Angles with John Richmond

John Richmond
  • 5.0 (8)
  • Business

John Richmond is the Co-Founder & CEO of Richmond Vona, a 3x Inc. 5000 personal injury law firm in Buffalo, NY. Angles is where he has real conversations with interesting people from Buffalo and Western New York. Not about their titles or accomplishments. About how they actually got here. Their process. What keeps them rooted. The decisions that shaped them. You'll hear from scientists and artists, rappers and historians, business owners, and preservationists. Success from every Angle. Angles is your space to hear real stories and think differently. New episodes drop every Wednesday on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and all major platforms.

  1. 3d ago

    Ep71: Matthew DiCamillo - DiCamillo Bakery, a 100-Year Family Business, and the Art of the Turnaround

    John sits down with Matthew DiCamillo, fourth-generation co-owner of DiCamillo Bakery in Niagara Falls - one of the most beloved and enduring food brands in Western New York. Matthew’s path to the bakery was anything but direct. He spent a decade as a classical voice major, adjunct professor at Elon University, and aspiring opera performer before the 2008 financial collapse closed the door on arts funding and forced a reckoning. He came back to Buffalo, got his MBA at UB while baking bread at night, and eventually found himself staring at ten years of profit-and-loss statements that told a story the family had been careful to hide. The conversation is one of the most honest accounts of what it actually takes to steward a legacy business through hard times. Matthew talks about the grief of leaving the arts, the infighting and silos he walked into, the moment the CPA laid out those ten P&Ls and left the room, and the cash flow discipline that became the foundation of the turnaround. He covers the full arc of DiCamillo Bakery’s history from a basement oven on 14th Street in Niagara Falls in the late 1890s through the NAFTA price wars that wiped out most Western New York bakeries, and what he and his brother are now doing to build redundancy before the founding generation is gone. Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. 🎧 New episodes every week. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond @johnrichmondlaw @richmondvona 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238 Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Angles Podcast does not endorse any specific health claims, products, services, or treatments mentioned in this episode. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to their individual circumstances.

  2. Sep 30

    Ep70: Kevin Heffernan - Go Bike Buffalo, Safer Streets, and the Case for a Different City

    John sits down with Kevin Heffernan, Executive Director of Go Bike Buffalo, the 16-year-old nonprofit operating community bike workshops, education programs, and a planning and design department that is actively reshaping how Buffalo thinks about its streets. Kevin came up through advertising and college admissions before founding Rise Collaborative, a creative agency, and eventually finding his way to Go Bike - first as a collaborator, then as a staffer, and now as the person running the whole thing.  The conversation is a masterclass in understanding why the city looks the way it does. Kevin walks John through how cars were given the street at the expense of everyone else, how the auto industry invented the term jaywalking, how streetcars were deliberately purchased and shut down, and how Robert Moses-era highway building destroyed Black neighborhoods and disconnected Buffalo’s East Side. Then he makes the economic, public health, and quality-of-life case for doing it differently. He talks about the 198 and the 33, the bike bus movement exploding in East Aurora, why kids who bike to school score higher, why older adults losing their ability to drive leads to isolation and depression, and what Buffalo could look like in 2051 if it actually committed to the vision. Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. 🎧 New episodes every week. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond @johnrichmondlaw @richmondvona 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238 Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Angles Podcast does not endorse any specific health claims, products, services, or treatments mentioned in this episode. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to their individual circumstances.

  3. Sep 23

    Ep69: Mike Shatzel - Cole’s, Buffalo’s Bar Scene, and 40 Years of Wild Stories

    John sits down with Mike Shatzel, second-generation owner of Cole’s and one of the most respected figures in Buffalo’s bar and restaurant industry. Mike grew up busing tables at Cole’s at ten years old, played D3 basketball at Johns Hopkins and the University of Rochester, got an MBA, and came back to Buffalo to take over the family business. What he built from there - Blue Monk, ABV, Moor Pat, Moor Room, Colter Bay - defined an era of craft beer culture in this city.  The conversation is exactly what you want from someone who has spent 40 years watching everything happen from behind the bar. Mike covers how he brought craft beer to Buffalo before almost anyone else, what it was like taking over his father’s institution, why ABV closed and what the restaurant industry is actually dealing with right now, the cook who stabbed him (and stayed to talk to the cops), how he thinks about theft prevention, what it takes to hire and manage the cast of characters that make a bar run, and the most important lesson he learned the hard way: spreading yourself too thin will cost you the thing you built. Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. 🎧 New episodes every week. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond @johnrichmondlaw @richmondvona 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238 Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Angles Podcast does not endorse any specific health claims, products, services, or treatments mentioned in this episode. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to their individual circumstances.

  4. Sep 16

    Ep68: Joseph Gramaglia - Retired Buffalo Police Commissioner, Tops, and Leading Through Crisis

    John sits down with Joseph Gramaglia, Retired Commissioner of the Buffalo Police Department and President of the Major City Chiefs Association - the organization representing the 70 largest urban police departments in the United States and nine in Canada. Joseph spent his entire career in Buffalo policing, rising from the Buffalo Housing Police at 23 to the commissioner’s chair in 2022. He retired in early 2025 and now runs a consulting practice working with police departments and technology companies across the country. The conversation is a genuine insider account of what it means to lead a major urban police force through sustained crisis. Joseph became commissioner and within days was managing an officer-involved shooting, within three weeks a Hollywood-style chase across three municipalities with two officers shot, and a month and a half later the Tops Friendly Markets massacre on Jefferson Avenue. He talks about how the department responded, the expansion of the peer wellness program that followed, and the data-driven violent crime reduction strategy that produced three consecutive record lows in shooting victims through 2023, 2024, and 2025. He also covers the leadership lessons that took 30 years to learn, what working with Mayor Brown and partner Keith Vona was actually like, and why communication is the single most important thing any leader can do. Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. 🎧 New episodes every week. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond @johnrichmondlaw @richmondvona 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238 Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Angles Podcast does not endorse any specific health claims, products, services, or treatments mentioned in this episode. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to their individual circumstances.

  5. Sep 9

    Ep67: Lisa Smith - Buffalo Zoo, Conservation, and the Accidental CEO

    John sits down with Lisa Smith, President and CEO of the Buffalo Zoo - the third oldest zoo in the United States, a 151-year-old institution that has survived two world wars, the Great Depression, and 115 days of Covid closure, all starting from a donated pair of deer in 1875. Lisa spent nearly 30 years as a zookeeper and curator before becoming what she calls the Accidental CEO: an interim appointment that turned into a permanent role after a national search of over 100 candidates. She is one of the most grounded and genuinely interesting guests the show has had. The conversation covers everything you never knew about what happens inside a zoo: AZA accreditation and why only 10% of animal exhibition facilities in the country qualify, Species Survival Plans and how Lisa personally coordinates the global breeding program for 50 East African black rhinos, the Khora mud turtle that wasn’t even known to science until a few years ago and is now being researched in a secret room at the Buffalo Zoo, Tashi the rhino who is the only animal in the world known to have delivered two calves via artificial insemination and raised all five of her offspring. Lisa also walks through the new campus development plan, the first project (an outdoor gorilla habitat), what conservation actually means in practice, and how to get the most out of your next visit. Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. 🎧 New episodes every week. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond @johnrichmondlaw @richmondvona 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238 Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Angles Podcast does not endorse any specific health claims, products, services, or treatments mentioned in this episode. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to their individual circumstances.

  6. Sep 2

    Ep66: Catie Stephenson - Olmsted Parks, the 33, and Investing in Buffalo’s Future

    John sits down with Catie Stephenson, Executive Director of the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, the first nonprofit in the country to manage an entire historic urban park system. Catie oversees 850 acres, six parks, seven parkways, and eight circles - the first complete park system Frederick Law Olmsted ever designed, conceived a decade after Central Park but as an interconnected network of parks and parkways rather than a single park, and still functioning mostly as he intended. The conversation is one of those that starts with history and ends up somewhere deeply personal. Catie walks John through why Olmsted came to Buffalo, why he proposed a connected network instead of a single park, what each of the original three parks was designed for, and what he would say today if he saw highways cutting through two of them. She talks about the Delaware North $1 million endowment gift, what the endowment model changes for the conservancy’s future, and what she wants to leave for whoever holds her job 50 years from now. She also gives her honest position on the Route 33 tunnel fight, the 198, and what full restoration of Olmsted’s vision would actually look like. Then the conversation turns to leadership, parenthood, guilt, delegation, and how she manages being a high-performing executive director while raising three boys under nine on the West Side. Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. 🎧 New episodes every week. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond @johnrichmondlaw @richmondvona 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238 Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Angles Podcast does not endorse any specific health claims, products, services, or treatments mentioned in this episode. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to their individual circumstances.

  7. Aug 26

    Ep65: Jim Sandoro - Building the Pierce Arrow Museum

    John sits down with Jim Sandoro, founder of the Pierce Arrow Museum in Buffalo, for a conversation that spans nearly seven decades of collecting cars, buildings, and history. Jim traces his obsession back to age three, when he pulled back a tarp in his neighbor's garage and found a Pierce Arrow up on blocks. That moment sent him on a path from restoring Model A Fords as a teenager to running one of the largest personal collections of automotive history in the world, with more than a million pieces now cataloged at the museum.  Jim also talks about his decades as an expert witness for the IRS, US Customs, and courts around the world, appraising cars in high stakes divorce cases and fraud investigations, including a case that took a 400 million dollar tax assessment against the Imperial Palace casino down to three million. He walks through the story of tracking down the original Frank Lloyd Wright filling station plans, his 56 year marriage to Marianne, and the museum's plans to nearly double in size over the next five years. Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. 🎧 New episodes every week. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond @johnrichmondlaw @richmondvona 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238 Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Angles Podcast does not endorse any specific health claims, products, services, or treatments mentioned in this episode. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to their individual circumstances.

  8. Aug 19

    Ep64: Jonathan Borden - Music, Juilliard, and the BPO

    John sits down with Jonathan Borden, double bassist for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and a Juilliard trained musician who chose to build his career in Buffalo. Jonathan walks through growing up in a musical family, the teacher who changed his path at 16, and the leap of faith that sent him to Juilliard instead of Northwestern. He also breaks down what it actually takes to survive an orchestra audition, including the professional audition he bombed with the Boston Symphony before landing the BPO job eight days before his 21st birthday.   The conversation covers JoAnn Falletta's collaborative conducting style, the BPO's efforts to shed classical music's elitist stigma through events like Up Close concerts and Musicians' Nightcaps, and the backstage ping pong games that happen minutes before a Mahler symphony. Jonathan also talks about teaching private lessons and why he believes everyone is more musical than they think, whether they ever picked up an instrument or not. Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. 🎧 New episodes every week. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond @johnrichmondlaw @richmondvona 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238 Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Angles Podcast does not endorse any specific health claims, products, services, or treatments mentioned in this episode. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to their individual circumstances.

See All (71)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

John Richmond is the Co-Founder & CEO of Richmond Vona, a 3x Inc. 5000 personal injury law firm in Buffalo, NY. Angles is where he has real conversations with interesting people from Buffalo and Western New York. Not about their titles or accomplishments. About how they actually got here. Their process. What keeps them rooted. The decisions that shaped them. You'll hear from scientists and artists, rappers and historians, business owners, and preservationists. Success from every Angle. Angles is your space to hear real stories and think differently. New episodes drop every Wednesday on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and all major platforms.

Information

  • Creator
    John Richmond
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    71
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Angles with John Richmond
  • Show Website
    Angles with John Richmond

You Might Also Like