Aaron Ware
Aaron is the founder and President of Linchpin; a Rhode Island based Digital Agency that utilizes WordPress as a core technology. He has been involved in and around WordPress for 8+ years as a Plugin Author, Speaker, Volunteer and as a Co-Organizer for the WordPress Rhode Island Meetup Group and WordCamp Rhode Island.
You can see some of Aaron’s sessions on WordCamp.tv and take a look at Linchpin and Aaron’s library of open source projects on GitHub and the WordPress.org plugin repo.
Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronware
Adam Warner
Adam W. Warner first discovered WordPress in 2005 and has since founded several WordPress-focused businesses that provide education, plugins and consulting services for online business owners. In 2016 he brought his passion for WordPress to join SiteLock as a Product Evangelist. Adam has since delivered his zeal for WordPress to numerous WordCamps and other events all over the world.
In addition to WordPress, Adam is passionate about his family, robots and of course, life, the universe and everything.
Follow him on Twitter: @wpmodder
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
Cara Nelson
Instead of focusing on the large obstacles blocking a trail to success, Cara Nelson looks forward seeking real solutions that exceed organizational goals and expectations. She finds human-centered design, usability, and accessibility to be key to a successful web presence.
As the founder and Creative Trailblazer of Swift Trek Media in Huntington, Vermont she shares her LOVE of WordPress with small- to medium-size businesses and non-profits. Between her client work and free time, she teaches WordPress, web design/development, digital marketing, and website planning and strategy courses in the Boston area.
Cara earned an MS in Internet Strategy Management and MS in Information Technologies with a focus on Open Source Web Development from Marlboro College Graduate School. During her offline time, she enjoys getting outside for an adventurous hiking experience.
Follow Cara on Twitter: @SwiftTrek
Gary Thayer
Gary Thayer is a WordPress Developer at Hall Internet Marketing who specializes in eCommerce websites and analytics tracking. He is an active member of the WordPress community, acting as an organizer for the Southern Maine WordPress Meetup and as Lead Organizer for WordCamp Portland, ME.
Follow Gary on Twitter: @garyathayer
Jennifer Shaheen
Jennifer Shaheen, Technology Therapist®, has been expertly guiding business owners through the intersection of marketing and technology for 20 years. Jennifer has a unique approach that combines technical innovation, entrepreneurial insight and marketing acumen. A thought leader, Jennifer seeks continually to translate today’s digital mysteries into understandable, accessible information.
Jennifer is a national presenter and moderator for Entrepreneur and SCORE webinars, as well as a recurring guest on MSNBC’s Your Business. A dynamic speaker and educator, Jennifer speaks at retail industry and business events, including appearances at NOW NY, American Gem Society, and NY Business Expo.
She is a multi-channel marketing expert, empowering her clientele to deploy fundamental marketing principals across multiple platforms, from traditional vehicles through website development, social media, and mobile marketing. An experienced entrepreneur, Jennifer deftly provides nurturing support for her clients while guiding them to make choices that lead to greater brand reach, profitability and impact.
Her unique talent is for taking businesses to the next level by identifying productive marketing channels and untapped opportunities, and creating comprehensive strategies encompassing both. Her modern interpretation of sound marketing principals coupled with her in-depth understanding of technology consistently delivers results.
Jennifer’s agency, The Technology Therapy Group, is known for its superior development team, stellar websites, apps, and unique digital strategies. Jennifer is a graduate of Hofstra University and Chief Education Officer for Social Media Marketing University, an accredited online learning platform.
Follow Jennifer on Twitter: @techTherapist
Jesse Friedman
Jesse Friedman has been building websites for 18 years, and exclusively with WordPress since 2006. Since then he has written several books, taught 100’s of students as a professor, and organized dozens of local meetups along with a few WordCamps. He has spoken at tech conferences around the world including SXSW, HOW, Future events and many more. Jesse has consulted for a wide array of companies from small agencies to multi-billion dollar international companies. Today he’s a proud team member of Jetpack at Automattic, where he spends his time growth hacking and building strategic partnerships.
Follow Jesse on Twitter: @professor
Jonathan Desrosiers
Jonathan has been earning a living on WordPress since 2008. He is a frequent Core contributor and currently is a WordPress Core Representative. He is passionate about WordPress and open source and enjoys teaching others what he has learned. Jonathan works at Boston University where he helps build and maintain the University’s many websites (all of which are built with WordPress).
Follow Jonathan on Twitter: @desrosj
Laura Willis
Laura Willis is a Brand Strategist / “Core” Counselor. She is a brand positioning expert and strategist, who has created award winning web and print communications to help local, national and global companies, stand apart from the competition.
With over 25 years experience working in advertising agencies and mid to large corporations in the greater Boston area, as well as in her own business, her real-world expertise spans a wide range of vertical industries. With the launch of Encore Revolution, Laura’s speaking engagements, educational programs and consulting combines her brand development process with personal growth and awareness work to inspire business professionals to align with their deeper passion, mission or purpose, to give it an authentic voice and position them for greater success.
Lydia Rogers
Lydia Rogers is the Senior Web Producer/Communications Officer at Lifespan and an adjunct professor at the Community College of Rhode Island. She has over 25 years of new and traditional media experience including website content development, social media management, and radio broadcasting. In addition, she has a Master’s Degree in Media Studies: New and Traditional Media. 2017 marks the fifth WordCamp Lydia has helped organize and she has been using WordPress since 2009.
Matthew Clancy
Matthew Clancy began working with GoDaddy in customer support in 2005 and shortly after began building sites using WordPress for family and friends. Currently based in Phoenix, AZ he is a Program Manager for GoDaddy, hosting WordPress design training and WordPress Help. In his free time he teaches becoming Agile, anything Star Wars, Pokemon, and spending as much time with his kids as possible.
Follow Matthew on Twitter: @modmatt
Maxwell Morgan
Max is the Lead Front-End Engineer at Linchpin, working with a team of developers and designers that strive to learn and build great things together. Originally from South Shore Massachusetts, Max began his journey to Rhode Island in 2007 when he attended the New England Institute of Technology in Warwick. Since then, he has been on a mission to be the best dev he can. With a wide array of skills, he found his passion with WordPress, Sass, and the whole Front-End experience.
Follow Max on Twitter: @maxinacube
Michelle Ames
Overextended, overcommitted, entrepreneur, volunteer, and social butterfly. Avid Scrabble player. Tea snob. Mom. School board member. Marketing enthusiast. 11th hour expert. WordPress fanatic. Lead organizer of WordCamp Rochester, NY. WordPress Rochester meetup organizer. Michelle is the owner and marketing diva at Marketed by Michelle.
Follow her on Twitter: @michelleames
Nate Allen
Nate Allen is the founder of PeerRaiser (https://peerraiser.com), a peer-to-peer fundraising WordPress plugin for nonprofits. Nate has a real passion for WordPress, and is especially skilled at building complex plugins. He was formerly the Senior WordPress Engineer for Linchpin, where he enjoyed creating solutions to solve unique problems for clients. He also enjoys mentoring and sharing his knowledge, and is equally comfortable in client-facing and technical roles.
Follow Nate on Twitter: @ncallen
Reiko Beach
Reiko Beach has been using WordPress for clients and herself since 2008. She works with beginners and intermediate users via workshops and individual sessions.
Follow Reiko on Twitter: @reikob
Ryan Kanner
Ryan is a WordPress Developer for Digital First Media from Denver, Colorado where he works on websites for newspapers such as the Denver Post, Orange County Register, and Mercury News. He has been working with WordPress for the past 8 years, building websites and products for customers around the world. He is also one of the organizers for the WordPress Denver Meetup.
You can find him most places on the internet as @CodeProKid.
Stephen Tiszenkel
Stephen Tiszenkel is a 20-year digital veteran and the president of Hammerhed Content Management Solutions. In his two decades as a digital product manager and director, Steve has led digital efforts for CVS Health, America’s seventh-largest corporation; Univision, the biggest Spanish-language media company in the U.S.; Fox, one of the world’s major media conglomerates; and Channel One News, a teen-media company reaching millions every day. He has also done groundbreaking digital work for NBC and three of the 10 highest-circulation newspapers in the U.S. (The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and Newsday).
Steve lives in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, with his wife of 11 years, Melissa, and their 7-year-old son, Henry.
Follow Steve on Twitter: @stiszenkel
Susan Finn
Susan Finn lives on Buttonwood Farm in Easton. She has 4 children ages 27 to 19 and is married to her high-school sweetheart and best friend, Mitch. She owns a couple of goats, a cat, and a bird, but is most proud of her black German shepherd dog, Kenai (pronounced: Key- Nye) who she has bred for 2 amazing litters. In 2002, Susan and some friends sat around her kitchen table discussing the ins and outs, the ‘how-tos’ and the ‘how-not-tos’, of running their own businesses. The Law of Attraction being what it is, each month, they found more and more women joining their circle to learn, offer advice, and strengthen their business skills through “Tribe Building.” Susan is the founder of the Women’s Business Network of Southeastern Massachusetts. The mission of this group is to offer networking opportunities, and inspire, educate, and motivate women to be the best they can be in their business and personal lives. As Susan immersed herself in the world of digital marketing and all it entails (social media, website assessments, email marketing and more) she realized the incredible satisfaction of educating and empowering small business owners to understand, own and build their online presence in order to grow their business. Susan finds that the incremental and cumulative power of sharing and collaborating within networks can make real and lasting change for small business owners who are ready to “Rise Above The Noise” and collaborate within their tribes to grow their own businesses.
Follow Susan on Twitter: @SusanFinn4
Timothy Jacobs
Timothy Jacobs is a WordPress developer at iThemes where he works on the iThemes Security plugin. You can find him at timothybjacobs.com where he attempts to blog semi-regularly about WordPress development.
Follow Timothy on Twitter: @TimothyBJacobs
Tom Shapiro
Tom Shapiro is CEO of Stratabeat (https://stratabeat.com/), a branding, web design, and marketing agency. Shapiro has developed marketing strategies for market leaders such as AT&T, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Kraft Foods, and P&G. Shapiro has a deep passion for neuroscience and human psychology, and his insights have appeared in CMO.com, CNN, Forbes, MarketingProfs, and MediaPost. His book “Rethink Your Marketing” will be published in 2017.
Follow Tom on Twitter: @Stratabeat
Tyler Smith
Artist Turned Developer, Tyler is focused on the intersection between backend engineering and human centered designs. The process of conflating these seemingly paradoxical domains manifests unique experiences for users.
Zack Cote
Zach is a software developer with 5 years experience. He enjoys building performant web applications, riding his bike and eating sardines.