Introducing the Final Round of Speakers

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We are thrilled to announce the final round of speakers for this year’s conference! Be sure to check out the first, second, third, and fourth rounds as well to learn about all of our amazing speakers.

Steve Burge

Steve Burge is from Portsmouth in southern England and now lives in Sarasota in the US.

Between leaving England and arriving in the US, there were a few stops in between, including Wales, Mexico, Japan and Australia. Steve paid for his travels by working as a teacher and a web designer.

Steve now combines teaching and web design by running OSTraining.com which teaches people how to build websites. OSTraining clients include Apple, Pfizer and the U.S. Departments of Energy, Education and Commerce.

Steve has published three books and two more are on the way: Drupal 8 Explained and WordPress Explained

Russ Sanderlin

Marine Corps veteran, offering nearly 20 years of IT experience. Currently working as a Information Security Analyst responsible for web application penetration testing, network system penetration testing, security monitoring, network vulnerability assessments, reporting and coordinating vulnerability remediation. Responsible for analyzing latest security threats, tools, vulnerabilities, network attack schemes, documenting best practices and providing policy update recommendations.

Demian Seiler

Co-founder and lead code monkey at Presstronic Studios. Software engineer with over 18 years of experience in testing and creating applications. Rookie entrepreneur with almost no experience running a business. Just stubborn enough to believe you haven’t failed until you quit.

David Gewirtz

I have a bunch of pompous titles like Distinguished Lecturer (for CBS Interactive) and Cyberwarfare Advisor (for the International Association of Counterterrorism and Security Professionals), but my favorite description, by ZDNet, is this: “David is part mad scientist, part celebrity author, and part shadowy government adviser.” ‘Tis true.

Deep down, I’m a project guy and I enjoy coding.

I’ve been working with WordPress since 2009, having chosen WordPress to host the huge migration of the ZATZ magazines from its previous environment based on UserLand Frontier. I rebuilt the whole ZENPRESS CMS as a series of very large WordPress plugins.

Ever since then, I’ve wanted to do more with plugins that other people can use. Seamless Donations was my first adoption. So far I’ve adopted 10 plugins in need of attention and, time permitting, I also hope to build some fun and useful plugins from the ground up for the user community to use.

Karen Dimmick

Karen Dimmick is currently based in Sarasota FL. She has run her own businesses since 1995.
Her background for the last 10 years has been wrapped up in language, copywriting, NLP (neuro linguistic programming), hypnosis, archetypes, psychology, persuasion, design, levels of consciousness and everything to do with how people’s minds work and why they do things.

In 2011 Karen started working on a system for branding that takes into account all these disparate ideas in a way that hasn’t been done before. She founded Iconisense to get this system out into the world and help entrepreneurs create brands that will last and attract loyal followers.

Trey Praytor

Trey, a native Texan, traveled all across the southern US before settling down in sunny Sarasota, Florida with his beautiful wife and daughter. Along the way he’s become a bit of a generalist; connecting the dots in different fields to uncover new perspectives and insights. For the last 2 years, he’s worked with Valet.io in support, account management, and strategy.
When he’s not in front of a laptop, you can find him building hardwood furniture in his garage.

Scott Mann

I’ve been managing teams of creatives and makers in non-meatspace with my company Highforge since 2001. I was an early adopter of WordPress for delivering powerful websites to small and medium businesses and we’re big fans of Genesis these days. Highforge is also one of the few small WordPress shops that has deep experience with the Shopify platform.

I enjoy speaking and storytelling, I’m a certified Google Adwords Partner, and I’m a social impact advocate in Orlando. I founded Highforge in 2001 as a boutique digital agency with the purpose of helping good people grow good businesses online. Since then our agency has helped hundreds of businesses reach millions of customers. Some of our clients include Adventist, Florida Hospital, Image Skincare, Dynafire, Global VRS, Rebuild Globally and Florida Abolitionist.

I’m a gamer and I play racquetball recklessly in my free time. I’m also an advocate for Be The Match, a non-profit organization that saves lives. Ask me about it.

Beau Moffatt

With over a decade of experience in business, content marketing, client management and applying all these things to the WordPress world, Beau believes strongly in connecting his client’s with their intended audiences through clear, compelling copy. As Web Strategist on the team at Open Sky Web Studio, he gets to interact daily with clients to strategize the most effective ways to tell their stories and put them in touch with their customers. Beau is a member of the WPChattanooga Meetup and loves the community and collaboration that WordPress fosters.

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