John Maeda
Keynote – John Maeda
From STEM to STEAM to Startups and Dreams
After working in venture capital for three years in Silicon Valley, John Maeda will explain why he’s recently moved to a technology startup, Automattic, to advance design AND inclusion at a global scale. What does he do? What will he do? These questions, among others, will be touched upon with the WordCamp RI audience.
He is an American executive spearheading a new convergence across the design + technology industries. He recently joined Automattic as Global Head of Computational Design + Inclusion and previously served as Design Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a world-leading venture capital firm. An internationally recognized speaker and author, his books include The Laws of Simplicity, Creative Code and Redesigning Leadership. He holds degrees in Electrical Engineering + Computer Science from MIT, an MBA from Arizona State U, and a PhD from University of Tsukuba in Japan.
Patrick Gleavey
Hanna Furey
Hanna is a Digital Project Manager at Oomph, Inc., a Providence based agency. Her job is all about using process to make things happen. Most importantly, she establishes and maintains strong professional relationships with her clients and works closely with Oomph’s creative and development teams to deliver successful, high-quality projects. Before Oomph she had a diverse career and has worked in web development, workflow management, production management in film/television and event production. No matter the position her goals are the same: leading and empowering her team, facilitating progress, solving problems, communicating efficiently, and growing client relationships.
Nathan Reimnitz
Nathan is a certified expert WordPress developer from Scottsdale, AZ. He’s a full-time freelancer for Codeable.io, Clarity.fm, LinkedIn Profinder & GoDaddy Pro Connect.
You can get to know more about Nathan on his website or connect with him via twitter.
Jared Novak
Jared is a founder of and partner a Upstatement, a creative technology and design firm located in Boston. At Upstatement he directs projects and uses WordPress to build and prototype sites for clients like ESPN, Random House and NPR. He’s also the creator and chief maintainer of Timber for WordPress — a library for building themes with the Twig template langua
Chris Ferdinandi
Chris Ferdinandi helps people build wicked fast WordPress sites that work for anyone on any device.
He’s the author of “Wicked Fast Websites,” and consults and runs workshops on WordPress performance. He also open sources code, writes articles, publishes a weekly newsletter, and talks to himself on a podcast.
Chris loves pirates, puppies, and Pixar movies, and lives near horse farms in rural Massachusetts. He runs Go Make Things with Bailey Puppy, a lab-mix from Tennessee.
John Eckman
CEO @ 10up, WordCamp Boston Organizer, long-time WordPress developer and user, former WordCamp Rhode Island speaker.
Nate Berger
I am a digital storyteller and creator of award winning online experiences. My company, KnockMedia, is a user experience (UX) agency based in New Haven, CT. We design, build and market websites and applications. Since being founded in 2004, we have attracted world-class clients in the technology, healthcare, entertainment, retail, consumer goods, insurance, auto and hotel industries. I love what I do, the team I do it with and the culture we created along the way.
Current area of focus…
Drive sales and provide visionary leadership to my evolving team. As the internet, television and radio continue their mass convergence, we will be hard at work defining what the user experience will be for the new digital landscape.
Matthew O’Bryant
Matt currently serves as the Director of Strategy at Oomph, Inc., a Providence based agency. Whether it’s leading a new client through the discovery process or digging elbows deep into analytics data for an existing client, Matt is always looking for new and creative ways to drive traffic to client websites and provide the best possible user experience. With nearly a decade of experience running large scale digital marketing campaigns to building complex e-commerce and marketing websites, Matt has really run the gamut in the digital world and loves what he does!
Lauren Hanson
I am a Web Strategist for a B2B Digital Marketing Agency. My primary role is to maintain relationships with our prospects and clients and sell digital marketing services and solutions that meet their needs. I may not be a business owner, but I work like a am one. I have a project management background which has served me well in a number of different facets of my existing career. I’m passionate about what I do and love the company I work for which makes my job not seem like work. Unrelated, but I also used to own a small fitness studio and continue to teach spin and other group fitness classes for fun!
Adam Lamagna
Adam started in the tech industry as a freelancer developing websites from scratch using HTML and CSS, then moved over to WordPress. He became a Solutions Consultant where he performed project scope development and proposal writing for a Boston-based web agency to help organizations find the right solution to their web challenges. He switched roles to become a Strategist/Project Manager for a global post-PC technology consultancy that specializes in multi-platform software and app development. He’s an active member of the open source communities, is an avid volunteer with The United Ways’ Young Leaders Circle, and sits on the advisory board for the Newport Interactive Marketers Group. Adam blogs about tech, pop-culture and life at BeingAJiLe.com to help bridge the gap between the digital and the human.
Alicia Hale
As the VP of Digital Marketing Services, Alicia oversees the Digital Marketing Team and the overarching SEO, PPC, CRO, and Social Media strategies and services offered by emagine. Additionally, Alicia actively participates in the sales process and manages premium level client engagements. As a 10-year industry veteran with experience both in-house and on the agency side, she is most passionate about building strategic, actionable and multi-dimensional Digital Marketing plans, training and education. Outside the office, Alicia’s free time is spent at the gym and by the water with friends, family, and her Australia Shepherd, Brady.
Christian Nolen
Christian Nolen is the Technical Director at emagine, a 50–person digital agency that specializes in custom WordPress solutions. At emagine, Christian mentors a team of WordPress developers and drives all of the agency’s web development innovation. Over the past 12 years, Christian has held positions in technical support, software quality assurance and web development: giving him a unique perspective on the development life cycle. Christian uses this experience to craft sustainable solutions that not only meet the requirements of the client, but also anticipates their future needs.
Aileen McDonough
Aileen has been in the word business since she won the citywide spelling bee in 5th grade. Owner of the communications company3am Writers, she has nearly 20 years of experience in writing, editing, marketing, and publishing. Aileen’s experience ranges from writing and editing to sales, marketing and social media. Her articles have been published in The Rhode Island Small Business Journal and most recently in Dawnland Voices: An Anthology of Indigenous Writing from New England. Aileen blogs as Honda Mama for wehearthonda.com and you can learn more about her company at 3amwriters.com. Aileen spoke at WordCamp RI 2015 and is thrilled to be back!
Kerch McConlogue
Kerch McConlogue, retired ADHD coach and front end developer, has been writing code by hand for 16 years and using WordPress since version 1.5. Her passion is helping WordPress novices to understand the basic care and feeding of their own sites and to get past their fears of breaking the internet. This talk is for anyone trying to figure out how SEO really works.
Nate Allen
Nate Allen is a Senior WordPress Engineer at Linchpin, where he enjoys solving unique problems every day. Nate has a real passion for WordPress, and is especially skilled at building complex plugins that meet a client’s unique needs. He also enjoys mentoring and sharing his knowledge and is equally comfortable in client-facing and technical roles.
Jonathan Desrosiers
Jonathan has been using WordPress for nine years. He has released multiple plugins in the WordPress.org plugin repository, and is also a WordPress core contributor. During the day he works for Boston University where he helps build and maintain the University’s wide array of WordPress websites. He feels passionately about open source, and loves teaching what he has learned to others that will help improve their own development skills and processes.
Luke Gedeon
Organizer of the first WordCamp in RI, web developer, serial entrepreneur, father of seven, soft-spoken, big-thinker. Has worked independently and with agencies like 10up, XWP and WordPress VIP. Hundreds of projects include everything from TechCrunch, Tech.co and major universities, to single page sites for small businesses and organizations.
Currently starting a business focused exclusively on independent 3rd party code review with a goal to improve security and performance and increase speed of new feature development for all WordPress websites by promoting best-practice code quality standards.
Ajay Coletta
Ajay Coletta is an Assistant Professor at New England Institute of Technology in the Graphics, Multimedia and Web Design program where he teaches multiple courses in WordPress. Ajay uses WordPress for blogging, theme development and managing his band’s website www.hey19band.com
Reiko Beach
Reiko is co-principle of TRB Design, Inc., a video production and web strategy company. TRB Design, Inc. has produced hundreds of videos; and has developed and consulted on web marketing strategies for many companies and non-profit organizations. Using WordPress for websites since 2007, TRB has created web solutions for many businesses, and is involved in the WordPress community, as one of the Boston WordPress meetup coordinators, and as one of the organizer for WordCamp Boston, as well as teaching WordPress to users.
Lydia Rogers
Lydia Rogers is the Senior Communications Officer – Web Producer at Lifespan.org and is also an Adjunct Professor of Communications at the Community College of Rhode Island. At Lifespan she creates and edits web pages for Lifespan Healthcare, RhodeIslandHospital.org, MiriamHospital.org, and NewportHospital.org. At CCRI, she teaches Social Media Communication and Mass Media Fundamentals: from the Printing Press to the Internet. 2016 marks the fourth WordCamp Lydia has helped organize. She wrote many of the blog posts and was active on Social Media leading up to WordCamp RI 2015 and 2016. She has a Masters in Media Studies (new and traditional) from Rhode Island College and a B.A. in Mathematics from Mount Holyoke College. She’s been using WordPress since 2009.
Christopher Lucock
I joined emagine in 2007 to take emagine’s Creative Department to new heights (smiling emoji goes here). As Creative Director, I consult with clients on all creative website elements, from branding to usability to overall look and feel. I lead the creative direction for all websites created by emagine, including more than 500 websites since coming aboard with emagine nearly nine years ago.
An avid cyclist, I ride when the sun’s shining, and sometimes when it isn’t.
Daniella Norwood
Daniella Norwood works with companies to create websites that attract customers – exactly the customers who need a given company’s services. In addition, Daniella and her team customize marketing strategies and manage online reputations. She’s obsessed with learning the goals of her clients and then finding ways to meet those goals. Her clients range from those in the financial fields to artists to community organizations.
Publications such as Forbes.com and the Providence Business News have highlighted her expertise.
She’s a fan of WordPress websites and gives back to the community by being active in the Rhode Island WordPress MeetUp.
Daniella is the mother of two who is teaching her 7-year-old how to code and can’t wait for her 4-year-old to start too.