ACUMA ONpoint
ACUMA ONpoint
Empowering Communities: The Bollinger Foundation's Legacy and Future in Credit Unions
Join Peter Benjamin, President of ACUMA, and Justin Hawkins, Director of Marketing and Communications, as they sit down with Heather and Steve Bollinger, the dynamic duo behind the Bollinger Foundation. Discover how a serendipitous introduction by a mutual friend sparked a promising partnership with ACUMA, set to make waves in the credit union mortgage industry. Step into the heartfelt journey of the Bollinger Foundation, born out of personal tragedy, and its mission to support children who have lost a parent. Hear the stories of Steve and Heather's father, an influential figure in HUD, who left his family unexpectedly, and how this foundation has since transformed lives. To date, they have awarded more than 339 grants totaling $1.5 million. Feel the excitement as Heather and Steve discuss their creative strategies for community engagement, from golf tournaments to year-round fundraising efforts. Listen as they share personal motivations, from family influences to work-life experiences, all sprinkled with a touch of humor and fun. This is one you don't want to miss. Tune in now.
Sponsored by Dark Matter Technologies.
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Acuma, its board of directors, its management staff or its members. The podcast discussion presented is conversational in nature and for general information only.
Speaker 3:Hello and welcome to Actions On Point Podcast, a series focused on sharing the stories of people who are making a positive impact in the credit union mortgage industry. I'm your host, Peter Benjamin. Before we get to our episode, just a quick word from our sponsor.
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Speaker 3:Today I am joined by Heather and Steve Bollinger, co-presidents with the Bollinger Foundation. Heather and Steve, how are you doing today?
Speaker 4:Hey, peter, we're excited to be here.
Speaker 3:Thanks for having us.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, absolutely. So I'm excited to have this conversation. We kind of joined this or started this partnership with the Bollinger Foundation, that's ACUMA in 2024. With the Bollinger Foundation, that's ACUMA in 2024. And excited to tell the story, share with our members the background behind our relationship. I think it's a special one, one that we hope to grow throughout the course of the years. But before we get to that, as always, let me take a step back, have to pull the hawk in. Justin, what is the latest and greatest happening over at Acuma? And, by the way, how are you doing today?
Speaker 5:I'm good, peter. How are you Living the dream? There you go Well. So over here at Acuma, we are in full swing, which I've said that before but registration just opened for our Focal Point workshops. So if you're looking for your spring conferences to attend, we have those going on in Savannah, georgia, in May, on the 6th and 7th, and then we'll be in Seattle, washington, on June 3rd and 4th. Before that, though, we'll have our Viewpoint Regional Summit on April 8th and 9th, which will include the experiential part of learning as well.
Speaker 5:So you'll have two half days of education, and we're going to go see the yeah, that's okay Talking about it, I know we're going to go see the blue, walk there you go. See, there you go. Yeah, I was getting there, I was getting work. I'm stuck between that and the Montgomery biscuits. I'm not going to lie. I don't know who I'm rooting for at this point, because it has something about rooting for biscuits. I already told you Sounds like a win.
Speaker 3:I wrote my last footnotes. I'm buying a biscuits hat.
Speaker 5:A biscuits hat. There you go, see, I like it. Did you check out their?
Speaker 3:logo.
Speaker 5:It's really like a biscuit with like a slab of butter in the middle with a smiley face. See, it just needs some gravy, bacon and eggs and we can call it a day. I'm totally buying a hack.
Speaker 5:Yeah, so that's going to be happening on April 8th and 9th. There's still plenty of time to register. So if you haven't registered yet, I will always ask this question, which is what are you waiting for? So head over to acumenorg to register and then be sure to mark your calendars, because in September, we're going to head to Denver for our Make your Mark annual conference. So that's happening September 21st to the 24th. So lots of things going on, lots of fun plans. And then, if you cannot make any of our in-person events, fret not, we have you covered. We have our virtual events, our webinars and our podcasts going on year long, so you get to take education with you everywhere you go awesome.
Speaker 3:Thank you very much, of course. All right, heather and steve. So you know, we were introduced to the bollinger foundation actually, I'm gonna take a step back. So we have a mutual friend and that that mutual friend is is Jeff Schumer. Um, you know, he introduced us to the Bollinger Foundation really by I want to say by, I don't want to say happenstance, but it happened to be happenstance to be happenstance. Uh, I'm gonna take you, you both, back to 2003 and maybe even 2002.
Speaker 3:You know, justin, krista and I were discussing in a planning meeting our need, the association's need to to give back a bit more, and so we have this business, this. It's not really pretty, but I'm gonna call it pretty. It has weird colors. I don't know why I picked the color scheme, but I did um spreadsheet of all the business initiatives that we want to do over the next handful of years, and one of the initiatives happened to be a partnership with the foundation and we always meet in like august. I think we'd said this was one of our earlier meetings, maybe earlier in the year, but I, I, I promise you, a month later I got this random phone call from Jeff and it was just out of the blue, and I think it was a month after his retirement or something like that.
Speaker 3:Yes, it was a month after his retirement from the NBA and we were just catching up and he was like I'm getting. I was like, how are you doing? What are you up to? As well? You know, you've been really more involved in, you know, a passion of mine. It was the volunteer foundation. I was really involved with it when I was part of MBA and I'm really picking up about it and I was like, well, tell me a little bit more about it. And so we did, and I was like this is perfect, tell me more Like we.
Speaker 3:We started getting a lot and I think that's where it really started picking forward. We started picking up speed and wanting to get more involved, and that's why we are where we are today and we are so proud, as a leadership team, to be involved or have this partnership with the volunteer foundation, and we're thankful that jeff introduced us, because you know, and we're going to learn more about, you know, the purpose behind the volunteer foundation in a second. But you know, for us it hits close to home, right, because all of us within our industry can, you know, can, could potentially benefit from this our families, could, it possibly could impact all of us, but it's we want to grow it, it's for the kids, right, right, but you know, and so I, I shared that little background. You know how we, how we met um, you know, and and for those that don't know, for those of you who, for some strange reason, didn't attend last year's annual um, we were able to raise through a sock giving campaign, uh, five thousand dollars, and we that we were able to donate to the bondra foundation at annual um. That was the first step in the right direction, no pun intended, um, and starting this relationship off on the right foot pun intended at that time and so I think we want to continue that effort. But before we kind of talk about Bollinger, the Bollinger Foundation and the history behind it and what we can do to support the foundation, first I always ask the same question and I'm going to continue to ask the same question on every single episode. And I always ask the same question and I'm going to continue to ask the same question on every single episode and I always give the same preface before this question. I'm going to continue to do it.
Speaker 3:The On Point podcast is a people piece. It's designed to share the stories of people who are making a positive impact on our industry and I said that in my intro of people who are making a positive impact on our industry. And I said that in my intro, and so in my mind, you two are most certainly making a positive impact in our industry. The Bollinger Foundation is most certainly making a positive impact in our industry. And so, if you could, the first question is who's Heather Bollinger? Who is Steve Bollinger? So, if you could, heather, if you know who, who's Heather Bollinger? Who is Steve Bollinger? So, if you could, heather, if you can go first, walk us through who Heather Bollinger is.
Speaker 4:Man, what a loaded question, Peter I do that on purpose.
Speaker 4:I know it's, it's awesome. Well, first and foremost, we just have to say how grateful and excited we are about this partnership, with all of you as well, and we will get into it and everything but just just thrilled with with how, the trajectory of this and the growth of it, so appreciate that meeting between you and Jeff and the continued conversation and the evolution of that. You know it's funny. So, in the spirit of the Bollinger, our father, so the Bollinger Foundation.
Speaker 4:Just to give a little history, which then leads into who I am, when he passed away and the Bollinger Foundation had started, he was the assistant secretary of HUD, of Housing Urban Development, and so in that I think that um service mentality has been a part of our family, as a core of of who we are, um being able to give back, being able to um make sure that we are not only prioritizing family and friends but our community as a whole, the village that we live in, whether that be from a global perspective or an immediate perspective. So much so that you know, in college I was a sociology major and a gender studies minor and went overseas from the beginning part of my 20s and worked in anti-human trafficking work and then came back to the States and thought I would be in that realm of life and found myself in this trajectory, within marketing and media and advertising and today running an AI tech company, but finding different avenues in which to give back. So being a founding member of an organization that produces impact media and impact documentaries is a passion point of mine, right, so always kind of having that thread throughout, throughout life. So it is something I try to instill in my daughter. It is something so a mother who am I? I'm a mother, I'm a sister, I'm a you know all of the different things Advocate and an ally, I guess.
Speaker 3:To summarize it, that's awesome, that's awesome, thank you.
Speaker 6:Steve, you're up. Yeah, I'm glad that you had a Heather at first cause.
Speaker 6:She definitely put the banks in a much better format than I would have been able to express how grateful we are for this partnership and what we have going on. So, peter really appreciate that, that, that it came out that way, but no, I think it's uh. You know, heather used the word service and it's funny. Um, so I've helped run a uh real estate development company here in Columbus, ohio. We have about 172 people and, uh, we had an all hands this morning and, um, you know, one of the things that I finished with is how you know our management style and our leaders are all service-based leadership, and so something that was instilled in us from our mother was definitely giving you those that are less fortunate and being able to be a part of something bigger than ourselves and being able to be a part of something bigger than ourselves.
Speaker 6:And so when I look at credit unions and it's funny being in real estate now credit unions are some of the best lenders that we have and it's all based on that people connectivity and giving back to the community. And so our main focus that I've loved about Thrive is that I get to instill a lot of my values and what my beliefs are, in the sense of it's about your people first it's about the partners you work with, and then the end result is some good work and your end user, your customer, your resident, your guest or whoever, is a happy person. And so I think, when looking at the Bollinger, looking at the work I do, and then being a young Having two kids, a two-year-old and a four-year-old, it's something that it's pretty special to be looking around and seeing the good that's in the world right now, when it seems like there's a lot of chaos that's out there.
Speaker 3:So yeah, I love it, I absolutely love it. All right, so Walk us through and Heather, you kind of hinted at it and you know what somewhat started it and how at it, and you know what somewhat started it and and the you know how. But walk us through the history of behind the bollinger foundation. You know why it was formed and and how we got to where we are today.
Speaker 3:As far as the foundation goes and and I I'm more than happy to. I. I briefly talked about our relationship and how we forced got together, but's focus on the bonder foundation sure, um.
Speaker 4:So in 1984, um, my dad was the assistant secretary of hud under the reagan administration.
Speaker 4:Um, we were in dc. My mom mom had three girls and was seven months pregnant with this guy, steve. At the time as well, when my father was on a trip to Savannah and passed away suddenly, of different advocates in the government were, you know, trying to figure out a way to support my mom in raising us kids, and so with that, the Bollinger Foundation was formed. Jeff Finkel from IADC and a number of members from HUD as well created the Bollinger Foundation, all surrounding an education grant for us kids so that we were able to be supported in continuing our education throughout our lives. Flash forward to my mom becoming more on stabler ground and was able to pay back that grant and start the Bollinger Foundation to give back to the HUD and IEDC communities is where it started at large for other children who may have lost a guardian or parent in those circumstances as well. So that's kind of the the you know roots of the Bollinger Foundation, and since then we've been able to provide Steve, I think it was what 339.
Speaker 6:Yeah, 339 grants and 1.5 million in grants over the years, um, and our highest applicants, uh, that we were able to do was last year at $136,000 in grants and 19 applicants that received those. So, um, it was really. It was a really neat day to see that, those kinds of numbers from where we've come.
Speaker 3:That's awesome.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean Steve on it as far as really giving back to the community, and I think you know my dad was a Reagan Republican in the service sector, my mom is a hippie chick from Santa Cruz and this is kind of what they created, and Steve and I and our other two sisters, sisters and but all um, always in putting um, I wouldn't it's not necessarily putting others first, but making sure we're considering um, the fact that we are more than just a singular in this world. So um, really, that's, that's the core of the Bollinger.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and, and I love that. You know, and I think that's why we we, yes, we, we. We selected the Bollinger Foundation because it's it impacts people within the real estate finance community and you know, if something was to happen to me, it'd be fantastic to know that my kids could potentially have this aid right, and I'm sure justin would feel the same exact way I'm sure any one of our any one of our members could potentially have this type of aid.
Speaker 3:But what also, I think, attracted us to this was that community right For us. We don't talk about membership. We don't talk about anything besides community. Our members are our community through and through members, or our community through and through. And when you go out to a different credit union and you focus on how credit unions operate within their communities, they're one, right it's. They know their families, they know every family in their communities. It's almost like cheers, right. I often describe this year, right, it's. It's. They can walk into the branch and it's normal all over again. And but when you come to our events, it's the same exact thing. It's. It's the norm feeling whenever you come to our events. If we can be part of your community and help grow it and strengthen it, and knowing how strong your community already was and the fact that you guys believe in that community, I think that's why we picked it. You know a lot of these other ones. We were just gonna be a number and we didn't want to be that.
Speaker 5:We want to actually strengthen and be part of a good community that was already there, um and justin am I hitting it or yeah, I mean we wanted to make an impact and that was that was at the forefront of a lot of the discussions we were having internally. Um, I know that was a part of the discussion we had with you guys as well. Uh, just kind of making sure that we felt like we were going to make an impact and that we were going to be an asset to your toolbox, right, because I mean, I come from the nonprofit world myself and so that's probably the hardest part is just finding ways to keep those donations coming in, especially when the economy starts to get tighter. It's you know how do we do that, and partnering with organizations like we've partnered with you guys, like that's a surefire way to keep some donations coming around yeah, and I think you know you guys mentioned the impact piece and the thing that I'm most proud of within the volunteers.
Speaker 6:You know nobody's paid, it's all volunteer based. It's all something where you know all the funds that come in we put out as much as possible. Uh, you know I forget what the uh, the factor, uh score the ratio, but I think we're at like 83 or 87 percent. Uh, that's coming in is going out, which is amazing. Uh, thank god we do leave some reserves in the coffer because things like covid come up and we were still able to give grants out that year, right, even though without having the golf tournaments and the fundraising and all that, and so that's been really neat to be a part of, to where there is no real red tape around what's going on.
Speaker 4:And to speak to the community that we have and what an impact you all are able to make in contribution to that. I mean the Bollinger. How many people have been able to contribute and support and be affected by the Bollinger as well? And we and we love that Acuma is coming on as a vital part of that.
Speaker 3:And we appreciate that. Let's focus on, you know, growth and and I don't want to say long-term success, but we're you know, the, the future outlook and the vision of of the bollinger you know, you know and I guess you know anyone can answer about. I'll start with steve. You know, where does what's the vision for the bollinger foundation? Um, how, what's, what's that five-year outlook look like? 10 years, what does that look like for you?
Speaker 6:yeah, I mean um. So this past year we had a great meeting internally the day before the the bollinger open um that takes place every june, which is our biggest fundraiser. But a few of us board members got together and started really talking about that right, Like coming together and understanding what should be our focus, what should be some KPIs, and the beauty of it was the fact that we kind of are just sticking to what we have right. What we do is kind of this specialty niche group of people that can take advantage of these funds, wanting to keep it to that and not try and scattershot and be everything to everyone. And really I think the focus over the next five years is getting the word out there, it's getting more applicants, it's the fundraising about it, part of it.
Speaker 6:And then, um, you know, I think ideally we're in between that half a million to a million dollars a year in fundraising and we're putting out that same amount, right, Like I mean, I think that there's a lot of people out there that can take advantage of. You know what grants we're allowed to give and you know we really are looking at from the beginning of education. So you know, pre-K, all the way through college and being a resource to people and we've put some guidelines around that and really wanting people to come and, you know, take advantage of that Right, and it's our job to find applicants and find the money to where we aren't having to turn these people down.
Speaker 3:No, that's great Heather any thoughts?
Speaker 4:Well, currently we are just speaking to the escalation of the actual financial side of it.
Speaker 4:Currently, we are small grants, you know, to the point where, as if we can do the math, you know 339 grants into 1.5 million thousand dollars, a grant right. To really be able to escalate that and elevate that to um would be ideal, as well as the. The number of people, um that we're able to deliver the support to the other side is just rethinking our tactics and how we're able to spread the word, the marketing aspect, the outreach what does that look like? So, just revolutionizing or reinvigorating some of the website, some of the tacticals as well, in order to cater to this next generation and how we're communicating with them is super important, whether that be through socials or whether that be through different opportunities of fundraising, to the point of the sock drive or to the point of March Madness, which is one of our other, you know, fundraisers where it's speaking to a different audience than maybe just what we've typically gone for, which is that golfer, because that is our largest um fundraiser, right.
Speaker 3:so, um, allowing more opportunities yeah, who doesn't like losing balls?
Speaker 5:right I mean, you know it's somewhat an investment, but it's okay that's right. Some of us lose more than others, right you know that I I tell everybody all the time if I go play golf, I'm definitely going to the beach or to the ocean I just like, justin, that we're calling you the hawk.
Speaker 3:I didn't realize that, yeah it's from when I was in the military days, so sure just just wait, just wait to the final episode, when you actually hear the hawk screech, which is no longer allowed to try to make that noise again, because it did not go over.
Speaker 3:Well, I did not I I definitely tried making that sound one time. It did not sound good, especially with wounded bird, yeah, especially the way my voice yes, especially the way my voice sounds right now, definitely not going to try it. All right. So next question I think it's the next logical question what can Acuma and our community do to help? And obviously, $5,000, although it was nice, like you just said, heather, $8,000 is basically one grand. What can we do to continue our efforts to support the volunteer foundation?
Speaker 2:loaded question.
Speaker 4:Yeah, no, we love it. I mean, there's there's so many different aspects to that and it's really, where are um, where is akima comfortable in playing with it? Right, so your community can access so many of the different. Come to the Bollinger Foundation, you know open. Come play golf with us, lose a lot of balls, participate in March Madness. But we also know that you have your own ideas, too, on different ways to reach the community. That might resonate more with your community than maybe some of the things that we've already have established. So there are a number of already existing ways, and then we welcome new ideas as well, steve.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I mean I think I had a meeting yesterday with Cosi here in Columbus and really what we were talking about is our strongest piece for Thrive and our company is being a mouthpiece and being able to disseminate information out to our 3,000 residents 5,000 residents from Cosi's point.
Speaker 6:So when we look at these partnerships, a lot of what we're trying to do is, you know, wanting to prop up each other right, like you know, when the social post goes out for March Madness, like, get that out to your network, like, if you guys have a soft drive, we'll get it out to our network, I mean, it's all about the connectivity and the community that we're trying to build and, you know, some people will be the people that are coming out for the golf open. Some people are giving $10 for the March Madness bracket, some people are giving $2,500, $5,000 to be a sponsor and others are going to be on the receiving end, receiving the grants and applications, and so we look at it to where it's this like holistic kind of process that goes ecosystem Right, and so I think that's where, uh, it's exciting to think about an understanding like the yearly cadence of acuma. Right, like you know, we already have the annual endeavor on our calendars to come back out and do those things, but I think it's a, it's being a mouthpiece for the bollinger and being able. What it boils down to is its grants and its sponsorships in order to be able to, or donations in order to provide for those grants. And if we can get those two pieces out to your guys' network and our network and accept credit unions who doesn't love going there to get their mortgages over the big banks? Right, it's a lot more, a lot easier, a lot more of a uh, a great experience and so, um, I think I think there's a lot of fun things that we could do, but to Heather's point, I think a lot of it is.
Speaker 6:You know, what does Acuma feel comfortable doing?
Speaker 3:Well, I mean to to your last point. You mean you're preaching to the choir, comfortable doing. Well, I mean to to your last point. You mean you're preaching to the choir, um, but I mean, I think you're you're going to find that you know, yes, we do have some tricks up our sleeve. I think. I don't think I know. The Bollinger foundation is going to be part of our regular conversation going forward at all of our events. It's. It's going to be part of our. We're going to make it easily accessible for our members to donate on our website at our events and and we're not just going to wait to annual for that sock giving campaign. We're not always going to do a sock giving campaign. It's. Maybe somebody else who knows, I don't really know they were great socks, though, peter just they were awesome socks they're.
Speaker 3:I actually threw out all of my like other socks and just replaced them all with acuma socks yeah, very comfortable socks they are great, um, but we're gonna make it a year-round thing, so we'll have qr codes where members can just easily scan the QR code and donate at all of our events. I mean that that's a. That's what we're gonna try to do. It's just gonna be a regular conversation. You know one one thing I'm shocked no one you talk about March, madness. I'm shocked no one's done the Superbowl squares as a way to donate. Those are always easy.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, that's a great idea yeah I mean we need to do that it's right on the horizon.
Speaker 3:My next door neighbor, uh, was just sent me a. Uh, he's he coaches um the high, the local high school basketball team, and he sent me a website, super Bowl pool, like a swimming pool site where you can actually set up a free grid for charity. Oh, that's really neat. So he's doing it to raise funds for his girls basketball team. So it could be an easy way to do it anyways see, justin knows I'm filled with ideas full of ideas.
Speaker 5:We have no idea what's coming up next.
Speaker 3:I know seriously, some of them good, some of them bad a little bit of a squirrel.
Speaker 6:You guys are in DC. So, commanders, fans, 100%, 100%, are they going to be able to stop Saquon?
Speaker 3:you guys are in DC, so commanders fans oh, a hundred percent.
Speaker 6:Oh, yeah, a hundred percent. Are they going to be able to stop Saquon? Yes, okay.
Speaker 3:I don't, I don't want to jinx it. Yeah, I'm not going to jinx it it's only been 30 years oh dagger, what about you, justin?
Speaker 5:the Ohio State. I'm a college football fan, more not Ohio State.
Speaker 6:I live in Columbus, but I as well am okay not being the OHIO of everybody.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I always Never mind If.
Speaker 3:I would allow Justin to make all of our colors orange. He would, but not like the nice Florida color orange.
Speaker 5:It's not a nice color at all.
Speaker 4:The ugly ugly, tennessee Sure, the Tennessee color Great.
Speaker 6:I was shocked at how bad you guys played against the Buckeyes. Just saying.
Speaker 5:Thank you, me too yeah.
Speaker 3:Thank you for saying that, Steve, yeah it was horrendous.
Speaker 5:Me too. I was shocked too, don't worry. Yeah, but it I was shocked too.
Speaker 6:Don't worry, is Nico gone?
Speaker 5:nah, he's coming back, sadly. It'll be fun. There's always next season, which is like the mantra of the DC sports area.
Speaker 3:I'm not worried about it. We got new life. Daniel's a solid and, if anything, I can always look to the Ravens and watch them get to the finish line and then just trip.
Speaker 6:Yeah, let's all like yes, that out. That that hurts. I'm a Ravens fan. I just want to clearly state the Ravens were a far better team than the Bills. They just beat themselves. I feel bad for Heather. She's a Bengals fan.
Speaker 4:I was just going to say, guys, I'm a Bengals fan, so we have an internal feud in our house with in our entire family. So, steve being the Ravens, and most of us.
Speaker 3:I'm actually really disappointed that the Chiefs let the Broncos win the way that they did yeah. I really wanted the Bengals to get into the playoffs. Yeah truly, I really did, but at the same time I may have put money down that I know we're not supposed to talk about betting, but I was really hoping for a Ravens commanders Superbowl. Yeah, really hoping.
Speaker 5:That would have been fun.
Speaker 4:It's like the crosstown shootout, that's right.
Speaker 5:So it just sounds like we need to set up these Superbowl squares, whatever those are.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm sorry I brought it up, but we got totally good sidetrack.
Speaker 6:Yeah, that is my sidetrack. Yeah, that is my sidetrack.
Speaker 3:No, no, we, we got to get refocused. It's actually really our last question. Last question, it's the same last question that I ask everybody. Um, it kind of goes back to the first question I ask you and again it kind of ties in the people piece, but it has to deal with, you know, the motivation factor. You know we keep, we keep pushing forward every single day. You know, the two of you are like the rest of us, one foot out of bed every single day. But in this case, your, your, your slight, your purpose is slightly different. Right, you have this, this, this, this willingness, this desire to serve. So the big question is what keeps you motivated, what keeps you going to keep going, keep pushing forward? That's the last question. What keeps you? What keeps you going, what keeps you motivated every single day? Since, heather, you answered the first question first. I'm gonna let steve answer this question first great.
Speaker 6:Thank you, peter so then we would just keep sequence as is. But, um, no, I mean, uh, motivation, obviously. Uh, my family, uh, my extended family, where it's, you know, it's my sister, it's my sister, it's my mom. It's funny, my mom was clearing out some boxes and she found a letter that I wrote her in sixth grade about her being my hero, and I still feel that today.
Speaker 6:I think a lot of it is, um, the fact of not wanting to do anything, just half ass, and wanting everything to be exceptional and wanting it to be something special that you give to people. And the experiences that you have with others, um, and you know, those experiences doesn't have to be anything extravagant. Uh, they can be simple things, uh, everyday occurrence. It's funny People around here talk about the sandwiches and I know I'm the best sandwich maker in our office and so a lot of times at lunchtime I'll go around and say who wants a sandwich? And it's giving those moments to people where, to your point, everybody gets out of bed one step forward. We all wipe our own ass. It's something where it's uh, it it. We just want explicit. Uh, yes, that is the split man. I had so many others that we could have thrown out, but I told you smallest word.
Speaker 3:It's okay, I know now we can, now we can say it shit darn, yeah I have two things for you, though, steve.
Speaker 5:One I love the big daddy reference because that's a great movie, yeah. Two, what kind of sandwiches we talking about?
Speaker 6:oh man, so typically I'll like we don't play about sandwiches.
Speaker 5:When it comes to justin here, I love a good sandwich. So what are we talking?
Speaker 6:about. So you know, I I do the broil of the bread and then I put the sauce on the inside, so the outside's still fluffy. Uh, of the sandwich bread, and then a lot of times you know some mustard, mayonnaise, all that jazz, but then you throw in some like barbecue chips or like jalapeno chips oh, you gotta, crunchify it, you gotta crunchify.
Speaker 6:Uh, good solid, got to crunchify it. Good like again, crunchy lettuce. Making sure the lettuce is right. Huge pickle guy. I understand some people aren't pickle people so I always have to ask on that. And then typically it's just one meat. I'm not a huge meat combined, I only need one.
Speaker 4:If you want to change that sandwich.
Speaker 5:You want to change the sandwich. If you want to change the sandwich, change the meat, Change the condiment, Take a pickle off Multiple meats.
Speaker 4:I am too.
Speaker 5:I had a sandwich for lunch too, so I need another sandwich Nice.
Speaker 4:A long line of sandwich makers. Our mom was also very well known in the neighborhood and circles of friends to always having the best snacks and the place to go for any type of sandwich or, you know, lunch situation.
Speaker 3:So now I want a good sandwich for dinner, I know, Right. All right so your motivation.
Speaker 4:I mean, obviously, I'm a single mom of a seven-year-old and she keeps me on my toes every single day, so just trying to create the world I want her to experience and allowing for some magic and some fun in there too.
Speaker 4:I think we get so caught up in our rigor and roar of our daily lives, and so to Stevie's point taking a moment to really celebrate little moments is pretty important and always a motivating factor. I'm in a really crazy business of AI, of generative AI, of helping build a company, of AI, of helping build a company, and you can get kind of swept away by the technology and the overarching momentum of everything and how the world's changing so fast. But one of the beautiful things about our company with Verve is that it's AI powered by people. So to your point, peter, of always having people at the center, even in this crazy world of technology. But keeping the human at the center of whatever we're doing is a really huge motivating factor for me. I think that, whether that be my little one, or whether that be our family and friends, or whether that be that that community we spoke of at large, it's, it's um, it's how, it's the lens I use to live my life.
Speaker 3:Okay, that's awesome. Both of you Great answers, both of you love it and I love that. Family is very much involved in that and really that's the root, the root of why we're here with the bollinger foundation. So thank you very much. So we're at that point in the show where we need to transition to the second segment of our policy podcast not policy podcast geez, look what's in my head, justin um of our on point podcast.
Speaker 3:Now this is where we sometimes do trivia, we do Jeopardy, sometimes we do dad jokes, but this time around we're doing Jeopardy. So, because the Super Bowl is literally a few days away and the fact that we actually started talking about the Super Bowl just a few minutes ago, we're going to do Super Bowl Jeopardy. Now, in just a quick second, I'm going to show on my screen a little Jeopardy board. Now, fair warning, like I told you prior to starting this episode, this is a new Jeopardy board for the Acuma On Point podcast. I have no idea what to expect out of it.
Speaker 3:I did not create it. I don't know the level of difficulty for it. I checked out two questions and they seemed okay. I didn't check out the 500 level, I only checked out the middle levels and they seemed okay. It seemed fun, so we're going to go with it. So we're going to go with it. We're going to go with it. Justin is the all-time loser of Atmazon Point Jeopardy. Thank you for that. You're welcome. He's probably the only one out of all the episodes Three times.
Speaker 5:Sure, we'll go with three who's counting who's counting, I mean mean when it's that low but I think we played like 20 times now, now you're just digging in, I am so here I'm gonna pull up on my screen, as I always do.
Speaker 3:I will describe what I am sharing on my screen so everyone can see it. Let me move this out of the way. Kind of like a weird looking Jeopardy board. We have six categories in this new Jeopardy board Super Bowl and football trivia. The categories are Super Bowl history, players, teams, halftime performances, record holders and coaches. Oh man, points range anywhere from 100 to 500. So, unlike our last Jeopardy board where it was team one, team two and team three, heather, you'll be team broccoli. Steve, you'll be team potato. Justin, your team pineapple.
Speaker 6:I mean potatoes and one hands down potato or pineapple is definitely gonna win.
Speaker 4:I don't know about broccoli, but we're in, let's do it so we'll just go broccoli first.
Speaker 3:Great, so oh, I forgot that. Say this you do not have to answer who is what is, etc. You can steal. But fair warning If you steal and you get it wrong, I take away points pretty quickly. If you get it wrong and I know it's wrong, I don't give the other person an opportunity to steal, I just take away points. So I'm a pretty vicious scorer.
Speaker 6:So how do you? How do you steal?
Speaker 5:You just say I want to steal.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's it All right.
Speaker 4:All right.
Speaker 3:Where are we going, heather?
Speaker 4:Let's go. Let's go to teams for 200. Peter teams for 200, Peter Teams 200.
Speaker 3:Who has the most Super Bowl wins in the league?
Speaker 4:Do I answer Cowboys?
Speaker 3:Yes, you just automatically answer. The correct answer is. How do I display the answer?
Speaker 6:The answer is not the Cowboys.
Speaker 4:No, I know, I don't know why that came out the Pittsburgh Steelers. I just don't like the Steelers. They were out of my mind.
Speaker 3:Alright, so womp, womp, that's right. Oh, do you guys hear that buzz? I hear it on my end. Oh, it's it on my end. Oh, it's buzzing on my end Interesting. All right, that was 200. I don't like this board. We're not going to use this one again. All right, team Potato, you are up.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I'll go with teams for five.
Speaker 3:Teams for 500. What football teams have never made it to the super bowl teams? Oh, and also, I don't know when this was made that's uh.
Speaker 6:Yeah, so like houston texans haven't. But the oilers, I believe, have um uh you know, technically the technically the titans. Now right well, houston oilers went to tennessee titans and then houston got the texans, so maybe I throw out the texans. Um, I would say jaguars have made it, panthers have made it. Jaguars have made it, panthers have made it. Commanders have right. Commanders are new, but they stay with Washington.
Speaker 4:Man Cardinals made it. Is there a timer?
Speaker 6:I feel like Minnesota Vikings no.
Speaker 5:Justin are you going to steal?
Speaker 3:give me final answer. I mean Texans you're going with one and Vikings Texans and Vikings Texans and Lions Texans and Justin, do you want to steal it all? Texans and Lions Texans and Lions Heather, do you want to steal?
Speaker 4:I was going to say Lions All right.
Speaker 3:The correct answer is A lot of teams. Yes, I know Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans and the Jacksonville Jaguars, but all of you got it wrong.
Speaker 5:I did not get it wrong. I said Lions. You said Lions and Houston. You didn't say we had to name every team. It said teams as in plural. Justin, oh, I judge. I tell you every time, this is why we lose.
Speaker 2:Justin, just because you fall with me.
Speaker 3:I'm taking away extra points.
Speaker 4:This is tough. I mean, Peter, you are tough. I love it All right.
Speaker 5:All right, justin, I don't like that. I lost extra points. We're going to go with halftime performances for 400.
Speaker 3:Which artist performed the Super Bowl halftime show in 1993?
Speaker 5:Yeah, where were you in 93? I was in kindergarten, so I couldn't even tell you what was popular in 93. I was 13 like Michael Jackson that's probably a good guess
Speaker 4:steal it.
Speaker 5:Heather, yeah, I don't know this one.
Speaker 4:I was helping.
Speaker 5:I'm gonna go with the Beach Boys. Beach Boys, definitely the Beach Boys. Heather, are you stealing?
Speaker 3:okay, michael Jackson correct answer is Michael Jackson.
Speaker 4:Good job, heather thank you, that's awesome. That was four. Perfect wait, you had 700 there you go.
Speaker 3:Sorry, justin, that was four. Perfect wait. There you go. Sorry, justin nice.
Speaker 4:We're all in the negative, though, guys seven plus four, come on, all right next question let's go.
Speaker 3:I don't like this one because it doesn't automatically just do it.
Speaker 4:I know, all right this is fun Heather up to you let's do. I don't like this one because it doesn't automatically just do it. I know. All right, this is fun Heather up to you. Let's do, oh gosh, ok, let's do players for 100.
Speaker 3:Players 100. Which NFL quarterback has been to the most Super Bowls?
Speaker 4:You know New England.
Speaker 3:Oh God, tom brady correct answer is tom brady.
Speaker 4:Yes, good job thank you, that was a that was a hard one well, I gottied for a second on him.
Speaker 3:All right, Steve.
Speaker 6:Record holders for 200. Record holders 200.
Speaker 3:Who holds the record for the most passes attempted in their whole career.
Speaker 6:Oh man, it's not even Super Bowl. Then, brett Favre, that's a good guess. I mean he had a long career threw the ball, a lot went to some Super Bowl. Brett Favre by my answer pass attempts maybe not catches, but Justin stealing?
Speaker 5:no, I'm not gonna steal, you gotta hit the button.
Speaker 3:I know. See if there's a better way, because this has to see answer.
Speaker 5:Brett.
Speaker 4:Steve nice look at that yeah good job it was very good.
Speaker 5:Alright, pineapple, I'm going to go with coaches for 500. Are you just trying to lose? Well, I'm trying to get back in it. I'm not so far behind.
Speaker 3:That's a hard category.
Speaker 5:So far. Halftime performances was also hard. Don't worry, I have it covered. I know how I'm going to get this one right.
Speaker 3:AI.
Speaker 5:No, we don't cheat, better not.
Speaker 3:Oh, there is a timer up here. Oh, look at that. I know which head coach retired from the NFL with the most games under their belt ooh, it might help if I knew more coaches that's what I'm saying. Why'd you pick this category?
Speaker 5:we're gonna go with the Green Bay coach from the first Super Bowl, etc. Give me a name. I don't know his name. Look, I don't know NFL.
Speaker 3:So like we're kind of screwed here. Why'd you pick this category?
Speaker 5:because I was hoping it wouldn't be this hard. What's his name? Okay, we'll go Bill Belichick, even though he's not retired. Belichick, etc. Belichick etc.
Speaker 3:Steve Heather, you want?
Speaker 4:to steal okay.
Speaker 5:I would have said like Shula maybe I don't even know who that is.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I'm trying to think of coaches that have just been around for a long time.
Speaker 3:All right. Correct answer is George Hallis.
Speaker 6:Oh, for sure I would have got. That was my second choice.
Speaker 3:Yeah, 100%.
Speaker 6:Yeah, no idea who that is no, no clue no.
Speaker 4:I want to see okay, let's see one more round, then we'll wrap up impossible jeopardy all right broccoli let's do all right, we'll do Super Bowl history, just to break open that column. So 200, please, peter.
Speaker 3:Super Bowl history 200. Which NFL was the first team to win five Super Bowls? I?
Speaker 6:feel like this is a trick question.
Speaker 3:I'm going to rephrase it, because this is a stupid question which team in the NFL was the first to win five Super Bowls?
Speaker 4:Okay, okay, first team to win five Super Bowls. I don't know. I'll stick with the Patriots, since I'm in that zone.
Speaker 3:They don't want to steal.
Speaker 6:I mean, I'm pretty certain it's the Steelers.
Speaker 5:I think too.
Speaker 4:I just don't want to ever answer the Steelers. I'm sorry, that's what I think too. I just don't want to ever answer the Steelers, so I'm sorry alright.
Speaker 3:Well, steve, you technically said Steelers first, so it's going to be your Steel, if it's right then it's Justin's, if it's wrong that's fine, I'll take that the correct answer is San Francisco 49ers.
Speaker 6:Nice man, mom would beat us up.
Speaker 4:Totally, as would Gabriel Huge, fan of the 49ers.
Speaker 3:All right, steve, you are up.
Speaker 6:Players for five Players for five Players for five Nice.
Speaker 3:Which player has scored the most career Super Bowl points.
Speaker 6:So I'm guessing it's a kicker.
Speaker 4:Interesting, you wouldn't think. A receiver.
Speaker 6:No, I'm going to go. Adam Vinatieri.
Speaker 3:You think he's been to that many Super Bowls. I?
Speaker 6:mean Colts Patriots okay alright. I think it's a kicker.
Speaker 3:I mean, it's a good guess, it's a solid guess.
Speaker 6:I would have said like Montana yeah, but Montana doesn't score the points, he throws the ball, so like the points go to the running back receivers, well, let's see. Is what it should be. Yeah, Alright we'll see.
Speaker 5:Then Rice. You think it's a quarterback?
Speaker 3:No, I don't think it's a quarterback no, I don't think it's a quarterback then it'll be like rice receiver yeah all right. The correct answer is jerry rice there you go all right, nicely done. Yeah, was that 500 yeah, it was now.
Speaker 4:It's just who loses the least.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's definitely be Justin.
Speaker 5:All right, Justin, bring us home.
Speaker 3:Come on, Hawk.
Speaker 5:All right, we're going to go with halftime performances for 500.
Speaker 4:Awesome.
Speaker 3:Which artists performed the halftime show in a downpour in 2007?
Speaker 6:Senior year of high school. No college, oh, there's no way I would remember that.
Speaker 3:I was yeah way too young during that game. Are you kidding me?
Speaker 5:Is that the Timberlake Janet Jackson one?
Speaker 4:that was later, but I like where your mind is. I think that was more in the teens, like early teens, but try it yeah, I think it's.
Speaker 5:I mean, I can't think of anything, or was I in 2007? Okay, I know where I was.
Speaker 3:Let me try a hint.
Speaker 4:Yeah, let's see for the last question.
Speaker 5:Yeah, let's see what's the hint say Where's the hint?
Speaker 3:That's not a hint, I just turned it on. Oh, here it is, wait.
Speaker 5:It says collapse the podiums okay which are this I don't know. I'm going with Jackson and Timberlake. I don't know.
Speaker 4:Prince, what a good one, I would say.
Speaker 6:Snoop and Dre a few years back in LA was what a good one. Yeah, I would say Snoop and Dre a few years back in LA. Heather is actually out there the. Bengals lost, by the way yes, thank you yes but that was an amazing halftime show that was epic that was probably one of the best ones.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so to wrap up this episode's On Point, my activist On Point podcast Jeopardy, we have Heather ie Broccoli with negative 400. Steve ie Potato with negative 1,000. And Justin ie Pineapple with negative a thousand. And Justin ie Pineapple with negative 2,100. Definitely not your worst, but not your best.
Speaker 6:Fuck.
Speaker 3:Oh.
Speaker 6:It's already been explicit.
Speaker 3:No, it's.
Speaker 5:That's what makes this fun, by the way, that was impossible.
Speaker 4:Jeopardy that was impossible jeopardy, that was really hard it's pretty hard, yeah, but I like it.
Speaker 3:I mean, we won't use that super, that jeopardy board ever again. Okay, you always complain about the other one, so I thought I'd try a new one well, I tried using the etc answers and that didn't count.
Speaker 5:So the other board. Maybe the other board was on a jeopardy board. I try a new one. Well, I tried using the etc. Answers and that didn't count. Maybe the other board was on a.
Speaker 3:Jeopardy board. Yeah, the other board has etc as part of the answers. It's like how can you have that as part of the answer? Really bad.
Speaker 6:Maybe you do level 100 moving forward. If that was middle tier, yeah, seriously.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, let's go ahead and wrap up heather steve. Thank you very much for for taking time out of your schedules to sit down with us and kind of, you know, walk us through. You know the bollinger foundation really enjoyed, you know, the conversation. Uh, again, appreciate it. I, I love, love this partnership and looking forward to seeing how we grow together. And, as I mentioned, I think this is just the beginning and I truly hope that our members embrace the idea of giving and really supporting a, a really a charity that really hopefully they don't need to, but really could benefit them and their families at some point in time. So thank you very much for for being here.
Speaker 4:Thank you it was great, a lot of fun. Good, okay, you're welcome and Justin, thank you very having us.
Speaker 3:Thank you, it was great with a lot of fun. Good, you're welcome and Justin, thank you very much. As always, of course, it was my pleasure and, just to close out, thank you again to Dark Matter for sponsoring today's episode and to all of you. We know your time is valuable. Thank you for tuning in to the latest episode of Acuma's On Point Podcast. We hope you enjoyed it. Until next time, be well my friends, Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1:We'll see you next time at the Acuma On Point Podcast. If not already, be sure to subscribe and give us a five-star rating For more great episodes and information. Be sure to visit us online at acumaorg and to get the latest updates, head over to our LinkedIn page.
