Through the Noise

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#230 American Moving Storage - Scott Michael Nov 28, 2016

Show notes

Today's guest is Scott Michael who steps away from his role as President & CEO of the American Moving & Storage Association where he has helped the industry in various capacities over the past 23 years. While moving and storage typically are not the subject of heated dinner party debates, they play an important role in the lives of most people, at least occasionally. Find out how a well-timed and organized move can make all the difference for military families who must move and uproot their entire family every couple of years. Planning a move? Check out this episode to find out when might be the easiest time of year for you and your family.

Scott Michael serves as president and CEO for the American Moving & Storage Association. He has served as the industry's primary liaison to the U.S. Department of Defense, GSA, and other government customers of the moving and storage industry. He was previously vice president for membership and has held other positions with the association and the American Movers Conference during the past two decades. Scott also serves as a vice president of the National Defense Transportation Association, an organization of transportation providers that works in support of the military. He lives in Alexandria, Va., with his wife and three daughters. The American Moving & Storage Association represents professional movers and serves as the home of the ProMover certification program for interstate moving companies, with members ranging from small, family-run businesses to national van lines and industry suppliers.

#229 Thread - Delshan Baker Nov 21, 2016

Show notes

We're very excited to welcome Delshan Baker to the show today. Ms. Baker joins us from an organization in Baltimore called Thread that's been receiving some great publicity. Earlier this year, Ernesto read a profile in the New York Times about the transformative work the staff and volunteers of Thread do for underperforming students in Baltimore. Thread only works with students in the bottom 25% of their class and provides them with a volunteer support network that is available 24 hours a day for 10 years. They manage a spectacular community of volunteers that Show Up and form a family support system that is structured to help the student begin thriving and continue to succeed into adulthood.

Delshan has almost 15 years of operations experience in the non-profit and for-profit sectors, from managing an $11M budget to launching essential technology projects. She has a BA in Studio Art from Stanford University, an MBA from Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, and is a Baltimore native.

Thread engages underperforming high school students confronting significant barriers outside of the classroom by providing each one with a family of committed volunteers and increased access to community resources.

#228 American Psychiatric Nurses Association - Nicholas Croce Jr. Nov 17, 2016

Show notes

Nicholas Croce Jr. joins us today from the American Psychiatric Nurses Association where he represents 11,000 of the country's nurses that treat patients suffering from mental illnesses. Prior to becoming Executive Director of the APNA, Nicholas Croce Jr. had a long career in a number of different fields, including the U.S. Air Force, the Post Office, and work as an x-ray technician before delving into the association world. The work of psychiatric nurses is often misunderstood and they are seen as "the nurses that sit around and play cards with patients," but with 60 million Americans suffering from mental illnesses that cannot be seen or observed quite as easily as a broken leg or bronchitis, these nurses use a variety of techniques of observation to gain a handle on what is bothering the patient -- including patiently playing cards. We discuss the importance of patient-first language such as a "person with alcoholism" rather than an alcoholic, or "a person suffering from schizophrenia" rather than a schizophrenic, acknowledging that the person is more than a major illness or problem.

Nick Croce is a Vietnam Era Veteran with 35 years of managerial experience in not-for-profit organizations. For the past ten years he has serves as the executive director of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association. The American Psychiatric Nurses Association represents the scientific and educational interests of mental-health nurses in the United States.

#227 District of Learning - Peter Guttmacher Nov 14, 2016

Show notes

Hating school is a time-honored tradition by nearly all students who are forced to attend schools for much of childhood into becoming an adult but today we're sitting down with someone who is working to change the face of education to present a more rounded and useful world view. Peter Guttmacher is the Director of Programming and Curriculum Development for the District of Learning which is an initiative of Fair Chance, the organization we recently had on Through the Noise. Employing recent technological advances in the classroom, students are able to work towards a broader type of education grounded in the real world. Students earn digital badges to illustrate their success in a variety of different areas and are are able to demonstrate their various skills and talents via these badges You might even wish you could go back to school if it could be more like this. Tweets: / New episode with Peter Guttmacher of @dc_learning on experiential learning, digital badges, and the whole student #education #tech

#226 Fair Chance - Gretchen Van der Veer, PhD and Benjamin Bradburn Nov 10, 2016

Show notes

Most people (and certainly listeners of this podcast!) will agree that no one's future should depend on the zip code where they were born. And today's guests spend every day working to ensure each child actually has a "fair chance," no matter where they were born and it's also the apt title of their organization. Gretchen Van der Veer, Executive Director and Benjamin Bradburn, Director of Development join us to talk about the mission of Fair Chance and the strategic partnerships they form to help different nonprofits become more effective in their services. Similar to an accelerator for start-ups, their partnership program works with organizations for as little as six and as many as 24 months in several key areas of nonprofit management. Next episode we'll delve a little deeper as we chat with one of Fair Chance's partner organizations. PS: Like our work? Rate us on itunes!

#225 BDO USA - Melissa Panagides Nov 07, 2016

Show notes

Please welcome today's guest Melissa Panagides of BDO USA who was recommended by friend-of-the-show Joan Parker of Counterpart International. Melissa Panagides has been called an "organizational therapist" in her role as Senior Manager of Management Advisory Services at BDO and she helps drive growth through mergers and acquisitions. This is an important episode for anyone managing a nonprofit facing difficult questions about transitions and considering a merger with another organization -- or if you happen to be on the "target" side of the equation, and are being acquired. Find out from an expert in the field how to plan ahead, manage expectations, and support people during this difficult time.

Melissa Panagides-Busch has been working for over 25 years working getting things done. Her career started in public health and project management, meandered through education research and non-profit management, and is now focused on management advisory services.

BDO USA, LLP is known primary as an accounting firm. The Management Advisory team supports organizations that are going through or considering change. We focus on helping organization identify the right technology for their needs, transform their business and plan and implement mergers and acquisitions.

#224 ASAE - Rhonda Payne Nov 03, 2016

Show notes

If you're a regular listener of the show, you have probably heard us talk about and host ASAE, and you probably know that they are the American Society of Association Executives and their work is especially relevant to our audience. So we are pleased to welcome Rhonda Payne, ASAE's Chief Learning Officer to Through the Noise today. Though CLO is not a common position in many organizations at this time, it is particularly crucial for ASAE which is hosts a number of conferences every year while offering important trainings for the staff of a wide variety of associations. Ms. Payne is responsible for the development of all of the educational offerings of ASAE, including the on-demand courses that they now have available. Check out this episode for more on ASAE's work and how it can benefit yours today.

ASAE is a membership organization of more than 21,000 association executives and industry partners representing 9,300 organizations. Its members manage leading trade associations, individual membership societies and voluntary organizations across the United States and in nearly 50 countries around the world.

#223 STAQ - Mike Subelsky Oct 31, 2016

Show notes

If you are new to management, have had problems managing your staff, or are looking for some insight into strategies that might work better with the teams you have in place, today's episode with Mike Subelsky is a great place to start. He is (among other things) Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of Staq, a tech start-up based in Balitmore that "makes ad operations more efficient" through compiling data from 350 different platforms. Staq is a rapidly growing company that welcomes people from all backgrounds with an interest in programming and strives to create an organization of empowered staff so that it can continue even when someone is on vacation or leaves the company. "Give away all the credit, take all the blame" is one of the many takeaways from this episode that may help you improve relationships with your staff and help them become more creative and invested. Don't miss these and other essential tips to starting and running organizations in a way that supports people.

Mike is the CTO of STAQ, an enterprise data unification company based in Baltimore and New York. He has started a variety of profit-and-nonprofit organizations in Baltimore, including the Baltimore Improv Group theater company. STAQ helps businesses retrieve, organize, and take action on all of the data they have stored in many difficult-to-use silos.

#222 Executive Coach - Mike Harden Oct 27, 2016

Show notes

There are few things today's guest Mike Harden hasn't done prior to becoming a coach to other executives. After a career in business spanning four decades, he has settled into the comfortable role of helping others become better at their own jobs. He says that the most successful people -- and coaching clients -- are those who know that there is much left to learn and are open to listening. There are four key problems that plague companies and organizations and knowing how to identify and when and how to address them is crucial. A proactive approach is best when handling "people problems" (staff), customer, financial, and product and service problems. As a coach who has spent decades as a C-level executive, Mr. Harden has experience in the hiring and firing realm and has some useful advice for anyone losing sleep at night over the possibility of having to fire someone.

Mike Harden is the Founder and CEO of Clarity Group. Mike is an Executive Coach, specializing in CEOs and C-level executives. With over 13,000 hours of coaching experience and over 42 years of executive experience, Mike is able to help leaders move their organizations to the next level and deliver their own "A" game.

#221 Vessence - Nancy Belmont Oct 24, 2016

Show notes

Over the next couple of episodes, we'll be hosting guests who specialize in helping people become their best selves. Today we sit down with Nancy Belmont, the Chief Inspiration Officer of Vessence, a company based in Alexandria, Virginia that helps people and brands identify their values so they can pursue them. She walks Blake and Ernesto through the 12 major archetypes as defined by Carol S. Pearson which are useful for individuals and organizations. Are you primarily the magician, sage, jester, or lover? Or perhaps one of the other 8? In order for an organization or business to be successful they must have a variety of different archetypes in order to achieve balance. She coaches companies to identify those types in their brand and adopt a storyline that is most fitting to project to the public. Ms. Belmont asks: Why do you wake up every morning? What motivates you? For some clarifying perspectives, you won't want to miss this episode!

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