Justin Leusner is the Founder & Creator of @BasketballTDAY, a Gen-Z–focused sports media company reaching 30 million monthly fans across YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. What started as a 10 year kid filming sports videos in his bedroom has grown into a multi-platform brand with over a billion lifetime views and partnerships with the NBA, Disney+, YouTube, Gatorade, and more. 

Justin is known for blending storytelling, entrepreneurship, and purpose-driven content, using sports as a way to inspire, connect, and create positive impact.  

Beyond TDAY Sports, Justin is an active angel investor and advisor to early-stage creator-led businesses, helping founders scale through audience, storytelling, and modern media. A Penn State alumnus, he is passionate about mentoring students and creators who want to build meaningful careers at the intersection of media, business, and faith-driven purpose. 

Marcus Edwards serves as the SBA Program Administrator and Economic Development Lender at the Altoona-Blair County Development Corporation (ABCD). In this role, he oversees the Small Business Administration 504 Loan Program and manages ABCD’s internal revolving loan funds supporting start-up and existing businesses in Blair County and across Pennsylvania. 

As an economic development lender, Marcus plays a key role in driving local business growth and community investment. His work spans the full life cycle of a project, from identifying and developing opportunities to guiding business owners through the financing process. He collaborates closely with entrepreneurs to gather necessary documentation, performs detailed underwriting and financial analysis, and helps businesses start or expand and create jobs that strengthen the local economy. 

A native of Altoona, Marcus graduated from Altoona Area High School in 2014 and went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Mathematics from Saint Francis University, where he was also a member of the track and field team. Before joining ABCD in February 2021, he worked as a Business Banker at Reliance Bank for two and a half years. In December 2022, Marcus completed his Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance at Saint Francis University. 

Marcus lives in Hollidaysburg with his wife, Hannah, their daughter, Sylvie, and their goldendoodle, Zuko. He also contributes to the community through service as a Penn State Altoona Advisory Board Member and a Sheetz Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence Board Member. 

I graduated as a Sheetz Fellow in the class of 2014 and have spent the first 12 years of my career working in tech startups – operating within companies that aim to scale their operations quickly, overcome competitive markets, and ‘figure it out as we go’.  

To date, one company has gone public after helping heavy-duty trucking companies achieve higher safety standards with dashcams and similar technologies (Motive). Another is transforming the depth of resources available to 911 telecommunicators when handling emergency calls (RapidSOS). My responsibilities within those organizations have ranged from direct customer sales to data analysis & operational performance improvement.  

Whether you are interested in working in startups, starting your own company and wondering what helps organizations grow quickly, or just want to learn more about available fields in the business world in general, I look forward to speaking with the group! 

My name is Caleb Drenning and I currently work at Your Building Centers in Altoona, PA as the Vice President of Purchasing & Marketing. I graduated from Altoona Area High School and attended Penn State Altoona for my undergraduate. After working for several years, I went back to school and received my MBA at Saint Francis University in Loretto, PA. I currently reside in Cresson, PA and am actively involved in my local community. Outside of work, I enjoy camping and spending time with my family. I look forward to meeting with you and offering any insights from my career that may help you on your journey.

Lainie Snider is the Senior Manager or Employee Relations for Sheetz Inc. She is responsible for assisting and collaborating with leaders throughout the organization to provide expertise and advice regarding a wide variety of Employee Relations issues. Lainie manages the application of HR policies and procedures and supports the daily operations of the company in an effort to maintain the unique and positive culture at Sheetz. She partners with the Sheetz Legal department to ensure all policies and procedures are administered in accordance with current federal, state and local employment laws.  

Lainie celebrated her 15th Anniversary with Sheetz this past July.  

Prior to coming to Sheetz, Lainie was the HR Manager at Donahoe Manor, a small nursing home facility in Bedford County. She is a proud alumna of Frostburg State University, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resource Management.  

She resides in New Enterprise, PA with her husband Jan, (a Project Manager/Estimator at Sheetz) their children Alex and Maddox and their golden retriever, Kallie. In her spare time, Lainie enjoys hunting, traveling, being outdoors and watching her kids’ sporting events. 

Hi, I’m Emily McCarty, owner of Wildfire in Downtown Altoona. At 19 years old, I registered for my business license and began brainstorming the logistics of my brick-and-mortar shop, Wildfire. To further my network and education, I attended events and seminars with the Blair County Chamber of Commerce, Altoona Launchbox, State College Launchbox, and Small Business Development Center. With a start-up cost of about $5,000, zero student or business loans, and nothing to lose, I opened the doors to Wildfire in October 2019. My business survived a nationwide shutdown just five months into the opening, and I’m still happily serving my community in my sixth year of entrepreneurship. Wildfire is committed to providing plastic-free, sustainable goods that help reduce your impact on our planet. I started off selling shampoo bars and bamboo toothbrushes to test the market and now, we offer over 50 different eco-friendly products– including, Altoona’s first and only refillery, where you can bring your own container and fill up on home goods like dish soap, laundry powder, body wash, and more. I love the challenges and freedoms of owning a storefront at 26 years old and credit my success to my incredible mentor, who offers encouragement and wisdom in everything I do. 

Carmen focuses her executive work with those whose measure is excellence, not average; transforming something strong into something superb. Corporate Entrepreneur, Team Builder, Out-of-the-box thinker, Maverick – those are the descriptive behaviors of which have enabled Carmen to standout as a person, an entrepreneur, a leader and a trusted Advisor. 

Serving Leaders must work to create teams where everyone is living out their strengths day to day. This applies to small teams, to midsize organizations and to whole communities and it starts with the individual.  

Why Servant Leadership? The first symptom that servant leadership exists is that people are flourishing – a servant leader unleashing the strengths, talents and passions of those he or she serves. The serving leader sets high goals and standards and supports those in reaching those goals and standards. 

Need help and support? Carmen has worked closely with top-level leaders as a peer and strategic partner focusing on personal and professional development, creating high performance teams, developing key strategic initiatives, identifying emerging talent, and implementing organizational change.    

Carmen holds a Master of Science degree in Organizational Leadership and a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Resource Development from Geneva College and a business degree from Penn State University. As a Certified Predictive Index (PI) Practitioner1, A TapRoot Advanced Root Cause Analysis Team Leader2 and a Certified Master Financial Coach3, Carmen combines her academic knowledge with 40 years of practical hands-on work experience.  

“Great men and women show up everywhere. You’ll find them among the poor and you’ll find them among the powerful; but you won’t find them if you’re not looking for them!” 

Matt is an experienced multi-unit retail professional with demonstrated excellence in leading teams, exceeding goals, and achieving profit and loss metrics. He is skilled in Business Planning, Sales, Public Speaking, Market Research, and Management. Matt has been leading the Sheetz MTO food platform since joining the “World’s Greatest C-Store” in 2017. During his time with Sheetz, he has grown the platform by over 30% and exceeded all budgeted projections while managing the MTO testing team and yearly promotional planning. Prior career stops have been with 7-Eleven Merchandising in Dallas, TX, and Target Corp in Tucson, AZ. He completed his MBA in Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneurial Studies from the University of Arizona, Eller College of Management, and earned a BS Degree in Sport Management from Western Carolina University. In his free time, he likes to travel, spend time with his family, and try new restaurants…for competitive comparisons, of course.  

Retired in late 2025, Gary Brito is a four-star general with a distinguished 38-year career in the United States Army. Gary’s executive expertise offers expansive organizational performance and realignment, risk management, strategy and governance for organizations and companies across commercial and defense adjacent industries.  

As an enterprise leader at scale, Gary led an organization of approximately 40,000 personnel, 10 subordinate (general officer led) organizations, and a $4.3B annual budget. As a commanding general, Gary was responsible for the institutional training, education, and leadership development for the Army. In his prior role as CHRO, Gary oversaw HR policy and execution for the entire Army—a total civilian and uniformed headcount of approximately one million personnel. Gary’s board level qualifications include organizational realignment and fiscal, and fiduciary oversight. His experience on several governance boards focused on senior leader talent management, risk mitigation, fiscal and equipment prioritization, trades and investments. At present, Gary is President of The Brito Group, LLC, providing consulting and advisory support to improve organizational structure and risk management.  

In the role of Commanding General, Gary led corporate level planning and initial integration actions for an historic and transformative merger of two of the largest organizations in the Department of the Army, at a combined scope of 75K personnel and budgets exceeding $10B. Additionally, Gary developed human capital strategies and organizational design solutions that led to successful outcomes in meeting recruiting missions for the entire Army enterprise, addressing both public and Congressional concern.   

As a 3-star General, Gary was the principle executive responsible for human capital for the entire Army, leading end-to-end personnel readiness and workforce policy. With a people first, data-driven approach, Gary strengthened fiscal accountability, optimized talent management, and elevated organizational readiness.  

Gary earned a Bachelor of Arts in Community Studies from Penn State University, a Master of Arts in Human Resource Management from Troy State University,  and a Master of Arts from the Senior Service College at The Joint Advanced Warfighting School (JAWS) In 2025, Gary received Penn State University’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2025 – the institution’s highest honor. 

Brenden Goldizen is a PSU Altoona Alumni graduating with a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing in 2016. Prior to his college career, Brenden attended Everett High School and enlisted in the Navy directly after graduation. He worked as an RN in many settings with a level 1 trauma center being his favorite. While he was working as a nurse he started flipping residential homes and selling them for a profit. This venture soon became more than a side hustle and successfully replaced his W-2 income. Brenden & his wife now own and operate a $4 million portfolio of a mixture of residential & commercial properties. One of the most notable properties is Parlor Doughnuts which is where Brenden finds himself spending most of his time. He enjoys the early mornings and growing with a team of “hungry to learn” individuals and his slogan of choice these days is “Time to make the doughnuts”. Brenden and his wife share a vision to clean up Altoona one property at a time and bring folks together while doing so. Brenden & his family currently reside in Altoona and enjoy spending their free time hiking and conjuring up the next business to share with the community.