Culture Leaders with Dr. Jessica Kriegel

About Culture Leaders with Dr. Jessica Kriegel

Culture Leaders with Dr. Jessica Kriegel

Publisher

tentwentytwo / Culture Partners

Category

business · news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

16 Jan 2024

Latest episode

3 Nov 2026

Latest episodes

80 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   3 Nov 2026

   Howard Hochhauser on Purpose-Driven Leadership, AI-Powered Growth, and the Power of Storytelling

   This week, Jessica sits down with Howard Hochhauser, President and CEO of Ancestry, to explore how a renewed sense of purpose, customer focus, and organizational culture helped turn around one of the world's leading family history companies. After nearly two decades at Ancestry, including serving as CFO and COO, Howard stepped into the CEO role during a period of declining revenue, falling customer satisfaction, and organizational uncertainty. By refocusing the company on its core mission of discovering, preserving, and sharing family stories, Howard helped lead Ancestry through eight consecutive quarters of growth while rebuilding momentum around the work that makes the company meaningful to its employees and customers. Howard shares why his transition from CFO to CEO required a fundamental shift in mindset, moving from managing financial risk to embracing opportunities for growth and long-term value creation. He explains how redefining Ancestry's mission, establishing a culture centered on customers, candor, and collaboration, and tying employee bonuses directly to customer satisfaction helped align the organization around a shared purpose. He and Jessica also discuss the importance of approachable leadership, creating psychological safety for honest feedback, and demonstrating transparency through actions rather than simply encouraging employees to speak up. The conversation also explores how Ancestry is using AI to transform the customer experience and accelerate international growth. From digitizing millions of historical records to developing personalized audio and video stories about people's ancestors, Howard explains how technology can make family history more accessible, engaging, and emotionally meaningful. He introduces one of Ancestry's most distinctive performance metrics, "time to magic," which measures how quickly customers experience a discovery powerful enough to make them laugh, cry, or share their family story. Howard and Jessica also examine the responsibilities that come with handling sensitive personal information, including DNA data, and why privacy, cybersecurity, and customer trust must remain central to innovation. Throughout the conversation, Howard and Jessica return to the deeper human significance of storytelling, identity, and connection. They explore how understanding the struggles of previous generations can build resilience, why preserving family history creates a sense of belonging, and how personal stories can bring people together across generations and cultures. From navigating organizational change to reflecting on the legacy he hopes to leave as both a father and a CEO, Howard makes the case that meaningful leadership is about more than financial performance. It is about creating experiences that connect people to something larger than themselves and ensuring those stories endure. About Howard Hochhauser Howard Hochhauser is President and CEO of Ancestry, the global leader in family history. Appointed in February 2025, he previously served as CFO and COO after joining the company in 2009, and was interim CEO from 2017 - 2018. During his tenure, he has helped guide Ancestry’s growth from ~$200M in revenue to more than $1B, overseeing its IPO, a go-private transaction, and multiple acquisitions. Today, Howard is focused on accelerating innovation through AI, using advanced technologies to unlock Ancestry’s 70B+ records and transform them into personalized, story-driven experiences for millions of users worldwide. Prior to Ancestry, he was CFO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and held roles at Bear Stearns and KPMG. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/howard-hochhauser-5791b810/ Website: https://www.ancestry.com/ Host: Jessica Kriegel Culture Partners LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/culturepartners Website: jessicakriegel.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jessicakriegel Instagram: @jess_kriegel Website: culturepartners.com

2. 

   6 Oct 2026

   Dave Mowry on Turnaround Leadership, Rebuilding Trust, and How Culture Drives Results

   This week, Jessica sits down with Dave Mowry, CEO of Breg, to explore how culture helped transform a company that had reached a financial breaking point. When Dave stepped into the CEO role, Breg had just two weeks of cash remaining and was borrowing money simply to pay the interest on its debt. Less than three years later, the company is preparing for an EBITDA budget above $50 million, compared with roughly $17 million when the turnaround began. Dave shares why the turnaround began with listening rather than imposing a new strategy. He explains how Breg had strong products and talented people who had become overlooked and disengaged, and why rebuilding trust required leadership to demonstrate through actions that things would be different. He also introduces his framework of believers, skeptics, and cynics, and explains why leaders should leverage the believers, win over the skeptics, and recognize when cynicism has become an obstacle to change. The conversation also explores how achievable goals can restore confidence inside an organization. After years without bonuses, Dave and his team reset expectations around a goal employees could realistically reach, delivered on their commitment, and used that early win to create momentum. From there, Breg reinvested in its culture, empowered employees to act with greater autonomy, and shifted cultural ownership away from a small group of executives toward leaders throughout the organization. Dave and Jessica also discuss why culture cannot simply be delegated to HR or treated as a communication initiative. They explore how visible wins, storytelling, grassroots ownership, and employee engagement can turn change from something pushed down by leadership into something driven from within the organization. For Dave, the results demonstrate that investing in people and culture is not separate from financial performance. It is one of the forces capable of producing it. About Dave Mowry Dave Mowry, Breg’s Executive Chairperson, stepped in as interim CEO in May 2024. Dave is an executive with extensive leadership experience at medical device companies, having led publicly traded and private equity-owned businesses across several market segments. Dave has specific expertise in the orthopedic industry, having run Tornier, Inc. (now part of Stryker), a leading extremities business, as President and CEO prior to its acquisition. Dave is excited about Breg and its future. He is committed to working with the management team to identify and make critical investments that will deliver near-term improvements, drive continued market share growth, and build the business into a market leader. Dave’s orthopedic experience will serve Breg well as we work closely with our distribution partners, customers, and their patients to provide best-in-class products through value-added services. Dave and his wife reside in Orange County, a short commute to the Breg offices in Carlsbad, California. He has two daughters and three grandchildren and considers himself an avid sports fan. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidhmowry/ Website: https://www.breg.com/ Host: Jessica Kriegel Website: jessicakriegel.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jessicakriegel Instagram: @jess_kriegel Culture Partners Website: culturepartners.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/culturepartners

3. 

   1 Sept 2026

   Rashmi Badwe on Leading Transformation, AI for Growth, and the Mindset Shifts That Drive Change

   This week, Jessica sits down with Rashmi Badwe, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of TIAA Wealth Management and Advice, to explore what it really takes to lead transformation inside a large organization. Drawing on nearly two decades at TIAA and a career spanning strategy, operations, and financial services, Rashmi shares why successful transformation depends less on obsessing over outcomes and more on changing how leaders and teams think, focus, and work. Rashmi explains why leaders must create space for clean slate thinking, resist the gravitational pull of how things have always been done, and recognize that their attention can be a more powerful driver of behavior than traditional incentives. She shares lessons from leading teams through difficult business challenges and makes the case that focusing on how people are working toward an outcome often produces better results than simply demanding that a milestone be met. The conversation also explores artificial intelligence and how TIAA is approaching it as a tool for growth rather than simply cost reduction. Rashmi discusses using AI to eliminate repetitive work, expand the number of clients employees can serve, and rethink entire roles rather than pursuing isolated efficiency gains. She also explains why the rise of AI will make distinctly human capabilities such as judgment, relationship building, communication, and emotional intelligence even more valuable. Along the way, Rashmi reflects on the habits that have shaped her own career, from rejecting multitasking and taking on difficult assignments to learning that having the right answer is not enough if you cannot bring people with you. At its core, this episode is about leading through uncertainty, developing the resilience to tackle hard problems, and understanding that meaningful transformation begins with the mindset of the people responsible for making it happen. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rashmi-badwe/ Website: https://www.tiaa.org/ Host: Jessica Kriegel Culture Partners LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/culturepartners Website: jessicakriegel.comLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jessicakriegelInstagram: @jess_kriegelWebsite: culturepartners.com

Who has been a guest on Culture Leaders with Dr. Jessica Kriegel

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Jon Yaged
• Lothar Schupet
• Jerry Golden
• Naren Aryal
• Sarah Langley

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

243

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

8 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 71 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

81

Social presence

94

YouTube

72

Engagement

32

Contact Culture Leaders with Dr. Jessica Kriegel

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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