The TechEd Podcast
by Matt Kirchner
Latest episode
Higher Education’s New Value Proposition: Knowledge You Can Put to…
Higher Education’s New Value Proposition: Knowledge You Can Put to…
About this podcast
The TechEd Podcast sits at the intersection of technology, industry, innovation and the people who make progress possible. Hosted by Matt Kirchner, each episode features builders, executives, educators, and policymakers shaping what’s next—AI, automation, advanced manufacturing, energy, and the systems behind them.
If you care about the future of work, the future of tech, and how talent actually gets built, you’re in the right place.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 294 episodes
- Higher Education’s New Value Proposition: Knowledge You Can Put to Work – Dr. Eric Baumgartner, President of MSOE – Part 2 · 32 min · Episode 293Higher education faces a difficult equation: fewer traditional students, intensifying competition, and rising questions about the value of a four-year degree, even as industry…
- Driving a Mars Rover: The Unlikely Path from Reader to NASA Roboticist – Dr. Eric Baumgartner, President of MSOE - Part 1 · 44 min · Episode 292Unlike most engineers, growing up, Eric Baumgartner wasn't the kid building things in his garage. And yet, his love for science fiction and Carl Sagan books opened a world of…
- Fast, Frugal, Scrappy: How to Find the White Space and Disrupt Established Markets - Rod Copes, Slate Auto · 1 h 2 min · Episode 291Established companies have scale, capital, infrastructure and decades of experience. Startups have the benefit of fresh thinking and fewer constraints. But disruption and winning…
- Funding, Teachers and Technical Careers: A Conversation About Wisconsin Education - Tom Tiffany, U.S. Congressman · 56 min · Episode 290School funding, teacher pay, CTE, Workforce Pell, competency-based education, technical careers, automation and industry credentials are all part of a changing conversation about…
- Lighter, Stronger Materials are Changing How We Build Everything - Chad Duty, CEO of IACMI · 35 min · Episode 289At IACMI, aerospace companies, material suppliers, startups, universities, and national laboratories gather around the same table, often with the same goal: finding the next…
- In an Age of Infinite Content, Who Earns Your Trust? - Kerry Gumas, CEO of Gardner Business Media · 56 min · Episode 288In an age where anyone can create content, how do manufacturers (and people in any sector, really) know who to trust? In this episode of The TechEd Podcast, Kerry Gumas, CEO and…
- The Making of Artemis II and the Generation That Will the Build Moon Base - Dr. Sharon Cobb, NASA Space Launch System · 58 min · Episode 287For the first time in more than half a century, NASA is preparing to send humans around the Moon, laying the foundation for a sustained lunar presence and the eventual journey to…
- Cheese, Robots, and the Art of Inventing the Next Big Idea - Louie Gentine, CEO of Sargento Foods · 53 min · Episode 286Innovation doesn’t always look revolutionary. Sometimes it looks like putting shredded cheese in a bag. For more than 70 years, Sargento Foods has built a business around seeing…
- Why Are We Training STEM PhDs for Academia When Most Work in Industry? - Tony Boccanfuso, President & CEO of UIDP · 54 min · Episode 285The United States produces some of the best STEM researchers in the world. But there’s a structural mismatch in how many of them are trained: roughly two-thirds of STEM PhDs in…
- Apprenticeship 101: The Modern Earn-and-Learn Model Expanding Far Beyond the Trades - David Polk, Director of Apprenticeship at WI DWD · 1 h 5 min · Episode 284Apprenticeship is no longer synonymous with the construction trades. Healthcare organizations are training medical assistants and registered nurses through apprenticeship…
- 21 Million Graduates: The Overlooked Workforce Pipeline – CT Turner, President of GED Testing Service · 53 min · Episode 283For decades, the GED has been viewed as a second chance to finish high school. But with employers struggling to find talent and millions of Americans looking for a pathway to…
- Start with Retention: Rethinking the Talent Equation – Jason Desentz, CHRO of Toshiba America · 1 h 1 min · Episode 282For decades, the standard HR playbook has been attract, retain, develop. Jason Desentz says we should rethink that order. As Chief Human Resources Officer of Toshiba America…
- How to Fund a Million-Dollar Idea: Inspiring Philanthropic Investment in Education - Michael Frohna, Founder & VP of Humaner · 56 min · Episode 281In 2025, Americans gave $617 billion to charitable causes. If your school has a bold vision for students, the money may be out there. The bigger question is whether you have an…
- How FAME is Rebuilding America’s Manufacturing Talent Pipeline – Tony Davis, National Director of FAME USA (Manufacturing Institute) · 1 h 1 min · Episode 280Every manufacturer says they need people. So why, after decades of talking about the skills gap, do so few workforce development models consistently deliver the talent employers…
- The Skills-Based Organization: A New Architecture for Talent & Career Growth - Liz Eversoll, CEO of Career Highways · 1 h 2 min · Episode 279Static career maps, spreadsheets and disconnected HR systems can't keep pace with how quickly jobs are changing. Today’s leading employers are rebuilding their workforce…
- Digital Twins & Engineering Technology in Women's Health - Dr. Kristin Myers, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Columbia University · 46 min · Episode 278Imagine a future where healthcare consists of engineers working alongside medical researchers and clinicians to build better ways to measure the body, model disease, predict risk…
- A Boxing Champion-Turned-CEO's 5 Virtues for Leadership - Héctor Colón, President & CEO of Lutheran Social Services · 1 h 0 min · Episode 277How do you redefine success when the dream you fought for is no longer your highest calling? Rising from poverty and racism, Héctor Colón became a seven-time national boxing…
- Talking Business, Social Media & Movies with Marcus Theaters CEO - Greg Marcus, President & CEO of The Marcus Corporation · 1 h 6 min · Episode 276Movie theaters have taken hit after hit, from streaming to COVID to fewer studio releases. But this is a case study for any business leader: organizations can survive disruption…
- America 250: Reagan, Kennedy and the Values That Built a Nation · 44 min · Episode 275On the eve of America 250, The TechEd Podcast steps away from its usual format to reflect on the American Dream, the values that built the nation, and the ideals that continue to…
- 12 Leadership Lessons from a Fortune 500 CEO - Bill Foote, former Chairman and CEO of USG Corporation · 1 h 4 min · Episode 274As chairman and CEO of USG Corporation, Bill Foote led one of the most remarkable Chapter 11 restructurings in American business — an achievement Warren Buffett called “the most…
