I got acquainted with Todd Brooker through LinkedIn, where we follow some of the same voices, and learned last fall that he spends a lot of time in Fort Collins - where his daughter Libby Brooker is a goalie on the CSU soccer team! It took us a minute, but this spring we finally got properly acquainted over lunch, followed by a long-form conversation in The LoCo Experience studios. Todd is the second Texan I’ve had on the podcast, and the second from Austin - apparently the Fort Collins of that state. I’m hoping for Joe Rogan or Lex Fridman as my third such citizen - intros welcome!

Cawley, Gillespie & Associates (CGA) is a 60+ year petroleum engineering, geology, and valuation firm that Todd has worked at for 32 years, and been President of for more than 10 years. The firm has ~35 employees in two offices, and is something of a boutique firm in the industry. Owners of oil wells all over the nation - and beyond - hire CGA to evaluate potential acquisitions or support creation of audited financial statements to comply with Sarbanes Oxley. I wanted to bring Todd onto the show because he knows a lot of things about a lot of things, especially as it pertains to the oil and gas industry in our nation.

Todd is a proud dad, loving husband, and VP and Board Member of the Town & Country Optimists Club in Austin. He’s a part-time Fort Collinsian now, and fits right in - and when he moves here full-time in the future I’ll try to snag him for the Breakfast Rotary Club and maybe as a LoCo Facilitator - he’d be great. So please join me in enjoying my conversation with oil industry expert and my new friend, Todd Brooker.

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by: Logistics Co-op | https://logisticscoop.com/

💡Learn about LoCo Think Tank

Follow us to see what we're up to:

Instagram

LinkedIn

Facebook

Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Duane and Chad Stroh are the father and son that lead the team at Healthy Harvest in Berthoud, CO, which also includes Duane’s wife and Chad’s sister, and one red-headed step-child in a key operations role. They were initially involved as investor-partners of the business, but as partners departed and their market awareness grew they pivoted the company to specialize in production and wholesale distribution of non-GMO cooking oils across Colorado - and entering new markets across the American West. They also offer nationwide direct-to-consumer oil sales through their website and on Amazon.

In a previous chapter, the family operated a conventional grain farm and feedlot near Holyoke, where Duane was also the wrestling coach for many years. When Duane met a man with a persistent infection caused by exposure to antibiotic-resistant bacteria on a hog farm, he started investigating the drug and chemical-laden conventional farming industry. And - when his brother died at an early age of lymphoma, he remembered how that brother was the one responsible for spraying Roundup around the farmyard and mixing the sprayer tanks. And long story short - the family decided to sell out of their farm and feedlot and change their business as a result of this change in perspective.

What I love about Duane is that he’s a lot like my dad - the secret to success in farming or in business is math! And what I love about Chad is that he is focused on the impact of marketing, technology, and relationships to build long-term business value. Together, they’re a formidable pair, and I’m excited to see their business continue to grow and help more and more non-GMO farmers share their Healthy Harvests with the world. So please enjoy, as I did, my conversation with Duane and Chad Stroh.

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by: Logistics Co-op | https://logisticscoop.com/

💡Learn about LoCo Think Tank

Follow us to see what we're up to:

Instagram

LinkedIn

Facebook

Music By: A Brother's Fountain

In today’s episode, I was honored to be joined in studio by Ed VanDyne, one of the most fascinating guests we’ve had on the show. When you look up serial entrepreneur in the dictionary, you’ll find Ed’s smiling face, and the ideas that have sprouted his various companies are consolidated from ideas and learnings from previous chapters, including a lengthy season managing the MIT Racing Team, and spinning a technology company out of Woodward, VanDyne SuperTurbo! The innovative sails for Tetrahedron Racing boats, for example, are the same shape as the molecules of ammonia created through Plastic 2 Green’s innovative processes!

Plastic 2 Green is the star of this show, however. Ed has developed an innovative process to turn waste plastics into market-competitive carbon rods, carbon black, and ammonia - plus more - using plasma to break down plastic molecules, and science to send the resulting molecules to the appropriate containers. Future cargo ships will burn an ammonia / diesel blend, and in Ed’s opinion, ammonia is the best and most-stable way to move toward a hydrogen-powered economy.

The smoke in the studio during this podcast wasn’t from herb, it was my little brain overheating trying to listen and think and process and ask good questions! I think I did a pretty good job of it, for a country kid, so please enjoy, as I did, my conversation with Ed VanDyne.

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by: Logistics Co-op | https://logisticscoop.com/

💡Learn about LoCo Think Tank

Follow us to see what we're up to:

Instagram

LinkedIn

Facebook

Music By: A Brother's Fountain