Winners' Circle

About Winners' Circle

Winners’ Circle is where award winners and volunteer judges step out from behind the recognition and tell the stories that made the win matter. Hosted by Business Intelligence Group, each episode brings together the people behind standout work in cybersecurity, customer service, sales, marketing, sustainability, AI, innovation, and business excellence. Our guests share what they built, what they learned, what changed after being recognized, and how their teams turned achievement into momentum. You will hear from winners who used recognition to build credibility, open doors, strengthen team morale, earn customer trust, and create new growth opportunities. You will also hear from judges who have reviewed countless nominations and know what separates a strong story from a forgettable one. These are not acceptance speeches. They are honest conversations with the people doing the work. Winners talk about the campaigns, products, decisions, setbacks, breakthroughs, and lessons that shaped their success. Judges share what stands out, what gets overlooked, and how companies can tell clearer, stronger stories about their impact. For companies, Winners’ Circle offers practical ideas for turning recognition into real business value. For leaders and teams, it highlights the people behind the results. For marketers and PR pros, it shows how awards can become more than a headline. Pull up a chair in the Winners’ Circle. This is where winners and judges tell the stories behind the recognition.

Publisher

Business Intelligence Group Winners' Circle

Category

business · technology

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

2 Sept 2025

Latest episode

3 Nov 2026

Latest episodes

108 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   3 Nov 2026

   Sustainable Drop-In Bio-Based Solvents | Jeffrey Whitford, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

   Jeffrey Whitford, newly promoted Chief Sustainability, Social Responsibility and Inclusion Officer for Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, joins Russ Fordyce to explain how bio-based high-performance liquid chromatography lab solvents that work as one-to-one drop-in replacements won Sustainability Product of the Year at the 2026 BIG Sustainability Awards. He shares the 18-month promise that took six years, why he set out to decommoditize a commodity, and the professor who tried to break the product and could not. Along the way, he covers honest carbon accounting, supplier days, and the simple principle he would give any executive. Guest Info Guest: Jeffrey Whitford, Chief Sustainability, Social Responsibility and Inclusion Officer for Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-whitford-5419b812 (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-whitford-5419b812/) Website: sigmaaldrich.com (https://www.sigmaaldrich.com) Episode Chapters [00:00] Welcome, and congratulations on the award and the promotion [01:12] A 358-year-old company in one minute [03:37] Solvents 101 and a 10 percent footprint [05:14] Novel substitution versus the drop-in replacement [10:52] The bio-based acetonitrile launch [13:06] When product managers take ownership [14:59] Making the hurdle lower [16:47] Why the goal is no green premium [20:35] What surprised customers [22:59] A seat at the table [28:43] One principle: start somewhere and quantify [30:07] Closing thoughts and congratulations Key Takeaways Remove the adoption tax. Whitford's first bio-based solvent asked customers to change how they work, so his team rebuilt it as a one-to-one drop-in. In regulated labs, the greener option wins when nobody has to revalidate a method. Decommoditize the boring core product. Solvents are a commodity category, yet they made up about 10 percent of the company's footprint. Differentiating a product everyone must buy, even with a story as surprising as whiskey waste, turns sustainability into a commercial advantage. Trust and ownership are the real scoreboard. Whitford calls carbon accounting art and science, and says his job is predicated on trust. The sign it worked was product managers taking ownership, until it was not just a sustainability thing anymore but simply how the business runs. Resources Mentioned MilliporeSigma bio-based HPLC solvent launch announcement (https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/04/21/3277889/0/en/milliporesigma-launches-first-bio-based-solvent-portfolio-for-high-performance-liquid-chromatography.html) Trellis: Why MilliporeSigma's sustainability lead sits in on sales pitches (https://trellis.net/article/why-milliporesigmas-sustainability-lead-sits-in-on-sales-pitches/) My Green Lab: Carbon Impact of Biotech and Pharma reports (https://mygreenlab.org/resources/carbon-impact-reports/) Technology Networks: Highlights from My Green Lab's 2025 impact report (https://www.technologynetworks.com/analysis/news/how-big-is-pharmas-carbon-footprint-highlights-from-my-green-labs-2025-impact-report-407709) Award Promotion Congratulations to MilliporeSigma (https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/US/en), the U.S. and Canada Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, winner of Sustainability Product of the Year at the 2026 BIG Sustainability Awards. Learn more about the program: Sustainability Awards (https://www.bintelligence.com/awards/sustainability-awards) Subscribe Subscribe to The Winners' Circle podcast: www.bintelligence.com/podcast (https://www.bintelligence.com/podcast)

2. 

   20 Oct 2026

   Building Trust Before the Plug: How EVs Go Mainstream | Rob Barrosa, Electrify America

   Rob Barrosa, President and CEO of Electrify America, joins Russ Fordyce on the Winners' Circle Podcast after winning the Sustainability Leadership Award (Organization) at the 2026 Sustainability Awards. Rob explains why his team built 350 kW chargers before the cars could use them, how battery storage and utility partnerships keep the grid in balance, and how ride and drive events, incentives and workforce training bring first-time drivers into EVs. If you have wondered what really holds EV-curious drivers back, this conversation has answers. Guest Info Guest: Rob Barrosa (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rbarrosa), President and CEO Company: Electrify America (https://www.electrifyamerica.com/) Award: 2026 Sustainability Awards, Sustainability Leadership Award (Organization) Chapters [00:00] Welcome and the 2026 Sustainability Award [00:53] Inside Electrify America: 5,600 chargers across 47 states [02:55] What has changed since 2018 [03:34] Betting on 350 kW before the cars arrived [04:57] Charging for drivers without a home charger [07:07] Batteries, the grid and the AI data center comparison [08:12] Inside the community-led education program [10:09] Ride and drive events and getting people in the seats [11:07] Training the next workforce [12:38] What really holds EV-curious drivers back [14:47] Exchange programs and cleaner air [16:17] The hard parts: utilities, permitting and the handshake [19:56] Location strategy: amenities, highways, then cities [23:33] Measuring what community programs deliver [26:00] Families, kids and the moment the lights go on [28:36] Where charging goes next: speed, trucks and the grid [30:50] Planning with utilities and cities [32:49] Wrap-up and thanks Key Takeaways Build for where the market is going. Electrify America deployed 350 kW charging when many people said it was unnecessary, because the team knew longer range, faster charging vehicles were on the way. Today cars are pushing 400 to 600 kW, and some models charge at a megawatt. The hard parts are not just hardware. Utilities, permitting agencies and the car-to-charger handshake took years of education and a Northern Virginia lab with hundreds of thousands of testing hours. The next challenge is the grid, which is why battery storage and energy management matter. Awareness and price move drivers. Ride and drive events get people in the seat, incentives like $2,000 to $3,000 off address the price gap, and workforce training builds the people who will support the network. Resources Mentioned Electrify America (https://www.electrifyamerica.com/) Rob Barrosa on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rbarrosa) Electrify America on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/electrifyamerica) Nomination video on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynEybFi10lU) Celebrate Excellence Know an organization doing sustainability work worth celebrating? Learn about the Sustainability Awards (https://www.bintelligence.com/awards/sustainability-awards) and nominate them. Subscribe 🎧 Subscribe to the Winners' Circle Podcast: bintelligence.com/podcast (https://www.bintelligence.com/podcast)

3. 

   13 Oct 2026

   Safety Network: Adding a Fast Lane to 911 | Zach LaValley, RapidSOS

   Russ Fordyce interviews Zach LaValley, CTO at RapidSOS, about how connected devices enhance 911 emergency response by adding a fast lane to existing infrastructure.

Who has been a guest on Winners' Circle

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

• Zach LaValley
• Jack Zhang
• Rhiannon Andersen
• Chyna Murphy
• Nicki Brooks

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

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