Speakers

  • AJ Morris

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    AJ Morris is the Product Innovation and Marketing Manager for iThemes, a WordPress plugin and training company that helps businesses, bloggers, and freelancers protect their investments in their sites. He has several side hustles where he works with site builders, freelancers and small business owners to build systems to help achieve their digital marketing goals through no-code tools.

  • Alexander Zuniga

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    Hi! I’m a Solutions Engineer at WP Engine. Native Texan and San Antonio resident and Codeup grad ca. 2014. Consulting on WordPress for the last three years, working with some of the largest/innovative marketing agencies in the states, has given me exposure to some really amazing concepts of what is possible while using WordPress. It’s also allowed me to observe and work with some true WP geniuses. I genuinely enjoy nerding out about the cool things I see and how it can help others! When I’m not talking WP, I enjoy tinkering with my electric guitar wiring and setup. #connectedness

  • Anne Schmidt

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    Anne Schmidt is the founder of Anne Schmidt Co, a WordPress development agency focused on creating custom sites for entrepreneurs and small businesses. She is also one of the certified WordPress experts at Codeable (https://codeable.io/).

    Prior to founding her agency, Anne worked in Corporate Strategy and Finance for some of the largest companies in the world, including the Walt Disney Company and Hanesbrands. Her business background gives her a unique perspective on web development, and she enjoys helping her clients strategize to improve and expand their online presence.

  • Chris Milton

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    A marketing nerd who’s always in beta, Chris uses technology and customer insights to improve sales funnels. His goal is to improve customer experience through sales & marketing that makes sense for everyone involved.

  • Christina Hawkins

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    Since 1999, Christina has been designing and building exceptional websites. With many years of experience in creating thousands of websites, she understands the need for continuing education in her field and, therefore, is constantly learning and teaching others about internet marketing and digital processes. Prior to establishing GlobalSpex, Christina worked for the Defense Department and, later, in the financial industry as an analyst and then in IT.

    With each new customer and each new project, Christina has learned so much from stepping into various roles as developer, designer, IT, marketing analyst, coach and more. Each role has helped her hone her digital marketing and graphic design skills so that she can help entrepreneurs who have a voice but need assistance in getting their message out to their target audience in the right way.

    In addition to her ability as a webmaster, Christina serves as a coach and mentor to digital marketing freelancers, helping them grow their businesses. She is also a sponsor and co-leader of Houston’s WordPress Meetup.

  • Christopher Schmitt

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    Christopher Schmitt is an award-winning web designer who has been working in the medium for over twenty years. He has a Masters in Communication for Interactive and New Communication Technologies, and is the author of many books including CSS Cookbook and Designing Web and Mobile Graphics. As an Accessibility and Training Specialist for Knowbility, Christopher is always looking for ways to help educate and empower people about web publishing and technology culture.

  • Cory Miller

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    Cory Miller is a passionate entrepreneur who believes in finding and maintaining work happiness that aligns with your purpose and plays to your strengths, talents and ambitions, while challenging you to do great things with your life. In 2008, he started iThemes, a pioneer in building cutting-edge web design software and training for tens of thousands of customers around the globe. Over a decade and starting from a home office, Cory grew iThemes into a multi-million dollar enterprise, leading a team of 25+ people, in four countries, with an office headquarters in Oklahoma City. In 2011, iThemes was named the 7th fastest growing company in Oklahoma City by the Metro 50. That same year, he co-founded The Div, Inc., a nonprofit tech foundation aimed at inspiring and training the next generation of software developers through its kid’s program, Div, Jr. After a decade of successful business, in January 2018, iThemes was acquired by Liquid Web, a premiere web hosting company, and is now an independent unit within the company. In addition to being a regular leadership speaker, trainer and writer, he is the co-author of WordPress All-in-One for Dummies (Wiley, 2011). He is a member and past board member of the Oklahoma chapter of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), a network of over 8,000 entrepreneurs in 40 countries with companies that have revenue over $1 million dollars annually. Cory has also served as an EO moderator for 3 peer-to-peer “forum” groups and started and seeded two forum groups during his membership. He is also is a trustee for WP&UP, a nonprofit providing mental health support in the WordPress community.

  • Cousett Hoover

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    Cousett is known as THE Techie Mamma. She is the mom of 2 boys and loves all things tech-related. Through her passionate tech-coaching, Cousett teaches other mompreneurs how to maximize the technology so they can scale their business, live the lifestyle they want, and contribute something unique with fantastic technology. She also helps fellow mompreneurs, and other small businesses, get their website designed and developed and navigate other business tools like blogs, mailing lists, and customer relationship management systems.
    Visit my site at http://techiemamma.com to read my blog about mompreneur tech and mommying with a techie twist.

  • David Bisset

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    A former full-time WordPress freelancer for 10+ years, David is now a senior web developer at EnviraGalleryLLC working on two popular WordPress plugins (Envira Gallery and Soliloquy). In addition, he also works on the popular Post Status newsletter, works as a consultant and developer for various side projects, speaker, WordCamp mentor, BuddyPress contributor, and helps run several meetups in South Florida. For the past decade, he has been an organizer of one of the largest and longest running WordPress events – WordCamp Miami. Also known for his live tweeting of conferences and a sense of humor he uses to keep him sane.

    When he’s not working you’ll find David enjoying time with his family, debating which Star Trek series is the best, talking to people about tech communities and how they can shape our society for the better, and trying to find new creative ways to use or donate all the tech conference shirts he’s collected over the years.

  • David Ramirez

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    S. David Ramirez is a User Generated Content Evangelist at TINT. He is the executive director of Marketing and Communications for San Japan, the largest Japanese culture and anime convention in South Texas which brings over 18,000 attendees to downtown San Antonio every Labor Day. He is a guest marketing instructor at the UTSA Institute for Economic Development, Mar-Comm Consultant at the San Antono Heron and mentors at the Break Fast and Launch Culinary Accelerator. Mostly, he’s a nerd; talk to him about anime, events, or marketing.

  • David Ryan

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    Dave Ryan is an Interdisciplinary WordPress Developer at Bluehost, where he focuses on helping build WordPress and supporting the WordPress community.

    In the past Dave has worked for large publishers and universities, scaling high-traffic WordPress sites by blending his skills in information design, journalism and web development.

    Dave lives in Phoenix, loves a good taco and will like every photo of your dog on Instagram.

  • Donata Kalnenaite

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    Donata Kalnenaite is a licensed privacy and technology attorney and the President of a software company that has generated thousands of Privacy Policies. She is a Certified Information Privacy Professional and the Chair of the Chicago Chapter of the International Association of Privacy Professionals. Donata is also the newsletter editor for the ePrivacy Committee of the American Bar Association and has taught GDPR to other attorneys at the Illinois State Bar Association. She excels at breaking down complex topics such as privacy law into easy to use, actionable tips.

  • Eileen Violini

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    I’m a Design Engineer creating user experiences and interfaces for WordPress websites and products. With over seven years experience building WordPress solutions, I currently put my skills to work as partner at Sidetrack.Studio and wpBlockShop.com specializing in engineering custom WordPress block solutions and site conversions for organizations upgrading to the new editor. Follow me on @itsjusteileen on Github, WordPress.org, WordPress Slack and Twitter and online at itsjusteileen@sidetrack.studio and beyondpretty.design.

  • Jason Acuna

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    I have start working with WordPress since 2014, and i immediately implemented on my company, as a co-founder of a devshop in Costa Rica, we have been developing with different platforms, and as we work as a team we have growth our knowledge with the CMS as well as fall in love with it.

    I have been speaker in different activities including WordPress, that includes different countries, and i love work on the community.

    i appreciate all what the volunteers do, and also i love to support in as many ways as possible.

  • Jocelyn Mozak

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    Jocelyn has over a decade of experience building, running and wrangling a WordPress Website Design Agency all while having two boys at home.

    While her education in engineering certainly refined her technical and analytical skills, it is her passion for what she does that makes her an outstanding WordPress web designer. She is an expert in thinking outside the box and filtering out the key points amidst all the noise.

    In addition to running her Agency, Jocelyn is a mentor & coach to other WordPress professionals helping them to build businesses that support the life they desire.

  • Kori Ashton

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    Kori Ashton has been listed as one of seven women who run tech startups in San Antonio, Texas, to watch. She started her first company at the age of 12, and has had an entrepreneur’s heart ever since. She built her first HTML website in 1998, and was instantly hooked on Web design.

    Currently Kori is the co-founder & CEO of WebTegrity, a growing WordPress agency, and hosts a weekly giveback to the WordPress community on her YouTube Channel. And you can network with her via PressTribe – an online slack channel that she started in 2019 for WordPress freelancers and agency owners.

    In every workshop or webinar, Kori is determined to share actionable takeaways to our growing community.

  • Laura Byrne-Cristiano

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    Laura began her career with non-profits, where marketing the mission was part of everyone’s job. After dabbling in FrontPage for a few years, Laura found WordPress in 2006 when she and a friend unexpectedly created a viral website. Thrust into a vortex of website management meets Hollywood, her marketing arsenal exponentially grew with new skill sets in SEO, social media strategy, podcasting, event management, and more. Today, she’s Bet Hannon Marketing’s content specialist. Find her online at NewYorkerLaura.com. Laura currently resides in Philadelphia, PA with her husband, Kevin, and dog, Scully.

  • Marc Gratch

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    I am a WordPress Consultant, a lifelong student, a husband and father. I have been developing themes and plugins for WordPress since 2.8 (give or take a point release,) with a strong focus on simple, specific, niche functionality. Most everything I know about code comes from the WordPress community which is why I try to give back as much as I can. I love the WordPress platform and the community! 

  • Marco Berrocal

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    I am a self taught developer out of San Jose, Costa Rica. I actively participate in the WordPress community as an organizer and love to contribute to WordPress in both my community and abroad. I am passionate about design, code, and people.

    When I am not working, I cherish time with my family. And when it’s time to relax, a cup of coffee or a bottle of good wine will do (yes, not a glass, a bottle).

  • Nathan Ingram

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    Nathan is the Host at iThemes Training where he teaches WordPress and freelance business development topics via live webinar.

    As the founder of >ADVANCE Coaching, Nathan works with WordPress solopreneurs and business owners individually and in groups to help them become more successful in their businesses.

    Nathan has been working with clients to build websites since 1995. He is based in Birmingham, Alabama where he has been an organizer for WordCamp Birmingham (WP Y’all) for several years.

    You can learn more about Nathan at https://nathaningram.com.

  • Pat Ramsey

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    Pat oversees all aspects of the technology group at Crowd Favorite as Director of Technology. He brings over 20 years experience in web development, including higher education, government, and enterprise digital implementations. Active in technology communities since the early 2000s, Pat is one of the founders of the Austin WordPress meetup, having worked with WordPress since 2004, integrating it into higher education IT and faculty publishing systems. He’s also been a trainer and advisor for Knowbility.org’s Accessible Internet Rallies and AccessU, advocating for greater accessible web design.

  • Rian Kinney, Esq.

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    Rian Kinney, founder of eCommLegal and Kinney Firm, is a US tech and privacy attorney, Director of Operations and General Counsel for Mindsize, Vice-Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Science and Technology Law’s Open Source Software Committee, author, international speaker, a WordPress contributor, and WCMIA organizer. Rian enjoys empowering entrepreneurs to run their best business and karaokeing like a rockstar!

  • Robert Jacobi

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    Robert Jacobi ran 3.5% of the internet. With 20 years experience as an open source executive (President Joomla), entrepreneur, and evangelist, Robert works with small to Fortune 500 companies as a Global Strategist and Solution Ambassador to increase revenue and market awareness.

  • Russell Heimlich

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    Russell Heimlich has been wrangling the interwebz since the dawn of the century. By day he is a Senior Interactive Developer at nclud, a provocative creative agency. By night he is a small human co-wrangler of two daughters with the help from his partner in crime, Kristina. True to his name, he is capable of life-saving choking maneuvers for the greater human good. Milkshakes make him smile.

  • Sandi Batik

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    Sandi Batik is a WordPress trainer, curricula developer, unapologetic geek, unrepentant capitalist, eCommerce consultant, who helps clients create reliably elegant solutions at the crossroads of WordPress and WooCommerce and lucky enough to do what she loves every day.

    Sandra co-founded Pleiades Services in 1992 with her partner Nick Batik. She currently serves as the COO for LoneStarWP. Throughout her over 40-year business career, she has enjoyed responsible assignments in project management; business process analysis; research and development; training program development; quality system operations and customer/vendor relations.

    Sandi has been a Co-organizer of the Austin WordPress Meetup Group, one of the most active WordPress meet-ups in the States since 2010. She has been the Co-Organizer of the Austin WooCommerce Meetup since 2015. Additionally, she has presented or served on the organizing teams of numerous WordPress events.

  • Sherry Walling, PhD

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    Dr. Sherry Walling helps smart people do hard things. She works with leaders and entrepreneurs to tackle the common and uncommon challenges that go along with the pursuit of an extraordinary life. As a clinical psychologist, speaker, yoga teacher, podcaster, entrepreneur, and best-selling author, she draws from her professional expertise as well as her personal experience. Her best-selling book, The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Keeping Your Shit Together, combines the insight and warmth of a therapist with the truth-telling mirth of someone who has been there. When she’s not in the consulting room or hopping stages around the world; Sherry can be found on her paddleboard, swinging from the rafters pretending to be a circus performer, or ushering her three kiddos through an art museum in some fabulous city.

  • Stefanie Young

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    Stefanie is a front-end web developer who works first-hand with clients and their users to create fantastic UI/UX through interactive and responsive designs. She has taught and spoken on the subject of responsive design, SEO and asset control at local venues, coding schools, and conferences across the US. She has a serious passion for user experiences and the ability to access products and information via mobile devices. She loves educating business owners on using websites to help profit, user retention, and internal business development.

  • Stevica Golosin

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    Steve works as a Software Engineer at Actual SEO Media, Inc, today. He was in the affiliate business industry for 10+ years and made accounting software for brick and mortar shops, for 30+ years. He is a proud member of the WordPress community in Houston, Texas.

  • Susan Price

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    UX pioneer and strategist Susan Price helps people make authentic connections using emerging technology. She leads Firecat Studio, a user experience (UX) and marketing agency based in San Antonio, Texas.

    Firecat Studio clients include Frost Bank, the City of San Antonio, USAA, University of Texas at Austin, TxDOT, The US Air Force, as well as local small- to mid-sized businesses like The Responsibility Company, The San Antonio Orthopaedic Group, Curtis Team Realty and Charger Roofing.

    Keeping up with emerging tools and techniques is more than a full-time job for any digital strategist or agency. Susan organizes and sponsors several gatherings for UX practitioners and the creative community, including Firecat First Fridays, TEDxSanAntonio, World Usability Day World IA Day and Creative Mornings San Antonio.

  • Susannah Waite

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    Susannah is a Web Developer for ShipStation. She is responsible for overseeing the development and maintenance of four brand WordPress websites and has been a leading force in working toward accessibility across these websites. Susannah has more than four years of experience as a front end web developer and has a passion for accessibility. In her free time she serves as the Event Chair for her local chapter of Together Digital and volunteers at the local animal shelter. She lives in Austin, Texas with her dog, Lily.

  • Tim McReynolds

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    Tim has been in the tech industry in one way or another since about 1998. While he understands that there are some who like Windows and some like Mac, he is a contrarian who works in Linux for his laptops and desktops.
    He has put together websites for some non-profits, but the coup de gras was creating his own E-Commerce site.
    Tim has worked as a Linux systems admin and has worked as support a support engineer for multiple software as a service (SaaS) applications.
    Tim is a traditional film photographer who worked for many years doing custom photo lab work when film was popular.
    His passion is fighting for equal rights for bald guys everywhere.

  • William Earnhardt

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    William works as a WordPress developer and core contributor at Bluehost. He’s been doing web development for over a decade in a variety of forms—at a major university, a global non-profit, a Fortune 500 company, and as a freelancer. Prior to joining Bluehost he spent 6 years building and running WordPress multisite networks at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

    When not doing WordPress things, he loves hanging out with his two sons, playing soccer, working on his old Willys Jeep, fishing (especially from a kayak) and cheering on the Tar Heels.