Chatter with BNC | Sasha Weintraub - EVP & Chief Customer Officer for Duke Energy
Release Date: 03/11/2026
Chatter with BNC | Kevin Dick - President & CEO, Carolina Small Business Development Fund
Chatter with BNC
Welcome to Chatter with BNC, Business North Carolina's weekly podcast, serving up interviews with some of the Tar Heel State's most interesting people. On today's episode, Ben Kinney speaks with Kevin Dick, president and CEO of the Carolina Small Business Development Fund. Kevin shares his winding path from a first-generation American inspired by Alex P. Keaton to studying German and international business at Georgetown, then pivoting to urban planning and a career in local government. He explains how his nonprofit CDFI drives small business growth across all 100...
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Chatter with BNC | Kathie Sidner - Director of Workforce and Partnerships Strategy and Policy for the UNC System
Chatter with BNC
Welcome to Chatter with BNC, Business North Carolina's weekly podcast, serving up interviews with some of the Tar Heel State's most interesting people. On today's episode, Ben Kinney speaks with Kathie Sidner, Director of Workforce and Partnerships Strategy and Policy for the UNC System. Kathie shares her winding career journey — from engineering at UVA and a paper mill gig to the intelligence community, Army Research Office, and finally the UNC System. She discusses the new Military Equivalency System, which maps military training to academic credit across all 16...
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Chatter with BNC | Blake Moyer - President and CEO of the Surry County Economic Development Partnership
Chatter with BNC
Welcome to Chatter with BNC, Business North Carolina's weekly podcast, serving up interviews with some of the Tar Heel State's most interesting people. On today's episode, Ben Kinney speaks with Blake Moyer, president and CEO of the Surry County Economic Development Partnership. Blake shares his career journey starting in Burlington, his early COVID response experience, and how at 27 he took the helm in Surry County. They dive into Surry-Yadkin Works, an award-winning high school pre-apprenticeship program, the new Balladeer Marriott Tribute hotel in Mount Airy, and the region's...
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Chatter with BNC | Dr. Leo Spector - CEO, OrthoCarolina
Chatter with BNC
Welcome to Chatter with BNC, Business North Carolina's weekly podcast, serving up interviews with some of the Tar Heel State's most interesting people. On today's episode, Kevin Ellis speaks with Dr. Leo Spector, CEO or OrthoCarolina. Dr. Leo Spector has been with OrthoCarolina nearly 20 years, holding multiple leadership positions. After earning his MBA from Duke University in 2020, the spine surgeon was named CEO of OrthoCarolina in 2024. Spector talks about how it's an exciting time to be in healthcare because of how advances in technology have improved patient care.
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Chatter with BNC | Craig Alden - Senior VP & Area Manager for the Triad at Pinnacle Financial Partners
Chatter with BNC
Welcome to Chatter with BNC, Business North Carolina's weekly podcast, serving up interviews with some of the Tar Heel State's most interesting people. On today's episode, Ben Kinney speaks with Craig Alden, Senior Vice President and Area Manager for the Triad at Pinnacle Financial Partners. Craig shares exciting milestones for Pinnacle — including their eighth consecutive Best Places to Work win in the Triad and their rise to the third-largest bank by market share in the region. The conversation turns to the Triad's broader economic momentum, from the Toyota plant ripple...
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Chatter with BNC | Jim Thompson - Founder and CEO of Tying It Together Consulting
Chatter with BNC
Welcome to Chatter with BNC, Business North Carolina's weekly podcast, serving up interviews with some of the Tar Heel State's most interesting people. On today's episode, Ben Kinney speaks with Jim Thompson, founder and CEO of Tying It Together Consulting, on this edition of Chatter with BNC. A longtime association executive, Jim traces his journey from newspaper reporter to the nonprofit and association world, and into launching his own consulting business just three and a half months ago. He shares hard-won lessons on the power of relationships, the discipline of handwritten...
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Chatter with BNC | Tom Looney & John Kane - North Carolina Community College System
Chatter with BNC
Welcome to Chatter with BNC, Business North Carolina's weekly podcast, serving up interviews with some of the Tar Heel State's most interesting people. On today's episode, Ben Kinney speaks with Tom Looney and John Kane, the chair and vice chair of the North Carolina Community College System, in this edition of Chatter with BNC. The two business veterans and Power List honorees share how they came to champion the state's community colleges—an organization Looney says "touches more people and changes more lives" than any other. They dig into North Carolina's repeated number-one...
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Chatter with BNC | Dr. Chris Harrington - State Director of ApprenticeshipNC
Chatter with BNC
Welcome to Chatter with BNC, Business North Carolina's weekly podcast, serving up interviews with some of the Tar Heel State's most interesting people. On today's episode, Ben Kinney speaks with Dr. Chris Harrington, State Director of ApprenticeshipNC, North Carolina's state apprenticeship agency. Dr. Harrington breaks down what registered apprenticeship really is: an employer-driven model where apprentices are hired, paid from day one, and trained through structured on-the-job learning, classroom instruction, and mentorship, earning a nationally recognized credential. He...
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Chatter with BNC | Alex Shuford III - CEO, Rock House Farm Family of Brands
Chatter with BNC
Welcome to Chatter with BNC, Business North Carolina's weekly podcast, serving up interviews with some of the Tar Heel State's most interesting people. On today's episode, Ben Kinney speaks with Alex Shuford III, CEO of Rock House Designer Brands, the family-rooted holding company behind Century Furniture, Hancock & Moore, Hickory Chair, and more. A self-described English major turned furniture executive, Alex traces his winding journey from running interior design shops in the San Francisco Bay Area through the dot-com bust to leading one of North Carolina's signature...
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Chatter with BNC | Michael Lemanski - Founder and Managing Partner of NSV Development
Chatter with BNC
Welcome to Chatter with BNC, Business North Carolina's weekly podcast, serving up interviews with some of the Tar Heel State's most interesting people. On today's episode, Ben Kinney speaks with Michael Lemanski, founder and managing partner of NSV Development, about transforming distressed downtowns across North Carolina. A chemical engineer turned developer, Michael shares how a job shutting down a historic paper mill inspired him to repurpose old buildings rather than tear them down — work that has led to roughly $350 million in development in Durham and...
info_outlineWelcome to Chatter with BNC, Business North Carolina's weekly podcast, serving up interviews with some of the Tar Heel State's most interesting people.
On today's episode of "Chatter with BNC", we speak with Sasha Weintraub, the executive vice president and chief customer officer for Duke Energy. He’s worked for the company for more than 25 years, including as president of the natural gas business. He explains how North Carolina and Duke Energy are preparing for surging power demand from more data centers needed for artificial intelligence computing. The utility is balancing the need for more electricity without levying sharp increases on residential power bills, Weintraub says. He has a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; a master’s degree from Columbia University and a doctorate from NC State University.