|
|
Maryn McKenna
Blogger
Maryn McKenna is a blogger for Wired and a journalist for The Guardian, SELF, More and MSNBC among other publications. She is the author of SUPERBUG: The Fatal Menace of MRSA (Free Press/Simon & Schuster, 2010), an investigation of the global epidemic of drug-resistant staph which received the 2011 Science in Society Award, and BEATING BACK THE DEVIL: On the Front Lines with the Disease Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service (FP/S&S, 2004), which recounts a year she spent embedded with the CDC’s rapid-reaction force and which was named a Top Science Book by Amazon and an Outstanding Academic Title by the American Library Association. Previously, she was a medical writer at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and a projects reporter at the Boston Herald and the Cincinnati Enquirer. She lives in Atlanta and Minneapolis. |
|
|
Danica Kombol
Managing Partner, Everywhere
Danica Kombol is the co-founder of Everywhere, a leading social media marketing firm based in Atlanta with clients such as Macy’s, Qualcomm, LexisNexis, Cox Communications, and others. Everywhere holds the Guinness Record for the “most widespread social marketing message” as a result of their social good campaign, #BeatCancer. As a Social Media marketer, Danica draws on her extensive background as a television producer and public relations executive. She blogs about social media at www.beEverywhere.tv and about her eclectic travel adventures at BeirutorBust.com. Danica serves on the board of the Atlanta Women’s Foundation. You can follow her on twitter @danicakombol. |
|
|
Steve Miller
Founder and President, Legacy Educational Resources
Steve Miller is the founder and president of Legacy Educational Resources, producing life skills resources used in every state and over 30 countries. He’s both self published and traditionally published, with one of his books being translated in five languages. His most recent book is Sell More Books! Book Marketing and Publishing for Low Profile and Debut Authors. |
|
|
Topher Kohan
SEO Coordinator, CNN
Topher Kohan came to CNN.com, a division of Turner broadcasting and a Time Warner company, in early 2008 after two years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As the in-house SEO coordinator for CNN’s digital news properties (including CNN International and iReport), he has overseen a 17 percent increase in traffic from search year to year and oversaw one of the single largest search traffic days in the site’s history with the 2008 presidential election. He also over saw all of the SEO for the Fall re-launch of CNN.com. Topher graduated from the Art Institute of Atlanta with a degree in Web development and interactive media design with an emphasis on SEO/SEM. Before working in the SEO world, Topher was a lighting designer / tour manager / production manger for various entertainment companies and touring groups. |
|
|
Adam Rice
Co-Founder, Looxii
Adam is a co-founder of Looxii (look-see), a small social media analytics startup based in Atlanta. His daily routine is never really the same, but it almost always includes handling business development, providing customer support, designing/tweaking user interfaces, and dreaming about crazy social media reports and lunch. He has one foot firmly planted in the humanities (BA in English, University of Maryland) and the other in technology (MS in Digital Media, Georgia Tech). You can usually spot him zipping around the ATL by bike to meet with clients and colleagues. |
|
|
Sloane Kelley
Co-Founder, Geekend
Interactive Strategy Director, BFG Communications
Sloane is the co-founder of Geekend, a growing interactive conference based in Savannah. Geekend is just one of many outlets for her passion surrounding emerging technology and content. She’s also the Interactive Strategy Director for BFG Communications, where she develops digital strategies and oversees web content for brands like Coca-Cola, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Moet-Hennessy. When she’s not geeking out over social media and technology, she loves traveling, cooking, watching the Yankees, and hanging out with her dog (he’s also on Twitter). |
|
|
Hafez Adel
Director of Marketing, ReTargeter
Hafez has over six years of experience in marketing and strategic communication, and has worked in fields ranging from non-profit advocacy to international development to public interest law. Hafez graduated from the University of California, Irvine with high honors, majoring in International Studies and Psychology and Social Behavior. |
|
|
Patrick Rodgers
Journalist
Patrick Rodgers has used his lifelong passion for writing in a variety of capacities during the course of his professional life. His published work stretches from celebrity profiles to investigative features on corporate malfeasance. Most recently, he served as the Community Editor for Connect Savannah, a weekly newspaper in Savannah, GA, where he covered politics, public policy and visual arts, among other subjects. Because journalism rarely pays as well as it should, he’s also dabbled in marketing, public relations, social media management, content development, brand strategy and any number of other odd jobs, from painting houses to throwing pizza. In his free time, Patrick is also an amateur hip hop historian, a record collector and a DJ. He currently lives in Denver, CO with his wife Carrie and their two cats. |
|
|
Andrew Davies
Lead Creative Juicer, Paragon
Andrew’s multifaceted interests have taken him from small beginnings in advertising on the island of Barbados, to Mississippi where he helped build the ad agency MadGENIUS Inc. Throughout his career he’s worked with The Weather Channel, CNNi, Gulfstream Aerospace, Paula Deen Enterprises and has won numerous national print and motion design awards in the process. Andrew now leads the creative team at Paragon Design Group where, in addition to presenting on matters of design & creativity, he straddles the worlds of print, web and motion graphics media. He’s been featured in publications from Layers magazine, American Corporate ID, and Hoffstra University Press, and has had films screened at the Traveling Caribbean Film and Animae Caribe Festivals. While he finds commercial work intriguing, he balances Paragon’s workload with projects for non-profits like AWOL (All Walks Of Life) an arts-based after-school program for at-risk youth, and CAVU (Clear Air Visibility Unlimited) an environmental agency concerned with the earth’s waterways. He currently lives in Savannah, GA with his wife Carla. |
|
|
Nancy Bistritz
Senior Director, Nurun
As senior director for Nurun, Nancy is responsible for managing the company’s marketing, communications, and business developments efforts in the United States. A part of the leadership team in Atlanta, she also works on international activities related to Nurun’s internal and external communications; public relations outreach, including media relations and executive visibility; and marketing and business development strategies. She is also an integral part of Nurun’s worldwide communications team, which includes professionals in Canada, France, Italy, Spain, and Asia. |
|
|
Mandy Mahoney
Vice President, Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance
Mandy Mahoney is the Vice President for the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance. Founded in 2006, the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA) is a nonprofit that brings together a diverse group of stakeholders to promote energy efficiency for a cleaner environment, a more prosperous economy, and a higher quality of life in the Southeastern United States. Prior to joining SEEA she served as the Director of Sustainability for the City of Atlanta under mayors Reed and Franklin. She serves on the Board of Directors for Georgia Organics, the Atlanta Chapter of Ducks Unlimited, Green Chamber of the South, and the Caretta Environmental Leadership Award. She is a graduate of LEAD Atlanta 2010, Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership 2010, and the 2011 American Council on Germany Young Leaders Program. Mandy has a master’s degree in environmental management from Duke University. She also earned a law degree and a bachelor’s degree in biology and environmental studies from Emory University. |
|
|
Beth Bond
Curator, Southeast Green
Beth Bond, the Curator of green and sustainable business news at Southeast Green, joined forces with Sandra Cummins in the summer of 2008. Beth took over day to day operations in November of 2010 while Sandra Cummins chose to move to an advisory capacity. A Southerner herself, Bond was tired of hearing about everything “green” happening outside her native region.
Owning her own marketing company for over 15 years and working with green companies, Beth knew the story of sustainability and green resided here in the Southeast. There was just no one place to tell the cohesive story of all the things that are happening in the Southeast. Since relaunching Southeast Green in September 2008, Bond has been establishing even broader liaisons and partners to help continue the story of green and sustainability. |
|
|
Desiree Scales
Bella Web Design
Desiree Scales brings extensive expertise in web design, branding, search engine optimization, online marketing and social media coaching to customer projects at her award-winning company, Bella Web Design, Inc. Her team works with companies located in the U.S., France, Italy and Canada and expands it’s reach each year. With a background as a web designer for a major U.S. corporation, Delta Air Lines, Desiree delivers sound advice and outstanding solutions for Bella Web Design business customers. Her expertise and experience have evolved into a passion to educate business owners about Internet technologies that foster success. She has been a featured speaker at companies, conferences and seminars around the U.S. Desiree also hosts The Bella Buzz, a weekly podcast dedicated to online marketing topics, tools and tips for business owners. |
|
|
Eric Holtzclaw
CEO, User Insight
As CEO of User Insight, Eric Holtzclaw identifies strategic service offerings and oversees operational excellence and innovation across the business. Eric’s 20+ years of experience include work for a variety of successful startup companies including GeoMedica, Information America, OneCoast and CyberSource. Eric has been responsible for the successful implementation of more than 30 consumer oriented and internal use products and services throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Saudi Arabia. His work at User Insight gives Eric the unique opportunity to interview thousands of users across industries and leverage the rich, qualitative data collected to drive move-forward strategies for some of the world’s most well-known brands. In the past year, Eric has led the User Insight research team in the execution of the social TV research initiative, focused on understanding behaviors exhibited in users’ homes and how the social TV revolution stands to change how people watch, interact and consume TV content. Follow Eric on Twitter at @eholtzclaw. |
|
|
Selah Abrams
FutureMoguls Foundation / CNN
Selah began as an entrepreneur in 1991 by bootstrapping a startup retail and wholesale clothing line that grew from $1800 to several million in annual retail sales, franchised retail locations, and online sales before “e-commerce” was a foregone conclusion. Following the sale in 1998, he moved to New York to work at Grey Worldwide, the 3rd largest Ad and Branding Agency in the world, specializing in interactive marketing, online branding, and breaking open the Latin American market before it was recognized as the current powerhouse that it is. Currently, Selah splits time between a day gig at Turner Studios (post-production house for the Turner Networks, CNN and outside clients), and managing an international entertainment promotions and production company, with locations in Atlanta, Germany, and South Africa. Selah’s FutureMoguls Foundation trains young South African media producers and entrepreneurs, and has recently launched SAPP – a ‘sister organization’ to GA’s GPP. |
|
|
Andrea Busse
IntelaText
Andrea Busse is considered a global authority in mobile engagement technologies and continues to out-innovate the market with IntelaText’s un-matched combination of highly effective technologies, easily adapted for any industry or company’s initiatives. Through her futuristic thinking, Andrea ensures that IntelaText remains the front runner in innovation while maintaining a solid set of proven business solutions for mobile engagement. Since founding the company in 2008, she has been responsible for the rapid growth and acquisition of major accounts including NASA, Sunglass Hut, ESPN, AT&T, Coca Cola, NCAA Football/Basketball, and Century 21. She also pioneered the first mobile platform capable of sending mobile communications in over 200 languages, and was recently named Mobile Marketer of the Year 2011 at the Tech Marketing Awards. |
|
|
Jacqui Chew
Principal at iFusion Marketing
Jacqui is the principal at iFusion Marketing, a fractional CMO consultancy for high growth companies and technology start-ups. She is an award-winning strategic marketer with a passion for helping businesses identify and connect with the right audiences throughout their products’ lifecycle. An active member of the Atlanta technology and business community, Jacqui was an early adopter of social media and began actively incorporating social elements in marketing plans in 2006. She has spent the last 15 years leveraging digital and traditional programs to help enterprise software, Internet, information security and consumer products and services companies build their business. Jacqui has successfully launched dozens of companies and products including Silverpop, PeopleSoft and eBay and will launch the “Art of the Launch™” conference concept in the spring of 2012. |
|
|
Hafez Rouzati
Georgia Institue of Technology
Hafez is a researcher at Georgia Institute of Technology and the chief architect of the Argon Browser, a revolutionary browser platform for creating and delivering augmented reality experiences on the Web. His research interests include Augmented Reality, Information Visualization, and Wearable Computing. |
|
|
Lisa Russell
Georgia Writers Association
Freelance writer and new media marketer Lisa M. Russell, administrator of Georgia Writers Association, has worked to make the organization a literary trust agent for the diverse writing communities in Georgia. She recently wrote about her experience creating a social media constellation in the non-profit sector for “Social Media in Context: Writers Explore the Marketplace”, a collection that is being edited by Dr. Anne Richards. Lisa is completing a thesis on writing in the digital environment for her Master of Arts in Professional Writing degree. |
|
|
Terri Thornton
Thornton Communications
Terri Thornton, founder of Atlanta media relations and social media firm Thornton Communications, spent more than two decades as an award-winning TV and radio reporter and producer. Her work has brought several national, regional and local awards for journalism, PR and social media. She has also spoken at a number of local and national conferences, and contributes to PBS MediaShift – “Your Guide to the Digital Media Revolution.” |
|
|
Nancy Rogers
BOLDface Communications
Nancy Rogers established BOLDface Communications in 1989. She founded Green Earth PR Network, a consortium of proven public relations and marketing professionals experienced with sustainability throughout North America—Atlanta, Washington, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and Toronto—in 2007. She has focused on green communication strategies for more than 10 years. In addition to experience in government, corporate and non-profit settings, she has worked with clients in green building, technology, hospitality and banking. Rogers quickly assesses situations and assembles the necessary tools and talents to meet objectives with respect for details, deadlines and budgets. |
|
|
Elizabeth Patrick
Director of Communications and Administration, EarthShare of Georgia
As the Director of Communications and Administration for EarthShare of Georgia, Elizabeth raises critical funds for more than 60 environmental member groups all dedicated to conserving and protecting our air, land and water. She has strengthened ESGA’s brand and established a social media presence for ESGA, which has become an online community to better promote environmental issues, volunteer opportunities and fundraising events for the member groups. In her five years at ESGA, Elizabeth has also doubled the number of participants in their three key Earth Day events each April. |
|
|
Leesa Carter
U.S. Green Building Council
As the Executive Director for the U.S. Green Building Council – Georgia Chapter, Carter’s primary responsibility is growing USGBC-Georgia’s role as a leading educator and advocate for sustainable communities, green jobs and green building. Under her leadership, USGBC-Georgia has grown to five active Branches in Athens, Atlanta, Augusta, Macon and Savannah; and a developing Branches in Columbus. |
|
|
Tomer Tishgarten
VP of Technology at Engauge
Tomer Tishgarten is the Vice President of Technology at Engauge (Engauge.com),one of the nation’s largest independent agencies. He leads a team of innovation engineers which is responsible for integrating platforms and developing custom social, mobile and web applications. Over the past 13 years, Tomer has consulted on a variety of digital projects for many of Atlanta’s top local companies, including Carter’s, Coca-Cola, Chick-fil-A, The Home Depot, Internap, NCR and LexisNexis and Fortune 500 companies, such as Cisco, IBM, Nationwide and Target. In addition to writing about the convergence of marketing and technology on his blog (AllThatIKnow.com), Tomer has also contributed to popular online sites such as CNN, CMSWIre, Mashable, PBS MediaShift and ZDNet. |
|
|
Amani Channel
Senior Producer, KEF Media
Amani Channel is a specialist in traditional and digital media, with nearly 15 years of experience producing award-winning content. He has worked as a news reporter, content/community manager, media consultant, an award-winning producer and videoblogger (since 2006). Channel currently holds the position of Sr. Producer at KEF Media, an Atlanta-based company specializing in broadcast public relations. He has worked with brands including Visa, Holiday Inn Hotels, Coca-Cola, Hershey’s, Chick-fil-A, Popeyes, Expedia.com, Kennesaw State University, the School of Audio Engineering and Hillsborough Community College – to mention a few. His content, commentaries and reports have appeared on APTN (Associated Press Television News), CNN, ABC, Headline News, Fox News Channel, BET, Black Family Channel, HDNews, and across the Web. Channel regularly speaks at conferences, workshops and universities around the nation and has taught video production/digital media courses at a variety of institutions. In 2010, he received a Masters of Arts from the University of South Florida. His thesis: “Gatekeeping and Citizen Journalism: A Qualitative Examination of Participatory Media.” |
|
|
Dean Trevelino
Principal, Trevelino/Keller
At Trevelino/Keller, Dean’s role is to manage jointly the direction and growth of the firm, while taking a hands-on role as the architect of client and agency programs and having strategic involvement throughout the execution. The firm’s experience includes work with TCBY, Mrs. Fields, The Weather Channel, Raving Brands, Moe’s Southwest Grill, SITA, EarthLink and more. In 2011, the agency rolled out WheelhouseTK, an open community weblog that aggregates each of its initiatives with the sole purpose of creating collaboration among experts, from its Start-Up Council (early stage assistance) to PRStarbase (communications talent portal) to Atlas Alliance (international boutique network) to X/pert Net (network of subject matter specialists). Dean has appeared in print and television on topics ranging from public relations, real estate, small business, crisis preparedness, social media and franchising. Published on Creative Public Relations with the Inside the Minds Series, Dean speaks regularly at industry shows such as NRA, Dine America, Social Media Atlanta and more. Most recently he spoke at FOHBOH on Social Media For the Foodservice Industry. Dean earned an M.A. in organizational communications from The University of Alabama and a B.A. in English from Pennsylvania State University. |
|
|
Andrew Zuercher
Founder, Developer and CEO, e2eapps
An entrepreneurial technologist, Andrew Zuercher has had more than 15 years of experience architecting and developing enterprise software solutions. He is the founder of e2e, the developers of the successful Scoutmob mobile app. Andrew holds a BS in Information Systems and a MS in Information Systems from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a hands-on technical lead that still loves to code, puts the client first, attacks projects with relentless hard work, and is a night owl. |
|
|
|