SXSW Interactive 2012 speakers

Adam Salomone is the Associate Publisher of The Harvard Common Press, a Boston-based independent focused on cookbooks. Related to this vertical, Adam oversees the company’s digital strategy across individual book/author brands. He has been involved in a number of outreach efforts related to cookbook publishing, including active involvement in organizing the First Annual Cookbook Conference, which explored the past, present and future of cookbook and recipe content. Related to this, he has also participated in a three-hour symposium on the present and future state of the cookbook for The International Association of Culinary Professionals.

Adrian is considered amongst a handful of Canadian’s on the “go-to” list of digital marketing leaders.
His career began at IBM and has focused on the interchange of business, technology and marketing. At IBM, Rare Medium, Publicis and FUSE Marketing Group Adrian helped a diverse portfolio of clients learn and lead in the digital space. In 2008, at the beginning of the biggest global recession since the great depression Adrian and his partners launched Innovation Agency, Quizative - which has quickly grown delivering services to clients across the country and globally.
Adrian is extremely involved in the marketing community where he helps to inspire and share innovation. This includes helping to organize or chair numerous national conference and award shows for the CMA, Marketing Magazine, NEXT Media and others. Adrian has helped create and teaches the CMA’s Digital Marketing Certificate course, speaks at many universities and has been featured widely in the media including expert appearances in prime-time TV shows on CBC, Global, and The Food Network.
While “not on the job”, Adrian serves on the Board of the Heart and Stroke Centre for Stroke Recovery, plays hockey, loves to wakeboard/snowboard, spends time with his family and enjoys a whole different type of innovation with various home-reno projects.

Alejandra Carvallo is currently Manager of shopping marketing with responsibility for demand generation in the US. Alex joined Intel Americas in 2005, as Manager of the Consumer Marketing Campaign for Hispanics in the USA. She has over 15 years of hi-tech marketing experience creating successful campaigns for a electronic products. She has worked in both South America and the US for Alcatel, Stanford Telecom and Bell Canada. A native Venezuelan, she earned her bachelor's degree in Electronic Engineering from the Simon Bolivar University, Caracas, and obtained her MBA from Regis University, Denver. Alex spends her days being a marketing expert for intel and being a wife and mom of two for her family, always striking the work/life balance - trying to, at least.

Amy spent nearly 20 years as a professional daily newspaper journalist before the Great Newspaper Culling of 2008. She made a seamless transformation from old media to new and has been featured in articles in a variety of publications and sites, including the New York Times and Venture Beat and has written for a variety of websites including The Next Web, Network World and the SourceForge blog. She’s an inaugural inductee of the New Jersey Social Media Hall of Fame and has spoken at many conferences and events, including Columbia Journalism's Social Media Weekend, Reynolds Journalism Institute's The Engagement Metric, ROFL Con II and Affiliate Summit East. She is married and has two young sons. Amy also is known as the Bacon Queen of the Internet.

Over the past sixteen years, I've been proud to work for KCPT, Kansas City Public Television. It's afforded me the opportunity to produce, write, and direct a variety of media including promotional materials, interactive web sites, mobile applications and long-form documentaries. In 2010 I worked with an incredibly talented designer, Kelly Ludwig to co-produce the development of a travel iPhone application for the KCPT's national television series Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations. My long-form documentary work includes Bad Blood: The Border War That Triggered the Civil War, recipient of two Regional Emmys and a NETA citation for Best Historical Documentary, Tapping Kansas City: A Beer/Love Story, recipient of a Regional Emmy for Special Program, KC to Kanorado: An Uncommon View from I-70, a Regional Emmy award-winning travelogue narrated by Melissa Etheridge, and Assembly Required, recipient of a Regional Emmy for Special Program. I produced marketing content, on-air promotions, and the interactive website for the National Emmy Award winning documentary Be Good. Smile Pretty. I have received numerous NETA citations for both website productions (Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations) and on-air promotional campaigns and has received a Regional Emmy in the Public Service Announcement category for a multi-media campaign against childhood obesity, Eat Small! That campaign launched my newest passion - working with area agencies to create video content and multi-media resources in the area of children's health and wellness. We're using the power of public media, to augment the amazing work done in the Kansas City area everyday.

Audrey joined American Express in 2009, after 15 years in the news media. As the VP of Executive Communications at AmEx, Audrey creates fresh, authentic content on a variety of digital platforms to help senior leaders connect with employees and customers. Audrey began her career in public radio as a news director and talk show host. She moved to public television in 1995, working as a reporter and documentary producer at WHYY in Philadelphia. She won an Emmy for documentary writing in 1998. By the turn of the century, Audrey was writing and producing national TV shows for the Discovery network and for Fox. From '05-'09, she returned to journalism as a Senior Editor at the Consumer Technology Publishing Group, specializing in mobile and digital imaging.

Ben Balter is a J.D./M.B.A. candidate at the George Washington University, a new media fanatic passionate about the power of digital communications, and an information junkie who loves learning new things. Ben’s currently part of the E-Government and Federal IT Team in the Executive Office of the President, and before that served on the SoftWare Automation and Technology (SWAT) Team, the White House’s first and only agile development team, and as a New Media Fellow, in the Federal Communications Commission’s Office of the Managing Director. This past spring, he received a stipend from Google to develop a government- and enterprise-friendly, open source document management and version control system for WordPress, the content management system that powers more than a quarter of new websites, and most recently, his paper, Towards a More Agile Government was published in the Public Contract Law Journal, arguing that Federal IT Procurement should be more amenable to modern, agile development methods. An aspiring attorney, a coder, and an all around geek, Ben’s background bridges three distinct disciplines: a formal legal education and commitment to advocating on behalf of others, a deep-seeded understanding of the intricacies of today’s business decisions, and a life-long passion for technology‘s ability to shape how we interact with one another. When not working or in class, he enjoys tackling otherwise-impossible challenges to sharing information using nothing more than duct tape and occasionally a pack of bubblegum. After graduation, Ben hopes to find an avenue to explore his dual passion for law and technology in the nation’s capital.

Brad is an investor and entrepreneur, and the founder and CEO of Boston based hedge fund Altimeter Capital Management, which focuses on travel, technology and the Internet. He is also the founder and chairman of new hotel search engine Room 77. Previously, Brad was a partner at PAR Capital where he invested in companies like Farecast, Sidestep, ITA Software, Priceline, and Expedia. Prior to joining PAR Capital, he co-founded Openlist.com – a vertical search and advertising platform that was acquired by Marchex (MCHX – NASDAQ) in 2006. Before Openlist, Mr. Gerstner served as Co-CEO of National Leisure Group, one of the Web’s first and largest sellers of online vacations and cruises. He joined NLG from General Catalyst, a Boston venture capital firm that invested in NLG in May 2000. Brad currently serves on the board of Orbitz Worldwide, Nor 1, Hotel Tonight and Silver Rail Technologies and is an investor in several companies, including other interesting startups like Hotel Tonight, Nor 1, RealSelf, Ostrovok and Trigger Media.

I have been practicing User Experience Design for the past 4 years. During that time I have helped clients in the financial, health care management, public utilities, and pharmaceutical management industries. I've provided them with deep insight into their customers and users, and designed engaging experiences that were catered directly for their customers and users. As a User Experience Consultant at Perficient, I perform a variety of UX activities that allow me to build an empathic link to a variety of people that directly informs the designs I create. These activities cover the full spectrum of research, modeling, design, and testing. My passion in User Experience Design is centered around the modeling of data gained from user research and the creation of interactive prototypes and wireframes. I've mentored and presented on these two aspects of User Experience Design to people around St. Louis, MO and across the country. When I'm not writing and presenting on User Experience Design, I spend my free time playing around with my toddler son, Tristan. He constantly reminds me not to take too much for granted and the best way to learn anything is to get down and dirty with it.

Bruce Shaw acquired The Harvard Common Press in 1980 and has been the president and publisher for the past 30 years. He is responsible for the development of the company’s vertical focus in cooking and has built The Harvard Common Press into a nationally recognized publishing company. He is also deeply involved in a number of cookbook outreach efforts, not least of which was the First Annual Cookbook Conference, focusing on the past, present, and future of recipe and cooking content. Bruce is also an active member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals as well as a major investor in an online recipe start-up, Yummly.com.

Bryan Mochizuki manages the Marketing department at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, CGI convenes global leaders to create and implement innovative solutions to the world's most pressing challenges. At CGI, Bryan oversees content, brand, and creative services - including social media, multimedia and new media. Prior to CGI, Bryan was the Program Manager at Students of the World, an Austin, TX based organization that empowers college students to create purpose-driven media.

Over the past 5 years Craig Benzine has made a lot of comedic online video, quite a lot. Currently he has over 600 videos on his youtube channel, WheezyWaiter, and a subscriber base aproaching 400,000.
His fastpaced, absurdly humorous videos tend to involve news commentary, an odd assortment of characters (whale, eagle, army of clones), recuring jokes and whatever topic is on his mind.
Since Craig's rise to youtube prominence he's had the opportunity to work with many brands and non-profits including Intel, GE, 20th Century Fox, Virgin Mobile, Brisk, Water.org, and more.
Someday he hopes to read some books about business and hire some actual employees because this thing is getting quite overwhelming.

Dave is the Global Director of Digital for Smirnoff where he oversees the digital strategy & development for all owned, earned & paid channels worldwide. He joined the Diageo team in April, 2011 to help craft Smirnoff’s vision of being one of the leading CPG brands within the digital space through a range of world class “new marketing” mechanics.
Prior to Diageo, Dave spent time on the agency side, at Grey Interactive Worldwide, as a front end developer before jumping over to join the SoBe Beverage team as the Manager of Digital Media & Promotions. Before his appointment at Diageo, Dave was also a key member of the Digital Engagement Group at PepsiCo where he managed all things digital for Pepsi, Pepsi MAX and Diet Pepsi TM including the groundbreaking introduction of the Pepsi Refresh Project where the team was honored with a 2011 Chairman Award.
Dave resides in New York and when “offline” enjoys hanging with his wife and daughter, boating, cooking (while enjoying a fine wine), football & baseball. @DazzlingDave

David J. Neff has been doing things that have never been done in nonprofits for the last 10 years. He is currently the creator and CEO of the nonprofit Lights. Camera. Help., a nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging cause-driven organizations to use film and video to tell their stories. He is the past President of Social Media Club Austin, as well as a Senior Digital Strategist and consultant for a variety of startups and nonprofits including PBS, KLRU, KCPT, The Centers for Disease Control, Emory University, The American Cancer Society and more. He was the American Marketing Association Nonprofit Social Media Marketer of the year for 2009 as well as being named one of the top 20 Social Media people in the state of Texas for 2009 by the Austin American Statesman.

Emily is passionate about building community, making connections, and creating opportunities. Her specialties include social media, community management, and event production and management. In 2010 Miethner Founded NY Creative Interns, which is now the largest and most active Meetup for interns and recent grads in New York City and has hosted over 20 events for more than 1,200 guests. She works full-time as the Community Manager at RecordSetter.com, the new home for world records and her previous employers include Sterling Publishing, Gawker, Flavorpill, and Time Out New York Magazine. Emily is also on the board of Techies Give Back, part of the nextNY fellowship program, and is an active Skillshare teacher. She also loves peanut butter.

AP's social media editor, aiming to lend a hand to a couple of thousand journalists on their social newsgathering and engagement adventures. I also like to look for berries in Central Park and get lost in the urban woods.

Josh Gertz has been working with digital music since before there was iTunes, before MP3s and before the internet was in your house. At Hip Digital Media, Josh manages content relationships with record labels, book publishers, movie studios and various digital content owners around the globe. Josh’s team at Hip Digital is creating some of the most innovative and cutting-edge promotions with digital content found anywhere. Hip Digital white-label solutions are on your grocery shelves, on-pack of the most popular consumer goods and on your favorite brands Facebook page. The Hip Digital mission is to integrate social rewards into every type of marketing program offline, online and mobile. Before he ran Marketing and Content Licensing for Hip Digital, Josh pioneered digital promotions as SVP at Neurotic Media, and co-founded XACT Radio, an Internet radio network partnered with virtually every major broadcasting group, in the earliest efforts to bring terrestrial brands online. In the last century, Josh was Director of Sales at MP3.com; leading the team in the broadcast radio space. Early on in his career Josh was fortunate to have worked at PolyGram Records in Sales Administration. After graduating from the University Of Maryland Josh moved to Atlanta where he lives with his wife and 3 children. When not working you can usually find him in the kitchen or at a poker table. Follow him on Twitter: @joshgertz and @hipdigitalmedia.

Kevin oversees PBS's social media initiatives for its broadcast and online programming, including its Twitter and Facebook pages, which together have 2M followers. He also manages PBS’s YouTube channel, which recently had its 140-millionth video view and generates more than 1 million views/week. Kevin was recently featured in the book “Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business” (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.).

Kliff Kuehl
President and CEO of KCPT, Kansas City Public Television Kliff Kuehl graduated with honors from the University of Texas in Austin. He worked as a film and video producer in his first career; then he became production supervisor and operations manager before becoming president and chief executive officer of KWBU-TV and KWBU-FM, the public broadcasting stations for central Texas. At KWBU, Kuehl helped start Inside Baylor Sports, helped produce Christmas at Baylor, and helped to start KWBU-FM, public radio for central Texas. From December 2004 through March 2009, Kuehl served as the president and CEO of KNPB-TV, public television for northern Nevada. In that time, he helped the KNPB team wrap up a $6.25 million capital campaign, assisted in tripling the number of major donors, and secured a $1 million in-kind donation that built out an additional 6,500 square feet of the station’s Reno offices. Kuehl joined KCPT in April of 2009. His vision for the station is to transform public media so it is a better and more sustainable service, with increased viewer engagement. In an era of declining local coverage by newspapers and commercial television, he wants KCPT to bridge the gap by growing its local content services and its efforts to connect to content to audience segments. Kuehl stays engaged on the national level with his membership on the PBS Communication Advisory Committee. Kuehl is also involved in the MMG (Major Market Group), NETA Board, and has presented on panels at PBS and NETA meetings. He is participating in an upcoming panel at SXSW Interactive. Kliff is married to Sherry Kuehl, they have two children. Kliff enjoys spending time with his family, reading, music, traveling, watching Big XII football, and skiing.

I have range of experience in national and international television production, and as the founder of Australian Documentaries I have spent the last six years creating content for not-for-profits and government agencies in the areas of sustainability and social change. I am also involved in producing a number of innovative interactive projects, and will tell you all about them if you buy me a chai tea.