Speaker 1:

From the New York Stock Exchange at the corner of Wall and Broad Streets in New York City, welcome Inside the ICE House. Our podcast from Intercontinental Exchange is your go-to for the latest on markets, leadership, vision, and business.

For over 230 years, the NYSE has been the beating heart of global growth. Each week, we bring you inspiring stories of innovators, job creators, and the movers and shakers of capitalism, here at the NYSE and ICE's exchanges around the world. Now, let's go inside the ICE House. Here's your host, Lance Glinn.

Lance Glinn:

Inside the ICE House in June, we aired four new episodes covering a diverse range of topics, including the state of corporate philanthropy, educating the next generation of skilled workers, trucking and logistics, and the podcast's newest partner. We kicked off with episode 473, featuring Jake Wood, founder and CEO of Groundswell.

Philanthropy is a driving force behind community recovery after disasters. Beyond immediate needs, donations fuel long-term rebuilding and restore livelihoods. Jake joins Judy Shaw from ICE Experience 2025 to share how he's transforming corporate giving, sparking a new era of generosity.

Jake Wood:

Yeah, well, one of the things that we saw, really up until Hurricanes Helene and Milton last fall, was a significant reduction in disaster philanthropy at the individual level. I think people following COVID had a lot of compassion fatigue.

And so, think about what's transpired over the last five years. You had COVID the murder of George Floyd, you had other large disasters, the rise of Black Lives Matter, and all these things people were asked to care about. And we saw across 2022, 2023, a reduction in people's willingness to support organizations like us after hurricanes and wildfires.

That switched with Milton, Helene and the LA wildfires. I think people recognize that the world is becoming more dangerous. I think we are kind of reverting back to that thing that makes America unique, which is our ability to empathize with our neighbors, whether we've met them or not. And so we're, I think, developing some level of confidence, that that pendulum is swinging back, where Americans will rise up and do the right thing when communities are impacted by these storms.

Judy Shaw:

Groundswell works closely with publicly traded companies, including Intercontinental Exchange, as you mentioned. Since launching the program earlier this year, ICE has already matched over $200,000 of our employee donations. So when partnering with these large organizations, how does Groundswell integrate its efforts with their existing corporate social responsibility programs to reach the highest potential?

Jake Wood:

Yeah, listen, there aren't many companies that would look at their corporate social responsibility team and see them as mission-critical. I think that there's a lot of companies that take their philanthropy very seriously, they take it as a part of the way that they do business. But listen, it's not profit generating, it's not revenue generating. And so, what the result of that is, it's typically an under resourced team, limited staffing, limited resources.

And so, what these teams need is a high-leverage platform that allows them to do more with less. And that's really what we've aimed to build at Team Rubicon. I'm sorry, at Groundswell. We've been switching back and forth here so much. At Groundswell, it's like, "Let's provide a tool that allows them to do more with less."

We've certainly seen that with ICE. $200,000 across what is typically some of the lowest months in philanthropy, because people have just given their end-of-year gifts in December, people aren't usually thinking about supporting charities in January and February. And so to see $200,000 matched in the first couple of months, with really no administrative burden on ICE's philanthropy team, it's pretty awesome to see.

Lance Glinn:

Episode 474 featured Jerome Grant, CEO of UTI, that's NYC ticker symbol UTI. Skilled trades are booming and students are diving in. UTI is turning passion into paychecks, with fast hands-on training that leads to real careers. Jerome joins me inside the ICE House to reveal how top instructors and strong employer partnerships are launching the next generation of essential workers.

Jerome Grant:

Well, focusing on the skilled trade, I think is very much a cultural issue. I think that there are 25,000 high schools, 25 million high school students in the United States. We've got about 153 recruiters that are in the high schools talking to people. There are high schools that won't let us in. Why? Because they define themselves about what four-year schools that their students, their graduates will go to.

And I think culturally, over the '70s and '80s, there was this redefinition of both high schools and junior colleges or community colleges as feeders for a four-year education, and that everybody needed a four-year education. I have a four-year education, I assume you have a four-year education.

Lance Glinn:

I have a four year education as well. Yeah.

Jerome Grant:

That's fantastic, but not everybody does. What, some 40-some percent of the students that graduate from high school don't go on? Going right out into the workforce, we don't believe, is in their best interest. And so, one of the things people ask us about is, "Who's your biggest competitors? Is it the community colleges? Is it the other trade schools in the country or the other?"

No, our biggest competitor is a parent, what want their child to do after high school? Frankly, not a lot of parents want to be at a cocktail party saying their kid's a welder. And we need to break down those stereotypes, understand that these are great jobs with great pay and great stability, and there need to be more schools like ours out there that offer the opportunity for people to do this.

Lance Glinn:

So Jerome, is that half the battle, not only convincing students to come to UTI to pursue careers in the trades in healthcare, but also convincing their parents too?

Jerome Grant:

Yeah, the biggest battle by far. Obviously, money is a big deal here. People are making a sizable investment in their future here in order to pursue this. Usually, these families are people who their parents didn't go to college, and this child probably was not the best student. And so making the investment in doing this is a big deal to them.

But I think more importantly, is that sort of parental cultural barrier about, "I want my kid to go to a four-year school," is by and large the largest piece of the conversation. And I'll give you an example of how this works, is we build a new campus in a city, say Austin, there's usually other trade schools there. Say they've been there 30, 40 years. When we come in, now we're close to 1,00 students in our Austin building, they're all doing many more students than they were doing before.

Why is that? You would think if a competitor came in, that guy would be losing students. No, you got 150 more than when we got there. Why? Because we brought the awareness to the market that this all exists.

Lance Glinn:

Schneider National, that's NYC ticker symbol SNDR, celebrates its 90th anniversary in 2025. The number is more than a milestone. It's a testament to resilience, innovation, and leadership.

CEO, Mark Rourke, returns inside the ICE House for episode 475, 2 years after first joining the podcast in 2023, to reflect on the remarkable legacy, and detail how Schneider is plotting to remain at the forefront in the years to come.

Mark Rourke:

Well, first of all, it's such a meaningful milestone to be around nine decades, and I think it's just a testament to our associates, over 19,000 strong today. We started with the one driver, one truck with Al, and now to have over 19,000 folks who really wake up every day to serve customers, and customers choosing us, is really what this business is all about.

And so to adapt and change through, we've been through recessions, we've been through a depression, we've been through global events and continue to find ways to adapt, I think is the resiliency of the organization. I think that's really what it takes to be around 90 years, is the ability to be resilient and change with the times.

Lance Glinn:

And so I mentioned that June 12th date, and I bring it up because I know it'll be a celebration, obviously, to commemorate the 90 years. The anniversary really does sort of, as you say, highlight the 19,000 associates, because you can't do what you do without them and what they do on a daily basis. So how are you honoring them, ensuring that they get recognized for the efforts in helping Schneider reach such a momentous point?

Mark Rourke:

Yeah, I think that's why we're really taking the whole year to celebrate in different ways with different audiences, just so we can touch as many people as we can. That June 12th day that you mentioned, we're going to have our haul of fame drivers, haul, H-A-U-L, come in and be recognized on their milestones. It's just a great testament.

We have over 6,000 drivers in our history that have driven over one million safe miles without any type of accident. And then we have many more at the three and four, and now even a couple now at the five million safe miles. So, that's really what it's all about, is taking the opportunity to just step back and recognize all those contributions along the path.

Lance Glinn:

One million, five million. As I was talking to your team before our conversation, I was trying to do in my head, if we average humans who don't work at Schneider, don't work in trucking, come close to a million miles in our lifetime. Now, obviously it depends, if you drive to work, if you don't drive to work. I don't. I take the train.

But a million miles, five million miles, really a crazy milestone to do it so effectively, to do it so safely. Really a testament to, as you said, those haul, H-A-U-L, haul of fame drivers, really a real credit to them. And I think a real shining light in Schneider.

Mark Rourke:

Well, it's one of the reasons that our truck color and our trailer colors so often are orange because it's the safest color. And it really just starts really from that first decision, that safety first and always.

And it really is something that we're so proud of, because nothing we do is worth getting hurt over or hurting others. And so to see those drivers live that out every day on behalf of our customers is really what makes us worth it.

Lance Glinn:

Building strong media partnerships is key for brands aiming to amplify their message and expand their reach. By collaborating with trusted platforms, organizations unlock new audiences, boost credibility, and gain valuable industry insights.

On May 12th, Inside the ICE House teamed up with the C-Suite Network. To celebrate the partnership, founder and chairman, Jeffrey Hayzlett, joined me inside the ICE House on episode 476, our final 1st of June, to share his insights on content creation, brand building, and why they are essential to shaping an organization's future.

Jeffrey Hayzlett:

I almost want to say, "What, are you kidding me, asking a question like that? It's the New York Stock Exchange." This is ICE. This is it. This is where all things have happened. I've been down on that floor. I rang the bell four times, twice with companies that I was actually an executive officer of. And when you look at where business is at, we're in ground zero. This is it. This is the OG. And so to have that as a feather in the cap in our network is just unbelievable to be able to have the New York Stock Exchange.

And by the way, we were talking before the show about the access to the facilities, the building, the people. That puts anyone that's involved with our C-Suite Network farther along and above anybody else. And that's what the C-Suite Network's always been about. It's been a trusted relationship, trusted community. 'Cause I know that when I was the CMO of Fortune 100 Company in New York Stock Exchange, back in a company that was formed in 1890s, the power of having connections at that level. And so that's what this is about. And to be able to bring the content that you have onto C-Suite Radio, C-Suite TV, and the access is just... It's phenomenal, and that what we want to do at the C-Suite Network.

Lance Glinn:

Yeah, we're sitting right now in a 233-year-old institution that was formed right outside underneath a buttonwood tree, and you talk about the C-Suite Network, and that's sort of our genre that we aim to attract. We have C-Suite leaders from a variety of industries come on the podcast. We just named a few of the ones that are, or before we started recording, talked about a few of the ones that are upcoming in episodes over the next couple of weeks. But as you just look at your broader media strategy, not just sustaining the success of the C-Suite Network, but obviously continuing to grow it, how does this partnership fit into what you're building and what you have built over the last 12 or so years in the long term?

Jeffrey Hayzlett:

Yeah, really, I want to use a phrase called riches in the niches, and that's where we're at. There's over 650,000 business podcasts in North America. 38% of them never made it to the 10th episode. 48% never made it to the first year. So that means over half of those podcasts have failed or not been able to sustain themselves.

And then when you look at the broad reach of business itself, and let's say luxury and maybe even lifestyle for the people that serve in what I would call the C-suite... And what I mean by C-suite, that's a VP or above at any size company, whether you're on Wall Street or whether you're on Main Street in Sioux Falls, South Dakota where I'm at, you're still in the C-suite. And you need a variety of information, you need a great amount of content, and you need it when you need it.

And so that's what we're building, is we're building on a network of thousands of podcasts that you can trust. Hundreds of TV shows, maybe someday thousands of TV shows, I would hope. Because as you know, the podcast means what?

Lance Glinn:

Yeah, exactly.

Jeffrey Hayzlett:

Audio which is video.

Lance Glinn:

Yeah, exactly. What was once just audio is now both audio-video. Who knows what it's going to be in the future?

Jeffrey Hayzlett:

Exactly. So, there's some definitions you have to deal, but you got what I'm talking about, and that is riches in the niches.

Lance Glinn:

You can listen to these episodes, along with all past and future Inside the ICE House episodes wherever you get your podcasts. Full video episodes are also available on tv.nyc.com, the NYC TV app, and on the NYC YouTube channel. Be sure to join us every Monday for inspiring conversations with leaders, entrepreneurs, and visionaries. Thanks for listening.

Speaker 1:

That's our conversation for this week. Remember to rate, review and subscribe wherever you listen, and follow us on X @ICEHousePodcast. From the New York Stock Exchange, we'll talk to you again next week inside the ICE House.

Information contained in this podcast was obtained in part from publicly available sources and not independently verified. Neither ICE nor its affiliates make any representations or warranties, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the information, and do not sponsor, approve or endorse any of the content herein, all of which is presented solely for informational and educational purposes.

Nothing herein constitutes an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy any security, or a recommendation of any security or trading practice. Some portions of the preceding conversation may have been edited for the purpose of length or clarity.