Speakers

Aaron Reimann

Aaron is a designer turned developer turned an agency starter. He has been working with WordPress since 2008. He has worked on WordPress projects with many Fortune 100 companies and many other businesses. He regularly speaks at Meetups and Wordcamps and currently helps lead the Atlanta WordPress Meetup.

AJ Morris

I’m a Product Manager for Liquid Web, a fully managed hosting company. I work on various WordPress products and initiatives focusing on open-source, community, and spreading the love of WordPress. I have been involved with the WordPress community since 2006, working with theme and plugin companies in support and project management positions. In my spare time I love to travel and spend time with my lovely wife.

Angelica Yarde

Angelica Yarde has been designing for over nine years of experience combining the world of digital aesthetics with strategic functionality to develop and implement successful branding techniques. She is the co-owner of Sevenality, a brand strategy firm she runs with her husband. She is also the editor of Studio 404 Design Blog, the designer of Studio 404 Paper, and the co-host of the Heat + Hustle Podcast. .

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.

Bill Gadless

President/Co-Founder of a 50-person agency called emagine (headquartered in Boston). 15+ years ago started as a very typical “2 guys in a garage” firm building small websites on a proprietary CMS. Today, we develop WordPress-powered websites for multi-billion dollar, multi-national companies in the areas of B2B, High-Tech, Healthcare, Manufacturing and Professional Services. We’ve built roughly 1,500 websites over the years (over 200 since adopting WordPress a couple years ago).

Bruce Chamoff

Bruce Chamoff has been a web developer for 20 years and developer of WordPress plugins and themes for 9 years. After trying all of the major content management systems, Bruce found WordPress to be the most effective and fastest growing, so encouraging clients to use WordPress was an easy decision.

He has developed over 100 custom WP plugins and over 50 themes for Fortune 500 companies and has three successful Udemy courses on WordPress development.

In Bruce’s spare time, he performs with his band, records original music and spends time with his lovely daughter.

Chris Edwards

Chris is currently the Director of Technology at Effin Amazing, an analytics and growth consultancy. He is a 16-year Internet marketing veteran with experience in web design & development, search engine optimization, online marketing, social media marketing and mobile development. He specializes in WordPress custom development utilizing either Genesis Framework or underscores and is very active in the WordPress Orlando community. Chris has held development and Internet marketing positions in some of Orlando’s top technology companies.

Christian Nolen

Christian Nolen is the Technical Director at emagine, a 50–person digital agency that specializes in custom WordPress solutions. At emagine, Christian mentors a team of WordPress developers and drives all of the agency’s web development innovation.

Over the past 12 years, Christian has held positions in technical support, software quality assurance and web development: giving him a unique perspective on the development life cycle. Christian uses this experience to craft sustainable solutions that not only meet the requirements of the client, but also anticipates their future needs.

David Bisset

I’m a full-time freelancer developer living in South Florida (Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area). I am a WordPress developer and specialize in BuddyPress sites/applications. I also do stand-alone PHP work. I’m also a speaker, meetup organizer, conference organizer, and father of three.

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.

David Laietta

David Laietta is an organizer of WordPress Orlando and WordCamp Orlando. He has been using WordPress for nearly eight years now, and builds custom themes and plugins for clients. David is a co-founder of Dinosaur Iceberg, a creative agency based in Orlando. In addition to WordPress, David is passionate about open source software, online freedoms, internet culture, and constantly learning about the world. He looks forward to chatting with you at WordCamp or on Twitter @davidlaietta.

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.

Derek Hart

In 2003, while finishing up a journalism and communications degree, Derek signed on for an internship with a public relations company. He was given the task of designing ads for a company that sold novelty caskets and urns (true story!). From then on, Derek was hooked on design. After graduation, Derek took a job with Mercer University in Macon, GA, designing medical posters. While with Mercer, he also earned a Master’s Degree in Communications.

In 2010, feeling a little burned out, Derek started a company with his future wife. Seeing WordPress as the future of web design, Derek paid a friend $100 and a case of beer for a WordPress training session. 200 plus websites later, Derek’s business has grown every year.

In 2012, Derek made the decision to focus on professional speakers and business coaches and started the company Get the Gigs. Derek lives in Atlanta with his wife, Mallie, their dog and two cats. When he’s not at the computer, you can find Derek playing bass guitar, drawing, and cheering on his beloved Atlanta Falcons.

Gary Kovar

In 1999 Gary discovered Server Side Includes and the web was never the same (for him anyway). An ardent DIY-er in nearly all things, he is deeply intimidated by cooking and if found on a desert island would likely remark “I’m so over sashimi”. In college his frequent network disruptions warranted a dorm-visit from the IT department.

Gary dipped his toe in the water by attending his first WordCamp in Tampa on a whim. Blown away by the diversity of people, opinions, and technical ideas he now has a bucket list of websites and techniques he’d like to bathe in.
His current side-project has him working with multiple writers that are way too involved with their content to realize he’s just making this up as he goes.

Proud father of 2 and happily married for 14 years he prefers the last line of his bio to read like an obituary.

Georgina Lewis

Mrs. Lewis was the CEO & Founder of a successful IBM affiliated software solutions company for 14 years, her company developed manufacturing, forecasting, plant control MRP II, and cost accounting computer software for Fortune 500 Manufacturing plants worldwide. She has traveled internationally visiting major manufacturing facilities in the food, chemical, metal, electrical and wood sectors and in golf, the Ben Hogan company. She was instrumental in forming departments for plant operations, activity based accounting standards, capacity planning and forecasting.

After selling her software company in early 2008 she founded the Golf Resource Group and the Shazzam Media Marketing companies.

Shazzam Media (www.shazzam-media.com) is a Social Media Marketing company that guides businesses & industry professionals to market themselves on the internet offering innovative leading-edge solutions. They design wordpress websites from small individuals to fortune 500 corporations that are modern yet edgy and are responsive to the computer, iPad and iPhone layouts.

Georgina Lewis is a personal consulting to some of the biggest names in the Sports Industry, including executives from Time Inc, Sports Illustrated, Golf Magazine, the 2008 Business Man of the Year, and several PGA and LPGA celebrity golfers around the world.

Irina Blumenfeld

Irina Blumenfeld is an independent Front-End Developer. She has been creating websites for more than 10 years. Over time, she has branched out her skills with responsive design, theme development, and a passion for website performance. Originally from the Ukraine, Irina has lived in Orlando, FL for more then 20 years. She holds a degree in Management Information Systems and Computer Science from the University of Central Florida.
While Irina is not coding, she enjoys running and spending time with her husband and 2 daughters

James Tryon

James Tryon is the Creative Director of Valet, the founder of Easily Amused, Inc, and a father of two. He’s also one of the co-organizers of WordCamp Orlando and the WordPress Orlando meetup group.

James has been in the creative industry for more than 18 years, and he has a meticulous eye for design and usability. He also possess the know-how to plan, design, and code it all if needed.

An avid collector of random awesomeness and thrift-store artifacts, he’s always finding something interesting to spark his creativity (and share with the team in Hipchat.) When he’s not working, he can be found building something, playing with toys, or hanging with friends and family.

Jean Perpillant

I’m a freelance WordPress web designer and photographer. I started a design company called Design Theory LLC. founded in 2008 where I manage over 52 client websites in various business fields from dentists to mechanics and in between.

I enjoy using WordPress as my platform to build great looking and comprehensive websites for my clients. Giving back to the community by sharing what I’ve learned through my local WordPress group and with colleagues is a great feeling.

Jonathan Brinley

Jonathan has been building WordPress websites and plugins for nine years, taking the plunge into full-time freelancing shortly thereafter. He has collaborated with the distributed team at Modern Tribe for five years to build delightful and creative solutions on top of the WordPress platform. When he’s not coding, Jonathan is busy homeschooling his two children and enjoying the beautiful weather of Northeast Florida.
http://xplus3.net/ • http://tri.be/ • http://flightless.us/

Josh Pollock

Josh, is a WordPress plugin developer, educator and entrepreneur. He is the owner of CalderaWP, makers of Caldera Forms, and a co-founder of Ingot, the easiest A/B testing solution for WordPress. In addition he is a contributor to WordPress core, the WordPress REST API, and plugins by Foo Plugins, Postmatic, Pods, Aesop Interactive, WordImpress, GravityView and more.

One of Josh’s favorite things to do is to share what he has learned about WordPress plugin development, business and community. He writes regularly for Torque Magazine and has contributed to other top WordPress tutorial sites including, Smashing Magazine, Tuts+, and WPBeginner. He is also the author of the book The Ultimate Guide to the WordPress REST API.

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.

Kat Roedell

Growing up in the Silicon Valley, as the Silicon Valley was growing up, taught me much! I took my first data entry class at 14 in a summer program (yes, I was geeky enough to take summer school because it was fun), and I was hooked. I had a gift, I suppose, because soon I was setting up electronics equipment, running the IBM keycard machine, and programming ASCII graphics calendars. Shortly thereafter I was in my first programming class (yes on an Apple II), and I ate it up like candy. Eschewing the traditional route, I enrolled in college part time, and started working full time, temp work mostly, at places like DEC, NEC, and the Wollongong group – early groundbreakers in networks, communications, and all things digital, including the World Wide Web. I programmed my first website in HTML, by hand – no WYSIWYG here, and designed the graphics using paint – one pixel at a time. Things have changed since then, I’ve had two kids, been married twice, moved from the west coast to the east coast and then to DC, Florida, North and back south again. I’ve worked in the private sector, the public sector and now run my own business. The kids are grown, my passions are established – business, writing, design, gaming and helping others.

Kathy Drewien

A nationally recognized speaker with happy followers, Kathy has a way of explaining the technical mumbo jumbo of WordPress to novices so they feel confident with how to proceed. Her passion for the WordPress community shines through in her speaking, teaching and consulting as she helps her clients through the sometimes difficult process of building their website. She recognizes the challenges or transitions newcomers face and knows how to guide them through content building without being overwhelmed.

Kenny Harper

Kenny Harper is a marketing industry standout and leader, inspired business owner and professional speaker on a mission to encourage others to bring their passions to life. Kenny has been a WordPress warrior since 2008. From building custom WordPress websites to modifying themes, Kenny has developed many solutions for his clients. As a business owner for over 11 years, Kenny has successfully led the digital development of two agencies, now directing the technical teams and systems development efforts of Rock My Image.

He has been widely recognized for his achievements as a leader in three professional associations. He is the current President of Jacksonville American Marketing Association, Vice President of Public Relations for Toast Masters and Founder of The JOMM (Jacksonville Online Marketing Meetup).

Kenny’s expertise in marketing and organizational development has culminated in a co-authored marketing book set to publish in early 2016, Amplify Your Business, A Rockstar Professional’s Guide to Marketing Success.

Kenny is a happily married husband to Kathy and the father of their two boys. He is honored to instill in them his passions for music, creativity, personal growth and living a fulfilled life.

Lisa Melegari

Lisa is a web content writer and social media manager for We Do Web Content, a content developer in Plantation, FL. Working remotely, she also acts as de-facto site troubleshooter for the company’s WordPress clients. When she’s not pretending to be a competent site admin, she’s helping as an organizer of the Orlando WordPress meetups and WordCamp Orlando. Outside of the Internet, she loves cooking, eating, and is the caretaker of 11 cats.

Micah Wood

Micah is a WordPress developer and architect who is committed to continuously improving his understanding of WordPress and sharing his insights with the greater WordPress community. He currently works at Narwhal Digital on WordPress projects for enterprise clients and helps organize the Atlanta WordPress Coder’s Guild and WordPress Gwinnett meetup groups. Micah is an avid WordPress plugin developer and occasionally blogs about WordPress and other web development topics.

Mike Herchel

Mike Herchel is a front-end web developer at Lullabot, and is fortunate to be able to work on some of the highest-profile sites on the web. Mike has been developing for the web since 2001(!!!) and enjoys the rapid pace of front-end web development and wonders if it’ll ever settle down (and what that will mean).

Neill Feather

Neill Feather is the president of SiteLock, the leading provider of website security solutions for business and a sponsor of WordCamp Jacksonville 2016. With more than 20 years of experience, Neill leads the company’s approach to 360-degree domain security by providing industry analysis and utilizing rapidly evolving data sets related to security and hacking trends. A Pittsburgh native, Neill resides in Scottsdale, Arizona with his wife and three kids (or four kids if you count SiteLock, as his wife often jokes). Neill enjoys spending time with his family, running and playing basketball. Neill holds B.S. degrees from Pennsylvania State University, and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

Nicki Hicks

Born/bred in MD. Raised in ME. Transplant to FL. President of red vine web studio, web geek, cheer coach, puppy momma, fitness/nutrition enthusiast, eternal optimist.

For over 8 years, Nicki has been working with small to medium-sized businesses to improve their online presence. From Search Engine Optimization to social media consulting to blogging to copy-writing for clients, Nicki is passionate about the power of the web for business. She believes in a holistic approach to online marketing: starting with the right web design and platform and incorporating the right marketing approach to target your ideal customers. President and co-founder of red vine web studio, Nicki runs her business locally in St. Augustine.

Rob Taylor

I’m the writer, photographer, editor, and subject matter of 2TravelDads – a travel blog about my husband and I taking our sons out into the world and experiencing it as an LGBT family, learning about culture, having great food, and playing in the sand. I come from a career in hospitality and HR, having worked with Disney, Starbucks, Princess Cruises and Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants.

Robert Jolly

An accessibility-focused Project Manager with nearly 20 years in the industry, Robert has worked on award winning sites for teams including Happy Cog, Seven Heads Design, SuperFriendly, Big Medium, and Simply Accessible. Past clients include Zappos, Georgetown University, Nintendo, Time Inc., RealSimple, ESPN, American Airlines, JetBlue, and many others. When not online, Robert may be found with his family, riding his bike, or at a nearby Waffle House.

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.

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.

Sheila Oliver

I’m a website designer with a passion for helping small business owners use the web to build their business. For the past 5 years, I’ve been creating websites with WordPress exclusively. My second passion is teaching how to use WordPress and other web tools to build and engage an audience.

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

Steve Dimmick

Steve Dimmick has been a WordPress developer since version 2. He started out building custom membership websites with WordPress and now works with clients on retainer and in long term relationships.

He has developed custom plugins costing over $20,000, built custom child themes and integrated many different systems together – all in the name of helping clients achieve their dreams.

Steve is married, loves traveling with his wife and lives near the beach on the gulf coast of Florida.

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.

Wes Benwick

I’m the CEO of FileLogix, a cloud based software platform for Document and Records Management. Before becoming actively involved in PHP development, database design and hosting, I spent many years in the TV industry, behind the camera, producing, shooting, and editing videos. I am passionate about combining the world’s of software development and multimedia production.

Zach Wills

Zach is a Senior Developer at Reaktiv Studios, WordPress core contributor, and Netflix binge watcher. He’s passionate about front and back-end development and is always learning something new.