The Team Gurus

The Team Gurus Podcast: Interview with Gordon Schmidt, Managing Director, Quest Talent Solutions

Welcome to the Team Guru Podcast, where hosts Mary Walter and Brian Buford engage in insightful conversations about teamwork and leadership. In this episode, they are joined by Gordon Schmidt, an entrepreneur and recruiter at Quest Talent Solutions. Gordon shares his remarkable career journey, from starting in Kmart's fashion department to leading as a VP at Target, and eventually running his successful recruiting firm.

Gordon offers practical insights from his vast experience in retail and recruitment, underscoring the importance of cultural fit and resilience in leadership roles. The discussion explores the nuances of career transitions, effective team development, and the evolving recruitment landscape in a remote-first world.

Whether you're seeking to advance your leadership skills, understand the dynamics of career growth, or navigate the complexities of hiring and company culture, this episode provides invaluable guidance and inspiration.

The Team Gurus Podcast: Interview with The 5 Minute Career Hack (Jamila Brown, Candyce Hunt, and Alicia Wade)

The 5 Minute Career Hack (Jamila Brown, Candyce Hunt, Alicia Wade) offers organizations and individuals a full suite of organizational development and leadership solutions. From executive coaching to needs assessments, customized training, workshops, podcasts, and on-demand learning courses, we meet a challenge or need at its root and provide sustainable solutions to advance overall performance.

The Team Gurus Podcast : Interview with Susan Goss-Brown, Chief DEI Officer + SVP Field Development, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

Throughout more than 25 years at Gap Inc., Susan Goss-Brown held various leadership roles across North American store operations for Athleta, Banana Republic, and the GAP brand. There, she was accountable for delivering profitable sales growth through the execution of customer and employee engagement strategies, human resources, operations, real estate, merchandising, and community engagement.

She is currently leveraging her savvy for business operations, passion for philanthropy, and lived experience in her current role at The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society where she's been a part of the team for the past year.  At LLS, she is responsible for optimizing revenue and performance of the revenue development teams, while also establishing a culture of inclusion and advancing equity internally and externally with our constituents.

Previously she led the Foundation @ Gap Inc as President where she was responsible for leading the Board of Trustees and overseeing the philanthropic and social impact work for Gap Inc., including its overall grant strategies, disaster response, global employee engagement, volunteer efforts, and the operation of two signature program:  This Way Onward and P.A.C.E.  While at Gap Inc., she was a member of the Corporate Diversity Council and an Executive Sponsor for the African American Network Group (AANG) as well as the Color Proud Council.

At a very early age, she recognized her desire to help others realize their potential by creating pathways for women, girls, and underserved communities.  This has manifested throughout both her personal life and career as she's developed programs to support the advancement of talent, served as a mentor, and most recently as a previous member of the advisory board for the Center for Equity, Gender & Leadership (EGAL) at the Berkeley Haas School of Business.  She is also proud to share that she'll be taking on her first assignment as Board Chair for CollegeSpring, a nonprofit dedicated to creating equal opportunity for low-income students preparing for standardized college admission tests. 

On weekends, she and her partner William can be found working on renovation projects, gardening, Zooming with the family in Southern California, or playing with our pups Ghibli and Cooper.

The Team Gurus Podcast : Interview with Quendrida Whitmore, SVP Hospitality Industry and Executive Coach Extraordinaire

Quendrida Whitmore loves leadership! She has been in executive positions and leading teams for over 25 years. Her experience ranges from Target Corporation as a buyer, a director of loss prevention, and store operations Senior Director to a Regional Vice President with Ross Stores. She has taken on a new adventure in hospitality and real estate with WeWork as a Senior Vice President of Community, United States, and Canada. Quendrida’s passion for people inspired her to launch Quendrida Whitmore Coaching and Consulting. Where, as Coach Quen, she has helped leaders and organizations transform their futures over the last six years.

 

Quendrida has a passion for building great teams that drive excellent results. Additionally, she enjoys helping individuals accomplish personal goals that are life-changing. Coach Quen excels in building trust among groups to create a cohesive team along with authentically believing in development for all, including herself. Persistently, she has driven her personal and professional growth. A few examples, she received her master’s in business administration and is a certified coach earning her CPCC from Co-Active Training Institute. She also received her EdD from the University of Southern California with a focus on Organizational Change and Leadership.

The Team Gurus Podcast : 5 Tips (in 10 Minutes) When You Have Too Many Meetings!

Mary Walter and Brian Buford share five quick tips (in ten minutes) for when you are sacked with too many meetings, back-to-back Zoom calls, and have NO TIME!

The Team Gurus Podcast : Interview with Nikki Harland, President of Paradies Lagardere’s Retail Division,

As the President of Paradies Lagardere’s Retail Division, Nikki Harland oversees approximately $800 M in sales that contribute to the organization’s continued success and standing in the Travel Retail industry.  She has leadership responsibility for Store Operations, Merchandising, Business Transformation and Human Resources.  Nikki is also a founding member of the organization’s Diversity & Inclusion Council.

With over twenty-five years of business and specific HR experience, Harland has contributed to various change initiatives in her career that have propelled turnarounds and growth efforts within organizations. Her work experience includes responsibility in the dining, retail, entertainment, and professional sports industries. Prior to her role with Paradies Lagardère, Nikki was the Senior Director of Field Human Resources for Gap, Inc.’s Old Navy Stores. In this role, she provided people leadership for the Brand’s 1,000+ stores and 45,000 employees in North America. Additional leadership experiences also included Turner Broadcasting System, Inc and Toys “R” Us.

Nikki is a counted-on business leader that has consistently expanded her leadership scope over time.  Most recently, she successfully acted as the Executive Sponsor of Paradies Lagardere’s acquisition and integration of Hojeij Branded Foods (HBF) and Vino Volo.  The successful integration supported the organization’s material growth in the Travel Retail Dining space. 

A native of Atlanta, GA, she attended Benjamin E. Mays High School, received her BA in Psychology from Spelman College and holds an MBA in Marketing from Clark Atlanta University. Nikki is also certified as a Senior Professional in HR and is a former Senior Instructor in Human Resources with DeVry University.  She serves on the Airport Council International-North America’s (ACI-NA) HR Steering Committee and is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Jack and Jill of America, Inc., the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), and the Airport Minority Advisory Council (AMAC.)  She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the National Blacks Arts Festival and is a Board Trustee for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. 

In 2017, Nikki joined other leaders in Atlanta and was recognized as one of Atlanta’s Top 100 Women of Influence. 

Nikki and her husband, Joseph, reside in Atlanta, Georgia with their 15-year-old son. 

The Team Gurus Podcast : Interview with Bill Snyder, former Kansas State University head football coach

Grab a chair, take a stroll, and settle in for a thoughtful and inspiring 60-minute conversation with Bill Snyder. 

Bill Snyder was the head football coach at Kansas State from 1989 to 2005, and again from 2009 to 2018. He has been called “the architect of the greatest turnaround in college football history."

Coach Snyder took over a program in 1989 that was in the midst of a 27-game winless streak, but quickly advanced to 11-straight bowl games and tallied six 11-win seasons over a seven-year stretch. He is the winningest coach in Kansas State University history. 

He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. He has been the AP National Coach of the Year, ESPN national Coach of the Year, CNN National Coach of the Year, Big Eight Conference Coach of the Year by the AP three times, and Big Twelve Conference Coach of the Year four times.

He is a recipient of the Bear Bryant Award, Bobby Dood Coach of the Year Award, two-time winner of Woody Hayes Coach of the Year, and Sporting News National Coach of the Year.

The Team Gurus Podcast : Interview with Melissa Wong, co-founder and CEO of Retail Zipline

 

Melissa Wong is a retail veteran and consumer technology expert, having spent over 10 years focusing on retail communications at Old Navy. During her time in one of North America’s largest retailers, she focused on improving the way the company communicated with the field, ultimately improving store execution and driving sales. She now serves as the founder and CEO of Zipline, a leading retail communication and store execution solution loved by tens of thousands of users.

The Team Gurus Podcast : Interview with June Ryan, Rear Admiral, Cost Guard (Retired)

Rear Admiral June Ryan is a motivational speaker, success trainer, and coach who draws upon her 35 years of military service to inspire and empower audiences across the country.

 

Admiral Ryan was a trailblazer achieving many historical achievements, including the first enlisted woman in the Coast Guard to rise to the rank of Rear Admiral, and the first woman to serve as the Military Advisor to the Secretary of Homeland Security. Rear Admiral Ryan also served as Military Aide to the President of the United States under President Clinton.

The Team Gurus Podcast : Tips For Leading Through The Pandemic