John James Jacoby
Project lead for BuddyPress and bbPress.
WordPress contributor, BackPress supporter.
Jacklyn Stachurski
Jacklyn is a Happiness Engineer at Automattic. She has experience with both WordPress.com and the self-hosted installation. Previous to being a Happiness Engineer, Jacklyn attended Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Media Arts and Studies and also attended Specs Howard School of Media Arts for a year in their Digital Media Program. Besides building websites, Jacklyn also enjoys dabbling in graphic design and being a runner.
Chris Carman
Chris Carman is a Chemistry and Environmental Science teacher at Kent Roosevelt High School. He led the district’s transition to WordPress .
Sheri Bigelow
Sheri is a Creativity Cultivator at Automattic. She can usually be found experimenting with CSS, speaking at WordCamps, skiing the Rockies, or exploring the Adirondacks.
Brian Retterer
I am currently a web developer at Real Art in downtown Dayton. In my job, I build client websites in WordPress with custom themes and custom built plugins. I also own my own development company where I focus on creating quality websites for small business and individuals.
Chris Connors
I’m the CXO at WebKite, where we’re building a free WordPress plugin to publish interactive content and embed faceted search within any WordPress site.
I was Lead Interaction Designer at Apple for Keynote ‘09, Numbers for iPad, Numbers for iCloud, and iWork.com. At NASA, I was a Senior Research Associate at the Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, where I designed next-generation software tools for extra-planetary robotic geology, data collection tools, and scheduling tools for human/robotic collaboration.
Kassey Sikora
Full-time marketer, graphic designer, and photographer. Part-time blogger and world traveler. Unofficial Cleveland restaurant critic. Unashamed Twitter addict and news junkie.
Kassey has a wide spectrum of experience in designing for both small startups and large corporations. Starting as a self-taught web developer before pursuing a formal education, she champions meshing logic with the abstract.
Michael R. Hunter
Michael R. Hunter started learning HTML & CSS at the age of 15. In 2010, Michael founded an internet marketing company, Entourage Marketing, and has helped build WordPress websites for dozens of small businesses, authors, experts, & speakers.
In 2013, Michael founded CodingOptional.com, a WordPress video tutorial website and help forum for entrepreneurs, experts, authors, & speakers. He now has students from 7 countries around the world and is helping people learn how to use WordPress every day.
Michael also has a plugin in the WordPress Plugin Directory with over 5,500 downloads.
Steve Grunwell
Steve Grunwell is a full-stack developer at Buckeye Interactive, an interactive media agency in New Albany, OH. Specializing in WordPress and application development he has worked with brands and organizations including Experience Columbus, the Greater Columbus Sports Commission, Elmer’s, and the Greater Columbus Arts Council.
Steve has released several plugins in the WordPress.org repositories, including one from the grounds of The White House during the first annual National Day of Civic Hacking in 2013. When he’s not writing software he enjoys hiking, music, and writing about writing software on his blog.
Steve holds a B.A. in Telecommunications from Bowling Green State University where he graduated Cum Laude with minors in General Business and Recording Technologies.
More information, including portfolio work and his development blog, can be found at http://stevegrunwell.com.
Phil Hoyt
Life time nerd with a passion for web, Professional Web Developer for 5 years, WordPress user for 6 years. Becoming a professional WordPress developer put me in an interesting position to develop a streamlined workflow to rapidly produce web sites for clients. I look forward to the many year to come of WordPress progress.
Samie Murch
Samie works for AtNetPlus in Stow, Ohio. She works as a graphic designer and web development team member. She helps clients create beautiful and functional websites. She’s also pursuing a degree in Graphic Communication with a minor in Web Tech & Digital Media at UMUC.
Rogan Lampe
I’m 26, earned my Bachelor’s Degree at Western Michigan University. I’ve worked a variety of blue collar jobs and spent almost five years in the military.
My management experience comes from Rotary Club involvement, volunteer organizations, and Officership in the military.
My personal goals are to reduce inefficiency and make sure deadlines are met. I don’t like waste, I love chocolate, and I’m excited to be a part of WordCamp!
Joseph Herbrandson
After switching out of a sales career, I began working with WordPress websites and creating for small businesses and local professionals. I have been doing so for over 5 years now, specializing in secure websites since my very first customer came to me after having a security incident.
Now I work for Sucuri.net, an industry leader in website security and malware detection, removal and prevention. I work with customers everyday (many of them WordPress users) that have been hacked or infected, and work to re-mediate their security issue and implement a solution to prevent any further infection.
Jen Hooks
Jen started working for Automattic as a Happiness Engineer late last year, after leaving behind over a decade of work in biological academia at Bowling Green State University, Ohio Northern University, and most recently, Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. She especially loves helping new WordPress.com users, and has a particular fondness for photoblogs, food blogs, and parenting blogs. Her own personal photoblog can be found at lightcandy.org.
In addition to working for Automattic, Jen owns a small child and family photography business, and might be a little bit obsessed with taking photos of her three kids’ eyelashes and feet. She loves to find beauty in the mundane, and thinks that everyone in the world should have their own photoblog. You can see her professional work at jennyhooks.com.
Jen is a big fan of dark roast coffee, her 85mm f/1.8G lens, NPR, The Walking Dead, campfires, and board gaming.
Andreas Johansson
Director of Technology Integration & Curriculum in Northern Ohio. Google Apps for Education Certified Trainer. Yurt builder. Native Swede. Blue hat.
Angela Bergmann
Angela has 14 years of experience in website design and development – 11 of which she has specialized in WordPress. Angela creates user friendly websites that are aesthetically pleasing, easy to navigate, and optimized for search engine indexing. She also has expertise in Social Media, Search Engine Optimization, and Pay-Per-Click.
John Parkinson
WordPress user for 5 years. Maintain 8 WordPress sites. Live in eastern Ohio.
Jessica Dickey
Jessica started her blog, Bariatric Beginnings, in July 2011, she writes about her journey to a happier and healthier life through weight loss surgery. She holds a B.S. and M.Ed. in Community Health Education from Kent State University. She will be launching her own health education consulting company in 2015 and is currently employed at a local retirement community.
Rob DiVincenzo
Rob is an APEX award-winning full stack Interactive Developer for Point To Point Inc. and software entrepreneur at ignitedweb.com Over the years he has assisted in building and designing websites and web / mobile apps for Fortune 500 companies, the second largest university in the country, and government agencies such as the National Park Service.
Rob realized the power of WordPress as a Content Management System in Orlando working for the University of Central Florida where he programmed and maintained an extensive network of websites for multiple departments who often shared content. It’s his pleasure this weekend to speak on some of his favorite techniques that he developed and learned over that time.
He has a B.S. in Computing & Information Sciences and Communications from Saint Vincent College and a Project Engineering Graduate Certificate from the University of Central Florida.
Justin Shreve
Justin works at Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com. He works on partnership projects and external APIs. He has a BS in Digital Science Software Development. Justin helped create the REST API for Jetpack and WordPress.com and leads it’s continued development at Automattic.
Sam Hotchkiss
“Sam Hotchkiss is the Principal of Hotchkiss Consulting Group, a WordPress development firm based in Bath, Maine. He is also the Big Cheese at Parka, the company behind BruteProtect, a WordPress security plugin in use by tens of thousands of sites. Sam’s background is in PHP development, and he has been developing sites with WordPress since 2004.
Sam travels with his wife, Becky (and, quite often, their two dogs, Barkley and Izzy) to WordCamps around the world. He presents on topics ranging from security to building web apps to building and managing large blog networks.”
George Stephanis
George Stephanis works for Automattic (makers of WordPress.com) as Team Lead for the Jetpack Pit Crew, helping self-hosted WordPress sites take advantage of the WordPress.com cloud. He is also a frequent core contributor to the WordPress open-source project, a community organizer, and regularly presents at WordCamps and guests on podcasts like the WPWatercooler and the WP Girlie Show.
Kyle Maurer
Kyle Maurer is the co-founder of Real Big Marketing which is a mid-Michigan based marketing firm, specializing in WordPress development for small to mid sized businesses. He also co-organizes the Jackson, MI WordPress Meetup.
Kyle loves working with WordPress and consistently pushing the boundaries of what can be done with this amazing CMS. He loves developing plugins and gets totally geeked out when anybody talks about cool new plugin ideas.
Dustin Hartzler
Dustin Hartzler is a Happiness Engineer at Automattic and a weekly podcaster at YourWebsiteEngineer.com. His passion is to teach others how to use WordPress.
Michael Fraser
Michael Fraser is an award winning visual communication entrepreneur that started his business in 2000 after working for a few local Advertising/Marketing Agencies. Michael has a BFA (Graphic Design) from the University of Akron and an alumni of their prestigious Design X Nine Program. For the past 15 years he has worked on large national accounts all the way down to startups. Michael is a regular speaker at WordPress (WordCamp) Events, and has been invited to speak at both The Ohio State University and the University of Akron. He has a passion for helping businesses grow with effective business communication focusing on corporate branding, social media, and digital marketing.
Brian Layman
Julie Szendrey
Julie is an Associate Professor at Walsh University in North Canton, OH and teaches courses in marketing and general business. She holds a Doctorate of Business Administration and is certified as a Professional Certified Marketer (PCM) through the American Marketing Association. Please contact her if you are interested in collaborating with Walsh business students on business-oriented projects/activities.
Specialties:Research interest: The influences of parents and family on the consumer behaviors of children and young adults.
Joe Rozsa
An award winning creative director, designer and owner of Trailer Trash Design, Joe thumbs his nose at the stuffed-shirt, smoke and mirrors approach to providing creative communication services. Operating under the sometimes unheard of adage that work can be fun, Joe, with his off-the-cuff approach, offers his clients full service creative consulting, graphic design, advertising and production for print media collateral, websites, Internet marketing and multi-media presentations.
Stoney deGeyter
Author, speaker, teacher, husband, father, web marketer! Since I started Pole Position Marketing in 1998, I’ve been helping businesses grow their online presence through strategic web marketing strategies. As one of the longest running SEO companies still in business today, PPM has assisted hundreds of businesses by developing comprehensive web marketing plans that have grown their businesses. Our areas of strategy development include SEO, Site Architecture, Content Marketing Strategy, Social Media, Keyword Research and PPC. We also provide consulting and training services for businesses just looking for some direction for their web site.
Nathan Driver
Nathan recently organized WordCamp Dayton. He is skilled in spotting trends and technologies that play roles in consumer’s lives, and knowledgeable in SEM/SEO strategies.
Kathy Gray
As social media marketing strategist, I help businesses create and implement a social media strategy that integrates their business goals and overall marketing strategy. I also enjoy speaking to businesses and non-profit groups about social media best practices, developing a social media plan and blogging for their organizations.
Specialties: social media strategy, social networking, blogging, web marketing, tourism marketing
Ryan Hollingsworth
Ryan loves working in the social media world and thinking of creative ways for clients to tell their story through social media. She has advised businesses all over the US on social media strategy. Her social media philosophy: Every organization should have a social media champion. Ryan then comes alongside to coach on best practices, messaging and content.