One of the things I love about talking with Kevin Bourke is how I am guaranteed to learn something I can use immediately. Kevin has been on the show before (listen here) and is a great supporter of other efforts we undertake, such as sponsoring TEDxSantaBarbara for many years.In this conversation, Kevin talked about how he and the team at Bourke We…

Dennis Baker is an accomplished marketer and entrepreneur. His latest venture is called POLIS Assist. For the last two years, he and his team have been locating every parking space in Los Angeles County and putting them into an app. Yes, it's true, need a space, use POLIS to find one. Dennis freely gives of his time and extensive expertise to the n…

Claudia Weintraub is the Director of the River Oaks Academy, a Personalized Learning Public Charter School, based in Thousand Oaks, California. We sat down with her to understand changes that are occurring in various proposed laws that are going to affect students in Charter Schools throughout the State.Claudia spent some time updating us on Charte…

Will Bellomy is himself quite a character, ironically he designs characters for his party game business, Murder Happens. Will joined us in the studio, with guest host, Kimberly Herriman. Kimberly is studying 'Play' as a part of her doctoral research at Antioch University. By day, Will works at Photothermal Spectroscopy in Santa Barbara, designing m…

Glen Derbyshire started taking photographs as a young boy growing up in a military family stationed in Asia. He fell in love with capturing images of events all around him and began his pursuit of lifelong learning, ending up at Brooks Institute here in Santa Barbara.He is the founder of Studio 2050, a full-service production facility located on th…

We invited Tara Jones Haaf back to the show when we heard that her very successful company, Eat This, Shoot That, has expanded into Solvang. For those of you outside the 805, Solvang is a lovely recreation of a Danish town, nestled in the Santa Ynez Valley, just 45 minutes from downtown Santa Barbara. Tara tells Mark and Patrick all about the charm…

We had a far-reaching conversation with Max Drucker, the CEO of {Carpe Data, a business located just upstairs from our studio here in downtown Santa Barbara. Max understands data, big data, and the future of how data impacts businesses like few we've had on the show. We learned about predictive analytics, his start at Apple working to bring Insuran…

We met with Gregg Hart, newly minted member of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, for a delightful conversation about civic engagement. I've known Gregg for a long time, back from my days at Wavefront. Gregg has been involved in just about every significant activity here in Santa Barbara, as a member of multiple organizations over the y…

Mike Williams has one of the better jobs on the planet. He's the Getting Things Done Enterprise Architect for Zappos. What the heck kind of job title is that? In this episode, Mike tells about working with Tony Hsieh, the legendary founder of Zappos and being immersed in that fantastic culture. Mike is deeply involved by way of his background worki…

Public Radio, There's nothing else like it - Mary Olsen General Manager, KCLU by 805connectBy 805connect

In this episode, we talk with Dan Hamilton, Associate Professor in the School of Management at California Lutheran University, where he is the Director of Economics for the CLU Center for Economic Research and Forecasting (CERF) and the Director of CLU's Master of Science in Quantitative Economics (MSQE). In partnership with CERF Director Matthew F…

This conversation with storyteller, award-winning journalist, author, and professor, Starshine Roshell takes us into the world of writing, storytelling and interviewing, and as Starshine is usually the one doing the interviewing, the show has a certain meta quality to it. Starshine has written several books, produces a regular column for the Santa …

In this episode, we meet two amazing women, both winners in their respective categories of the 2018 Spirit of Entrepreneurship Awards. We've been partners with SOE for some time now, and love having these conversations. Both women are remarkably accomplished as you will learn in this spirited episode.Nirasha, the winner in the Hospitality and Touri…

Jan Campbell is the Executive Director of Santa Barbara-based non-profit, Domestic Violence Solutions. Jan gave us a quick update on DVS's history, having been founded with their first shelter in 1977. She also introduced us to a new term: Intimate Partner Violence.She says that the #MeToo movement has raised awareness of this epidemic. Her statist…

I step in when you want to double and triple growth.Diana Pereira is committed to her clients in a way that's inspiring. She's one of the Founders of the Impact Hub in Santa Barbara, and the Founder of Balance Financial Management, located in the Funk Zone of Santa Barbara. We know her from the early days of the Impact Hub when it was still a dream…

We recently had the opportunity to talk with Stephanie Caldwell, a seasoned Chamber of Commerce executive about Ventura and her vision for Main Street. Stephanie understands the small town nature of Ventura and the high percentage of mom and pop businesses. She's also got a lot to say about Growth vs. No Growth conversations and how they affect Ven…

This conversation with Dr. Roger Dunham, who lives here in Santa Barbara, focused on a life well led. He's had three interesting careers; doctor, author, and crewmember aboard a Navy submarine. From medicine to underwater survival aboard a nuclear submarine, from the terrorism of piracy in the South China Sea to survival against the medical forces …

Ashley is an avid sports enthusiast and is an athlete for life. It's no surprise she has remained in the sports industry for over 17 years. Her experience has ranged from Collegiate Volleyball Coach and Youth Development and Program Director to most recently General Manager and her current role as Director of Corporate Development at Sports Academy…

In this candid interview with Dina Landi, the managing partner of Riskin Partners, we learn about the local real estate market and the attraction of people to the region. She explains how the market is complicated and how our coastal lifestyle is one of the main attractors to people in the area.You'll learn what's it's like to be a realtor who focu…

Miguel DeCoste, CPP, has worked in the field of security for over 25 years. He is the founder of Coast Executive Services. His background includes domestic and international Executive Protection, Security Consulting, and Event Security assignments in the private sector – including working in coordination with the USSS and State and Local law enforc…

Dr. George Ayoub is an author, scientist, and educator, experienced in medical research and higher education. He has taught over 10,000 students at colleges and universities and is appreciated for his ability to make things clear for all audiences. He enjoys word plays, gardening, and teaching. His research has identified natural foods that protect…

Alex Cicconi-Kasper, CEO of +Charge, is the winner of the recent Startup Weekend, held in February, at UCSB. He's a second-year College of Creative Studies student and Physicist. He and his team have developed a single-use cell phone charger. In this episode, Alex goes into detail about how they worked as a team over the 56 hours of the weekend to …

Siobhan Holden is a student at Santa Barbara High School and brought cookies to her class one day, and everyone fell in love with them. Sometimes that's all it takes to get that entrepreneurial energy flowing. It turns out that high school kids don't have enough money to afford organic, handmade cookies, so she turned to a broader market and debute…

Jennifer Berger is a native Southern Californian and a third generation Realtor. Following the footsteps of her Grandfather, and Mother, Jen began real estate in 1998 while attending UC Santa Barbara. She graduated in 2000 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Spanish and soon after attained her Real Estate License. Jen began her career in a boutique real es…

Edgar Terry, President, and CFO of Terry Berries comes from a long line of farmers. He has a lifelong interest in finance and teaching. In this episode, Edgar explains the Food System in a way that helps us understand the process of commercial farming in a way that helps us appreciate the complexities of the business.Terry Berries have been a fixtu…

Emily Barany has a great story to tell about how ThomasFireHelp.org started. It was the day after the Thomas Fire had burned through the night and was barreling towards downtown Ventura. She helped a friend evacuate and in the morning started looking for ways to help those affected by the raging fires. She contacted a friend Chris Collier, and toge…

Seth Streeter is a community organizer and CEO of Mission Wealth. Over the past two years, he has led the creation of a significant new effort in Santa Barbara called Sustainable Future. His Advisory Council of 24 civic leaders reads like a local Who's Who. Collaboratively they have found ways to amplify what's happening in the environmental moveme…

Robin Elander is the Executive Director of the Santa Barbara Summer Solstice Celebration. Recently she sat down with Mark and Patrick to talk about the upcoming 3-day festival and the workshop that runs for two months leading up to the big weekend. This year's celebration is June 22-24 in downtown Santa Barbara, ending up at Alameda Park for a well…

Sabith Khan is an Assistant Professor at the School of Management at California Lutheran University. He's passionately interested in what drives us to give our hard-earned money to good causes and how this affects civil society, religion, and politics.Charity and philanthropy are becoming increasingly crucial as fields of study, given the growing i…

Narelle Wickham is a forensic mental health clinician, here visiting Santa Barbara for the summer from Canberra, Australia. This conversation opened up a window into why mental illness is such a driving factor in school violence and how educators can be taught to recognize early warning signs. Narelle became aware of the impact of mental illness an…

Professor Bruce Gillies, PsyD, teaches at the School of Management at California Lutheran University. He came back on the show to tell us about his new book, The 21st Century Career Search Program. He speaks about how the first 90 days on the job is crucial to make sure there's a cultural fit between the employee and the workplace.Bruce is passiona…

Laura Azzalina Rigali is a bundle of energy, and it must be fun to be one of her students. She is an adjunct professor at California Lutheran University, in the School of Management and in a professional capacity she runs a vibrant consultancy called Illuminate CFO, leading workshops and CEO Roundtables. During our conversation she let it slip that…

Aaron Pick, the Chief Operating Officer of award-winning Allen Construction, in Santa Barbara, had an engaging conversation with us, covering areas from LEED construction, the rebuilding of Montecito to his winding journey to Santa Barbara.Dennis Allen, the founder of the firm, is a pioneer in LEED methods of construction and is a thought-leader as…

John Silva is the President and Senior Creative Director of DuPuis Group, based in Ventura, California. They work on branding, innovation and have created several ventures in conjunction with their clients' brands. John is a veteran with 25 years experience of creative problem-solving.The central theme of our conversation was around a shift in what…

We had an excellent, wide-ranging conversation with Phillipa Bisou Della Vina, President of the Santa Barbara Transgender Advocacy Network (SBTAN). She's been deeply involved in this underserved community for the past several years and helped us better appreciate their challenges. There are a lot of new terms to consider during this episode, and we…

Dane Howard is a designer, a dad and a friend of the show. We asked him back to continue our conversation about the importance of design in the workplace. Dane joined us in 2016 when we were first getting started, and we spoke about Design Thinking. You might want to listen to that show right after you've finished this one.I am fascinated with desi…

In this episode of 805conversations, we talk with Business Giving Roundtable members, Kirsten McLaughlin, Market Vice President, COX Communications and Van Haas, Founder, Accountix.The Business Giving Roundtable (BGR) is a growing forum where local business leaders share strategic approaches to corporate social responsibility and employee volunteer…

Karyl Lynn Burns and Jim O'Neil are the co-founders of the Rubicon Theater in downtown Ventura, California. They are celebrating their 20th Anniversary Season with six new shows. They call it "A Season of Enchantment."Jim has a long career in the theater; acting, directing, writing and producing. He's the Artistic Director Emeritus at Rubicon. Kary…

Sara and Garrett are the founders of the afterschool theater program based in Santa Barbara called Collabreations. They teach an ensemble-based creation method rooted in improv techniques. The focus on grades 1-6 and appreciate how much impact they're making in these young lives.Their business is teaching students skills that will serve them well i…

Marsha Bailey, a resident of Santa Barbara since receiving her Masters in Communication from UCSB, leads an organization that's making a difference in the lives of hundreds of emerging entrepreneurs in the region. She's the founder of Women's Economic Ventures, which is the outgrowth of an early interest in the feminization of poverty, the suffrage…

Primo Custodio is the Executive in Residence at California Lutheran Univesity's School of Management. His career of 44 years working in human resources qualifies him to bring real-world experience into the classroom.Primo has seen it all as it relates to Talent Management, starting with his first job at Yosemite where he eventually became the head …

Dan Weeks has precisely the type of personality you want in a mentor. Upbeat, optimistic, boundless business savvy and is a committed citizen. Dan spent most of his career at HP, which was famous for their corporate culture, The HP Way. Dan started off our interview by reciting their core idea: Catch people doing something right. He's a part of SLO…

Joanne Kuchera-Morin is on the faculty at UCSB and is the Professor of Media Arts and Technology and the Director of the Allosphere. Her facility is in the same building as the California Nanosystems Institute. She's been on the cutting edge of digital media for many years. She gave a TED talk in Long Beach on the Allosphere in 2009.She started lea…

Sean Bhardwaj is the Founder and CEO of Aspire3, based at the Ventura Ventures Technology Center. He sat with Mark and Patrick to talk about his view of what entrepreneurs need to be successful and the program he's created to deliver the missing pieces.Sean looks at the intersection of education and entrepreneurship and how the missing piece in a l…

Yelena Lipovetskaya wants to make an impact in the world. And her company Cospheric is doing just that, one microsphere at a time.Yelena is from Ukraine and works at the micro-level of manufacturing. We've had other companies that build things on the how, but not someone who makes a product that is 1/1000 of the width of a human hair. Not quite nan…

Dusty Stutsman is the co-founder of Nightout.com and SBMenus. One could say they backed into the business when they saw a gap in the market. He and partner Bryan Brand, noticed that one page on SBMenus.com was getting a lot of traction. People were spending more time on the Bar Specials and Entertainment page which got them to thinking, "What if we…

Theo Stephan, the founder and life force behind Global Gardens tells us a great story of how she's brought her Greek culture and passion for food to Los Olivos. Theo is interested in permaculture, resilience, and food. She trained as a graphic designer and escaped LA a couple of decades ago. She's been an entrepreneur since she was eight (selling s…

Grandmaster Dave Wheaton, a past guest on the show, joined us to talk about aging and his hero Jack LaLanne. Dave is the founder of Hapkido International and is in the Martial Arts Hall of Fame. He sat down to talk with Mark and Patrick about his wellness regimen and a recent trip to Japan where he embarked on the Samurai Trail (Nakasendo Way).Dave…

Doug Margerum was honored as the 2017 Vintner of the Year by the Arthritis Foundation and recently took time to chat with Mark and Patrick about Santa Barbara County winemaking. Doug's been involved in hospitality since his early days at UCSB, the Lobster House, in Santa Barbara and Borsodis (great coffee house in the 70's in Isla Vista). He's been…

Kerri Murray, the President of ShelterBox USA, was late to our recording session because she was on the phone all morning with FEMA. Her organization was one of the many NGO's responding to Hurricane Harvey that was poised to hit the south Texas coast in hours. We gave her a pass and hope that people are as safe as they can be in this natural disas…