Mike Nishi (Chief Operating Officer, Chicago Event Management)

In their April interview episode Tony and Eli welcome Chicago Event Management Chief Operating Officer Mike Nishi to the ECT Pod. Mike was the man they had in mind when they created pod, and we can promise this episode lived up to their lofty expectations!

Mike gives the guys a deep history lesson, stretching back to his first childhood experience with the Chicago Marathon (and the nature of that experience will definitely surprise you). He shares how he went from working as a gofer for the Chicago Marathon in its early days, to working for the race full-time, to--along with his business partner Carey Pikowski--forming CEM and growing it into the industry-leading juggernaut that it is today. And along the way he explains the parallel evolution of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, which is a little 46,000-finisher race that you may have heard of.

This episode is full of insight on creating and maintaining a high-performance culture, the value of connecting with people, being an organization that gives back, and industry insight and knowledge of the type that only Mike Nishi can give. If you want to better understand the big picture of what makes one of the premier event production companies in the world tick, this episode is a must-listen.

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