The TechEd Podcast

• Using Values and Customer Experience to Guide an AI and Data-Driven Strategy - Irv and Ryan Blumkin, Chairman and EVP of Nebraska Furniture Mart

  In this episode of The TechEd Podcast, host Matt Kirchner sits down with Irv Blumkin, Chairman of Nebraska Furniture Mart (NFM), and Ryan Blumkin, Executive Vice President, to unpack nearly 90 years of retail innovation, from Mrs. B’s pawn-shop beginnings to multi-acre campuses in Omaha, Kansas City, Dallas, and soon Austin. They explore what it’s like to partner with Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway, build massive destination developments, and still obsess over every single SKU and customer interaction. From dynamic pricing and AI-enabled operations to a mind-blowing learning trip through China’s retail and technology ecosystem, Irv and Ryan share how NFM is using data, automation, and emerging tech to deepen their moat, without ever losing sight of values, culture, and long-term thinking. They also talk careers in retail tech, why young “outside-the-box” thinkers matter, and the role of lifelong learning in leading through disruption. Listen to learn:Why Warren Buffett bought Nebraska Furniture Mart on a handshake, and what Irv has learned from decades of dinners and deal-making with himWhy strong values and culture matter more than ever in this tech-driven marketplaceHow NFM uses massive-store footprints, destination partners like Scheels, and even hotel/convention centers to turn shopping into an experienceHow dynamic pricing, digital shelf tags, and nightly web crawls of 70,000+ SKUs keep NFM competitive with Amazon, Costco, Wayfair, and othersWhat Irv and Ryan saw in China's tech companies and how those lessons are shaping NFM’s future3 Big Takeaways from this Episode:1. Timeless values can scale into a $2 billion business. Mrs. B’s simple principles (sell at a great price, tell the truth, and pay your bills) still anchor NFM’s strategy, even as the company builds 1.8 million-square-foot campuses and expands into new markets like Austin. Irv connects those values directly to long-term growth, customer trust, and the family’s partnership with Berkshire Hathaway. 2. Technology is now core infrastructure, not an add-on. NFM’s nightly web crawling, digital price tags, and dynamic pricing systems automatically position them as the best value against online competitors, while complex distribution networks and emerging AI tools optimize inventory and logistics. Ryan frames this as building a “moat” with data, automation, and relentless operational excellence, not just more advertising. 3. Lifelong learning is mandatory for modern leadership. Irv has invested in executive education for decades, and both he and Ryan describe their China trip as “eye opening” in terms of speed, scrappiness, AI adoption, and asset-light business models. They’re already translating those lessons into new e-commerce strategies, warehouse automation concepts, and AI-enabled process improvements back at NFM. Resources in this Episode:Learn more about Nebraska Furniture MartOther resources mentioned:Six Days in China: The Speed, Scale and Innovation Outpacing the U.S. - Podcast episode with Todd WanekMORE LINKS & RESOURCES ON THE EPISODE PAGE: https://techWe want to hear from you! Send us a text.Instagram - Facebook - YouTube - TikTok - Twitter - LinkedIn

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• Six Days in China: The Speed, Scale and Strategy Outpacing U.S. Innovation - Todd Wanek, CEO of Ashley Furniture

  What if you could get a behind the scenes look at China's most innovative tech companies, factories and logistics hubs—seeing how they really run and asking the questions most Americans never get to ask?This week, you do. Matt Kirchner and Todd Wanek, CEO of Ashley Furniture, sit down to debrief the trip they took together to China. In a candid, off-the-cuff conversation, they trade questions and challenge each other’s assumptions as they compare what they saw there with what’s happening in U.S. business, policy, and education.After six days of nonstop plant tours and tech company visits, they debrief what they saw: an engineering-driven society, central planning at massive scale, open-source AI innovation, and humanoid robots that are improving in real time. They contrast that with U.S. politics, policy, education, and workforce development, and lay out the uncomfortable truths and huge opportunities for American manufacturing and technical education.🎥 Watch this episode on YouTubeListen to learn:Why China can approve and build 11 nuclear reactors for the cost of 1 in the U.S. and what that says about speed, scale, and central planningHow an engineering-run government and 1.5 million engineering graduates a year are reshaping China’s economy and innovation pipelineWhy open-source AI in China is accelerating physical AI, humanoid robots, quadrupeds, drones, ASRS systems faster than many U.S. leaders realizeHow e-commerce “clusters” with 70-story towers, shared training, and centralized services are quietly dominating Amazon, Temu, and other marketplacesWhat China’s head start on rare earth minerals, mining education, and mandatory K–12 AI means for U.S. business, policy, and technical education3 Big Takeaways from this Episode:1. China is running its economy like a highly-engineered business, and that's giving them a competitive edge. Matt and Todd break down how central planning, five-year plans, and an engineer-dominated Politburo have turned China into an “engineering society” that can move at staggering speed and scale. They contrast this with U.S. gridlock, pointing to examples like nuclear power, rare earths, and infrastructure to illustrate the gap.2. Open-source AI and clustering are creating a compounding advantage in technology and e-commerce. In China, new code and algorithms are often pushed to open platforms, enabling “once one humanoid learns to walk, they all learn to walk”–style progress. E-commerce and tech clusters in places like Shenzhen centralize training, capital, and services, letting thousands of companies iterate together, scrape competitors in real time, and weaponize interest-based social media marketing.3. The U.S. must treat AI education, automation, and rare earths as “musts,” not “shoulds.” China has made AI mandatory in K–12 while the U.S. still debates chatbots and bans tools in classrooms. Matt and Todd highlight the mismatch between 36,000 lawyers and only ~300 mining/metallurgical engineers graduating each year, and argue for a national shift: rebuild manufacturing clusters, lower the cost of automation, expand applied AI education, and rapidly grow talent in critical technical disciplines.We want to hear from you! Send us a text.Instagram - Facebook - YouTube - TikTok - Twitter - LinkedIn

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• Applied AI on the Edge Proves There’s More to AI Than ChatGPT - Brian Cavanaugh, CEO of VigilanteX

  With artificial intelligence stepping off the laptop and out onto job sites, factory floors, and flight decks, are we preparing students for the AI that sees, senses, and acts in the real world, not just the kind that chats back?Matt Kirchner sits down with Lieutenant General Brian Cavanaugh, USMC (Ret.), CEO of VigilanteX. After decades commanding Marines and integrating emerging tech into national defense, Cavanaugh now leads a company building applied AI platforms at the edge: solar- and Starlink-powered trailers with cameras and compute that monitor sites 24/7 and turn video into real-time safety, security and efficiency intelligence.Together, Matt and Brian unpack what “applied AI” really means across the edge-to-cloud continuum. They discuss AI agents running on the edge, natural language search over video, and systems that close the loop from sensor to decision in seconds. They also explore why simply teaching students to prompt chatbots isn’t enough, and how K-12, CTE, and higher education can catch up to a world where AI is baked into every system, every site, and every mission.Listen to learn:How VigilanteX combines solar power, Starlink, cameras, and edge compute into their tech.The difference between AI at the edge and AI in the cloud, and why latency, bandwidth, and resilience matter for safety-critical environments.How AI agents work at the edge, and why they can work faster and more efficiently than humans (freeing up humans to do more interesting work).Why Cavanaugh believes every student should understand how data moves from sensors to the edge, to the cloud, and back into real-time control.What China’s national push for AI education signals about global competition and how U.S. educators should respond with applied AI in the classroom.➡️ Watch the Full Episode on YouTube3 Big Takeaways from this Episode:1. AI at the edge is becoming a digital teammate. VigilanteX’s platforms use cameras, connectivity, and on-site compute to watch for fall risks, PPE issues, intrusions, and abnormal conditions across construction, manufacturing, logistics, and energy sites. The system flags events in real time, routes the right video to supervisors, and builds a data trail leaders can use to change procedures before accidents happen.2. Edge-to-cloud literacy is a new baseline skill for technical careers. Cavanaugh and Kirchner break down how raw sensor and video data is processed locally, filtered, and then pushed to the cloud for storage, analytics, and dashboards. Understanding where computation lives, what data moves, and how AI agents plug into that pipeline prepares students for roles in automation, OT/IT, robotics, and cyber-physical systems in any industry.3. We need to teach applied AI, not just chatbots. While large language models are powerful, the episode shows how AI is part of the edge-to-cloud continuum. Giving students hands-on experience with autonomous systems, computer vision, and industrial data flows helps them see AI as something they can design, deploy, and govern rather than a black box that only lives in a browser.Find links & more resources on the episode page! We want to hear from you! Send us a text.Instagram - Facebook - YouTube - TikTok - Twitter - LinkedIn

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• What Is Your Region's Economic DNA? Lessons for CTE from an Aviation High School - Adam Snoddy, Principal of Butler Tech Aviation Center

  How can CTE listen to regional economic and workforce needs and build a vision so big that others can't help but support it?Watch this episode on YouTube Matt Kirchner sits down with Adam Snoddy, Principal of the Butler Tech Aviation Center, to explore how one district used its regional economic identity to design a world-class CTE program. Located between Cincinnati and Dayton—home to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Amazon’s CVG air hub, a web of regional airports, and one of the densest aviation job markets in North America—Butler Tech built a high school aviation program directly aligned to its region’s workforce DNA.Adam walks us through how the program launched in 2019 and quickly outgrew its original model. Today, Butler Tech is opening a 20,000 sq. ft. aviation high school and 8,500 sq. ft. hangar, backed by $15 million in district, county, JobsOhio, and city investment. Students begin with a full sophomore-year “Introduction to Aviation” exploration before choosing pathways in Flight, Maintenance, or Engineering, with engineering intentionally grounded in maintenance fundamentals to create stronger systems thinkers and safer future engineers.The real story? This aviation program is a template. Whether your region is built on advanced manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, energy, agriculture, or something entirely different, Butler Tech’s approach offers a roadmap for building CTE around local industry, future workforce demand, and transferable technical skills.Listen to Learn:How regional economic DNA shaped Butler Tech’s aviation program and why every CTE district should start hereWhat a $15 million aviation campus means for students, industry, and community partners Why Butler Tech begins 10th grade with a full exploration year before pathway selectionHow flight, maintenance, and engineering pathways work, and why engineering starts in the maintenance hangarWhat every CTE leader can take from this model, even if their region has nothing to do with aviation3 Big Takeaways from this Episode:1. CTE should be built around regional economic DNA. Southwest Ohio’s aviation ecosystem—CVG, Wright-Patt, Joby, UPS, regional airports—creates unmatched demand for aviation talent. Butler Tech aligned its entire program to that reality, proving CTE is strongest when built around local industry needs and future workforce trends.2. An exploration-first model helps students make smarter pathway decisions. Every student begins with “Intro to Aviation,” experiencing flight, maintenance, and engineering pathways. This helps students discover interests—and eliminate misaligned ones—long before making postsecondary commitments.3. Hands-on systems training creates better technicians, engineers, and pilots. Butler Tech’s engineering pathway starts with maintenance fundamentals because employers consistently stress that engineers must understand the systems they design. Students build real-world intuition early, leading to safer, more capable graduates in any technical field.Resources in this Episode:Learn more about Butler Tech's Aviation prograWe want to hear from you! Send us a text.Instagram - Facebook - YouTube - TikTok - Twitter - LinkedIn

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• Technical Colleges: Breaking Generational Poverty and Building Economic Mobility - Dr. Anthony Cruz, President of MATC

  With technical colleges serving as the front line for breaking generational poverty, one question rises to the surface: how do we design education that truly creates economic mobility?In this episode of The TechEd Podcast, host Matt Kirchner digs into that question with Dr. Anthony Cruz, President of Milwaukee Area Technical College — the largest nonprofit technical college in the country and one of the most diverse institutions in the Midwest.Dr. Cruz brings a compelling mix of lived experience and visionary leadership: a first-generation college graduate whose parents worked in factories, now leading a college that serves 31,000 students a year and sits at the epicenter of Milwaukee’s economic and social challenges. From meeting students where they are to engineering economic mobility, Dr. Cruz lays out the blueprint for how technical colleges can change the trajectory of entire families.From breaking cycles of generational poverty to preparing students for an AI-driven workforce, this conversation explores what’s required from technical colleges today, and why their role has never been more vital.Listen to learn:How technical colleges serve as engines of economic mobilityWhy student support must go far beyond academicsHow to nurture grit in students who have never seen success modeled around themWhat AI disruption means for technical college programsWhy urban technical colleges face unique challenges — and unique opportunitiesBig Takeaways1. Technical colleges are uniquely positioned to break generational poverty.MATC sees itself as an “engine of economic mobility,” serving students who often arrive without the financial resources or social capital others take for granted.Layered support — scholarships, retention coaches, food pantries, advising — helps remove barriers so students can persist and earn family-sustaining wages.2. Student success requires developing grit, not just academic skill.Cruz emphasizes that grit is innate but must be nurtured. Many students have never seen examples of success around them, so MATC focuses on helping them build resilience semester after semester until they launch into the workforce.3. The future of technical education demands agility — especially with AI.AI is reshaping jobs faster than curriculum cycles. MATC is equipping faculty to use AI tools now, while building flexible programs that can adapt quickly to emerging technologies rather than waiting years for revisions.ResourcesMilwaukee Area Technical CollegeMATC Promise ProgramChecota Scholars ProgramWe want to hear from you! Send us a text.Instagram - Facebook - YouTube - TikTok - Twitter - LinkedIn

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