Host
Randy Smith
Donald W. Reynolds Chair of Business Journalism
Randy Smith, BJ '74, is the first Donald W. Reynolds Endowed Chair of Business Journalism. He joined the Missouri School of Journalism in August 2009. His 30-year career at The Kansas City Star began in 1979, and he has worked on both the news and business sides. Smith started as a copy editor, rising to the positions of business editor and deputy managing editor, and most recently, to director of strategic development.
Business, Technology and the Media: Charting a Course Through Chaos - Participants and Presenters
 Chanmo Ahn, the Chief Executive of Beehive Communications, Inc., is a communications specialist, businessperson, and journalist. Incorporated in both Korea and the U.S., Beehive Communications, Inc. is a boutique consulting firm that specializes in cross-cultural communication, research, and investigative reporting. As a journalist and communications consultant, Chanmo has been providing his writings and expertise on a range of topics to governments, businesses, and bankers as well as civic, academic, and media organizations in both the United States and Korea. In May 2007, Chanmo assumed a newly-created position at the Korean Internet Journalists' Association (KIJA) as Executive Director for International Affairs. While representing over 80 member organizations of KIJA, Chanmo is actively engaging the public, both within and outside Korea. Prior to founding his own company in 2006, Chanmo served as Information Specialist at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul (1998-2006), where he earned the prestigious "U.S. Department of State Employee (Foreign Service National) of the Year's" Award, and worked as a communication specialist for Samsung, a Seoul-based global conglomerate (1994-1998). Chanmo is fluent in English and Korean, and proficient in web-based communication technologies. He earned his B.S. in Fashion Designing & Business (1995) and M.A. in Journalism (2001) from Kyunghee University in Seoul, Korea. Chanmo currently lives in the suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina, with his wife and two young daughters. |
 Saleem Alhabash is a doctoral student at the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, planning to complete his doctorate in May 2011. Alhabash’s research focuses on new and social media, media psychology, and international communication. For his dissertation, Saleem is investigating the effects of PeaceMaker, a videogame simulation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, on the change in national stereotypes and attitudes among American, Palestinian and Israeli young adults. Alhabash initiated and participated in a number of studies exploring the cognitive and emotional responses to social network sites (Facebook), the effects of Facebook interaction on images that Americans and Palestinians have about one another, and the psychological determinants of impression management via Facebook. Alhabash has been teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in global strategic communication (PR and advertising) and international journalism. Prior to graduate school, Alhabash was managing editor for the first youth newspaper in Palestine, The Youth Times, supervised a national youth television program, co-founded the Forum for Young Palestinian Journalists, Tawasol, and organized national and international conferences. Alhabash has been a speaker or panelist at a number of national and international conferences held by the World Economic Forum, the World Bank, and Columbia University, to name a few. |
 Phil Aucutt, Managing Partner WR Holdings & President of Junit, LLC Phil Aucutt has over a decade's experience advising companies and entrepreneurs. At WR Holdings Phil manages and directs the firm's equity research and funding strategies. He has significant operational and board experience, along with extensive deal-making experience in the information technology sector. Phil is a co-founder and President of Junit, LLC, a cloud-based converged media publishing platform, funded in part by the University of Missouri. Phil is a serial entrepreneur, and has co-founded or invested in companies in educational software, mobile phones, and the financial sector. Prior to his current roles Phil was Vice President of Business Development for Fintel a leading provider of private company data which provides data to D&B's First Research unit, the Brookings Institution, and other financial institutions. |
 Professor Clyde Bentley worked for 25 years in the newspaper industry before earning his doctorate in journalism at the University of Oregon in 2000. His dissertation, "Make My Day: Ritual, Dependency and the Habit of Newspaper Reading," grew out of his prior experiences as a reporter, editor, general manager and marketing director at newspapers in California, Oregon, Idaho and Texas. |
 Vin Capone, Development Executive, Apple Vin Capone is the Digital Video/Quicktime Development Executive for Education. Vin has been with Apple since 1997 in the Business and Education Channels serving as both a systems engineer and development executive. In the Business Channel, Vin worked with Hollywood and the television industry to foster the adoption of Apple's products and technology. He has worked on the sets of major motion pictures, television shows and independent films. His background includes video production, cinematography, audio engineering, 3D and special effects. He is an expert on media production and internet delivery and streaming of content and distribution to mobile devices. He has consulted on large mobile device projects in the entertainment, biotech, and government research areas. He covers university systems in the 14 midwestern western states for the Education Division and manages special video projects and market generation activities. Prior to coming to Apple, Vin worked as a professional photojournalist in both television and print. He graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in photojournalism and history. |
 Carole Christie is the director of communications for the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute, where she develops communication strategies; oversees the Web site and other communication vehicles; plans meetings and events; and supervises other public relations and media relations work. She has more than 25 years of experience in the advertising industry, most recently working with new media and interactive campaigns for Crown Diversified in St. Louis. |
 David Cohn has written for Wired, Seed, Columbia Journalism Review and The New York Times. While working toward his master’s degree at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Cohn worked as the editor at newassignment.net , which focused on citizen journalism and ways news organizations could explore the social web. Cohn also worked with Jeff Jarvis from Buzzmachine.com to organize the first Networked Journalism Summits, which brought together the best practices of collaborative journalism. He has been a contributing editor at NewsTrust.net, a non-profit media literacy tool and news filter. Cohn also is the founding editor of Broowaha, an expanding citizen journalism network. Most recently David is the founder of Spot.Us - a nonprofit that is pioneering "community funded reporting." |
 Alisa Cromer is founder of LocalMediaInsider.com, a division of New Media Hub, LLC. The site is dedicated to tracking emerging revenues strategies for the growing audience of working publishers, digital executives and sales managers running local media sites. In 2010 she co-wrote ItzBelden's Paid Access Practices and Profiles. A veteran of alternative weekly publishing, she served as COO of Metro Publishing, Inc. Her first Web site launch, the Orlando Weekly, received Editor and Publisher's awared for Best Overall U.S.Newspaper Online Service in the weekly category. She has run media sites in seven U.S. cities and currently lives in San Jose, Calif. |
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 Larry Dailey is a professor and the Donald W. Reynolds Chair of Media Technologies at the Donald W. Reynolds School of Journalism in Reno, Nev. He researches organizational culture and he teaches courses in nonlinear documentary multimedia storytelling, photojournalism, game design for journalists and innovation for journalists. Previously he was an assistant professor of journalism and the director of the Digital Media Minor at Ball State University in Muncie, IN. He has also been a journalism instructor at Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville, IL. Prior to that, he taught multimedia and advanced photojournalism courses as a visiting assistant professor at the University of Missouri - Columbia. He worked for three years as a multimedia producer for MSNBC Interactive, one of the Internet’s top news sites. He has been a picture editor for the Associated Press and United Press International in Washington. And he has worked as a newspaper photographer and photography department manager. Larry holds a master’s degree in photography from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. He also holds degrees in journalism and education from the University of Missouri. |
 In 1993, after nine years owning and publishing weeklies in Berkshire County, Mass., Bill Densmore formed what became Clickshare Service Corp., a company that provides user registration, authentication and transaction-handling for Web content. Densmore's multi-faceted career has included stints as editor/writer for The Associated Press as well as for trade publications in business, law and insurance. He has freelanced for general circulation dailies including the Boston Globe. For a small, group-owned daily he served as advertising director, and for the not-for-profit Hancock Shaker Village he served as interim director. He has taught and lectured on journalism at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, Mass., and was a director of the Action Coalition for Media Education. |
 Dean and Professor of Law After graduation from Harvard Law School, Dean Dessem served as law clerk for Judge William K. Thomas of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. He then served as Assistant General Counsel for the National Education Association (1978-1980) and trial attorney (1980-1984) and senior trial counsel (1984-1985) with the Civil Division of the United States Department of Justice. In 1985 Dean Dessem joined the faculty of the University of Tennessee College of Law, serving as associate professor, professor, and, from 1993 to 1995, associate dean for academic affairs. From 1995 to 2002, Dean Dessem served as professor and dean of the Mercer University School of Law, becoming dean and professor at the University of Missouri in July 2002. Dean Dessem is the author of Pretrial Litigation: Law, Policy and Practice (West, 4th ed. 2007) and Pretrial Litigation in a Nutshell (West, 4th ed. 2008), as well as articles in various law journals. He has been elected as a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, as well as to membership in the American Law Institute. Dean Dessem has served on and chaired the faculty for the ABA New Deans' Seminar, has chaired the AALS New Teachers' Workshop, he is a member of the AALS Executive Committee, and he has served on and chaired the AALS Membership Review Committee. He also has served as co-chair of the ABA Annual Deans' Workshop, on the Executive Committee of the AALS Civil Procedure Section, and on the Search Committee for the ABA Consultant on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. He serves on the Advisory Committee of the Institute for Law School Teaching and on the Federal Advisory Committee of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and he is a trustee of Macalester College. Since 1996 Dean Dessem has served on and chaired ABA law school site inspection teams. Here at the University of Missouri, Dean Dessem teaches Pretrial Litigation and Civil Procedure. |
 Margaret Duffy teaches courses in strategic communication, research methods and media management. Her research focuses on new and interactive media, especially with regard to advertising and the news. Duffy also conducts research in health communication, and she is the primary investigator for the Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research and Training Center. Under the auspices of the grant, the MARRTC communication team disseminates information about arthritis and related conditions. It also seeks to improve both reporting on medical research and understanding about arthritis among those with the condition as well as medical professionals and policy-makers. She has presented research and conducted training with agencies and news groups in the United States, China, United Kingdom, Thailand and South Africa. Duffy earned her doctorate degree in mass communication with an emphasis in organizational behavior from the University of Iowa. She consults frequently with clients as diverse as the Department of the Army and the Estee Lauder Corporation. Duffy has extensive professional experience, including serving as an executive for GTE (Verizon) in marketing, advertising and public relations. |
 Stephanie Durand is Media Development Consultant at the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, at the Secretariat in New York City. She previously worked at Sciences Po Paris as associate director at the international affairs division, in charge of the university cooperation in the USA and Subsaharian Africa. She then became associate director at the Sciences Po Graduate School of Journalism where she worked actively on developing partnerships with media professionals and outlets worldwide. In 2009, she has been involved in some documentary work with the international news channel France 24. Of Franco-German origin, she holds a master's degree both from Sciences Po Paris and the London School of Economics in International Affairs, where she focused on the role of the media in foreign policy making, and holds an executive master in media management from Sciences Po. She also spent one year studying at the Johns Hopkins University and has done some volunteering work with the French Embassy in the USA, the United Nations Non Governmental Service, and several NGOs in West Africa. She speaks five languages. |
 Roger Fidler is an internationally recognized new media pioneer and visionary. He was a journalist and newspaper designer for 34 years and has been on the leading edge of online and digital publishing development since the 1970s. As program director for digital publishing at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI), he coordinates digital publishing research projects and the Digital Publishing Alliance, a member-supported initiative that includes The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post. He has been at the Institute since 2004 when he was named as the first Reynolds Journalism Fellow. At the time of his appointment he was a tenured professor of journalism in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Kent State University in Ohio. |
 Roger Gafke is professor emeritus at the Missouri School of Journalism and director of program development for the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute. In that role he builds partnerships for research projects, programs and funding from corporations, foundations, associations and individuals who share RJI's priority to advance the practice of journalism. He has expanded the international programs and relationships for the Missouri School of Journalism. He has led several cooperative projects with journalists and educators in the Middle East. He is the first American journalist to deliver training at the Aljazeera Media Training and Development Center in Doha, Qatar. He has also provided training programs for the Alhurra Television Channel, U.S. He serves as faculty adviser for the International School of Media and Entertainment Studies in Delhi, India. He was primary host and coordinator for international journalists in the Hubert Humphrey Fellowship program at the Missouri School of Journalism. |
 Since late 2008, WASHINGTON GIKUNJU, 28, has been a business writer with the Business Daily in Nairobi, Kenya. He writes on economy, finance, money and markets for this four-year-old publication in the Nation Media Group stable, the largest media company in East Africa. He also occasionally acts as news editor. He previously was a business writer for The Standard (2007-08) and worked briefly as an equity research analyst at CFC Financial Services. In 2008, the staff of the Business Daily, including Gikunju, won the Diageo Africa Business Reporting Award’s “Media of the Year 2008.” These awards recognize and encourage high quality business news reporting in Africa. Since mid-2009, he has been a peer educator for the nascent Nation Media Group AIDS Awareness Team which educates and disseminates HIV/AIDS information to Nation staff with the ultimate goal of reaching the outside community. The University of Nairobi granted Gikunju a Bachelor of Commerce in finance in 2006. He is also a Certified Public Accountant of Kenya (part 2) certificate holder from Strathmore University. His first fellowship goal is to experience the changing media landscape in the U.S. and return to Kenya better equipped with ideas to help professional media there. His second goal is to learn more about business news coverage in the United States. |
 MICHAEL J. GRINFELD, associate professor of journalism, studies media effects on conflict and dispute resolution processes. He teaches courses in magazine writing, journalism and conflict, law and the courts, covering terrorism and science, health and environmental writing. Grinfeld is also the co-director of MU's Center for the Study of Conflict Law and the Media, a collaboration with the university's law school, where he is an adjunct associate professor and a senior fellow at its Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution. Emphasizing topics in law and medicine, Grinfeld has served as a contributing writer for California Lawyer and Psychiatric Times magazines. His work has also appeared in other magazines, including House Counsel, Global Journalist, Medicine & Behavior, Parenting, Healthcare Business, Geriatric Times, and the Forensic Echo, among others. Before coming to the MU School of Journalism in 2001, he was a reporter with the Los Angeles Daily Journal, covering the courts in Orange County, Calif. and writing on a broad range of other law-related topics. Prior to turning to journalism, Grinfeld was an attorney for 16 years, specializing in civil litigation. He is a former vice president of claims litigation for Los Angeles-based insurer Farmers Group, Inc. |
 Dr. Jung E. Ha-Brookshire is an Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri in the Textile and Apparel Management Department. She received her PhD in Consumer, Apparel, and Retail Studies in 2007 from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Prior to her PhD, Dr. Ha-Brookshire has worked as a production assistant, production coordinator, production manager, and sourcing manager for Adjmi Apparel Group and Richard Leeds International, Inc. located in New York City since 1997. During her time in NYC, she extensively traveled to various countries in Asia and Central America for textile and apparel product sourcing, product development, production coordination, and quality assurance. After 7 years of hard work in NYC, she realized that she wanted to spend more time on passing what she has learned onto other people who are interested in this fascinating industry. To do so, she came back to school to earn a degree and joined the TAM department in the Fall of 2007. Dr. Ha-Brookshire's husband, Richard Brookshire, has retired from Microsoft, Corp. where he had had his 17-year career and both now happily live in the country. |
 Amanda Hickman is Program Director of DocumentCloud, where she's helping build a repository of primary source documents and a tool for annotating, organizing and publishing them to the web. Until this winter she was Director of Technology at Gotham Gazette where she managed development of a series of games about public policy issues, built a pretty cool database of candidates for local office and shared an ONA award for General Excellence. She has also worked as a Circuit Rider, providing technology assistance and training to low-income grassroots groups in the U.S. working on anti-poverty issues and as a consultant to foundations looking for ways to support their grantees use of technology in organizing work. |
 Heather Hilleren spent nearly ten years with Whole Food Market serving as Team Leader for both Front End Systems and Customer Service where she received the Regional All Star Award in 2000 for outstanding performance. While working at Whole Foods, she attended the University of Wisconsin Graduate School of Business to get her MBA from the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship. There, she started Local Dirt in 2005 one week before graduation. |
 Jeff Howe is a contributing editor at Wired Magazine, where he covers the media and entertainment industry, among other subjects. In June of 2006 he published "The Rise of Crowdsourcing" in Wired. He has continued to cover the phenomenon in his blog, crowdsourcing.com, and published a book on the subject for Crown Books in September 2008. Before coming to Wired he was a senior editor at Inside.com and a writer at the Village Voice. In his fifteen years as a journalist he has traveled around the world working on stories ranging from the impending water crisis in Central Asia to the implications of gene patenting. He has written for Time Magazine, U.S. News & World Report, The Washington Post, Mother Jones and numerous other publications. He's currently a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. H |
 Senior Vice President & Partner, Fleishman-Hillard, Washington, DC Mr. Hutchins helped launch the digital practice at Fleishman-Hillard over 10 years ago and it is now a growing 60 person studio in Washington, DC. He now directs account management and produces digital programs for clients on the Web, in social networks and through mobile platforms. Mr. Hutchins is responsible for making sure clients get the best teams possible to achieve their goals. This involves a high level of integration between communications experts in varied disciplines, industries and geographies in DC and across the firm. Mr. Hutchins offers clients strategic counsel and insights on how to leverage existing assets into effective digital programs, and to offer advice on where new assets need to be created. The diverse industries in which he has worked include energy, science and research, B-to-C and B-to-B technology, healthcare, finance, and many international and government-sponsored initiatives. Mr. Hutchins has led or co-led several high profile projects for Johnson & Johnson, Visa, the National Business Aviation Association, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, NPR, Battelle (National Security Division), the Federal Trade Commission, The Department of Defense (Tricare), and Genentech. Mr. Hutchins also has a background in research and a B.A. in International Relations from American University. |
 Brian Foster joined MU as the Chief Academic Officer in August of 2005. Prior to that, he served as Provost at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. His previous academic appointments include Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and Graduate Dean at Arizona State University, where he also served as Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology. The first in his family to pursue a college education, Dr. Foster began his studies at Northern Illinois University where he earned his degree in History. He went on to earn his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan. His studies and research focused on the social anthropology of Southeast Asian cultures, primarily Thailand. He is fluent in Thai and German. Foster has served as President of the Western Association of Graduate Schools, member of the Board of Directors of the Council of Graduate Schools, Chair of the GRE Board, member of the TOEFL Policy Council, and a member of the Executive Committees of two NASULGC Councils: the Council of Research and Graduate Education and the Council on Academic Affairs. He was Chair of the Executive Committee of the Council on Academic Affairs, NASULGC, and currently serves as an ad hoc member of that committee. Dr. Foster and his wife Lerke Foster are parents to Catherine, who lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan and practices medicine in Dearborn and Tom Foster, who is a graduate of the MU School of Journalism and currently works in New York City as a magazine editor. Provost Foster works closely with constituents both on and off campus focusing on MU's contributions to the economic development of Missouri and access to higher education for all Missourians. |
 Jonathan Friendly was born (1939) and raised in Washington DC, the second son of Pulitzer Prize-winner Alfred Friendly of the Washington Post. He graduated from Amherst College (B.A., English) in 1960 and worked as a reporter and editor at the Raleigh News and Observer, the Minneapolis Tribune and The New York Times. In 1988 he became director of the Masters Journalism Program at the University of Michigan, serving until 1996. Subsequently he worked for the Detroit Jewish News and Jewish Renaissance Media until his retirement in 2005. He is chairman of the board of the Alfred and Jean Friendly Foundation in Washington and active in its program which brings journalists from developing countries to work for six months in American newsrooms and other journalistic settings. He is also a member of the board of the Lake Charlevoix Association, which seeks to protect the lake from environmental degradation. He and Lynn, his wife of 48 years, have four children. They live in Bradenton FL and Charlevoix MI. He is a tennis and bridge player and enjoys opera and other classical music. |
 Pam Johnson became the first executive director of the Reynolds Journalism Institute in November 2004. She previously served as a member of the Leadership Faculty at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, in executive and managing editor positions at The Arizona Republic and The Phoenix Gazette and as assistant managing editor at The Kansas City Star. Johnson also worked at The Joplin Globe and the Binghamton (N.Y.) Evening Press. |
 Dean of the College of Human Environmental Sciences As dean, Jorgensen's administrative responsibilities include both undergraduate and graduate programs in a unit that houses 61 faculty members, nearly 1,100 undergraduate students and 300 graduate students. Jorgensen's research interests have centered on marital structure and process; fertility regulation and family planning of high-risk groups; and adolescent sexuality, contraception and pregnancy. Before joining MU, he served as director and professor at the School of Human Environmental Sciences at the University of Arkansas and associate dean and professor at the College of Human Sciences at Texas Tech University. Jorgensen's scholarly accomplishments include more than 30 refereed publications in scholarly research journals and research monographs, more than 50 papers and presentations at international, national and regional research meetings, and two textbooks on marriage and the family. |
 While working at Hewlett-Packard Labs from 1994 to 2000 in Palo Alto and Bristol, England, Mr. Kahn invented and implemented key components (illumination/optical capture, stitching/compression algorithm, and ASIC design) for a $40M development effort on a handheld solid-state scanner. The key component was an surface texture-navigating digital microscope, which was later licensed to Logitech, Microsoft, and others, who used it to build optical mice which operate on any surface (previously, optical mice required gridded mirror mouse pads). During this time, Mr. Kahn filed twelve patents in the fields of document scanning, automatic photography, stroboscopy circuits, and data compression. Mr. Kahn left HP Labs to start Tactility Inc., a research company specializing in tactile human-machine interaction technologies. Between 2000 and 2003, Mr. Kahn personally marketed prototypes he developed to senior divisional management at Panasonic and Omron in Japan and filed seven patents in the fields of hydrotherapy and automated massage. Between 2003 and 2004, Mr. Kahn served as Director of Engineering and managed engineering resources for Vapore, a twenty-person high-tech startup. He was the architect of a laboratory system to characterize Vapore's module in customer applications, requiring approximately two hundred parts, optical sensing, high-power electronics, precision positioning, microliter fluid metering, and LabView integration. He directed in-house manufacture and testing of system and traveled with marketing team to Korea and Japan to support customers developing applications based on the module. Mr. Kahn began work on patent preparation software in 2005 and formed TeamPatent as a California LLC in March 2006. In January, 2009, TeamPatent began providing a patent preparation web service to attorneys and their clients. The core of the editing software, codenamed Swymr, turned out to be attractive to other industries which needed a browser-based, collaborative, multimedia editor to streamline authoring and review of technical documents. In 2010, Swymr will be showcased as part of a publishing service and extended to electronic medical records later in in the year. For inquiries, please contact rocky at teampatent.com Mr. Kahn received both a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering/Mechatronics and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1993 and currently resides in Alameda, CA. |
 Senior Director, Sustainability, Walmart Stores, Inc. Beth Keck oversees sustainability for Walmart’s $100 billion international business which operates more than 4,100 stores in 14 markets outside the United States. She joined Walmart in 2004 as director of International Corporate Affairs where she led the company’s external relations strategy for its global sourcing and Asia business during a period of rapid growth, including market entry in Japan and India, and the doubling of its China operations. In 2008 she received Walmart’s highest honor, the Sam M. Walton Entrepreneur of the Year Award for her work on sustainability. Beth spent eight years living in China where she was the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration senior representative and The Boeing Company Asia-Pacific vice president for air traffic business development. Beth began her international career in Washington, D.C., as a presidential management fellow with the U.S. Department of Commerce International Trade Administration. She then moved to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation where she was promoted to senior insurance officer underwriting U.S. company investments in China, and Central and Eastern Europe. She has a master’s degree in international economics and Asian Studies from The Johns Hopkins School of International Studies, a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and has done postgraduate studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Asia Society Center on US-China Relations Advisory Board, National Committee on US-China Relations, the Arkansas World Trade Center Board of Advisors, and the Bentonville Noon Rotary Club where she and her husband were named 2008-2009 Rotarians of the Year. |
 Vice President & Director of Strategic Planning, The Associated Press James M. (Jim) Kennedy leads strategic planning across all divisions of the world's largest news organization, including services for print, broadcast and new media. In his strategy role, Kennedy directed an anthropological study of young-adult news consumption in 2007 that led AP to a “new model for news,” designed to shape the delivery of news to better meet the demands of the digital audience. He began his second stint with The Associated Press in 2001, after two years as executive director of product planning for The Wall Street Journal Online, also known as WSJ.com. Before moving to the Journal, he spent 13 years at AP, first as business news editor and later as the founding director of the news agency's multimedia department. As business editor of AP, Kennedy led the agency’s award-winning coverage of the stock market crash in 1987 and oversaw the development of new data services that first enabled newspapers to customize their listings of stocks and mutual funds. In 1995, he was tapped to lead a new department that created The WIRE, AP’s first Web-based news service, honored in 1999 by the Smithsonian Institution. Kennedy has been a board member and president of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, a founding member of the Media Center at the American Press Institute, and a founder and board member of the Online News Association. He began his journalism career at The Ogdensburg (N.Y.) Journal as a reporter and later managing editor. He also spent several years as a bureau chief, foreign correspondent and business editor for The Tampa (Fla.) Tribune before moving to AP. He is a 1975 graduate of Amherst College, where he majored in American Studies. He and his wife, Cindy, have two daughters and live in Pleasantville, N.Y. |
 Senior Vice President, Fleishman-Hillard Washington, D.C. Matthew Mantey joined Fleishman-Hillard in 2007. As senior vice president Mantey oversees a diverse group of experts in account planning, project management, media planning, search strategy and analytics; and is an integral part of the online marketing group working in some capacity with nearly all of the group’s clients. Before joining Fleishman-Hillard in March 2007, Mantey directed his own interactive consultancy, Capital Interactive Systems, and worked with a wide range of clients on digital transformational strategies. In addition to other management positions with firms like WhittmanHart Interactive, Mantey started his interactive career at 24/7 Media, one of the first online ad networks in 1999. |
 Mike McKean is the Futures Lab director at the Reynolds Journalism Institute and a professor at the Missouri School of Journalism, where he has taught for 22 years. McKean created the School's convergence journalism program and chaired the convergence journalism faculty from 2005-2008. |
 Noah D. Manring is the Glen A. Barton Professor of Fluid Power in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department and the chairman of the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at the University of Missouri. Before joining the MU faculty, Manring worked for eight years in the off-highway mobile equipment industry. He holds 10 U.S. patents for innovations in the field of fluid power. As a professor, Manring has received research funding from Caterpillar Inc., Festo Corp. and the National Fluid Power Association as well as from the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation and various private donors. Manring has done consulting work for several industrial firms, including Moog Inc., FMC Wyoming Corp., Dennison Hydraulics and Parker Hannifin. He has also published a new textbook entitled Hydraulic Control Systems. |
 Peter is the director of interactive for Woodruff Sweitzer. Prior to joining the Columbia-based agency Peter worked in higher education marketing and value added sales for Apple Computer; as a business analyst for the University of Missouri; Internet marketing manager for Knight’s Direct – a division of Home Depot; and had his own online learning and interactive marketing business for 10 years. Peter is known for his wealth of ideas and persistence in bringing them to fruition. |
 Jack Miller is the founder and president of True Media, an international media strategy and communications company. Since its founding in 2005, True Media has pioneered new ways of blending traditional media, public relations, interactive and social media, to create effective communication strategies that cut through the clutter of today's highly saturated media world. Using key consumer insight in conjunction with powerful research, True Media's strategists in the United States and Canada create media plans that approach a target audience from all communication angles with the best possible returns on investment. Prior to launching True Media, Miller was a partner and vice president at Premier Marketing before serving as market manager at Cumulus Broadcasting. He currently resides in Columbia with his wife and two children. |
 Dean Mills is a professor and the dean of the Missouri School of Journalism. His research interests include international journalism, journalism ethics, cross-cultural journalism and qualitative methods. Mills is an author of a Ford Foundation study on race and the news and a book on cross-cultural journalism, Journalism Across Cultures, that he co-wrote with Missouri School of Journalism colleagues Fritz Cropp and Cynthia Frisby. Mills began his academic career at the University of Illinois, where he completed a doctorate in communications in 1981. Before coming to Missouri in 1989, he served as director of Pennsylvania State University's School of Journalism and then as coordinator of graduate study in communications at California State University, Fullerton. |
 Jean-Raymond "J-R" Naveau is a twenty years veteran in inbound and outbound product management of on-premise and on-demand ERP, CRM, and eCommerce systems. He relocated his family from Belgium (Brussels) to California (Los Gatos) in 1997 to help Oracle strategize, develop and market solutions for the transition to the euro (2002) and the inception of the shared services model in global companies operations. Both his children now attend UCSB. During his 10 year tenure at Atlanta-based MSA, he operated from the European Development lab in Brussels, Belgium to conceptualize, build, and launch the international version of the US domestic financial systems in nascent and established markets. After MSA was merged with Dun & Bradstreet-owned McCormack & Dodge to form D&b Software, he moved to Atlanta, GA for twenty months (1993 - 1994) to ensure the internationalization of the first release of the SmartStream® client-server suite of financial and manufacturing / distribution products. He embraced the entrepreneur world by co-founding the Global IPR Exchange in 2008. Global IPR Exchange Corporation is launching an highly automated market place for the efficient licensing of patent rights at the benefit of both buyers and sellers. In 2010, he accepted to lead the transformation of the Guidewire Group, Inc. from services to software as a service. G/Score® is a standardized, scalable methodology for the incisive analysis and transparent assessment of startups' commercial viability, execution, team and business model. Avid consumer of science, history, geography, and literature magazines in addition to French and English novels and essays, he is writing his third children's book, "Les trois saisons". He is actively working with illustrators and looking for French or US publishers to distribute "Rends-moi mon soleil" and "Le fantôme qui ne faisait pas peur". He believes that quantum field theory is the best thriller. |
 For nearly 20 years Stephanie Padgett has worked with advertisers, publishers, and research companies. As a media planner and buyer at Empower MediaMarketing she developed and executed campaigns for national and local clients ranging from Marion Merrell Dow to CNBC, Roto-Rooter, Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Symphony. |
 Jin Yong Park is an assistant editor at 'Hankook-Ilbo'(The Korea Times), one of the most influential daily newspapers in South Korea. Mr. Park is in charge of Hankook-Ilbo's International News Sections. He is also a special adviser of new media strategic committee at Hankook-Ilbo. He majored in philosophy at Seoul National University. As a professional journalist, Mr. Park has covered government, business, and politics for the past 17 years. He is also the co-author of the recent book, (2008) |
 Miriam Pepper was named editorial page editor of The Kansas City Star in November, 2001 and vice president, editorial page, in 2007. In her 33-year career at the newspaper she has been Readers' Representative and Associate Editor/Forum; a business columnist; political writer; projects reporter; City Hall bureau chief; Missouri legislative correspondent and an editor of a Sunday business section. She was part of The Star's team coverage of the Hyatt Hotel skywalks collapse that won a public service Pulitzer Prize in 1982. She served as co-chair of the first newsroom diversity committee. She is a past president of the Greater Kansas City Press Club, a current board member of the Kansas City Press Club Foundation, a past board member of the Organization of News Ombudsmen, and a current board member of the National Conference of Editorial Writers. She began her career at The St. Louis Post-Dispatch as a sports writer and worked for the Associated Press in Jefferson City, Mo., covering the state legislature. She attended Brandeis University and is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. She is married to an attorney and has two young adult children. |
 Senior Vice President, Corporate Innovation Beth Polish created and directs the Hearst Corporate Innovation program, whose mandate is to create new businesses based on ideas from within Hearst Corporation and to foster a company-wide culture of innovation, and heads the Innovation Leadership Council. As Hearst Innovation selects business ideas to fund, she oversees their development and preparation for further funding and launch as standalone businesses. She joined Hearst as a consultant in early 2008 and full-time in 2009. Polish has held senior management positions in media, finance, private investment, and technology. An expert at leading companies through startup, growth stage, merger and acquisition, and turnaround, she was founding CFO of iVillage, president of Dreamlife (co-founded by Tony Robbins), CFO of Goldman Sachs Ventures, and managing director at KPMG. She has raised capital from leading venture capitalists throughout out the US and Japan. Immediately prior to joining Hearst she was principal of the Critical Junctures Group, a consulting firm providing company-building expertise focused on strategy, business development, fundraising and interim management. She is adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at NYU and a frequent speaker on entrepreneurship, strategy and business finance at conferences around the country. Polish received her AB in anthropology from Franklin & Marshall College and her MBA from Harvard Business School. |
 Keith Politte earned his BA with honors from Boston University and his JD from Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco. He also has extensive course work in internet design and development from San Francisco State University's Multimedia Studies Program. |
 Empower MediaMarketing's President Through Jim's leadership, Empower MediaMarketing offers services that span across all established and new media forms, leading Empower's clients in communicating to and with their consumers through an integrated combination of media. With 170 employees and more than $300 million in billings, Empower works across a variety of industries including Bush Brothers, US Bank, Meijer, Long John Silver's and Hoover Vacuums. At Empower, Jim built the Media Innovation team from scratch, when the Internet was still considered an emerging advertising medium and established a full array of best in class services including Digital Strategy, Digital Media, Web Development, Digital Creative, Search and Analytics, Mobile, Word of Mouth Marketing and Social Media. Jim has a passion for branding and entrepreneurism having recently created and launched a new beverage brand. He also consults on branding and positioning to non-profits. Jim has helped Empower navigate one of the toughest periods in advertising history, increasing revenue and profitability. A ten-year veteran of Empower, Jim previously held roles with ABC Radio, Beyond Interactive and Bush-Cheney '04. He was recently named a "40 Under 40" award recipient by The Cincinnati Business Courier. Price is also an instrument-rated pilot and very active in the community, mentoring with the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative and serving on several non-profit boards. |
 Founder and Chief Strategist K. V. founded Zuora after five years at WebEx Communications where he reported directly to the founder and President with strategic marketing and business development responsibilities and played a key role in the growth of this successful start-up. Prior to WebEx, K. V. worked in sales and customer support at SGI. He started his career as the proverbial rocket scientist (Associate Scientist) at NASA and then spent several years developing products at General Motors. K. V. obtained his Ph. D. in Engineering from Iowa State University, an M. S. from the University of Missouri-Rolla, and a B. Tech from IIT, Bombay. K.V is a US patent-holder in computing technology. |
 Is the managing editor of the Business Daily — Kenya and East Africa's only daily business paper. Business Daily is a publication of the Nation Media Group, Eastern Africa's largest media house with five newspapers, two radio stations, a TV station and a digital division. Mr Rapuro has 10 years experience in business journalism having worked as a reporter, copy editor and business editor at the Standard — Kenya's second largest newspaper by circulation before joining the Nation Media Group in 2006 to become the founding news editor of the Business Daily. The Nation Media Group is using the Business Daily as its testing ground for media convergence — adding to Mr Rapuro's stable the task of managing the transition to new media. Mr Rapuro has published two books, one on people' rights, and on East Africa's regional integration project. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Economics, a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism from the University of Nairobi and a Masters degree in Public Policy from the University of Potsdam, Germany. |
 Michael Skoler has worked in print, radio, television and the Web — producing a daily show for the CBS Radio Network, reporting at WGBH-TV in Boston, and serving as a science and foreign correspondent at National Public Radio in Washington DC and Nairobi, Kenya. After receiving an MBA in 1999, he spent two and a half years at the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company working on strategy, new business creation, and growth plans for corporations and non-profits in media, education and technology. |
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Randy Smith, BJ '74, is the first Donald W. Reynolds Endowed Chair in Business Journalism. He joined the Missouri School of Journalism in August 2009. His 30-year career at The Kansas City Star began in 1979, and he has worked on both the news and business sides. Smith started as a copy editor, rising to the positions of business editor and deputy managing editor, and most recently, to director of strategic development. Smith is a former president of the Society of American Business Writers and Editors and a recipient of the organization's Distinguished Achievement Award. He played a major role in conceiving the idea and raising the money for the School's SABEW endowed chair. He is the vice chair and first non-family member of the board of the Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships. The author of the book "A Kenyan Journey," Smith has lectured to classes in China, Africa and the U.S. Throughout his career Smith has been involved with helping promote young minority journalists, and he played a key role in getting Knight Ridder to adopt the Rotating Internship Program, which placed more than 250 journalists into newspapers during a 20-year run.>/p> As an editor Smith has worked with award-winning newsroom teams that have earned the profession's top awards and honors. One won a Pulitzer Prize in 1982 for coverage of the Kansas City Hyatt skywalks disaster in July 1981. Other staff recognitions include a Sigma Delta Chi award, an Eppy award, a Philip Meyer Award, 12 Missouri Press Association Gold Cups and a Nancy Dickerson Whitehead Award. Smith received the Mizzou Alumni Association's highest recognition, the Faculty-Alumni Award, in 2005. |
 Jim is President and founder of Newsy.com and has helped lead several successful Internet start-ups and established online companies. Jim was a founding VP of Ask Jeeves (Ask.com) where he was responsible for all search queries and helped lead the company to the 14th most popular site on the Internet and through a successful initial public offering. Prior to Ask Jeeves, Jim was the GM of News and Information Programming at AOL (News, Sports, Health, Research and International) leading the content, business and partnership operations for one of AOL’s major business units. He also served as director of strategic partnerships at NBC for MSNBC.com, leading the design and direction of the MSNC.com web site and the coordination of the newsrooms of NBC News in New York and MSNBC’s newsroom on Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, WA. Jim began his online career as GM of New Media at Multimedia, Inc. Prior to graduate school, Jim represented and distributed motion pictures including Academy Award-winning movies, foreign films and U.S. independent cinema. Jim earned his MA in journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia and his BFA from New York University’s Film School. |
 Leggett & Platt Distinguished Professor of Information Systems, Professor of Management. Ph.D. University of Kansas, 1986. He previously was a Professor in the Department of Management Information Systems at the University of Georgia. He has also served in Visiting Professor and Research Scientist roles in Belgium, Austria, and France. Professor Stam is a member of the Association for Information Systems, American Statistical Association, and Decision Sciences Institute. His primary research interests include applied artificial intelligence, decision support systems, muticriteria decision making, applied statistics, and time series analysis. He has published in a wide variety of scholarly journals, including Management Science, Decision Sciences, Journal of the American Statistical Association, European Journal of Operational Research, and Journal of Multicriteria Decision Analysis. |
 Brian Sreffens, the former senior vice president and editor of the Editor & Publisher Co., is executive director of the National Newspaper Association and adjunct associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism. NNA, representing nearly 3,000 community newspapers nationwide, moved its headquarters to the Missouri School of Journalism in 2002. He has also been editor of Quill magazine and held newsroom leadership positions at several newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union, Orange County Register, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Miami Herald and Detroit News. Steffens has been keynote speaker, conducted workshops or consulted with journalists and publishers in Qatar, Bahrain, China, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Antigua, Dominica, Barbados, Italy, Argentina, Switzerland and France. He has been a guest lecturer at San Francisco State University; Universidad Astral in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Ohio University in Athens, Ohio; Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio; University of Dayton; Miami University at Oxford, Ohio; California State University at Long Beach, California State University at Fullerton; and Colorado State University at Ft. Collins. Steffens has worked with the American Press Institute, Poynter Institute for Media Studies, New Directions for News, Society for Professional Journalists, Society for News Design, National Press Photographers Association, Freedom Forum and its First Amendment Center, Field Newspaper Syndicate, and the Kettering Foundation. |
 As SABEW chair, MARTHA STEFFENS teaches business and financial journalism, as well as organizing seminars for business journalism professionals. Steffens has taught more than 450 professional in business workshops sponsored the Southern Newspaper Publishers Assn. and SABEW. She assumed the chair in 2002, after a 30-year career in newspapers, including executive editor of the San Francisco Examiner, and earlier the Press & Sun Bulletin in Binghamton, N.Y. Steffens' two-year economic project in Binghamton, which inspired citizens to take a proactive role in planning the community's economic future, has been studied by academics around the world. She was an editor at the Los Angeles Times business desk. She held other editing and reporting roles at the Minneapolis Star, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Orange County Register, Dayton Daily News and Evansville (Ind.) Courier. Steffens is a frequent lecturer at conferences across the United States, and has lectured in Norway, Jamaica, Italy and the Czech Republic. For four years, she worked with Colombian journalists, helping them plan community-based projects. In summer 2002, she was professional in residence at the Moscow Press Development Institute, training Russian journalists in newspaper management. She was part of a U.S. delegation to address the need for aggressive business reporting in China. Steffens is a graduate of Indiana University, and is a past officer of the New York State Associated Press Association. She has served on the boards of the Pew Center for Civic Journalism and CBS Marketwatch. |
 Professor, Strategic Communication Jim Sterling has more than 30 years of professional experience in the newspaper industry. He is a former member of the Board of Curators, the governing body of the University of Missouri, and a past president of the Missouri Press Association. In 1999 Sterling received the Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism, the highest honor bestowed by the Missouri School of Journalism. |
 Patrick J. Stueve clerked for United States District Court Judge John W. Oliver in the Western District of Missouri, Kansas City. He then joined the trial department of Stinson, Mag & Fizzell and became partner in 1994. He left Stinson in 1996 to found Berkowitz, Feldmiller, Stanton, Brandt, Williams & Stueve. Patrick had various management responsibilities at these firms before leaving to found Stueve Siegel in 2001. Pat received his B.A. in Economics, with distinction, from Benedictine College in 1984, and his J.D. from the University of Kansas (Order of the Coif) in 1987, serving as an Editor of the Kansas Law Review and the Criminal Justice Review. Patrick has served as lead trial and class counsel successfully prosecuting multi-million dollar claims in federal and state courts nationwide (and AAA arbitrations) in the areas of antitrust, trademark and patent infringement, class actions, securities fraud,telecommunications, franchise, and health care. Pat has been elected by his peers as one of the Top 100 "Super Lawyers" in all of Missouri, and Kansas and repeatedly named "Best of the Bar" by the Kansas City Business Journal. |
 Yihui (Elina) Tang is a doctoral candidate of marketing at the University of Missouri's Trulaske College of Business. Tang's research interests include media business management, business-to-business market segmentation, new product development and innovation, sales force management and social networks. She is especially interested in marketing problems in the media, life sciences and high-tech industries. Tang holds a bachelor's in biochemistry from Wuhan University, a master's in molecular biology and microbiology from Tufts University School of Medicine, and a graduate certificate in administration and management from Harvard University. Previously she has worked as a marketing analyst and senior research associate at LI-COR Biosciences and Millennium Pharmaceuticals, marketing analyst and photographer for Harvard China Review hosted by Harvard University, and journalist at Wuhan University, China. |
 Esther Thorson is the associate dean for graduate studies and research and serves as the director of research for the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute. She continues to serve as a professor of strategic communication. Thorson has published more than 100 scholarly pieces on news effects, advertising, media economics, and health communication, and she has edited six books. Thorson has headed grant and research contracts totaling nearly $3 million. She is the only female Fellow of the American Academy of Advertising. Thorson applies research, both hers and that of her colleagues, in newsrooms and advertising agencies across the United States and abroad. She serves on eight journal editorial boards. |
 Jeff is a serial entrepreneur, a business development executive, and a social media and database engineer. He has written software for Web 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0, and has extensive experience with search engines, large-scale databases, and other technologies fundamental to media. Jeff is a consultant to the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism and technology lead on its Information Valet Project. He co-founded Avanoo, Inc., where he developed a social polling system called "The Wisdom of Communities" and a social network to facilitate deep connectedness and meaningful sharing. His background also includes work as principal developer of one of the Internet's first mass-market social media sites, Tripod; global operations manager of international business development for Lycos products; and VP of information systems of Eziba, an e-commerce site that sold fair-trade craft objects in partnership with Amazon.com. Jeff graduated summa cum laude from Williams College with a B.A. degree in mathematics. |
 Vice President of Technology Solutions,Samsung Telecommunications America Mark VandenBrink is vice president of technology solutions for the Wireless Terminals Division of Samsung Telecommunications America. In this role, VandenBrink focuses on the design and implementation of next-generation software and wireless technologies. Prior to joining Samsung, Mark worked with Motorola as a fellow and chief architect of systems software within the company’s Mobile Devices business. Prior to his time at Motorola, Mark worked on the mobile Java platform for IBM, designing software for the company’s Pervasive Computing Division. Mark holds a bachelor’s in computer science from Western Kentucky University and a master’s in computer science from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. |
 Alan Veeck is a Partner with Meakem Becker Venture Capital, a traditional venture capital firm focused on making significant investments in early-stage startup companies. Prior to Meakem Becker, Alan spent seven years at Ariba (formerly FreeMarkets), working with a number of the company's largest customers across many industries, and managing acquisition integration activities. Before Ariba, Alan was an associate at McKinsey & Co, a management consulting firm, from 1996 through 1999. While at McKinsey, Alan worked extensively within the Purchasing and Supply Management practice, serving a range of Global 1000 clients in the healthcare and diversified manufacturing industries. Alan holds a bachelors degree in chemistry from the College of William and Mary in Virginia, and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. Alan lives with his wife and four children in Sewickley, PA. |
 Jennifer Rolwes Volk has a diverse communications background in areas including media and public relations, crisis management, strategic planning, non-profit management and event planning. A 2001 graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Jennifer has since worked in the public relations and media communications fields to enhance communications, increase community involvement and raise awareness levels for countless corporate, non-profit and community based organizations. Her roles have included: Media Relations Specialist for Rockwood School District
In addition to managing marketing, election and community engagement programs, Jennifer has worked with several clients to conduct communications audits and create strategic communications plans to increase the effectiveness of public relations programs. Today, Jennifer is an entrepreneur. She is a principal of Rangency, a brand acceleration agency in St. Louis. Using her background as a broadcast journalist and communications expert, Jennifer and her partners in Rangency are taking client¹s brands to the next level through new and traditional communication methods. She has become well known as an expert in community, media and public relations, as well as event planning, and she has spoken at numerous local and national conferences. |
 Lansford Professor of Leadership and Dean of the College of Business Bruce Walker has been dean and professor of marketing at the College of Business at the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) since 1990. He was awarded the Lansford Distinguished Professorship of Leadership in 1998. More than 80 percent of the college’s faculty members have been hired during Dr. Walker’s time as dean. He has worked with faculty, staff, and alumni to develop high quality in educational and scholarly activities and to secure private donations, including the college-naming gift. These funds have been used for student scholarships, named faculty positions, academic and professional-development programs, and the college’s new building, Cornell Hall. National rankings of the college’s degree programs have improved markedly over the past 10 years. In 2008, Dr. Walker received the Pacheco Academic Leadership Award from the University of Missouri System. Dean Walker earned his doctorate in business, emphasizing marketing, from the University of Colorado. Prior to joining MU, he was on the faculty at Arizona State University for 16 years. Focusing on franchising, marketing channels, and survey methods, Dr. Walker’s research has been published in various academic and trade journals. He is the co-author of Marketing, a textbook used in many collegiate business schools around the world. Dr. Walker is a member of the boards of directors of Boone County National Bank and the Missouri Innovation Center-Columbia. He has been involved with several technology-based start-ups in various roles, including investor, board member, and consultant. Dr. Walker served on aChamber of Commercetask force that established Centennial Investors, an early-stage venture-capital program in mid-Missouri. Dr. Walker has been actively involved with the United Way in Columbia. He and his wife Pam co-chaired the community-wide fund-raising effort in 1999, and he later served as United Way board president. |
 Tom Warhover is an associate professor and chair of the newspaper faculty at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He also is the executive editor for innovation at the Columbia Missourian, a six-day community newspaper edited by professionals and staffed by student reporters, copy editors, designers and photographers. His role at the Missourian is to transform the newsroom for the future, experimenting with new approaches and technologies in content and delivery while honoring the best traditions of public service, integrity and independence. Prior to joining the university, he worked for The Virginian-Pilot, a 200,000 circulation daily newspaper serving southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. At The Pilot, he was a copy editor, designer, wire editor and metro editor. He covered city hall as a beat reporter. As an assigning editor in charge of the "public life team," he helped the paper create principles and daily practices for the then-fledgling concept of public (or civic) journalism. He helped guide the long-term strategies of the newsroom as deputy managing editor and the fiscal fortunes of part of the newspaper as the North Carolina general manager. |
 Lucas Welch Founder & Chief Innovation Officer — Prior to his work with Soliya, Mr. Welch worked as a producer for ABC News working with Peter Jennings, taught media at Birzeit University in the West Bank, and conducted research at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. He also worked as Director of Communications for America Abroad Media and served as Associate Producer on "The Shape of the Future" - a documentary series produced in Arabic, Hebrew, English, and French about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Along with Liza Chambers, he was named one of the "world's best emerging social entrepreneurs" in 2004 by the Echoing Green Foundation. |
 Taylor Wiegert, Social Marketing Associate for Empower MediaMarketing and new media analyst, is a young professional who brings a unique voice to the social media conversation. Of particular interest and focus to Taylor is leveraging social media to achieve broader marketing objectives. Taylor is a 2009 graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He was selected to participate in MOJO Ad his senior year where he provided strategic guidance for reaching Millennials to Purina Pro Plan and HowStuffWorks.com. At Empower MediaMarketing Taylor is inspired to generate results for clients such as U.S. Bank, Marzetti, Bush Brothers and Meijer by developing and executing social media and marketing programs. He immerses himself in the latest news across the fields of social media, interactive technology, online video and gaming to better educate clients and Empower colleagues. Taylor was recently chosen to present on the future of news by The Cincinnati Enquirer and provides social media consulting to the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce's HYPE program. Taylor can be found online at www.BraveAdWorld.com, a new blog and podcast featuring a Digital Native¹s perspective on new media, and on Twitter @twiegert. |