Innovating America

The 2020 Democratic New Hampshire Primary is here and presidential candidates from Joe Biden to Bernie Sanders are hoping to claim victory in the wake of the shaky Iowa caucuses.For U.S. business owners, election uncertainty can make planning for the future incredibly difficult. What will my business face with a President Warren or Buttigieg? What policy changes are the candidates bringing to the table that my company needs to be ready for?Here to provide clarity to these questions and more are alliantgroup’s own Dean Zerbe, Former Senior Counsel to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and former Congressmen Rick Lazio (R- N.Y.) and Joe Crowley (D- N.Y.).

alliantgroup’s 2019 Think Tank Series: The Frontlines of Innovation, brought together some of the country’s leading experts in business, cybersecurity, legislation and public policy. Innovating Americahad a front row seat to chat with business leaders who attended this year’s event to discuss a wide-range of topics.In this episode, hosts George Morgan and Matthew Beddingfield talked with executives about the trends they are seeing in their industry, the obstacles that their business might be facing and where they see the innovations in their field taking their company in the next decade.

On September 11, 2001, the world watched as one by one, planes careened into the Twin Towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. as well as a field just outside of Shanksville Pennsylvania--taking the lives of nearly 3,000 people.In this episode of Innovating America, we sit down with former Governor Tom Ridge, who now serves as a member of alliantgroup’s Strategic Advisory Board, about his experience with this national tragedy, and how it ultimately led him on a path to becoming our country’s very first Secretary of Homeland Security—building the department from the ground up.

The IRS is our nation’s profit center, but with dwindling resources the agency is leaving millions upon millions of dollars on the table that could be poured into our country’s economy. Not only that, but the agency is constantly taking part in a dance with Congress and the legislative body’s oversight function.In this episode, we sit down with former IRS Commissioner Mark Everson and Dean Zerbe, former Senior Counsel and Tax Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, to talk about the limited bandwidth of the IRS, the relationship between these two government bodies, and what problems kept both of them up at night during their time in Washington D.C.

Oxford Economics recently reported that robots could take 20 million manufacturing jobs from individuals all over the world by the year 2030. These pieces of technology are becoming not just more sophisticated, but also cheaper.In this episode, we sit down with Jeff Burnstein, the President of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3) to talk about why robots actually are adding jobs to the American economy, and why we should embrace, and not shy away from, the robot revolution. 

alliantgroup’s 2019 Think Tank Series: STEM, Leadership & The Future of U.S. Business, brought together some of the country’s leading experts in business, technology and politics, and Innovating America had a front row seat to the action.In this episode, guest host George Morgan talks with six different conference attendees about what it takes to hire and retain top talent in the U.S., the pressing needs of their industry and where they see technology taking their business in the future.

In 1980, there were no women in top executive positions at Fortune 100 companies. By 2001, 11 percent of those business leaders were women—and that number continues to grow.The latest episode of Innovating America features a roundtable discussion with an amazing group of inspiring and powerful female leaders from alliantgroup, who open up about their individual leadership journey and how the women of today are paving the way for the next generation of female leaders.The discussion tackles subjects like how women have taken on the challenge of working in industries that have traditionally been dominated by men, and what women leaders can do to make sure that they are always inspiring those around them – regardless of gender.The episode features alliantgroup Managing Director Tracy Lustyan, alliantgroup Director Bridgette Brashear, alliantgroup Vice President of Education and Awareness Rose McCarty, alliantgroup Associate Director Missy Waites and Special Guest Host alliantgroup Senior Associate Taylor Imus. 

We’re living in a world where the average ransomware attack costs companies $5 million, and cyberattacks are causing nearly 3.8 million records to be stolen from companies every single day.So how are the perpetrators of these attacks able to hack our country’s businesses so easily, and what can we do to stop them? On this episode of Innovating America, Congressman Rick Lazio, RGCybersecurity Vice President Jon Murphy and alliantgroup’s Vice Chairman for Professional Services Frank Tirelli join the show to discuss cybersecurity in the United States, and the importance of cyber-vigilance for U.S. businesses.

New breeds of ransomware have become so sophisticated that they can literally take control of a company’s warehouse machinery, causing a disastrous ripple effect that goes far beyond just that company’s safety and bottom-line.As of today, half of the industrial control systems networks in the U.S. have faced a cyber-attack, and the number is rising as legacy systems are being connected through the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).In this episode, Chuck Wilson, Executive Director of the National Systems Contractors Association explains why businesses need to be aware of these growing cybersecurity threats—and how they can prepare.

Only 15% of executives in the U.S. say that their company culture is exactly where it needs to be. Why is it so hard to create a company culture that employees can easily get behind? And what are the companies whose cultures and work environments receive rave reviews doing right?In this episode, alliantgroup CEO Dhaval Jadav and Vice Chairman of Professional Services Frank Tirelli discuss how they have leveraged an effective company culture in their professional careers to drive revenue, passion and commitment to a unified company mission.

It isn’t every day that a hog farmer is a featured panelist at a SXSW event. But that was the case at this year’s conference, when Minnesota farmer Randy Spronk spoke with a standing-room only crowd about innovations in the agriculture industry today.From drones that monitor crop growth to robots that analyze soil quality, technology’s place in the agriculture sector has grabbed the attention of engineers and developers across the country. The industry has experienced eye-popping growth in the last several years, with some estimates finding the market will reach $730 billion by 2023.In this episode, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns talks with Innovating America about just how far technology has brought his industry, and the bright future that he sees ahead.

500 million people were impacted by the Marriott data breach in 2018, with everything from home addresses to passport numbers falling prey to the criminals who perpetrated the attack.But how does a cyber-breach occur on such a large scale? And how are companies and governments around the world fighting back?Cybersecurity expert Andrew Lanning, the founder of Integrated Security Technologies, talks with Innovating America about cybersecurity today—and how he sees the landscape playing out in the coming years.

The United States is facing a serious problem. Economic growth is slowing while the country is struggling to fill millions of vacant technical jobs.These jobs have the potential to put billions back into the economy and put the country on par with powerhouses like China and India.Former U.S. Congressmen Harold Ford Jr. and Rick Lazio join Innovating America to discuss what it will take for the country to get back on top.