Bios - Main Event
David Bratton, Destination Analysts
Destination Analysts’ founder, David Bratton holds a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from Iowa State University and a Master of Arts degree in economics from the University of Arizona. After finishing his graduate work, he spent four years working as an economist for the United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis in Washington, D.C. He specialized there in economic modeling and forecasting, in work related to a satellite set of accounts to the Gross National Product. While at Commerce, he managed the work of a team of economists and was a contributor to the noted journal, Survey of Current Business.
Bratton then spent eight years pioneering new research techniques and e-marketing promotions for the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau, as director of electronic marketing & research. Bratton’s work in market research ranged from in-depth qualitative work such as brand audits and advertising concept testing to ground-breaking quantitative studies including return on investment studies, profiles of San Francisco visitors and large national consumer surveys. His research program won praise for its “best research practices in the nation” by a noted academic publication.
In 2003, he started Destination Analysts, Inc., a San Francisco-based tourism industry marketing and research company servicing clients across travel and tourism industry. Bratton’s creative approach to the research process and ability to makes complex concepts easy to understand is the hallmark of his work. He was recently named as one of HSMAI’s 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales and Marketing.
Elizabeth Brown, B Line Events
EE Elizabeth Brown is Sr. Meeting Planner at B Line Events, located in San Francisco, CA. B Line is a global meeting and event company offering a comprehensive range of services for meetings, conferences, trade shows, incentives and special events. Elizabeth loves the ever-changing pace of the event world, and oversees event operations and venue research for B line. Elizabeth has been with B line for six years, and is a graduate of Duke University where she majored in English.
Jim Brody, TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor® is the world's largest travel site, with more than 45 million unique monthly visitors, 20 million members, and over 50 million reviews and opinions. Featuring real advice from real travelers, TripAdvisor sites cover more than one million destinations, hotels, restaurants and attractions, and operate in 30 countries worldwide. A media professional with over 20 years of experience, Jim Brody has a diverse background, including stints as a political analyst, host of his own home shopping program on the radio and television, and work with a small weekly newspaper in Connecticut. His Internet experience began early – in 1995 – with the development of a New England travel website, and he has focused solely on the Internet ever since. He has been with TripAdvisor since 2005, and is currently the Sales Manager for Destination Marketing.
Rhiannon West Chamberlain, Travel Oregon
Rhiannon West Chamberlain is the "voice" of Oregon tourism on Facebook and Twitter and in the organization's email marketing program. She is passionate about using new media methods to build relationships with Oregon visitors and to promote travel to the state. Rhiannon earned her communications studies degree from Portland State University and has eight years experience in the interactive marketing field.
McKenzie Coco, FSC Interactive
McKenzie Coco is the founder of FSC Interactive and specializes in helping companies increase the effectiveness of their marketing investment with revenue generating recommendations for interactive optimization. With ten years combined experience in New Orleans, Seattle and San Diego, McKenzie has worked with a variety of clients in multiple industries including hospitality, financial services, law, education, telecommunications and publishing. McKenzie is a graduate of Wake Forest University with a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing Communications. She is a member of board for the New Orleans Chapter of the American Marketing Association, an EO Accelerator, a NextGen Council member for GNO Inc and was awarded as one of the New Orleans Junior Achievement Rising Stars for 2010. FSC works with a multitude of hospitality clients including hotels and restaurants, as well as the two official tourism agencies for New Orleans, NOTMC and NO CVB.
Derek Draper, Wildfire Interactive
Derek oversees the Sales and Account Management teams at Wildfire Interactive, located in Palo Alto, CA. Derek has helped lead Wildfire to profitability in just one year while also building an impressive client list of major brands and agencies including Facebook, Unilever, Sony, AT&T, Target, Electronic Arts, Ogilvy, Publicis and Fleishman-Hillard, among others. Prior to Wildfire, Derek ran his own micro-startup focused on Central American commerce and before that worked in a variety of sales and management roles at Fisher Investments in California. Derek is a graduate of Dartmouth College where he double-majored in Economics and Psychology.
Amanda Eyer, atLarge
Amanda is a strategy leader for atLarge, Inc.-–the digital marketing firm building websites, apps and social campaigns for internationally-recognized destinations and attractions. A mix of marketer, blogger and community manager-–Amanda helps clients foster a social media culture, build communities and hatch social campaigns with purpose. She holds a bachelor’s degree in public relations from the University of Florida and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of South Florida.
Michael Gehrisch, DMAI dkdkkd
During his ten years as President & CEO of Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI), Michael D. Gehrisch has reenergized and positioned DMAI as one of the world’s leading hospitality associations.
With Michael at the helm, the association repositioned itself in 2005 as Destination Marketing Association International (previously the International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus), to enhance the relevancy and visibility of its members to individuals outside the industry. Michael led the industry’s historic Destination Marketing Accreditation Program initiative, which established a consistent standard for destination marketing operations, and which has accredited over 100 DMOs around the globe.
Michael also guided the Destination & Travel Foundation (the consolidated entity of the DMAI and U.S. Travel Foundations) through two major fundraising efforts, 2001’s Destination Ahead campaign, and the 2009 Destination Excellence campaign, raising over US$6 million for vital destination marketing research and resources. His keen understanding of tools needed for DMO success led to the development of the groundbreaking 2008 Futures Study, which revealed key need areas facing the destination marketing industry which the Destination Excellence campaign seeks to answer through innovative tools and resources.
Additionally, Mr. Gehrisch currently serves as a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Committee of 100 and serves on the Board of the Convention Industry Council with previous Board service with the U.S. Travel Association, and American Society of Association Executives. The proud recipient of the NYSAE Education & Research Foundation’s 2007 Vision Award, Michael has been named one of the “25 Most Influential Travel Executives” by Business Travel News and one of Tradeshow Week’s “100 Most Influential People in the Tradeshow Business” in 2006, and was ranked among the “Top 25 Most Influential People” in the meetings industry by Meetings News magazine in 2004.
Michael has more than 29 years experience in the hospitality industry, including working for 13 years as Executive Vice President for the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) in Washington, DC. Earlier in his career, Gehrisch held management positions with Marriott and Hilton hotels.
Ryan George, simpleview
Ryan George is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of simpleview, a travel, tourism and technology company that has specialized in destination marketing since 1991. Under his leadership, simpleview has realized a 96% customer retention rate, explosive triple digit growth and the honor of being named the second-fastest growing, privately-held travel sector company by Inc. magazine in 2008. George has been a frequent speaker on the subjects of travel and tourism, technology and entrepreneurship at business schools and professional organizations worldwide.
Philip Grote, comScore
Philip Grote is Director of Marketing Solutions at comScore, where he works with leading travel and retail companies to develop and inform their mobile and online strategies utilizing comScore’s measurement of person level observed online behavior. The impact of his research ranges from tactical redesign of apps and websites, to strategic refocus on new customer segments. Philip’ is responsible for helping comScore’s travel clients identify and interpret new trends, determine appropriate action, and measure the success of these actions. Philip chairs the Puget Sound Research Forum, an organization committed to introducing researchers and practitioners to new research approaches & insights. He holds an MBA in Market Research and Marketing from San Diego State University.
Brianna Haag, Eventbrite
Brianna Haag is the San Francisco Event Evangelist for Eventbrite, a platform that makes it easy for organizers to sell tickets & promote their events online. She focuses on growing brand awareness and the fostering the local Eventbrite community in the Bay Area. A lover of party hats, triathlons, wine tastings and music festivals, Brianna rarely meets an event she doesn't like, and she loves showing people how Eventbrite's tools can make the stress of event planning a whole lot easier!
James Hacon, Kiwi Dreams
James Hacon is a passionate advocate of social commerce, creative marketing and innovative thinking in the hospitality, travel and tourism industries. Based in the South Island of New Zealand, in his position as Executive Consultant and Company Director at Kiwi Dreams he works with a number of companies and organisations to ensure they embrace the potential of social commerce by ensuring an integrated approach to operations and marketing. James will be leading a workshop on advanced uses of Linkedin, a platform he fully maximises personally and professionally, where he encourages his clients to consider it the primary weapon in their arsenal for business-to-business interaction.
Brian Harte, Tourism Ireland
Brian Harte, Head of Customer Engagement & E-Marketing with Tourism Ireland, the DMO responsible for marketing the Island of Ireland as a holiday destination. Dublin bred Brian is responsible for many of the customer interactions overseas visitors first have with Ireland. With the DiscoverIreland.com site and the contact centre also in his remit, it is social media where a lot of the action is. Tourism Ireland supports 18 Facebook presences, 8 Twitter streams, four blogs and couple of Youtube channels. The key challenge has been to scale the conversation in as many markets and languages as possible while maintaining the personable, friendly interaction Ireland is famous for. Brian organised the first conference in Ireland on implementing the Internet for business and was a founding board-member of the Irish Internet Association – sometime back in prehistory – and now has the wonderful brief of doing what he loves on behalf of his country!
Tim Hayden, 44Doors
Tim Hayden is a popular speaker and marketing advisor to brands in the B2C and B2B marketplaces, continuously studying communications behavior and the technologies that reshape it every day. With more than 15 years experience in interactive marketing, entertainment and media consulting, Tim brings innovative strategies to life through the integration of mainstream media, events, mobile and social media. He is the CMO at 44Doors, providing social and mobile engagement solutions to agencies and brands such as AT&T, Jackson Family Wines, Fleishman-Hillard, Coca-Cola and Hyatt, including many hospitality organizations and DMOs through the use of social content, QR codes, SMS and creative services. From 2003 to 2009, Tim was CEO of GamePlan, an experiential marketing agency where he coined the term "Live-Mobile-Online." There, he also oversaw production of Bacardi's first social media/event marketing program, Dell's first social media widget, the South Padre International Music Festival and other breakthrough efforts for brands such as IBM and Nintendo. Tim holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science from Texas State University. When not saving the world from bad mobile experiences, he lives in Austin with his wife, Halea, son, Graeme, and a Bavarian Snakehound (Schnauzer) named Raudy.
Adam Heintz, LivingSocial
As Director of Strategy and Development for LivingSocial’s Escapes and Adventures divisions, Adam Heintz is responsible for identifying new business opportunities and initiatives to promote growth within these categories. He also actively seeks new ways to continually improve the business operationally. Prior to joining LivingSocial, Heintz worked for Orbitz Worldwide where he held several different positions including manager of strategy and analytics and senior manager of strategy for car, cruise and travel insurance. Most recently, he held the title of senior manager of international hotel supply strategy, a role in which he drove global supply acquisition strategy. Heintz earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from Ohio University, and a master’s of business administration from the University of Chicago with concentrations in strategy and economics.
Darnell Holloway, Yelp!
Darnell Holloway is Yelp's Manager of Local Business Outreach. He hosts informational sessions with local business owners across the country to educate them on the value of engaging with their Yelp listings, and joining the conversations happening about their businesses. He oversees Yelp's Small Business Advisory Council, and delivers constructive feedback from the business community to the different divisions within Yelp. He also hosts a series of monthly webinars about Yelp's free online tools, and regularly produces informative content for Yelp's Blog for Business Owners. Prior to joining Yelp in 2009, Darnell worked as an Associate in Institutional Equity Research Sales for Thomas Weisel Partners. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Davis.
Carol Joannette, Lake Placid CVB
Carol Joannette is the Executive Vice President of the Lake Placid CVB / Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism, which is the accredited Destination Marketing Organization responsible for promoting the Lake Placid Region of the Adirondacks in New York. Carol has been instrumental in the development of a number of online promotional applications for the tourism-dependent industry in the region, including the creation of a database upon which the customer relationship management programs are based, and the original New York Hot Deals online lodging program. She is responsible for overseeing operations, and for the development and implementation of a four-sub-destination marketing strategy for the DMO's jurisdiction. Recently, Carol led the launch of the new brand and website for the region's flagship destination, Lake Placid. The mobile site was launched in September, 2011.
Marla Johnson Norris, Aristotle Interactive
Aristotle is a nationally recognized full service Internet and interactive media firm. Founded in 1995, Aristotle provides web development, Internet marketing, email and Internet connectivity services to a nation wide client base.
Aristotle CEO, Marla Johnson Norris co-founded Aristotle in 1995. Through her passion and leadership, Aristotle is a thriving Internet web, marketing, and consulting firm. It has gained international media recognition and industry awards for innovation and excellence in website and interactive media design, programming and research. A nationally recognized expert in destination marketing, Marla designed and conducted one of the first tourism website focus groups and was instrumental in the development of the first online conversion study. Her innovative ideas have changed the way entire industries do business. A frequent keynote speaker, seminar leader and focus group facilitator, Marla consults with industry groups and clients nationwide in several areas of expertise including accountable online marketing, strategic branding and design, research methodology and reporting, tracking metrics, interactive CRM programming and integrated PR and advertising campaigns. Marla graduated summa cum laude from the University of Memphis with a BA in International Relations and received a Masters in Education from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. An active community leader, Marla was honored with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock President’s Award and the University of Memphis Distinguished Alumnae Award. www.AristotleWebDesign.com
Jeffrey Kohn, VisitMobile, Inc.
Jeffrey Kohn is the CEO of VisitMobile, Inc. VisitMobile (www.visitmobile.com) is an award-winning mobile solution provider, providing its unique Mobile Concierge product to premier destination marketing organizations around the world. VisitMobile clients include Napa Valley, Steamboat Resort, Downtown Denver, and Halifax Canada. An expert in the local advertising and marketing space, Jeff previously led digital technology strategy and development for R.H. Donnelley / Dex, a leading Yellow Pages and online local search company. He has held past leadership, sales and technical positions with Oracle Corporation, Sun Microsystems, Fiskars, Lockheed-Martin, and NASA’s Mission Control. Jeff holds an undergraduate degree in Information Systems from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and an MBA from the University of Colorado - Denver.
Yvette Lui, Facebook Yvette is the Director of North America Sales at Facebook, where she leads sales and strategy for Fortune 1000 businesses. This includes bringing new businesses to the Facebook platform and driving new products and programs to help them achieve their objectives. Prior to Facebook, Yvette spent 6 years at Google leading Agency Development, Strategic Partnerships for Google Checkout, and Social Media Advertising Sales. While there, she developed partnerships and sales strategies for Fortune 500 marketers and Agencies. Yvette has over ten years of online marketing experience and holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of California at Berkeley.
Nicolet Magel, Facebook
Nicolet Magel is on the Facebook global solutions marketing team working exclusively with travel and tourism clients. She has a wealth of knowledge in the industry and assists clients in developing a holistic social experience by leveraging the Facebook platform and reach. Nicolet has a background in print and traditional media and resides in Austin, TX.
Scott McNeely, Viator
Scott McNeely, who joined Viator in 2005, oversees the company's global product strategy and leads the product development and product marketing functions, including management of the flagship Viator.com website. Utilizing his more than 12 years of product development expertise, Scott's focus is on creating useful, intuitive experiences for travel consumers on Viator.com and 17 other Viator, Inc. websites, as well as on the company's growing portfolio of mobile products. Prior to joining Viator, Scott served as global online publisher at Lonely Planet Publications, where he was responsible for product development across the company's consumer-direct, mobile and business-to-business channels. Scott and his team developed Lonely Planet's website applications and launched the company's first mobile apps and podcasts, earning numerous Webby and industry awards for their efforts. Scott previously served in senior roles at Random House Inc., part of Bertelsmann AG, in the Fodor's Travel Publications group. Scott is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and Trinity College, Dublin. Scott is a frequent industry speaker on the topics of search engine optimization and social media in travel. Scott is a passionate traveler having explored more than 50 countries by foot, camel, tuk-tuk and third-class train. If his wife and two children would let him, Scott would move back to Istanbul in a heartbeat. Instead he is busy planning his family's next great adventure to Egypt and Turkey. Scott has personally road-tested numerous Viator experiences with the Sydney shark dive topping the list.
Brian Mikalis, Pandora
In Brian's role as Vice President, Performance Sales at Pandora, he's responsible for managing Pandora's discretionary ad inventory across all channels -- working directly with internet advertisers, networks, exchanges, and marketplaces. His role includes exploring alternative revenue opportunities, and creating ad programs that drive incremental revenue for the company and value for its audience. In addition, Brian manages the inside sales team, which is responsible for working with small to mid-sized businesses interested in reaching their target audience through display, audio, video, and mobile advertising opportunities.
Prior to Pandora, he was the Director, Business Development at AdReady, an online advertising company based in Seattle. Brian worked with publishers, networks, and exchanges to provide inventory options for AdReady’s base of advertising clients. In addition, Brian developed, sold, and managed AdReady’s product for publishers -- enabling companies to more efficiently work with a new set of advertisers through inside sales and self service display advertising, utilizing the AdReady platform.
Previously, he led sales teams at AOL in San Francisco and Los Angeles in his role as Director, Sales & Business Development. He created AOL’s first performance program for direct response advertisers, and managed partnerships with some of the largest advertisers on the Internet. In addition, Brian worked with import auto manufacturers and their agencies in Los Angeles. Prior to AOL, Brian held positions in sales and trading at Robertson Stephens and Montgomery Asset Management.
Brian holds a Bachelors degree in Business Economics with an Accounting emphasis from University of California at Santa Barbara and an MBA from Saint Mary’s College of California. Brian is based in the San Francisco, Bay Area.
MmM Mark Muleady, LinkedIn
Mark Muleady joined LinkedIn in 2010. He currently works as an Account Executive on the Marketing Solutions business helping companies leverage every aspect of LinkedIn. Throughout his career, Mark has worked in social media and the B2B space. Prior to joining LinkedIn, he led a B2B retargeting start-up on the west coast called Inflection Point Media. Here he worked on his own to lay the foundation for the newly established company. Mark also held previous roles at Community Connect and Yahoo!. He received his degree from the University of San Francisco in BA, specializing in Finance. Mark also serves on SFBig in the Bay Area.
Linda Palermo, Joie de Vivre
Linda oversees all of the sales, revenue management, distribution, marketing and public relations functions for Joie De Vivre Hospitality. This includes corporate sales support for over 30 hotels, managing an in-house marketing agency and brand marketing, and overseeing online marketing efforts, electronic distribution and channel management. Prior to joining Joie de Vivre Hospitality, Palermo was Regional Director of Sales for TravelCLICK's Western North America division, where she led a team responsible for generating Western North America revenues and worked with brands, management companies, hotels, and owners to drive additional profit through growing and shifting business to electronic distribution channels. Previous to that, Palermo was the western regional director of sales and marketing for InterContinental Hotels Group. Her former experience also included Vice President of Human Resources for The Flatley Company's 15 "Tara" Hotels in Braintree, Massachusetts and sales, marketing and operational positions with Meridien Hotels, Hyatt Hotels, and Sheraton franchise operations. Linda is a graduate of Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration.
Jessica Roberts, Facebook
Jessica Roberts is on the Facebook Account Management team with a vertical focus in Travel. She works to foster relationships with top tier clients and help grow their business by focusing on product education and identifying ways clients can be more social by design. She comes from a strong agency background and resides in Austin, TX.
Dan Rosenbaum, San Francisco Travel
A Facebook user since 2004 and a MySpace user well before that, Dan Rosenbaum has been a part of Social Media since the beginning. Since 2006, he has created and executed social media strategies for well known brands in the entertainment industry and various consumer products, such as Fight Club, Hot Tub Time Machine, Little Big Planet and Ducati North America. A San Francisco resident since December of 2010, Dan is now a part of San Francisco Travel where he oversees, creates and maintains the social media presence for the company. You can follow San Francisco at www.facebook.com/onlyinsf and www.twitter.com/onlyinsf.
Sheila Scarborough, Tourism Currents
Sheila Scarborough is a writer, speaker and consultant specializing in tourism, travel and social media. She writes for a variety of publications and is also a certified Navy Master Training Specialist, with many years of experience as an instructor. A 2010 "Austin American-Statesman" Texas Social Media Award winner, Sheila trains and speaks regularly about tech topics to a variety of audiences including tourism, hospitality and economic development experts, public relations and marketing professionals, journalists and Web developers. She is also the co-founder (with Becky McCray) of Tourism Currents, an online learning community and membership site where tourism and hospitality professionals learn how to make sense of social media and technology for destination marketing. When time allows, Sheila also likes to cover NHRA drag racing, because there's one winner, one loser and no whining.
Christine Shimasaki, empowerMINT
Managing Director of empowerMINT.com and event impact calculator Destination Marketing Association International. Joining Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) in June 2009, Ms. Shimasaki (or Shimo as she is known) brings over 16 years of destination marketing experience to her role. Her most recent position as Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer for the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau challenged her to drive innovation in the organization, with a focus on enabling technologies and transforming the organization to an Oracle platform. During her tenure, she has led every division within the organization, including convention center sales, hotel meeting sales, marketing, membership, information technology, and operations. Previous to the convention & visitors bureau, positions include director of sales for several Marriott hotels and resorts. She has served the tourism industry as a board member to Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA), co-chair of the Performance Me asures Initiative for Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI), and chair to DMAI’s Accreditation Board.
Mary Song, Yuupon
Yuupon is led by Mary Song, an online travel veteran and respected entrepreneur. She was the founder and force behind Rent101 (one of the founding sites of Homeaway.com) and has a slew of successful business credits to her name. An entrepreneur at heart, Mary has also had a lifelong passion for technology. Her expertise in computer technology stems from a long career in programming, including designing the budget making system for the state of New York. Mary was asked to run for Mayor of Saratoga Springs in 2001 and worked on a state wide campaign for New York State Comptroller and continues to work on several political campaigns. She was inspired to start Yuupon after discovering Woot, the one-a-day deal site. She was drawn to its simplicity, ease of use, and of course, the unbeatable deals. Woot inspired her to take the same concept and use it in the travel space.
Martin Stoll, GoSeeTell.com
Martin Stoll is the founder and president of GoSeeTell Network Inc. (www.goseetell), a Portland (Oregon) based travel e-commerce and consulting company. GoSeeTell develops social networking solutions for the travel space. Destination Marketing Organizations, Fortune 500 companies and various other organizations use the GoSeeTell platform to increase customer loyalty and satisfaction by delivering highly relevant, personalized user-generated content to consumers. Martin has worked in the travel industry for over 15 years as a travel journalist, consultant and in various management positions in network planning, revenue management, sales, marketing and e-commerce for Lufthansa German Airlines in Frankfurt, Munich, Cologne, Moscow, Miami and San Francisco.
Shirley Tafoya, Travelzoo
Shirley Tafoya serves as President of North America for Travelzoo. Prior to her appointment to President, she served as the company’s Senior Vice President of Sales from 2001-2008. As the President of North America for Travelzoo, the most trusted publisher of travel, entertainment and local deals, Ms. Tafoya is responsible for managing the company’s U.S and Canadian operations as well as developing strategic initiatives to drive sales growth. Ms. Tafoya has over 20 years of experience in publishing with companies such as International Data Group, Disney, Ziff-Davis, and CMP Media. Prior to joining Travelzoo eight years ago, Ms. Tafoya lead the Western Sales and Business Development efforts for the Walt Disney Internet Group. Managing one of the highest revenue producing regions in the country she rebuilt, trained, and restructured the entire northwest sales team where she doubled partnership revenues during her tenure. Ms. Tafoya began her career in high-tech publishing. She has held senior positions in both strategic and global accounts with both IDG/International Data Corp. and with CMP Media where she was responsible for 30% of the company’s top tier account revenue base. Shirley Tafoya holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame de Namur. She resides with her husband and two children in Redwood City, California.
John Thornton, Rimm-Kaufmann Group
As Marketing Manager at RKG (The Rimm-Kaufman Group), John Thornton is responsible for working with companies to develop and improve their online marketing campaigns. With experience managing multi-million dollar paid search programs for online-one and multichannel clients, John has an in-depth understanding of the goals, strategies, and methods for driving results through digital marketing for the travel vertical. As an Analyst for RKG, his research and analysis aided in the development of processes for improving how RKG adopts and leverages new product extensions that are released from the search engines.
John is an invited speaker at industry trade shows as well as his alma mater, presenting paid search and online marketing strategies as well as new developments from the search engines. John is a graduate of the University Of Virginia McIntire School Of Commerce, with specialization in both Marketing and Finance.
Howard Tietjen, Madden Media
With 30 years of real-world experience and a passion for new challenges, Howard has helped Madden Media become true innovators in the travel and tourism industry. Since he joined the Madden team in 2000, Howard has utilized his wide range of interests to excel in many roles. He led the team that developed VacationFun.com, including the electronic fulfillment options that help Madden’s clients save thousands of dollars on fulfillment expenses every year. He was the primary architect of Madden’s demographic targeting systems, which allow for the most effective and efficient distribution of Madden’s newspaper insert programs. And, he led the team that launched the travel inserts in O, The Oprah Magazine. Today, Howard and the Madden Media team have focused their efforts on the development of online marketing campaigns that are both effective and cost-efficient. Working together with industry leaders, Howard is helping to bring new ideas, new technology, and new partnerships together that allow Madden’s clients to get the most “bang for the buck” during these difficult economic times.
DJ Waldow, Blue Sky Factory
DJ Waldow is the founder of Waldow Social, a company that helps businesses leverage the power of events, email and social media marketing to help grow their c
