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Following the eBook launch (One Network, One Truth), we have invited Michael Schlagel to talk about it broadly. Michael Schlagel is the VP of Sales Americas Telecoms at VertiGIS, where he helps customers across various industries leverage the power of geographic information systems (GIS) to optimize their operations, enhance their decision-making, and improve their bottom line. With over 20 years of professional sales experience and 8 years of sales management experience, Michael has a proven record of increasing sales volume and market share, while delivering exceptional customer satisfaction.

In this Uncaged, we had Remy Scalza and Caroline Carter-Smith as guets. Both are co-founders of CSuite Content, an executive communications firm I established in 2015. This boutique agency works exclusively with CEOs and senior leaders on thought leadership and executive visibility — one of the first of its kind. Big companies find them when they’re ready to work with a highly specialized team of expert writers, thoughtful social media strategists, and trusted senior advisors who care intensely about results. Before founding CSuite Content, Remy built his career as a journalist, contributing to publications including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Globe and Mail. After years of interviewing executives across a wide range of industries, he recognized that many accomplished leaders struggled to communicate their ideas in a way that reflected their expertise and differentiated them from their peers. That insight led him to establish CSuite Content, where he has spent the past decade helping leaders at fast-growing startups, Fortune 500 companies, and global enterprises develop thought leadership programs that support business growth, strengthen executive visibility, and drive meaningful media opportunities. Before CSuite, Caroline worked in lifestyle and tech PR and spent time as a broadcast journalist, which gave her a low tolerance for jargon and a strong bias toward clarity. She is a compulsive strategist and always seeking out the most compelling narrative and story.

As a seasoned go-to-market strategist, Carol Ann is passionate about products that serve patients, alongside of exceptional marketing programs to deepen the human connection. She has had the privilege to serve in leadership roles for fortune 500 companies including Merck, Abbott, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol Myers-Squibb and LabCorp. -- Carol Ann has launched over 40 products and related HCP strategies across multiple markets including Pharma, Medical Devices, Diagnostics, Women's Health and the Cosmetics' industry. She recently assumed the role of CEO and board member at PRP Concepts, a biologics company focused on regenerative medicine to heal chronic wounds, primarily diabetic foot ulcers. Their flagship product, Cascade is an autologous platelet system that uses the patients own plasma to create a fibrin membrane that acts as a vital scaffold, rich with the patients own growth factors to deliver sustained wound healing.

TYRA JONES-HURST serves as Managing Partner and ELT member at OLIVER North America (The Brandtech Group), reporting into regional leadership and stewarding multimillion-dollar portfolios within $80B+ revenue organizations across luxury, beauty, and consumer brands including Unilever, L’Oréal & Pernod Ricard. She's also the founder of IBeJonesing, her personal brand as a corporate activist, and InKroud, a cultural marketing advisory exploring how inclusive strategy and cultural intelligence shape the next generation of brands. Tyra's work sits at the intersection of creativity, technology & human insight. She helps organizations integrate AI, scale modern content systems, develop cultural intelligence, and build inclusive leadership structures that unlock innovation and commercial growth.

Jeanine Moss is the co-founder of Outfront Solutions. Jeanine has founded six companies and guided more than 50 into new markets, which means she understands what it takes to launch, lead, and make something matter. She has also been in the room where the stakes were highest: rebuilding New York City's global reputation, leading the truth-telling strategy for The September 11th Fund, standing up the Pentagon's first strategic communications function. She has spent her career walking into the moments that matter most - when a city needs to believe in itself again, when a nation needs to understand how to grieve and heal, when a technology is about to change everything, when a category doesn't yet have a name. For leaders building something consequential - reimagining a category, navigating a market transition, solving problems that don't have obvious answers - Jeanine is the curious, truth-seeking strategist who finds the human story that moves people. Jeanine doesn't just advise. She leads teams to the clarity they need, then roll up my sleeves and do the work - figuring out what to communicate, when, where, and to whom. Strategy and execution have always been inseparable for her.

As the CEO and Co‑Founder of Cornerstone Information Technologies, LLC (Cornerstone.IT), Jim Moreo has spent two decades specializing exclusively in the legal vertical, serving as a Trusted Technology Advisor to Managing Partners, COOs, and Executive Directors at small‑to‑midsize law firms (20–200 attorneys).Cornerstone.IT was founded as a remote work pioneer in 2003, and Jim's mission is to simplify the most complex IT challenges while providing maximum value and security.

With over 30 years of experience in banking and equipment finance, Jeffry is passionate about leveraging his knowledge to help grow their industry and help underserved businesses receive the funding they need.Jeffry founded Elevex Capital, LLC (ElCap), a leading commercial equipment financing provider. Based in Westlake, Ohio, ElCap leverages advanced technology to deliver fast, flexible financing solutions across North America, including to underserved industries.Throughout his career, Jeffry has held leadership roles at Security Pacific, U.S. Bank, and Huntington Bank, where he built and led one of the largest bank-owned equipment leasing divisions in the U.S.

Nicole DeMeo is the co-founder of Outfront Solutions. She describes herself as a strategic advisor, CMO/CSO, growth partner for founders who don’t have time to waste, and thought partner to CEOs. Over the last two decades, Nicole has helped raise nearly $500M, led global go-to-market strategies, and sat on both sides of the table — as a VC, fund advisor, M&A lead as well as operator, and brand builder. She has worked under legends like Steve Jobs, Eric Schmidt and Chris Foster, launched industry-defining technologies, and guided startups from stealth to scale across five continents. Nicole has also helped companies like Apple, Accenture, Redfin, and Omnicom and countless start-ups navigate growth, repositioning, and expansion in competitive markets.

Lauren Boyer is the CEO of Underscore Marketing. She has spent her career building media strategies where accountability matters. Lauren entered digital in the 90s, when it was still unproven, and helped launch some of the earliest first-of-kind initiatives, including the first digital campaign for SmithKline Beecham, the first Medicare Supplement website for Independence Blue Cross, and major consumer healthcare launches such as Advil PM and multiple Centrum extensions. Those experiences shaped her belief that innovation only works when it’s grounded in disciplined strategy and measurable impact. Since 2007, Lauren has led Underscore Marketing with a clear conviction and focus in rare disease and specialty pharma, delivering media is stewardship. When audiences are measured in hundreds or low thousands, precision is not optional. It’s a responsibility. They have built Underscore to be analytically rigorous, strategically grounded, and relentlessly outcome-driven, the kind of agency she wanted when she was on the client side. Recognized for entrepreneurial leadership and active in EO and the QuantumShift Fellowship, Lauren is most motivated by raising standards, for clients, for patients, and for the teams they build.

Pamela Noble serves as Managing Director, President, and Chief Operating Officer at The Christopher Group, where she partners with boards, CEOs, and CHROs to identify, select, and develop transformational HR leaders who operate as enterprise business executives. Her work is grounded in elevating Human Resources as a true strategic function—one that drives performance, shapes culture, and enables sustainable growth across middle market and Fortune 1000 organizations. Pamela is a seasoned business leader with more than two decades of experience serving as a Chief People Officer, CHRO, Global Vice President of Human Resources, and Chief Talent Officer. She has led in global, multi site, high growth, and transformation environments, where translating strategy into execution is critical. Pamela focuses on turning business priorities into clear expectations, aligned leadership behaviors, and operating rhythms that enable teams to deliver. Her experience spans organizational design, leadership development, succession planning, workforce strategy, and M&A integration. Her work sits at the intersection of business and humanity. She believes performance and accountability are directly tied to how people experience leadership, decision-making, and a sense of belonging. Pamela is often described as someone who connects the dots and brings clarity to complexity, helping organizations understand not just what the strategy is, but why it matters and how each individual contributes. When that clarity is present, engagement deepens, accountability strengthens, and leadership teams perform at a higher level. In addition to her operational leadership and executive search work, Pamela serves as a board advisor and executive coach. She partners with senior leaders as they navigate complexity, growth, and change, focusing on inclusive leadership and the application of social and emotional intelligence. She sees these not as soft skills, but as essential leadership capabilities that enable effective governance, resilient cultures, and long-term success. Her goal is always to move leaders from awareness to action, ensuring that values are not just stated, but consistently reflected in decisions, behaviors, and results.

Brett Hysinger is an accomplished executive with a proven track record of leading corporate growth strategies and full P&L ownership. He brings deep experience managing global infrastructures, diverse teams, and complex modernization initiatives, consistently implementing industry best practices and scalable business standards to drive enterprise-wide impact.Highly skilled at unifying disparate technologies and cross-functional teams into high-performing business units, Brett delivers efficient, innovative solutions under tight timelines and limited resources. He is known for developing long-range vision and translating strategy into execution with clarity, discipline, and results.Grounded in faith, deeply committed to family, and disciplined through fitness, Brett leads with integrity, resilience, and accountability. He believes strong values buildstrong teams and sustainable organizations, and his leadership style reflects a balance of conviction, empathy, and operational excellence.

Dr. Ron Najafi is the Founder and CEO of Emery Pharma, a FDA registered/inspected, DEA licensed, and cGMP/GLP compliant full service contract research laboratory specializing in microbiology & cell-biology testing, medicinal chemistry, analytical chemistry, and bio-analytical services. Ron helps preclinical and clinical-stage biotech CSOs, Lab Directors, and drug development leaders solve the complex analytical and regulatory bottlenecks that delay IND filings and clinical timelines. As the Founder and CEO of Emery Pharma, he combines scientific expertise with the business perspective of a former public life sciences CEO. They do not just run assays; they solve difficult analytical chemistry, bioanalysis, and nitrosamine challenges with speed and regulatory rigor.

ABOUT THIS EPISODEBant Breen talks with Chris Copeland, Founder and Managing Director of Clubmoss, about buying, operating, and governing the businesses a community would actually miss.Chris makes the case for "investing in community anchors, not overleverage and optimize to flip as a target": the early childhood education facilities, specialty contractors, and utility services firms in the sub-$2M profit range that are too small for institutional capital, large enough to carry real management, and often owned by someone in their sixties with no succession plan. He lays out the three theses Clubmoss is focused on, education services, utility and infrastructure services, and business services, and why AI belongs in the back end of all three rather than in the pitch.He also walks through two acquisitions that died in diligence, including one where the seller chose him over higher all-cash offers, and what actually killed each of them. Neither reason was price.The conversation closes on governance, where Chris argues most boards have confused following the rules with providing oversight. His framing: you are responsible for overseeing an organization you do not run, using information handed to you by the people you are overseeing. Same problem, he says, as buying a business.Topics: small business acquisition, community anchors, seller psychology, due diligence, AI in traditional industries, corporate governance, board oversight, CEO succession planning.ABOUT CHRIS COPELANDChris Copeland works at the intersection of ownership, strategy, and long-term stewardship, on a path that runs from a nuclear control room to the boardroom. He studied at Morehouse, MIT, and Harvard, researched at domestic and international laboratories, practiced in a zero-failure-tolerance environment as a federally certified Senior Reactor Operator and evaluator at the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, and spent nearly a decade at McKinsey advising CEOs and boards across infrastructure, logistics, utilities, and education.He advises through Clubmoss Consulting, McKinsey, and Atlanta Tech Village, and serves on the boards of GreenLight Fund Atlanta, Utopian Academy for the Arts, and Neighborhood Nexus. He is based in Atlanta.FIND CHRISClubmoss: club-moss.comLinkedIn: Chris CopelandEarn and Own: earnandown.substack.comClubmoss Consulting: clubmossconsulting.substack.comCope with Chris: copewithchris.substack.com

Jason Cole is the Founder & CEO of Cole Audio and Video, a New York-based technology integration firm specializing in lighting control, window treatment and audio and video for luxury residential and elevated commercial environments.Since founding the company in 2003, Jason has focused on helping homeowners, architects, designers, and builders integrate technology that elevates and eases the function and experience of a space. Collaborating closely with the design team, Jason begins by defining the desired lived experience.  Function and aesthetics play a key role with technology only deployed when it supports the project's goals.Service matters. The experience ownership and the design team have during a project matters. With 25 years in business, Jason has developed project management, trade coordination, timing and logistics that show every step of a project.Reliability and usability matter.  A successful Cole Audio Video project lack the need for ongoing services or subscriptions.  Function leans heavily into tactile buttons and easy to use, highly reliable technology in the background.

Jeff Cates is the CEO of ContactMonkey, where they're on a mission to turn internal communications from a guessing game into a strategic business driver. They help internal comms and HR teams create engaging communications, deliver them where employees already are — including Outlook and Gmail — and measure what actually resonates. Jeff believes strong leadership starts with strong communication — and that the best organizations are ones where employees feel informed, connected, and aligned around what matters most. Before ContactMonkey, he was CEO of Achievers, helping organizations strengthen employee engagement and recognition. Before that, Jeff was President and CEO of Intuit Canada, leading Canadian operations and global expansion. Earlier leadership roles at Apple Canada and Hewlett-Packard gave him experience across go-to-market strategy, sales, marketing, product management, and P&L leadership in consumer, SMB, enterprise, and government markets.