Speakers

Aaron Holbrook

Aaron Holbrook is a northern Illinois based web developer that spends his free time woodworking and playing Mario Kart with his boys. Currently, he builds highly scalable, performant applications as a Senior Web Engineer at 10up.

You can find more of his stuff at aaronjholbrook.com.

Adam Silver

Adam teaches a WordPress 101 course at the local adult school, presents a monthly WordPress seminar at SBDC, runs the SouthBay WordPress Meetup and produces a weekly podcast over at kitchensinkwp.com. In spare time he hangs out with his wickedly cool 3 kids & wife, and makes some really bad puns, since someone has to.

Alex Vasquez

Alex Vasquez is Principal at DigiSavvy, a Los Angeles Based Digital Marketing Agency.

Alicia St Rose

Alicia St. Rose began her adventure with WordPress when a UX friend offhandedly suggested using the CMS for a mutual friend’s website. That was nearly six years ago and the adventure has turned into a torrid love affair. Now she is a freelance developer, exclusively powered by WordPress, and has yet to find a limitation in this magical piece of software. She is owner, principal designer and developer at Intrepid Realist Design, a small agency that employs one. In addition to creating for WordPress, she offers WordPress coaching to WP users who are just starting to flutter their wings to those wanting just a brushup. She is co-organizer of the South Central Coast WordPress Adventure Group, has co-organized WordCamp Ventura County and spoken at several California WordCamps in the last two years. Alicia currently lives in Santa Barbara, California with her two rambunctious cats, Oscar and Milo. She divides her time between that seaside town and Black Rock City, Nevada. Oh, and her favorite color is red.

Andrew Behla

Andrew Behla is the Creative Director and Founder of Behla Design, a full service design and web development agency located in Los Angeles since 2000. He has been in love with WordPress since 2006 and enjoys giving back to the WordPress community. He is the founder of the Topanga WordPress and Los Angeles WooCommerce Meetup groups and is also a WooExpert. Andrew has a degree in Philosophy and Business from Trinity University, has taught at Santa Monica College and was an award winning teacher at UCLA Extension. He is a lifelong musician and enjoys snowboarding, table tennis, meditation and travel with his wife, Michele.

Andy Fragen

Long time code hacker and surgeon. I grew up in Southern California and love hacking at WordPress.

Brianna Privett

Brianna Privett is TechnoSiren, a web developer and artist on a career-spanning mission to give web users the tools to be web creators without frustration.

Candice Gilliatt

Experienced internet marketing guru who thrives on strategy, data-driven decisions, and empowering clients and employees.

Chris Ford

After a brief foray into project management I’ve returned to the world of design (where, let’s face it, a woman with lorem ipsum tattoos belongs).

Chris Lema

Chris Lema is the CTO and Chief Strategist at Crowd Favorite. He’s also a daily blogger, a public speaker, and product strategist. He helps companies leverage WordPress, and helps WordPress companies find leverage.

Dustin Meza

Dustin Meza is the Director of Customer Experience Operations at WP Engine. He has been in the hosting industry for 7 years and has been with WP Engine for 3 years. At WP Engine, Dustin oversees many aspects of the WordPress platform including WordPress upgrades for over 100,000 WordPress installs.

Outside of WordPress, Dustin loves being outdoors in Nashville with his wife Megan, and black lab, Maddy. He enjoys all kinds of sports, both watching and playing, and has been known to play some video games when time allows.

Erick Hitter

It took Erick a while to figure out what he wanted to be when he grew up, which led him through a few different careers. After experiments in audio engineering and accounting, he now works on Automattic’s VIP team, serving enterprise WordPress users. Erick lives near Los Angeles, loves craft beer, and longs for enough free time to go hiking in the mountains that surround LA. He blogs at ethitter.com and i.ethitter.com.

Greg Douglas

Greg has been working in the web design industry professionally since 1999. In 2010 he struck out on his own to go full time with his web design agency (Premium Interactive). When he started building WordPress websites he was clueless about business and naively took on clients for $700 / per website. Hi has gone through many fits and starts, gone through several different collaborating and partnership experiments and through it all learned a block ton about modern consulting. How to esteem ones self, communicate one’s value and how to set and protect healthy business boundaries. Today Greg is more aware of how business works and his minimum project price is $50,000. Also, Greg is the lead organizer of the Los Angeles WordPress Meetup group (http://www.meetup.com/LosAngelesWP/) formerly known as the SoCalWP meetup.

Greg Taylor

After working in marketing and business development for over ten years, Greg decided to pursue his passion for WordPress development and content marketing by starting his own company. Tired of seeing sites that look great but don’t achieve results, he founded Marketing Press to help business owners find the best of both worlds. In addition to leading the company, Greg has become well-known in the WordPress community as a speaker and teacher. He has presented at several conferences (including TechPHX, WordCamp LA, WordCamp Phoenix, and WordCamp Vegas), been featured on industry podcasts (such as BusyMarketer and Hit the Mic with Stacy Harris), and regularly appears on popular shows (like WPwatercooler and his very own Marketing Press TV). When he’s not working on code or content, Greg spends his free time mentoring at Gangplank, taking in and playing live music, or hanging out in his home state of New Jersey.

Jacob Arriola

Front-end developer and WordPress developer. I’ve been building custom themes for over 5 years and have a joy for sharing new ideas and collaborating with others. I take pride in my ability to communicate complex items with passion and enthusiasm, connecting with audiences, and

Jamal Jackson

My name is Jamal Jackson and I’m a developer based in Atlanta, GA. I have around 6+ years experience in the web development space. I currently have one hybrid app in both the iOS and Google app stores, and have worked on 2 others(1 private corp release, 1 android only release) that are in a pre-release state. In addition, I was formally an engineer at Apple for the iCloud team. Outside of technical work, and more into writing, I’ve released numerous blog articles, an Amazon Best Seller on Responsive Web Design, and have 3 conference speaking engagements.

Jason Tucker

I’m an IT Director for a church and have been working with WordPress for well over 10 years. I’m a podcaster for many years and run two podcasts, WPwatercooler (with may of my co-hosts from the OC WordPress community) and WPblab a question and answer show.

Jeff Turner

As founder and CEO, Jeff led his former company, J.J. Grace to Inc. Magazine’s list of the 500 Fastest-Growing Companies in America and was at its helm when it won Cisco’s “Growing With Technology” award. After the sale of J.J. Grace to Vertis, Inc. in 1999, Jeff served as Group President for their Digital Solutions Group. He has served on the board of multiple charities and corporations over his almost 30 year business career. He was also the founder of Real Estate Shows and a partner at Zeek Interactive.

Jeff is currently the President of RealSatisfied, a fast-growing real estate brand management platform. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors at MFFO.org, a charity dedicated to providing orphans and vulnerable children with opportunities to learn, thrive and achieve their highest potential, and serves on the Board of Directors for Aumnia, Inc., a full service provider of mobile internet applications and solutions.

Jen Miller

Jen Miller believes in the value and power of the written word in sharing truth and story, in life and in business. Combining her journalism background with a passion for customer service and marketing, Jen built NeedSomeoneToBlog.com, a blogging service focused on delivering original, quality website content to business owners. As the business grew, Jen discovered areas that could further develop authority, garner trust, and build engagement for her clients online, resulting in BestBookWriter.com and MyResumeSecret.com. With her newly formed corporation, NeedSomeoneTo.com, Jen seeks to combine services in one-website, making it easier for companies to share engaging messages of community and industry knowledge with their followers.

Jerrett Farmer

I have been employed as a Producer, Project Manager, Software Architect, Programmer, 2D/3D Production Artist, Art Director, and Lead Technical Artist. I’ve worked for Image Comics: Top Cow, Activision, and FOX studios. I have worked on licensed properties for Marvel, Universal, and Warner Brothers studios.

Currently I work as the Marketing Production Manager at InMotion Hosting. I over see the creation and maintenance of their main websites and WordPress blogs.

Jess Boctor

Loud Introvert Extraordinaire. Consultant at Rimoht Consulting & Services. Artist at Phantom Blonde. WordPress Nerd.

John Hawkins

John started using WordPress in the summer of 2003. First as a tool for blogging before he started digging around under the hood making small tweaks to his sites. Over time, friends and family started asking for similar assistance. This turned into a “nights and weekends” freelance gig until eventually quitting his job and starting a WordPress agency in 2009, which he sold in 2015.

John organized the first WordCamp in Las Vegas in 2009 and has been the lead organizer or part of the organizing team for almost all of the subsequent events. He also started the Las Vegas WordPress Meetup which now boasts more than 1,000 members. John has traveled the country speaking at WordCamp events. The videos for many of those can be found at WordPress.TV

John is the current the Director of Products at WebDevStudios. He and his team focus on building new plugins (both free and paid) which can be found at pluginize.com

John lives in Henderson, NV with his wife and two grown children. He is a big fan of CrossFit, live music, pinball and the LA Kings! He blogs at vegasgeek.com and can be found on both Twitter & Instagram @vegasgeek.

Jon Brown

WordPress developer and agency owner. 10 Years of location independent work spanning the global from part to full time digital nomad.

Karim Marucchi

Karim Marucchi is the CEO of Crowd Favorite and Chairman of The VeloMedia Group. In the past 20 years, his career path has encompassed a variety of opportunities including founding startups, managing large clients and teams in multinational agencies and taking companies public. This wealth of experience in taking digital teams across the globe has provided Karim with the necessary foundation and institutional knowledge in leading Crowd Favorite into the growing multinational organization it has become today.

Kronda Adair

Kronda Adair is the founder of Karvel Digital, a WordPress consultancy and development business. In addition to developing websites, Kronda gives business owners the training they need to own and manage their digital presence. She is a regular speaker at WordPress meetups and Wordcamps and has been invited to speak at Ada Developer Academy, Beyond the Code, Open Source Bridge, Lesbians Who Tech Summit, and others. She has given talks on WordPress deployment processes, successful site planning, starting your own business, and more. She also writes and speaks about issues of diversity (or lack thereof) in the tech industry. She has been interviewed by sites such as Revision Path and Less Than or Equal. You can read her personal blog at kronda.com or sign up for her weekly newsletter at tinyletter.com/kronda Her latest project is Websites That Work, an online course to give small business owners the training and tools to create successful websites that help grow their business. When she’s not working, she can be found enjoying time at home with her wife and two cats, reading dead-tree books, riding one of her five bikes, or enjoying the postcard vistas of the state of Oregon.

Logan Kipp

Logan has been an intermittent WordPress user since “Strayhorn” 1.5 in 2005 and has used WordPress as a primary platform since “Coltrane” 2.7 in 2008. Logan has over seven years experience in the website hosting and security technology field, starting with three years at GoDaddy, followed by four years at SiteLock. Logan most recently served as SiteLock’s Lead Security Analyst before taking his current role as a Product Evangelist – WordPress earlier this year.

Michelle Schulp

Michelle is an independent graphic designer in Minneapolis (formerly Chicago). Before beginning her career, she went to school for print and design, with studies in Psychology and Sociology. Together, this resulted in a love of How To Solve Problems. Lately she has been specializing in WordPress theme development and high-end presentations for her clients. She loves the open source community and speaks/volunteers/organizes at WordCamps and other events around the country.

Mika A. Epstein

Mika Ariela Epstein is better known as Ipstenu, the Half-Elf Rogue. Working for DreamHost, specializing in WordPress hosting (aka ‘WordPress Guru’), Mika helps make WordPress and hosting better for everyone. When she isn’t reviewing plugins she’s helping in the support forums and speaking at WordCamps worldwide about code and open source technology. A self-taught guru on Multisite and .htaccess, she has a passion for writing and technology and blogs about them whenever possible.

Mike Baker

Mike “Judah” Baker worked for years in the fast-paced world of IT. He holds dual degrees in Network Engineering & Management and Website Design & Development. As a person who loves to give back, Mike was a Microsoft Certified Trainer for a time and even taught evening courses in Network Engineering & website design.

In the past, Mike has held IT career positions ranging from Director of Networking & Telecom to freelance website designer. A few years ago, he decided move away from freelance work and open his own company, Real Time Web Marketing. As part of his new role, he enjoys championing small businesses and conducting workshops whenever he can.

Nathan Tyler

Nathan runs an agency (Tyler Digital), maintains several plugins on wordpress.org, and has recently launched a web app (hireotto.com). He likes working with APIs and backend development, but has been studying up on more advanced javascript because Matt said so. When Nathan’s not at the computer, he’s probably playing soccer.

Russell Aaron

I started out like many others. I was building MySpace band layouts. I would create table based layouts all day. I would use the blog feature on MySpace to share my triumphs and failures. After writing my first 50 blog posts, a friend of mine showed me WordPress.com. I signed up for free and I started to blog over there. After my next 50 blog posts, the same friend showed me how to install WordPress on my own website. Since that day, I’ve spent every minute of every hour learning WordPress. I’m obsessed, to say the least.

Scott Buscemi

Scott Buscemi is the Founder and UX Director at Luminary, a development agency focused on eCommerce and web systems founded in 2010. When he’s not working, Scott can be found be found hiking and attending acting classes. Or on Reddit. Probably Reddit.

Tabitha Chapman

Tabitha Chapman (a.k.a Tabby) is an Academic Applications Developer at University of California, Irvine where she works on WordPress plugins and themes for the School of Biological Science.

Tami Heaton

Tami Heaton is an award-winning web content and branding strategist in St. Louis, MO. She worked for 12 years as a digital media consultant in New York City, overseeing project management, content development and website production for companies like The SCI FI Channel, The Village Voice, MTV, VH1, Nicktoons Network and for Rosie O’Donnell. She now runs Undeniable, a digital agency dedicated to helping small businesses create world-class websites and brand campaigns.

Thomas Patrick Levy

Poet, weightlifter, and web developer.

Zack Tollman

Zack Tollman is the application architect on the WIRED tech team. Before joining WIRED, Tollman worked as technical lead at the Theme Foundry and senior web engineer at 10up. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lawrence University and a PhD from Washington State University. He currently lives in the Bay Area with his wife and dog.