Presenters and Panelists
In alphabetical order
Jennifer Abernethy - Social Media Panelist - is Americas first Sales Stylist™ for business professionals. After selling tens of millions as a 20+ year award winning account executive in NYC, Jennifer created The Sales Lounge to help people sharpen their Social Media Edge and refine their unique sales style. Her business and pioneering brand have taken on a national presence which she credits to creatively using social media. Her Social Media Edge Workshops have helped hundreds of professionals engage innovatively in Social Media Marketing for business development. She is writing a book on using social media in marketing for Penguin Books in NYC, and in the Fall she will launch the Insiders Success Circle. www.thesaleslounge.com
Cherie Beck - Creative Leadershp Panelist - spent 17 years as Executive Account Manager architecting business solutions, and the last 10 pioneering human potential and culture change to projects involving leadership, personal development and organizational dynamics. She is master practitioner and trainer of Spiral Dynamics integral, a body of knowledge dealing with complex business environments; a certified executive coach; and an OD subject matter expert. Cherie contributes to think tank organizations on the design of emerging social and governing structures, and is involved in a start up applying leading edge capability using evolutionary theory, holistic intelligence and integral data analysis for innovation initiatives. www.cherie-beck.com
Larry Blumsack - Presenter; Creative Work Cultures Panelist - Founder of Zoka Institute, has taught and coached over 5,000 business professionals and creatives to tap into and expand their creativity. Zoka Training® is an outgrowth of 40+ years of Larry’s best lessons and practices learned from his extensive parallel careers in business, the arts and media. Larry, a serial entrepreneur, has worked as a marketing consultant, professional actor, acting/speech coach, theater and TV director, training video writer/producer/director, photographer, columnist, radio and TV commentator and an artist among other things. He teaches the creative success skills he personally employs to expand the successes of his corporate clients. www.zokainstitute.com
Mike Bonifer - Presenter; Plenary Session Co-Leader - is the author of GameChangers – Improvisation for Business in the Networked World and co-founder, with Virginia Kuhn PhD., of GameChangers LLC - helping clients use improvisation techniques to evolve their processes and brands to better participate in the global economy. As publicist for a motion picture, a career writer/producer and director in the entertainment business, and Chief Storyteller for Live Earth concerts, Bonifer consistently works at the forefront of emergent media and technologies. Bringing theories and practices of improv to business, GameChangers fosters the communication, learning and transformation vital to success in the networked economy. www.gamechangers.com
Jen Consalvo - Social Media Panel Moderator - is co-founder of Shiny Heart Ventures, a new technology company focused on building community driven products that remind people of the joys of life. She has worked in product development for almost 14 years, leading large and small teams in a range of product areas such as digital imaging, community and social platforms and personalization. The majority of her career was at AOL, planning and building products used by millions of people globally, and developing a significant global technology community network. Jen’s products have been featured in such places as the Washington Post, TechCrunch, CNET, and Mashable among others. www. JenConsalvo.com; www.shinyheartventures.com
Frank Gruber - Social Media Panelist - is well-known for the blog SOMEWHAT FRANK and for his analysis on Web 2.0, social media and emerging technologies. Frank co-founded TECH cocktail, helping build entrepreneurial communities. Frank is featured in a number of publications as an industry expert and speaks at conferences nationwide. He consults businesses in social networking/media and is a product strategist for AOL on products such as AIM, ICQ and myAOL personalized startpage (http://my.aol.com) which has been rolled out globally. Frank developed product strategy for Apartments.com and Tribune Interactive among others. www.somewhatfrank.com; www.techcocktail.com; www.shinyheartventures.com
Stan Gryskiewicz, PhD - Presenter; Creative Leadership Panelist - is a consultant and an international authority in leadership, creativity, innovation and change management. An author, a keynote speaker, and a researcher, he has explored these topics globally. Dr. Gryskiewicz had been at the Center for Creative Leadership since its inception in 1970. There in 1993 he was named Senior Fellow, Creativity and Innovation for distinguished service and international recognition. His thinking on renewal, strategic innovation and proactive change management is captured in his influential book, Positive Turbulence. He founded and currently leads Association for Managers of Innovation (AMI) www.positiveturbulence.com; www.aminnovation.org
Sam Horn - Creative Work Cultures Panelist - America's Intrigue Expert and creator of the POP! Process, (“Revolutionary.” - Seth Godin) helps entrepreneurs and organizations create one-of-a-kind ideas that helps them break out vs. blend in. Fortune's John Jantsch called Sam "A seriously creative thinker who has taken mind-boggling work and turned it into a system on how to create memorable names, marketing messages and slogans.” A top-ranked speaker at Inc. Magazine's 500/5000 conference she has worked with Intel, NASA, Hewlett-Packard, Boeing, Capital One and hundreds of others. Sam has written 6 successful books and has appeared on MSNBC, NPR, and every major network including Jay Leno's Tonight Show. www.samhorn.com
Michelle James - Conference Chair; Plenary Session Co-Leader- is CEO of The Center for Creative Emergence and founder of the Capitol Creativity Network and Quantum Leap Business Improv. She is a business creativity consultant, facilitator and coach who has been pioneering creativity and improvisation in business for 15 years. She's designed and delivered hundreds of public workshops for solopreneurs and leaders and business creativity programs for organizations such as Microsoft, GEICO, NIH, World Bank, and Kaiser Permanente among others. Michelle has been featured on TV, the radio and in print and was recently recognized for Visionary Leadership in Fast Company's blog, Leading Change. www.creativeemergence.com; www.capitolcreativitynetwork.com
Jeff Klein - Creative Leadership Panelist; Creative Work Cultures Moderator - CEO of Cause Alliance Marketing ®, produces collaborative, cause-related marketing programs. He also serves as Executive Director for Conscious Capitalism, Inc. (aka FLOW) through which he facilitates Conscious Business™, Peace Through Commerce®, and Accelerating Women Entrepreneurs™ Alliances, working with Thunderbird School For Global Management, US Special Operations Command, and the Business Roundtable Ethics Institute. Jeff wrote his new book, Working for Good: Making a Difference While Making a Living for entrepreneurs wanting to thrive by doing good. www.causealliancemarketing.com; www.workingforgood.com
Ira Koretsky - Presenter - turns your stories into business stories that sell, helping you increase revenue substantially with compelling messages. A sought-after international speaker and consultant, Ira brings business and creativity together. He combines his 20+ years of business, communication, and professional improvisational humor skills for a unique, creative approach to business storytelling. He is an active blogger, an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland, and a columnist for ThinkBusiness Magazine and Washington Business Journal. Charles Schwab, American Diabetes Association®, Warner Brothers and the CDC are among those who have trusted Ira to tell their business stories. www.TheChiefStoryteller.com
Jennifer Lee - Presenter - MA, CPCC, PCC, of Artizen Coaching empowers professional and entrepreneurial women to awaken their inner muse and live life in full color. She is the creator of the Right-Brain Business Plan and the Unfolding Your Life Vision Kit and is featured in two books: The Girl's Guide to Kicking Your Career into Gear and The Vision Board: The Secret to an Extraordinary Life. Before pursuing her own passions full-time, Jennifer consulted for 10 years at companies including Gap and Accenture where she managed change and coached executives. Jennifer holds an M.A. in Communication Management and is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach from Coaches Training Institute. www.artizencoaching.com
Michael Margolis - Presenter - is a business storyteller and change strategist, helping organizations reframe and reinvent their biggest stories. He has worked on many game-changing projects for clients including AARP, Ernst & Young, NASA, Marriott, The Nature Conservancy, and YWCA of O'ahu. He teaches his concept of Brand Storytelling at the e-MBA level for the Schulich School of Business in Toronto. After studying cultural anthropology, Michael started his career by launching two ground-breaking nonprofits. He continues to work at the intersection of business and social issues. Michael is a published author and keynote speaker who promotes a new language of leadership for adaptive times. www.getstoried.com
Brian Robertson - Presenter; Creative Leadership Panelist - is a pioneer of Holacracy™, a new organizational operating system noted for dramatically increasing agility, transparency, innovation, and accountability. Mr. Robertson's initial development of Holacracy took place at an award-winning software company he founded in 2001 and led as CEO through 2007, which served as an experiment grounds for new methods of organizing and working together. The resulting system was named Holacracy and made its debut in 2006 in a prominent article in the Wall Street Journal. Holacracy continues to evolve under the stewardship of HolacracyOne, co-founded by Brian, to further develop the method and bring it to the world. www.holacracy.org
Sam Rosen - Social Media Panelist - is the co-founder and CEO of ThoughtLead. He works with NY Times best-selling authors, visionary entrepreneurs and leading-edge organizations to help them use social media and online marketing for greater profit and purpose. Sam has delivered numerous workshops and seminars on the role social media plays in creating business-driven marketing campaigns, and has earned high praise from leading publicists, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders for his original model of Evolutionary Marketing. His early work as an award-winning social entrepreneur and current passion for conscious evolution integrates meaning with marketing and its role in transforming culture. www.thoughtlead.com
Paul Scheele - Presenter; Creative Leadership Panelist - has worked with millions of people around the globe to awaken the creative genius within, using accelerative learning to breakthrough stuck states and achieve extraordinary results quickly. Paul is the chairman of Natural Brilliance Productions and author of numerous international best-selling self-improvement programs including PhotoReading®, Natural Brilliance®, Abundance for Life, and Paraliminal® technology. Paul is also the co-founder and creative program designer for Learning Strategies Corporation and founding member of the Transformational Leadership Council. He is currently working on his PhD in Leadership and Change at Antioch University. www.reclaimyourgenius.com
Russell Schoen - Presenter: Creative Work Cultures Panelist - helps individuals, teams and organizations adopt a mind-set, tool-set and skill-set to unleash creative behavior. He has delivered creativity, innovation and leadership programs worldwide. Clients have included Discover, International Fragrance & Flavors, SC Johnson and Leo Burnett among others. Russ is a partner at New and Improved, LLC and a contributing author to a number of innovation-related materials including the Foursight and Ingenious Thinking suite. In addition to performing improvisational theater in Chicago, Russ is also an adjunct faculty member at the Center for Studies in Creativity where he teaches graduate courses in facilitating creative process. www.newandimproved.com
Gail Taylor - Presenter - Founder of TIA - The Integrated Approach™, developer of 5 successful businesses, published author, trainer, and cutting-edge coach, brings 20 years' professional experience to helping her clients achieve growth, change, transformation, and accelerated business success. Gail's tested, proven TIA resources integrate mind, body, spirit, heart, gut, action, and systemic interaction to produce quick, lasting results. The creative, cross-disciplined, multi-traditioned professional training is informed a diverse variety of traditions and programs, including Integral Theory, NVC (Nonviolent Communication) and the study of dozens of Eastern and Western traditions. www.TheIntegratedApproach.com
Jesse Thomas - Social Media Panelist - is the CEO and Founder of JESS3 – a creative interactive agency based in Tysons Corner, Virginia. Jesse is an entrepreneur, innovator, designer, visionary and eager learner. When it comes to the worlds of branding, data visualization and social media, Jesse is constantly pushing the limits and exploring new frontiers. JESS3's C-SPAN Debate Hub is currently nominated in the Politics category of the 2009 Webby Award. They have done interactive and branding work for C-SPAN, AARP, Pepsi/Tropicana, Dow Jones/The Wall Street Journal, Pfizer, Shopzilla, SnagFilms, Mashable, Heritage Foundation.com, The Conversation Prism and New Media Strategies among others. www.jess3.com.
Win Wenger, PhD - Presenter; Creative Work Cultures Panelist - a pioneer in the fields of creativity and creative method, accelerated learning, and brain and mind development, is an educator, researcher, trainer, musical composer, and widely published author. He is renowned around the world as a trainer and author of 52 books, including the widely popular The Einstein Factor and Discovering the Obvious. Articles on Win's work have frequently appeared in Success Magazine and many other publications. He founded Project Renaissance, an organization dedicated to increasing individuals' genius. Only one other living person has invented or discovered, and developed, as many techniques for creative problem-solving as he has. www.winwenger.com
Conference Comedienne
Vanda Mikoloski has performed on Showtime, Lifetime and HBO. She creates "quantum comedy" with an intention to transform: “The new ‘hip’ is being a life-giver.” She also leads business workshops integrating brain science, creativity and yoga. Vanda has brought her “new paradigm comedy” to corporations, Yoga Journal, MENSA and New Thought conferences around the world, illuminating transformational distinctions like fireworks! Vanda's work has been called, "terribly smart and funny...both." - Talk show host Bill Maher; "Genius." - Ben Vereen; "Insightful and hysterical!" - Mark Vicente, Director, "What the BLEEP Do We Know?" She's a pioneer in integrating deep humor with serving a greater good.
Conference Graphic Recorder
Diane Cline, PhD, is President of Over The Horizon Consulting, LLC, which provides meeting capture, public listening and visual thinking partner services. She also lectures at the George Washington University. She was a tenured professor at two Universities before working in the intelligence field. She has written a book and numerous articles on many topics as diverse as philosophy, classics, art history, foreign affairs, linguistics, national security and organizational development. Known for her creativity and broad scope, Dr. Cline has been a popular presenter for Smithsonian Associates and appears regularly on A&E and the History Channel. www.OTHconsulting.com
Conference Soundscape Designer
Rasul Sha'ir is the founder and principle at Cnvrgnc, a new breed of company: part design firm, part innovation think tank, and part business consultancy. In addition to providing, brand strategy and creative marketing services for clients, Rasul is a self-proclaimed music aficionado. Having been an amateur rapper during the golden age of Hip Hop (the 80's) along with his travels around the world, his tastes for music and culture are vast and eclectic. His music interests range from 60's rock to Punjabi Bhangra to South African Kwaito. Rasul enjoys building his personal music collection and constantly looks for ways to blend the creative energy in music with his daily work.
Creativity in Business Conference 2009
