Episodes

Amy Davis is the managing director at TaxWealth, Inc. TaxWealth Inc. is a tax analysis and solutions research company that supports financial advisors, CPAs, attorneys, and real estate professionals, to proactively create the right solution for their client’s specific tax challenges by compliantly leveraging US Tax Laws. She lives in Claremont, California with her husband, Justin, and is very proud of her two children, Miranda and Sawyer. Each week the Influential U Podcast is streamed live on ...

Catherine Newton is the CEO of Catherine Newton Consulting. She is a fiercely motivated, dynamic executive coach, trainer, speaker, and mentor who loves to help purpose-driven individuals master their businesses and lives so that they can serve more people with their inspired vision and mission. Her mentoring is rooted in upgrading a leader’s internal operating system and ensuring they have the tactics and strategy to succeed. It is grounded in decades of education and training. With 20+ years ...

Catherine Newton is the CEO of Catherine Newton Consulting. She is a fiercely motivated, dynamic executive coach, trainer, speaker, and mentor who loves to help purpose-driven individuals master their businesses and lives so that they can serve more people with their inspired vision and mission.

Anthony Nicoli is the Aerospace Senior Director for Siemens Digital Industries, and he leads Siemens’ efforts to help the aerospace and defense industry digitalize its electrical engineering systems development. He has a Masters and Bachelors in Science from MIT and an MBA from D’amore McKim School of Business at Northeastern and completed the corporate venturing program from The Wharton School. He’s also completed the Fundamentals of Transaction, Mechanics, and Practice programs and is towards ...

Mike Fend is an Air Quality Representative for PDC Energy in Colorado. Mike is one of many of our ambitious professionals who study with us at Influential U and are training to give themselves more opportunities in the marketplace. He holds his Master’s in Management from the TUM School of Management and has a bachelor’s from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in Civil Engineering. Mike also shares that he just picked up the keys to his first home that he purchased with what he learned here at...

Jeff Cady is a longtime student of Influential U; beginning his studies in 2018, he’s completed the Fundamentals of Transaction Program, Mechanics and Practice program, and is now completing the most prestigious of our programs – Mechanics and Practice 2: PSTI. Jeff is an Enterprise Architect for Presidio in New Braunfels, Texas, and has a passion for how his clients use technology to transform their businesses. Today, he’ll tell us more about his journey over the last four years of study and h...

Dallas Jackson is the Managing Director at Humaneering, where she improves business performances by fostering agility across all domains. She helps companies transform the way work is done by encouraging the right mindset and cultural change to align people, processes, and technology to maximize organizational health and performance. Dallas draws from her experience as a Scrum Master and Agile Team Coach and trainer and is certified in Neuroleadership and Transactional Competence. She’s also co...

Crystal Evans owns Conejo Awards – a fifty-year-old promotional products, awards, business gifts, and signage company located in Thousand Oaks, California. Crystal holds her bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Marketing from California Lutheran University and has completed the Fundamentals of Transaction and Mechanics and Practice programs. She is currently working through Mechanics and Practice two: Planning, Strategy, Tactics, and Implementation. Crystal describes herself as a...

Mathew Heggem is the Founder and CEO of 10kCreators.com, a social enterprise whose mission is to help ten thousand creators achieve financial freedom through mentorship, training, and access to critical resources. In his role, Mathew helps professional artists make and manage their money by serving as their business advisor, coach, mentor, and consultant. In his eighteen-plus years in the accounting industry, he has served in leadership and growth roles at various firms, consulting with entrepr...

Tiran is the living embodiment of inspiration. He became an entrepreneur because of difficult and challenging circumstances that you’ll hear about in this episode, and through this, he found his strength and resiliency. He’s a motivational speaker, real estate investor, entrepreneur, and engineer. Tiran’s purpose is inspiring other through his personal experiences and helps his clients and anyone who hears his voice to manage and overcome their own personal crisis through his company, Reborn Re...

Todd Brossart is the founder of Mental Events, a company that offers mindfulness-based therapy and workshops that allow his clients to connect with what’s important. Todd is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Board-Certified Diplomate who worked for over ten years for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He specializes in providing cognitive-behavioral therapies, including mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, cognitive processing therapy, and acceptance and commitment therapy. He helps p...

Today, we have Summer Lynn Anderson, the author of her new book, “Start Within: Better ROI Begins with You,” on the Influential U podcast. Her study with Influential U gave her a foundation to understand that small replicable habits can create outstanding results. Summer is a graduate of our Fundamentals of Transaction and our Mechanics and Practice programs. One thing we can say is she is a brilliant thinker, so grab a pen and get ready because when she starts to speak, something valuable is ab...

In this episode, we speak with Liz Smiley, and if you study with us, you know her well, but for those who haven’t yet – Liz is a partner at Influential U, the Director of Admissions, and serves as our registrar. She has over 25 years of experience in the personal and business performance space. As you’ll hear today, we rely on her to make things happen. And most of the time that our faculty introduces her, you hear her say, “She’s the glue around here.” And she really is. She has managed, and co...

Today we’re speaking with Jennifer Caldwell, the Chief Development Officer of FoodShare of Ventura County. You’ve heard her story before, as she was on our podcast before the Covid-19 Pandemic and it’s a favorite episode of many of our listeners. She’s been a morning show co-host and producer, 40 Under 40 Recipient from the Pacific Coast Business Times, Young Professional of the Year with the Ventura Chamber of Commerce and is the current Chair of the Board of Directors for the Ventura County Le...

This episode’s guest, Sean Gillespie, is an award-winning sculptor who’s known for illuminating the innate beauty of wood. Sean is an excellent example of a solopreneur who found new freedom, productivity, and significant financial wins by assembling an effective team. He’s completed Influential U’s entire course curriculum, is an esteemed alumni, and a powerful advocate for what we teach. He’s been on the podcast before but today, he’s back to share new lessons he’s learned. Sean lives in Color...

Today we’re speaking with Tim Nicklas, whose story began with some early losses he worked to overcome as an intrapreneur within a major children’s hospital. Like many of us, at work, Tim faced personalities he failed to influence – or struggled to understand. All of us need buy-in from others at work. His remedy? Tim acknowledged his cognitive bias to think that other people share his worldview and found true value in diverse personalities. Having first participated in our programs in 2011, he s...

Today we’re speaking with Nicole Briones with Consortium Health Plans, where she is Director, of Actuarial & Analytics. Nicole’s journey through our programs revealed some key takeaways about ethics, money, personality, and more. As an outcome of her study with Influential U, she’s championed the mantra, “let accurate thinking lead the way.” Her story includes being recognized for her skills, moving across the country, and nearly doubling her annual income. Nicole now lives in Nashville, TN with...

 Today’s episode features Jean Lloyd who is a Cultural Architect with a unique approach as she does not prescribe a blueprint for success, because her clients are already experts in their fields. Rather Jean brings guidance and critical thinking to her clients to impact their success and they get a new, mind-bending outlook that equips them to re-imagine, then excel, in an exceptional new culture. Jean is the Owner and President of Jean Lloyd consulting, the founder of The iCommunicate Summit,...

Today’s guest is Influential U CEO and Co-founder John Patterson. You’ve heard him on this podcast since 2016, but somehow, we’ve never gotten to listen to him tell his story. In 2005, John was having an existential crisis, and his job, relationship, and life were simply not working for him, so he needed a change. At this time, John had already been long-time friends with Kirkland Tibbels, Influential U’s other Co-Founder, and through hundreds of hours of conversations with Kirkland, John was ab...

Today we speak with Dr. Gary Ward, a family physician and Lead Faculty Member at Influential U from Perth, Australia, where he lives with his wife, Claire. A common theme on this podcast is discussing our members’ journey and the before and after they found Influential U. In Dr. Ward’s case, he describes it as going from struggle and chaos to harmony and satisfaction. As you’ll hear in this episode, he’s accomplished a lot in his life and his profession, but there have been times when it’s been ...

Today’s episode features Meredith Hart, a Fundamentals of Transaction graduate here at Influential U who learned that “Cooperation May be More Valuable than Competition,” or as Kirkland Tibbels always says, “Amateurs Compete. Professionals Cooperate.” Meredith Hart is the Economic Development Director for the City of Ventura. Her specialized knowledge in the marketplace is to help the city of Ventura with business engagement and vibrancy. She connects with economic partners on behalf of the city...

Public speaker, author, and entrepreneur Sterling Hawkins joins us on the Influential U podcast to discuss his new book, “Hunting Discomfort,” and share how Influential U has impacted his business and life. Sterling Hawkins is a sought-after keynote speaker on growth, performance, and leadership, and he’s the CEO and Founder of the Sterling Hawkins Group. Sterling’s also the founder of the #NoMatterWhat movement, which is for leaders seeking results regardless of the circumstances. Sterling is a...

Tyson went from being a freelance solopreneur to now running a full-service marketing agency with a 20+ person staff by using what he referred to as Influential U’s “business cheatsheet.” His story is unique in that he’s experienced Influential U’s training and curriculum from two distinct angles; as someone who was starting a new business and as someone who was stuck. He launched a media buying and digital ad management offer while in his initial program with Influential U. Fast forward a coupl...

Josh is a former professional musician who now teaches business owners, executives, and entrepreneurs how to amplify their professional influence. As you will learn within a few seconds of listening to his interview, he has a way with words. Josh’s superpower, as we like to call it, is his ability to speak, and this talent manifests in his professional roles as an ethical salesman, public speaker, emcee, entertainer, and educator. Josh is currently a senior faculty member with Influential U and ...