David Arnold

Born and raised in a small Western Nebraska town, David moved to Lincoln to pursue a Business Administration degree from Nebraska Wesleyan University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Nebraska College of Law.

Following law school David took a position as the Deputy Communication Director for the Omaha Mayor’s Office where he got a firsthand look at the inner workings of municipal government. In 2012, David was hired as the seventh employee of MindMixer – a civic tech startup founded by two Omahans – in the role of Account Manager where he worked with clients across the nation. Over the next two years, David helped create and lead the Client Services division which was tasked with the company’s onboarding, support, and product utilization responsibilities. David saw Straight Shot as an opportunity to bring together his two passions – business and community building – and became the Managing Director in 2013.

Outside of work, David is active in the community by serving on the Greater Omaha Chamber’s Board of Directors, the Omaha Public School’s Career Education Advisory Council, the Advisory Board for The Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic at the University of Nebraska College of Law, as well as the Metcalfe Park Neighborhood Association.

Jeffrey Hayzlett 

Jeffrey Hayzlett is a primetime television host of C-Suite with Jeffrey Hayzlett and Executive Perspectives on C-Suite TV, and business radio host of All Business with Jeffrey Hayzlett on CBS on-demand radio network Play.It. He is a global business celebrity, speaker, best-selling author, and Chairman of C-Suite Network, home of the world’s most powerful network of C-Suite leaders. Hayzlett is a well-traveled public speaker, the author of two bestselling business books, The Mirror Test and Running the Gauntlet. His third book, Think Big, Act Bigger, releases September 2015. Hayzlett is one of the most compelling figures in business today.

Jeffrey is a leading business expert, cited in Forbes, SUCCESS, Mashable, Marketing Week and Chief Executive, among many others. He shares his executive insight and commentary on television networks like Bloomberg, MSNBC, Fox Business, and C-Suite TV. Hayzlett is a former Bloomberg contributing editor and primetime host, and has appeared as a guest celebrity judge on NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice with Donald Trump for three seasons. He is a turnaround architect of the highest order, a maverick marketer and C-Suite executive who delivers scalable campaigns, embraces traditional modes of customer engagement, and possesses a remarkable cachet of mentorship, corporate governance, and brand building.

Bob Gillespie

Bob has over 25 years of experience in technology, leadership and operations. By providing solid leadership in a culture of innovation and creativity, his companies have created industry changing products and platforms. Companies Bob has founded have gone on to raise well over $25M in funding with an enterprise value of over $100M.

Bob is a Partner at Anka Capital Management, a Venture Capital firm focusing on emerging markets with a focus on Turkey. Bob has mentored over 25 Turkish early stage companies on global market expansion and growth strategies.

He is also the founder and CEO of Conference Software Solutions, a Software as a Solution (SaaS) company that make tradeshows, events and conferences easier to manage, providing tremendous return on investment for both organizers and attendees.

Prior to his current work, Bob’s latest success was InContext Solutions, a company Co-Founded by Bob and two colleagues in 2009. InContext Solutions was named One of America’s Most Promising Companies by Forbes, selected as one of the Rising Stars by the Illinois Technology Association, and selected from over 300 companies as the winner of the Up and Comer Award at the Chicago Innovation Awards by J.B. Pritzker and New World Ventures.

Bob has his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with concentrations in Entrepreneurship and Finance.