Speakers

Below are bios for confirmed speakers for WordCamp 2011. Check back as more confirmed speaker bios are added to this page.

We’re proud to say that the majority of our speakers are from right here in New England. 🙂

Alan Bergstein

Alan Bergstein has been involved with countless website migration efforts, most recently doing so as a consultant to Internet publishers and marketers large and small. And prior to that as a senior media executive with more than 25 years of successful experience and significant accomplishments at several of the publishing industry’s foremost companies, including IDG, CMP, Crain Communications and Reed Elsevier/Cahners.

Andrew Norcross

Web developer and WordPress savant Andrew Norcross, or “Norcross”, is a ninjaneer: he does the job rightly, and precisely, and few who benefit from the results of his actions will ever know with surety the power of his facility, or even that he was there at all.

He survives on caffeine, fast guitar music, whatever food is available while the rednecks are sleeping, and the cubic yards of money he makes being awesome at what he does. He hasn’t slept since Camel Lights were still four bucks a pack.

Arwin Holmes

I am currently a project manager at NorthPoint Solutions, LLC and I’ve been working with WordPress for nearly 3 years. Among many other NorthPoint accomplishments, I’ve deployed both self-hosted and WP VIP-hosted WordPress installations for major media publishers such as HFM and Time, Inc including the following brands: Car & Driver, ELLE, Entertainment Weekly, Woman’s Day.

Boaz Sender

I am a JavaScript programmer at a webshop/hack-space in Boston called bocoup. I enjoy hacking on JavaScript, CSS3, HTML5 & friends and CouchDB. I have worked on a several jQuery infrastructure projects, written a couple of jQuery plugins, contributed to the Blueprint CSS framework, and published a couple of themes for Tumblr and WordPress. I care deeply about making the internet better, and this is the focus of my work at bocoup. You can usually find me hanging out in #jquery on freenode. /msg me.

Brian Casel

Brian Casel runs the web design shop, CasJam Media. He’s also the founder/creator of ThemeJam WordPress themes. Most recently, you can catch Brian co-hosting the live web show/podcast, Freelance Jam where topics include freelance business, web design, WordPress and more. Brian loves to talk shop with fellow web designers and WordPress folks on Twitter @CasJam.

C. C. Chapman

C.C. is the Founder of Digital Dads, where a Dad can be a guy. He is also the creator and host of of the widely popular Managing the Gray podcast and is also a member of the Media Hacks and Cast of Dads podcasts. He has extensive knowledge of the online space and is a sought after speaker on social media and community building.

He is a graduate of Bentley University and an avid photographer. His personal blog just celebrated it’s 8th Anniversary with no plans to slow down at all. He lives in Metro West Boston with his wife, two amazing kids and black lab Roxie.

Casie Gillette

Casie Gillette is the Search Marketing Manager at Grasshopper Group. She’s been involved in the search industry for over 6 years and has worked on both the agency side and in-house. She adores the city of Boston and will freely admit that she is a bit of a nerd for loving the internet so much.

Chris Penn

My name is Christopher S. Penn. I’m a bridge. I stand between different fields, professions, and ideas in order to help people on both sides understand each other. I can speak and sling code, but I’m not an IT professional. I can design campaign strategies and write copy, but I’m not a marketing professional. Where I provide value is in helping IT understand marketing and vice versa. The same is true for the martial arts, for education, for all of the different worlds I work and play in. I play World of Warcraft, but take the lessons from a virtual battlefield and apply them to business. I take solutions from the dojo floor and bring them to marketing.

Christina Dulude

Christina Dulude is the Information Architect/User Experience Designer at Dartmouth College. She also serves as project manager, web
developer and jack of all trades on the college’s web team. Prior to joining Dartmouth in early 2011, Christina was a web developer at Duke University for six years. She has been using WordPress since 2006.

Christina Inge

Christina Inge is a marketer and writer with over 12 years’ experience in content and community. Currently heading up marketing for OHO Interactive, a Cambridge-based interactive agency specializing in enterprise web development, Chrissy also serves on the board of the American Marketing Association-Boston as VP of Social Media and Boston ENET as Vice-Chair, Alliances and Marketing. Chrissy has managed multi-voice blogs for organizations of all sizes.

D.K. Smith

D.K. Smith is a co-founder of WPSecurity.com. He’s a serial entrepreneur with an extensive background in B2C and B2B marketing, and has worked as an Ecommerce and Digital Marketing consultant since 1998. D.K. began using WordPress for client websites in 2005 and vowed “Never again!” after several of his company’s affiliate marketing sites were hacked in 2007. That incident led to the development of his “Multiple Layers of Security” method for protecting WordPress.

D.K. is a graduate of Pratt Institute, has taught business and marketing on the college level, and is currently pursuing his Masters in Web Strategy and Design. He lived in Boston for 14 years and started his first company here. D.K. thinks out loud at dksmith.com.

Dan Collis-Puro

Dan is a Senior Developer / Sysadmin for the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. He does the technical heavy lifting to keep blogs.law.harvard.edu going strong. He’s a huge free software fan and finds himself drawn into wordpress development more and more as time goes on.

David Wells

David believes passionately in the power of the web to further the message and impact of any organization. He is an expert in blogging, search engine optimization, social media marketing, online video, and podcasting, as well as a talented coder. Essentially, if it’s web 2.0, David knows it and practices it.

He uses these skills in several interesting professional capacities. As an Inbound Marketing Consultant at HubSpot, David advises business owners and marketing managers on how to utilize HubSpot’s comprehensive suite of online marketing tools to find more leads online and convert more of those leads into customers.

Doug Yuen

Doug Yuen is the owner of Efficient Websites, a New Jersey web design company specializing in WordPress and SEO. Efficient Websites builds inexpensive website solutions for small businesses with limited budgets and technical expertise. Doug started designing websites 14 years ago and has been using WordPress exclusively for the past 3 years.

Douglas Hanna

Douglas Hanna is the CEO of A Small Orange, a web hosting company based in Durham, NC. He used to run customer service at HostGator, a world leading web hosting provider based in Houston. Douglas blogs about customer service and the customer service experience at Service Untitled. Douglas has also worked with Automattic and has run the WordPress Showcase since its launch. You can read more about him at douglashanna.com.

Ellie Roepken

Ellie is CTO and Lead Themer of Custom Microcomputer Resources, Inc. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Programming and Information Systems and has been making websites for around 10 years. She specializes in front end development, but she also enjoys developing with PHP and MySQL. Lately, she has been writing plugins for WordPress and is becoming much more active in the open source community.

Frederick Townes

Frederick Townes is the Chief Technical Officer of Mashable.com, one of the top 3 blogs worldwide. As designer, search / social media marketer and WordPress consultant Frederick’s projects are typically based on WordPress. One of his largest contributions to the WordPress community was his performance plugin W3 Total Cache.

Since 2003 his agency W3 EDGE has assisted startups and brands like: Smashing Magazine, CVS Pharmacy, Hyatt, Kodak, Microsoft, Sanyo, Sherwin Williams, Southwest Airlines, Staples, Sony, R.E.I., Weight Watchers, Yahoo and others.

Gregory Cornelius

Gregory Cornelius is a Solutions Architect at Boston University where he oversees the technical aspects of BU’s large WordPress-powered CMS. Currently, he is working on a major overhaul of BU Today and improvements to existing applications to better support mobile devices. Beyond the web, Gregory is a composer and the co-director of Amp, a New York-based new music organization.

Hanna Arnold

Hanna Arnold is an award-winning communications director with 15 years of experience transforming marketing visions and creative concepts into world-class deliverables. Coined as a digital strategist, Hanna’s blend of analytical, technical and creative talents coupled with her background in brand management, and global team management makes her a shining light in the online world.

Since 2009, Hanna has led the online communications efforts at Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Upon her arrival, she championed the use of WordPress for NECC’s public website as an open-source solution to a content management challenge.

Jake Goldman

Jake Goldman is the owner of 10up, a web agency focused on content management and awesome WordPress implementations. At 10up, Jake works on exciting and wide ranging WordPress projects, like 9to5 Mac, MikeShinoda.com, and m62 visualcommunications. And at less than 6 months old, we’re just getting started.

Over his decade-plus in web development, Jake has had the privilege tow work with clients ranging from small mom and pop startups, to the New England Journal of Medicine, NBC Sports, and the US Navy. Today, he is a writer and expert reviewer for Smashing Magazine, and has authored a dozen highly rated WordPress plug-ins. Jake founded and continues to organize the WordPress Providence meet up, and has spoken at WordCamps around the country, including Boston, New York, Mid-Altantic, and Miami.

Jake Rainis

Jake is an art director, graphic designer and web developer at Metropolis Creative. He challenges himself in pushing designs to the next level to make them cutting-edge, unique and compelling. Jake is fascinated by the power of the web and is constantly learning new web technologies, reading blogs and engaging with peers in various social communities. In his spare time, he brews craft beer, plays darts, and hangs out with his sphynx cat Beretta.

Jay Collier

Jay Collier is founder and executive director of The Compass LLC. He develops and produces online communications for communities of professional practice and lifelong learning, including educational institutions, non-profits, and NGOs. Recently, he has been consulting with the Maine Department of Education, which provides laptops for every grade 7-12 student and stewards digital learning statewide.

For over 25 years, Jay has been scouting, evaluating, curating, and integrating emerging media, holding positions in media production and management at WGBH, MIT, and Dartmouth. At Bates College, he consolidated media relations, social media, and e-mail content into new core channels built upon WordPress.

John Eckman

John Eckman is a Digital Strategist at ISITE Design. John is also the primary developer of WPBook, a plugin for integrating your WordPress blog with Facebook, and blogs at Open Parenthesis and Goatless.

John Resig

John Resig is the Dean of Open Source and head of JavaScript development at Khan Academy and the author of the book Pro JavaScript Techniques. He’s also the creator and lead developer of the jQuery JavaScript library.

Currently, John is located in Boston, MA. He’s hard at work on his second book, Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja.

Jon Bishop

Jon Bishop has been making websites for 10+ years with 4 years in WordPress development and another 4 in Internet marketing. Jon has a few popular plugins in the WordPress plugin repository and runs a newsletter to help businesses use WordPress more efficiently. He spends most of his time developing plugins and themes for businesses looking to use WordPress to manage their online presense.

Jonathan May

As a project manager, business analyst, and technology consultant, Jonathan May has been designing, developing and deploying information solutions for organizations of all sizes and types for over 30 years. He has especially deep experience in assisting organizations in evaluating and selecting software solutions, and in implementing Customer Relationship Management solutions, having managed or supported CRM projects for several global high tech corporations. In his most recent endeavor with YourPresenceOnTheWeb.com, Jonathan provides web marketing services to small businesses: designing and creating Websites based on the WordPress Content Management System, optimizing sites for maximum search engine exposure, and creating e-mail marketing campaigns.

Joselin Mane

I am a passionate Internet Marketing Consultant with 20 years of computer technology experience.  Add my 8 years of Online Marketing experience and 10 years of Business Development experience, and you get a powerful combination that is rarely seen in this new media market. My passion and focus is working with small/midsize businesses, organizations and entrepreneurs to best leverage Internet technologies to systematically reach their financial and/or growth goals.

K. Adam White

K. Adam White has been using WordPress since 2007. In addition to his work as a front-end developer and web designer at Grand Circle Corporation in Boston, MA, Adam designs & implements custom WordPress themes for small businesses throughout the greater Boston area.

Karen Rubin

Karen Rubin is the marketing product manager at HubSpot, an internet marketing company whose visionary efforts have changed the nature of internet marketing for small and medium businesses. Karen is also the co-host of the Marketing Update on HubSpot TV, a weekly video podcast about marketing and social media trends. Prior to HubSpot, she worked for a small web development company managing development projects for clients such as NBC, iVillage.com, TheStreet.com, Stockpickr.com and GiftCertificates.com.

Kelly Dwan

A Smith College graduate, Kelly Dwan is a developer with over seven years of coding experience. She works at Gravity Switch, a small web firm in Western Massachusetts. Since discovering WordPress in 2008, Kelly has written dozens of custom themes and plugins. She also dabbles in jQuery, and sometimes Python. Coding aside, Kelly is also the co-organizer of Valley Summit, a Massachusetts-based web conference.

Kyle Dickson

Associate Professor of English and Director of the ACU Learning Studio. Since 2005, Kyle has given numerous campus and conference presentations on e-learning, podcasting, course blogs, and mobile learning. In 2007, he helped develop the ACU Connected mobile learning initiative and continues to work closely with faculty to explore mobile media and tools. In 2008 he directed the ACU Digital Media Center, leading its expansion in 2011 as the AT&T Learning Studio in the library commons.

Margot Bloomstein

Margot Bloomstein is the principal of Appropriate, Inc., a brand and content strategy consultancy based in Boston. For more than a decade, she’s partnered with retailers, universities, and other clients to create brand-appropriate experiences that engage their target audiences and project key messages with consistency and clarity through both traditional and social media.

A participant in the inaugural Content Strategy Consortium, Margot speaks regularly on contextually-sensitive content strategy and the evolution of content strategy within interactive agencies; her recent engagements include SXSW, Web 2.0, Web Content, Gilbane, and Confab.

Mike Susz

Mike is a developer who has been making websites professionally since 1996. While working for companies like Intuit, Real Networks, and Washington Mutual, he’s crafted interfaces that have been used by millions of people worldwide.

Now through his own company, squaredesign, Mike concentrates on two passions: expert UI implementation using HTML5, CSS3 & javascript, and creating powerful custom solutions for WordPress-driven websites.

Niki Brown

Hey There! I’m Niki – a designer and front end developer at Rocket Mouse Design. When I’m not making websites you can find me blogging, running, or playing with the latest Apple iGadget.

Reiko Beach

Principal at TRB Design, Inc since 2002, at TRB we have been using WordPress for building websites for 3+ years when we figured out that it was a complete CMS system and not just a blogging platform. We believe that WordPress is the most powerful and most user friendly CMS platform for small business owners and individuals. As a company we offer web marketing, website creation, content development and video for the web. We blog consistently on The Non-Profit Toolbox and run The Gymnastic Minute channel on YouTube. When we talk about web marketing it’s because of doing it as successful video production company, years of marketing know-how, with years of personal experience in marketing products on the web through our GymSmarts line of products. I have spoken about using WordPress at Podcamp, Western MA, Podcamp NH, and GeekGirl Camp.

Ross Beyeler

A graduate of Babson College, Ross Beyeler has been an active entrepreneur in the technology space since 2005 with experience ranging in digital marketing, business development and strategic management. In 2007, Ross co-founded For Art’s Sake Media, Inc., a technology company servicing the art industry, where he led the organization through its seed funding, team building and product launch. In December 2008, Ross went on to start Growth Spark, a web design, WordPress development and marketing firm with a focus on conversion optimization. Growth Spark’s success brought Ross a BusinessWeek nomination as one of 2010’s Top 25 Entrepreneurs under 25.

Sam Kottler

Sam has spent the past three years developing web and mobile software for a variety of clients, including Citigroup, Boston University, and Saatchi & Saatchi. Sam is an experienced developer who loves open-source software and its amazing worldwide community. He is proficient in both front-end and back-end coding, with a love for PHP, Ruby, and even Python. Sam will attend Wheaton College next year to study computer software engineering.

Sam Napolitano

Sam Napolitano is a technology enthusiast and an accomplished website developer. He has been building high profile websites for the past 8 years and has been working with WordPress actively for the last 3 years.

In his most recent role as Manager of Development and QA for the Lawyers.com small law marketing team, Sam has been responsible for the development and maintenance of over 3000 fully custom websites. He was also tasked with designing and deploying an enterprise level WordPress Multisite install that would be the new platform for all websites built by the agency.

After a successful 6 years with Lawyer.com, Sam is now transitioning to AOL where he will be focused on development for the AOL Entertainment web properties.

Sara Cannon

Sara Cannon has a love for WordPress, design, and typography. Intersect these things and you’ve found her passion. She loves keeping up with the latest trends in design, typography, and the technology that we can use make our WordPress sites beautiful. Sara a core contributor working with the WordPress UI group and works as interaction designer & developer at Scout Branding Company in Birmingham, AL. She has spoke at WordCamp Birmingham, Atlanta, Savannah, NYC, Phoenix, & Reno. Originally based out of Westford, MA, Sara is absolutely thrilled to be able to “come home” and speak at WordCamp Boston.

Scott Dasse

Scott Dasse is the Creative Director for Interactive Design at Boston University where he leads the effort to express the collective output of an vast intellectual community on the web.

Tom Catalini

Tom Catalini is a career technologist, and currently the CIO of a leading insurance brokerage. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Boston Society for Information Management, where he is responsible for the WordPress-based bostonsim.org website and is an active member of the marketing and social media committee.

Tom is an executive mentor and coach to Boston area nonprofits, assisting in website design, social media strategies and technology architecture. His blog, “People & Technology”, can be found at www.tomcatalini.com and contains writings about leadership, communication, productivity, and technology. He speaks on similar topics at a variety of events.

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