Épisodes

  • CEOs You Should Know - Mark Faber - Texas Motor Speedway

    CEOs You Should Know - Mark Faber - Texas Motor Speedway
    Apr 29 2026
    What does it take to go from cold‑calling with a typewriter to leading some of the most recognizable venues in sports?

    In this episode of CEOs You Should Know Dallas, iHeartMedia Dallas Market President Chris Long sits down with Mark Faber, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Texas Motor Speedway, to explore a career built on persistence, mentorship, and navigating change at the highest levels of sports and entertainment.

    Mark shares his path from Kansas City to an Orange Bowl internship, a front‑row seat to the legendary Herschel Walker trade with the Dallas Cowboys, and leadership roles helping develop major venues including Kansas City’s Sprint Center and Las Vegas’s T‑Mobile Arena. Now back in North Texas, he breaks down what it takes to lead a legacy facility through transformation, grow new audiences, and build a culture grounded in respect and accountability.

    Along the way, the conversation touches on musical influences, formative mentors, lessons from selling through losing seasons, and why long‑term success is built in the “cracks and gray spaces” long before the wins show up.


    CEOs You Should Know DFW features candid conversations with leaders shaping business in North Texas and beyond, hosted by Chris Long, Region President of iHeartMedia Dallas/Fort Worth. Follow, Rate, and Subscribe on the podcast platform you are listening on!
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    48 min
  • CEOs You Should Know - Jack Griffin & Fred Gans - Garages of America

    CEOs You Should Know - Jack Griffin & Fred Gans - Garages of America
    Apr 22 2026
    What happens when a real estate developer who built 75 storage facilities teams up with a former race car driver who once competed against A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti? You get Garages of America, one of the most unique and fastest‑growing concepts in the automotive enthusiast world.

    In this episode, iHeartMedia Dallas/Fort Worth Region President Chris Long sits down with co‑founders and co‑CEOs Jack Griffin and Fred Gans for a conversation that moves from suburban office buildings in the 1970s to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and ultimately to building a thriving business around one simple truth: hobbies are social.

    Jack shares how a post‑career leap into professional racing shaped his approach to risk, community, and the car culture he knows inside and out. Fred talks about surviving the S&L crisis, building dozens of storage facilities across the country, and why replicable design and disciplined development became the backbone of their partnership.

    Together, they break down how Garages of America grew from an idea discovered in Denver into a multi‑market business built on community, camaraderie, and the booming collector‑car lifestyle. They discuss navigating COVID‑era construction delays, learning to manage outsourced teams, and why their buyers often regret only one thing: not getting a bigger garage.

    Plus: the first concerts that set the tone for two very different career paths (Kansas for Fred, The Lettermen for Jack), the surprising social science behind car collecting, and what it means to launch a company at 69 and still be improving it every day.

    CEOs You Should Know DFW features candid conversations with leaders shaping business in North Texas and beyond, hosted by Chris Long, Region President of iHeartMedia Dallas/Fort Worth. Follow, Rate, and Subscribe on the podcast platform you are listening on!
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    45 min
  • CEOs You Should Know - Peter Simek - Earth X

    CEOs You Should Know - Peter Simek - Earth X
    Apr 17 2026
    Peter Simek's path to leading one of the world's premier environmental platforms started with poetry, couch surfing in Rome, and tracking down an ecstasy kingpin on a mountaintop in Georgia.

    In this episode, iHeartMedia Dallas/Fort Worth Region President Chris Long sits down with the CEO of EarthX for a conversation that moves from investigative journalism to traveling the world with a giant dinosaur puppet for the United Nations to reimagining what an environmental organization can be from its home base in the heart of Texas oil and gas country.

    Peter shares how nearly two decades as a journalist taught him the leadership skill he leans on most: shutting up and listening. He talks about why founder Trammel Crow says you can't preach to the choir if there's no choir, how EarthX evolved from a 120,000-person Earth Day street festival at Fair Park into a global convening platform, and what it means to lead a fifteen-year-old startup through its next chapter, including a new policy institute focused on nuclear energy and an urban biodiversity plan for Dallas.

    Plus: a first concert that might crack the all-time rankings (Page and Plant at Madison Square Garden), and the nineteenth-century botanist story he's told enough people about that now he has to finish writing it.


    CEOs You Should Know DFW features candid conversations with leaders shaping business in North Texas and beyond, hosted by Chris Long, Region President of iHeartMedia Dallas/Fort Worth. Follow, Rate, and Subscribe on the podcast platform you are listening on!
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    38 min
  • CEOs You Should Know - Rick Welts - Dallas Mavericks

    CEOs You Should Know - Rick Welts - Dallas Mavericks
    Apr 9 2026
    Rick Welts has one of the most remarkable careers in professional sports history, and it began at age 16 as a ball boy for the Seattle SuperSonics. In this episode, iHeartMedia Dallas–Fort Worth Region President Chris Long sits down with the CEO of the Dallas Mavericks for a wide-ranging conversation spanning five decades of basketball, business, and leadership.

    Rick shares what it was like to be the 35th employee at the NBA league office in 1982, making cold calls no one returned, and helping transform a struggling league into a global marketing powerhouse.

    He takes us inside the creation of NBA All-Star Weekend, the 1984 Slam Dunk Contest that changed everything, and the challenge of marketing the 1992 U.S. Olympic Dream Team to the world. From leading the Phoenix Suns through one of the greatest single-season turnarounds in NBA history, to helping build the Golden State Warriors dynasty and opening Chase Center, to answering the call to come to Dallas, Rick breaks down what it really takes to rebuild culture, earn a fanbase’s trust, and build something that lasts.

    Plus, Rick shares where he was sitting during the 2024 NBA Draft Lottery, what Cooper Flagg means for the future of the Mavericks, and why a new arena in Dallas is more than a building. It is a district designed to create lifetime memories.

    A Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer. A pioneer. And now, a Maverick.

    CEOs You Should Know DFW features candid conversations with leaders shaping business in North Texas and beyond. Hosted by Chris Long, Region President of iHeartMedia Dallas–Fort Worth. Follow, rate, and subscribe on the podcast platform you are listening on.


    CEOs You Should Know DFW features candid conversations with leaders shaping business in North Texas and beyond, hosted by Chris Long, Region President of iHeartMedia Dallas/Fort Worth. Follow, Rate, and Subscribe on the podcast platform you are listening on!
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    55 min
  • CEOs You Should Know - Shannon McLinden - FarmHouse Fresh

    CEOs You Should Know - Shannon McLinden - FarmHouse Fresh
    Mar 25 2026
    Shannon McLinden was selling crocheted towel holders door to door, trading stickers like a Wall Street broker, and puff painting LL Cool J lyrics onto vases before she ever set foot in a college classroom.

    In this episode, iHeartMedia Dallas/Fort Worth Region President Chris Long sits down with the Founder and CEO of FarmHouse Fresh, the McKinney-based natural skincare company that grows its own micro green ingredients on an organic farm and uses the profits to rescue abused and neglected animals.

    Shannon shares how cracked heels from jogging at TCU led her to create a homemade body polish she mailed to Oprah, landing on the O List and launching a career she built from a laptop by the pool. She talks about staying family-owned so no one can tell her she can't rescue three starved draft horses on a Tuesday, pivoting during COVID in three days to keep every employee on payroll while drop shipping for wholesale partners across the country, and why the spreadsheet your team built today just funded a barn for four horses that wouldn't be alive without it.

    Shannon also opens up about surviving her darkest chapter as a teen and how it fuels everything she builds, from products that help women feel good when they look in the mirror to a rescue ranch where the whole team comes out to the hill to sing when an animal passes on.

    Plus: first concert memories (Kenny Rogers and Crystal Gayle!), which rescue donkey would run the company for a day, and the brand new composting initiative that literally launched the morning of recording.

    CEOs You Should Know DFW features candid conversations with leaders shaping business in North Texas and beyond, hosted by Chris Long, Region President of iHeartMedia Dallas/Fort Worth. Follow, Rate, and Subscribe on the podcast platform you are listening on!
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    51 min
  • CEOs You Should Know - Amy Hall - The Barber Shop Marketing

    CEOs You Should Know - Amy Hall - The Barber Shop Marketing
    Mar 18 2026
    From Marine Science to Marketing Mogul: Amy Hall's Journey to Agency Ownership

    In this episode of Dallas CEOs You Should Know, host Chris Long sits down with Amy Hall, owner of The Barber Shop Marketing, to trace her unconventional path from small-town Tennessee to leading one of Dallas's most respected agencies.

    Amy shares how a pivotal moment with a mentor at Coastal Carolina University redirected her from marine science to fine arts and ultimately into the world of experiential marketing, working with brands like Camel and Audi North America. She opens up about co-founding Driver's Select with her then-husband, navigating the highs of rapid growth alongside the realities of building a business while raising a family, and surviving both the post-9/11 economy and the 2008–2009 crash.

    In 2016, Amy acquired The Barber Shop Marketing from founder Liz Barber, closing the deal just six weeks after their first conversation. She talks candidly about the imposter syndrome of Day One, the discipline of listening before making changes, and the hard-earned lessons about smart growth over fast growth. Now approaching her 10th anniversary as owner, Amy reveals what's next including revisiting an acquisition opportunity five years in the making.

    Plus: first concert confessions (New Kids on the Block!), the Twizzlers vs. salt and vinegar chips debate, and why curiosity is the one trait she values most in her team.

    CEOs You Should Know DFW features candid conversations with leaders shaping business in North Texas and beyond, hosted by Chris Long, Region President of iHeartMedia Dallas/Fort Worth. Follow, Rate, and Subscribe on the podcast platform you are listening on!
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    44 min
  • CEOs You Should Know - Tina Posey - Spinutech

    CEOs You Should Know - Tina Posey - Spinutech
    Mar 12 2026
    Here's a publish-ready episode description: Dallas CEOs You Should Know | Tina Posey, CEO of Spinutech In this episode, Chris Long sits down with Tina Posey, CEO of Spinutech, a 25-year independent digital marketing and web agency built on performance, curiosity, and client outcomes.

    Tina's path to the corner office wasn't planned. A native Texan and UTA grad who once had her sights set on criminal justice, she stumbled into an ad agency internship and never looked back. From her early days on the Hyatt Hotels account to scaling agencies inside Omnicom and Publicis Groupe for brands like AT&T, Google, Mercedes-Benz, and Citibank, Tina built her career by staying curious, empowering people, and letting results do the talking.

    Now leading Spinutech's next chapter of growth, Tina talks about what it means to step into a founder-led legacy, why clarity is a CEO's most important deliverable, and how people-first leadership creates the conditions for sustained performance. She and Chris also dig into the evolving expectations enterprise brands have for their agency partners, navigating AI noise, and what "decision velocity" actually looks like in practice.

    Plus, Tina reveals her first concert, her walk-up song, and the one movie she'll never scroll past.

    CEOs You Should Know DFW features candid conversations with leaders shaping business in North Texas and beyond, hosted by Chris Long, Region President of iHeartMedia Dallas/Fort Worth. Follow, Rate, and Subscribe on the podcast platform you are listening on!
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    44 min
  • CEOs You Should Know - Kalyn Asher - Asher Media

    CEOs You Should Know - Kalyn Asher - Asher Media
    Mar 3 2026
    Kalyn Asher, founder of Asher Media and Avalanche Media Group, joins us to share how she's spent more than three decades building brands, forging partnerships, and redefining what an independent media agency can be. From her unexpected start at Texas A&M to finding her way to UT and eventually founding her Dallas agency in 1999 out of her living room with one client and her first employee Jackie Barrera by her side, Kalyn breaks down the entrepreneurial grit, relationship-driven approach, and people-first philosophy that have defined twenty-six years of Asher. We talk about what it really takes to build lasting client partnerships, how winning a ten-million-dollar account as a two-person operation changed everything, and why being a good steward of your client's money is the foundation of everything they do. The conversation also covers the honest realities of balancing founding a company while starting a family, navigating the personal challenges no one warns you about as a business owner, and what it looks like to build a team so strong you can step away and come back to find everything still standing.

    Plus, Popcorn Roulette, the Aggie secret Kalyn has been keeping, and the one song that got her through the earliest days of building something from nothing.

    CEOs You Should Know DFW features candid conversations with leaders shaping business in North Texas and beyond, hosted by Chris Long, Region President of iHeartMedia Dallas/Fort Worth. Follow, Rate, and Subscribe on the podcast platform you are listening on!
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    57 min