The Stronger Podcast copertina

The Stronger Podcast

The Stronger Podcast

Di: Mike Montoya
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A proposito di questo titolo

 The Stronger Podcast is where the real conversations behind education and nonprofit leadership come alive. Each episode spotlights executives, founders, and purpose-driven leaders who are shaping schools, organizations, and communities across the country. These are the people on the front lines, opening school doors, building new models, and creating opportunities for kids every single day. Leaders share their journeys, the challenges they are navigating right now, and the mission that drives them. It is the kind of candid, heart-level exchange you would normally only hear after hours at a conference. Listeners can expect stories of impact, resilience, vulnerability, and vision. Sometimes inspiring, sometimes raw, always real. This podcast is not about selling products or ideologies. It is about connection. By amplifying the voices of those doing the work, the goal is to build community, spread powerful ideas, and ultimately fuel the larger mission of creating opportunity for millions of children. If you care about education, leadership, and what it takes to build change from the ground up, this is your front-porch seat to the conversation.© 2025 Mike Montoya Economia Ricerca del lavoro Scienze sociali Successo personale
Episodi
  • Breaking the Mobility Trap: Aligning Partners Around Cradle-to-Career Outcomes – with Bill Crim

    Breaking the Mobility Trap: Aligning Partners Around Cradle-to-Career Outcomes – with Bill Crim
    Feb 19 2026

    What if the promise that each generation will do better than the last is slipping away?

    In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya talks with Bill Crim, CEO of United Way of Salt Lake and Utah’s Promise, about economic mobility and what it really takes to align communities around cradle to career outcomes.

    Bill shares how cross sector collaboration, policy advocacy, and collective impact partnerships can strengthen education outcomes and rebuild opportunity for kids and families. Instead of launching new programs, this work focuses on aligning existing resources and building shared accountability across schools, nonprofits, businesses, and government.

    They explore Utah’s 100% Initiative, the role of backbone leadership in sustaining change, and why lasting progress depends on listening to families and working together over the long term.

    Bill also reflects on his own path from engineering student to nonprofit leader and why he still believes communities can create a more just and opportunity filled future.
    If you are an education leader, nonprofit executive, policy advocate, or someone who cares about the future of economic mobility in America, this episode offers both realism and hope.

    Chapter:

    00:48 🎙️ Want a Podcast Just Like This One? Check Out podcastsmatter.com

    01:00 🙋‍♂️ Meet Bill Crim: United Way of Salt Lake & Utah’s Promise

    03:39 📉 The Core Problem: Poverty, Stalled Mobility, and the ‘Promise’ to Families

    07:37 🔄 Cross-Sector Alignment: How Collective Impact Works

    17:41 🌟 Bill’s Origin Story: From Engineering to Policy Advocacy to United Way Leadership

    24:42 📚 Find Support for Writing Your Impact-Driven Book at booksthatmatter.org

    26:25 👉 Why Policy Advocacy Matters for Community Change

    28:15 📈 United Way Today: Trust, 211, and Backbone Infrastructure

    32:10 🎯 Cradle-to-Career Goals and the 100% Initiative

    41:37 🧠 Building Backbone Leadership, Resilience, and Retention

    46:02 🚀 If You Are a Leader or Changemaker Looking for Support, Check Out geniusdiscovery.org

    48:47 ⚖️ Reflections on Justice, Hope, and Closing Takeaways

    54:37 🎧 Find More Podcasts That Matter at podcaststhatmatter.org

    Links:
    Learn about Utah's Promise at https://utahspromise.org

    LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/bill-crim-aab1119

    Connect with Bill: https://www.linkedin.com/company/united-way-of-salt-lake/posts/?feedView=all

    Connect with Bill Crim on LinkedIn and explore the work of United Way of Salt Lake to see how community partnerships, shared accountability, and cradle-to-career alignment are helping rebuild opportunity for kids and families.

    Learn more about cradle to career initiatives at https://www.strivetogether.org


    Connect with Mike: www.linkedin.com/in/mmsc

    Stronger Consulting: strongerconsulting.com

    Publish a Book That Matters: booksthatmatter.org

    Start a Podcast That Matters: podcastsmatter.com

    Go from Expert to Thought Leader: geniusdiscovery.org


    For more great podcasts like this one, visit https://podcaststhatmatter.org


    Stay strong.

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    55 min
  • From Lifelong Immigrant to Education CEO: Leading With Compassion for Multilingual Learners – with Dr. Daniel Velasco

    From Lifelong Immigrant to Education CEO: Leading With Compassion for Multilingual Learners – with Dr. Daniel Velasco
    Feb 12 2026
    From lifelong immigrant to education equity leader, Daniel Velasco shares how identity, resilience, and compassion shaped his journey to becoming President and CEO of Ensemble Learning and a national voice for multilingual learners.Born in Lima, Peru and raised across Venezuela, Colombia, and Peru before settling in the United States, Daniel learned early how to adapt in order to belong. As a child, he unconsciously mirrored accents and behaviors to fit into each new environment, a survival skill that later informed his understanding of identity, privilege, and belonging. His education spanned elite international schools, under-resourced public schools, and eventually institutions like Harvard and Johns Hopkins, each revealing how opportunity is unevenly distributed. These experiences shaped both his worldview and his commitment to educational equity.Daniel’s path was anything but linear. He navigated family financial collapse during the dot-com bust while attending Harvard, took on full-time work throughout his graduate studies, and delayed personal milestones to help rebuild his family’s stability. Along the way, he taught through Teach for America, studied international development, and immersed himself in education policy and change management. He describes this “scenic route” as difficult but formative, revealing how social capital and institutional credibility influence whose voices are heard.Now leading Ensemble Learning, Daniel supports schools across the country in serving multilingual and dually identified learners through data, professional development, and coaching. He is working to address teacher attrition by partnering with the National Center for Teacher Residencies to build bilingual pathways into the profession. At the heart of his work is a belief that many educators leave not from lack of care, but from lack of preparation to serve the students in front of them.Throughout the conversation, Daniel reflects on compassionate leadership, the energy cost of trying to fix everything for everyone, and the importance of building organizational cultures rooted in trust and humanity. He reminds listeners that leadership is not about perfection, but about being a decent human at the right time and creating environments where people feel seen, supported, and capable. Tune in to hear how Daniel’s story reframes what it means to lead with purpose, resilience, and heart. Chapters:00:44 🌍 Meet Daniel Velasco and His Journey from Peru to the United States00:31 🎙️ Want a Podcast Just Like This One? Check Out podcastsmatter.com02:03 🎓 Growing Up and Navigating School Across Countries09:43 📚 Higher Education Choices and Career Pathways21:32 🏫 Leading Ensemble Learning and Expanding Its Impact25:43 💼 Navigating the Realities of Nonprofit Leadership26:47 ✍️ Find support for writing your impact-driven book at booksthatmatter.org27:37 🚀 The Unexpected Path to Becoming CEO33:48 🧠 Rebuilding Confidence and Redefining Leadership41:02 🤝 Compassionate Leadership and Building Strong Teams44:00 🌟 If you are a leader or a changemaker looking for support, check out geniusdiscovery.org47:03 💬 Final Reflections on Leadership and Purpose53:34 🎧 Find More Podcasts That Matter at podcastsmatter.org LinksWebsite: https://ensemblelearning.org LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ensemblelearning/posts/?feedView=all Connect with Dr. Daniel: http://linkedin.com/in/drdanielvelasco Connect with Dr. Daniel Velasco on LinkedIn and explore Ensemble Learning’s work to see how compassionate leadership and multilingual learner advocacy are transforming schools across the country. Connect with Mike: www.linkedin.com/in/mmscStronger Consulting: strongerconsulting.comPublish a Book That Matters: booksthatmatter.orgStart a Podcast That Matters: podcastsmatter.comGo from Expert to Thought Leader: geniusdiscovery.org For more great podcasts like this one, visit https://podcaststhatmatter.org/ Stay strong.
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    55 min
  • Mergers Aren’t Failures: Protecting Impact Through Trust and Strategy – with Jessica Sutter

    Mergers Aren’t Failures: Protecting Impact Through Trust and Strategy – with Jessica Sutter
    Feb 5 2026

    From Bronx roots to shaping the future of public education: Jessica Sutter shares how a life grounded in service, trust, and intellectual rigor led her from the classroom to national education policy and consulting. Jessica is an education leader and consultant based in Washington, D.C., whose career spans teaching, charter school leadership, policy, and research.

    Raised in a large Catholic family in the Bronx, Jessica grew up in a household that prized education and community, values that continue to guide her work today. Though no longer religious, she carries forward a Jesuit-inspired commitment to social justice and leaving institutions better than she found them. That throughline has shaped her decades-long dedication to students, families, and mission-driven organizations.

    Jessica traces her journey from teaching in Chicago to training educators in Los Angeles, before becoming a founding teacher at KIPP LA Prep in the early days of the charter school movement. Those formative classroom years, including launching a middle school that eventually grew into a full district, grounded her leadership in the lived realities of students and families. Her curiosity about systems-level change later pulled her into education policy, beginning in Washington, D.C. during the Obama era, where an Education Pioneers fellowship and doctoral training deepened her impact.

    Today, Jessica brings together lived experience, qualitative research expertise, and hard-earned perspective as an independent consultant. She shares why trust, self-discipline, and intellectual honesty are non-negotiable in consulting, and why leaders must sometimes say no, or refer work elsewhere, to protect long-term credibility. She also reframes mergers and consolidations in education not as failures, but as mission-preserving strategies in a shifting philanthropic and funding landscape.

    At its heart, this conversation is about leadership with humanity - balancing ambition with vulnerability, innovation with stewardship, and meaningful work with a life well lived. Tune in for a thoughtful, deeply grounded discussion that will resonate with educators, nonprofit leaders, and anyone navigating change with purpose.

    Chapters

    00:31 👋 Meet Jessica Sutter Building Trust in Education

    00:59 🎧 Want a Podcast Just Like This One? Check Out podcastsmatter.com

    01:14 👩‍🎓 Jessica’s Early Life and Education

    12:30 📚 Career Journey From Teaching to Policy Work

    24:19 🌟 If You Are a Leader or Changemaker Looking for Support, Check Out geniusdiscovery.org

    25:47 🤝 The Role of Relationships in Consulting

    27:29 🧭 Balancing Self Discipline and Curiosity

    28:53 🔍 Why Trust and Expertise Matter in Consulting

    32:40 💡 Navigating Financial Pressure and Building Trust

    36:42 🔗 Mergers, Acquisitions, and Organizational Sustainability

    39:38 📝 Find Support for Writing Your Impact-Driven Book at booksthatmatter.org

    53:04 ✨ Reflections on a Life Well Lived

    57:17 🎙️ Find More Podcasts That Matter at podcaststhatmatter.org


    Links

    Website: https://www.edproconsultingllc.com
    LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/edpro-consulting/?viewAsMember=true
    Connect with Jessica: www.linkedin.com/in/jessicasutter
    Connect with Jessica Sutter through her website and social channels, follow her work in education advocacy and consulting, and explore her insights on strategic partnerships and leadership to stay inspired and informed.


    Connect with Mike: www.linkedin.com/in/mmsc

    Stronger Consulting: strongerconsulting.com

    Publish a Book That Matters: booksthatmatter.org

    Start a Podcast That Matters: podcastsmatter.com

    Go from Expert to Thought Leader: geniusdiscovery.org


    For more great podcasts like this one, visit https://podcaststhatmatter.org/


    Stay strong.

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    58 min
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