Access Louisville
The latest news on Louisville, Kentucky from the staff of Louisville Business First. We look at trending issues in the Derby City from a business perspective. Join us each week!
Access Louisville
News on an ousted executive + more
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Our next live podcast: Residential real estate trends are redefining Louisville's growth and neighborhoods. Join us for a live Access Louisville recording as we dive into the latest market insights. The event includes networking, breakfast and a spirited discussion of the latest news in our area. Our panel includes: Stacy Durbin, Semonin Realtors, Jakeeva Lee, Greater Louisville Association of Realtors and Jon Mand, Lenihan Sotheby's. Tickets and registration are available here.
We have a little bit of everything on this week's Access Louisville podcast.
Reporter Olivia Estright tells us about a new 200-home subdivision being built in Jeffersonville, called Kings Crossing. It's being built by Land-Mill Developers Inc. at 4785 Walker Way in Jeffersonville, Indiana, according to listing agent Matthew Henegar. The homes, with functional layouts and high-end finishes, range from $360,000 to $375,000.
"We can facilitate anybody in that price point from first-time homebuyers to last-time homebuyers," he'd told Estright.
That figure is much higher than what this market has seen for starter homes in the past, though it does seem to fit with the nationwide narrative of soring home prices.
After that, we go over the latest with former Kentucky Venues CEO David Beck, who was recently ousted from his position in a surprising development.
We also chat about Estright's story about an executive at GE Appliances who recently celebrated the seemingly unheard of milestone of 60-years with the same company.
And we go over the latest fallout from violence on Bardstown Road, including the news that Atomic is getting its liquor license back with restrictions, a judgement from the state on Baxter's 942 liquor license and a petition that would limit alcohol sales on Bardstown Road.
Access Louisville, sponsored by Baird, is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. You can listen in the player above. You can also follow it on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify, which are linked above.
We've got lots to talk about on the show this week, including some real estate news. Stay tuned for Access Louable. Thanks for joining us. My name is David Mann, and joining me today are Zach Owens. Olivia Estrike.
SPEAKER_03Hi everyone.
SPEAKER_02And Lisa Benson. Hey there. Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. Each week we bring you the latest news and plenty of sharp opinions about what's going on here in Louisville, Kentucky. A few things before we get into it. First, this podcast is sponsored by Baird. Discover the Baird difference at rwbaird.com slash Louisville. We'll hear more from Baird later in the show. Also, our next live podcast is set for July 30th. I'm calling this one How Louisville Lives. We're going to talk about the ins and outs of residential real estate with three local experts who will be on the show. The housing market is a constant conversation around town. So I hope you can make it out and we can talk about some real insights into where the market is going. I'll leave a link in the notes to this show where you can get tickets. And actually, we're going to touch on some real estate news in this show today. So, Olivia, start us out. You just wrote about a new subdivision coming online. And Jeff, uh, who's building that one?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so Landmill Developers, which is a Jeffersonville-based developer, um, family-owned too. They're building a 200-lot subdivision um over off of Charlestown Pike, so pretty much near River Ridge. Um, but the I spoke with the listing agent, Matthew Henniger, um, who is also known as the fittest realtor.
SPEAKER_02And from his picture, seems pretty fit.
SPEAKER_03He seems pretty fit. You're right. Um, but he they're basically building some traditional French style cottage, um, sort of exterior looks. So they're gonna be all brick and stone on the outside. Um, and and it'll just be like a different look than I think a lot of these subdivisions, the smaller subdivisions in Jeffersonville have. So it's gonna be interesting.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, these and these price points, these aren't uh these aren't low ball price points.
SPEAKER_03No, they are not. They're starting at 360,000 and um the range is up to 375. Um, but he said that they're for anyone still. First-time home buyers, which good for them, um, or last time home buyers, because the homes are gonna be like 1600 to 1700 square feet um and like three beds, two bathrooms throughout. So they'll be good sized. Um, and I mean that area is growing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. I was gonna ask you about that. Uh, I know there's been a lot of development out there. What's some of the stuff you've covered, you know, uh some of the growth that's taken place out that way?
SPEAKER_03I think the biggest thing is obviously River Ridge. Um, that the commerce center itself has 13,000 people coming in every single day. So that is probably the biggest, it's like its own community out there. So they are always in need of homes. And I I just reported on Meta, the data center that's being built over that way, which should be completed by next year. Um, but that data center right now has at least 1,300 people on site constructing and um doing all of that work right now. Granted, when the data center is open, it will only be about a hundred people. But um River Ridge is also still looking for more businesses to bring in. So that number, um, that 13,000 number of employees coming in every day will likely grow in the next few years.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And I know there's been a lot of retail around River Ridge, too, that's like restaurants and things like that that are not in River Ridge, but adjacent to.
SPEAKER_03So for sure.
SPEAKER_02All right. Well, um, we'll move on to another topic here. Uh, Zach, you've been following this story about David Beck, the seemingly well-liked former CEO of Kentucky Venues. Kentucky Venues is the organization that runs the Kentucky Expo Center as well as the Kentucky International Convention Center downtown. He was ousted from his role by the another popular character around here, Andy Bashir, uh, the governor. Uh, what's the latest in that story?
SPEAKER_06Well, David Beck says he was given an ultimatum from Governor Bashir. You either resign or you're fired. He chose the firing, it seems. Uh it was a pretty shocking development. I woke up, saw the story, and sent out a news alert on it at about six in the morning before our uh morning email went out. Uh David Beck is a guy who is very familiar to our readers. He was a member of our uh Power 50. He was named one of our most admired CEOs. So just a very shocking development. Basically, what led to this was a 2021 uh law passed by the Republican uh led legislature, pretty much stripping power away from the governor. What that law pretty much did, it gave the agriculture commissioner more appointees to the fair board than the governor. So basically the commissioner now is always a Republican. So it's basically a power grab from the Democrats. But last week the state Supreme Court overturned that law, giving power back to the governor. Bashir pretty much instantly appointed nine of his appointees, and their first uh course of action was to fire David Beck.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_06So it was pure politics.
SPEAKER_02It's like he wanted his guy in there. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_01So terrible timing coming just a couple of weeks ahead of the state fair. I know, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I would have waited till after that. And a couple of big events after the state fair, the uh Danny Wimmer festivals take place. So yeah, it was a uh it was a surprising move.
SPEAKER_06So Yeah, I know Beck was very well liked. It was pretty shocking to me, but I also kind of understand why Bashir did it. Uh it you know, he finally was able to put his guy in and he took advantage of it.
SPEAKER_02And the law the Beck was a casualty. Yeah, the the law that that was in question here was was seemed like a power grab by the legislature to take some power away from the governor, and the state Supreme Court knocked that down. Yeah. Uh so you know, I think it was like a maybe a flex or something like that.
SPEAKER_01Do we get the idea that there's gonna be legal action?
SPEAKER_02Uh well I was I I hadn't watched this, but I heard he did an interview with WDRB, and uh that question was raised, and he left it pretty open.
SPEAKER_06He did.
SPEAKER_02He kind of left it as, oh well, we'll see.
SPEAKER_06I don't know what recourse he would have though.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I don't know either. Um I mean it I it's you can file suit over any exact, don't you know that?
SPEAKER_01We talked to enough lawyers and you can file suit over anything.
SPEAKER_02They'll find something, yeah. But uh maybe there's a contract or something like that that could be the issue. So um yeah, I'll I I think that would be interesting to watch. Um it kind of sounded like that was gonna happen, but I guess um guess we'll see. He was not definitive on it when he did this interview. So um speaking of instead of people who have lost their jobs, we'll talk about somebody who's kept a job for a surprisingly long amount of time. Uh Olivia, you just had this nice story, which has gotten a lot of feedback on LinkedIn, by the way. Oh, nice. Um, about a person who worked for GE Appliances and he just celebrated his 60th anniversary with that company, which is uh pretty rare. I mean, a 30th is pretty rare. A 60th is insane.
SPEAKER_03It's unheard of. Literally, GE, that was their thing. He they're like, I we think he's the first person to ever reach that at GE Appliances. But Manny Lopez, if I have half, no, if I have one ounce of the energy that he has at 78 years young, I will be thrilled. And like next year, like I don't know how he has all that energy in him. Um, because I'm like, I and he had no plans to retire. No, he didn't. He's he was so he's been working since 1966 and he started out in LA, which is where he's from. He moved to Louisville in the 80s for a few years, and then he moved back down to Miami, which is where he's been since the 90s. Um, but he was just so energetic the whole time. He was getting phone calls throughout the interview, and he's like, Oh, I'll put I'll put this away. I'm like, oh my gosh, what a guy. But he also talked about, okay. Do you guys know what a so he was talking a lot about the difference in communication style? So he mentioned a telex. Do you guys remember what that is? Because I looked at it. See, that was you talking about it.
SPEAKER_01I don't know what a telex is.
SPEAKER_03And I'm probably the oldest one here. Then he mentioned fax machines. Okay, fax machine.
SPEAKER_02I was on that. They were going out when I was coming in.
SPEAKER_03Okay, I was gonna say, because I said, you know, I've heard of a fax machine, never used one, and they were like, oh, and I was like, oh man. But now he was whipping out his smartphone now, he's like, I you just adapt. Yeah. And I he was an icon, though, I will say. He was in he's headed back down to Miami, and he has no plans to retire anytime soon. So kudos to him.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, and what was his role there?
SPEAKER_03So he's the regional sales manager for Latin America, which means he basically manages all of GE appliances accounts throughout Latin America. So he's always traveling too, which is why he's based out of Miami. Um, and he's still traveling and he gets invited to all of his clients, like weddings, birthday parties.
SPEAKER_06I was about to say, I'm sure his clients love this guy.
SPEAKER_03Oh, they do, because I guess a lot of companies in Latin America get passed down like through like by to other family members. So he's known like three generations of most of these families, and so he makes appearances at lots of family events.
SPEAKER_01Does this inspire all of you to work for Business First for 60 years? Wow. Can I get the contract signed today?
SPEAKER_02Well, I was gonna say, and I hope I'm not I'm I've thought about putting this on the script, Lisa, and I will cut it if you tell me to. But uh you've been with business, you've been with the parent company of Business First for 28 years.
SPEAKER_0128? Yeah, yeah. I started when I was just a wee baby. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02You started when you're five, I guess.
SPEAKER_0132 more years to go. Easy. 32 easy years. Yeah, yeah, that's wild. I can't imagine working so much.
SPEAKER_02I think about retirement now. Me too. I'm far away. So I can't imagine. Like, I think that's awesome that this guy's found a role that he loves and like stayed there for that long. He has no plans to retire, and he's 78. Like, that's amazing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we should all aspire.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, I'll leave a link to the story you can read about him. And a lot of people just found it very inspiring to uh to hear his story and how much he loves work. So uh switching gears here, we'll go over. Well, this is kind of a we've been following this story, I feel like, for uh for three, four weeks now. But uh, Zach, you and I have both been reporting on the uh Bargetown Road situation. I wrote about Atomic, uh, that's a bar on Bargetown Road, that recently had its liquor license revoked by the Metro ABC that was following a shooting outside of the bar, not in the bar. Uh outside of the bar on Bargetown Road. Uh the bar has pushed back disputes that this shooting had anything to do with them. Uh now the ABC is reinstating its liquor license uh with some restrictions. They got a slightly earlier closing time. What was it? They had to close at uh 3:30 instead of four. Um they uh have to beef up their security by hiring more off-duty police officers to be security, and they have to share access to their real-time access to their uh camera network with LMPD so they can watch what's going on. Um, but they even though have pushed back and said we don't agree with this, they have agreed to or they they have agreed to those stipulations, they don't agree that they share any blame in this. Uh, and they are planning to open um on Friday. So that's the latest uh thing that's happened on Bar Town Road. Meantime, you wrote about Baxter 942, it was involved in a similar situation a couple years back, and uh there was just some decision on its liquor license, right?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, that was one of the original Bar Sevett's liquor license revoked in the in these situations, yeah. Yeah, similar problems were happening. Uh, I think there was a shooting or two outside of the bar. Their liquor license was revoked. Yeah, so it was 2024 when that went down. Uh so ABC pulled their license, they appealed the uh state upheld the suspension, so now they're out of like. I think they do still have one more recourse in terms of another appeal directly to the state, maybe, but uh they haven't said whether they're gonna file that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I'm sure people who've uh who are kind of in this business maybe know what the difference was, but it seems like ABC walked the atomic one back pretty fast compared to what it did with Baxter. So uh with Baxter 942. So uh so interesting there uh to see how that's all playing out. Of course, we had the uh uh one of the leaders at the Highlands Commerce Guild on the show a few weeks ago, and he talked about the uh reverberations of kind of these parties that are taking place there. Uh so be sure to check out that show. And then last week we talked about this uh this response to all these uh all these uh situations where uh a group of people are petitioning to restrict alcohol sales at some bars. They would be classified as moist, uh, and that would mean that they have to sell a certain percentage of food uh w along with their alcohol. Uh Shay Van Hoy, our editor, was on last week. He's taken a stand against it. He said, vote against it in no uncertain terms. Uh at least I want to get your take on this while we're uh while we're doing it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's it's an interesting situation. I mean, I've I've read all the coverage, I've listened to the podcast, I've I understand both sides, I understand both sides of of the conversation, but it feels like it's an overcorrection. I feel like it's it's a step too far. And I was particularly swayed by uh Jack Fry's, which made a post on Facebook.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, and there's a line in here that really hit me, and it it's they call it they say that the initiative would fundamentally change the way many long-standing restaurants, bars, and small businesses are allowed to operate. And I don't think that's what we should be going for here. I you know, I I think there's a balance. Um, do we need to have these bars open until four in the morning?
SPEAKER_02Um That seems to be the like it seems like that's been an answer. It's like just close the bars at two.
SPEAKER_06I feel like that's been the chatter for a long time. Let's get these let's take away this 4 a.m. bar time. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Does anybody need to be out at 4 a.m. drinking on Barstown Road? Does anybody need to be out at 3 a.m.? You know, let's let's talk about a a a compromise that's more in line with most major cities around the country. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And how many people are out from two to four? Like how big are those sales that it's like it can't be.
SPEAKER_02We gotta have this.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it can't be that significant. You know, I feel like that's the trade-off rather than trying to restrict the percentage of alcohol sales.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was kind of the point Shay made as well. It's like uh your bars like Jack Fry's or Outlook In, or you know, some of these bars that are no trouble at all, um, you know, are are gonna be punished for for something that, you know, even the bars that are getting blamed are saying we don't have anything to do with this.
SPEAKER_06Um that's just a major appeal of living in the highlands in the first place.
SPEAKER_02You live there, to have these restaurants, restaurants and bars, you know. You don't you don't move to Bargetown Road and hope for a quiet suburb, you know. So um, but uh yeah, interesting. We'll continue to watch that. Uh obviously the petition's on now, and uh they would be a if it if they get enough signatures, they're asking for this to be put on the ballot in November. So I don't know what the deadlines are on that. I don't know if it'd be this November or a future election. But uh anyway, uh switching gears here. One last um, Lisa, you just did an interview with Chris Russell. He's the executive market director for Baird Private Wealth Management Business. Uh, what did you guys cover?
SPEAKER_01We had a super interesting conversation. I got to talk to him recently, not too long after SpaceX IPO. And we talked a little bit about how he navigates the conversation with his clients who get enticed by that new hot stock and how he sort of works to refocus them to the kinds of things that'll really drive long-term results in their portfolios, which is really good advice because SpaceX has come way back down to earth since its splashy IPO.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, for sure. That's interesting. I can't wait to hear it. Uh with that, we'll go to the interview. After that, we'll be back and we'll give you something to think about.
SPEAKER_01This is Lisa Benson, publisher at Louisville Business First. I'm joined today by Chris Russell, Executive Market Director for Baird's private wealth management business here in Louisville. Chris leads a team of advisors who work with families, business owners, and executives across the region on everything from investments and financial planning to trust and tax strategies. He has spent his career helping clients navigate noisy markets and big life transitions, and he has a clear point of view on well the where the wealth management industry is headed. Chris, thank you so much for joining me today.
SPEAKER_05Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01So we have seen some splashy IPOs and hot stocks dominating the headlines. I was wishing that I had got my hands on some SpaceX stock, but now maybe not so much. So when clients come to you excited about that next big name, how do you handle that and maybe steer that conversation towards what actually drives long-term outcomes?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that's a great question. Very timely, of course. And you're right. Some days you're wishing you didn't miss out, and some days you're glad you did. But uh I think when when we get a lot, and we do get calls from clients about this, it's in the media, it's it's hard to ignore, right, Lisa? And uh the first thing you do is you don't want to kill the excitement right away because it's it's out there. You want to acknowledge it. Uh I think we spend a lot of time reminding our clients while we work together, just reframing that conversations. And and honestly, a lot of times it's because we have a very boring financial plan that has been very successful for them. And so you want to go in, you remind them there's not many shortcuts that uh you can implement to kind of get to where you're trying to get to, right? And so these pop up and they may seem like shortcuts, but very difficult to implement shortcuts to get you there. You you really aren't working with us to increase your risk. You're not working with us to increase your uncertainty. And so a lot of times we just have to remind them, hey, you came to us to help you get from point A to point B through your life. And you came to us to kind of remove some of that, remove the risk, remove the uncertainty. And this this may not do that. Um here's here's what I would say. Most clients are really um really educated and and know this. They just they know it. But you get caught up in the excitement and you and FOMO is a real thing. So um, but once you talk about that reframe the conversation, they they get it pretty quickly that okay, you're right, we're we've got a plan, let's stick to it. If you want to buy a few shares for your kids, by all means stock it away and see what happens. But the core of the plan, let's just stay focused on what we do and what we do pretty well. And they take that advice usually pretty well too.
SPEAKER_01That is good advice. The I think the FOMO tends to be to be real though. So it is a balance.
SPEAKER_05It is real. It is real.
SPEAKER_01The you know, the wealth management industry has changed a lot over the last few decades, transitioning from that brokerage mindset to one that's more like you talk about comprehensive financial planning. So from where you sit, what does the future of advising look like? And then how is Baird thinking about how it fits into that evolution?
SPEAKER_05Well, you have to look backwards first. Um, here's the good news. I would say, Lisa, that the client has never gotten um better outcomes, has never gotten a better uh product, if you want to say, from the wealth management industry. It's evolved to a point where um clients are getting very comprehensive outcomes with their professionals that they're working with. And so the quality of work has gone up exponentially in the last several years. I think there's a reason for that. And I think that it you have to look at where we used to operate, which was uh offering investment products and solutions to individuals. And that's typically how the relationships would start and almost stay. Today, I think uh clients are getting used to us offering advice to families. And so now that higher quality planning experience is a result of dealing with the multi-generational aspects of these families. Uh when you start with talking about goals and you start with great questions, uh the conversations naturally will go towards things such as aging parents or are your kids ready? And and how are the grandkids legacy planning? Um that's a much different conversation than it used to be. The industry has evolved to reward those conversations in that way with clients. And so it's resulted in just amazing outcomes. And so that's that train is going to continue to run. The quality of work will continue to get better, the conversations will continue to be more broad and and include more of what's going on in a complete picture for for clients.
SPEAKER_01And you just talked about asking your clients questions. Let's flip it around. What are the most thoughtful clients asking you guys, your fight, the financial advisors these days? And are there areas that you're spending more time on now than you were, say, a few years ago?
SPEAKER_05Well, and I I think that's a it's a great question because uh in our business, if clients are educated, engaged, and asking great questions, they will in turn get better outcomes. We we actually want our clients to have this knowledge to be able to bring to the table and then we can collaborate. It's a collaboration. Um I talked about great outcomes. You can't really today get great outcomes without venturing into conversations such as tax, trust, legacy planning. I'll I'll just take one of those. A great example would be tax. Um few years ago, several years ago, April 15th would be the time you would talk to your client about taxes. And that's it. And really, it's a year-round conversation because that's not enough. You've got rough conversion questions, you've got charitable giving strategies, legacy planning, as I mentioned. I mean, these are very year-round conversations, not just April 15th. So that's just one example of how the wealth management uh experience between the advisor and the client has uh different from a few years ago to today.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Well, now it's time for the AI question. You know, we have to talk about AI. I talk about it in just about every conversation I have, it feels like. How are you balancing leveraging those artificial intelligence tools as they develop and evolve? The ones that help with efficiencies, how do you balance that with human relationships that I know that your clients ultimately are counting on?
SPEAKER_05Very good question. A question, a topic that we uh every day seems to come up, right? I would say here's the good news. AI AI should not replace people in our business. It really shouldn't. What it should do, and we are you make no mistake, we're leaning heavily into AI because it's it's awesome. It's a it's a huge efficiency gain. It should allow tasks to be done more efficiently. Specifically tasks such as obviously meeting preparation, document reviews, meeting recap, task assignment, follow-up. If you're able to embrace AI to the point where it can pull some of those tasks away from team members, guess what that leaves the team members to do? More time to call the client, talk to the client, follow up with the client, basically ensure that all along the way we can have more touch points and ensure the plans are achieving what we're sought out to achieve. So AI is huge, make no mistakes about it. But it should honestly, if done right, create much greater outcomes for clients, even today, which we think are producing great outcomes. Um and I would say this AI allows clients, as I mentioned, to be very well educated. If you don't know something, you can ask Chat GPT or Cloud or whatever your cup of tea is there. And now when clients are coming to us, they're coming to us more educated, more aware, more knowledgeable. They're not afraid to ask questions. So now topics can be covered and we can get progress on these things much faster, much more quick. That is a better outcome for clients, and it's one we encourage. We encourage clients to lean in and we encourage uh associates in the wealth management industry to lean into this. It's a huge opportunity for us to continue to have amazing outcomes for clients.
SPEAKER_01That's super interesting. Chris, thank you so much for a great conversation today. And thank you to FAIR for its sponsorship and support of the Access Global Podcast.
SPEAKER_00The broadcast is provided for informational purposes only, is not a complete analysis of every material fact regarding any company, industry, or security, and should not be considered investment advice or recommendations. Investors should obtain professional advice before making investment decisions. The information has been obtained from sources considered reliable, but its accuracy is not guaranteed. Past performance is not indicative of future results, and diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against loss. All investments carry some level of risk, including loss of principle. Baird is not a legal or tax services provider, and you are strongly encouraged to seek the advice of the appropriate professional advisors before taking any action. Robert W. Baird Company Incorporated is a registered broker dealer and investment advisory number, member of FINRA and SIPC.
SPEAKER_02All right. Well, we got this segment we started a few weeks back where we wrap up the show by giving people something to think about. Olivia, why don't you start us off?
SPEAKER_03Last week I actually went out to the Parklands for the first time. Um, and it was after a few months after I spoke with Aaron Boggs, who's the new CEO. Uh, and I have like I wish I would have gone out there earlier. It was literally a utopia. Yeah. I was like, oh my gosh, this is crazy. And my take is that Louisville Parks are so underrated.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's a beautiful place. Um, I was we just had uh the CEO of Olmstead Parks on last week. So yeah, a lot of great parks in Louisville. All right, Zach. Uh why don't you go next?
SPEAKER_06World Cup's going on, got soccer on the brain. So I just turned it, I'm thinking about Louisville's top-level major league team racing Louisville. It's not a great story there right now. They're sitting with just two wins on the season. They just got back into action after their break, had a tough loss on the road at Portland. Overshadowing all that though, is that their star player, the face of the franchise, and possibly the future of the women's national team. Emma Sears has requested a trade from the club. That hurts. I know, it just felt like a dagger on that side. Very painful. I know. So I have to ask what's going on over a racing. I've heard shatter that they don't manage the women's team, that they manage the women's team on the same level as they do Louisville City, which feels like this is a top-level major league team. You can't devote the same amount of resources to it as you do your minor league club. It's tough. Yeah. It's tough. So I don't know. Uh hearing a lot of chatter about the future of the franchise in the city.
SPEAKER_02Well, we've been hearing that for a few years now.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. Whether it'll be sold, whether it'll be moved. I don't know. But Emma wanting to leave is just a very bad sign, and they're not doing well this year. Yeah. So I don't know. I hope they can turn it around because I love having that team here. Me too.
SPEAKER_02I loved having Emma Sears here. I was there the first time she ever scored a goal when she first joined the team. Um, and I know that because I was sitting by her mom. Uh and her mom was like, that's my daughter. That's her first. How cool is that? Yeah. And I was just like, wow, that's cool. I was I was here for history. And then she became really good. She played on the women's national team, like you said. And uh now she wants to leave, it hurts. Uh but uh Lisa, how about you? Why don't you go next?
SPEAKER_01Well, we didn't plan this, but my hot take is also about racing. And I had a great meeting today with Ethan B. And I'm not gonna say his last name because I will totally butcher it. But um, he's only three months into his role at racing, and he's working on the upcoming Women in Business Night. Um it's coming up on August 19th. So despite all the negative things that Zach just said about the team, I'm encouraging everybody to come out and support racing for Women in Business Night. They're doing some, they're putting together some really great ideas. They're gonna do some fun stuff to celebrate women in our business community. So come out. They're playing Seattle Rain. So it should be a really good game. Support the team and support women in business. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, and I will wrap things up and talk about this uh section I've been editing called People to Know in AI. It comes out next week. And let me tell you, uh, AI is such a divisive topic. It was good to dive into a field of people, 20 people, who are just so into AI because everything, I think there's a lot of Doom scrolling out there, or Doom uh saying out there that it's just like AI is coming for you. Uh it's taking your job, it's gonna blow up the planet. This AI ordered a robot online. I literally saw a YouTube thumbnail that said that. Um, and so like there's a lot of doom out there, and it was just a breath of fresh air to say for for to hear from people who are like, no, yeah, I see why everybody's scared, but there's there's actually here's why it's good, and here's where it's going, and here's why the things we're worried about now are probably, you know, there's some definitely some concerns there, but um, there's definitely some answers there too. So maybe it won't be as bad as we all think it is. Yeah, it won't be maybe it won't be the apocalypse that we all think it is. Um so that was that was a nice refreshing breath of fresh air. And if you need that air, uh that uh that piece will be out uh next week. So uh look for it. I'll I'll uh I guess I can't leave a link to it in this show, but uh I'll try and link it in our next show. Um and I guess that's it. If you like what you hear, uh please consider subscribing to the Access Louable Podcast on popular services, including Apple and Spotify. Thank you very much, Zach. Thank you, Olivia, thank you, Lisa, and of course, thank you, Chris Russell from Baird, and Baird for the support. Uh and we will see you guys next time. Bye-bye.