Steven Adelman
Vice President
Event Safety Alliance
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Sports and entertainment lawyer Steven A. Adelman is the head of Adelman Law Group, PLLC in Scottsdale, Arizona and Vice President of the Event Safety Alliance. His national law practice focuses on risk management and litigation regarding safety and security at live events, and he serves as an expert witness in crowd-related lawsuits. With the Event Safety Alliance, he chairs the group that is developing a first-of-its-kind ANSI standard for Crowd Management at live events. Mr. Adelman is also on the faculty of Arizona State University’s Sports Law and Business Program, he writes the monthly "Adelman on Venues" newsletter on current issues in the live event and venue industry, and he appears in national and local media to provide analysis of incidents at sports and entertainment events. He can be reached at [email protected].
Chiara Adin
Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer
N/A Collective
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Chiara Adin is the Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of N/A Collective, a hybrid of creative agency meets production company based out
of New York City. N/A works with adventurous brands and creative minds to create unique and never been done before experiences that leave a bold impression. With over 11+ years of experience in the experiential space, she’s had the privilege of working both
nationally and internationally for brands such as: Tommy Hilfiger, Nike, Twitter, Pepsi, H&M, Dell, Alienware, NBC, Stella Artois, Jose Cuervo, Target, Revlon, Chevrolet, Mercedes Benz and more.
When she’s not working, Chiara is a member of the Board of Directors for The Flatwater Foundation and takes on yearly extreme challenges while raising money for families affected by Cancer diagnoses. In 2018 she ran marathons in Cartagena, the Great Wall of China, Dublin, and the Australian Outback and as well as the foundations annual SUP fundraiser, 21 miles in Austin, TX (9th year in a row!). In 2017 she paddle boarded the perimeter of Lake Tahoe, 71 miles and ran the Antarctic Ice Marathon, 26.2 miles across the Antarctic, coming in as 5th woman overall. This year, she's already run in Marrakech, Morocco to finish marathons on all 7 continents and will be running The North Pole marathon in April 2019 for the “Grand Slam”.
Marcelo Alba
Creative Strategy for Events and Experiences
Google Events + Experiences
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Marcelo Alba is a strategist that has spent 15 years working above, below, and through the line. No matter the medium, he believes joy connects brands to people and creates value and meaning to both parties. Among others he's brought joy to gamers for Xbox, families for Coca-cola, and most recently has been experimenting with how Google brings joy to users out in the real world as he heads up strategy for experiential marketing at Google. So what brings him joy? His family, the mountains, and beer - definitely beer.
Lori Ann Pope
Head of Event Marketing, Global Small Business Group
Facebook
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Lori Ann Pope leads the small business event marketing team at Facebook and is passionate about championing business owners and entrepreneurs around the globe. With more than 20 years of experience in content development, training, and event production, she has worked at Anti-Money Laundering.com, The Direct Marketing Association, and Business Week (now Bloomberg Business Week).
She spent a decade in book and magazine publishing in New York City, primarily as a literary agent, where she hung her own shingle, Writers Represent Literary Agency.
Lori Ann earned her BA and MFA from Brown University. A Denver native, she has lived around the US, including New York, Washington, Boston, DC, Miami, and Dallas. She currently resides in Palo Alto.
Josh Arnold
Experiential Marketing Manager
General Mills
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Josh challenges brands to go for ideas that are unique, so they break through the competitive consumer landscape. Using data, insights, and intuition, he leads teams to collaborate and push the possible–turning opportunities into action. With 15 years of marketing and communications experience across retail, entertainment, and CPG industries, he is known for influencing new levels of creativity in strategy development and program execution. His true value is his ability to rally the broader team as a fun & energetic leader to deliver results: both quick wins and long-term growth.
Chris Arrendale
Chief Privacy Officer
Trendline Interactive
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Chris Arrendale has more than 17 years of experience in the technology and software industry and has worked directly with many different ISPs, webmail providers, spam filter providers, blacklists, and partners to resolve email deliverability and privacy issues. Chris graduated with his AA from Oxford College of Emory University, BA from Emory University and his MS from Southern Polytechnic State University. He also maintains several professional certifications including Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPM, CIPT, CIPP/US, CIPP/E, CIPP/G, FIP), Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (CCSK), as well as many marketing automation and email service provider certifications. Chris is actively involved with the Email Experience Council (EEC), Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group (M3AAWG), Email Sender & Provider Coalition (ESPC), and International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). His expertise includes insights into the email industry’s largest ISPs and is backed by extensive knowledge in industry-leading mailbox providers, spam filter providers, reputation management strategies, and privacy. He has traveled extensively as a marketing speaker, author, and software consultant. Chris recently authored a book on email deliverability, privacy, and compliance titled "Deliverability Inferno".
Jim Babcock
VP-Consumer Marketing
Cartoon Network/Adult Swim
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Adrienne Barber
Vice President, Partnership Marketing
Major League Soccer & Soccer United Marketing
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Adrienne Barber has a 16-year track record of leadership and innovation stretching across all areas of partnership marketing and brand activation. Entering her fourth season , Barber is part of the leadership team responsible for spearheading the overall strategy and direction for MLS Partnership Marketing. She is the driving force behind maintaining the relationships and activations of the MLS’ corporate sponsors – inclusive of 20+ Fortune 500 brands such as Continental, Audi, Heineken, and Target among others.
Brooke Bartlet
VP Digital & Social
Motive
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Working with a multitude of brands like Mountain Dew, Adidas and Pepsi, digital savant and social mastermind Brooke Bartlett knows a thing or two about bringing campaigns to life in the digital world—and by a thing or two, we mean a whole lot more than we can put into words.
Jim Baudino
VP Corporate Development
Merry Jane Media
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"Jim Baudino is the VP of Corporate Development for MERRY JANE Media, the global cannabis media platform and creative agency co-founded by Snoop Dogg in 2015. Jim has been instrumental in building the MERRY JANE brand since its launch, and he has made it his mission to educate the mainstream about the benefits of cannabis. Jim recently helped launch the agency side, and he is currently responsible for all communications and strategic partnerships for the brand, including event strategy and integration.
Prior to MERRY JANE, Jim spent time building brands from startups to Fortune 100 companies in the Automotive, Financial Services and Medical industries, which included ten years at Toyota North America in a variety of marketing and business development roles. His latest role being responsible for national sponsorship and partnership strategies, where Jim created fully integrated programs that engaged millions of consumers in unique and authentic ways, providing them with experiences that enhanced brand affinity and drove purchase consideration. Along with internal awards for innovation, Jim was the recipient of the auto industry’s prestigious Automotive News 40 Under 40 Award.
Jim holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management and a BSE in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan. In his free time, he enjoys traveling to unique destinations with his wife and two children."
Erin Behbehani
Senior Account Executive
agencyEA
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As a Senior Account Executive, Erin manages the execution of client projects and ensures the day-to-day workflow of a project is carried out seamlessly. She provides oversight throughout project activations to assigned production, digital and design teams. Erin has a strong background in brand strategy driven professions and has worked with a diverse set of clients including MillerCoors, Samsung, Intuit QuickBooks, and GE Healthcare, all of which provided her with a unique and comprehensive background of the advertising and event planning industries. She is enthusiastic about expanding her experiential skillset and facilitating strong client relationships. Erin received a Bachelor of Science in Business Marketing from Murray State University.
Brian Beierwaltes
Senior Manager Marketing - Brand Development
Continental Tire
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Brian Beierwaltes is the Sr. Manager of Marketing for the Continental Tire and General Tire brands. He is responsible for all brand development, advertising, content, social media, dot com’s, dealer partnership marketing and off-road racing & tuner relationships. Brian brings a broad understanding having worked on both the brand and agency side of marketing for IMSA/NASCAR, Leo Burnett and DDB.
Bob Bejan
General Manager, Global Events, Production Studios & Marketing Community
Microsoft
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Bob Bejan is currently the General Manager of World Wide Events, The Microsoft Studios and the Marketing Community at Microsoft. Over the last 25 Mr. Bejan has been a part of several teams that have contributed to the development of the new media and digital media marketplaces. Starting as an inventor and founder of an interactive movie-game business called INTERFILM in 1992. In 1994, Mr. Bejan became a founding Executive of Warner Bros. Interactive, followed joining Microsoft 1996 to be a part of the launch of MSN and the creation of Dozens of the internets’ early shows and programming. In 2003, PBJS was launched as a “Creative Studio” focused on data driven insights to drive more effective and measurable creative thinking and execution. The timeliness of the approach lead to the sale of the company to Publicis Group. After 2.5 years in Paris with his family at the Publicis Headquarters, it was time for the family to return to Seattle. Mr. Bejan Took over the North American Ad Sales Business for Microsoft and was able to significantly grow revenue, helping to facilitate the AOL Partnership that is operating today. In his current role, Mr. Bejan reports to Chris Capossela, the Chief Marketing Officer of Microsoft.
Jen Bekman
Founder
20x200
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Keith Bendes
VP-Brand Partnerships
Float
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Keith Bendes is a leader in the convergence of marketing and technology. As VP of Marketing & Strategic Partnerships, Keith works with leading global brands from Anheuser Busch to Microsoft to create interactive consumer experiences that leverage emerging technologies and media. Keith is well versed in driving brand equity and consumer data collection capabilities for brands and is often cited in publications for innovative brand experiences. Keith previously worked at Consumer Goods company Unilever.
Jessica Beutler Abel
Senior Director, Growth & Development
G7 Entertainment Marketing
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Justin Boone
VP, Creative Strategy
MAS Event + Design
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Justin is a seasoned creative strategist with a background in integrated marketing and experiential event production. He has worked with companies such as Google, YouTube, Facebook, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln Motor Company to develop experiences that have fostered connections between the brands and their audiences, helping pique awareness, interest and loyalty. Justin specializes in crafting narratives that will connect all of the dots, developing a consistent tone and message to be woven through the entire experience. His passion for storytelling comes from his upbringing in theater, which sparked his interest in focusing on divergent thinking as the foundational tool he employs to cultivate successful results with internal teams and clients.
Benjamin Bothun
Sr. Director Marketing
Impact XM
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Benjamin Bothun is Senior Director of Marketing at Impact XM, a company that crafts focused brand stories through live and digital experiential marketing. His global career started in Germany with international watches and jewelry brand THOMAS SABO. Since, he has worked on both the agency and client sides and has deployed projects across Europe, Asia, and North America.
Rachel Boucher
Executive Editor
Event Marketer Magazine
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Rachel has worked in journalism for more than a decade, cutting her teeth in the community newspaper circuit in Fairfield County, CT, covering local politics, people and wildlife. Among memorable assignments: completing firefighting training with the City of Hartford Fire Department, and interviewing families traveling for cancer treatments onboard a Corporate Angel Network flight. She was introduced to the branding world as a copywriter for New York-based design agency Stellabean, producing marketing materials for hospitality clients. She joined Event Marketer in 2012 and today serves as the managing editor, overseeing the production of the print magazine and the brand’s digital presence. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Plymouth State University in New Hampshire's White Mountains, where she studied English and creative writing.
Ryan Bradley
VP of Digital Marketing
DreamWorks
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Neal Callow
Art Director
EON Productions
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Neal Callow has been an integral part of the James Bond Art Department since 2005 when he was hired as an Assistant Art Director on Casino Royale. He continued his work on set as a Standby Art Director on Quantum of Solace and subsequently worked his way up to Art Director on Skyfall and Spectre. His experience with Bond Designers Peter Lamont and Dennis Gassner, as well as the irrefutable influence of Ken Adam, has helped shape his vision and execution of 007 ELEMENTS in Sölden.
Callow studied graphic design at Brighton Art College, graduating in 1998, and began working as a graphic designer for companies such as Levis and Diesel. In late 2000 he had the opportunity to join the film industry on Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, which marked the beginning of a successful and rewarding career in the film business. His other film credits include, but are not limited to, Joel Shumaker’s The Phantom of the Opera, Tim Burton’s Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and Dark Shadows, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, Rob Marshall’s Nine, Joe Johnston’s Captain America: The First Avenger, Ron Howard’s In the Heart of The Sea, and more recently Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Callow met Tino Schaedler while working on Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 2005 and together they collaborated on the concept design and development of 007 ELEMENTS.
Ben Casey
CEO
Spinifex Group
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Christine Cashen
Author
“The Good Stuff: Quips & Tips on Life, Love, Work and Happiness”
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Melanie Chang
VP-Children's Marketing and Publicity
Abrams
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Adam Charles
Senior Vice President, Operations Client Services
Freeman
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Adam prides himself on having established and maintained long-serving relationships with clients, staff, and partners. He builds creative, supportive, and collaborative environments that empower employees to challenge themselves to put the client at the center and constantly strive for continuous improvement.
Adam has 25 years of global experience in the marketing sector including extensive experience in live events. He has led a diverse array of projects including corporate and public events, as well as broadcast, music, sports, and theatrical productions. Adam was the producer of the Closing Ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia. Since 2007, Adam has been based in China, working on global brand experience projects and managing one of the biggest and most dynamic markets in the world.
Ashton Cohen-Weingarten
Marketing Associate, Promotion & Partnerships
NBCUniversal
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LA Native Ashton Cohen-Weingarten has always been an avid consumer of pop culture. In her current role with NBC Entertainment Marketing, she develops and executes award winning, multi-platform, consumer-facing promotions and partnerships for NBC Entertainment Marketing where she oversees tentpole sponsorships (SDCC, NYCC, and VidCon) and well as custom branded events (Multi-market pop-up installations, Immersive Photo Opportunities, and Co-branded Consumer and Prosocial Partnerships.)
Her passion for event marketing is not limited to her career. In her free time, she lends her craft and professional eye to The Heart Foundation, helping plan the annual golf tournament – their largest fund-raising event of the year. The Heart Foundation is a charity in memory of her father, who passed away from a sudden massive heart attack in 1995, at the age of 35. In an attempt to prevent other families from experiencing a similar devastating loss, her family and dad’s closest friends created The Heart Foundation in 1996. As an organization, they are dedicated to increasing the awareness of heart disease and funding revolutionary research at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute for improved methods of prevention, detection, and treatment. Since 1996, they have grown as an organization, and have raised more than $20 million dollars for the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute to combat this silent killer. She is also a crafter and a jewelry designer, and has since launched her own jewelry line Heartware in which a portion of the proceeds goes to the foundation.
Mike Cole
VP of Experiential
Motive
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An experiential pro in the arena of events as content, mobile activations, pop-up shops, stunts, festivals and everything in-between – Mike leads a team of executional masterminds on a daily quest to deliver big.
Shenique Coston
VP-Experiential
Empire State Development
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Shenique Coston is an award-winning marketing executive and business leader. She currently serves as the Vice President, Experiential Marketing for Empire State Development. In her role, she defines and implements strategy to drive tourism growth, promote the I LOVE NY brand and advance business development opportunities throughout New York State through a strategic platform of consumer, trade and B2B events. Shenique has spent most of her 15+ year career using insights to build innovative and disruptive business building ideas, develop marketing strategies, curate experiential activations and operationalize business plans for entrepreneurs/ start-ups to category leading companies such as Samsung Electronics, Procter & Gamble and Nickelodeon/ MTV Networks. Shenique holds a BA in Economics from Boston University and an MBA from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Since 2016, she has served as a Board Member for Dancewave, Inc. a dance education and youth development non-profit servicing New York City.
Matthew Cox
VP-Sales & Marketing
retailcomm
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Matthew Cox, a native of California, moved to Dallas in 2010 to commence his nine-year career with retailcomm. An experiential marketing whiz with roots in the industry since 2004, Matthew knows trade inside and out. Throughout his retailcomm career, Matthew has fostered unwavering client relationships and cultivated imaginative thinking, resulting in proven success for Fortune 500 companies across the nation. Prior to retailcomm, Matthew spent three years as a tour manager and fly-in brand ambassador before transitioning to a local Marketing Manager role in California. He is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and proudly represents his fellow Banana Slugs. Twice a year, Matthew educates students at the University of Minnesota on the state of experiential marketing and the future of the industry. An outdoor enthusiast to his core, Matthew boasts a rock climbing and mountaineer background and has summited several 14,000-ft peaks. In Dallas, he proudly represents CrossFit Strong to pursue his daily fitness goals. Matthew has traversed 49 of the 50 states in the U.S. and leveraged his fanatical love for coffee to do so. Grab a cup with him sometime, he’s always on the hunt for a good conversation.
Morgan Crain
Senior Manager, Rewards and Recognition
T-Mobile USA
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MORGAN CRAIN It's no secret the Un-carrier works hard, but it plays hard, too. In fact, that's where you'll find Morgan Crain—at the intersection of hard work and celebration, with her pom poms cheering. T-Mobile, knows what success looks like, and celebrates this success in Un-carrier style. Morgan spends each day of the year focused on recognizing others – and she and her team do that in a big way.
As the Senior Manager for T-Mobile’s Rewards and Recognition team, Morgan leads the development and delivery of innovative and dynamic departmental and company-wide recognition programs. These include reward programs like the PEAK Recognition Award – the pinnacle of achievement at the T-Mobile – and Winners Circle, which rewards the top performing frontline employees in its retail stores and customer care. But whether it’s a complex, company-wide award program or a small gesture of thanks, Morgan helps ensure that meaningful recognition remains a big part of T-Mobile’s DNA.
T-Mobile has built a strong reputation for listening to customers and evolving based on their feedback, and in the true Un-carrier spirit, the company’s sweet suite of offerings evolves based directly on feedback from #TeamMagenta – after all, people are willing to give more fuel to the Un-carrier machine when they feel recognized, motivated, and engaged!
Kate Crotty
Director of Production
InVision Communications
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Kate Crotty is the Director of Production at InVision Communications, an audience engagement agency with offices in New York, Chicago and Walnut Creek, Ca. Kate leads the production team in NYC. She brings over 20 years of diverse experience in audience engagement, events and messaging. Her expertise spans total project execution, team communication strategy, multi-vendor coordination, creative & tactical messaging, and more. A career highlight was her leadership role of the USA Pavilion at Expo Milano2015. 147 countries gathered to discuss sustainable agriculture and global food security over a six-month period. The Pavilion was one of the top visited experiences hosting programs and notables like First Lady Michelle Obama, global NGO’s, academics and sponsors. Past clients include IBM, Gartner, Johnson & Johnson, Ford Motors, Omnicom Media Group, The State Department and several biotech and pharmaceutical companies. In addition to her leadership duties, she also supports Dell Technologies as Executive Producer.
Ashley Crowder
Co-Founder and CEO
VNTANA
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Ashley Crowder is the co-founder and CEO of VNTANA, an industry leading augmented reality platform for creating and distributing premium mixed reality experiences. Prior to co-founding VNTANA she graduated from USC with a bachelors and masters in engineering and gained valuable manufacturing experience at Gulfstream, Northrop Grumman and BP. She leverages her engineering background to guide VNTANA’s overall direction and technology development. Ashley was featured as one of USC’s leading engineering CEOs of 2016. Ashley is a part of the Microsoft Early Developer Program along with the Microsoft Bizspark Plus program.
Ashley has been a speaker at SXSW, Digital Summit, Internet Summit, Augmented World Expo, TEDx Venice, the World Economic Forum’s Global Growth Companies & Technology Pioneers, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, The Montgomery Summit, Siemer Summit, Digital LA, and others.
Colja Dams
President/CEO
VOK DAMS Agency for Events & Live-Marketing
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Colja M. Dams is President/ CEO of VOK DAMS Agency for Events & Live Marketing since 1998. Since the foundation in 1971, the agency has been one of the international market leaders in Live Marketing and Events. Graduated as an economist at the University Written/Herdecke in Germany, he early recognized the importance of internationalization in the special events business.
Thanks to his efforts the Wuppertal, Germany headquartered agency has established fife additional German offices in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Berlin and Munich as well as successful subsidiaries in Middle Ease (Dubai), China (Shanghai & Beijing), France (Bordeaux), England (London), Eastern Europe (Prague), Spain (Madrid), South America (São Paulo) and the U.S.A. (New York & Philadelphia).
Furthermore he establishes new standards in the fields of Events and Live-Marketing, which are developed by VOK DAMS Consulting constantly.
Kevin Dana
Executive Director of Marketing & Product Development
Cort Trade Show Furnishings
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Kevin Dana is the Executive Director of Marketing and Product Development for CORT Events. He’s responsible for national marketing strategy across all channels and leads CORT’s product development strategy. In his 17 year tenure at CORT, he’s developed proprietary brands such as the Endless seating collection and Luna Lighting. Kevin served as a trustee on the National Association of Catering & Events Foundation, was named 2013 Marketing Professional of the Year by Event Solutions magazine, and is an authority on exhibit, meeting and event furnishing and décor trends for the trade show and special event industry. He lives in San Francisco.
Cheri Davies
Senior Director, Acquisition Marketing
Comcast
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Cheri Davies is a dynamic marketing executive with a background in energy and telecommunications. A proud native of Australia, she has developed a successful track record for leading high-impact marketing strategies for Fortune 100 companies, in both the U.S. and Australia.
In her current role at Comcast, she leads a team responsible for acquisition marketing strategy and end to end execution of innovative programs that accelerate revenue and national subscriber growth across multiple segments focusing on MDU and Students – both On Campus and Off Campus. Cheri’s experience applies across consumer video and internet product lines, and most recently she was appointed to lead the Marketing Strategy for Prepaid Internet and Video products nationally using an Omni channel approach.
Prior to this role, Cheri was a Marketing leader in the Comcast Houston Region. In her role, she managed the company’s local consumer marketing initiatives and strategic multi-million dollar sponsorships to spearhead incremental growth across all lines of business. Since joining Comcast in 2012, she has successfully managed a variety of marketing initiatives which have increased the company’s brand visibility to diverse audiences and positively impacted revenue.
For her commitment and passion for managing innovative multicultural marketing campaigns, she was awarded the prestigious EMMA Award, by the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC). Cheri has continued to develop award winning marketing strategies that have been recognized by the American Marketers Association and was listed as a “Women to Watch” by the Houston Chronicle. Most recently Cheri’s work on the University and Student Marketing Programs was recognized for multiple Cablefax Finalist Awards.
Before relocating to the U.S. from Australia, she distinguished herself as a marketing leader and innovator with Telstra, Australia's leading telecommunications firm.
Ms. Davies holds a master’s degree in Marketing and Business Management from Latrobe University. In addition, she is an active member of the Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT).
Ylonda Davis
VP Global Events & Experiences
AnitaB.org
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A customer-focused global events expert with 20+ years of success delivering strategic event management, customer marketing, end-user relations, partner marketing, and vendor management, Ylonda is currently the Vice President of Global Events and Experiences at AnitaB.org. She has vast experience working with Fortune 200 companies, including Apple, Intel, Symantec, VMware, and Marketo, managing marquee customer events, including ServiceNow Knowledge, Symantec Vision, and VMware VMworld. Ylonda is an exceptional leader who can manage strategic planning and flawless execution of world-class events and blend strategic communication, company identity, and experiential marketing to create unique relationships for employees, customers, and partners. In 2015, Ylonda along with two other industry professionals created a marketing consultant agency called Alloy which provides Public Relations, Marketing Strategy and Event Management to high tech companies. She is a native San Franciscan, born, raised and educated in the Bay Area.
Meagan DesChenes
Director of Events
HARD
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Adrian Duke
COO
Immersive Tech
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Adrian Duke’s experience in play-based technologies has earned him recognition across multiple fields and industries. He has been previously recognized by BC Business Magazine as a Top 30 Under 30, has founded and co-founded multiple companies, including Immersive Tech. He openly shares his knowledge with others. His work within both business and First Nation communities in Canada showcase a human driven by altruism and determined to make the world more positive, immersive, and entertaining.
Alicia Durfee
VP, Senior Account Director
Jack Morton Worldwide
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Alicia Durfee is a VP, Sr. Account Director at Jack Morton. Her award-winning brand experience work has driven engagement, positive brand sentiment and significant earned media for brands such as Liberty Mutual Insurance, L.L.Bean, ARM & HAMMER, New Balance and Keurig Green Mountain. She believes that great work is driven by the integration of smart insights and key cultural trends and that the development of strong collaborative relationships are the keys to successful partnerships. Alicia divides her time between Boston and Maine where she can be found by the lake in the summer.
Chuck Elias
CEO
EventBots by Sciensio
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Mr. Elias is the CEO and Co-founder of EventBots (by Sciensio), a leading provider of AI ChatBot Product and Services that improve customer service, lower costs and create amazing customer experiences. EventBots is the recipient of multiple event industry awards, including the 2017 SISO Innovation Battlefield Winner, 2017 #IMEXPitch Winner, 2017 IBTM World Technology Watch Winner, 2017 Event Tech Live Launchpad Finalist, and the 2018 National Sports Forum Tech Tank Winner.
Prior to co-founding EventBots, Mr. Elias was a senior executive with Home Depot, SuperValu, General Electric and Fortune Brands, as well as several startups, and lived and worked in China for two years. His expertise in business strategy, operations and IT have helped grow and transform businesses in the most difficult operating environments.
Mr. Elias developed his love of leadership and service at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and in the U.S. Coast Guard, acquired critical business knowledge at the Harvard Business School, and learned to develop and communicate strategy across a diverse range of industries at the Boston Consulting Group. He is passionate about helping employees, customers, clients, and companies unlock their full potential.
Eddie Flaherty
Sr. Experiential Marketing Planner
L.L. Bean
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Eddie Flaherty is the Sr. Experiential Marketing Planner for L.L.Bean in Freeport, Maine and has been a key contributor in the growth of experiential marketing at the 107 year-old company since 2013. In his current role at L.L.Bean, Eddie is responsible for leading strategy and execution of all out-of-store experiences, delivering results through innovation and flawless execution. Highlights include participating in two World Series parades with the iconic Bootmobile, 250% growth in programming since 2013 and the launch of L.L.Bean first ever Mobile Pop-Up Shop in 2017. Eddie is a Registered Maine Guide, avid fly fisherman, skier, white water paddler and serves on the Board of Directors for Teens to Trails, a small non-profit in Maine with a mission of providing access to outdoor experiences for students throughout the state.
Sean Florio
Co-Founder & Partner
Manifold
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Sean Florio is a Co-founder and Partner at Manifold, bringing 20 years of experience managing large-scale, award winning live event, experiential, brand marketing and global public relations campaigns for leading companies including Facebook, Uber, LinkedIn, GE and others. 11 of those years were spent growing Yahoo’s global Buzz Marketing team, focused on the convergence of experiential and digital in both the U.S. and abroad. Sean has played lead roles in several large-scale, high profile executions globally and has managed complex experiential campaigns at the FIFA World Cup, Olympics, MTV VMA’s and others.
Matt Ford
Founder
OA Experiential
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In 2016, Matt Ford started OA Experiential to offer brands an agency partner that could execute flawlessly on their creative ideas, all while providing exceptional customer service.
Matt has over ten years of experience producing large-scale events for some of the world's most well-respected brands. Some of his past and current clients include HGTV, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Harley-Davidson, Fox, FX, Clif Bar, AMC, TBS, TNT, Entertainment Weekly, Adidas, Sony, Atlantis Resorts and Comedy Central.
Lori Fraleigh
Senior Director, Developer Relations
Samsung Developer Program
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Lori Fraleigh is the Senior Director of Developer Relations at Samsung Electronics and the North American leader for the annual Samsung Developer Conference. She is an established industry thought leader in developer relations, software tools, development environments, and platforms. Lori is passionate about delivering an awesome developer experience, both in person and online. Prior to Samsung, Lori held similar roles at Intuit, Amazon/Lab126, HP/Palm and Motorola Mobility. At Intuit, she spearheaded the first Small Business Hackathon and led the developer components of the inaugural QuickBooks Connect conference. In year three of the conference, the hackathon and developer offering grew into a four-city global series. Lori started her career working on mission control software at NASA/Loral and is a Virgin Galactic Future Astronaut.
Steve Friedman
Co-Founder and Chief Strategist
CPG Agency
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With more than 35 years of experience working with global brands to develop strategy and execute large scale meetings and events, Steve has seen and done it all. He specializes in internal communications and engagement campaigns and consults with organizations to make sure their people are aligned with their business initiatives. Steve has helped shape CPG agency since its founding and continues to be the intellectual fuel behind many of its projects.
Greg Galle
Co-Author
“Think Wrong: How to Challenge the Status Quo and Do Work that Matters”
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Greg Galle has over 30 years of experience thinking wrong about leadership, motivation, coaching, planning, and decision making as well as a broad array of private, public, and civil sector innovation challenges including product, service, process, systems, policy, experience, engagement, talent, professional development, and culture innovation.
Greg co-founded Solve Next in 2012 and reaches thousands of people per year through client work and invitations to participate in top conferences and events around the world.
Recognizing that the way we are solving problems is broken, he built a first-of-a-kind cloud-based problem-solving system with co-founder Mike Burn that enables individuals and organizations to transform what is and innovate what’s next for themselves, their organizations, their communities, and their countries.
Think Wrong is used around the world across all sectors and society—from global corporations to individuals running local non-profits.
Greg, Mike Burn, and John Bielenberg co-authored Think Wrong: How to Conquer the status Quo and Do Work That Matters (Visitthinkwrongbook.com for more).
In 2001, Greg co-founded C2 Group, a brand strategy firm, to help leaders from technology start-ups, Fortune 500 companies, and the world’s top business management consulting firms develop, build and protect their brands.
Prior to founding C2 which he served for seven years as the Director of Brand and Marketing Strategy for Wells Fargo Nikko Investment Advisors, Barclays Global Investors, and Barclays PLC. There he was responsible for brand development, product and business innovation, and service and experience delivery across 200 businesses in over 70 countries. At Aaron Marcus and Associates, Greg’s clients included NASA, Apple, Hewlett Packard, Motorola, NCR, and Intel. Greg also serves on the board of Not For Sale, is an advisor to Fuse Corps, and a board member emeritus of Hope Street Group.
Brian Gates
SVP Marketing & Strategy
RainFocus
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Brian Gates is a marketer with an eye for design, passion for product, and a rich history of leading B2B SaaS companies to success. He joined RainFocus in 2016, overseeing strategic growth and drives the company's go-to-market strategy as the SVP of Marketing. Prior to RainFocus, Brian built his own tech companies before leading innovations at Infusionsoft and Instructure. A proud graduate of Purdue University, Brian can be found hiking through the backcountry or Jeeping in Moab when not building the RainFocus brand.
Alyson Griffin
VP of Marketing
Intel
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Alyson Griffin is a vice president in the Sales and Marketing Group and the general manager of Global Marketing for the Internet of Things (IoT) business organization at Intel Corporation. To this role, Griffin brings her extensive and diverse marketing experience in verticals, business-to-business (B2B) and consumer (B2C) with the goal of advancing the company’s IoT marketing prowess to support this high-growth business. This includes leading a customer nurture strategy and creating and amplifying a new narrative for the IoT business, while capturing more value from Intel’s ecosystem, partners, and end customers.
Most recently, Griffin led the Global Brand and Thought Leadership team where she re-architected Intel’s brand strategy, shifting focus to B2B marketing while working to bring inspirational case studies – grounded in Intel technology – to life. Under her stewardship, the Intel brand became the 11th best global brand in 2018, an increase of four points from the year before, as ranked by Interbrand. In addition, Griffin created Intel’s first-ever Thought Leadership marketing program with the charter of positioning Intel as a tech leader in building the future of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, 5g, and autonomous driving.
Prior to this position, she drove marketing for Intel’s Data Center Group business organization where she built a new set of B2B marketing capabilities that included content marketing, lead nurturing, and “consumer-like” activations aimed at inspiring target audiences.
Griffin joined Intel in 2016 after more than 16 years at Hewlett-Packard Company, where she had served as vice president of Americas Marketing, and spearheaded numerous business and consumer marketing initiatives across multiple business units – cloud, data center, networking, personal systems, and printers – and geographies, including leading the restructuring of Europe/Middle East/Africa marketing to fuel sales in 80-plus countries across the region.
Griffin is a board member for Junior Achievement of Northern California and Google Technology Council and holds a bachelor’s degree in speech communications from San Jose State University.
Ben Grossman
SVP, Group Strategy Director
Jack Morton Worldwide
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Ben Grossman is the SVP, Group Strategy Director at Jack Morton Worldwide (IPG), overseeing the strategy practice across the New York, Boston and Princeton offices. Ben leads new business pitches and establishes vision for accounts, setting the agency’s approach to business consulting, brand planning, communications architecture and measurement. He also serves on the agency’s Global Creative Council and heads the agency’s digital and content marketing practice. Ben has set strategy for some of the world’s foremost brands, including L.LBean, Subway, Liberty Mutual, P&G, Love Has No Labels, Fidelity, Calvin Klein, PUMA, Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation and many more. Attuned to what’s next and what constitutes best practices, he is passionate about business strategy, data-driven decision-making and creative efficacy. He is a frequent speaker at industry events and in the media.
Chris Habrowski
Director of Operations
eshots
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Greg Hadden
ECD
Motive Made Studios
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Heather Haigler
Cofounder
WorkTrip
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Suzanne Hanson
Senior Creative Director
George P. Johnson
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"As Senior Creative Director at George P Johnson Experience Marketing, Suzanne has been leading teams to create unique brand experiences for Cisco, Rodan + Fields, Salesforce and others.
Prior to joining experiential marketing world, Suzanne spent a decade designing commercial interiors and developing products for the consumer decor market. Her diverse knowledge base and collaborative mentality allow her to approach any project with a ""This is possible -- Let's figure out how"" attitude."
Monique Harrison
Head of Brand Experience Marketing
Mercedes-Benz USA
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Monique is the Head of Brand Experience Marketing for Mercedes-Benz, where she oversees national partnerships and engagement marketing across the United States, including the management of vehicle representation and sales within those entities. Monique is responsible for the strategic development, negotiations, budgeting, contracting and implementation of all brand building experiences. In this role, Monique has grown Mercedes-Benz sales year over year through sports partnerships such as Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA, the US Open in NY, New York and the Masters in Augusta, GA to name a few. In addition, she has greatly increased the companies brand presence across premier lifestyle events, film and TV with placement in the nation’s highest profile Concours events, blockbuster movies, highly rated TV shows and ambassador relationships. She also oversees Mercedes-Benz Motorsports investments, which has more than tripled under her leadership. Monique also led the company into consumer retail environments to further the approachability, revenue potential and overall exposure to the brand, making it easily accessible to millions.
Prior to joining Mercedes-Benz, Monique was the Associate Director of Marketing for Verizon Wireless. There she oversaw the brands national marketing programs and brand engagements, including the management of mobile products within all partnerships. Monique pioneered Verizon Wireless’ entry into major partnerships that allowed the mobile provider to breakthrough with first of its kind exclusive content offerings, such as the relationship with the National Football League (NFL) that allowed hundreds of millions of views of live NFL games to fans across the United States.
Prior to her Associate Director role, Monique was responsible for all sponsorships within parent company, Verizon Communications, and its many lines of business. Here, she was responsible for maximizing Verizon’s partnerships to grow revenue, the brand and overall consumer engagement through their many forms of technology. She also previously managed all sponsorships for the company’s Southern region, an 11 state area where she drove significant savings and managed many acquisitions into the portfolio. In her earlier marketing years, she led retail store merchandising for the South Area, where she was responsible for the development and placement of in store advertising.
Jessica Heasley
Content Director
Event Marketer magazine
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Before coming to Event Marketer in 2007, Jessica spent 15 years in marketing and events, activating challenger brands at high-profile film festivals, producing non-profit events for local arts organizations and providing marketing support for event design and production studios. She once fixed a branded 1972 VW bus accelerator pump on the side of a highway in South Carolina with a paper clip and some string the night before a 30-city college tour. Today she serves as the Content Director for the Brand Activation Group at Access Intelligence, overseeing editorial content and strategy for Event Marketer and Chief Marketer magazines. She earned her master’s degree with honors from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2007, and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington.
John Heiman
Director-Experiential Marketing
Sprint
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Marc Herron
Senior VP-Strategy
Sparks
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Marc is responsible for leading all aspects of Sparks’ Strategy division, including research/analysis, experiential road mapping/attendee journeys, measurement, relationship & business development and internal team expansion. Sparks’ experiences and activations range in size, scale, scope, audience demographic and industry vertical requiring an agile and targeted group of seasoned strategists that can attune to unique brand needs fluidly and seamlessly. Marc has almost 20 years of agency experience delivering strategic and targeted marketing campaigns for automotive clients such as General Motors, Audi, Kia, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Lexus, Honda, Volkswagen and Acura in addition to clients as diverse as Google, Mattel, eBay, HTC, Amazon, Western Union, Dish Network, Facebook, Magic Johnson Foundation, Abbott Medical Optics, Henry Schein, Qualcomm and Disney. With a breadth of expertise in corporate and consumer events, exhibits, strategic marketing, publication production, digital, interactive, direct mail, in-class facilitation, and training, Marc has touched almost every aspect of the "brand experience."
Heath Hill
President
Lime Media, LLC
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Heath is the President and Founder of Lime Media and owner of the nation’s largest fleet of assets to repurpose and deploy for agencies and brands across the US and Canada. For the last 13 years, Lime Media has worked with the biggest and best brands including Mc Donald’s, AT&T, Disney, AB InBev, KIND and an endless list of agencies along the way.
He is a gifted Ideator with a get it done attitude. He finds a way to get your message delivered when others spend the same time and effort explaining to you why it can’t be done. When the timeline is too short, the budget too small or the project too big he is in his element. He thrives in high-pressure situations where you find his best and brightest ideas and his passion for his work. These attributes have allowed him to build the biggest sampling company in North America for McDonald’s and ideate and fabricate over 175 assets in 2018 for AT&T’s Mobile Popup Retail initiative. Heath is also passionate about giving back. He is on multiple non-profit boards and advisory committees and has made it his mission to equip other business leaders to give back to causes that are impacting the world.
Shelley Hodgkinson
Senior Director, Shows & Events
Walmart
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As Senior Director of Event Solutions for Walmart, Shelley manages and leads Production, Creative and Communication for the Walmart Event Solutions team, which includes meeting production, audio visual support and technical direction.
The Event Solution team produces and supports over 300 corporate meetings and events each year, including the Walmart’s Annual Shareholders meeting, Saturday Morning meetings, and the U.S. and Sam’s Club Year Beginning and Holiday meetings.
Shelley has many years of live production, meeting and event experience. She joined the Corporate Shows and Events team in January 2015 from International Corporate Affairs where she was responsible for International meetings and events and supported the President and CEO of International.
Shelley joined Walmart International from Asda in 2013, where she held the position of Head of Internal Communications and Events, and prior to that a number of Retail and Operational Home Office and Field positions.
Julie Hogan
Director, Global Face-to-Face Marketing
Facebook
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Julie Hogan is the Director of Global Face-to-Face Marketing at Facebook Inc.
In her role leading the Face-to-Face marketing team, Julie is responsible for creatively leading the vision and strategy of Facebook's advertising presence around the world. With teams in Europe, Asia and the Americas, Julie's focus is creating meaningful connections that build community and bring people closer together. Julie additionally is responsible for cultivating core partnerships across the advertising industry through innovative sponsorship and content marketing.
Prior to joining Facebook, Julie held senior executive roles at Merkle, the Direct Marketing Association & United Business Media. She has a demonstrated ability to operate in a dynamic, multi-faceted environment and is skilled at building marketing teams who support brand building and directly drive revenue impact. Julie is also a frequent contributor to many industry publications and currently resides on the board of the International Advertising Association (IAA).
Julie grew up in Denver, Colorado and now lives in New York with her husband, Mark and two children, Audrey & Ryan.
Ken Holsinger
VP-Digital Solutions
Freeman
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Ken leads the Data Practice for Freeman leading teams that are building innovative data tools for integration & business intelligence, with data consulting, research, & industry benchmarking. These teams work with clients all over the world to drive decisions, improve results, & measure their marketing efforts.
Ken has been named on multiple hardware, software & process patents. He is a frequent presenter on numerous topics in the events, technology, & data-science space. He is also involved in his local community in Boise, Idaho as a startup mentor and tech workforce development leader.
Patricia Houston
COO/Founder
MMR Live
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Patricia (Tricia) Houston is the COO/Founder of MMR LIVE, an experience strategy agency, based in Atlanta. She is leading a new discipline that blends experiential marketing, marketing research, and operational know-how into one ethos. Houston and LIVE are on a mission to improve every experience.
Prior to founding MMR LIVE, Houston held several positions, including Vice President of Client Relationships for LIVE’s parent company, MMR Research Associates, a research concierge that helps shape business direction. She has also worked as a Consumer Insights Analyst for The Home Depot, and with Fortune 50 brands through award-winning ignition, an industry leader in experiential marketing, now a division of Havas Group.
Michael Hughes
Head of Data & Insights
Event Marketer Magazine
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In addition to providing a range of research reports and services with the Event Marketing Institute, Michael is a consultant and market researcher with deep experience in the events industry. He works with leading event producers, brands, venues, destination marketing organizations and investors. Some of his clients include Microsoft, the City of San Francisco, MGM Resorts, Lightfair International, the International Association of Congress Centers and other leading event producers and media companies. He also presents regularly at industry conferences and meetings.
Fredda Hurwitz
Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer
RedPeg Marketing
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Courtney Hutchison
Director-Experiential Marketing
Zillow
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Courtney has spent over a decade focusing on large-scale event management, sports and entertainment production. She is currently Director of Experiential Marketing at Zillow Group, which houses one of the largest portfolios of real estate and home-related brands including its flagship brand, Zillow. In her role, she leads a team of creative strategists, designers and storytellers to foster connections between Zillow Group and its key stakeholders across partner, consumer and internal event programs. Prior to joining Zillow Group, she worked as the Senior Director of Tough Mudder leading live production across North America, and has worked in the event space across various other properties including 2010 and 2012 Olympic Games Organizing committees, Sundance Film Festival, Times Square New Years Eve, and Primetime Emmy Awards among others. When not onsite rocking her two headsets and sporting her signature show-day fanny pack, you can find Courtney teaching yoga, hiking with her husband and Australian Shepherd or enjoying a great glass of wine in the sunshine.
Ariel Johnson Lin
Executive Director, Sports & Entertainment
J.P. Morgan Chase
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In her eight years at JPMorgan Chase, Johnson Lin has worked her way through banking, corporate philanthropy and marketing, finally arriving at a true passion: sports and cause marketing. She leads (1) the $17 million, 13-city JPMorgan Corporate Challenge, which she modernized to engage a more youthful audience, (2) a platform to address the Bay Area’s economic and social challenges for the Warrior’s forthcoming Chase Center arena in San Francisco and (3) the partnership between Chase, Under Armour and Steph Curry.
Nicole Kaplan
SVP Group Director Business Leadership
Momentum Worldwide
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"Nicole Kaplan is a SVP, Group Director, at Momentum Worldwide and a seasoned, global marketer (client, agency and media experience). Under her leadership, Nicole has led growth for client business ranging from financial services, technology, health care, consumer products, social networks, travel and luxury. Clients have included companies such as American Express, Virgin Atlantic, Facebook, Google, Verizon, Samsung, Exxon Mobil and Cigna.
Nicole’s work at Momentum has led to improved results for her clients, as well as significant press and industry awards. She is a consistent Effie and DRUM Award judge.
Nicole is a native New Yorker, the owner of arguably the cutest dog on the Lower East Side, member of Unsettled Scores Rock Choir, and her artwork has been shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art."
Todd Kaplan
Vice President of Marketing
PepsiCo
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Todd currently oversees all aspects of the Pepsi brand in North America. Over the years, Todd has held a number of marketing roles at PepsiCo where he has built a consistent track record of highly creative and innovative marketing. Todd holds a BA in Economics from Northwestern University, and an MBA from Yale University.
Nicola Kastner
Head of Global Event Strategy
SAP
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Jennifer Kauf
VP-Strategy
FIRST
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Building a client's story into an engaging live event requires both business savvy and creative flair. It's a balancing act Jen executes with precision, using her education and experience to bring objectives-driven strategies and innovative thinking in equal measure to any engagement brought her way. Throughout her career in experiential marketing, Jen has crafted a variety of award-winning event marketing initiatives, guerrilla programs, and promotional campaigns for brands such as GE, NBC Universal, UBS, and A&E.
During her tenure with FIRST, Jen has overseen the creative process for experiences including Verizon Media NewFronts, Mastercard leadership meetings, The New York Times thought leadership conferences, and Samsung product launches. And as an avid concert-goer, Jen understands what it takes to engage and entertain an audience, because she's regularly a part of one. She majored in Studio Arts at Binghamton University.
Josh Kell
Executive Creative Director
Switch
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An award-winning creative leader in the industry, Josh Kell uses his experience and acquired knowledge to lead the strategy, creative development, and activation of multi-platform campaigns for several of the world’s biggest brands. His award-winning work entertains, engages, and educates to create a lasting impression and on-going relationship between consumers and brands.
David Kenyon
SVP of Production
LEO Events
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As Senior Vice President of Production at LEO Events, David is the guy clients can rely on to turn visions into reality. That’s a tall order when your past clients have included Walmart, Disney World, Sprint, ExxonMobil, and Harley-Davidson, among many others. A seasoned executive producer, David manages everything from corporate business communications, live theatrical and concert productions to production staffing, budgeting and accounting and logistical coordination for clients around the world. He leads LEO’s team of producers and specialized operations staff and is always one to harness the best innovative technologies and tackle the seemingly impossible.
Julie Kikla
Director of Strategic Partnerships
PAX Labs
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Julie Kikla is an adrenaline junkie, uber connector and advocate in establishing cannabis as a force for good. She spent the last 15 years working at the intersection of Entertainment Media and Tech, leading business development and strategic partnerships at GoPro, YouTube, Whistle Sports and Google. When offered the opportunity to join PAX, the world's leading vaporizer company, to build partnerships that de-stigmatize cannabis she jumped at the opportunity. She is focused on making PAX a household name through music, lifestyle, wellness and entertainment partnerships that create new ways for consumers to discover cannabis and better understand how to incorporate it into their lifestyle.
Originally from Philly, Julie earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and currently lives in San Francisco, California. When not talking big ideas or scalable solutions, you can find her teaching power flow yoga, longboarding in Bolinas or skiing in Tahoe.
Patty Kim
Sr. Global Event Marketing Manager
Twitter
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Andy King
FYRE Festival
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Lisa Kocay
Contributing Writer
Forbes Life
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Brent Koning
FIFA Competitive Gaming Commissioner
Electronic Arts
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Brent is an industry veteran with a career working with some of the biggest names in the video game world, working across all disciplines of gaming, from marketing and advertising to game development and esports. As the leader of the FIFA Competitive Gaming team based in Vancouver, Brent and his team successfully launched the FIFA Ultimate Team Championship Series in 2017, then grew the 2018 FIFA Global Series to attract more than 20 million participants from 60 nations, and in 2019, the FIFA Global Series program has surpassed 650 million minutes of content consumed by fans, with millions engaging in events through online and traditional broadcasts. Soccer is in his DNA, as he’s a former player and licensed coach. In his role, he combines his passion for the sport with the emergent opportunity within competitive gaming to bring the world’s most popular sports video game franchise to the competitive arena.
Kim Kopetz
EVP, Marketing & Strategy
Opus Agency
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Kim leads the strategy offerings for Opus clients and oversees the agency’s marketing efforts. She is responsible for providing strategic leadership to clients in all verticals, bringing particular expertise to clients in the technology sector after spending five years with Intel Corporation in marketing and customer experience roles. Kim is passionate about creating a better connection between marketing and sales in order to successfully deliver on business objectives and drive positive customer engagement.
Kim has been part of the experiential marketing industry for more than 20 years. She previously served as EVP of Global Accounts for Opus, and she returns to the agency after her years with Intel. Her past experience in project management and account direction roles has given her deep knowledge and understanding of what it takes to successfully develop and implement an effective experiential strategy. Kim has also achieved success in events-related roles at CMD Agency and Nike.
Phil Koutsis
Executive Creative Director
We're Magnetic
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For over 25 years, Phil has helped craft award-winning, integrated campaigns, content and experiences at notable agencies including Grey, Hill Holliday, Wunderman, G2 Branding & Design, Tracy Locke, and Momentum Worldwide. Along the way, he has worked for some of the most well-known brands in the world including: Absolut, American Express, American Red Cross, Citi, Facebook, Google, Heineken, Kimberly-Clark, PepsiCo, Samsung, Sony, Starwood, SAP and Verizon. Before joining the team at We’re Magnetic, Phil was an SVP Group Creative Director at Momentum Worldwide running American Express—the largest client in their network. His work has spanned sports, entertainment, music, fashion, B2B, tradeshows, conferences and advocacy. He holds one patent. Founded an inventor website. And lives in Eastchester, NY in Westchester County with his wife and two teenage boys.
Iga Kozlowska
Privacy Manager
Microsoft
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Dr. Iga Kozlowska is a Privacy Manager for the Marketing and Consumer Business at Microsoft. In this role, she prepared the business for compliance with one of the most important privacy regulations in recent history – the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Iga’s area of expertise lies in event marketing privacy. She supports Microsoft’s global events space spanning small internal events and large (20,000+) flagship events. Iga received her CIPP/US certification in 2018. Prior to making the switch into the tech industry, Iga completed her PhD in sociology at Northwestern University in 2017. Her Fulbright-funded dissertation research focused on social and cultural European integration in the 21st century. In Brussels for this research, Iga witnessed GDPR discussions firsthand and was hooked ever since.
Naomi Kyle
Actor and Host
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Naomi Kyle, celebrated producer, icon of the video game industry and current host of the new CBS show The Ready Room has acted and starred alongside Terry Crews and Clint Howard in feature films, was the executive producer and host of IGN’s award-winning news show The Daily Fix for 5 years running, and hosted Discovery Channel’s Battlebots during their third season. Naomi is a prominent figure in the entertainment and gaming industry having been featured on networks such as Disney XD, CBS, Netflix, and 20th Century Fox among others. Alongside acting and hosting, Naomi has also represented top companies including AT&T, Samsung, Best Buy, Blizzard, and Warner Bros.
Kacie Lehman
SVP Partnerships
MAC Presents
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Kacie Lehman is Senior Vice President of Partnerships for MAC Presents, a leading music sponsorship and experiential agency. In her seven years with the company, Lehman has played a key role in developing global partnerships with culture’s leading brands and artists. She has been instrumental in developing many award winning brand-artists programs including; Chance The Rapper’s brand ambassadorship with H&MxKENZO; Khalid’s partnership with Forever 21; MadeInTYO’s integrated partnership with Sprite; Southwest Airlines’ “On The Rise” program with Khalid; Southwest Airlines’ “Destination Dragons” tour and campaign with Imagine Dragons and Taylor Bennett’s partnerships with Urban Outfitters, Express and Diesel, among many others.
Steve Lemon
President
Steve Lemon & Associates
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Steve Lemon is a large-scale event planner and manager with over four decades experience producing a wide variety of special events. Several years ago, Steve recognized the need to evolve our industry in a more safety-centric direction, and he began to research and study event safety. Today, in addition to producing events, Steve consults with agencies on how to evolve their safety planning to better meet the rapidly changing needs of the industry and the brands we serve. Steve is FEMA IS15 certified and an active member of the Event Safety Alliance, as well as the lead writer for the recently published Event Safety Guide.
Jessica Lewis
Media Lead
Facebook Watch
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Jessica Lewis is an entertainment marketer and producer with a 15-year career that spans the globe. As a young New York theater producer, she produced and developed musicals around the country, including White Noise with Whoopi Goldberg (New York, New Orleans, Chicago), and Hats in partnership with The Red Hat Society and Harrah’s Casino (New Orleans, Las Vegas). Experiential highlights include activating the longest kick-line down the Las Vegas strip with the Red Hat Society (Hats), and developing a cultural talkback series in partnership with the Southern Poverty Law Center in New Orleans (White Noise).
After building an online video division for BroadwayWorld.com, Jessica moved to Australia to run international marketing initiatives at Arts Centre Melbourne for West End, Edinburgh and US performing arts events. While there, she helped execute the Play Me, I’m Yours street piano project, the largest city-wide arts event in the company’s history at the time, engaging 500,000 participants. She additionally developed a real-life bear hunt in collaboration with the Royal Melbourne Zoo for the West End’s We’re Going on A Bear Hunt - a stunt that lead to multiple show extensions and delivered 160% on ticket sales targets.
Since shifting into streaming, at Netflix she managed digital marketing internationally for The Crown, Making A Murderer, The Get Down etc. In her latest professional endeavor, she launched the media team for Facebook Watch and Facebook Originals in Los Angeles. Early experiential work includes the Sacred Lies Escape Room at San Diego Comic-Con in 2018, with additional projects coming to life throughout 2019.
Robin Lickliter
Chief Experience Officer
Sparks
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Robin is responsible for directing all aspects of Sparks’ Event division, including client relationship development, business operations and team growth.
Sparks’ experiences and activations range in size, scale, scope, audience demographic and industry vertical requiring a diverse team with a variety of talents. People are her passion; Robin prides herself on the ability to create the right teams for brands across many platforms.
Robin has over 20 years of agency experience in event marketing, PR and advertising. Prior to joining Sparks she worked in a production role at a digital design studio in New York and later a fashion publication.
Kelly Long
Partner
Manifold
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Kelly Long is a Co-founder and Partner at Manifold, overseeing high profile accounts including Uber, Bumble, GitHub and others and leads Manifold’s Business Development. Prior to Manifold, Kelly held senior positions at Yahoo in the Global Buzz Marketing department working with brand marketing and product leads, as well as global advertising partners, to create and implement unique, experiential marketing and advertising campaigns. She also held various positions in Yahoo's Corporate Communications division for many years working closely with the executive team on internal and external communications around the company's financial news, M&A deals, strategic partnerships and general corporate issues. Prior to Yahoo, Kelly held positions at Porter Novelli and Ogilvy overseeing corporate communications programs for global clients including Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, McAfee and others. She is currently a member of the Ambassador Board for Make-A-Wish Oregon.
Laura Lovas
Executive Director-Strategic Partnerships & Events
ABC
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Allie Magyar
CEO
Hubb
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Allie Magyar is a skilled entrepreneur and technology maven with over 15 years of experience driving successful technology-enabled service companies. She founded Hubb in 2015 to build a technology solution that directly addressed the event technology needs of meeting planners as they manage the overload of information for their event. As CEO of Hubb, Allie directs the company’s strategic direction with an emphasis on partnerships, integrations, and growth. Allie is CMP certified, a member of Vistage, a two-time Inc. 5000 award winner, and was named a 2017 Top Women Entrepreneur by Smart Meetings, and, in 2018 was an EY Pacific NW Entrepreneur of the Year finalist.
Beth Malafa
Head of Global Events
Under Armour
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Elizabeth Malafa Kurman is the Director of Global Events for Under Armour Worldwide in Baltimore, Maryland. Her background spans more than 15 years from working with professional football teams to collegiate athletics to consulting on large-scale activations such as the Super Bowl and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship. Her passion for executing engaging experiences has never wavered and she still holds true to the values she learned early on: to create remarkable experiences for all attending the event.
Brian Martin
SVP, Marketing and Communications
Project
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Leasa Mayer
EVP, Strategic Partnerships
Opus Agency
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Leasa is an innovative executive with exceptional communication and interpersonal skills. She has mastered the art of building a strong, vibrant culture with people who are focused on consistently deliver exceptional results. Leasa grew CRG Events, one of the largest event agencies in the Pacific Northwest, from $1M to $10M in revenue before it was acquired by Opus Agency in 2018. Leasa now serves as Executive Vice President at Opus.
Leasa has extensive knowledge around successfully leveraging strategic events to achieve corporate goals such as increased employee engagement and building B2B and B2C channels. Leasa was awarded the WBO Nellie Cashman Business Owner of the Year in 2015, and has been recognized as a Woman of Influence by the Puget Sound Business Journal.
A member of the Amara board since 2009, Leasa served as Board President in 2015 & 2016. Under her leadership, Amara successfully navigated the purchase of land and building construction to serve as Amara’s home, moving the organization from renting to owning their HQ.
Leasa earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Puget Sound.
Erin McElroy
Program Director of Marketing Innovation
IBM
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One of Event Marketer’s 2018 Dream Team, Erin devotes her passion to driving innovation and creativity to a wide range of global projects, campaigns, and initiatives. In her role as an innovator in IBM’s corporate headquarters marketing group, she has consistently led award-winning experiences. From conceiving of Reimagine Retail in collaboration with the Fashion Institute and Tommy Hilfiger, to broadcast collaborations with ABC and Warner Brothers and inventing cognitive experiences at top tier events, such as CES, think, Gartner, and SXSW, Erin always focuses on reaching people through a story and a memorable experience. She’s excited to be a part of the wave of technology, marketing, and creative evolution happening, as a result of cognition and artificial intelligence. Erin resides in Dallas, is an avid cyclist, and enjoys helping solve the world’s water and hunger crisis by sponsoring initiatives around the globe.
Follow her on twitter or LinkedIn @ erinmcelroybiz
Yossi Meshulam
CEO
Ripples
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Jonah Midanik
CEO
Limelight Platform
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Hillary Miller
VP Group Account Director
Motive
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Sarah Mills
Senior Manager of Event Technology for the Global Event Marketing
Splunk Inc
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Sarah Mills is the Senior Manager of Event Technology for the Global Event Marketing department at Splunk. Events have been the backbone of Sarah’s life for over 10 years, so it is only appropriate that her role is building and managing the backbone (and the neckbone … and the head bone) of Global Events at Splunk. Splunk’s #1 initiative is customer success and Sarah’s #1 initiative is customer experience. The system functionality sets the pace for an entire event – it has to be flawless. While Sarah's entire wardrobe is black, she does have quite the colorful personality (find her and ask her about her tattoos or about the time she almost blew out the power at Splunk HQ (ALMOST)). When Sarah isn’t working on integrating some new system or trying to figure out how we’re supposed to stay up to date with GDPR compliance, you can find her hanging out with her adorable pup or being talked into another race immediately after saying ‘that was my last one.’
Erin Moore
Manager-Global Convention
Alcon Laboratories Inc
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Erin manages a team of 8, producing an average schedule of over 500 events for global eye health leader, Alcon. In her current role, she and her team plan and execute exhibit activations ranging from table top presences at regional events to 100x120 mega-booths at international conferences – all the while balancing business objectives with brand, compliance and budget parameters.
Erin was introduced to events industry in 2013 when she joined Alcon to lead an operations team supporting internal and customer facing events. As her exposure to the Events Channel grew, so did her passion. Leveraging an engineering background and strong analytical mind honed via 11 years with aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, Erin continually seeks to optimize Alcon’s exhibit activations via thoughtful, data-driven strategy and by creating memorable and innovative attendee engagements.
Erin lives in the DFW area with her husband, Mike. When not traveling the globe in support of Alcon events, she enjoys spending time on adventures with her family.
Ryan Mortimer
Head of Experiential
Anheuser-Busch Inbev
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Keith Myers
Account Executive
TOURtech
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Frank Nakano
Managing Director-Sports & Entertainment
J.P. Morgan Chase
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A former NBA marketer, Nakano has been directing JPMorgan Chase’s sports marketing at a time when the financial services giant is running a fast break. He is responsible for aligning the Chase brand with sports and entertainment properties on behalf of multiple lines of business across the retail and wholesale businesses. Nakano developed his brand marketing skills at Momentum Worldwide and during his nine years with the NHL. Principal to the large Chase sports portfolio during the past few years have been naming rights to the Golden State Warriors’ new $1 billion San Francisco arena, opening next year. Nakano helped secure the deal, adding West Coast visibility and helping to balance the bank’s massive MSG sponsorship.
Jorge Narvaez
ECD
George P. Johnson
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Dave Natale
Director, Community Marketing
Dick's Sporting Goods
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Dave Natale’s storied career began in 1991 at the first DICK’S store in Binghamton, NY, where he worked part-time as a store associate during high school. After an fleeting decision to quit (that lasted two days), Dave quickly recommitted to his job and was promoted to Sales Manager. In 1999, DICK’S moved its corporate headquarters to Pittsburgh, PA, where Dave joined the company as an Online Merchandise Manager. His career has since involved many facets of retail – ecommerce, product development, category marketing, regional marketing and sports marketing. Today, as the Director of Community Marketing, Dave oversees a nationwide team of community marketing managers that deepen relationships in the communities DICK’S serves. Dave is a graduate of Buffalo State College and an avid sports fan. Outside of work, he volunteers as the VP of Youth Baseball Recreational Board and has coached his kids’ teams for more than six years. Get to know Dave, and he’ll tell you all about seeing DICK’S grow from one store to more than 700, and how he’s been at DICK’S longer than he hasn’t.
Alaine Newland
Event Producer
GitHub
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Casey O'Looney
Senior Manager, Global Marketing
Cisco
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Tim Oberbauer
Assistant Brand Manager
PepsiCo
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Tim Oberbauer is the Asst. Brand Manager for PepsiCo in Germany and contributed to the growth of Pepsi MAX since 2017. In his current role at PepsiCo, Tim is responsible for leading the strategy and execution of all Pepsi activation, ATL and BTL. The highlight in 2018 was the Pepsi MAX Taste Challenge which has undoubtedly heightened visibility and trial of the brand through the heavyweight support package of digital, in-store, and social advertising alongside the best in class taste test events.
Zachary Papale
Global Head of Experiential Marketing & Brand Partnerships
YouTube
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Jamie Parker
CEO
Jaybird
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"Jamie Parker is the President and CEO of Jaybird where he leads the brand and accelerates innovation for runners and athletes. Prior to Jaybird, Parker served in various leadership positions at Nike, and brings a wealth of experience from both global roles in the U.S., Europe and Latin America, including serving as global general manager of Nike’s Lifestyle Retail Concepts, general manager of Nike Sportswear in Brazil, and general manager of Nike Manchester United in the UK.
Parker earned an MBA from Harvard University and an undergraduate degree from Washington and Lee University. He has a great passion for ultrarunning and the outdoors."
Jordan Pollak
SVP, Experiential
Cogent
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Cullen Poythress
Senior Communications Manager-Action Sports
Adidas
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Cullen Poythress carries close to a quarter century of professional experience as a steward of skateboarding and youth culture. With a diverse career spanning a variety of fields, he’s held editorial, sales, retail, marketing and management roles at some of the industry’s leading organizations—on top of this he has also traveled the world alongside some of the most important names in pro skateboarding. Poythress currently heads up marketing communications at adidas Action Sports in Portland, Oregon where he drives the brand’s voice within the skate, snow, music, art and street culture space.
Dan Preiss
Senior Director, Experiential Marketing
Dell Technologies
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Dan Preiss is a Senior Director of Global Experiential Marketing at Dell, responsible for leading the Event Ideation Team. He is based in Chicago, Illinois. Dan joined Dell from kCura, where he served as the Director of Community and Event Marketing. Prior to kCura, Dan held a variety of leadership roles at EMC as part of the Global Experiential Marketing team. Dan holds a BSBA and MBA from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.
Raj Puran
Director of Client VR Business Development & Strategic Partnerships
Intel
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Raj Puran is a 25 year veteran of the semiconductor and software industry with Intel Corporation. He is currently Director of Business Development & Strategic Partnerships focusing on the growth areas of compute in Virtual, Augmented and Extended Realities. Raj has spent the last four years of his tenure on building business opportunities, use cases and experiential marketing with partnerships in Location Based Entertainment, Museums, Education and other commercial XR segments. Raj leads opportunities for his customers and partners to utilize exciting and intense compute power in the immersive technology and XR landscape through a collective ecosystem of compute focused Processing, Storage, Sensing Technology, Date Processing, Content Creation Solutions, and new innovations in the area of Wireless VR, AR, 5G, AI, Volumetric Capture and Immersive Sports available from Intel.
Brian Quarles
Chief Creative Officer
rEvolution
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Brian Quarles is a specialist in creative strategy and a veteran in designing both campaigns and spectacles and brings over 20 years of creative leadership to the rEvolution team. Brian has played a pivotal role in bringing integrated campaigns in soccer to life for elite global brands and properties including Chipotle, CONCACAF, Continental Tire, Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and the US Soccer Federation.
Kati Quigley
Senior Director-Marketing Communications
Microsoft
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Kati leads the global product marketing communications team for the Business Applications solution area at Microsoft. Her team is responsible for driving awareness and increasing marketing momentum for Dynamics 365 and the Power platform through discoverability with engaging content and experiences. Her team focuses on showcasing best practices, executive communications, numerous digital marketing channels and 1st and 3rd party events.
Previously Kati led the partner marketing team for Microsoft’s One Commercial Partner (OCP) for six years including broad marketing and several active community channels. She also, for 10 years, was the director of event marketing for the Microsoft Corporate Events team. Kati’s team had responsibility for a large majority of the company’s strategic events. The focus was on large branded and internal events, product launches and tradeshows. She also was responsible for driving the global thought leadership for both in person as well as digital events.
Prior to Microsoft, Kati spent over a decade in the Washington DC area as a director of meetings, marketing and professional development for various trade associations. She has had the responsibility for logistics and content for conferences held around the world ranging from 10-15,000 people.
Kati is active in speaking at professional conferences on topics ranging from marketing to leadership to women in technology. She is a graduate of the University of Washington, has two teenage sons that play baseball, football and golf. She is a lifelong sports enthusiast, trail runner and loves leading an active lifestyle in the Pacific Northwest.
Arkadiusz Radziejewski
Director, B2C Events & Promotions
VOK DAMS Agency for Events & Live-Marketing
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Arek enjoys making ideas happen – he started his first business at the age of 17 with promotions and events for a fitness center chain.
During his studies at the Humboldt University he was a member of the Organising Committee for the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany. After the FIFA World Cup he was responsible for the national roll out and sampling campaign to launch Coca-Cola Zero in Germany. His most recent role was the execution of all promoter-supported sampling activities in soccer stadiums, gaming exhibitions, motorsport, public events and POS.
In 2007 Arek was contracted by VOK DAMS for the int. awarded Mercedes-Benz E-Class Experience Roadshow and promoted to Promotion Director for three years being responsible for int. consumer events and promotions. In addition, the expansion of the VOK DAMS Group into specialized fields was advanced by establishing expert subsidiaries, and bringing industry leading entities into the VOK DAMS fold.
In 2010 Arek founded the full-service live marketing agency “42 Promotion” with Colja Dams, CEO of the VOK DAMS Group, a specialised experiential marketing unit for int. consumer events and promotions with a drive and car-handling spin-off called 42 Drive.
As a Volkswagen Group “preferred partner” for promotion & event staff since 2011 he has a passion for building high performing teams and well-trained brand ambassadors for int. events, exhibitions and roadshows like the Bentley Boys for all Bentley Motors events, IAA and roadshows or Skoda World Dealer Conferences in Prague, Sevilla, Valencia and Vienna.
He has more than 15 years of experiential & live marketing experience and worked for well-known brands creating and realising live campaigns and consumer events for int. clients such as Coca-Cola, Puma, Nespresso, Porsche, Lamborghini and others. He organised major public events & festivals like the Holi Festival of Colours with more than 500.000 visitors worldwide, the Pepsi MAX Challenge and Lipton “City Slide” Samplingcampaign for PepsiCo, the Kia On Tour “Autoball” Roadshow for the UEFA Sponsor or the BMW i3 Launch Events with more than 1200 electric test drives in 47 Dealer Showrooms at the same day and the “Electrifying” roadshows in Germany & Switzerland. For the leading tobacco company Philip Morris (PMI) Arek and a team of specialists invented a sales campaign concept to recruit, train and hire more than 550 sales representatives to setup a sale force for the “iqos” direct sales campaign. the biggest project in the company's history.
When Arek isn’t preparing the next live campaign he enjoys boating around Potsdam and Berlin with his children Maxi, Joschi and Niki.
Jared Rampersaud
Music Agent
WME
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Josh Randall
Writer / Director, Experiential
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Josh Randall is a Live Event Producer and Creative Director based in Los Angeles. Best known as a creator of the internationally recognized immersive horror experience, BLACKOUT, Josh has also created multi-platform experiences for the New York Times, Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, Focus Features, Crypt TV, Aviron Pictures, the DJ Skrillex, the band Queens of the Stone Age, and the Emmy-award winning Secret Location in Toronto. Having created and produced more than 50 immersive experiences around the US, Josh has also worked in the administrative offices of the New York City Opera, the Public Theater’s Summer Play Festival, Second Stage Theater, and Manhattan Theater Club. He most recently wrote and directed the “The Castle Rock Live Experience” at 2018 San Diego Comic-Con, and is currently the Creative Producer of Immersive Programming for Two Bit Circus.
Trish Rexroth
Executive Creative Director
On Board Experiential
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Trish has been crafting creative ideas and experiential marketing strategies for over a decade. With so many years of experience, she's seen and done it all...from creating a tailgate tour for Lady Gaga to overseeing the installation of a moon-like alien vehicle for Activision, from imagining football players on roller skates to seeing small business owners learn how to do better business through social media. Experiential marketing is Trish's passion, and she fully believes that the best and bravest creative is born from deep and compelling research-based insights, and is delivered by pushing the boundaries in terms of the journey and design.
James Riseborough
CEO
Turtle Transit
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James Riseborough began his first entrepreneurial venture at age 25 when he started Alternative F/X, Inc. Due to James' creativity, unique design and branding abilities, Alt F/X became the night club industry's most innovative and successful fabricator of 3 dimensional focal points. Clients included Aerosmith's Mamakin, House of Blues, Harley Davidson Cafes and Landsdowne Street's Avalon to name just a few. After 10 successful years, James expanded his business to include partial ownership of Jack Rabbit design, a print marketing company. James was tasked with creating and developing the mobile marketing side of the business. Drawing inspiration from the old fable, the Tortoise and the Hare, Turtle Transit was born. It took no time for James to realize that his passion was in the design and building of promotional vehicles and display, so he parted ways with Jack Rabbit and proceeded on with Turtle. Since then, 18 years has passed and Turtle has become the leader in creative, memorable, brand enhancing mobile tours and displays, having worked with many of the nation's top 100 brands in the market. James spends his free time with his family, riding anything that has a engine as well as working on his collection of 60’s muscle cars and vintage motorcycles.
Darren Ross
President
Riddle & Bloom
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Darren Ross is President, Chief Operating Officer at Riddle & Bloom/Teall Acquisitions. R&B is a collection of 3 companies focusing on ideas and access that target the next generation consumer via college, high school and technology-based businesses. Darren leads the product and sales team alongside the firm’s Campus, Experiential and Digital offerings.
Darren also serves on several advisory and non-profit boards including the David Ortiz Children’s Fund, who provides essential support for children in the Dominican Republic and in New England who cannot afford the critical cardiac services they need and American Digital Licensing and Package Co, providers of co-branded social advertising campaigns that pair your message with the brand equity of your partners that your audience already knows and trusts.
Prior to this role, Darren served as Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing for production and creative agency Cramer. There Darren worked with brands such as Staples, Keurig, Avery Dennison, New England Coffee, EMC, and Siemens, growing the group to become one of the largest digital marketing and event solutions companies in the country. Darren remains on the Board of the private, family-owned company.
Prior to Cramer, he was Chief Operating Officer at InterMedia Interactive Solutions, where he worked with clients such as Callaway, Pfizer, Pharmacia, Aventis, Coke of Philadelphia and Shiseido Cosmetics. Before that, he headed global interactive marketing for PUMA.
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Darren lives in Manchester by the Sea, MA (yes, like the movie), is married to a lovely woman and has 2 great kids. He still can’t believe it.
Andrew Rossi
Business Lead
Google Events + Experiences
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Andrew is part of the Events & Experiences team at Google managing all of the work for the Google Assistant including its breakthrough activations at CES 2018 + 2019. Prior to that, Andrew oversaw all of the ads marketing work for the team. Before Google, Andrew was a Senior Vice President at M Booth Public Relations and ran experiences for The Macallan, JCPenney, American Express, Greenland and Hershey’s. He’s from Ohio and loves television and brunch.
Paul Salinger
VP Marketing
Oracle Corporation
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Paul Salinger is a VP of Marketing for Oracle and is part of the Marketing Management team reporting directly to the Chief Marketing Officer. He has a broad portfolio that includes strategic communications, creative concepting, event strategy, event design, event content idea generation and works across marketing to help generate brand enhancing creative ideas. He also leads the efforts for bringing green meeting/sustainable strategies and practices to Oracle events globally. He is Past President of the Green Meeting Industry Council and sits on their Board.
Chuck Santoro
Chief Creative
Proscenium
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Chuck brings 20 years of creative experience to Proscenium and as a Founding Partner and he leads the agency’s creative efforts, including working with Harley-Davidson, TD Ameritrade and Lowe’s. He also recently completed T-Mobile's seven-city #Unstoppable tour, reaching more than 15,000 attendees. T-Mobile's relationship with Chuck spans eleven years and two prior agencies. Chuck is also a published playwright, former soap star, and Syracuse University graduate.
Alex Sapiz
VP, Global Events
Cisco
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During her more than 20 years of working with some of the world’s leading brands on their events, Alex has built a reputation as an innovator in experiential marketing. As Vice President of Global Events at Cisco, Alex leads a team of event marketers who produce a vast portfolio of award-winning events, including Cisco Live, Partner Summit, and Cisco's global sales kickoff – Cisco Impact. Prior to joining Cisco, Alex served as Vice President, Client Services, at George P. Johnson (GPJ), a leading experience marketing agency, where she worked with the company’s top strategic accounts, including Cisco, Intel, Siebel, and Salesforce.
Annie Saunders
Writer/Director
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Annie Saunders is an experiential director and collaborative live artist. Her company, Wilderness, creates immersive performance site-specifically in under-utilized urban spaces in Los Angeles and around the world. The company has also presented work at REDCAT, the Public Theater, Summerhall, the San Francisco Playhouse and the Getty Villa and created branded commissioned work for Cannes Lions, Bulleit Bourbon, Dos Equis, Hewlitt Packard, Asics Worldwide and Mastercard. She was a participant in the 2017/18 Devised Theater Working Group for next-generation performance-makers at the Public Theater in New York City. She trained at the University of London, the Sanford Meisner Center, and RADA, and spent ten years as a creative activist with Eve Ensler's V-Day, a global creative movement to end violence against women. She is a core collaborator with Lars Jan’s Early Morning Opera and has appeared in Holoscenes, The Institute of Memory (TIMe) and Abacus.
Tino Schaedler
CDO
Optimist
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Named by Luerzer’s archive as one of the top digital artists worldwide, Tino’s combination of cutting edge digital and design skills has established him as one of the most sought-after design talents today. Exploring the intersection of film, architecture, and virtual reality, he moves seamlessly between the physical and digital. Tino's unique skillset has been commissioned for game-changing concepts, events and working spaces for brands including Nike, Google, Apple, BMW, as well as music artists such as Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams and Lady Gaga.
Kelsey Schimmelman
Senior Event Producer
GitHub
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Kelsey Schimmelman is an event producer at GitHub. She manages the GitHub Universe program, a user conference series that includes GitHub Satellite, a regional summit which will take place for the first time this year in Amsterdam. She is excited about creating unique and memorable experiences for event attendees, and loves to integrate art, music and surprising tactile elements into her conferences.
Alex Schultz
Director of Marketing
Corona Extra
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Amaryll Schwertner
Executive Chef, Culinary Star and Restaurant Designer
Bouli Bar and Boulette’s Larder, San Francisco
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Amaryll's work has predominantly transpired in the San Francisco Bay Area at establishments such as Chez Panisse, Square One, Greens, Zuni Cafe, Baywolf, Robert Mondavi’s Great Chefs series, and as the private chef for prominent San Francisco families. Her work has been documented in several books and publications including the NEW YORK TIMES, The Financial Times of London, The Wall Street Journal, and in national food magazines including Sunset, Gourmet, Saveur, and Bon Appetite. Additionally, Amaryll has contributed toward the design of several of the restaurants she has headed. She believes that the quality of her work product is directly relatable to the functional and aesthetic design of the kitchens and dining rooms where the work is presented. This distinguishes her vision as an intelligent response to the many factors at play when articulating an idea and creating places opposed to restaurant designs driven by concept or celebrity. Her soulful and beautiful kitchens and dining rooms and her reference of the Larder as a renewed center of importance (and as an original expression of a business), defines her leadership in the world of culinary forward thinking.
Larry Settembrini
VP
ReedPOP
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As VP at ReedPOP, Larry Settembrini created an in-house experiential agency for Reed Exhibitions where he and his team has helped brands such as AT&T, Chevrolet, DirecTV, Dreamworks, Monster Energy, Samsung, and others create highly successful authentic and engaging activations at B2C and B2C events around the globe. Larry will talk about understanding partner needs, then ideating ways to meet those needs by leveraging events to create an unforgettable experience for attendees. He will share success stories and lessons learned from his wealth of experience.
Tracey Shechtman
VP-Global Experiential Marketing
American Express
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"It's all about the customer experience. With a background in experiential design, Tracey is an expert in creating unforgettable moments to enhance relationships.
As the Vice President of Experience Marketing at American Express, she is responsible for designing in-person experiences. During her tenure at the company, she has held a variety of leadership positions in marketing, concentrating on building customer loyalty and engagement. She has also led teams that created Customer Events and Advocacy programming to bolster small business growth.
Prior to joining American Express, Tracey worked on the agency side creating programming for major entertainment and consumer brands, utilizing both traditional marketing channels and creative tactics.
Tracey has a B.S. from Dartmouth and currently lives in New York City."
Shawn Silverman
SVP, Brand Marketing and Events
Comedy Central/Paramount Network/TV Land
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Shawn Silverman is Senior Vice President of Brand Marketing for Comedy Central, Paramount Network, and TV Land and is based in the company’s SoHo offices in New York City, reporting to Josh Line, Executive Vice President, Marketing & Creative. In his elevated role, Silverman will oversee the strategic development of all off-channel paid advertising campaigns, consumer and industry promotional events, and experiential marketing initiatives at the #1 brand in comedy.
Previously, Silverman was Vice President, Brand Marketing. In this role, he oversaw award-winning marketing campaigns for Comedy Central franchises including The Daily Show, South Park, Key & Peele, Broad City, and the Roasts. Most recently, Silverman spearheaded The Daily Show Presents: The Donald J. Trump Presidential Twitter Library, which drew thousands of visitors and long lines for admission, and the SP20 Experience, an immersive consumer activation celebrating South Park’s most iconic moments ahead of the show’s season 20 premiere, which became its highest rated premiere since season 3 (1999).
Silverman joined Comedy Central’s marketing team in 2011 as a manager. In 2018, he added responsibility for Paramount Network and TV Land. Prior to that, Silverman worked on the marketing team at MTV Games developing advertising campaigns for the Dance Central & Rock Band video game franchises. Before moving to New York, he worked as a casting assistant at 20th Century Fox Television on shows including Sons of Anarchy, How I Met Your Mother, Glee, and Family Guy.
In 2006, Silverman started his career at the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) as an assistant in the Interactive Media & Video Games department.
In 2005, Shawn earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University. His senior year, he was given “The Spirit of Ohio State” award, which is given to a student that embodies scholarship, leadership, service, innovation, and integrity.
Angie Smith
Head of Event Marketing
Atlassian
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Angie has spent the last 20 years building engaging, interactive, measurable, highly targeted and relevant attendee experiences. Both on the brand and agency side, Angie has been tasked with building strategy that create brand evangelists, accelerate performance and motivate audiences. To make all of this happen it takes a highly collaborative leader that has a gift for building high performing teams and laser focus on partnerships that act as a foundation for operational excellence.
When not enjoying a dirty martini, you can find Angie with her husband making their way through as many wineries possible in Northern California. She is an avid music lover, gratitude spreader and loves to dance. Where does she get her high energy and passion? Reading a positive quote every morning when she starts her day.
Bruce Starr
Founding Partner
BMF
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At the age of nineteen, Bruce Starr started his experiential marketing career with a singular vision: to build a breakthrough offering for brands to tap into trends in popular culture and build authentic, lasting connections with relevant audiences. As a founding partner, Bruce plays an instrumental role as visionary and futurist regarding the next trends and tipping points to leverage on behalf of clients and colleagues, for his company and for the industry’s continued growth and health. His personal passion for global travel and cultural exploration drives the award-winning concepts and campaigns he and the BMF team generate, year after year.
Matt Statman
Founder and CEO
Motive
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For the last 17 years, Matt's built and led a multidisciplinary team of big idea chasers and executional top guns to develop disruptive, culturally charged, content-driven campaigns in lock step with—or sometimes ahead of—a constantly evolving new frontier.
Richard Steinau
Senior Vice President
WorldStage, Inc.
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Richard Steinau, Senior Vice President @ WorldStage, is a featured speaker nationwide on innovation and new technology developed specifically for live events and experiences. His extensive insight into the inner-workings of the event world give him a unique perspective on how to utilize technology in new and creative ways. His entertaining style and ability to make the complex appear simple have led to his presentations consistently being rated as highly educational and valued. For more information on Richard check out his LinkedIn profile (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rsteinau/) and visit worldstage.com.
Helen Stoddard
Head of Global Events
Twitter
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Helen started her professional career launching Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project. Later, Helen was recruited to become an integral member of David Letterman’s support team in the daily production of The Late Show as the Assistant to David Letterman.
After four years in Network television, Helen joined Toys”R”Us. There, she opened the Toys”R”Us international flagship store in Times Square. Continuing to develop her production and events experience, she then expanded her role directing Special Events for the full Toys “R” Us brand (400+ locations) with in-store events and strategic promotions with Autism Speaks, MLB, Marvel, NFL, Nickelodeon, Toys for Tots, Warner Bros. and others.
Helen returned to her television roots to serve as the Director of Marketing and Special Events for MTV Network’s LOGO channel, working with talent like Katy Perry, Solange Knowles and the cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race to create very memorable branding events for Levi’s, Southwest Airlines, Subaru and Absolut Vodka.
Other projects include: Academy Awards, USTA US Open, Tina Brown’s Women in the World Summit, Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic, The New Yorker Festival, Vegas Uncork’d presented by Bon Appetit Magazine, Glamour Magazine Woman of the Year Awards and projects for The Public Theater, IBM, Thomson Reuters, Buckner on Business and brinca dada Toys.
Helen attended the University of Utah and Hunter College, and helped earn three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Variety, Musical or Comedy Series with The Late Show with David Letterman. Born in California and raised in Utah, Helen escaped to New York City almost 20 years ago and has never regretted it.
Jamey Sunshine
Experiential Marketing Team Leader
Nestlé
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Shizuka "Shiz" Suzuki
Sponsorships & Experiential Marketing
AT&T
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Shiz is known as a tenacious, results driven leader who has a consistent track record of leading teams and building the AT&T brand while pushing the envelope of innovation.
She currently leads the Sponsorship and Experiential Marketing team at AT&T, which includes industry- leading partnerships across numerous sports, lifestyle and entertainment verticals. These include ESL in the world of esports, the NBA, AT&T Stadium and the Dallas Cowboys, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the AT&T Byron Nelson, NCAA Final Four, College Football Playoffs, Major League Soccer, F1 Red Bull Racing, and AT&T Tribeca Film Festival, to name a few.
Prior to her current role in Sponsorships, Shiz held a wide range of roles across the corporation—a true testament to her business acumen, adaptability and leadership skills. She’s been on the front lines managing call centers and out in the field leading construction crews—consistently outperforming peer groups in productivity and accuracy. She was instrumental on the delivery of the company’s first cloud product as well as designing industry leading offers in the pricing and analytics organization for the largest corporate clients.
More recently, Shiz also supported the Chairman and CEO of AT&T, which included production of multi- location and live broadcast of major events ranging from leadership conferences, all-employee town halls to merger announcements, press tours and the Annual AT&T Shareholders’ Meeting.
In a previous role, Shiz was the chief of staff to the SVP of Brand, Advertising, Media and Sponsorships which included executive support, overseeing overall operations and organizational budgets. Shiz has also led large scale corporate-wide workforce and workplace transformation efforts.
She has received numerous accolades including the Asian MBA Global Emerging Leaders Award, the Women of Color STEM Magazine’s Technology Rising Stars award, AT&T Best of the Best Awards, and the President’s Volunteer Service Award.
Shiz holds a bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science from UCLA and an MBA from Pepperdine University. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband Peter, and rescue dog, Bella. She enjoys wine tasting, international cuisines and traveling
Isaac Ugay
VP of Experiential
Fandom
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A native Californian, Isaac began his career with The Walt Disney Company in Burbank, CA in the Marketing and Synergy group. After a brief taste of tinsel town, he hopped the median into various media sales roles at CXO Media an IDG company and UK based Future PLC. While at Future PLC he developed a passion for creating, selling and producing complex integrated marketing partnerships and owned and operated events in the video game, music and entertainment industries. After 13 years and various leadership roles with Future PLC, Isaac joined The Visionary Group, a boutique full service experiential marketing agency based in Los Angeles, CA to lead business development where he was primarily responsible for new business and operations strategy. Isaac joined Fandom at the end of 2018 to launch the experiential division, where he is focused on long term IRL strategy to celebrate all things fans and Fandom while leveraging the platform’s massive scale and reach.
Kate Ward-Walton
Creative Director
Manifold
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Kate Ward-Walton leads the day to day operations of the Manifold creative team with a focus on experience centered design, holistic attendee interactions and best in industry outcomes. Kate and her team create highly tailored concepts for online and in person experiences, working side by side with both early stage startups and established Fortune 500 companies to design brand relevant environments, leverage new technologies, and develop strategic content and branding. Prior to Manifold, Kate produced and art directed events for brands like Ubisoft, Red Bull and more.
Gwynne Wardrop
Director of Conferences, NYTLive
The New York Times
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"Gwynne Wardrop has been producing events throughout the world since 1995. After honing her event production skills in the non-profit sector and in the music industry, Gwynne joined The New York Times in 2005. She has produced many of The Times’s signature event programs, including TimesTalks, Arts & Leisure Weekend, Election Night Live and The New York Times Travel Show. Since 2014 she has been Director of Conferences, bringing The Times’s editorial content to life through b-to-b summits focused on education, climate change, the future of work, sustainable cities, luxury and more.
Prior to joining The Times, Gwynne was the Director of Major Events for NYC2012, where she was responsible for the management and production of events designed to promote New York City’s candidacy as host for the 2012 Olympic Games.
Gwynne received her BA and MA in Spanish Linguistics and Literature from Temple University. She lives in Brooklyn Heights with son Alex."
Kelly Warsky
Head of Brand Experience
L.L. Bean
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For more than a decade, Kelly has been relentlessly pushing the boundaries of brand experience and customer engagement through high-touch experiences and disruptive activations. Her large-scale experiential campaigns like Be An Outsider At Work have been featured in worldwide publications including Forbes Magazine and USA Today.
She first made her mark with the now-iconic L.L.Bean Bootmobile in 2012, which she designed from the sole up in support of the brand’s 100th anniversary. Following on the heels of its success, her team created a multitude of impactful brand experiences, including Flannel Flag Football, a pop-up retail strategy and an award-winning holiday installation at the L.L.Bean Flagship Campus in Freeport, Maine.
Previously, Kelly led the L.L.Bean Corporate Partnership program, where she leveraged strong relationships with the Boston Red Sox, the Weather Channel and Warren Miller to create innovative, engaging social media content, including two appearances by the Bootmobile in World Series parades.
Kelly is a passionate member of Board of Directors for Junior Achievement, an organization promoting financial literacy and workplace readiness for students K-12. She lives in Scarborough, Maine with her husband Jordan, two boys and their dog, Truman. He’s adorable but totally untrainable. The dog, that is.
Emilie Watrob
Event and Development Manager
Ulta Beauty
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When she’s not watching HGTV or treating herself to a macaroon, Emilie’s other guilty pleasure involves playing a big role in creating can’t-miss events by injecting the Ulta Beauty culture into every brand experiences. This includes the annual General Manager Conference with 4,000 eager, motivated attendees. Emilie lets the core purpose of the event drives all aspects of the attendee journey, including theming, sourcing, technology, space design, logistics, production, sponsorships and content.
Kimberly Whinna Cottrell
Experiential and Content Strategist
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Kimberly leads marketing strategy and brand experiences for Autodesk’s owned spaces category, which includes the Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco and a global network of Autodesk Technology Centers. During her 9+ years at Autodesk, she has built teams and created portfolios of high-touch marketing programs to create vibrant hubs of brand engagement that buzz year-round with strategic events and experiences, exemplifying and amplifying the brand. Prior to joining Autodesk, Kimberly worked in the contemporary art gallery industry in New York City where she found her calling as a marketer while crafting stories and producing experiences that celebrated artists and their work. She earned her MBA in marketing, international business, and finance from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and her bachelor’s degree in art history with a minor in studio art from New York University. Kimberly grew up in the Midwest and now lives in Southern California with her husband and two children.
Paul Whitney
Executive Producer
bluemedia
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Amy Williams
Executive Producer
The XD Agency
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Tyler Williams
Head of Brand Aura Marketing
Zappos
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Tyler Williams heads up our Brand Aura team; a team that specializes in creating Zappos’ unique and quirky persona via events, campaigns and experiences nationwide. Tyler is also the long-time company Fungineer, responsible for such popular internal events as “Boots and Shorts Thursdays” and “Tutu Tuesdays.” Prior to joining the Zappos’ Customer Loyalty Team in 2011, Tyler did everything from production and construction to drumming for a rock band!
Ingo Wirth
Head of Corporate Communications for MINI & BMW Motorrad
MINI, BMW Motorrad
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Ingo Wirth graduated as an economist at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany and has joined the BMW Group in 1999. He has held several communications roles in Sports Marketing, Event Marketing, Direct Sales, Corporate Sales and Aftersales before joining the company's press and public relations department two years ago. Since then he has led special projects in product communications with focus on electrification as well as new technologies / innovations (i.e. BMW Vision iNEXT World Flight) and took over the management of corporate communications for the brands MINI and BMW Motorrad in October 2018.
Johann Wrede
Head of Global Events
SAP
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Johann Wrede is a Senior Vice President of Marketing and Head of Global Events at SAP. He leads a global organization responsible for designing and delivering SAP's largest and most important event experiences. He is working to reinvent the way people experience SAP’s brand and is passionate about both building high-performing teams and using storytelling and authentic experiences to inspire engagement between companies and their audiences. He previously held the position of SVP, Head of Content Marketing, where he transformed the way that SAP uses content to create connected customer journeys from awareness to advocacy. A multi-disciplinary marketer with a unique background, Johann has written, implemented, sold, and marketed software for a variety of companies both large and small.
Kristine Yapp Jones
Global Event Marketing Lead
Twitter
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Zach Zimmerman
Global Business Development Manager, Music and Entertainment
Uber Technologies, Inc.
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