The SigEp Podcast

Lessons In Leadership: Rick Bennet

Rick Bennet is an alumnus of our Central Missouri Chapter and is Chief Executive Officer of CCA Global Partners. A veteran of the retail industry for over 40 years, Rick has overseen the company, which is a cooperative of thousands of independent retailers, since 2008. Over his career, he was CEO of retailers Famous Barr in St. Louis, and Kaufmann’s in Pittsburgh, and vice-chair of May Department Store, which operated 450 stores with $14 billion in revenue. Brother Bennet was Grand President of SigEp from 2015-2017, overseeing the full adoption of the Balanced Man Program and strengthening our partnerships with higher education.  With an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis, Brother Bennet has also served as an adjunct professor at the university, where he developed a social entrepreneurship curriculum. He’s vice-chair of the Board of Directors of the Glacier National Park Conservancy and serves on the board of several retailers, including Ace Hardware, Charming Shoppes and Drugstore.com.  A regional director for the Fraternity after graduation, he received the SigEp Citation for his professional success in 2001. We are honored to have Brother Bennet on the show with us to share his perspective and wealth of experience.

Lessons In Leadership: Steve Hofstetter

Steve Hofstetter is a graduate of our New York Phi Chapter at Columbia University, and a comedian and author with a national profile. He has 600,000 YouTube subscribers, 500,000 Facebook followers and over 650 million views across the platforms. His mant TV appearances include ESPN’s Quite Frankly, CBS’s Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, Fox & Friends, Showtime’s White Boyz in the Hood, VH1’s Countdown and ABC’s Barbara Walters Special. He hosted Fox’s Laughs and Comcast’s Trial By Laughter.  Steve was Senior Comedy Correspondent for Fox Sports and hosted radio show “The Sports Minute or So” on 170 radio stations as well as “Four Quotas” on Sirius Satellite Radio. The original writer for collegehumor.com, he’s written humor columns for the New York Times, Sportsillustrated.com, NHL.com and got his start by co-founding the website “Sports Jerk of the Week.” His fifth comedy album Pick Your Battles reached #1 on iTunes’ comedy charts.  Brother Hofstetter is a longtime member of SigEp’s Board of Governors, former student director on the National Board and currently serves on our National Advancement Council. Steve has had quite the career and has found the time to contribute so much to the Fraternity, and we’re excited to have him on the SigEp Podcast. Find more from Steve at www.stevehofstetter.com [https://www.stevehofstetter.com/] Twitter: @SteveHofstetter [https://twitter.com/SteveHofstetter] Instagram: @stevehofstetter [https://www.instagram.com/stevehofstetter/] Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/stevehofstetter] Check out Steve's app: appsteve.com [appsteve.com]

Jared Fenton and the Power of One Caring Person

Jared Fenton, Pennsylvania ’17, is the founder and executive director of The Reflect Organization. During his time in our Pennsylvania Delta chapter at the University of Pennsylvania, Jared founded Reflect which today is a nationally recognized nonprofit, with chapters at multiple colleges and universities, dedicated to empowering students to foster a culture of authenticity, self-love, and allyship on campus. Jared discusses how and why Reflect came to be, the importance of being our true authentic selves, the importance of "physical" vs "social" distancing and the concept of one caring person.  Learn more about The Reflect Organization at reflecteffect.org. [https://www.reflecteffect.org/] Find resources from reflect at linktr.ee/reflectresourceguide. [linktr.ee/reflectresourceguide] To contact Jared and Reflect for support, email info@reflecteffect.org [nfo@reflecteffect.org] with the subject line "You're My One Caring Person" Interested in supporting The Reflect Organizations Three Dollar Challenge? Support College Student Mental Wellness. [https://givebutter.com/3DCreflect]

A Conversation with SigEp Grand Secretary Billy Maddalon

Hosts Shawn and Ben talk with Grand Secretary, brother Billy Maddalon, North Carolina State ’90. Billy tells Ben and Shawn how he went from an undergraduate at North Carolina State with close to no interest in Fraternities to serving on SigEps national board of directors years later. He shares his own SigEp journey and the wisdom he's gained along the way. Which includes why we need diversity of people and thought in our lives and what can make or break a positive Fraternity culture. He’ll also share his vision for what SigEp can and needs to be for the future. Whether you're a brand new member of SigEp or a longtime brother or friend of the Fraternity, Brother Maddalon has some advice we could all benefit from.  Learn more about the National Board of Directors [https://sigep.org/about/who-we-are/national-board-of-directors/].

Lessons in Leadership: John Durrant

John Durrant is a 1996 graduate of our Florida Beta Chapter at Stetson University. Currently executive vice president for retail and direct banking at CapitalOne, Brother Durrant has built a successful career in the banking industry.  After serving as a regional director for SigEp in 1996, he went on to roles at First USA, Barclays and Bank of America, where he was senior vice president for small business banking. John earned an MBA at Duke Fuqua School of Business and went on to Morgan Stanley before joining CapitalOne in 2011. At CapitalOne, he was head of business banking before taking on his current role in 2013 overseeing the customer strategy, product and operations teams for the company’s consumer banking business.  Brother Durrant is a board member of the Consumer Bankers Association as well as Junior Achievement of Washington.  A long-time member of SigEp’s Board of Governors, he’s also served as a local volunteer and facilitator at SigEp leadership programs. He resides in Northern Virginia with his wife Shannon and three sons. We’re honored to have John on the podcast and learn from his Lessons in Leadership.