ROI’s Into the Corner Office Podcast: Powerhouse Middle Market CEOs Telling it Real—Unexpected Caree...

Ralph Taylor, CEO, Sysmex America, Inc.

Ralph is responsible for the day-to-day management and strategy for the region. Ralph is responsible for strategic growth of the flow cytometry and Latin America business within Sysmex. Since joining in 2007, Ralph has delivered a high level of clinical product innovation, business development, and customer care. His accomplishments include leading the team responsible for bringing to market the XN-Series analyzer in the Americas, a scalable, automated laboratory solution that was quickly adopted in the hematology marketplace, which grew the Sysmex market share in the U.S. and Latin America. Early in his career at Sysmex, Ralph established the first scientific marketing group and through the years led numerous strategic partnerships for Sysmex America, Inc. Prior to joining Sysmex, Ralph served as Vice President of Cellular Analysis Strategic Marketing at Beckman Coulter, formerly the Coulter Corporation, where he worked for nineteen years. Ralph is active in community/industry associations and has served as a member of the MBA industry advisory board for FIU, in Florida. Mr. Taylor is also a Board Member of AdvaMed Dx. He holds a graduate management degree from the University of Greenwich, London and an undergraduate degree in Medical Laboratory Sciences from Paddington College, London.

Darryl Lyons, CEO, PAX Financial Group

Darryl Lyons, Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and a Behavioral Financial Advisor (BFA), is considered an expert in the area of personal finance and author of several books; his latest was endorsed by Dave Ramsey. Darryl’s company PAX Financial Group has made the Inc. 5000 fastest growing companies in the country. Author, entrepreneur, community leader, and family man, Darryl wears many hats and understands what it takes to plan for financial freedom. Among his many accolades, Darryl is most proud of the San Antonio Business Journal naming PAX Financial one of the best places to work. He was also a nominee of the John C. Maxwell Leadership Award and recipient of the Small Business Person of the Year award for mentoring others. Darryl was also recognized by the State of Texas and Mayor Ivy Taylor. A community leader, Mayor Julian Castro recognized Darryl for his involvement in redeveloping a part of the city by naming a park, the Darryl W. Lyons park, in his honor. Darryl’s latest mission is to help redefine retirement where we no longer think of retiring but rather PIVOT into the next chapter of life with purpose. This idea is rooted in thousands of one on one conversations with people about money and a relatively new study called behavioral finance.

Mark O‘Brien, Former CEO, Mizuno USA

Mark most recently served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Mizuno USA as well as the Chairman and Officer of Mizuno Canada. He has extensive experience and expertise in leading, transforming and or revitalizing mature, rapid growth and new businesses across a variety of industries and well known brands including Mizuno, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, HoneyBaked Ham, Johnsonville Sausage, Miller Lite, Icehouse, GMR Marketing, the Houston Rockets of the NBA and a few minor league baseball teams. Mark's servant leadership style is based on a disciplined approach to people, planning, and execution. He is an accomplished strategic business leader and marketer focused on cultivating and championing a culture of teamwork and collaboration. A graduate of St. Norbert College, Mark pursued his Master's in Sports Management from Georgia Southern University prior to launching his career. He and his bride, MJ and their four daughters are avid Packers fans and reside in Milton, GA. To learn more or get connected, Mark can be reached on LinkedIn or at MarkMOBrien.com.

Ed Eiland, CEO, Vital Care Inc.

Ed Eiland, Pharm.D., MBA, BCPS, FASHP serves as Vital Care Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer. He leads the company with the vision of caring about every patient with an understanding that what we do is truly vital. He manages with the mission for Vital Care to be the premier national network of individually owned infusion providers by offering comprehensive business solutions, clinical tools, revenue cycle management, franchise support, and total resource access. This holistic approach results in happy franchise owners and healthy patients across our network of over 60 locations in nearly two dozen states. Providing home infusion access to more patients across the United States is why we do what we do. Dr. Eiland is a member of Vital Care’s nutrition, clinical and revenue qualification teams. He is a Fellow of ASHP and has served as president of the Alabama Society of Health-System Pharmacists. He served on the ASHP Council on Therapeutics, and he received an ASHP Best Practices Award for his studies in Clostridium difficile infections. He has published his findings and observations in over 20 journals and has authored over 100 posters at various local, state, and national pharmacy and medical meetings. Prior to joining Vital Care, Dr. Eiland was the clinical practice and business supervisor for Huntsville Hospital for 13 years. While there, he became Board Certified in infectious diseases, and he served on the 24-hour nutrition support and pharmacokinetics team. He managed parenteral nutrition, enteral nutrition, anti-infectives, IV cardiac inotropes, factor dosing, and other therapies utilized both in the acute care and alternate site of care. Dr. Eiland received his Pharm.D. from the University of Texas and completed a PGY-2 residency at the Audie L. Murphy Memorial VA Hospital in San Antonio, TX. He obtained his MBA from Auburn University. He was born and raised in North Louisiana and is married to a Texan, Dr. Lea Eiland, who serves as a Clinical Professor and Associate Department Head at Auburn University, Harrison School of Pharmacy. Ed and Lea enjoy spending time with family, enjoying the outdoors, and floating their boats on the water.

Kristen Knox, VP Global Marketing, ACIST Medical Systems

Kristen is an accomplished executive with vast experience in marketing, sales, business development, board management, strategic planning, and M& A. Kristen’s personal motto in life is to “Be Kind, Work Hard and Have Fun!” Building and leading great teams is her favorite part of the job. Kristen was the President & CEO Data Sciences International (DSI) and led a successful exit for its investors in January of 2018. In her 20-year career, she has delivered results for Mayo Clinic, Otto Bock Healthcare, and Coloplast where she helped develop and promote products to progress healthcare. She is highly motivated by advancing healthcare and aligns herself with companies with missions to improve lives. Kristen has a B.A. from the University of St. Thomas and is a proud Tommies fan; she received her MBA from Cardinal Stritch University. Kristen is married to Zach, and both originally hail from Austin, MN. When they’re not watching their two energetic boys playing hockey or baseball, you’ll find the family at the lake, where Kristen will be rocking flip flops and a baseball hat.

Simon Lee, CEO, Buy On Purpose

Entrepreneur, philanthropist, speaker, and author, Simon Lee is a graduate of the University of Texas Austin (1997), Dallas Theological Seminary (2007), Harvard Business School (2015). Simon founded Buy On Purpose (www.buyonpurpose.com) in August 2004 with one specific goal: to donate 50% of the company’s profit to support Christian organizations focused on fighting human trafficking, providing clean water and adoption/foster care. Today, Buy On Purpose, a multi-million company with thirty-eight warehouse distribution centers located around the United States, offers support to eight charities, locally and worldwide. In early 2015, Buy On Purpose launched a 2nd company Secor.cc. Secor.cc sells ink and toner cartridges nationwide and donates 100% of the profit to fight human trafficking around the world. Simon is married to Faye for 14 years. Faye graduated from the University of Texas in 2000 and graduated from the University of Houston Clear Lake with a Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy. They have 2 wonderful children: Isaac 6 years old and Mariella 10 years old.

David Abeles, CEO, TaylorMade Golf Company

David Abeles, Chief Executive Officer of TaylorMade Golf Company, a global leading manufacturer of golf equipment, golf balls, and golf accessory products; oversees all business units for the TaylorMade, Adams, and Ashworth brands. A 15-year veteran of the TaylorMade Golf Company, Abeles rejoined the organization in February 2015 as Chief Executive Officer and President. In October 2017, Abeles completed the sale of TaylorMade Golf from Adidas AG to Private Equity, KPS Capital Partners. Abeles began his career with TaylorMade in 1995 as the Northeast Regional Strategic Accounts Manager in the Metropolitan Section PGA. After relocating to the Carlsbad, California based corporate headquarters in 1998, Abeles served as the Director of Sales, Americas for the TaylorMade brand. After two years of executive experience, Abeles moved to Hong Kong as the General Manager for the Asia Pacific region. Returning to the U.S. in 2002, Abeles joined the Acushnet Company as Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing for the Cobra Golf division. During his tenure at Acushnet, Abeles led the turnaround and resurgence of the Cobra Golf brand. In early 2008, Abeles returned to TaylorMade Golf Company as Executive Vice President and General Manager. He was responsible for global commercial operations of the organization; inclusive of the TaylorMade, Adidas Golf, and Ashworth brands. In 2013, Abeles took the position of CEO at Competitor Group Inc., a San Diego-based global services, media, and event entertainment company dedicated to the active lifestyle industry. During his tenure, he oversaw the popular Rock-n-Roll marathon series, online registration platform raceit.com, plus media and digital properties that include Velo, Triathlete, Women’s Running and Competitor. A graduate of the University of Connecticut, School of Business; Abeles, resides in San Diego with his wife and three sons.

Ron Rocca, CEO, Exagen Diagnostics

A natural at sales and marketing, Ron Rocca grew up within the healthcare and pharmaceuticals sales sector and his numerous awards, accolades, and opportunities to participate in some of the most successful and unique campaigns, are all a testament to his sales and leadership capabilities. Ron started his career at Johnson and Johnson, learning the basics of healthcare sales, before moving on to lead some very interesting directives – partnering with the Lupus Foundation of America, spearheading Disease Management tools creation and implementation, and efficiently and effectively hiring and building multiple teams. Ron has his BS, in Marketing and Personnel Management, from Towson University. He is the first-generation son of Italian immigrants, is the proud father of two (one in their second year of law school and the other a UC Irvine grad who teaches English in Tokyo) and he lives in Carlsbad, CA with his lovely high school sweetheart who he’s been happily married to for 31 years.

Mike Sharrow, CEO, The C12 Group

Mike serves as the President & CEO for The C12 Group as well as serving on the Board of Directors. Mike originally joined The C12 Group as a member in 2010 when he owned a healthcare management consulting practice and was serving as a pastor at Grace Point Church (San Antonio, TX). In 2011 he joined the local franchise as a full-time associate chairman serving dozens of CEOs across the local market. In 2013 he and a partner acquired the greater Central Texas franchise and grew it to a team of 8 full-time chairmen serving over 130 local leaders. In 2016 Mike was selected to be the 3rd steward for The C12 Group’s global vision. Prior to his role with The C12 Group Mike worked in a variety of industry settings including Walgreens Health Initiatives, Gliemi & Company, TQ Strategies, Health by Design and Grace Point Church, yielding a blend of Fortune 50, SMB and non-profit leadership experiences. It was in 2004 that God first revealed to Mike the “sacred versus secular” divide he had been operating under and began to draw him into the adventure of living one life in Christ with work as worship, business as ministry and all of life as mission. Mike grew up in Alaska and met his wife (Jacqui) while in college at Trinity International University (TIU) in Chicago where they married in 2002. They have 2 daughters, Elayna and Sophia. Mike graduated from TIU with a degree in marketing, did graduate work at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) in theology, Loyola Graduate School of Business in project management, and is an ordained pastor. Mike is passionate about discipleship, Gospel-driven collaborations, foster care, and integrated missional strategies. He believes The C12 Group represents a breathtaking platform to see leaders, families, businesses, communities and eventually nations flourish through ongoing transformation in Christ.

Ritt Carrano, CEO, Purchasing Power

Richard (“Ritt”) Carrano is Chief Executive Officer of Purchasing Power, LLC. He joined the company in 2001 within its first six months of operation. Ritt was promoted from Chief Financial Officer to President in 2007, and in 2011 became the CEO. Within his tenure, he has guided the company to achieve consistent, annual double-digit revenue growth, 95% client retention and more than $2.5 billion in processed orders. Initial results for Carrano’s leadership underscore the remarkable corporate culture he has built and advocated at Purchasing Power. Powering People to a Better LifeTM has become both a company tagline and corporate internal philosophy. Prior to launching Purchasing Power, he co-founded and served as CFO for eTour, Inc., an early consumer internet website discovery service that was acquired by Ask Jeeves in 2001. Ritt previously was a management research fellow assigned to new business development at SmithKline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline) and began his career with Deloitte & Touche in Washington, D.C. He received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (cum laude) in accounting from the University of Richmond’s Robins School of Business. Ritt also earned an MBA in finance from Emory University’s renowned Goizueta Business School in Atlanta. Among his accolades, Carrano was named the Atlanta Business Chronicle's CFO of the Year award for private, midsized businesses in 2008; and GeorgiaTrend magazine’s “40 Under 40: Georgia’s Best and Brightest.” An active volunteer within the community, Carrano serves numerous roles with Junior Achievement of Georgia, which inspires and prepares young people to succeed in a global economy. He also is heavily involved with Inter Atlanta FC (IAFC), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and enhancing the culture of soccer in Atlanta. Additionally, Ritt serves on the Board of Advisors and the Economic Development Council for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce (MAC), the Board of Councilors for The Carter Center and the Board of Directors for FinTech Atlanta. As a champion of corporate social responsibility efforts, Carrano empowers his employees to invest more than 3,300 combined volunteer hours annually to Non-profit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Atlanta Community Food Bank, Children’s Restoration Network, Families First, Partnership Against Domestic Violence, Open Hand, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Relay for Life (American Cancer Society) and Safehouse Outreach.