Industry Ignited Podcast

Industry Ignited Podcast

Industry Ignited is a platform for bold conversations with leaders who are transforming the way business gets done. Each episode spotlights breakthrough stories from the industrial, manufacturing, biotech, chemical, and B2B sectors, giving you an inside look at how top executives, innovators, and changemakers tackle real-world challenges and drive meaningful growth. Hosted by Dr. Leeanne Aguilar—entrepreneur, executive coach, and marketing strategist—Industry Ignited goes beyond surface-level discussions to uncover the strategies, mindsets, and lessons that fuel leadership at the highest level. From navigating complex operations and scaling companies to rethinking culture and preparing for the future of work, every conversation is designed to inspire, challenge, and equip you with fresh perspectives. Whether you’re an executive, entrepreneur, or emerging leader, this podcast will spark ideas, expand your vision, and ignite the drive to lead with confidence in today’s evolving business landscape.

Episodes

March 9, 2026 49 mins

What if the biggest barrier to faster, safer, and more cost-effective defense manufacturing isn’t technology, but the path to deploying it?

In this episode of Industry Ignited, Dr. Leeanne Aguilar sits down with Dr. Dean Bartles, President & CEO of the Manufacturing Technology Deployment Group (MTDG), to discuss how innovation actually reaches defense manufacturing.

With over 30 years of experience across General Dynamics, innova...

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As AI accelerates and the pace of change intensifies, the biggest question facing organizations today is this: what human skills will determine who thrives and who struggles in the future of work? In this episode of Industry Ignited, Dr. Leeanne Aguilar sits down with David Powell, co-founder of The Golden Thread, to explore the people skills that technology cannot replace.

Drawing from more than 30 years of experience working with ...

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Clean energy has a supply problem and almost no one is talking about it. As governments push electrification and AI drives power demand higher than ever, the materials required to build batteries and upgrade the grid remain concentrated in the hands of geopolitical competitors. Mike Reilly breaks down why lithium extraction, synthetic graphite, and critical mineral processing are the real battlegrounds of the energy transition.

He c...

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What does it really take to become a great aerospace engineer?

In this episode of Industry Ignited, Dr. Leeanne Aguilar speaks with Dr. Rashid Ali, aerospace educator, UAV designer, and flight control expert, about the mindset that separates competent engineers from transformational ones.

From childhood fascination with flight to rebuilding confidence after a glider crash, Dr. Ali shares how failure, discipline, and intellectual humi...

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What separates high-performing manufacturing leaders from everyone else? It’s not just automation, AI, or bigger facilities. It’s the ability to build disciplined systems, develop strong teams, and make decisive moves under pressure.

In this episode of Industry Ignited, Dr. Leeanne Aguilar speaks with Meher Billimoria, a manufacturing leader with over 27 years of experience spanning enterprise leadership, entrepreneurship, consultin...

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In this episode of Industry Ignited, Dr. Leeanne Aguilar sits down with Salman A. Rahman, Chief Technology Officer of Decorate AI, to explore how artificial intelligence is transforming the $290 billion interior design industry.

Salman shares how his background in technology and textiles led to the creation of Decorate AI, a platform built to eliminate guesswork, reduce costly design mistakes, and give users the confidence to make d...

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In this episode of Industry Ignited, host Dr. Leeanne Aguilar sits down with Lisa Voronkova, CEO of Ova Solutions and author of Hardware Bible: Build a Medical Device from Scratch, to unpack the real reasons medical devices fail, not in the lab, but in the real world.

Lisa shares hard-earned lessons from her own founder journey, including the classic trap of building around “cool tech” instead of solving a real clinical and commerci...

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Hydrogen is often talked about as the fuel of the future, but what does it actually look like in practice?

In this episode of Industry Ignited, host Dr. Leeanne Aguilar sits down with Salim Rahemtulla, President and CEO of PowerTap Hydrogen Fuel Corp, to break down how hydrogen fuel cell vehicles work, where they make sense, and where they don’t. From 20-minute heavy-duty refueling to water-only tailpipe emissions, this conversation...

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What if the most misunderstood part of a product category isn’t the product people obsess over, but the one that actually determines performance?

In this episode of Industry Ignited, host Dr. Leeanne Aguilar sits down with Gary Ramey, CEO of Liberty Ammunition, for a wide-ranging conversation on leadership, brand strategy, innovation and what it takes to grow in highly regulated, high-stakes industries.

Gary shares his unusual career...

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What does it really take to turn breakthrough medical innovation into real-world impact when lives are on the line and the system isn’t built for speed?

In this episode of Industry Ignited, host Dr. Leeanne Aguilar sits down with Joseph Rafferty, CEO of Vestec, a seasoned medtech leader who has spent decades operating at the intersection of innovation, commercialization, and clinical reality.

Joseph shares his unconventional journey ...

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What does it take to turn an idea into a life-changing medical device? Peter Bonutti, MD explains how mentorship, curiosity and patient-driven innovation led to over 500 patents and 700 licensed products. Learn the importance of persistence, problem-solving, and ethical innovation in medicine. 

 Discover how Peter Bonutti is pushing the limits of medicine. From early orthopedic innovations to opening the blood-brain barrier for neur...

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In this episode of Industry Ignited, host Dr. Leeanne Aguilar sits down with Jordan Pollack, CEO and co-founder of Sub-Q Bionics, to explore breakthrough innovations in medtech that are transforming the lives of cancer survivors.

Jordan, a biomedical engineer and medical device entrepreneur, shares his journey from Boston Scientific to founding SubQ Bionics, a company developing implantable bionic solutions for lymphedema, a chronic...

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What if the future of flight didn’t come from aerospace giants—but from a physicist who once broke world speed records on a human-powered bicycle?

In this episode of Industry Ignited, host Dr. Leeanne Aguilar sits down with Damjan Zabovnik, CEO of EV Corporation, to explore how radical efficiency, unconventional thinking, and persistence are reshaping aviation.

Damjan shares his journey from designing the world’s most aerodynamic hum...

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In this episode of Industry Ignited, host Dr. Leeanne Aguilar speaks with Andrew Patrick, President and CEO of Eckert Machining Inc., about why the most powerful driver of manufacturing performance isn’t equipment or automation, but culture. Drawing on decades of experience transforming large machine shops in Silicon Valley and Europe, Andrew explains how management unity, consistent leadership behavior, and genuine recognition cre...

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In this episode of Industry Ignited, host Dr. Leeanne Aguilar sits down with Matthew Guy, CEO of Niche 3D, to demystify additive manufacturing and show where 3D printing creates real business advantage beyond “hobby” perception. Matthew explains why the winners in 3D printing focus on applications and customer needs—not the novelty of the technology—then walks through how he designs and manufactures custom, low-volume production pa...

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On this episode of Industry Ignited, host Dr. Leeanne Aguilar speaks with Zack Lyon, Chief Executive Officer of H3Pelvic Therapy Systems, an industrial designer and engineer with 30+ years of experience and 40+ U.S. patents, about how a personal health crisis sparked a breakthrough approach to pelvic pain care. Zack shares how the “Keep It Simple” design philosophy shaped a home-based pelvic therapy system that uses precisely contr...

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In this episode of Industry Ignited, host Dr. Leeanne Aguilar interviews Robert Poe, President and CEO of Olon USA, about what it takes to move a fragile lab concept into a real-world, life-changing medicine—at scale, safely, and with quality. Robert shares his unconventional leadership journey (from combat medic and lab maintenance to CEO), the power of mentors who allow people to learn through failure, and why decisive leadership...

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In this episode of Industry Ignited, host Dr. Leeanne Aguilar sits down with Angie Griffin, Chief Commercial Officer at Third Coast, to unpack what it really takes to scale a fast-growing chemical company without losing agility, safety, or customer intimacy. Angie shares her unconventional path from English degrees to commercial leadership, then breaks down Third Coast’s core growth challenge—when revenue and demand outpace process...

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In this Industry Ignited episode, Dr. Leeanne Aguilar interviews Robert Swint, CEO of ATA Associates, whose 50-year career spans NASA’s Apollo and Space Shuttle programs to some of the world’s most complex accident and failure investigations. Drawing on his 24 years at NASA—including work on Apollo, Apollo 13 recovery, Shuttle avionics integration, and space-station safety—Bob explains how systems thinking, human factors, and rigor...

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In this Industry Ignited episode, Dr. Leeanne Aguilar sits down with Tim Mikhelashvili, CEO and Co-Founder of Amedea Pharma, to explore how life sciences can achieve elite performance by borrowing principles from Olympic sports and data science. Drawing on more than 20 years across pharma, biotech, and medical affairs, Tim shares how early exposure to drug recalls and poor manufacturing conditions shaped his mission to raise health...

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