2. He chose Rice during COVID without visiting campus, moved to Houston sight unseen, and used the university’s sport management and entrepreneurship ecosystem as a launchpad for the company. 3. Veloci started in January 2025 with one model and two colors, then expanded into a stability version for overpronators and is now adding a faster “super trainer” so runners can match shoes to different training days. 4. The core of the brand is comfort and longevity: Tyler talks about reducing pain, extending the life of healthy miles, and designing for both serious runners and everyday wear. 5. Instead of waiting for a perfect path, Tyler treated Veloci as his real world business education, learning through customers, product iterations, and the discipline of shipping something new. Timestamped Overview 00:01 Hazem introduces Tyler Strothman and Veloci, setting up a conversation about a college runner who started his own performance footwear company. 01:00 Tyler explains what Veloci does and who he designs for, from serious runners to people who just want all day comfort in a running shoe. 03:20 He shares how growing up on farms and country roads in Wisconsin and Indiana led to a love of running, team culture, and pushing himself. 06:10 Tyler talks about deciding to attend Rice during COVID, choosing the school based on calls with coaches and teammates and moving to Houston without a prior visit. 08:20 He describes majoring in sport management, loading up on business and entrepreneurship classes, and seeing Rice as a launchpad for doing real work in the world. 11:15 Veloci’s launch story in January 2025: starting with one shoe and two colorways, chosen in part by counting what colors students wore into the campus gym. 13:10 Expansion into a “sister” stability shoe for overpronators and the decision to build a faster “super trainer” so runners can match shoes to different training days. 15:15 A practical look at shoe lifespan, why most people should think about replacing running shoes around 300 to 400 miles, and how wear patterns differ by stride. 18:00 Tyler reflects on seeing Veloci shoes on more feet and how customer feedback shapes decisions about new models and colorways. 20:00 Hazem and Mack talk about Tyler’s passion, why this is not just about making money, and how his focus is on solving a real problem for active people. 22:00 Tyler shares what he has learned so far about product design, manufacturing, and balancing performance with comfort and durability. 24:00 Conversation turns to the realities of being a young founder, including juggling training, classes, and startup demands, and what sacrifices that requires. 26:00 Tyler talks about what keeps him motivated on hard days and how he measures success beyond sales numbers. 28:00 Hazem and Mack offer closing encouragement, tying Tyler’s story back to Houston’s entrepreneurial spirit and the kind of founders Integrity Bank wants to support. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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5
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14 Ratings

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Explore the heart of Houston's business community with Banking on Integrity, brought to you by Integrity Bank. Join founders Hazem Ahmad and Mack Neff as they interview local entrepreneurs, sharing their journeys of success, overcoming challenges, and driving Houston forward.

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