Team Powdered Donut™ Podcast

Today's podcast episode features Janice Kruger, currently brand ambassador for the Side- Out Foundation. A few years ago, as she was launching the Leave It Better podcast for the Side-Out Foundation, I had the privilege of being her guest in my role as board chair for the foundation. In this episode recorded earlier this month, I have the privilege of her being my guest. Our episode is dropping today in honor of her retirement from the foundation.

Who is Janice Kruger?

Janice coached college volleyball for thirty years. She began coaching at the Community College...

Who Is Chef Steve McHugh?

With over 30 years of experience in the culinary industry, and author of the cookbook Cured, Chef Steve McHugh currently serves as a Chef Consultant for the Spurs Club, leveraging his expertise in restaurants, menu development, kitchen/bar design and culinary skills. His role focuses on creating innovative dining experiences, enhancing menu offerings, and supporting teams in delivering exceptional culinary services. As both a consultant and a long-standing chef/owner at Cured, He brings a unique perspective to developing creative, high-quality cuisine that aligns with organizational goals while fostering collaboration and excellence in...

As I get deeper into Season 2 of the Team Powdered Donut™ podcast series, I can't help but reflect about the gift of people. The people I have met along life’s journey, as well as the people I will meet on my journey ahead as I travel the country the next few years via Airstream® with my mobile love letter, capturing stories in my podcast studio just like this one's today with Henry S. Bienen, the interim president of Northwestern University, as well as the President Emeritus, where he served as President from 1995 to 2009.

As I discussed with...

What is Live From Stage 4?

"Live from Stage 4" is a bold, hopeful podcast where people living with metastatic breast cancer, clinicians, and researchers take center stage. They share real stories, decode the science, and spotlight the ideas and breakthroughs that matter — for patients, caregivers, and anyone who believes progress is possible. In their words, "this podcast is for us, by us, and all about us."

Why This Episode?

Gary, founder and host of the Team Powdered Donut™ podcast, is interviewed by Victoria Goldberg and Abigail Johnston, founders of the Live From Stage 4 podcast, memb...

Today's episode is with Keith Bellizzi, author of "Falling Forward: The New Science of Resilience and Personal Transformation." Keith is a tenured professor at the University of Connecticut, as well as a four-time cancer survivor. We dive into all aspects of his life and reflect on how all our stories are connected. Keith and I were first introduced 3 years ago by a mutual friend and we were blown away by the connections in our stories. As you'll hear Keith share in our conversation, his first diagnosis of cancer was on October 21, 1994. For those that know the story that led...

For nearly three decades, Mo has been at the forefront of creating and advocating peer groups and building communities. He has worked with over 20,000 CEOs and entrepreneurs in 30+ countries, delivering over 2,500 retreats, programs, and trainings to corporate clients and leading organizations, including Google, Pathstone Federal Street, Harvard Business School, SHRM, and the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO).

In addition to being a highly sought-after forum facilitator and consultant to corporate leadership teams, Mo is a very engaging keynote speaker and emcee. He has delivered keynote addresses to large audiences, including TEDx, Conscious Capitalism, Scale Up, SOSi, and SHRM. Pr...

Originally Aired 3/21/2024 on Leave It Better Podcast

When Gary Thompson lost his wife Maureen to metastatic breast cancer almost 10 years ago, his kids (15, 13, and 10 1/2 at the time) lost their mom. He and his family leaned into a variety of philanthropic endeavors to honor her legacy. As a result of his daughters spearheading Dig Pink® games (raising over $75K over 6 years) at their high school in Austin, TX, Gary was brought to the Side-Out Foundation and now serves as the Board Chair. Gary talks with Janice about his mission to give others battling cancer a chance to “have mor...

This is a special Valentine's Day episode of the Team Powdered Donut™ podcast. For those that have listened to the podcast since Season One, you know that we typically drop new episodes on Tuesdays, however, this conversation with Daniel Bussius, author of Marketing Built by Love®, as well as CEO of the company by the same name, seemed appropriate for today. We start our conversation with the stuff that usually shows up at the end of a bio. But as Daniel shares with us in his stories, this is really the stuff that matters. It's the stuff in our hea...

In honor of #WorldCancerDay today, Team Powdered Donut's weekly podcast is featuring a compilation of highlights from Season 1. We had an incredible slate of guests from across the cancer community, and today's episode takes a key snippet from each of my conversations with a running commentary throughout.

It's been so much fun going back and re-listening to these conversations. Thank you to each of these incredible leaders for not only for being guests during my inaugural season but for your friendships. Each of you has made my life better as you make life better for others through...

Today marks the 9th anniversary of Bill Keegan's passing from cancer on January 27, 2017. This episode of the Team Powdered Donut™ podcast is a special one. Rather than an interview, this is a conversation. A conversation between two friends. Friends connected early in their careers at Apple. Friends that both met the loves of their lives at Apple. Friends that lost track of each other as friends sometimes do over a lifetime. Friends that fortunately reconnected. Friends that both lost the loves of their lives too soon to cancer.

With love being at the heart of my upcoming "lo...

Some episodes are more personal than others. Today's guest is Dr. Leon Platanias, Director, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University. Northwestern happens to be my alma mater, and I first met Leon in early 2014 when he was named interim director of the cancer center.

After graduating Northwestern, I met my late wife Maureen (for whom the Team Powdered Donut™ podcast and road trip are dedicated) at Apple in the late 1980s in Chicago. Steve Jobs once said at a commencement address to Stanford University that you can't connect the dots looking forward. You just ha...

As one chapter closes, another one has opened. In Emma's words, "I am honored and overjoyed to have signed with the Indy Ignite Professional Volleyball team for the 2026 season! I am excited to get started and be back home in Indiana!" I am honored to have Emma start the next chapter of the Team Powdered Donut™ podcast as we open Season 2 with her episode, "One Dig. One Touch. One Game at a Time."

Who is Emma Halter?

With the 14th overall pick in the 2nd round of the Major League Volleyball Draft, the Indy Ignite se...

Welcome to Season Two of the Team Powdered Donut™ podcast. For those that listened to Season One, you may recall the tradition that led to this podcast and my upcoming road trip via Airstream. On the weekend before my wife, Maureen, passed after 11 years with breast cancer, our oncologist prescribed donuts. We dutifully complied with this prescription and with powdered donut in hand, Maureen turned up the air conditioning in the car and the powder of the donut blew everywhere.

Every episode and every guest of Season 2 will give all of us an opportunity to hear about so...

There are episodes and there are episodes. I couldn't think of a better episode as we "wrap" Season One than this one with Dr. Gail Bones. This is an episode that was truly months in the making. I first met Gail on a flight from Austin to Nashville, which we discuss in the podcast. The flight was back in May. I was headed up for both meetings and an Amy Grant concert.

At the time, Team Powdered Donut™ wasn't even a figment of my imagination. It is truly amazing what has happened in just six months and al...

Excited by this latest episode with Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. Jonathan and I ran into each other when the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project came to Austin a few weeks ago. My family's connection with Habitat for Humanity came when my late wife, Maureen, was getting her Masters at the University of Texas School of Architecture. They had a design competition in one of her classes, and Maureen and her teams' design was chosen. I remember how much joy it brought her to be on that build site each day throughout the semester.

...

Jane Kristen Marczewski, known as Nightbirde, was an inspiration to the world. Many remember her as the winner of Simon Cowell’s Golden Buzzer on America’s Got Talent in 2021, but most remember her by her wise words and demeanor. Jane represented so many who were going through their own difficult journeys when she walked on that stage.

Her ability to say, “You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy” in the face of terminal cancer gave hope to millions of people watching. She knew that she was so much more th...

Super excited to be sharing this episode of the Team Powdered Donut™ podcast with Paula Schneider, now the honorary vice chair of Susan G. Komen as she transitions out of her role these past eight years as CEO. Two things as I drop this episode at the beginning of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. First, as I look back on my first 12 or so episodes of this podcast, I feel so incredibly privileged for my guests to be sharing their stories with me and with each of you, my listeners. Second, as you will discover from this episode wi...

From academia to patient centered research and now as the Chief Medical Officer for Blood Cancer United, Gwen Nichols is changing the paradigm of care for hematology patients. When faced by a diagnosis of blood cancer, you must have the right treatment to deal with the specific form of the disease. Gwen has followed her passion since that first biology teacher inspired her and an early mentor nudged her into hematology to find, fund and ensure those treatments exist. Such a fun and open conversation that I hope inspire others to trust themselves to follow their own hearts, their...

This episode of the Team Powdered Donut™ podcast with Dr. Lou DeGenerro, formerly CEO of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, now known as Blood Cancer United. I have a tradition as I record these introductions where I go back and listen to the episode, the day of release, so that it is fresh on my heart as I record this introduction. And no more than today is that important because I released this episode in the memory of John Greene, a volunteer I met at Leukemia Lymphoma Society many years ago at a volunteer leadership conference in DC. We lo...

This Thanksgiving week, we come to you with two special episodes of the Team Powdered Donut™ podcast. One, a conversation with Rick Dunetz, Founder and Chief Vision Officer of the Side-Out Foundation, who you heard from in an earlier episode. In this episode, we take a different path as we talk about tribes and community inspired by the book Tribes from Seth Godin. We talk about how Side-Out intersects two tight knit communities, volleyball and metastatic breast cancer, the power of community and advocacy and building the next generation of advocates as Side-Out brings innovative approaches to awareness and en...

Gary’s heartfelt journey will span the U.S., stopping at all 73 NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers and other meaningful locations along the way, starting with a Southwest leg in the Fall of 2026 and continuing across the country in June 2027 . At every stop, powdered donuts will be shared and stories will be collected – echoing the spirit of StoryCorps® – down to the Airstream® in which Gary will travel.

This episode captures the seeds of the idea in a conversation with Rick Dunetz, Founder of the Side-Out Foundation, along with some fun outtakes from past episodes with advice from previous guests. Th...

Some episodes can't be introduced. They have to be experienced. This conversation with Mark Roithmayr, CEO of the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, is one of those episodes. Like Mark, I too was forever changed by a young man, Kethan, and his inspiring parents. Like Mark, I, too, will continue to hope to honor his memory and to honor the memory of my late wife, Maureen, as I continue my powdered doughnut tradition on the air with this podcast and next year as I go on the road via Airstream®. "One Story, One Moment. One Donut at a time."

With Veteran's Day rooted in Armistice Day (which ended World War I), this episode of the Team Powdered Donut™ podcast is dropping at the "11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month," when the peace agreement, the armistice, was signed. Like Arena Labs, Brian Ferguson is driven by a deep commitment to serving others, making him a perfect guest for this special Veteran's Day episode.

Although Gary's powdered donut tradition was born from his late wife, Maureen’s, passing from #metastaticbreastcancer, Team Powdered Donut's "one thing" ethos is bigger than cancer. Bigger than disease. Arena Lab...

Texans voted in 2007 to create the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) and to invest $3 billion in the state’s unprecedented fight against cancer. On November 5, 2019, Texas voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment to continue CPRIT’s work and invest an additional $3 billion for finding and funding the best cancer research and prevention opportunities in the state.

Kristen and I unpacked so many fun stories from our shared journeys in Austin over the past two decades. As fellow parents of students, now alumni of St. Andrew's Episcopal School, to our shared experiences as students at the Univ...

Overview

In this engaging podcast episode, Gary Thompson interviews Suzanne Stone, the CEO of Livestrong, exploring her personal journey, professional experiences, and the impactful work of Livestrong in supporting cancer survivors. The conversation delves into themes of community, philanthropy, and the importance of moving forward in the face of challenges. Suzanne shares her insights on leadership, personal growth, and the significance of connection in the cancer community, emphasizing that no one should face cancer alone.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Personal Connection to Livestrong

02:56 Getting to Know Suzanne Stone

06:09 Recreation and...

My conversation with Mariana Chavez Mac Gregor of MD Anderson Cancer Center is a special one. Mariana was Maureen's oncologist as my late wife's breast cancer metastasized from late 2013 into 2014. One of the things I always remember from our visits was Mariana's compassion and focus on Maureen. As Mariana put it so well, "When I'm with a patient, I understand my responsibility. I understand the privilege that I have and understand that I'm probably sharing incredibly hard things and I'm going do it the best way that I can, right? With compassion." Having witnessed it first hand, I can...

Gary has a personal connection to today's episode. Both his daughters, like their mom, Maureen, played volleyball. Maureen was 6'1", so Gary married up quite literally and figuratively, and she was captain of her high school team, as were Gary's daughters Kyla and Katelyn. In 2016, Kyla, along with her teammates, started the Dig Pink® tradition and a few years later Katelyn, her younger sister, overlapped with her and then took over after Kyla graduated. That senior year and freshman year when both sisters played varsity together was pretty special. And it was the year that they were the fourth l...

We couldn't be more thrilled to have Maureen Sticco, VP & GM, Sweet Baked Goods, Bimbo Bakeries as one of our first guests for the Team Powdered Donut™ podcast. She joined the company in 1999 and helped grow the Entenmann's brand, leading to ten years of double-digit profit growth. Today, Maureen leads the Entenmann's, Little Bites, Marinela and Bimbo Sweet Baked Goods brands. We talk about Maureen's career journey in the baking industry, leadership lessons from her MBA and running, the power of human connection, the importance of love, both professionally and personally, and the "sweetest team on the planet." 🍩 🩷

(Edito...

We couldn't be more excited by the 2nd inaugural episode of the Team Powdered Donut™ podcast with Kelly Shanahan, President of METAvivor. Gary and Kelly first met through the #bcsm tweet chat started on January 1, 2011 by Alicia C. Staley, Dr. Deanna Attai and the late Jody Schoger. Gary joined these chats to learn from those with breast cancer how to be a better caregiver to his late wife, Maureen.

As Kelly and Gary discuss, when breast cancer becomes #MetastaticBreastCancer is when things go "all to heck," leading to 117/118 deaths a day from this stage of the disease. Re...

Welcome to the Team Powdered Donut™ podcast. We're starting a love crusade as the powdered donut tradition goes on the air and on the road!