Meeting of Minds

At Starbucks' annual meeting, the company faced a shareholder proposal from the Heritage Foundation via its Free Enterprise Initiative over its reliance on the Southern Poverty Law Center in vetting charities. Stefan Padfield presented for Heritage, urging the company to drop this biased, discredited data source as part of its responsibility to fiduciary duty and political neutrality.

"Given that relying on the SPLC’s Hate List is a business decision that must be fully informed in order to satisfy applicable fiduciary duties, shareholders can seemingly only conclude that Starbucks is aware of how biased the Hate List is, and either simply doesn’t care or actually supports that bias."

Learn more about Heritage's Free Enterprise Initiative here.

At Disney's annual meeting, the company faced a shareholder proposal from a client of Patron Partners, asking for transparency around the company's charitable giving practices, including reported exclusions of religious/politically conservative organizations such as TPUSA. Listen to her full remarks here.

"I love Disney, and the many happy moments it’s provided me and my family and friends for decades. The way it’s dodging questions on this issue isn’t in keeping with that. Let’s get Disney away from biased corporate policies, and back to creating more of those happy moments. Choosing political neutrality is how to do that."

A huge thank you to Dana for her willingness to engage! Shortly after this annual meeting, Disney came under FCC review over its DEI policies. The company can't say no one was sounding the alarm now.

Learn more about Patron Partners here: https://www.patronpartnersadvisors.com/

At John Deere's annual meeting of shareholders, the company faced a shareholder proposal from a BR client over its notable absence of faith-based employee resource groups (ERGs/BRGs). Presenting at that meeting was Bowyer Research's director of corporate engagement Isaac Willour, who laid out (1) the case for faith-based BRGs, (2) the company's baffling opposition to the proposal, and (3) why committing to political corporate neutrality means equal treatment for employees of faith.

In Ep. 127, Jerry talks with Greg Scott, executive vice president at the corporate research organization 1792 Exchange, for an illuminating conversation around the even-more-disgraced Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Join us for a discussion on:

• What you need to know about the DOJ’s indictment of the SPLC.
• The disturbing connection between the Southern Poverty Law Center’s hate map and acts of political violence, from Family Research Council to Charlie Kirk and beyond
• How we’re engaging corporate America around curbing SPLC’s radical extremism

Learn more about 1792 Exchange’s work at 1792exchange.com.

At IBM's annual meeting of shareholders, the company faced a shareholder proposal from the Heritage Foundation via its Free Enterprise Initiative over its perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, one of the primary corporate activist rating systems for LGBTQ+ issues.

Presenting at that meeting was Camille Kiefel, a detransitioner (someone who undergoes gender transition surgery and later regrets it). Kiefel talked to the company about the risks and ramifications of covering gender transition surgery in its healthcare, particularly for children as it appears that IBM does. This was a powerful example of the real human consequences of corporate policies that aid or adopt radical, activist social agendas - and why the corporate move away from such policies and back to sanity cannot come quickly enough.

Learn more about The Heritage Foundation's Free Enterprise Initiative here: https://www.heritage.org/free-enterprise-initiative

In Ep. #126, Jerry talks with Justin Danhof, Director of Policy at the Department of Labor's EBSA division, to explain recent executive actions around proxy advisory services, what you need to know, and how it affects the financial freedom and future of ordinary Americans.

Join us for a conversation around:

• What is a proxy advisory service – and why should you care?
• Which factors determine whether proxy advisory services are fiduciary entities?
• Why eradicating political bias in finance has generational impact

Learn more at dol.gov/agencies/ebsa.

In Ep. 125, Isaac Willour talks with Dustin DeVito, director of research at 1792 Exchange, a nonprofit helping to get politics out of corporate America (and one of Bowyer Research's many partner organizations). Join us for a conversation on:

• The latest iteration of the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index
• Why companies are backing away from gender ideology
• The future of getting corporate America out of politics

Check out 1792 Exchange on X (and follow Dustin here), and at 1792exchange.com.

In December 2025, Bowyer Research president Jerry Bowyer delivered a speech on Genesis 1 at the 25th annual symposium for the Center for Cultural Leadership (CCL).

After that speech was over, CCL senior fellow David Bahnsen remarked, “Can you imagine what would happen for Christian-oriented economics if the 30 minutes Jerry Bowyer gave here today were permeated across the land? The leverage in his messaging about this is absolutely world-transformative.”

That’s a serious endorsement – and so we’re publishing that 30-minute speech from Jerry to you today for the education and, we hope, the encouragement and edification of our listeners.

Learn more about the Center for Cultural Leadership here: https://christianculture.com/

In Ep. 124, Isaac Willour talks with Thomas Dias, Foundation Relations Specialist at the Acton Institute, about how Gen-Z can approach AI constructively, not reflexively.

Join us for a discussion on:

- How young Christians should be viewing technological innovation
- The use case for AI
- Responding to AI skepticism in 2026 and beyond

In Ep. 123, Jerry talks with C. Theodore Hicks II (CFP, CKA, CMT), founder and CEO of Hicks & Associates Wealth Management, about:

• The flaws in modern portfolio theory
• Is ‘diversification’ a free lunch?
• Lessons from Warren Buffett’s ‘secret sauce’ of investing
• Why financial advisors need to be ‘good Bereans’ – and what that means.

Read Ted’s book, “Evidence-Based Investing” here: https://www.amazon.com/Evidence-Based-Investing-Long-Term-Sometimes-Short-Term/dp/B0FH65SD2K

In Episode 122, Jerry is joined by Dr. Allen Mendenhall, Senior Advisor for the Free Enterprise Initiative at the Heritage Foundation. Dr. Mendenhall previously worked as a lawyer and served as the Associate Dean of the Sorrell College of Business. Join us for a fascinating discussion on:

• What Ayn Rand-style libertarianism gets wrong about capitalism
• How ESG activism inherently hinders the knowledge necessary for free enterprise
• How conservative and red-state-centric brands go woke, and what to do about it
• The Heritage Foundation’s goals for its Free Enterprise Initiative (previously the Capital Markets Initiative)

Learn more about The Heritage Foundation’s Free Enterprise Initiative here.

In Ep. 121, Jerry Bowyer interviews Rick Graber, CEO of The Bradley Foundation and former U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic, on the right’s shift from classical liberalism to nationalism, the failure to defend capitalism, and victories against DEI and ESG. Graber warns about judicial overreach and rising anti-Semitism, explains how Bradley Foundation grantees are steering corporations back to principle, and shares why, despite deep divisions, there’s still reason for optimism about America’s future.

Jerry Bowyer talks with Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick about the hidden influence of proxy advisory firms like ISS and Glass Lewis. Fitzpatrick explains why most pension plans lacked proxy guidelines (and the results of not having them), and how the left uses boardrooms to advance agendas that fail at the ballot box. He shares progress made in pushing back against ESG and why the battle for shareholder engagement is far from over.

In Ep. 119, Jerry talks with West Virginia Treasurer Larry Pack, in a conversation touching on:

• How the ‘war on coal’ is connected to debanking controversies
• Debanking vs. Deplatforming: which is more dangerous, or are they the same?
• How Treasurer Pack is fighting for tax cuts for people wearing boots – not just suits.

In Ep. 118, Isaac Willour from Bowyer Research sits down with Gabriella Hoffman, the director of the Center for Energy and Conservation at Independent Women's Forum. Join us for a wide-ranging conversation, including:

• The Gen-Z populism behind the rise of socialist candidates such as Zohran Mamdani
• The inherent privilege of being anti-energy — and why that matters
• Is ‘Abundance’ liberalism (1) real, (2) abundant, or (3) liberal?
• Why environmental conservation is conservative

Check out Gabriella’s work here and follow her on X @Gabby_Hoffman.

In Ep. #117, Jerry speaks with Dr. John Fleming, treasurer of the state of Louisiana, for a wide-ranging conversation. Topics include:

• Do decarbonization efforts, from net zero to carbon capture, actually do anything?
• How racial gerrymandering creates a more polarized nation
• The history of property rights — and why that matters in creating wealth for ordinary Americans.

In this episode, Isaac is joined by Dr. Brian Dellinger, AI expert and professor of computer science at Grove City College. We discuss:

• What a real theology of technology looks like
• Why Christian culture is so reflexively anti-AI
• Can AI be a tool for kingdom-building?

Hint: the answer’s yes.

Check out Grove City College’s work with AI in Biblical translation here: https://www.gcc.edu/Home/News-Archive/News-Article/gcc-research-aims-to-improve-ai-biblical-translation

In this episode, Jerry welcomes Newsweek’s Jesse Edwards to unpack the controversy surrounding McDonalds’ decision to step back from its DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) hiring quotas. Together, they explore:

• Why corporations are expected to take stances on social and political issues at all
• How DEI initiatives often lead to further corporate activism — and unintended consequences
• Why these programs often harm the very people they pretend to support

Jesse shares insights from his recent Newsweek article, arguing that complex societal challenges shouldn’t be solved through corporate experiments. As he puts it: “There’s no logical reason to expect a company like McDonald’s to solve these issues by using its workforce as guinea pigs for social engineering.”

Listen in for a candid conversation on the limits of corporate responsibility — and why sometimes, fries should just be fries.

In Ep. 114, Jerry sits down with Alabama State Auditor Andrew Sorrell. Join us for a fascinating conversation on topics including:

• Sorrell’s personal experience with being debanked
• Who’s the bigger problem in debanking: big banks or regional banks?
• How debanking creates problems in the cryptocurrency industry
• How banking restrictions threaten Second Amendment rights - and how Alabama’s fighting back

In Episode 113 of Meeting of Minds, Utah State Treasurer Marlo Oaks returns for a compelling discussion on how alternative currencies—especially gold-backed systems—could offer economic resilience and restore financial autonomy to states seeking greater independence from federal monetary policy.

Jerry and Treasurer Oaks explore:

• How gold is strengthening state rainy-day funds in Utah
• The role of precious metals in safeguarding against inflation and economic instability
• The constitutional foundation for issuing gold-backed currency
• Whether Bitcoin and digital assets offer a viable alternative in currency crises

This episode dives deep into the intersection of economics, policy, and freedom—don’t miss it!