- Links to session content, photos, posts and other resources from TWTRCON SF 09.
- TWTRCON SF 2009 agenda
- TWTRCON SF 2009 speakers
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Suggest a speaker on #twtrcon.
Vicky Harres Akers, Director of Audience Development, PR Newswire
Vicky Harres Akers, the voice behind the PR Newswire brand on Twitter, is the author of, “Straight Tweet: Giving Voice to a Brand,” a new white paper from PR Newswire available for download. Vicky leads PR Newswire’s Audience Development team on initiatives to promote its industry-leading distribution networks and platforms such as PR Newswire for Journalists and ProfNet, along with initiatives to increase the use of its customers’ content among all audiences that report on news, from traditional media to bloggers. Vicky and her team are also responsible for growing PR Newswire’s influence and following online, working collaboratively with other departments to find new ways to help customers use emerging media more effectively in their communications programs. On Twitter, Vicky chats with followers about the who, what, where and how of what is happening in the world of media and social media, as well as promoting the PR Newswire brand.
Anamitra Banerji, Product Management, Twitter
Anamitra works on commercial products at Twitter as part of the product management team. One of Anamitra’s tasks it to research how businesses use Twitter to figure out which new features they would find most valuable. Prior to Twitter, he was a director of ad product marketing & management at Yahoo! where he worked on a number of established and emerging monetization models. Anamitra received an MBA from Cornell University and an undergraduate electronics engineering degree from the National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur.
David Berlind, Editor-at-Large, InformationWeek.com
David is General Manager of Alternative Events in the Live Events Group of TechWeb (formerly CMP). He is also Editor-At-Large for InformationWeek.com and the Executive Conference Director for Interop. David’s career in media started in 1991 when he joined Ziff-Davis’ PC Week to write technology reviews. After eventually becoming the Director of PC Week’s testing lab, he moved over to ZD’s Windows Sources Magazine as Editor-in-Chief and then to Computer Shopper as Editorial Director. In 1998, David joined ZDNet where he led the site’s family of business technology properties and eventually helped to lead CNET Networks’ (ZDNet’s parent company) push into new media such as blogging, podcasting, and, what he calls “near broadcast quality video on near YouTube economics.” David joined TechWeb in January 2008 when his event production startup Mass Events Labs was acquired by TechWeb parent company United Business Media. Prior to his career in tech media, David spent eight years as a software developer, network engineer, and IT manager.
Richard Brewer-Hay, Chief Blogger, eBay Inc.
Richard has more than a decade of communications, marketing and production experience. In January, 2008, he joined eBay as Chief Blogger to direct its social media initiatives and launch “eBay Ink,” where he captures and shares his insights and perspective on the company and provides another conduit for corporate communications. Richard launched the ebayinkblog Twitter feed in June, 2008 that allowed eBay to become the first Fortune 500 company to live-blog financial announcements and earnings’ calls via Twitter. In March, 2009 Richard introduced the first social media guidelines for corporate disclosure for both blogging and micro-blogging. Prior to joining eBay, Richard was with PodShow (now Mevio), a new media network where he oversaw the company’s programming lineup for two years. As Sr. Director of Talent and Marketing for PodShow, Richard grew the signed talent pool from 25 to over 250 contracted individual video and audio show producers, and contributed to network growth from 25 to over 16,000 shows before his departure in December, 2007.
Frank Eliason, Director of Digital Care, Comcast
Frank Eliason is the Director of Digital Care for Comcast. In the past year Frank has become well known in social media for the Customer Service outreach function that his team has been involved with. This work has been recognized by many news organizations such as ABC News, New York Times, Business Week, among many others. Taking the simple approach of simply asking “Can we help” has created new communication channels for Customers and an improved Customer experience. Prior to joining Comcast in 2007 Frank has worked in Customer Service management for Advanta Bank and Vanguard Investments. Frank is married to Carolyn and his children are Lily, Robyn and Gianna. His first experience in social media was not listening to customers, but rather communicating about the health of his daughter Gianna, who was born premature. Years later, when she was diagnosed with cancer, he again turned to communicate through his family website. She passed away in 2004, shortly before her 4th birthday. Her website connected his family to so many great people from around the world. In Gianna’s memory, when possible, Frank continues to work to support many of the charitable organizations that were there for his family.
Laura “@pistachio” Fitton, Founder, Pistachio Consulting
A vocal advocate for productive business uses of Twitter/microsharing, Laura re-launched Pistachio Consulting with that exclusive focus. Pistachio published the first white paper on “Enterprise Microsharing” and covers business microsharing on the TouchBase blog, and the TouchBase link blog. Clients include J&J, Ford and PeopleBrowsr. Laura’s use of social media has been in five books, including Seth Godin’s Tribes , in the press (Forbes, the New York Times, BusinessWeek, LA Times, Entrepreneur, Newsweek, Inc) and throughout the blogosphere. She speaks at tech events and schools like Harvard Business School, Bentley College, Clemson and Emerson. Laura is founder of oneforty, advisor to TipJoy and CoTweet, co-author of Twitter for Dummies and a Fellow with SNCR.org.
Porter Gale, VP of Marketing, Virgin America
Porter Gale has nearly 20 years of experience working in marketing, advertising and independent filmmaking. Prior to Virgin America, Porter ran the Porter Gale Group where her clients included Country Music Television, Blue Shield of California and Delta Dental. Porter also was General Manager at Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners where she worked with clients such as Vegas.com, Coach, Snapple Natural Beverages, Van Cleef & Arpels, Judith Leiber and Grand Marnier. Porter has produced or directed documentaries that have aired on Lifetime, PBS, Channel 4/England and in film festivals around the globe, including “2Chicks, 2Bikes, 1Cause” (1998) a multi-media campaign that included a 5,000 bicycle trek and a documentary to educate young women about breast health. Porter’s recent film work has been honored by the Directors Guild of America, The Academy of Motion Pictures & Sciences and Filmmaker Magazine, which named her one of the top 25 up and coming filmmakers. Porter has a BSBA from Boston University and a Masters in Documentary Film and Video from Stanford University.
Jeanette Gibson, Director of New Media, Cisco
Jeanette Gibson leads Cisco’s New Media group and is responsible for extending Cisco’s leadership and innovation with new media and overseeing the vision and direction of Cisco’s award winning online newsroom, News@Cisco. Gibson is responsible for developing and communicating the direction of Cisco’s corporate blogging and podcasting initiatives and driving its web strategy for its communications sites, News@Cisco and the Investor Relations and Analyst Relations web sites. News@Cisco’s audience rivals that of mainstream media websites such as Business Week online, with monthly visitors averaging 1 million. On a quarterly basis, News@Cisco total traffic surpasses 10 million page views and subscriptions to the site’s 350 RSS feeds are growing 90 percent year-over-year. Prior to working with the News@Cisco team, Gibson ran Cisco’s Corporate Technology PR team. Prior to joining Cisco in 1998, Gibson worked for a start-up, PointCast, which pioneered push technology for delivering news broadcasts directly to users’ desktops. Gibson helped launch the company in 1995 and managed its external reputation via media and analyst relations activity. Previously, Gibson held account management positions at leading public relations firms Miller Communications (now Weber Shandwick) and Copithorne & Bellows (now Porter Novelli).
Seth Greenberg, Director, Online Advertising & Internet Media, Intuit
Seth is responsible for interactive marketing and strategy for Intuit’s consumer division – TurboTax and Quicken products. His team focuses on new customer acquisition by incorporating traditional online advertising channels – including display banner advertising, SEO, PPC and Affiliate networks – with new and innovative channels and tactics such as social media, Web 2.0 and guerilla marketing. Seth’s team has been trailblazing social media campaigns and applications, most recently in working with Google/Twitter as the first advertiser promoting a twitter stream (@TurboTax) across the web. Seth is also conducting one of the largest social media campaigns, SuperStatus, in which he gave away over $100,000 in prizes to players using Facebook, MySpace and Twitter to simply update their status in 140 characters. Previous social campaigns include working with pro skateboarder Billy Marks and hiring Vanilla Ice to host The Tax Rap. Seth attended Film School at Loyola Marymount and Graduate Film School at the American Film Institute. He is currently on the customer advisory boards of DoubleClick, Commission Junction and Hitwise, and formerly a Board of Director of Shop.org.
Renee Hamilton, Social Media Strategist, Operation Smile
Renee Alexander Hamilton has spent her personal and professional life devoted to creating excellent customer experiences. Two years ago she entered the non-profit sector working for International children’s medical charity Operation Smile. There she worked with a team to create a dynamic Donor Relations Team based on the Donor First philosophy. With her new role as Social Media Strategist, Renee is dedicated to using Social Media for donor engagement and relationship building. Operation Smile’s adventurous social media plan includes innovative ways to integrate event based fundraising and promotions with the latest social media tools. Operation Smile’s role as the TWTRCON Non Profit Partner will be the first in a series of such endeavors as her team launches the 140 smiles (in 140 characters) campaign. Don’t miss the official unveiling of this campaign at the official TWTRCON pre-party on Saturday, May 30.
MC Hammer, Co-founder, DanceJam.com
Born Stanley Kirk Burrell in Oakland, California in 1962, this immensely popular recording artist synthesized the street sounds of African-American and pop culture, earning the respect of his community and creating a global phenomenon with tours in Asia, Europe, Australia and Russia. His success led to a television adventure cartoon hero named “Hammerman” and a Mattel Hammer doll. Hammer has won a multitude of awards including three Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, The People’s Choice Award, and the Billboard Diamond Award. Hammer stayed close to his roots and is praised as a role model for youth for his community commitment and his “Help The Children Foundation.” He brings both traditional and new media expertise into the public forum and social media destination Dancejam. A&E Network has announced a new original series, “Hammertime,” following the life of MC Hammer, his wife of more than 23 years and their family of seven. The series is currently in production and slated for premiere in 2009. @MCHammer is currently #23 on the TwitterCounter global list of top most followed Twitter users.
Shel Israel, Author, Twitterville
Shel Israel writes, speaks and advises on social media. He is the co-author, with Robert Scoble, of Naked Conversations–how blogs are changing the way businesses talk with customers and is currently working on his second book, Twitterville, how businesses can thrive in Global Neighborhoods. Israel has contributed editorially to BusinessWeek, FastCompanyTV, and Dow Jones. His GlobalNeighbourhoods.net, blog is among the 50 most popular business blogs, according to Ad Age. Since 2005, Israel has interviewed more than 300 people in 38 countries on social media’s impact on culture and business. It has been a diverse group, ranging from Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers to Wael Abbas, who posts hidden-camera videos of Egyptian police brutality on YouTube to Isaac Mao, China’s first blogger and GM Vice Chairperson Bob Lutz. Israel is regularly interviewed by traditional and online media and has addressed audiences in eight countries on social media related topics. He was the first American to keynote at CNBloggercon, China’s largest social media conference. Israel is a senior fellow to the Society for New Media Research (SNCR) an organization that researches all aspects of social media for business, academia and government and his a senior advisor the Social Media Club.
Guy Kawasaki, Co-founder, Alltop
Guy Kawasaki is a founding partner and entrepreneur-in-residence at Garage Technology Ventures. He is also the co-founder of Alltop.com, an online magazine rack˛ of popular topics on the web. Previously, he was an Apple Fellow at Apple Computer, Inc. Guy is the author of nine books including Reality Check, The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way. He has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.
Beth Mansfield, Public Relations Manager, CKE Restaurants, Inc.
Beth Mansfield heads the public relations department for CKE Restaurants, Inc., parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s burger chains. At CKE Beth sets public relations strategy, handles media relations for the publicly-traded company (NYSE:CKR), as well as the Carl’s Jr. brand, oversees reputation management, and directs brand building through social media. With more than 15 years of traditional media relations experience, she is diving whole-heartedly into social media and manages the social network integration and online influencer programs for CKE. She tweets for the @CarlsJr brand, and oversees @HappyStar’s conversations, the iconic mascot of both brands. Prior to joining the CKE Restaurants marketing staff, Mansfield was the PR director at Commission Junction, a pay-for-performance advertising startup, and public relations manager at Kinko’s, Inc., now FedEx Office. Previous to her corporate PR career, Beth spent six years in sports media relations at UC Berkeley, Washington State University and San Diego State University.
Dave McClure, Startup Advisor, Angel Investor, Founders Fund
Dave McClure has been geeking out in Silicon Valley for almost twenty years as a software developer, entrepreneur, startup advisor, angel investor, blogger, & internet marketing nerd. Dave currently runs a seed-stage investment program for Founders Fund. His passion is helping startups with marketing, product strategy, and startup metrics, and he is an advisor or investor for several companies including: Canopy Financial, Eventvue, KissMetrics, Mashery, Mint, RichRelevance, 750 Industries, Simply Hired, SlideShare, TeachStreet, Twilio. Dave is the founder of Startup2Startup, a monthly dinner series for Silicon Valley startup entrepreneurs & investors. He has been a conference organizer for many tech & startup events including STARTonomics, Graphing Social Patterns, and Web 2.0 Expo (SF). He has been a guest lecturer on social network platforms & applications at Stanford University. Dave is a board member for microfinance accelerator Unitus, advisor to microfinance lender Kiva.org, and co-founder of the Silicon Valley Microfinance Network. Previously Dave launched & ran marketing for job search engine Simply Hired, and its evil twin SimplyFired.com. From 2001 to 2004, Dave worked at PayPal (acquired by eBay in 2002) as Director of Marketing, where he started the PayPal Developer Network program. Prior to PayPal, Dave was a database consultant & programmer for several companies, including Microsoft and Intel. In 1994 he founded Aslan Computing, an internet & e-commerce consulting group later acquired by Servinet / Panurgy in 1998. Before coming to Silicon Valley, Dave barely graduated from the Johns Hopkins University with a BS Engineering in Mathematical Sciences and a minor in frisbee, billiards, & foosball. For more info on Dave visit his LinkedIn profile & his blog: Master of 500 Hats.
Jeramie McPeek, VP, Interactive Services, Phoenix Suns
Currently enjoying his 17th season with the National Basketball Association’s Phoenix Suns, Jeramie McPeek oversees the organization’s digital and social media initiatives. Under his direction, Suns.com has twice been named the top team site in the NBA by the Sports Business Journal (2002, 2004) and received the Website of the Year Award from the NBA in 2007. McPeek was also recognized with two Rocky Mountain Emmy Awards in 2008 for his direction on the Suns’ official social network (PlanetOrange.net) and a virtual tour of the team’s clubhouse (SunsLockerRoom.com). In addition to his role as vice president of interactive services for the Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, McPeek serves as “Editor at Large” for the NBA’s official publications and has had nearly a thousand articles published in national magazines over the last 14 years. A native of Phoenix, McPeek graduated from Arizona State University in 1995 with a degree in journalism.
Stefanie Michaels, Adventure Girl
In less than one month, media entrepreneur and travel writer Stefanie Michaels joined the ranks of Martha Stewart, Jimmy Falon and Time Magazine by breaking into Twitterholic’s Top 100 with more than 200,000 followers. She was named a “suggested user” by Twitter, a status for which one Twitter user recently offered to pay $250,000 (and was turned down). Stefanie’s web site, AdventureGirl.com, and book, Adventure Girl’s Guide to Adventure Travel…without Breaking a Nail, offer tips on exciting places to visit: ice hotels in Reykjavík, Iceland, swimming with dolphins in the Bahamas, and chic eco-friendly destinations. She blogs and tweets about her adventures, using social media to connect with followers while braving sub-zero degree temperatures to participate in the Iditarod dog sled race or defying gravity in the inaugural flight of Las Vegas’ ZERO G. Michaels is the travel expert for the 2008/09 season of Travel + Leisure Channel’s Uberguide series, the eco-travel expert for Hollywood Green for Discovery’s Planet Green, the green lifestyle expert blogger for The Huffington Post and Tonic News Network, and has been an expert travel guest on CNN and FOX News.
Rafe Needleman, Editor, CNet Webware
Rafe Needleman has over 15 years of experience covering technology and business, and is currently Editor of Webware.com, a CNET site. He focuses on providing the latest information on Web 2.0 sites, services, and applications. Its timely and relevant blog entries about hundreds of web-based services, such as wikis, blogs, and social networking sites, help users determine the best products for them to use in their daily lives. Before joining CNET Networks in 2004, Needleman held several editorial leadership positions at a number of industry publications, including InfoWorld, PC/Computing, Red Herring, and Byte Magazine, establishing himself as one of the industry’s leading tech journalists. At Red Herring, he wrote Catch of the Day, a column about startups, which was emailed to over 150,000 subscribers every weekday. Needleman is a recipient of several Computer Press Awards, including best hardware review, best software review, and best online review. He has also hosted two event series: Under the Radar, in which startup company CEOs give their best pitches to a panel of expert venture capitalists; and Sector Watch, a strategic view at emerging technology markets.
Stefanie Nelson, Marketing, Dell Outlet
Stefanie Nelson (@StefanieAtDell) is the woman behind one of the most successful business initiatives on Twitter, @DellOutlet. In addition to tweeting updates, special offers and new arrivals to nearly half a million followers from @DellOutlet, and turning unhappy customers into Dell advocates as @StefanieAtDell, she oversees all marketing communication initiatives for the $400 million U.S. Dell Outlet.
Bringing the innovation of new media to all aspects of Marketing is part of Stefanie’s DNA. She has been entrenched in the interactive realm since the mid-90’s, when she pioneered Intel’s first online media program for the global launch of the Pentium processor. Since then, she’s shaped digital programs for global brands like Nortel, Toshiba, HP, National Instruments, and many others.
Jeremiah Owyang, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research
Jeremiah is a Senior Analyst at Forrester Research focused on Social Computing for the Interactive Marketer. In this role he publishes industry reports and provides social media council to clients. He also writes a daily blog called Web Strategy by Jeremiah and speaks at Technology, Web, PR, and Marketing conferences about web and media strategy. Before Forrester, Jeremiah was responsible for the strategy and development of corporate web programs at PodTech.net an online media network as the Director of Corporate Media Strategy. Jeremiah founded and lead the Community Marketing program at Hitachi Data Systems and has experience in Web Marketing, Intranets, Extranet and User Interface Design at companies such as Exodus Communications, Cable and Wireless, and World Savings (now Wachovia). Jeremiah Owyang holds a Bachelors in Marketing from San Francisco State University.
Bob Pearson, President, The Blog Council
Bob serves as President of The Blog Council, the leading forum for social media efforts at the largest corporations in the world and as Senior Vice President, Communities for GasPedal. He is also a founding partner of Common Sense Media Group. Bob has a unique combination of social media, marketing and communications skills acquired during nearly 25 years at three Fortune 500 companies and a major consultancy. He was most recently vice president of Communities and Conversations at Dell Inc, where he was responsible for developing an industry-leading approach to the use of social media, as highlighted in GroundSwell. His team built and maintained 25 blogs, forums and wikis in 7 languages worldwide with 200 million page views of annual interaction and coordinated the company’s approach in Twitter, Facebook and other key sites. Before joining Dell, Bob worked for Novartis Pharmaceuticals as Head of Global Corporate Communications and as Head of Global Pharma Communications, where he served on the Pharma Executive Committee. Bob’s team has been featured in numerous books and case studies related to their rapid adoption of social media techniques to improve how a company operates internally and externally. He serves on the board of the Association for Multiple Impaired and Blind, the Digital Advisory Board for P&G and is Vice Chair of the Emerging Technology Committee for the State of Texas.
Jeremy Pepper, PR Manager, Boingo Wireless
Jeremy Pepper is the manager of public relations at Boingo Wireless, Inc., the global market leader in Wi-Fi. At Boingo, Pepper is responsible for global public relations, traditional and social media relations. Pepper is also involved in the marketing communication programs for Boingo, as well as reputation management and crisis communications. Pepper has more than a decade’s worth of experience in high-technology, consumer technology and consumer public relations, and is one of the earliest and well-known PR bloggers and social media strategists.
Mike Prasad, Brand/New Media Director, Kogi BBQ
Mike Prasad is the Brand/New Media Director for the famous Kogi BBQ and Co-Founder/CEO of GirlGamer.com. A rare Los Angeles native, lifelong gamer and technophile, Mike is responsible for giving Kogi a name, a look, and a twitter. Currently, he combines his background in marketing, new media and social application platforms to expand both Kogi and GirlGamer’s brand, business and culture, online and offline, utilizing tools like Twitter, Qik, and other coolness. Over the last year, Mike has also been very active within the tech community and startup space, working with companies such as Black Card Circle, ScreenFuse and others. He loves building brands and leveraging new media. It’s all about culture, engagement and interaction. Always looking to do cool stuff, Mike can be followed via Twitter at www.twitter.com/mikeprasad or at www.mikeprasad.com.
Steve Rubel, SVP, Director of Insights, Edelman Digital
Steve Rubel is responsible for keeping Edelman and its clients in the vanguard. He studies global technology, media and online trends and shapes them into actionable insights and marketing communications strategies for Edelman clients such as PepsiCo, Zagat, Unilever, Microsoft and many others. Rubel supports the account planning processes, intellectual property development and the firm’s innovation and business development efforts and is a member of the Edelman Digital senior leadership committee. His Micro Persuasion blog on digital trends, which launched in 2004, today has 50,000 daily readers and has been cited as a must-read by The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, CNET, PC Magazine and Forrester Research. Rubel has been named to several prestigious lists, including: PR Week’s 40 Under 40, The Forbes.com Web Celeb 25, PC Magazine’s 100 Favorite Blogs, Media Magazine’s Media 100, the AlwaysOn/Technorati Open Media 100 and the CNET News.com Blog 100. Rubel hails from Long Island, New York, and is a graduate of Hofstra University.
Paul Saffo, Futurist and Visiting Scholar, Stanford Media X
Paul is a forecaster and essayist with over two decades experience exploring long-term technological change and its practical impact on business and society. He teaches at Stanford University and is a Visiting Scholar in the Stanford Media X research network. He was the founding chairman of the Samsung Science Board and serves on a variety of other boards including the Long Now Foundation, the Singapore National Research Foundation Science Advisory Board, and the Pax Group. He has served as an advisor and Forum Fellow to the World Economic Forum since 1997. Paul is a columnist for ABCNews.com, and his essays have appeared in numerous publications including The Harvard Business Review, Fortune, Wired, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, The New York Times, and the Washington Post. Paul is a Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, and holds degrees from Harvard College, Cambridge University and Stanford University.
Brian Solis, Principal, FutureWorks
Solis is globally recognized for his views and insights on the convergence of PR, traditional media and social media. Considered one of the original thought leaders who paved the way for social media and PR 2.0, Solis is co-founder of the Social Media Club and is an original member of the Media 2.0 Workgroup. His blog, PR 2.0 is among the top 1.5% of all blogs tracked by Technorati and is ranked as one of the leading voices in the Ad Age Power 150 index of worldwide marketing bloggers. He also runs bub.blicio.us and contributes to TechCrunch, BrandWeek, and WebProNews. He actively contributes his thoughts and experiences through keynote speaking appearances, books, articles and essays as a way of helping the marketing industry understand and embrace the new dynamics fueling new communications, marketing, and content creation.
Kara Swisher, Co-Executive Editor, D:All Things Digital
Kara Swisher started covering digital issues for The Wall Street Journal’s San Francisco bureau in 1997. Her column BoomTown originally appeared on the front page of the Marketplace section and also online at WSJ.com. Previously, Ms. Swisher covered breaking news about the Web’s major players and Internet policy issues and also wrote feature articles on technology for the paper. She has also written a weekly column for the Personal Journal on home gadget issues called Home Economics. With Walt Mossberg, she currently co-produces and co-hosts D: All Things Digital, a major high-tech conference with interviewees such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and many other leading players in the tech and media industries. The gathering is considered one of the leading conferences focused on the convergence of tech and media industries. Previously, Ms. Swisher worked as a reporter at the Washington Post. She is also the author of aol.com: How Steve Case Beat Bill Gates, Nailed the Netheads and Made Millions in the War for the Web, published by Times Business Books in July 1998. The sequel, There Must Be a Pony in Here Somewhere: The AOL Time Warner Debacle and the Quest for a Digital Future, was published in the fall of 2003 by Crown Business Books. She is a graduate of Georgetown University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Ed Terpening, VP, Social Media Marketing, Wells Fargo
At Wells Fargo, Ed led the development of the first blog by any major US bank, and the first dedicated social media team. His teams efforts have led financial institution participation on social sites such as MySpace, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. Ed has a long history in Silicon Valley. At Apple Computer he researched advanced software engineering approaches, and developed and taught courses there, winning “Teacher of the Year”. Ed joined then-small Cisco Systems in ‘93, a month before the first web browser hit the Internet. Within the hub of the emerging web, he managed Cisco’s first company-wide Intranet, their first e-commerce store, and managed development for Cisco.com, one of the first business sites on the Internet to offer online customer service. Ed also held many positions in both technology and product development for CNET, including founding the first online community group, where his team pioneered the addition of social content such as user product reviews and “Talk Back” user feedback to CNET. Outside of work, Ed is an accomplished artist and art blogger. His accomplishments include a cover story in American Artist magazine, the largest art magazine in the US.