Westport Resident Launches Leadership & Mountaineering Video Podcast

Press release from Canvas Leadership:

Sept. 15, 2022

Jez Benton, Founder and CEO of culture transformation firm Canvas Leadership, today announced the launch of a unique new video podcast, Route to the Top. Combining two of Benton’s passions – leadership and mountaineering – Route to the Top features Benton’s interviews with six CEOs who share their own “route to the top” as they hike mountains throughout the U.S. and U.K. with the British-born Benton.

Benton, who summitted Mount Everest in 2005, has 25 years of experience in the corporate learning and development space, working with clients such as JPMorgan Chase, PepsiCo, and Pfizer.

“Over the course of my career, I’ve learned that leadership is about creating meaning, motivation, and action,” notes Benton. “Each of the CEOs interviewed for Route to the Top has excelled at leadership within shifting paradigms. Hiking a mountain together created an organic and authentic opportunity to learn more about how they lead change within their organizations. They were open, engaged, and a little sweaty!”

Filmed by Benton on an iPhone 13 with no crew, each interview offers an intimate look at the CEOs and their success stories. Interviews will be of particular interest to other CEOs as well as other business leaders, including Chief Human Resources Officers, Chief Learning, and Chief Talent Officers. The episodes are available for download starting September 14 via LinkedIn, Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts, running approximately 10 minutes on LinkedIn with the full-length, 45-minute interviews available on the other platforms.

Featured interviews in this first season of Route to the Top include:

Neal Katyal
Aspen, Colorado – Aspen Mountain
“Ideas and innovations come from anyone – value everyone.”
Katyal is former Acting Solicitor General of the US, a partner at Hogan Lovells + Saunders, and Professor of Law at Georgetown University. He believes the key to crafting a persuasive and successful argument lies in human connection, empathy, and faith in the power of your ideas – lessons he’s learned as he argues in front of the Supreme Court.

David SJ Tait, MBE
Surrey, England – Box Hill
“You don’t need to be the smartest person in the room; just know what you are trying to do.”
Tait is the CEO of World Gold Council, 5-time Everest summiteer, former trustee of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), and the person that the movie Sulphur & White is based on. At work, he's spearheading change in the use of gold and gold mining. In his personal time, he's raising millions for charity through climbing and speaking personally about his experiences of child abuse to raise awareness and champion the work of the NSPCC.

Jessica Bailey
Telluride, Colorado – Ajax Mountain
“Sometimes not having a long-term plan works out. Just take small steps in the right direction.”
As the CEO of Nuveen Green Capital and Co-Founder of Greenworks Lending LLC, Bailey is translating policy into practice as it relates to reversing climate change, one building at a time.

Sergio Ezama
New Hampshire – The Presidential Traverse
“Value and learn from your experiences.”
As the Chief Human Resources Officer of Netflix and Ex-Chief Talent Officer at PepsiCo, Ezama is helping Netflix gain competitive advantage through intentional choices in the realm of leadership, culture, and talent.

Ron Dunford
Park City, Utah – Mountain 9990
“Develop your own leadership principles based on you and your context.”
Dunford is CEO of Schreiber Foods, which is the $6B customer-brand leader in cream cheese, natural cheese, process cheese, beverages, and yogurt. He's on a mission to do good through food.

Pace Ralli
Jackson Hole, Wyoming – Glory Peak
“It’s hard to disrupt an industry. Keep pushing!”
Ralli is Founder of SWITCH Maritime LLC, a ClimateTech entrepreneur and investor, focused on "hard-to-decarbonize" sectors of the economy and energy transition projects of transformational scope. He built the first zero-carbon maritime ship powered 100% by hydrogen fuel cells.

This press release was produced by Canvas Leadership. The views expressed here are the author's own.