Venture with Virtue

Chris Lowney is chairman of the board for Catholic Health Initiatives one of the nation’s largest health care systems with over 100 hospitals and $16 billion in revenue. He’s also a popular key-note speaker and author of 7 books including his newest that was just released called Make Today Matter: 10 Habits for a Better Life and World. Chris is a former Jesuit seminarian and former Managing Director of JP Morgan.

Chef Folse is known as “Louisiana’s Culinary Ambassador to the World.”  Since opening Lafitte’s Landing in 1978 he has cooked for Popes and Presidents and opened restaurants in over 14 countries.  His other business endeavors include White Oak Plantation and a food manufacturing company that supplies products for foodservice distribution, retail sales and national restaurant chains.  He’s produced 10 cookbooks, is the host of the TV show “A Taste of Louisiana” and host of the radio show “

Sam is president of Hunter Buildings the leading manufacturer of blast-resistant buildings. He started his career as an attorney focusing on environmental and safety issues. Sam’s been involved with Legatus for many years and is currently a member of the national Board of Governors. He’s also on the board of FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students). He and his wife Sally live in Houston, Texas and have four children.

Sandy is an attorney, speaker and author of the book Humanity at Work. He has over 40 years of professional experience, serving as an executive in the pharmaceutical, health care and life sciences industries.  He’s also sat on the board for over 20 public and private companies and lives in North Carolina with his wife Jean. He shares many personal stories about the exemplars in his life that have formed him into the man he is today.

Deacon Jeff is the host of the nationally syndicated radio show and podcast The Catholic Cafe, heard on over 750 stations worldwide - including EWTN, Guadalupe Radio, Relevant Radio and Immaculate Heart Radio. He is also a full-time Campus Minister at St. Benedict High School. He and his wife of 30 years have 9 children and live in Memphis, TN.

We recap the last 10 episodes and identify habits and practices of our guests that could be helpful to you as you try to form your own habits that lead to virtue.

Dr. Thierfelder is currently President of Belmont Abbey College. He’s been a sports psychologist, NCAA Division 1 coach, Olympian, two time all American, an entrepreneur, an executive and author of Less Than a Minute To Go. He is also a Knight of Malta, lives in North Carolina with his wife Mary and is the father of 10 children. You'll learn the 1 thing that leads to success and happiness & how the virtue of gratitude can help you achieve peak performance in sports, business and life

Brig is the founder and co-CEO of Two Men and a Truck, the 1st and largest franchised moving company in the US. As he’ll share later, if we’re aware, the Holy Spirit will help us look at something & learn from it & realize not every bad thing is a bad thing. He had everything the world promises will make us happy, yet he suffered from depression. We learn about his real conversion, how he’s now all in for Christ and reaping blessings on earth while building real treasure in heaven.

Jack is the CEO and founder of Portofino Pools one of the largest pool service contractors in Florida. Jack shares his story of achieving his dream of worldly success. But then in his mid 50s he had all of those worldly accomplishments stripped away and even had to accept money from his children just to eat. We learn how he found strength, persevered and got back up. We learn how God used this experience to ignite a faith that had gone dormant.

Today’s podcast is going to be a little different.  I have to be honest.  I don’t have a bunch of pre-recorded shows at the current time and our guest for this week rescheduled at the last minute.  Instead of just skipping this episode, I thought I’d try something new just for today and keep it short. Since we are at the end of Lent and in the middle of Holy Week, I wanted to share something personal that’s recently helped me and I hope it can be of help to you as well.

Doran Oancia is an accomplished executive that’s led teams and businesses from startup to Fortune 50. Currently he’s the COO of West Edge Energy and the CEO for one of their portfolio companies called Colorado Asphalt Services. Doran is a past president for Legatus’ Denver Chapter. He lives in Colorado with his wife Christa and is the father of 6 children.

Steve Ray is an intrepid traveler that’s led well over 100 (if not 200) pilgrimages to the Holy Land. He’s a Popular Catholic apologist and documentary film producer of the Footprints of God DVD series. As well as a best-selling author and captivating speaker that’s been dubbed "Jerusalem Jones" by the National Catholic Register.

Jon is a seasoned executive and investor. He’s successfully started, built and sold two companies that generated a 50x return to his investors. Currently he’s an investor in and COO of Freeze Sleeve, a cold therapy compression sleeve that provides relief and recovery for muscles and joints.

Today’s journey started with the pursuit of wealth on Wall Street to a fast flip with a startup that ended in bankruptcy to the seminary to the discovery of what a personal vocation really is and how you can cultivate your own personal vocation as well. Luke Burgis is a serial entrepreneur t hat’s started 4 different companies. He’s an entrepreneur in residence at the Center for Entrepreneurship at Catholic U of America, Exec Dir of Inscape and author of the forthcoming book Unrepeatable.

Larry Kudlow takes us on his life journey, which is a true roller coaster of a ride. He starts out on the fast track to professional success, but hits bottom with an addiction to drugs and alcohol. By the grace of God he recovered, converted to Catholicism and returned to prominence in the financial world. While he’s always been an optimist, he lost it under the addictions. However when he found the Catholic faith, his optimism returned with an even greater force. The secret…Gratitude, Humility and Hop