Speakers and Panelists

Tim Albright, Senior Director of Community Strategy, Jive Software
Bio: I am a ten-year veteran of Cisco Systems with expertise in product and partner development, and Web 2.0 technologies. Before joining Jive, I led the Cisco Support Community powered by Jive SBS. CSC was Cisco’s largest external online community with more than a million unique visitors each month. My business focus has always been listening to customers and driving their feedback into the corporate model. My business career began in the food and wine industry and I maintain a passion for both. My academic background is in the Classics and English Literature. My graduate work, led by the late Linda Schele, focused on the art, linguistics, and culture of Mesoamerica, including the decipherment of Maya hieroglyphics and Mixtec painted manuscripts. I spent several years as a working ethnographer in southern Mexico and Guatemala. To this day, my ethnographic experience propels my interest in listening and learning.


Suzanne Fanning, President, Word of Mouth Marketing Association
Bio: Suzanne was an early believer in the power of word of mouth and social media marketing. By connecting with and empowering consumers (even before all the cool kids were talking about it) she was able to unleash the power of worldwide brand evangelism to drive unprecedented results for several global companies. The short list of all the excellent things that WOM helped her do included quadrupling website traffic, tripling POP and online sales, increasing blogosphere chatter by 600%, and significantly increasing net favorability. At that point she realized that consumers could market products and brands far better than the most savvy marketers. Her ultimate hobby became finding new ways to help companies embrace the love of their fans, "likes," ambassadors, evangelists (or whatever you want to call them). She even found ways to involve fans in new product development, customer service, ads, and in-store events.  Fast Company, Ad Age, Forbes, and PR Week have all featured the award-winning programs she helped develop. You may have also read about them in marketing books like How Smart Companies Get People Talking, Brains on Fire, the Secrets of Social Media Marketing, Killing Giants, and Groundswell. She is a believer in the incredible power of the brand/consumer connection. The vehicles of communication are changing, but one thing remains the same--if you love your fans, they'll love you back. If you want to know more, just call her…she'd love to connect with you.


Ed Garsten, Head, Electronic Communication, Chrysler Group LLC
Bio: A native New Yorker, since 2005  Garsten has headed  Chrysler Group’s electronic communications team which encompasses social media, broadcast media, and video production. His team has won awards from PR News, Women in Communication and the IABC. Garsten came to Chrysler after a 32 year journalism career that included 20 years as a producer, correspondent and bureau chief at CNN, plus stints at the Associated Press as National Auto Writer and The Detroit News as the General Motors beat writer.  He is married with two grown children.

 
Amanda Mitchell, Director, Client Office, Allscripts
Bio: Amanda L. Mitchell has been engaged in various operational leadership roles in information technology and healthcare administration for 16 years. The past ten years focused at Allscripts where she is currently responsible for two core areas: Client Experience and Allscripts Client Community (ClientConnect). Ultimately, Amanda’s challenge at Allscripts was to create a network of programs for Clients to directly engage with Allscripts and other clients. One solution to this challenge was to develop ClientConnect, which is approximately 40,000 users strong and growing. ClientConnect is a huge contributor to Allscripts ability to deliver an extraordinary Client Experience effectively and efficiently.


Barbara Rozgonyi, Founder, Social Media Club Chicago & Principal, CoryWest Media, LLC
Bio: A digital pioneer forging new frontiers for over two decades, Barbara Rozgonyi leads CoryWest Media, a strategic marketing consultancy that creates business for business and motivates accelerated action in organizations of all shapes and sizes. A passionate educator and digital communications evangelist, Barbara designs social media marketing and PR programs for colleges, associations, corporations, small business, non-profits and online communities. As publisher of http://wiredPRworks.com, one of Cision’s 2012 top Marketing and PR Blogs, Barbara’s work is often a catalyst for creative thinkers and leaders. The founder of Social Media Club Chicago, Barbara is a recognized innovator in the social media marketing industry and is a top 12 PR twitter expert to follow according to prweb.com.


Sarah Skerik, Vice President, Social Media, PR Newswire 
Bio: Sarah Skerik (@sarahskerik) is Vice President, Social Media, for PR Newswire. Her responsibilities include product development, managing PR Newswire’s social media programs and blogging for the Beyond PR blog, where she writes about digital PR, social media and SEO.  In previous roles with the company, she has managed the core wire service, including SEO, content syndication, audience development, media relations, customer reporting and targeted distribution products. Sarah is a frequent and well received speaker on the subjects of social media, search engine optimization and PR measurement. A graduate of Miami University in Oxford OH, Sarah also earned an MBA from Notre Dame.