Environmental organizations typically stake out a single cause: clean water, forest preservation, climate policy. Colcom Foundation's approach is somewhat different. Rather than targeting one environmental outcome, the Pittsburgh-based philanthropy focuses on what it views as an underlying driver: the relationship between population growth and the long-term degradation of natural systems.The Foundation's OriginsColcom Foundation was established...
Around 2015, a pile of permits sat untouched in Spanish government files. These VTC licenses, the credentials that let private cars carry paying riders, were selling for as little as €5,000 apiece, and almost nobody wanted them.Most people saw paperwork with no future. Alejandro Betancourt López saw the raw material of a market that hadn't arrived yet, and he started buying while the rest of the trade looked the other way.Buying what nobody...
The distance between building a telemedicine company for rural Asia and advising on rare-earth supply chain resilience for the U.S. defense sector is shorter than it looks. Both problems require understanding how systems fail under constraint, how institutional trust is built, and what it takes to deliver technology in environments that are not designed for easy outcomes. Justin Fulcher has worked at that intersection across his entire...
Few figures in American energy have shaped the industry's infrastructure quite like Kelcy Warren. As Executive Chairman and founder of Energy Transfer, Warren has spent decades building one of the most expansive pipeline networks in North America while quietly channeling his success into philanthropic work that stretches from Dallas parks to university engineering programs.A Career Defined by ScaleUnder Kelcy Warren's leadership, Energy Transfer...
Operational excellence in industrial services is not achieved through technology alone, brilliant strategy alone, or talented people alone — it emerges from the disciplined integration of all three over sustained periods. Idaho business leader Karl Studer has developed a comprehensive perspective on what operational excellence requires in large-scale industrial contexts, drawing on decades of direct experience.The foundation of operational...
The podcasting industry spent much of the early 2020s racing toward scale. Networks competed on output rather than craft, and the market rewarded whoever published fastest. Greg Soros watched that dynamic unfold from inside a prominent media company, and when he left his senior producer role in 2020, he bet against it entirely.Soros launched Podcraft Media Lab from a converted garage studio in Austin's East Side with a single directive: produce...
A doctor who prescribes before diagnosing is not practicing medicine responsibly. Most people understand this intuitively. But the same logic rarely gets applied when families are choosing a wealth manager, and the consequences of that oversight can be significant.Michael Gold, the Westport-based founder of Gold Family Wealth, has built his practice around a diagnostic model that he believes is the correct approach to financial planning. Gold...
Europe presents a peculiar combination of mature, competitive markets and persistent structural inefficiencies that create opportunities for well-positioned investors and operators. Burak Basel has spent his career identifying and capitalizing on this combination, building a portfolio that spans multiple European jurisdictions.The UK market, despite post-Brexit disruptions, remains one of the world's most liquid and transparent investment...
When Hart Energy launched its Hall of Fame as part of a 50th anniversary celebration in 2023, Kelcy Warren was among the inaugural honorees. The recognition placed the Energy Transfer executive chairman in company with some of the most consequential figures in oil and gas history. For Kelcy Warren, whose career began at a Texas utility company in the late 1970s, the honor represented the culmination of more than four decades of work reshaping...
Long-term investment perspective is easy to claim and difficult to maintain. The pressures of venture capital — the need to mark portfolios, the expectations of limited partners, the competitive dynamics of the asset class — all create incentives for shorter time horizons than deep technology investment typically requires. Yazan Al Homsi has maintained the patience that his investment sectors demand, building a portfolio with the conviction...