The C-Suite Exchange

In this episode of C-Suite Exchange, host James Forrest talks with Anna Lynch — a farm girl from Iowa turned

structural engineer, who bought Stroud Pence at 37, rebranded it as Lynch Mykins, grew it from 40 to 70 employees and $3 million to $14 million in revenue, and sold it to an employee-owned firm at 44. Anna is refreshingly candid about the reality behind the "up and to the right" founder story: the introvert who had to perform as an extrovert for eight hours a day, the ego she had to shed in her CEO peer group, and the exhaustion of being 100% owner with nowhere to hide from every decision. The conversation covers what finally pushed her to sell — including watching loyal, decades-long employees leave one by one and post-COVID loyalty "going into the garbage" — and why she insisted on finding a buyer with no private equity, an ESOP structure, and a six-month close. Anna also opens up about the disorienting, sometimes scary year since the sale: chasing down cortisol and inflammation from years of stress, returning to ballroom dancing without needing to compete, and relearning who she is when she's no longer building something for someone else. Her core message throughout: "Lynch Mykins isn't me, nor am I Lynch Mykins" — and that same separation of identity from company is something she thinks every founder needs to sit with, whether they're building, scaling, or walking away. Whether you're a founder wrestling with when to sell, a leader trying to balance visionary instincts with day-to-day execution, or someone questioning how much of your identity is wrapped up in your work, this episode offers an unusually honest look at both sides of an exit.

James Forrest talks with Chris Chuang, co-founder and CEO of Relay, whose career has moved from McKinsey and venture capital to Bandwidth, Republic Wireless, and now a company bringing cloud software and AI to frontline workers. A central theme is building for the long race rather than the sprint. Chris explains how Bandwidth changed his view of work and why he believes the 9-9-6 schedule carries a hidden cost in attrition. He also shares his view that serial founders succeed by bringing the same people with them from one company to the next. He walks through Relay's pivot from a consumer device for kids to a B2B platform, and why he believes empathy for frontline workers requires walking a steel mill rather than designing from a desk. He also reflects on what he learned from letting culture fragment at Republic. Chris closes with practical hiring advice for candidates, the weight a CEO's words carry, and the role his faith has played in the opportunities that opened along the way.

James Forrest sits down with Jeff Stocks, chairman of the Starboard Holding Companies and Nautical Advisory Services, whose career includes nearly 30 years leading one of the largest Manpower franchises in the country. A recurring theme is Jeff's view that conflict resolution is one of the weakest skills among CEOs, along with the motto his companies use to address it: run to the issue, not from it. He shares an early-career lesson about waiting too long to address a leader who did not fit the culture. He also explains why he considers culture an organization's biggest competitive advantage and why every leadership team in his portfolio holds equity. Jeff covers what first-time sellers should expect emotionally in an M&A process, how he balances facts and intuition when hiring, and how AI helped his firm win a major CEO search proposal. The conversation closes with the values Jeff traces back to growing up on a tobacco farm in eastern North Carolina, including humility, faith, and nearly 50 years of marriage.

On this episode of The C-Suite Exchange, James Forrest talks with Michael Goodmon, Executive Vice President of Capitol Broadcasting Company, whose family's work spans WRAL, the Durham Bulls, and the redevelopment of the American Tobacco Campus. The conversation centers on a belief Michael inherited from his father, that "the future is made of partnerships," and that a company cannot succeed unless the community around it succeeds too. Michael explains why he sees philanthropy as a duty rather than a marketing tool, and what it took for business leaders, Duke University, and city and county officials to take a risk on downtown Durham. He also shares why he believes a fourth-generation family business lasts by keeping ownership tied to the people who actually work in it. He speaks openly about his tendency to avoid difficult conversations, his concern that AI could widen the gap between the haves and have-nots, and the projects he is proudest of, including the American Underground, the Miracle League field, and more.

For more than 20 years, James Forrest has advised C-level executives, giving him a front-row seat to the business decisions that shape companies, careers, and legacies. The C-Suite Exchange gives listeners that same access. In each episode, James sits down with corporate executives, entrepreneurs, and boardroom leaders for honest, unfiltered conversations about what actually worked, what didn't, and the lessons learned along the way. Instead of the familiar "up and to the right" success story, guests speak candidly about the setbacks behind their growth. They cover the hard conversations they put off, the pivots they never planned for, and what it means to sell a company and figure out who you are afterward, along with the culture, shared ownership, and long-term thinking that helped their organizations last. If you're in the C-suite or aspire to be, or you care about leadership, entrepreneurship, and building organizations that matter, you're in the right place.