WordCamp Philly 2012 Speakers

Aaron Aiken

Aaron is the owner of Aiken Web Solutions, a small WordPress design and development shop located in Harrisburg, PA. He has been using the internet to earn an income since 2005 and is always brewing a new idea to work on (or cup of coffee to drink). His love affair with WordPress started in early 2006 and doesn’t appear to be stopping anytime soon. When not working on a client project, you’ll find him in the nearest Starbucks cafe drinking a tall bold and reading.

Aaron Jorbin

{ “@priviahealth” : “Senior Interactivity Engineer”, “@wordpressdc” : “Organizer”, “tech” : “teacher”, “ModelUN” : “SimulationDirector”, “Whisky”: true }

Akilah Thompkins-Robinson

Akilah Thompkins-Robinson, PMP is the owner of AKZMe Designs, LLC (www.akzmedesigns.com). AKZMe Designs specializes in web and print design, web site content management, and managing social media presence. Akilah’s objective is to help businesses, organizations, and individuals establish their voice in a crowded online marketplace. Akilah, is also author the new eBook “Website Content Workbook: The Guide to what should be inside your website” http://www.akzmedesigns.com/website-content-workbook/

Amanda Blum

Amanda is a past lead organizer of WordCamp Boston, WordCamp Phoenix and CMSExpo (WP track), a speaker at WordCamps Boston, Phoenix, NYC, Savannah, Portland, New Zealand and Chicago, and has spoken at WordPress meetups in Boston, Providence, Cape Cod, Portland, Phoenix and San Francisco.

I’m a longtime champion of WordPress and talk mostly about information architecture, UX, the administration of WordPress and how to keep clients from f’ing up the sites you make them.

When not Pressing, I make pickles and knit scarves. My parents still have no idea what I do for a living.

Andy Christian

Andy has been using WordPress since the dark ages of version 1.0.2 way back in 2004. After moving to New York in 2009, he became active in the WordPress community there, and has been involved in New York’s last three WordCamps. He also runs the Happiness Bar for the monthly WordPress NYC Meetup. Andy currently manages support and training for Tadpole.cc, a WordPress-based coop that provides hosting, support, training, and development.

Andy Stratton

WordPress theme & plugin developer, coworker, founder of Sizeable Interactive & WP Maintainer. Growing JFDI padwan. Lover of animals/art/music/film/pb&j.

Anthony Bubel

Anthony hails from the mean suburbs of Philly and has been in love with WordPress since his early days in Owl Country (i.e. Temple University). He spends his days working on business development for Akismet and the Premium Services group at Automattic, the awesome group of folks behind WordPress.com. When not bumping to the daily grind, he enjoys running tables in Call of Duty and Halo and musically obsesses over Springsteen and Pearl Jam.

You can find him on Twitter at @anthonybubel and his personal blog at http://anthonybubel.com/.

Anthony is also one of the organizers of WordCamp Philly 2012!

Ben Doherty

Ben has a long history of developing programs for the web as well as mobile clients and desktop computers. After getting his start at a small internet service provider in his home town, Ben went on to earn his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Systems Engineering at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Since then, Ben spent several years honing his technical and business skills freelancing with a wide variety of clients, developing custom software solutions and websites to suit their needs.

Ben is passionate about open-source software and has developed many websites using free CMS platforms like Drupal and WordPress. He has used his expertise to develop attractive and effective custom themes and modules for both platforms.

Brad Williams

Brad Williams is the co-founder of WebDevStudios.com, a co-host on the WP Late Night podcast, and the co-author of Professional WordPress and Professional WordPress Plugin Development.

Brad is also one of the organizers of the Philadelphia WordPress Meetup Group and WordCamp Philly. You can find Brad on twitter @williamsba and his blog at http://strangework.com

Brian Messenlehner

Brian Messenlehner is a Co-founder of WebDevStudios, a Tri-state area based software development company specializing in WordPress. Brian enjoys learning about new technology and believes open source software like WordPress is the key to successful cost effective web solutions in any situation. You can follow Brian on Twitter @bmess.

Catherine Farman

Catherine Farman has been building websites for over half her life, starting with HTML cobbled together on Geocities. Since then she’s learned modern web design and has been developing professionally with WordPress for over 4 years. Her WordPress experience includes building custom plugins and themes and providing support to a multisite community of over 1,400 users. She currently works at WebLinc building eCommerce front-ends, focusing on usable interfaces, accessibility, and responsive web design. For fun, Catherine teaches women how to code for Girl Develop It and organizes networking events with Girl Geek Dinners.

Christopher Cochran

Since I was young(er), I have always had a love for art and computers. 5 years ago I finally found a way to merge my two loves together. Web design and development are my true passions, followed closely by food, and music. I like to think I am making the web a better place one site at a time, doing what I truly love.

Doug Stewart

A ten-plus year veteran of the IT industry (please don’t hold it against him!) and Linux expert by trade, Doug has been using WordPress since its 1.0 days and has been surreptitiously converting internal websites and coworkers alike over to it for almost as long.

Doug is also one of the organizers of the Philadelphia WordPress Meetup Group and WordCamp Philly. You can find Doug on twitter (@zamoose) and his blog at http://literalbarrage.org/blog/

Dre Armeda

Andres “Dre” Armeda, CISSP is a web designer with a security habit. Dre is the CEO and Co-Founder of Sucuri. Sucuri is a security company that concentrates on being the leader in web integrity monitoring and web malware removal. Sucuri offers web integrity monitoring and alerting capabilities to small, large, and enterprise web networks.

Dre is a co-host on WP Late Night and the two time lead organizer of WordCamp San Diego. Follow @dremeda on Twitter, or say hi at dre.im.

Drew Poland

Hailing from “Charm City,” Baltimore, MD. Drew is a WordPress Developer and Consultant, lover of Argyle, and connoisseur of Coffee. Currently cultivating an awe-inspiring beard… one that would even make Zeus jealous. You can find out more about Drew, at http://www.baltimoredrew.com.

Eric Andrew Lewis

Eric is a profesh WordPress developer, spending his days knee-deep in code at WebDevStudios. He lives in Brooklyn, although spent his first 18 years in the west Philly suburbs. He invented the Cheesesteak Pie. He likes art forms other than coding, including silk screening, cooking, and DIY sailing.

George Stephanis

George Stephanis is a Code Monkey and WP Core Contributor based out of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His obsessions include human readable code, typography, debate, efficiency, open-source software, letterpress printing, the oxford comma, bread-making, semantic HTML, making lists, and minimalistic markup.

How Carson

How Carson has helped develop and administer computer publishing software as a systems analyst and data manager in the printing, automotive, and aerospace industries since the early 1980s. In 1989, he began learning hypertext development as part of an Aerospace Industries Association initiative to improve standards for technical documentation in the aerospace industry. In 1997, How started a small web hosting service that has grown to be US Server Net. After a decade of writing HTML, he discovered WordPress, and quickly became convinced that it represented the future of web publishing. Today, US Server Net specializes in managed WordPress hosting for small businesses, individuals, professionals, and non-profits. How’s primary professional interests are WordPress, open source software, and vulnerability management. His hobbies include dancing, cooking, and motorcycling. He lives in Montgomery County, PA with his wife and two Jack Russell Terriers.

Jason Coleman

CEO of Stranger Studios, and lead developer of the Paid Memberships Pro plugin which helps WordPress site owners get paid for their content.

Jayvie Canono

I’m a full time self employed developer and designer who’s used WordPress since it first came out. I also like to talk at WordCamps.

Jeremy Pry

Jeremy first learned WordPress in 2010, pouring through the codex in order to learn WordPress the rightway. Within a year, he found himself building the reelection campaign site for a State Representative in Harrisburg, PA. As Tech Support Ninja for WP Engine, he solves escalated support tickets, ensures that your migrations go smoothly, and is the go-to guy for handling Multisite issues. Prior to joining WP Engine, he spent four years supporting global users of Bentley Systems’ MicroStation software; another software program he taught himself from scratch.

Jeremy recently got engaged and has immediate plans to marry his fiancée. When not behind a computer, he loves baking, bike riding, playing ultimate frisbee, being outside in the woods, and skiing. He also loves to sing, and despite his background in computers, he majored in voice at West Chester University of Pennsylvania.

Jess Ostroff

Jess Ostroff is the Founder and Director of Calm of Don’t Panic Management, an online social media and content management agency dedicated to helping the owners of small to mid-sized businesses organize and execute their operations and marketing needs so they can focus on growing their company. Jess is a graduate of NYU’s Stern School of Business and has a strong passion for live music, wine, enjoying good food with good friends, and WordPress, of course.

Joe Casabona

Joe Casabona is a web developer, teacher, and author of the book Building WordPress Themes from Scratch. He’s from Middletown, NY, lives in Scranton, PA, and has been making websites since 2002. He was introduced to WordPress in 2004 and has been working with it ever since.

John Kleinschmidt

I am a seasoned enterprise web application developer that loves working on the cutting edge of the ever evolving web. I care about UI and performance and love coming up with innovative solutions that push the limits of what’s possible. Currently, I am the director of Technology Development at CURE International which has allowed me to be a part of the WordPress community.

John P. Bloch

John P. Bloch is an in-house web developer at an agency in the Washington, DC area. He spends his days (and sometimes nights) making WordPress sing for fun and profit. John began using WordPress in 2008 and quickly found a laundry list of deficiencies that became projects. John started working with WordPress full time in 2009 and has been loving it ever since.

Juliana Perry

Juliana Perry came to project management and user support via a Masters in Library and Information Science, which she’s been using to organize Bryn Mawr College’s web presence for over 2 years, working towards greater usability and accessibility. Conflict resolution training and undergraduate work in social science also help her understand and communicate effectively with users. Her WordPress experience includes writing documentation, providing support and workshops for the Bryn Mawr Blogs community, and managing a months-long project to reduce plugins and themes to sustainable numbers and upgrade Bryn Mawr’s install from 2.7 to 3.2.

Lew Goettner

Lew Goettner is a senior technical lead for the Knowledge@Wharton group within the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His day to day responsibilities include managing the publishing infrastructure for Knowledge@Wharton’s network of sites, which run the range from WordPress on LAMP to legacy ColdFusion code on IIS/Windows. Additionally, he serves on admin groups that span Wharton’s computing division for F5 devices, MySQL, PHP and WordPress. Prior to joining the Wharton School, Lew worked in the medical industry, building HIPAA compliant case management systems, supporting medical technology review publishing, and consulting.

Liam Dempsey

Liam has been designing websites and more since 2000. Describing himself as a “designer who codes,” Liam jumped into WordPress in 2007 and has never looked back. Liam started his own communications consultancy in the UK, and in 2009 moved back to the US, landing in greater Philadelphia. He works from Philly, making regular trips to his London office. In May 2012, Liam helped get the Philly ‘burbs WordPress Meetup organized and continues to play an active role in that group.

Lisa Sabin-Wilson

Lisa Sabin-Wilson is the founder of eWebscapes, a blog and web site design and development company specializing in customized WordPress themes, made to order.

Lisa is the For Dummies brand (Wiley Pub) franchise author on all things WordPress; having worked with WordPress since 2003, she has extensive experience and knowledge on the platform and shares it in her several WordPress-related books. She is also a regular public speaker on topics such as: WordPress, blogging, design and social media. Follow Lisa on Twitter here: @LisaSabinWilson

Mark Schneider

I have successfully launched two creative divisions one for a major agency in NYC and one for the first database marketing company in the U.S. As a writer/strategist/creative director, I’ve developed campaigns for over one third of the Fortune 1000 and dozens of startups around the globe. And I’ve recently launched a Meetup called Startups for Grownups. From a content perspective, I learned from the best, having worked with dozens of Time Warner Magazines (Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly, People), Esquire, Investors Business Daily, Men’s Health, etc. And I’ve also been at the helm of co-publishing efforts with P&G, Nestle, Harrah’s and Nabisco.

Mel Choyce

Mel Choyce is a user interface designer, geek, and craft beer enthusiast living in Boston. She works for codelaboration, a web startup focused on improving the customer service industry. Prior to moving to Boston, Mel co-coordinated both the Western MA WordPress meetups and Valley Summit, the Pioneer Valley’s annual conference for web professionals. Mel is dedicated to bringing great design to the WordPress community.

Pete Schuster

I am a front end web developer working in Philadelphia at O3 World. I live in the Philadelphia area with my supportive/beautiful girlfriend, our dog Betty White and menagerie of other animals. I have a passion for web standards and practices, and enjoy writing about the subject. Follow me on Twitter @pete_schuster.

Reed Gustow

I’ve been working with WordPress for 2 years or so, making websites and teaching, and I’m the Principal of a web development company, Delta Angel. I’m the co-leader of the Web Design group of the Philadelphia Area Computer Society and a board member of the Philadelphia Area New Media Association.

Reed is also one of the organizers of WordCamp Philly 2012!

Ross Beyeler

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

Tom Carney

Tom (also known as TecDoc) is the founder of TecDoc Design, a WordPress and Web Development company based in Philadelphia, PA. He has been designing/developing custom WordPress themes and plugins since 2009. He also speaks on Mobile design, HTML5/CSS3 standards and jQuery development. When not designing/developing for the web, you can find him at a Philly sporting event, concert or latest indy movie. You can follow him on Twitter here: @tecdoc.

Tony Perez

I am owner and executive of a tech start-up specializing in web-based malware. I like being able to educate people on the challenges surrounding web security, specifically their impacts on the fastest growing platforms – WordPress.

More importantly, I’m a martial arts fanatic, love to ride my Harley and if you are lucky, like to make it rain. Follow Tony on Twitter @perezbox

Tracy Levesque

Tracy Levesque is a co-owner of YIKES, Inc., a Philadelphia web design and development shop. She has been designing websites since 1996 and working with WordPress since 2007. She spends her days building custom themes for WordPress and seeing how much functionality she can add without knowing PHP. When not wrangling HTML and CSS, Tracy rides bikes, eats sushi, chases her 6 year old daughter and takes pictures of abandoned buildings.

Yasmine Mustafa

My name is Yasmine Mustafa. I started blogging in 2006 to establish my then consulting company as an authority leader in the Entrepreneurship space. I started advertising on my blog after it received traction and even started a blog advertising company to help streamline the process. It was acquired in November 2011 and I’m now working the Product Marketing Manager at NetLine, a B2B lead generation network. I’m also involved with GirlDevelopIt Philly and TechGirlz.org, two organizations that aim to help women get into technology. You can find me on myasmine.com or @myasmine.

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  1. Pingback: Upcoming Talks and WordCamps - Baltimore Drew

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