Tyler Lau
Tyler originates from Lawrence, Kansas and spends a great deal of his time traveling. He joined Sandhills Development two years ago and bounces from marketing to operations to support. In the past two years, Tyler has been to about 15 WordCamps on the behalf of Sandhills Development. When not working on the WordPress side of Sandhills Development you can find him helping on the brewery side of Sandhills Development, or better known as Sandhills Brewing.
Mia Mian
Startup and Tech Enthusiast byways of San Diego, CA. WordPress was my true entry point into the world of development and I wouldn’t have it any other way… from working in agencies to now as a client facing lead for a WP development firm. I’m stoked to represent and advocate for the non-technical WordPress user.
Emily Watkins
Emily Watkins is a public relations expert who partners with small businesses and brands to grow their business through relevant storytelling. After spending over eight years in marketing for small businesses and startups, Emily knows what truly drives conversions, successful launches and Associated Press interviews—and it’s not mastering the latest trends. It’s how well you connect with people and businesses you’re trying to help and communicate your understanding back to them. Emily holds a BS in Public Relations from the University of Texas at Austin and currently works as the PR Manager for Bluehost. Born and raised in Houston, Emily is a true Texan and even related to Davy Crockett.
Sara Dunn
Sara Dunn is a marketing geek and lover of all things WordPress, search engine optimization, and content. As founder and project lead at 11Web, Sara has worked with over 135 clients on website design and marketing projects. In 2017, she niched down to offer SEO to the wedding industry at SaraDoesSEO.com.
Brian Town
Brian is the CEO of Michigan Creative. Brian founded Michigan Creative in 2011 after a long career in education as a film and television production teacher. In his 15 years as an educator, Brian created a nationally recognized film and TV production program. In 2019, Brian won the Entrepreneurial Spirit Award at the Greater Lansing Entrepreneurial Awards through Greater Lansing Business Monthly.
Now, Brian manages a staff of 12 and hundreds of clients across the Midwest. Michigan Creative is a creative firm that provides web development, video, branding, and advertising to help companies build their brand and creativity. The Michigan Creative team believes that every problem has a creative solution.
Brian has a bachelor of arts in Telecommunication from Michigan State University and a Masters of Education from The University of Michigan. He is an Apple Certified Trainer, and Hubspot Inbound Marketing Certified.
He lives with his wife Hollie, three children and two giant dogs in Haslett, MI.
Tracy Apps
Tracy has been creating the web for over 20 years, and solving user experience challenges well before the term “UX” was the big thing. She currently owns and operates tracy apps design, a full-service creative agency based in Milwaukee, WI. Tracy’s client list is just as eclectic as she is, ranging from large corporations like Kohl’s and GE Healthcare to colleges, to nonprofits, small businesses… and even a fiddler. Many times her approach is non-traditional, but always focused on pushing design, accessibility and user experience to higher levels. She ties her own bowties, and could probably deadlift you.
Kevin Skarritt
Kevin is the Author of “Brand Archetypes” and the co-host of the Brand Archetypes podcast. He was ranked as a “Top 100 Social Media Influencer for 2015” by StatSocial.com. This ranking is used by Forbes Magazine in their global rankings. His digital agency, Flock Marketing, is a 10-time winner of Forbes Magazine’s “Best of the Web” award. He and his son are collaborating on the development of a marketing app called KamaSocial. Kevin graduated from the University of Michigan with a BS in Biology and a minor in Fine Art. His hobbies include snow skiing, water skiing, tournament chess, private piloting, reading, upright bass guitar, and making sushi.
Steve Bennett
Steve Bennett is the owner of Real Big Marketing in Jackson. He helps his clients build innovative brands and engaging websites. Find him on Twitter @BigActual
Angela Bergmann
Angela Bergmann is the Senior SEO Strategist at Advance Local. She has 15+ years of experience in digital marketing, with a specific focus on SEO. She views a win based on conversion and organic growth, not increasing keyword rankings. Beyond SEO she is passionate about advocacy work, gaming, dogs, WordPress, and accessibility.
Matt Hansen
Hien & Matt co-own Huck Finch a brand development agency that blazes a clear trail forward for startups and creative entrepreneurs to a fresh, yet timeless brand. Their framework focuses on brand strategy, brand identity, and storytelling to bring out a brand’s true colors, make it impossible to ignore, and ensure its absolutely irresistible to its ideal audience.
In addition to running Huck Finch, Matt and Hien also co-host the Life on Brand podcast – the podcast for change makers and rulebreakers who want to live life on their own terms and run a personal development blog called Chillpill, which distills lessons from Stoicism, Buddhism, and Minimalism to show people how to live up to their potential.
Hien Lam
Hien & Matt co-own Huck Finch a brand development agency that blazes a clear trail forward for startups and creative entrepreneurs to a fresh, yet timeless brand. Their framework focuses on brand strategy, brand identity, and storytelling to bring out a brand’s true colors, make it impossible to ignore, and ensure its absolutely irresistible to its ideal audience.
In addition to running Huck Finch, Matt and Hien also co-host the Life on Brand podcast – the podcast for change makers and rulebreakers who want to live life on their own terms and run a personal development blog called Chillpill, which distills lessons from Stoicism, Buddhism, and Minimalism to show people how to live up to their potential.
Steve Grunwell
Steve Grunwell is a Senior Software Engineer at Liquid Web, working primarily on the Managed WordPress and WooCommerce platforms. Specializing in WordPress and web application development, he has a passion for teaching and contributing back to the development community through speaking, blogging, and open-source work.
When he’s not writing tests or finding new ways to automate the world around him, Steve is off spending time with his family, enjoying a fine cup of coffee, playing guitar, or otherwise getting away from the keyboard.
Pam Tremble
I spent the first 15 years of my career life as an administrative assistant (so I’m organized and can manage a task list like it’s nobody’s business). Then I went back to college and started a new career as a graphic designer (so I’m creative and can manage a brand like a boss). Add to the mix the dozens of clients I’ve helped to build their small businesses from the ground up (from logo and business cards to websites and social media)…and you’ve got the perfect combination of skills to be a kick-ass blogger.
I’m an analog girl living in a digital world. So it only makes sense that I would find a way to leverage that digital sphere to allow me to play with paper, markers, and Post-It Notes. I’ve been obsessed with stationery goodies, back-to-school supplies, office products, notebooks, paper, pens and paperclips for as long as I can remember. I probably own too many fountain pens, too many notebooks, and too many art supplies. But I’m OK with that. I’m comfortable in my nerdiness and my obsessive collection of all the stationery supplies I can amass.
And if you’ve ever wondered how to remember the correct spelling of stationery vs. stationary – I’d be happy to teach you the trick!
Joseph Richardson
I help make websites and web apps for Zingerman’s with a focus on improving the tools and way we work on projects. A hacker at heart I am constantly tinkering with new systems and trying to find elegant solutions to complex problems. I have worked with Lemonstand, Laravel, WordPress, Shopify, and Drupal on past projects.
Koren Farmer
I am a mother of 4 (so far) and happily married to a WordPress developer. I have always been active, from ballet to biking, but my true fitness love is Pilates. I tend to get really nerdy about anatomy and the intricacies of the amazing vessels we walk around in. I also love dogs, they are so pure hearted and always happy to see you. The ones with butt wiggles are the best.
Amit Rathi
A developer, traveler, and entrepreneur in the pursuit of a digital nomad lifestyle. Co-founded The MobiDev, LLC – a technology solution provider specializing in mobile-first application.
Hobbies include reading articles on Medium, attending Meetups, and sharing great memes.
Stacey Jenkins M. Psych
Stacey resides in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and has over 20 years of Law Enforcement (LEO) and teaching experience.
Eric Malcolm
I develop object-oriented clean front-end code and lead accessibility efforts on agile development teams.
As a front-end developer I help architect solutions while creating usable, human-friendly and accessible websites, interfaces, and apps.
I also help to lead the Metro Detroit WordPress Meetup group and am the Lead Organizer for WordCamp Detroit (2018 & 2019).
Micah Wood
A professional WordPress developer for over a decade, Micah has worked on sites for Fortune 100 companies, has released over a dozen WordPress plugins, is a frequent speaker at WordCamps, is a WordCamp Atlanta organizer, is a co-host on the WP Square One podcast, and shares his knowledge by blogging on WordPress development topics. Currently, Micah works at Bluehost and spends most of his time contributing back to WordPress.
Josepha Haden
Josepha is currently the Executive Director of the WordPress project, helping to coordinate and guide volunteer efforts across the ecosystem. Since 2015 Josepha has worked behind the scenes as the lead of the open source division at Automattic. Her work includes financial planning, sponsorship relations, volunteer training programs, and several diversity initiatives on a global scale. She is well-versed in conflict mediation tactics and has a knack for explaining complex topics clearly and respectfully. You can read her occasional writing on josepha.blog and find out where she’s speaking next by following @josephahaden on Twitter.
Joe Wells
I’m a producer. I ship creative product. Part web designer/developer. Part graphic designer. Part writer. A digital marketer. A filmmaker. A storyteller. I lead creative-technical projects that deliver stellar outcomes.
Sophia DeRosia
I can’t think of anyone better to speak on mental health than a teenager who’s at the end of all the emotional strain everyone goes through. I’ve spent the last four years with hands on experience on how to maintain mental health, and I can’t wait to share what I’ve learned.
Cliff Nowicki
My name is Cliff Nowicki and I’ve designed thousands of printed materials and hundreds of websites over my career as a designer. I’m currently a Product Designer at Ford working in IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) Manufacturing. I’d like to say I spend every waking moment designing, but I’m human, not a robot. I enjoy spending time playing video games with my 3 boys and wife while occasionally streaming and posting videos online. I also have been uploading YouTube videos at my design channel called “Over The Cliff Design Talk” where I post design how to videos and show off what I’ve done.
Rebecca Gill
Rebecca Gill is the Founder and President of Web Savvy Marketing. She has over twenty years of experience with sales and marketing, with fifteen of those spent practicing and educating others in search engine optimization. She is an SEO consultant and educator providing personalized digital marketing solutions for clients wanting to expand their online presence and who are also willing to be a vested partner in achieving those results. Whether a solo entrepreneur, digital agency, small business, or enterprise corporation, Rebecca offers a direct and honest approach for planning a path to online success with both search engines and the user experience. A serial trainer at heart, Rebecca also offers a variety of learning opportunities for end users, freelancers, and developers who want to become more knowledgeable about the how and why of SEO.
Brian Richards
Brian Richards is the creator of WPSessions.com and has been developing with WordPress since 2007. Through WPSessions, Brian provides training for developers and businesses that work with WordPress. He has had the opportunity to lead and work with many amazing development teams over the years creating sites for Disney, Microsoft, Cornell, and numerous others.
Cate DeRosia
In 2015, Cate stepped into the WordPress community to investigate if it was possible to find work outside of development or design. She discovered that as WordPress usage increases and businesses grow, many jobs are opening up for people with soft business skills and/or a talent for content.
After test driving some of these options, she currently works editing and writing content and using her soft business skills to run operations at Pressware.
Beyond answering her questions and finding employment, she’s had the opportunity to meet some amazing people. Her commitment to community building has lead to being a co-organizer of the local meetup, regular WordCamp speaker, and the previous organizer for the 2018 and 2019 Grand Rapids (MI) WordCamps.
She has dedicated the last 20 years to family development and enjoys sports, exploring new places, and making pretty things, often with yarn. When she writes, you’ll find it at atypical.ink
Amber Chunn
Amber fell in love with the internet after taking her first HTML class in 1997. She has been working with websites every since. She found a home with WordPress development 7 years ago and hasn’t looked back. A little over 3 years ago, she left the agency life to work as a support specialist with LearnDash. Every day she has the opportunity to help folks and encourage them in their pursuit of teaching others.
Amber lives in Orange County, California with her wife Elizabeth and their mischievous dog Mochi. When she is not working or hanging out with her family, you’ll find her playing with code and enjoying gaming (board, and video).
Thomas Stirling
Thomas Stirling is a serial entrepreneur that has started and grown several successful businesses. His passion for technology led him to found a web consultancy which has grown into a cross discipline marketing agency that is located just outside of Boston, MA. Outside of the office Thomas likes to cook, read and learn about the next big thing, he spends his summers by the beach in Block Island, Rode Island and his winters up in Vermont skiing.
Jeff Large
Jeff is a podcast producer and strategist. He leads his team at Come Alive Creative in producing podcasts for businesses and brands. Favorite things include family, board games, and learning something new every day.
Tarun Gehani
Tarun has been working in the digital marketing industry since 2006 when he first started designing and developing WordPress websites. His passion for how both users and search engine crawlers interact with web pages sparked his interest in SEO, and he hasn’t looked back. Over a decade of hands-on, SEO experience later, Tarun brings a holistic approach to the table, drawn from experience with international clients such as General Motors, Proctor & Gamble, The University of Michigan, and Delta Faucet. He maintains marketing certifications in HubSpot, SEMrush, and Google, and has been featured in industry publications such as Ahrefs and Search Engine Land.
At Pure Visibility, we work with numerous e-commerce clients, assisting them with SEO audits, providing technical recommendations, content enhancements and general SEO consulting which has resulted in ongoing year-over-year improvements in very competitive industries. This talk will be geared towards WordPress websites and the features/functionalities available within the platform and various plugins, as well as SEO best practices for e-commerce sites to increase organic visibility.
Breann Mcdede
Breann, more commonly known as Bre, is an Ohio-native who currently lives in Austin, Texas. Bre has been in the event world for 5 years, and is currently the WordPress Event Coordinator for Bluehost. She is passionate about the WordPress community and takes pride in always having a smile on her face. She loves cooking, baking, food blogging, painting, and snuggling with her adorable cat, Teddy.
Mike Hale
Mike Hale is the Founder of Stompgear Digital Marketing, a freelance WordPress developer, and co-organizer of the WordPress Naperville Meetup. He has helped clients grow their businesses online for almost 20 years and started working with WordPress in 2010 building custom plugins and sites built on the Genesis Framework. Mike enjoys living the Keto life, smoking fine cigars, and making fancy cocktails.
Kellen Mace
Chief Product Officer at Harness Software. Kellen is a contributing developer to the WPGraphQL project. He’s currently working as the Chief Product Officer at Harness Software, which offers a SaaS app that construction companies use to manage their health & safety programs. Prior to his current job, he worked at several WP-specific agencies, such as 10up and WebDevStudios.
Jeries Eadeh
I am the son of a shopkeeper! In my twenties, I took ownership of a family business. I turned around our failing business into a success and sold our business in under two years. After selling my first business I moved from the neighborhood shop to the technology field. My nontraditional career path afforded me a different perspective and resourceful approach to problem-solving and business. I am incredibly proud of my professional accomplishments and I’m enjoying my life with my family in Livonia, Michigan. We love outdoor activities such as hiking, biking and camping in the summer months. While we enjoy cooking and DIY television programs during the cold winter months.
Emerson Jeffries
Emerson Jeffries is a 15-year old business consultant with over three years of experience in business and entrepreneurship. His firm “Emerson DSign” has helped over 75 Metro Detroit business owners create better lives for themselves, transforming their ordinary business ideas into successful ventures!
On his free time, Emerson enjoys performing with the internationally acclaimed Mosaic Youth Theatre, spending time with his family (amongst his five busy siblings) and watching a host of YouTube videos about tech products and graphic design (just like any other kid would, right?)
Ross Johnson
Ross is the founder of the design agency 3.7 Designs and premium plugin companies SnapOrbital and Project Panorama. An eighteen year veteran of the field and part time faculty of Michigan State University, he provides a holistic view of business, design and development.
Eva PenzeyMoog
Eva PenzeyMoog is a Lead Designer at 8th Light. She works to ensure that digital products cannot be be used as tools of abuse, with the goal of reducing harm in the world through centering the safety of victims of domestic violence. When not designing, coding, or mentoring people new to tech, she spends her time creating botanical cyanotype prints, consuming any zombie-related media she can get her hands on, and playing with her two dogs, Hamlet and Horatio.
Rhonda Greene
Cat lady in training. Compulsive creator. Snapchat addict. A little bit crazy, but in a good way. Living in technicolor.
Jason Brown
Jason Brown is a stock and options trader who runs a thriving membership site teaching how to navigate the stock market and use options. He is also a digital marketer who has built multiple membership websites and online communities including a Youtube Channel of over 38,000 subscribers.
Judy Hoffman
Judy Hoffman has had experience marketing many well-known products as Director Marketing, Quaker Oats Co (PepsiCo) and Vice President Marketing, The Kellogg Company. She has taught a variety of Marketing courses including Marketing Foundations, Digital Marketing, Data Analytics and Customer Experience Management, Public Relations, and Strategic Foresight. She has attended WordCamp Ann Arbor previously and enjoyed it so much she wanted to come back and present.
Tim O’Haver
Tim has 15+ years volunteer experience building and managing small nonprofit websites. He arrives at semi-retirement after a career in corporate IT, and another in the tennis industry as a teaching pro. In 2018-2019, Tim has been a speaker at Meetups and WordCamps, presenting topics that help people new to WordPress.
Greg Miller
Greg has a M.Ed. from BGSU. He started working in Authorware and Flash, and all that is eclipsed with GSAP and modern web technologies. When he is not creating and customizing WordPress themes, he enjoys life with his wife and entertained by kitties. Greg organizes events for WordPress Toledo and Toledo Web Professionals.
Lindsey Rampton
I’m a web applications developer with over 7 years of experience working within an agency environment, freelance, and as a provider of shared services. For the last two years, I’ve worked for Zingerman’s Community of Businesses and lead a small team of web developers, marketing professionals, and provide recommended strategies for the 10 businesses within the “ZCoB”. I’ve also helped develop content strategies for businesses while I worked freelance and have written content to support these recommendations.
Amy M Zander
Because Words Matter! I am a lover of words and nothing makes me more happy than to find the exact right word or phrase for a situation (even if that word is sometimes a swear word–GASP!) I also love making up words, Like Zeedia! I have over 20 years of experience as a writer, editor, blogger, and social media content creator and manager. I approach writing as a story teller and always infuse brand into any writing project for a client. What emotional connection are we making? What story are we telling? When I am not working I am reading (no surprise there), hiking, camping, baking and napping–Sometimes all of those things in one day. Oh, and I love to tell a good story around the campfire.
Kyle Maurer
Kyle works at Sandhills Development on Easy Digital Downloads which is a WordPress plugin that makes selling digital products ridiculously simple. He’s a native of Jackson, Michigan, co-hosts the Get Options podcast, and helps organize meetups and WordCamps in the region while brewing fine beer and playing guitar as often as possible.
Topher DeRosia
Topher is a husband and father from Grand Rapids MI. He’s been a web developer since 1995 and a WordPress Developer since 2010. He currently works for BigCommerce as a WordPress Developer Evangelist.
Suzanne Seibel
Suzanne Seibel is a web developer, copywriter and graphic designer at Graphic Visions, Inc. in Northville, (26 years) where she builds and manages websites for small to medium-sized businesses. She built her first html/css website in 2009, teaching herself to code through online courses, lots of Google searches, and others sharing what they know in WordPress Meet-ups, WordCamps and webinars. She’s been working with WordPress since 2014, and doesn’t find it quite as scary as she used to, but still has so much more to learn. In her free time, she occasionally plays 3rd string on a bar trivia team.