Business Rockstars

Jason Silberberg is the Co-Founder and CEO of Nabthat, a service platform, that is revolutionizing the way consumers interact with dealerships when looking to purchase or lease a new vehicle. Nabthat removes the burden of going from dealership to dealership looking for the best deal and allows consumers to request a vehicle (by naming their terms) or schedule a test drive from the comfort of their home (or anywhere with internet connection). All interaction is anonymous, eliminating the bombardment of unwanted phone calls and emails from dealerships. Nabthat currently has more than 100 Los Angeles and Orange County dealerships participating on their platform, ranging from Fiat to Porsche. Nabthat is creating a consumer experience that is unrivaled to anything else on the market. Mr. Silberberg is a successful and seasoned executive with experience in various fields such as entertainment, distribution, logistics, digital media, telecommunications and software. He has over 15 years of experience with developing

While having difficulty getting a table at a local pool hall with one of his friends, David Houston decided he should open a pool hall. In 1989, David opened Q's Billiard Club that is still in its current location today. In 1999, long-time Los Angeles eatery Barney's Beanery came on the market. David jumped at the chance to purchase the restaurant-bar hybrid and has gone on to expand the brand by opening locations in Santa Monica, Pasadena, Burbank and Westwood. Barney's Beanery employs a staff of about 400 that includes a managerial staff including Human Resources and Regional Managers. Today our listeners get to learn how to transition from one business to another, how to make it smooth, and keep it running like a well oiled machine!So young but so successful!l Jerry will help our up and coming entrepreneur listeners find their path in the business world! Jerry Jao, CEO and co-founder of Retention Science, a retention-marketing business. Jao has co-founded two other ecommerce marketing companies, including

Howard Marks is Co-Chair of Start Engine and CEO of Gamzee. Howard is an incredibly successful technology entrepreneur that has worked with a number of companies specializing in the video game, online gaming, social gaming and internet education industry. He is also working as the CEO of Gamzee, a company he founded in April 2011 with the stated goal of disrupting the gaming industry by making games that anyone can play anywhere, anytime, and on any device. In 2005, Howard founded Acclaim Games. After its acquisition by Playdom, he became head of the Acclaim studio and Sr. VP, Strategic Planning at Disney Interactive Media Group. Howard got his start in 1983 while a student at the University of Michigan. In 1991 as a co-founder, member of the board of directors and Executive Vice-President of Activision, Howard helped turn a brand that was largely viewed as dead weight into the leading powerhouse of the video game industry.Sometimes there just aren't any products out there that fit a specific need, like soap

Richard “Ribbs” Gibbs (born in 1955 in Bay Village, Ohio) is an American film composer and music producer whose credits include the films Sweet Hearts Dance, Dr. Dolittle, Big Momma's House, The Book of Stars, Queen of the Damned and the television series Battlestar Galactica.Gibbs was the keyboard player for the New Wave band Oingo Boingo from 1980 to 1984. He was also a session player, performing on over 150 albums for artists as diverse as War, Tom Waits, Boy Meets Girl, Living in a Box, Robert Palmer, and Aretha Franklin. He also started with Michael Jochum the band Zuma II, which had an eponymously titled record released by Pasha/CBS Records. He has appeared live with Korn, The Staples, Chaka Khan, and Oingo Boingo.Have you ever run into issues with group scheduling? Look no further! We have our expert in to shed some light on this ever growing issue. Hunter Gray is founder and CEO of Klutch (Calaborate, Inc). Backed by Los Angeles' #1 accelerator, LaunchpadLA, Klutch solves the incredibly painful and wi

Sabrina Kay is committed to returning the American educational system to its former glory by introducing new learning models and connecting the workforce with classrooms. Her quest answers the seemingly logical question: Why wait until college students have already graduated to give them work-based training? Her goal is to use the Penn's learning model as a framework, conduct further research, perfect the model, and enhance students' social mobility and opportunity through education. The laboratory of her ambition is Fremont College. Dr. Sabrina Kay became Chancellor of Fremont College in 2007 and targeted nontraditional students, teaching them through collaboration and real-world cases to navigate the issues that impact everyday work life. According to Sabrina, "We're on this earth as stewards of life for a small period of time. The difference we can make is through becoming part of others' inspiration and helping make their dreams and aspirations into reality." She feels incredibly lucky that, through her w

Ralph Simon is widely recognized as one of the founders of the modern global mobile entertainment and content industry. He has been a prominent mobile visionary, trailblazer and innovator for the past decade, helping grow the world-wide mobile/wireless content and entertainment industries, and playing a central role in helping an international array of companies, start-ups, technologists and creative innovators to grow their mobile applicability and stickiness in the established and fast-developing international markets. He has become popularly known as “the father of the ring tone” – starting the first ring tone company which came to fruition in Santa Monica nearly two decades ago.Paul Hibler does not call himself a chef, but he’s been in the food-service business for more than 25 years, and can still be found tossing dough in the back of the house at his Pitfire Artisan Pizza restaurants and collaborating with culinarians through his American Gonzo Food Corporation restaurant group. His career in the hospit

Fred Joyal is an entrepreneur who partnered with Gary Saint Denis in 1986 to form the successful dental referral service, 1-800-DENTIST. Today he serves as the CEO of Futuredontics, Inc., which operates 1-800-DENTIST as well as several other brands, and is regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on dental consumer marketing. Joyal is widely regarded as one of the leading experts in dental consumer marketing. He writes regular articles for industry trade magazines on the subjects of marketing and advertising, and he has authored two detailed whitepapers and a book on dental marketing. Joyal is also highly sought after as a lecturer and has given marketing talks at many dental trade shows and seminars. In addition, Joyal operates GoAskFred.com, a complimentary website where he answers dental marketing questions submitted by dentists and provides free marketing tips to dental professionals. It includes a monthly blog and a series of short marketing videos.Following the success of their first handbag ventu

Leslie Greif is an Emmy® and Golden Globe® nominated producer, creator, writer and director and is one of the most prolific figures in the entertainment industry. Leslie has a tremendous amount of versatility and production experience, and is a top creator of high-quality entertainment content across a diverse range of both scripted and unscripted productions. Greif has hit various milestones over his career and produced various worldwide super-hits including eight seasons of the classic crime drama Walker, Texas Ranger starring Chuck Norris. Greif produced and directed the highly acclaimed documentary Brando, starring Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Martin Scorsese, Sean Penn and Robert Duvall, which garnered him an Emmy® nomination for his work. In addition, he executive produced seven seasons of the longest running celebrity docu-series, Gene Simmons Family Jewels. As well as the preeminent mini-series Hatfields & McCoys, which received 16 Emmy® nominations, garnering five wins and two Golden Globe® nods, with

Scott Page is a technologist, entrepreneur, musician and songwriter. Page is most recognized as the saxophonist for Pink Floyd, Supertramp and Toto. As an entrepreneur, he formed Walt Tucker Productions an audio video post production company in 1987. In 1992, he Co-founded 7th Level, Inc., a CD-ROM game and educational software company. Later, Page Co-founded New Media Broadcasting Company, a social media and collaborative communications enterprise. Since 2011, he has been the Co-founder and CEO of Direct2Care, an online presence management company for healthcare.Scott Page has received several acknowledgments and awards, primarily for his technology companies’ achievements. Dr. Andrew Thorn provides behavioral based leadership strategies to individuals who are seeking to bring their personal and professional responsibilities into full harmony. This can be one of the hardest things to accomplish if you are an entrepreneur. Let’s learn how to keep ourselves and our business organized and professional! Andrew’s

Few young women are offered the choice between a career in basketball or fashion. thinkThin® founder and CEO Lizanne Falsetto chose fashion and embarked on a successful business chapter that took her to live and work in Japan, Paris, Milan, New York, Australia and Madrid. From both sports and fashion, she gained a deep knowledge and understanding of nutrition and its role in health. From her Italian grandparents, however, she developed a great respect and love for real food – freshly picked from the garden and brought to the table for nourishing conversation and warm family laughter. Besides being a businesswoman and mother of two, Lizanne is a passionate philanthropist dedicated to fighting and creating awareness for diseases like obesity and diabetes. She has also raised over $250,000 for research and education related to cancer and other epidemics. In 2010, Lizanne was awarded the prestigious Leadership Award from The National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO-LA) for outstanding leadership in 20

Serial entrepreneur T.K. Pillan was sick of pizza. So, he opened The Veggie Grill. The venture is the brainchild of Kevin Boylan, once a financier and a senior executive at Drexel Burnham Lambert; T.K. Pillan, who co-founded Guidance Solutions, a firm that designs e-commerce websites; and Ray White. This is the definition of "seeing a problem and fixing it." Pillan and Boylan explains how they were able to create such a successful business in an industry with only a 5% success rate!Before Blake Andrews became the CEO of Giveback Homes he embarked on a mission trip that became a life mission. Born and raised in Corpus TX, Blake is defined by his courageous entrepreneurship and vision for turning the real estate community, home buyers and home sellers into humanitarians and home givers. Blake's light bulb moment happened when he reached out to his good friend- - the founder and chief shoe giver of TOMS, Blake Mycoskie to ask if he could work at TOMS to learn about social entrepreneurship. As a partner at Giveba

A graduate of Harvard Business School Ken Kragen‘s illustrious career far transcends the music and entertainment industries where he has spent many incredibly successful years. He has managed some of the world’s most important entertainers, including Kenny Rogers, Lionel Richie, Trisha Yearwood, Olivia Newton John, The Bee Gees, Burt Reynolds, The Smothers Brothers and many others. He was the creator and organizer of ”We Are the World”, “Hands Across America”, and Cisco System’s ”NetAid”. Amazingly over 95% of the acts he managed have become stars, and 90% of the projects he created and spearheaded have achieved success.Jason Zdenek completed his BS in Mechanical Engineering from UCLA while on full scholarship as a defensive back for the Bruins football team. After several years in the lighting industry Jason, recognizing a need for professional expertise, quality and service, founded Mobile Illumination in 2001. Early on Jason filled every role and wore many hats while relying heavily on his siblings and par

Clients, agencies, media and academic institutions call upon Sasha Strauss‘ award-winning forums worldwide; from Romania to China, Switzerland to Mexico. Media channels like National Public Radio (NPR), Forbes and The Wall Street Journal seek his expertise on branding everything from presidential candidates to innovative start-ups and Fortune 500s. He has keynoted with notable speakers such as Magic Johnson, Tony Hsieh, Frank Gehry, Biz Stone and Simon Sinek. With nearly two decades in strategic brand development, Mr. Strauss has built brands at the world’s leading advertising, PR, marketing and branding agencies.Being an entrepreneur doesn’t mean you need to have a ton of money and wrinkles on your forehead! More and more these days young adults are encouraged to go the “start your own business” route. And Mark A. Lack is leading the way! Mr. Lack is the Founder and CEO of The Peak Performance Club, which is The Nation's Preeminent Coaching Company for Young Adults and Young Entrepreneurs. Mark is an author,

Keith Chambers has assisted more than five hundred goods and service providers in formulating their marketing approach, including Clorox, Del Monte, Campbell’s, Coppertone, Arm &Hammer, Sparkletts, Hormel, Scotch-Brite, and Equal.He has helped brands as varied as Claritin and the Miss America Pageant develop and convey their product message to the consumer.The firm began as a successful package design studio for brands such as Coca Cola Foods, Van de Kamps, and Minute Maid.The world could use more Kathryn Finneys! Kathryn reaches into the urban community to help entrepreneurs get their business started, and now you get to learn from on the industries best! Kathryn Finney is the founder and Managing Director of digitalundivided (DID), a social enterprise which develops programs that increase the participation of urban communities, especially women, in the digital space. DID’s programs have reached over 4 million people. In 2013, Kathryn received the Champions of Change Award from The White House for her wo

Todd Greene is the inventor and founder of HeadBlade, the leader in headcare. Todd began shaving his head on-and-off in 1993 and made the decision to go “shaved” every day in 1995. After years of shaving his head with a standard razor, Todd created an ergonomic handle that was compatible with standard razor cartridges. An entrepreneur at heart, Todd took his original razor and created a company based on the design. HeadBlade has now been in existence for over 10 years, sold over 1 million units of razors and can be purchased in over 10,000 stores. The original HeadBlade drew the attention of the press and began winning numerous awards and honors for its unique and ergonomic design, including the IDSA Silver Award in 2000 for Product Design, and Time Magazine named it one of the “Ten Best Designs of 2000.” HeadBlade has also been cited in a number of case studies and books, including Design Secrets: Products and Gadget Nation for its innovative designs. If you have a passion for Culinary arts do not miss this

Honestly what else can you say about this absolute visionary! Take your pick out of a hat and Mr.Kaku can teach you! Dr. Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist, best-selling author, acclaimed public speaker, and popularizer of science. A co-founder of string field theory, Kaku resumes Einstein’s quest to unite the four fundamental forces of nature into a single grand unified theory of everything. Michio continues Einstein’s search for a “Theory of Everything,” seeking to unify the four fundamental forces of the universe—the strong force, the weak force, gravity and electromagnetism. This is a rare opportunity that will cover all aspects of life. If you have a question, about, well… anything, do not miss this interview!Creator of Level Up Adventures, Justin Halliwell knows he has created something special, “I grew up reading comic books, playing video games, going to the movies, watching people and characters do amazing things.” Halliwell continues, “The problem though, was that I couldn’t do those things and

As soon as you hear Akon’s voice, you know it’s him.His shimmering, soulful voice has propelled countless hits across genres—from pop and R&B to hip hop and dance. In addition to his own chart-dominating singles “Smack That” and “I Wanna Love You”, he’s made a staggering 300 guest appearances for icons including Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Gwen Stefani, Lil Wayne, R. Kelly, and Eminem. With 35 million albums sold worldwide, five Grammy Award nominations, and 45 Billboard Hot 100 songs under his belt, he’s simply unstoppable. Once Akon reached the top, he went even further landing on a global path set for fourth full-length album and latest opus 2012′s Stadium [Universal Republic Records].A truly incredible story about an emotional business turnaround. Do not miss this uplifting story.Patrick Rettig is the story, an exposé of a man who is absolutely the last stop for a business owner in financial turmoil. This particular time in the life of an entrepreneur is the quintessential heartbreak of dreams and hop

Adam Fields began his career at Creative Artists Agency. He then joined PolyGram Pictures and within one year became the Executive Vice President of Production at age 24. While working with Jon Peters and Peter Guber at PolyGram, Fields supervised a number of pictures including An American Werewolf in London, Six Weeks, Missing, and Endless Love. He also served as the Executive Producer of the soundtrack album and single on the latter film which at the time became the longest running number one single in history. Fields subsequently supervised the multi-platinum soundtrack for the film, Flashdance, which was a vital factor in that film’s extraordinary box office success.Creating a product that has arguably been perfected ages ago seems like a daunting task ! But not to Tawnya! A few years ago, Tawnya Falkner took the leap and gave up her career as a designer/developer in San Francisco to move to Nuits St Georges in Burgundy, France to follow her passion relating to travel, food & making wine. The result i

John Cochran is Chief Executive Officer of Ole Smoky where he brings extensive experience in the beverage business. John comes to Ole Smoky from AquaHydrate Inc., where he was CEO and a member of its Board of Directors for the past sixteen months.Before being named CEO of the Southern California-based water brand in January 2012, Mr. Cochran was CEO of the Pabst Brewing Company, the largest American owned beer company in the United States. In his capacity as CEO, Mr. Cochran oversaw the 30+ brands in the Pabst Brewing Company portfolio including Pabst Blue Ribbon, Lone Star, Colt 45, and Old Milwaukee.Based in Los Angeles and a Co-Founder of 3 companies: Jet Luxury Resorts, JetLuxInc and TriWorth. Steve Aylsworth is a key leader of the executive team. Always the optimist, Mr. Aylsworth brings an unbelievable enthusiastic and positive attitude to his organizations. His sales and management experience has helped shape Jet Luxury Resorts to be a leader in the hospitality industry. So how did Steve do it? How did

Today we are joined by two visionaries! Kross Precision is quickly gaining popularity. So how do you take a product that has seemingly been re-invented year after year and make it better? Sometimes great idea's have already been made public, and "seem" perfect the way they are, but every once in a while they need to be improved! Enter Kross Precision's Baller Bag, a new backpack for athlete, adventurers, and anyone one who needs a little more room. Les and Steve give us the inside scoop on tricks to their success and what you need to succeed in your business! Kross Precision is quickly gaining popularity. So how do you take a product that has seemingly been re-invented year after year and make it better? Sometimes great idea's have already been made public, and "seem" perfect the way they are, but every once in a while they need to be improved! Enter Kross Precisions Baller Bag, a new backpack for athlete, adventurers, and anyone one who needs a little more room. Les and Steve give us the inside scoop on tr