Nic Adler has helmed The Roxy Theatre, a family owned and operated business since 1973, for over a decade. Nic has extended The Roxy Theatre into the blogosphere with an award-winning website and engaging with social media networks, making The Roxy the #1 venue worldwide on Twitter.
Stephen Arnold is a technology and financial analyst with more than 30 years of experience. Stephen has extensive operational and entrepreneurial experience, able to bridge the gap between new ideas and the financial implications of a technology.
He has worked in all aspects of software and online systems since graduating from college. Stephen is the author of six books and over 50 journal articles. In October 2004, CMSWatch.com published Stephen’s 450-page “The Enterprise Search Report.” This report profiles 27 enterprise search engines and includes management, budgeting, and technical information. He has published three technical monographs about Google: The Google Legacy (2005), Google Version 2.0 (2007), and Google: The Digital Gutenberg (2009).
In 1972, Stephen was recruited by Nuclear Utility Services, a unit of Halliburton Industries, where he worked on a wide range of nuclear and electrical engineering projects. In 1976, he joined Booz, Allen & Hamilton and helped build its technology management practice. In 1981, he left Booz, and assumed responsibility for electronic publishing activities at the Courier-Journal & Louisville Times. Products nurtured under his management include ABI/INFORM, Business Dateline, and Pharmaceutical News Index, and the General Periodical Index. He joined Ziff Communications in New York in 1988.
Mr. Arnold has worked provided technical, financial, and strategic support for many technology projects. In 1993, he and a partner started Point (Top 5%) of the Internet, selling that property to Lycos, Inc. in 1996. Since that time, Mr. Arnold has been involved in a number of projects related to Internet technology, including the personalization tools used in the original @Home service. In 2000, he helped develop the plan, architecture, and security guidelines concepts for First-Gov.gov, the official gateway to U.S. governmental information (and now one of the ten highest traffic sites in North America). He remains involved in a range of government initiatives through his partners in Washington, DC and Detroit, Michigan. He was a member of the planning team for USWest’s electronic yellow pages. He has worked for a number intelligence and enforcement organizations, including the US Senate Police, the Office of Management & Budget, among others. He was a member of the team that developed the Threat Open Source Intelligence Gateway, an initiative of a US Federal agency.
He is the recipient of the following awards: ASIS Eagleton Lectureship, 1986; Online Best Paper Award, 1989, the Malcolm Hill Award, 2003, the OSS Golden Candle Award in 2007.He is the author of more than 50 journal articles and a number of books, including Internet 2000 and the three editions of the 600 page encyclopedia of search called “The Enterprise Search Report”, published by CMS Watch. His January 2009 study /Successful Enterprise Search Management/ with co author Martin White is available from Galatea, also in the UK.
Mr. Arnold’s Web log “Beyond Search” is a widely read collection of critical commentary and opinion about information systems and methods available at http://arnoldit.com/wordpress.
Patricia Aufderheide is a professor in the School of Communication at American University in Washington, D.C. She is the author of, among others, Documentary: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2007), The Daily Planet(University of Minnesota Press, 2000), and of Communications Policy in the Public Interest (Guilford Press, 1999). She has been a Fulbright and John Simon Guggenheim fellow and has served as a juror at the Sundance Film Festival among others. She has received numerous journalism and scholarly awards, including career achievement awards in 2006 from the International Documentary Association and in 2008 from the International Digital Media and Arts Association. Aufderheide serves on the board of directors of Kartemquin Films, a leading independent social documentary production company, and and on the editorial boards of a variety of publications, includingCommunication Law and Policy and In These Times newspaper. She has served on the board of directors of the Independent Television Service, which produces innovative television programming for underserved audiences under the umbrella of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and on the film advisory board of the National Gallery of Art. She received her Ph.D. in history from the University of Minnesota.
Phil Baumann is CEO of CareVocate LLC, helping clients out with their online presence. Although he is a registered nurse with a clinical background in critical care and drug safety, he actually started his career in enterprise accounting and treasury operations. He loves exploring novel ways of incorporating and re-purposing technologies in health care and related industries. He blogs at PhilBaumann.com.
Wayne Moses Burke brings a rich diversity of technology and entrepreneurship experience to Washington, DC. The Open Forum Foundation was born from his realization that the average US citizen has no reliable means of communicating with their elected officials. So he set out to harness the power of the Internet and usher in a new era in responsive government. His background includes work in manufacturing, web design and coding, electoral reform, and international trade. He has travelled around the world and lived all across the United States. He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in global affairs from New York University. For fun, he plays with open source technologies, cooks, travels, and tries to find ways to trick himself into exercising.
Paul Burman joined Carbonfund.org as the Special Project Manager with a focus on strategic organizational development. During his time with Carbonfund.org, Paul has overseen the development of new carbon calculators, updated the entirety of the Carbonfund.org website, produced the organizational annual report, forged strategic partnerships, supported partnership development, and has played an integral role in organizational management decisions and strategy. Prior to joining Carbonfund.org, Paul worked on regional global warming policy issues through advocacy, lobbying and grassroots organizing. Paul graduated from the University of Toronto with a specialist degree in Environment and Resource Management with a focus on sustainable urban development.
Chris Cillizza writes “The Fix”, a politics blog for the Washington Post. He also covers the White House for the newspaper and website. Chris has appeared as a guest on NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, Fox News Channel and CNN to talk politics. He lives in Virginia with his wife and son.
Rory Cooper is Director of Strategic Communications at The Heritage Foundation. In this position, Cooper manages strategic communications for the think tank, coordinates its internal communications and develops new media partnerships. Cooper also serves as the senior editor for all of Heritage’s digital media, including heritage.org, The Foundry, Heritage’s blog which reaches nearly half a million unique visitors a month as well as the daily “Morning Bell” e-newsletter.
Prior to joining Heritage in October 2008, Cooper served in a variety of positions for the Bush Administration including as Associate Director of Policy and Plans in the newly formed White House Office of Homeland Security, and then as Associate Director of Intergovernmental Affairs in the White House Homeland Security Council. Cooper also served in various capacities at the Department of Energy, NASA, the BRAC Commission and HUD.
From 1999-2000, Cooper worked at the National Republican Congressional Committee’s political division, where he helped organize the committee’s successful incumbent retention and PAC programs. He also has worked at the Republican Governors Association, two Inaugural Committees and has participated in countless other political and grassroots campaigns.
Anthony Broad-Crawford’s passion is improving healthcare through the use and creation of innovative social software, currently this is online communities. As such, I’ve been involved in leading all product development efforts, product and technical strategy and positioning as well as operations for Cleveland-based start-up company, Within3, the leader in developing interactive online communities. These communities connect health professionals around the world and better enable them to collaborate on patient cases, share and comment on the latest research, all while helping to drive better medical outcomes for their patients.
These communities are successful because of a careful balance of social software combined with theory and application. What I am learning in this space has industry wide implications and has led to my active involvement in several Healthcare and technology-focused government, academic, and industry groups which seek to promote improved healthcare through online communities and the “Open Web.” I am currently on the Dataportability Steering Committee and chairing the Healthcare Taskforce. Additional committee roles include the OpenSocial Foundation, OpenStack Foundation, the Open Web Foundation and the Health 2.0 accelerator.
My background as an Enterprise Product Architect for a Fortune 100 company provided me with the technical expertise and ability to manage large scale platforms in architectural design, technology strategy, performance with the goal of accelerating product delivery. In my spare time I present nationally at conferences, organize conferences, actively host a podcast, video cast, write for several blogs, participate in philanthropic software development all on social software and start-up life. Last but not least, you will on occasion see me across from you at your local campground, poker table, state park, zoo, or exotic dining location.
Stacy Cromidas is a lawyer with more than thirty years experience. He began his career as a legal services attorney working in Massachusetts, San Diego and the Bronx on behalf of people seeking justice in housing, government benefits, employment and education. He later worked in regulatory affairs at cable television companies in metropolitan New York and became an investor and partner in several companies involved in cable television, broadcast television and satellite television.
Stacy was one of the early members of the San Diego Band of Angels (now Tech Coast Angels) providing equity to start-up high-tech companies. He is currently a member of the MIT Enterprise Forum of San Diego. He has advised several for profit and non-profit organizations.
Stacy’s volunteer work includes nine years as a trustee and officer of the Board of Trustees of La Jolla Country Day School. He also served on the Board of the Latin Association for Progress and Action in Worcester. MA and is a past Chair of the Board of Directors of the Women’s Resource Center in Oceanside, CA.
Stacy is a member of the state bars of California, New York and Massachusetts. A graduate of Clark University and Suffolk University Law School, Stacy continues to pursue his education at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UC San Diego and enjoys living among the ancient pines on the magical Torrey Pines Mesa.
Michael C. DeAloia: Immediately prior to joining the LNE Group in the spring of 2009, Michael C. DeAloia was the Senior Director of Business Development for FIT Technologies (“FIT”). In this capacity he was a member of the executive management team and he was responsible for the deployment of the business development strategy and key marketing programs for FIT. Prior to his tenure at FIT, he was appointed as the Senior Executive for Technology Development, or “Tech Czar,” for the City of Cleveland and served in this capacity for two mayors. As the “Tech Czar,” he was responsible for economic development in the technology industries for the City. Prior to the City of Cleveland position, he was the Chief Financial Officer of BlueBridge Networks. Previous to BlueBridge, he worked for Saltz, Shamis & Goldfarb (“SS&G”), a large regional accounting firm based in Cleveland, OH. There he created SS&G’s New Economy Advisors practice. Before his tenure at SS&G, Michael was President of Susan’s Coffee & Tea (“SCT”). He received great experience at Ernst & Young and held positions at National City Bank’s (“NCB’s”) Structured Finance and Venture Capital groups.
He currently sits on the Board of Directors of LimeRibbon.com, a Cleveland, OH-based e-commerce start-up; DiggeableVoice.com, a Cleveland, OH-based social media site; and Corkshare.com, a Cleveland, OH-based social media company. He sits on the Board of Advisors for O-Web Technologies, a Cleveland-OH based software development-company. In addition, he sits on the Boards of Trustees for the Ingenuity Festival, Opera Cleveland and the RedDOT Project. He holds an MBA from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University in the disciplines of finance and marketing. Michael earned his undergraduate degree from Xavier University in economics. He has two published books of poetry – Roses on the Gates of Hell and Forever Mantras (www.lulu.com/mdealoia). He is also a nationally recognized speaker, social media aficionado and blogger (www.techczar.blog.com and www.coolhistoryofcleveland.blog.com).
Brian Dresher is part of USA TODAY’s Online Marketing team and he’s responsible for customer acquisition initiatives, which include content distribution partnerships, RSS, widgets, podcasts, video, instant messaging, and social networking. As a result of these efforts, Brian has helped to bring new users to USATODAY.com and increase traffic on the site. Most recently, his efforts have been focused on increasing USATODAY.com’s presence on Twitter and Facebook. By working with USATODAY.com staff to effectively and productively participate in those communities, Brian has helped to increase USATODAY.com’s brand awareness, user engagement and traffic. You can keep up with Brian’s latest updates on the DC-area, running, traveling, USATODAY.com, and social media by following him on Twitter, http://twitter.com/bdresher.
Kety Esquivel has fourteen years of experience in the non‐profit, private and political sectors. She directed Latino outreach for the Clark Presidential Campaign. Her work has taken her to China and Ethiopia with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. She spent three years coaching executives on human capital and diversity in the US, Canada and Latin America. Kety graduated from Cornell University where she served on the Board of Trustees. She is a published author and founder of www.CrossLeft.org. She is co-founder of the Institute of Progressive Christianity and the Sanctuary, www.promigrant.org. Kety has served on several boards, including that of the Backbone Campaign and the New Leaders Council. She has been a speaker at Netroots Nation, SXSW, Personal Democracy Forum, BlogHer and the Center for New Words. She is presently working with O’Reilly Media. She is a convener of Web of Change and is a past editor of BlogHer. Her commentary has been featured and quoted in stories for the Wall St. Journal Online, HITN, PBS, XM radio, CNN, Televisa and Univision. She is currently the New Media Manager for NCLR (National Council of La Raza) and the Director of LatISM DC.
Robert Fine is the founder of Cool Blue Company LLC and creator of the Cool Twitter Conference World Tour and Government 2.5. Robert has over 15 years experience as a systems and sales engineer with various companies including CMGI, Hughes Network Systems, and most recently as Senior Director of IT for Global Strategy & Development at Conservation International (CI). He is currently pursuing his PhD at George Mason University where he is researching links between investments in information technology and achieving conservation outcomes.
Nancy Floreen was elected as an at-large member of the Montgomery County Council in 2002 and is now in her second term. She serves as Chair of the Transportation and Environment Committee and is a member of the Planning, Housing, and Economic Development Committee. She is Vice Chair for Transit of the National Association of Counties Transportation Steering Committee, and previously chaired Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ Climate Change Steering Committee and its Air Quality Committee. She also serves on the Maryland Department of Environment’s (MDE) Air Quality Control Advisory Council and the Greenhouse Gas and Carbon Mitigation Working Group. The Councilwoman is on the Board of Directors of the Jewish Council on Aging, Habitat for Humanity and the Strathmore Hall Foundation. Nancy is treasurer of Maryland’s County Elected Women organization.
Hille Hinsberg has experience in academical and NGO sector. She has worked as spokesperson for Non-Estonians’ Integration Foundation, also carried out several EU-financed projects concerning society integration, cultural diversity, participation. Working for Cabinet Office, Hille is actively involved in establishing communication channels between citizens and government institutions. She promotes the implementation of good engagement practices and is advising government agencies in participation and e-participation issues. Hille is responsible for osale.ee, the central participation portal for e-consultations.
Johnathan Holifield: Athlete, student advocate, civil rights activist, senior executive, lawyer, economic developer, education and government reformer, and urban parklands and innovation economy leader, these identify the depth and diversity of leadership roles Johnathan M. Holifield has successfully performed.
Holifield has held distinct, high-impact leadership positions, including president and CEO of Urban League of Greater Cleveland; president and CEO of the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy; founding executive director of CincyTech; first vice president of the Cincinnati NAACP; vice president of the Cincinnati USA Chamber of Commerce, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney and civil litigation lawyer.
Holifield holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from West Virginia University, a master’s degree in education and a law degree from the University of Cincinnati. In addition, he is a graduate and former executive board member of The University of Oklahoma Economic Development Institute.
A recognized thought leader in social, economic, sports and legal matters, Holifield has provided weekly televised commentary; written several opinion-editorials for local and national publications; co-founded a bipartisan coalition of advocates, winning voter passage of historic local government reform; played for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League; mobilized more than 300 volunteers in a unique 100-day planning project, resulting in the region’s first technology and innovation organization; drafted Ohio’s first hospitable workplace municipal ordinance; and assembled a technology growth leadership council comprised of Fortune 500 CEOs, government and university officials and technology advocates.
Ben Ilfeld: New media pioneer Ben Ilfeld co-founded Castle Press, LLC, the company behind the Sacramento Press. Ben focuses on operations, and sets the vision and process for the online media outlet and runs customer service. With direct input from his team, Ben defines the business and technology road map for the organization and works to continually refine the “hyper-local” model to reclaim community. Prior to his current position, Ben founded No Snakes Agency and managed Brooklyn-based rapper/producer P.Casso. He previously interned with California State Assembly Member Darrel Steinberg, who is now Senate President pro tem.
Craig James is Co-Founder & Partner at CatalystStrategies LLC (affectionately known as “Cat-Strat”) The firm was founded in 2001. Cat-Strat is a Cleveland-based conversation, interview & event-production firm that delivers events & forums large and small; both in-person and on-line via it’s Cat-Strat and Story-Cast.com brands. Contexts vary, but there’s a common thread: People come together to connect, share ideas, learn… and get energized. The parent company, CatalystStrategies LLC continues to assisted organizations, institutions and communities with strategic planning, business-development/sales planning, organizational-development, facilitation, retreat-management & leadership seminars. Immediately prior to Cat-Strat, Craig was Area Director for CIBER, Inc., a $700M technology consultancy. Craig was responsible for all aspects of operations, administration, sales and P&L for the 60+ person operation in Northeast Ohio. Prior to CIBER, he was a Director of Procurement Services Sales for Inacom Corporation, also a technology-services firm, responsible for a $60M business unit of eighteen sales professionals located in seven offices across the Great Lakes region. Craig’s has worked with other tech companies through the years, including Sun Microsystems & Unisys. Craig, his partner Sue, and CatalystStrategies have been active in a number of organizations in Northeast Ohio including NEOSA, The City Club of Cleveland’s New Leaders, The Club at Key Center, CASE-Weatherhead & Great Lakes Theater Festival.
Jennifer Kaplan is a well-respected voice in the green space. She is a founder of Greenhance LLC; an EcoTuesday Ambassador; and Adjunct Faculty of Marketing at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia. She is author of the upcoming book “Greening Your Small Business” coming in early November from Penguin Group (USA). With almost two decades of corporate marketing experience, she has worked with a wide range of companies including Discovery Communications, Conde Nast Publications, Lifetime Television and The Disney Company. Jennifer is a Senior Adviser to the Center for Small Business and the Environment (CSBE) and a regular contributor to Ecopreneurist.com.
Randall Kempner is Executive Director of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE), which seeks to dramatically increase the amount and effectiveness of capital and technical/business assistance for entrepreneurs in developing countries.
Randall has fifteen years of experience in the field of national and international business/economic development. Most recently, he served as Vice President for Regional Innovation at the Council on Competitiveness, a non-partisan think tank based in Washington. In leading the Council on Competitiveness’ Regional Innovation Initiative, Mr. Kempner directed innovation-based economic development initiatives in nearly a dozen American regions and provided policy guidance and training to the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Labor. Prior to joining the Council in 2003, Randall served as Vice President of OTF Group, an international consulting firm that advises regions and nations on how to create competitive advantage. Randall was a co-founder of OTF, and played a lead role in its spin-out from Monitor Group, the international consultancy. With Monitor and OTF, Randall led comprehensive competitiveness projects in Bermuda, Colombia, El Salvador, and Peru. He also worked in a wide variety of industry “clusters” including agro-industry, apparel, biotechnology and tourism.
Randall graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with an M.B.A and an M.P.Aff. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Government from Harvard College. In 2004, he was a German Marshall Fund-American Memorial Marshall Fellow.
Beverly Macy is the CEO of Gravity Summit and Managing Partner of Y&M PARTNERS, a strategic advisory firm located in Beverly Hills, CA. The company was founded in 2001 to help companies gain insight into complex business challenges, strategize breakthrough solutions, and execute on opportunities that benefit both their customers and the bottom line.
Prior to Y&M PARTNERS, Beverly spent 14 years at Xerox Corporation in sales and marketing positions. Beverly also lectures at USC and teaches Executive Marketing courses for the UCLA Business and Management Extension Program. Her newest course, Social Media Marketing, was launched in the Fall 2008 Semester. She has been active in community service for the past 20 years and served as President of the Board of Directors for the Friendly Hand Foundation in Los Angeles. Beverly is a published and accredited business author and regularly speaks and lectures on strategic business initiatives.
Michele Mattia is a Business and Creative Strategist specializing in areas of life, career, business and social media development, with a strong focus on our Life’s Dash. The “Dash” is the precious time between arrival and departure from this world that so many of us take for granted. Life Design Strategy is a creative, professional partnership utilizing imaginative and insightful resources and processes from exploration to design planning to implementation.
For over ten years, Michele owned a successful technology-consulting firm; however, she wasn’t doing what she loved and knew her Life’s Dash was meant for something bigger. Her company, Life Design, began to manifest during a silent retreat she attended in February three years ago when she asked herself the question, “What would I do now if I knew I could not fail?” Michele’s mission is to inspire, co-create and support all of the possibilities her clients are courageous enough to demand.
She understands the importance of transparency and formulating your company’s, or future company’s, authentic voice and the roll Social Media now plays in customer/client relationships. Over the last 20 years, Michele has had the pleasure of working and/or being affiliated with a diverse group of industries: Academia and Foundation Development, Advertising and Public Relations, Consulting, Entertainment (Music, Film & Television), Information Technology, Legal and Photography.
Michele is the creator/writer of Michele’s Daily Dash, an eNewsletter and Blog motivating and inspiring thousands of subscribers daily, as well as a guest speaker and lecturer on retreats, workshops, conferences and radio all over the world.
Jedediah Millard is an MBA graduate of Clarion University of Pennsylvania with a BS in international business and business economics and a minor in German. He works as an Aide to Montgomery County Councilmember Nancy Floreen. He has traveled extensively around the world studying abroad with the Semester at Sea program and participated in a summer honors fellowship in Ghana. In college, he was an active member of the Student Senate, InterHall Council, and Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. He enjoys volunteering on political campaigns and of course, traveling.
David J Molchany is a Deputy County Executive at the Fairfax County Government. His group is made up of information related areas including: the Fairfax County Public Library & Archives, the Department of Information Technology (DIT) and the County’s Cable Communications and Document Services Divisions; and compliance related areas including: the Department of Human Rights and Equity Programs, the Countywide HIPAA Compliance Program and the County’s Consumer Protection Division. Mr. Molchany is also responsible the County’s Employee Health and Wellness Program, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Coordinating Committee, Arts Committee, and its award winning Special Needs Registration, Communications, Evacuation and Sheltering Program for county residents. He works directly with the Office of Public Affairs and the Fairfax County Economic Development Agency.
At Fairfax County, Mr. Molchany has also served as the Department of Information Technology (DIT) Department Head and the Director of DIT’s Business Systems Division. He was previously employed as the Director of Engineering Program Management for Sallie Mae’s Cybermark smart card subsidiary, Senior Manager of Marketing Systems also for Sallie Mae, development manager for credit management systems at AMS (American Management Systems) and as a System Engineer at EDS (Electronic Data Systems).
Mr. Molchany is a 1983 graduate of Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA. He has a B.S. degree in Marketing and Computer Science. Mr. Molchany is a member of the alumni and a 2005 faculty member for the Salzburg Seminar in Salzburg Austria.
Ted Nguyen oversees public communications and media relations activities for the Orange County Transportation Authority. Ted has faced and overcome numerous public relations challenges during his more than 15-year work in communications.
His most-recent accomplishment for OCTA includes winning the communications industry’s most-prestigious honor, the national Silver Anvil award from the Public Relations Society of America in 2008 for best issues management program during a 10-day strike of bus drivers. The previous year, the OCTA team won the national award of excellence from PRSA for its community relations program for construction outreach for the Garden Grove Freeway (SR-22). In 2007, Ted was honored as the “PR person of the year” by PR News magazine at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Craig Norris leads company government operations in the Americas. He is a high technology industry veteran with over 20 years of front line experience leading profitable organizations in the areas of strategy, operations and sales. He has served as chairman, CEO or COO of both private and public organizations, including Ion Systems, Workexchange Technologies and Connectinc.com. Craig has successfully navigated start-ups and early stage companies to IPO’s and other significant funding events, and has been continuously engaged with the completion of major sales to Fortune 500 organizations. Craig also brings to Attensity a strong management consulting and systems integration background, having been a regional vice president for leading international consulting firm CAP Gemini America.
Craig graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BA degree in economics from Macalester College, St. Paul, MN and holds an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University, Rutherford, NJ. Craig was commissioned through Navy Officer Candidate school, served in the CINCPACFLT command in the Navy data center there, and was honorably discharged as a Lieutenant.
Kevin Powell is an activist, writer, public speaker, pop culture aficionado and, most recently, a 2008 Democratic candidate for Congress in Brooklyn, New York. A product of extreme poverty, welfare, fatherlessness, and a single mother-led household, he is a native of Jersey City, New Jersey and was educated at New Jersey’s Rutgers University. Kevin Powell is a longtime resident of Brooklyn, New York, and it is from his base in New York City that Powell has published nine books, including his recent essay title, Someday We’ll All Be Free (Soft Skull Press). This book is a collection of provocative pieces on freedom, democracy, justice, and race in America, as inspired by Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 presidential election, and September 11th. Besides running for Congress, Powell also managed to publish two new books in 2008: No Sleep Till Brooklyn, his second volume of poetry; and The Black Male Handbook: A Blueprint for Life, a self-help book geared toward the healing, development, and empowerment of Black men and boys.
Kyra Reed possesses more than 15 years of experience in Marketing and Social Media. Prior to forming MarKyr Media, Kyra was a New Media Consultant working with clients such as Little Radio, The Monterey Pop Festival, Unsigned Artists, MoPo Productions, The Upsidedown and many other Los Angeles and Portland-based independent bands. Kyra is an avid music fan and prior to social media she worked as a manager for Wind-Up Records artists Stars of Track and Field.
Kyra has held Director of Marketing positions at Playback Systems, Norde-Oust, and Turn Events. She was also the Director of Business Development at Amp Studios. She was also co-founder of the Ground Floor Cinema, a monthly film festival dedicated to honoring local Pacific Northwest filmmakers.
Kyra is the author of Blog 101, a beginners guide to blogging. Her book can be found at Blog 101. She is also a prolific speaker and has guest spoken at UCLA and USC and panels at Digital Music Forum: West, Blog World, ASCAP Expo, Women in Technology International (WITI), The Gravity Summit and SXSW Music Festival.
Walt Rickli: After spending over 20 years as Vice President of his families landscaping business Walt decided to pursue his creative interests. His journey started in Barre Vermont where he was mentored by three of North America’s greatest stone sculptors. Combining his training and talent he developed a large stone sculpting studio within a quarry in Ontario Canada. The facility utilizes old world wisdom with modern technology.
Aligning himself with talented professionals such as landscape architects, interior designers, engineers, architects and specialists in many various fields, Walt’s work can be found across North America in Healthcare facilities, Universities, public settings as well as in many private residences.
His understanding of human needs has facilitated the creation of many interactive and memorable public sculptures and places that touch the lives of all that interact with them. Walt’s talents as a designer, artist and stone sculptor combined with enthusiasm, knowledge of human relationships and facilitation skills have resulted in ongoing engagements as a Design Thinker. He is engaged by Cities, Municipalities and Governmental agencies to assist in the creation of public places and art as well as acting as an advisor in the creation of supporting documentation.
His creative talents and ambition have lead to the development of a number of business relationships that pertain to the fashion industry, product development, international event coordination and creative thinking facilitation.
Walt is now utilizing social media in the creative process of the development of public art and spaces. His belief in a global environment and thinking process is creating precedent setting opportunities for people to interact, share knowledge and communicate in a positive, meaningful and collabor
Alan Rosenblatt, Ph.D. is the Associate Director for Online Advocacy at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. He is a long-time and frequent speaker and author on digital media, advocacy, and politics, including social networking, blogging, grassroots, and mobile advocacy strategies. He founded the Internet Advocacy Center and the Internet Advocacy Roundtable in 2005; is an adjunct/visiting professor at Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, and American Universities, where he teaches graduate courses on the intersection of the internet, politics, and the media; and a blogger at the Huffington Post, TechPresident.com, K Street Café, Campaigns & Elections’ PoliticsMagazine.com, DrDigiPol.com, and on Twitter @DrDigipol.
Alan is also a founding team member of Media Bureau Networks (MBN), a pioneer in streaming media services; a contributing editor to Politics Online; serves on the editorial review boards of several scholarly journals dedicated to the study of the internet, politics, and government; is a member of the Board of Directors for E-Democracy.org, and a member of Roll Call/Congress.org’s Online Advocacy Advisory Board. He was a Fellow at George Washington University’s Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet in 2008. He taught Political Science at George Mason University for nine years, where, in 1995, he launched the first-ever internet politics course. With MBN, he webcasted live coverage of the 2000 Presidential Conventions. From 2001 to 2003, he served as Vice President for Online Advocacy Services division at Stateside Associates. From 2003 to 2005 he served as Director of Training Programs at e-advocates (now called 720 Strategies). Alan Rosenblatt has a Ph.D. in Political Science from American University, an M.A. in Political Science from Boston College, and a B.A. in Political Science and Philosophy from Tufts University. He lives in Arlington, Virginia.
Pamela Sandy, CFP® is founder of CONFIANCE, LLC, Financial & Investment Advisors. She launched CONFIANCE, LLC in June 2008 after a 16 year tenure with The Financial Strategies Group, Inc., a financial firm she co-founded and managed. Pamela offers her clients fee-based investment advice and financial planning services, and more importantly a professional partnership that centers on the belief that trust is the basis of any true relationship. The firm name, CONFIANCE is the French word for trust. Her clients include professionals, entrepreneurs, entertainers, and individuals living around the country and traveling abroad. In 2000 she traveled to Paris, France to meet clients performing in the City of Lights.
Pamela believes passionately that the financial planning profession is essential in the lives of not only the affluent, but those everyday individuals and families faced with important financial decisions affecting their lives. Based upon her belief that the financial planning community has a role to play in advocating for Middle America, in June 2009 Pamela wrote and submitted to the Financial Planning Coalition a white paper entitled, A Profession at Risk. The Financial Planning Coalition is comprised of Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards (CFP Board), the Financial Planning Association® (FPA®), and the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA). The paper presented her view that the profession must use its collective voice to represent the interests of the investing public. Pamela will soon launch, PublicFiduciary.org, to bring together the collaborative efforts of financial professionals who support the mission of serving as the public’s fiduciary in advocating for policies that create and secure the wealth of American families.
Pamela is a Certified Financial PlannerTM Practitioner and has 20 years experience in the financial services profession. She completed her CFP® course work through the College for Financial Planning in Denver, Colorado and earned her certification in 1997. She began her financial career at a major “top five” insurance company offering insurance and planning services to individuals and businesses alike and conducted financial planning presentations for employees of various corporations, both locally and nationally. Her experience includes responsibility as a Registered Principal and Chief Compliance Officer. Pamela also provided the day’s closing market report on the previous WRMR radio station for over four years.
Motivated by her passion for involvement, Pamela feels a responsibility to her profession and community and has committed herself to service and membership to several organizations. Pamela is a member of the Financial Planning Association and serves as a board member of the Northeast Ohio Chapter, where she chairs the Program Committee. She has served as chairperson of the Downtown YMCA Branch Community Board, and co-chaired that organization’s “We Build People Campaign” in 1999 and 2000. The Downtown YMCA recognized Pamela for her service with their 2001 Volunteer of the Year Award. Her other memberships include the Club at Key Center and the Cleveland City Club.
Neal Schaffer: I have a background as a sales and business development executive helping companies launch sales organizations and maximize sales execution in Asia. My expertise includes consumer electronics, Internet software, telecommunications, embedded software solutions and semiconductors. My past roles include Director of Sales, Asia Pacific East, for Datapath and Regional Vice President of Asia Pacific Sales for Espial. A graduate of Amherst College, I have a BA in Asian Studies and am trilingual in English, Chinese and Japanese.
Mark Stelzner is also the founder of JobAngels.org, a grassroots non-profit organization dedicated to helping individuals find gainful employment. JobAngels has been featured by the Los Angeles Time, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, CNN and hundreds of blogs, podcasts and online forums. More information is available at http://www.jobangels.org.
Mark is also the founder of Inflexion Advisors, bringing sixteen years of experience in the implementation of internal and external transformational initiatives for public and private sector clientele worldwide. Over his career, Mark has brought over $3.0 billion worth of value to his clients and employers. More information is available at http://www.inflexionadvisors.com.
Lauri Stevens is an interactive media professional with over 25 years of media experience. She is the Principal Consultant and Founder of LAwS Communications, a consultancy providing web solutions for law enforcement. Stevens is also the Department Chair of Web Design & Interactive Media at The New England Institute of Art (NEiA) in Boston, a position she’s held for over ten years. During her tenure at NEiA she has written several bachelor’s programs, served on NEASC accreditation review committees and visiting teams, and chaired several groups to further the college’s mission.
Lauri is passionate about the Internet, the web, social media and helping law enforcement leverage these tools to help them do their jobs, connect with their communities, and promote their departments. Her focus is social media strategy and policy, implementation and training. Stevens has been using the net for 25 years. She holds an MBA in eBusiness from Bentley University, an MS in Mass Communication/Communication Technology from Boston University, and a BA in Political Science from Clemson University. She blogs at www.connectedcops.net. Website is www.lawscommunications.com.
Owen Stone’s IQMZ offers consulting, design and creative services, but we’re not your typical marketing agency. Simplicity is important to us. So is offering candid advice without over-promising. We work through collaboration, because if we were a marketing client that is what we would expect. Our process starts with listening and ends with sitting on the same side of the table to measure results. We work with companies that are more focused on building brand loyalty than generating transactional business. Our goal is to create customers who believe in you, and not just buy from you.
Tyler Suchman: Named one of the 2007 Top 40 Under 40 by the Pacific Coast Business Times, Tyler Suchman is the founder of Tribal Core, an internet strategy consulting firm, partner/Chief Strategy Officer of Dennison+Wolfe Internet Group and operator of numerous Ojai websites, including The Ojai Post, a community blog with 4,000 daily visitors. He is a Director of the Ojai Valley Green Coalition, co-founder of the Ojai Economy Group and founder of Towngiving, Inc., a 501(c)(3) dedicated to creating sustainability for non-profit organizations at the local community level.
Jason Therrien is an entrepreneur, small business leader and marketing expert. Therrien founded thunder::tech as a Web design firm in 1999 while attending college at John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio. Today, that one-man firm has grown into an integrated marketing agency which specializes in creating traditional and interactive marketing campaigns. Therrien is an active member in the Cleveland community and has past speaking experience at John Carroll University, Cleveland State University, Cuyahoga Community College, Case Western Reserve University, as well as the Northeast Ohio Software Association, the Web Association and COSE. He also contributes monthly articles on social media as a COSE Mindspring Expert.
Gary Zukowski is the Founder of TweetMyJOBS, which, after launching early 2009, has quickly become the largest Twitter Job Board in the world. Gary has a unique blend of technical expertise, business acumen, and entrepreneurial drive. He worked for 9 years in leadership and technical roles for such prominent companies as General Electric, MITRE Corporation, and CSX before starting his own IT consulting firm, EasySoft Solutions. Gary led EasySoft for over 11 years prior to devoting his efforts to TweetMyJOBS. Gary also has a strong educational foundation having received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and an M.S. in Computer Engineering from Northeastern University. He has five children and lives in Charlotte, NC.
