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.

Allen DeBevoise is the Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Machinima, the dominant video entertainment network for serious gamers around the world. Machinima’s global content network features official publisher content, fan-created gameplay videos and original content, including over 20 original weekly shows, all aimed at the coveted 18–34 year old male demographic. The number one entertainment channel on YouTube, Machinima reaches over 124 million gamers monthly, and delivers over one billion video views a month, and growing. Under DeBevoise’s guidance, Machinima has become a major force in reaching core video gamers, because the company is at the cutting edge of on-line video and the changing experience of gaming, and also has a massive, global, and highly engaged audience. DeBevoise served on the board of directors of LowerMyBills.com and True/Slant through their respective acquisitions, and currently serves on the board of Dealer.com. He is also an active angel investor in several early stage technology and consumer internet companies. Before Machinima, DeBevoise was President and CEO of TCI Interactive and co-founded Creative Planet, an online resource for film and television production professionals. DeBevoise was featured on The Hollywood Reporter’s “Digital Power List” and was recognized as one of Digital Media Wire’s “25 Executives to Watch.”

Amy is the eScholarship, ePublishing & Digitization Coordinator at McGill University Library, where she is responsible for scholarly communication, publishing initiatives, and making rare items from special collections available to the world through digitization. Amy was named a Library Journal Mover & Shaker in 2008, and a SLA Rising Star in 2010. Elle est fière d'être Montréalaise, and thinks academic libraryland is ripe for a revolution.

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.

Anthony Batt is the President of Katalyst, a groundbreaking content studio that creates digital
and television programming media for some of the biggest brands in the world. In 2010, Katalyst
was named on the year’s Top 50 Most Inspiring Innovators by Ad Age and one of Fast Company
Magazine’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies. At Katalyst, Anthony drives the creation of some
of the most authentic and captivating social programming for brands like Levis, Intel, Nikon and
Mountain Dew. As a digital media pioneer, Anthony has a keen understanding of how to engage audiences and
deliver brands a passionate and active user-base through compelling original digital
programming. In an industry that routinely accepts the notion of “post and pray,” Anthony
pushes a far higher ideal for brands, “launch and activate.” Prior to Katalyst Anthony founded the entertainment-blog powerhouse BUZZMedia and
Buzznet.com that which helped make music and pop culture super social on the web. He has also
played a role in the start of several very successful entrepreneurial ventures with friends
including: TROON a boutique agency with James Yaffe; a small mailing list called craigslist.org
with Craig Newmark; and a media distribution platform turned data warehousing data engine
called GreenPlum with Scott Yara. Anthony has held a positions at USC Cinema Television & Digital Arts program where he
worked to establish a world class digital animation studio, as well as Time Inc. Interactive where
he managed the web design, technology and publishing of Time Inc’s titles like Time, Fortune,
People, Teen People and EW. He also served as a digital technical and creative consultant with
TBWA/Chiat Day on the Absolut Vodka’s award winning digital media strategy. Batt is also a part time solipsistic philosopher, music & pop culture anthropologist, occasional
warm water long board surfer and most importantly, father to two little girls.

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.

Barbara Henricks is CEO of Cave Henricks Communications, a media relations firm for authors and companies. Barbara has worked with Vice President Al Gore, Jack Welch, Marcus Buckingham, Tom Rath, Clay Christensen, Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Kidder and Maria Bartiromo. Founded in 2007, the company represents firms such as IBM, Amazon, and Gallup, and publishing companies including Random House, Penguin, HarperCollins, Jossey-Bass, and Harvard Business Review Press. A former journalist with NBC, Barbara lives in Austin with her husband and three children.

Brian Altounian is the CEO and President of WOWIO, Inc. His background includes business development, finance, operations and administration, and he has applied his skills to a variety of start-ups, Fortune 100 companies, and public and private organizations. Over the past 23 years, Mr. Altounian has worked extensively in the entertainment industry with a successful consulting practice, advising companies in the areas of finance, administration, operations and business development. Most recently, he was President and COO of Platinum Studios, a comic-based entertainment company, where he oversaw the expansion of both traditional and digital distribution, as well as the private capital financing raise of over $10MM and the company's launch to the public market. During Mr. Altounian's tenure at Platinum Studios, the company saw the development, production and release of several of its properties including DYLAN DOG: DEAD OF NIGHT, which he co-produced, and the major motion picture, COWBOYS & ALIENS. Mr. Altounian has served as Executive Producer of a number of films, including the documentary, LOST IN WOONSOCKET and the independent feature, AUDREY. He has worked on numerous television series including The National Geographic Television Specials for NBC, various television series' for Nickelodeon the Disney Channel and countless other national documentary series for PBS Affiliate, WQED in Pittsburgh. Mr. Altounian also serves as Producer on a number of WOWIO-owned properties currently in development, including the adaptation of the Spacedog Entertainment comic-book HELEN KILLER. In 2007, Mr. Altounian founded the non-profit organization, Lost and Found in America; he also sits on the Board of Managers of the Hollywood YMCA. He holds an MBA from Pepperdine University and an undergraduate degree from UCLA. He lives with his wife and three children in Los Angeles.

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.

I'm a senior news editor for Publishers Weekly covering digital publishing, general publishing, African American publishing and comics and graphic novels. Also co-editor of PW Comics World, PW's monthly newsletter and website on comics and graphic novel publishing. On Twitter I'm @calreid and @PWComicsWorld and sometimes @PublishersWkly.

Early riser, devoted oceanite, and advocate of radical neutrality, Char Booth explores the integration of education, research, technology, and design in libraries. An ALA Emerging Leader and Library Journal Mover and Shaker, Char blogs at info-mational and tweets @charbooth. Her publications include Reflective Teaching, Effective Learning: Instructional Literacy for Library Educators (ALA Editions, 2011) and Informing Innovation: Tracking Student Interest in Emerging Library Technologies (ACRL, 2009). Char has a BA in History from Reed College in 2001; an MSIS from the UT Austin School of Information in 2005, and a Master of Computer Education and Technology from Ohio Univeristy in 2008.

Christel van der Boom is a communicator passionate about the Web, media and technology. She’s especially interested in how they receptively impact people’s daily lives as well as how businesses operate. Her professional experience covers public relations, marketing, corporate communications, as well as social media programs. Currently, Christel develops communications strategies and marketing programs at Flipboard. Inspired by the beauty and ease of print media, Flipboardʼs mission is to fundamentally improve how people discover, view and share content across their social networks, including Facebook and Twitter. Instead of scrolling down a stream or timeline, Flipboard presents the updates, links, articles and photos that people are sharing like a magazine.

Having worked in console games since 2005 (EA, Activision), Daniel Burwen is currently Creative Director at Cognito Comics. Cognito recently shipped CIA : Operation Ajax, an award winning revolutionary 210 page interactive graphic novel for the iPad. More information at www.operationajax.com

Dinah Sanders is a post-boomer/pre-digital native who spends as much time online as off. Currently self-employed as an author and coach, she has previously worked in jobs ranging from library page to senior software product manager. When her work hasn’t centered on organization and effective flow, it has been anchored around the reading life, whether on the printed page or a glowing computer screen. A constant theme throughout her work has been streamlining processes to help achieve goals better, faster, and with more enjoyment along the way; in other words, increasing awesomeness. She created the holiday Discardia in 2002 and has been writing about its principles ever since, intensively with a Discardian tip a day during 2006, recently with active Discardia communities in Facebook, Twitter and Discardia.com, and most completely with her book, Discardia: More Life, Less Stuff.
In 1991 she was co-creator of Strafe’s Guide to Streetspeak and helped bring it to the web in 1997, making it if not the first cyberpunk slang dictionary, the first one online. She is a founding member of the blogging community, having launched her personal site, MetaGrrrl.com, in 1998 and acted as midwife to the word ‘blog’ in 1999 when she worked with the founders of Blogger.com. She is a member of the advisory board for South By Southwest Interactive and has been a technology advisor and an adjunct professor for San Jose State University’s School of Library and Information Science.
A degreed librarian, she has always had one foot in the physical world and one in cyberspace, as comfortable presenting to a room of 500 as instant messaging one-on-one. She has helped libraries give their online presence focused clarity and coached individuals to improve their personal and professional lives. In addition to helping others fine-tune their habits and possessions to better support the life they want to be living, she is in her ninth year of practicing Discardia in her own life.
Along with her keen interest in helping to define the next century of the movement born out of voluntary simplicity, uncluttering, and self-help, she writes at varying lengths – from books to tweets – about technology, productivity, and classic cocktails and is currently working on her first novel.

I manage SEO/search and social media at WatchESPN/ESPN3. Content discovery and growing audience through as many front doors is a priority. Formerly, I was the search/social media manager at ABCNews.com. And just like Joel, I like to drink tea ... coffee, wine, beer too. ESPN3 is ESPN's live multi-screen sports network, a 24/7 destination that delivers thousands of global sports events annually and accessible online via WatchESPN.com. WatchESPN delivers live access to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 and ESPN Buzzer Beater/Goal Line on PCs, smartphones and tablets to fans. ESPN3 is available to about 73 million households at no additional cost to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated service provider.

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.

Hollis Heimbouch is Vice President/Publisher of Harper Business and an Executive Editor at Harper, both imprints of HarperCollins. Prior to joining HarperCollins in 2008, Heimbouch worked at Harvard Business School Publishing for ten years in various editorial roles, most recently as Associate Publisher/Editorial Director of Harvard Business Press and as a contributing editor to Harvard Business Review. Before that, she was Director of Editorial Development for Wired Ventures in San Francisco.

Jefferson Rabb is a web and mobile designer/developer with over a decade's experience in the publishing world. He co-founded The Atavist in 2010, and currently functions as Creative Director and CTO. Prior to this, Jeff had been a freelance designer/developer, creating websites, games, and more for books and authors including Haruki Murakami, The Da Vinci Code, The Snakehead, Alexander McCall Smith, and Joshua Ferris.

A librarian & taxonomist by employment, and a propaganda & torture historian by training, lecturing about juggalos came quite easily to Jenny Benevento. Her dayjob is an obsession with metadata & users at Sears Holdings Corp. (Sears/Kmart). She moonlights in lecturing about why people are obsessed with weird things and what we can learn about them. She can be found online at jennyjenny.org or @jennybento.

Jesse Levine has launched, run, and led syndication operations for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Tribune Company, and The Christian Science Monitor. As President and CEO of the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, Levine launched the company's first international division and later launched Newscom (www.newscom.com,) the industry's first online content syndication portal.
Over the last several years, he has led syndication and new business development initiatives for several syndication startups, including his current role as CRO of Free Range Content. Jesse Levine's experience with domestic and international Fortune 500 Media includes technology sales, content syndication, creating and launching new content products, and building new syndication markets.

I do Social Media and Things That Need To Get Done for Boston.com and BostonGlobe.com. I've put this 140-year-old institution on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Foursquare, Google+, Schemer, and even briefly considered Plurk. Previously, I worked for CSMonitor.com, Inc.com, Lycos, CNN, and a wireless startup that burned through $26 million in VC. I drink tea.

CEO Free Range Content (Repost.Us, Curate.Us) John has been starting and leading companies for 30 years and has authored multiple US technology patents. He has had an email address since 1983. John's previous companies include CyberSource (CYBS) and Beyond.com (formerly BYND) where he was co-founder and EVP/CTO, and Specialix PLC where he was co-founder and technical director. John is the Chairman of the Board of the CloudView Foundation and an investor in a number of startups. John's photography has appeared in the Washington Post, Vanity Fair, LA and Philadelphia Weekly and numerous magazines.

Jon Cohrs is a recording engineer and visual artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Often employing humor and absurdity, his work uses public engagement and site-specific interventions to address global issues. Recently, he created OMG I’m on .TV; an analog Pirate TV station that filled the void left behind by the digital transition. OMG TV was used as a reference in a Supreme Court amicus brief on creativity and copyright. He has taught at Parsons The New School for Design, as a visiting artist at Colorado College, and will be teaching at SUNY Purchase in the Film + Media department in January 2012. He has just completed a fellowship at Eyebeam Art + Technology Center and is currently working on a film about artificial flavoring and the New Jersey Meadowlands call the "The Spice Trade Expedition". His work has been shown at Ars Electronica, FutureEverything, Ditch Projects, 2010 Vancouver Olympics, The Total Museum, and discussed in numerous publications such as BoingBoing, Deutsche Welle, Neural Magazine, Make Magazine, Furtherfield, We Make Money Not Art, PSFK, and Gizmodo among others.
Splnlss.com | TheSpiceTradeExpedition.com | JonCohrs.com

"Joni Rodgers is a pure storyteller. She writes with a wit, lyricism, humanity and joy that make her books impossible to put down." Aaron Sorkin NYT bestselling author, celebrity ghostwriter and book doctor Joni Rodgers is the founder of Stella Link Books, a digital imprint, and The League of Extraordinary Authors, a coalition of seasoned professional authors who are choosing to indie/self-publish. Joni is repped by William Morris Endeavor.