Conversations with industry experts, tech leaders and masters in e-commerce that reveal the secrets of their success, and the most important lessons they learned while creating an impact with their business.
You Can’t Replace the Handshake: Bob Mirbaha on Vendors, AI, and 30 Years in Distribution
Vendor relationships are easy to talk about and hard to build. Bob Mirbaha of Metro Electric Supply has been doing it for over 30 years — and he’s seen everything change except the fundamentals.In this conversation, Bob breaks down his B2B relationship building philosophy from the ground up: why he goes straight to manufacturers rather than relying on reps, how he decides which vendors deserve his loyalty (and which don’t), and how he approaches vendor management and consolidation in a market where too many partners can actually weaken your position.Bob also shares what it takes to stay connected as industry contacts move from company to company, and why LinkedIn notifications aren’t enough for real B2B sales success. He makes the case for industry associations like EBMI as the irreplaceable fabric of a regional distribution market, and explains why AI Adoption will free up more time for face-to-face contact, not replace it.Whether you’re in electrical distribution, wholesale, or any B2B business, Bob’s hard-won wisdom on building lasting business relationships translates across the distribution industry.
8 Oct 2026
Leaning In, Leading ERP Change, and What Women Are Building in Distribution with Jenny Sagan of Singer Industrial
Jenny Sagan started as a clerical worker, moved through finance and operations, and built her expertise one role at a time. Today she leads digital transformation as an ERP Analyst at Singer Industrial and serves as president of the P21 Lake Erie User Group — a regional community she built to help distributors navigate exactly the kind of change she manages every day.
In this episode, Karthik sits down with Jenny to talk about what it really takes to get an ERP rollout adopted, not just deployed. Jenny's answer centers on empathy. When you're asking someone to abandon a system they've used for years, she says, you have to recognize the human cost of that transition and meet people where they are.
They also dig into the state of women in distribution, the honest industry conversation around Epicor's on-prem to cloud migration, what mindful AI adoption actually looks like in a distribution environment, and how Jenny has built a career by leaning in, expanding her boundaries, and continuing to learn.
24 Sept 2026
Why the Electrical Industry Owns Its Data and What's Coming Next with Patrick Knight, CEO of IDEA
What does it look like when an entire industry builds its own data infrastructure — and then has to reimagine itself for the AI era?
Patrick Knight, President & CEO of IDEA, joins Karthik Chidambaram to talk about what makes IDEA unlike any other company in the B2B supply chain space: it's not VC-backed, it's not chasing an IPO — it's owned by the industry it serves (NAED and NEMA), and everything it builds is aimed at making electrical distribution smarter and more efficient.
In this episode, Patrick unpacks how AI is reshaping supply chain data management, why data accuracy matters more than speed when wrong specs can cause real physical harm, and what IDEA's digital transformation into a full SaaS company looks like over the next five years. He also breaks down IDEA's flagship products (IDEA Connector and IDEA Exchange), newer offerings like DataWhispers and Cross-Check, and the push to adopt ETIM North America standards across the supply chain.
If AI, supply chain innovation, or the future of B2B distribution is on your radar, this one's worth your time.
Who has been a guest on Driven
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Frank Heenan
David Bauders
Cole Mercier
Brian Wild
John Perez
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
120,828
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 51 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
43
Social presence
0
YouTube
86
Engagement
60
Contact Driven
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Questions about Driven
Who hosts Driven?
Karthik and Karthik Chidambaram host the show. Published by DCKAP.
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The show publishes bi-weekly, based on its RSS feed.
Does Driven take guests?
Yes. Guests have been identified in episode analyses.
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