Angela Benton
Publisher BlackWeb20.com

Angela Benton’s experience spans a variety of industries including consultative relationships with companies such as UPS, Bizjournals.com, Realestate.com, and Lendingtree.com among others. Most recently she lead Design and Digital Strategy at RushmoreDrive.com. Presently Angela publishes BlackWeb20.com; a blog that analyzes emerging web trends as it relates to African-Americans and is also the flagship property of Black Web Media, LLC. Black Web Media’s mission is to be a catalyst for innovation and inclusive ideas on the web for African-Americans.

Angela also speaks on topics such as diversity in the web and media industries, web trends, web strategy, and web 2.0’s effects on urban media.  She has participated on panels at conferences such as South by Southwest, Experience Music Project Pop Conference and BlogHer among others.

Angela graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communications with a specialization in Digital Design. She has also completed postgraduate coursework in Graphic Design from Savannah College of Art and Design.

Laurie Smithwick
Founder Kirtsy.com

Laurie Smithwick appears, by all measures, to be hell-bent on living an over committed life. She is founder and Creative Director of the award-winning graphic and web design firm, LEAP Design {link: http://www.leapdesign.com}. And in 2007 she and two friends she met online launched Kirtsy.com {link: http://www.kirtsy.com}, a user-generated content aggregator for online news (also known, colloquially, as “Digg for Chicks”). Today, Kirtsy is a thriving community and a profitable company. This summer Kirtsy launched a nationwide “Hands-On…” campaign to educate women about social media, and in November, a Kirtsy book will be published: “Kirtsy Takes a Bow: A Celebration of Women’s Online Favorites.”

Geno was born and raised in the South and proudly calls Greenville , SC his home. He spent two years at Furman University and went on to the University of South Carolina to receive a degree in Advertising. In his 13+ years with Brains On Fire, Geno has helped build word of mouth into the identities of brands that include Fiskars Brands, the American Booksellers Association, Rawlings Sporting Goods, National Family Partnership, Earshot Independent Music Stores, the US Office of National Drug Control Policy, Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities, and Rage Against the Haze (South Carolina’s youth led anti-tobacco movement). Geno is responsible for developing word of mouth, buzz, viral and evangelism strategies for Brains on Fire’s clients.

Geno has been repeatedly recognized as a thought leader in both the identity and word of mouth realms and has also received awards from numerous organizations, including the 2004 National ADDYs, where he received honors for his work with Rage Against the Haze. Rage also won a coveted gold Effie award in 2008 and a Wommie award in 2006 from the Word of Mouth Marketing Association. The Fiskars Brand Ambassador movement, of which was Geno’s brainchild, was also recognized by ad:tech and the Forrester Groundswell awards in 2007. In addition, the children’s book he helped illustrate and create, The Red Ribbon Works, was used as a backdrop for President Clinton’s War on Drugs.

Geno has given presentations at numerous events, including the National Conference on Tobacco and Health, the American Public Health Association Exposition, several Word of Mouth Marketing Association conferences, Social Media 2007 in Atlanta and Customer Management World 2007 inJohannesburg , South Africa . He is a frequent contributor to the Brains on Fire blog, which is one of the top marketing and word of mouth blogs in the world and referenced industry wide on a weekly basis.

Jeffrey L. Cohen is a B2B marketing and social media strategist and partner in OurHashtag. OurHashtag brings together the elements of community, marketing and technology to provide platforms for connection and engagement both online and off-line.

Jeff has more than 15 years experience in business to business and business to consumer marketing, on both the client and agency sides. He blogs about social media in a business to business (B2B) environment at SocialMediaB2B.com. He is also a photographer and blogger who blogs at DigitalPapercuts.com about social media, marketing, photography and life in general, but especially his kids. His latest project is an online video show with Kipp Bodnar focused on North Carolina Wine. NorthCarolinaWine.TV has provided an opportunity to use video and other social media tools to build out a large digital footprint and create a recognized online brand from scratch.

Jeff has spoken at Product Camp RTP, Barcamp RDU, Social Media Club events, Social Media Breakfasts, Triangle Tweetups, and has helped plan many of these local events, as well as Ignite Raleigh. Jeff’s speaking gigs are really ramping up as he will be speaking at Social Fresh as part of a B2B panel, speaking at Web Analytics Wednesday as part of a social media panel, guest speaking to a 2nd year MBA class at NC State on community engagement and moderating a roundtable on business blogging best practices at the B2B Social Communications Conference in the next few months.

Eric Miltsch
IT | Internet Director for Auction Direct USA

Jason Falls is one of the leading thinkers in the social media, public relations and communications industries. He has the unique perspective of having lead a national advertising agency’s Interactive and social media efforts, worked with Fortune 100 brands as a social media strategist and served as an independent consultant in the social media industry. He has advised major, regional and niche brands including Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark and Knob Creek bourbons, NASCAR driver Robby Gordon, Humana, SHPS, Sun Tan City, Mighty Dog, Optima Batteries, Louisville Slugger, Bionic Gloves, The National Center for Family Literacy and WeSeed.com.

Falls’s aggressive approach to social media produced innovative programs such as the Jim Beam Baja Twitter Tracker, a micro-blogging effort following Robby Gordon’s progress in the 2007 Baja 1000 in Mexico; Jim Beam’s Here’s To The Stuff Inside campaign (www.stuffinside.com) which has been noted as the first major social media-based effort of any spirits company; and Jim Beam’s “The Remake” video contest, also noted as the first of its kind in the spirits industry. Falls also spearheaded “The Bill Blog,” the first known brand blog in the spirits industry authored by Bill Samuels Jr., and staff at Maker’s Mark.

One of the most in-demand speakers in the social media space, Falls has spoken internationally and nationally and is known for his engaging style, wit and humor, brutal honesty and for adding value to each audience’s experience. Falls is the president and co-founder of the Social Media Club Louisville. He is a consultant and professional speaker and can be found online at http://socialmediaexplorer.com, consistently rated in the top 20 list of the prestigious Advertising Age Power 150 Blogs.

Falls is also the president and co-founder of the Social Media Club Louisville and serves in an advisory role for Network Solutions, a leading domain name, web hosting and online marketing company. He is a native of Pikeville, Ky., a member of both the International Association of Business Communicators and Public Relations Society of America and resides in Louisville, Ky., with his wife, Nancy, and children Grant and Katie.

Patrick O’Keefe is a writer, entrepreneur and community administrator
who has been professionally developing websites since 1998 and managing
online communities since 2000. He founded the iFroggy Network, an online
network of websites featuring KarateForums.com, phpBBHacks.com,
PhotoshopForums.com and more.

He is the author of the book “Managing Online Forums,”
(managingonlineforums.com) a practical guide to managing online forums,
communities and social spaces, published by the American Management
Association. He regularly blogs at YanksBlog.com, ManagingCommunities.com,
BadBoyBlog.com and his personal blog (patrickokeefe.com). He can be found on
Twitter @iFroggy.

Kipp Bodnar
Social Media Marketing Manager, Howard Merrell & Partners

Kipp Bodnar is Social Media Marketing Manager at Howard Merrell & Partners, a full service marketing and advertising firm in Raleigh, NC. During his career Kipp has successfully developed and implemented social media campaigns and plans for clients in business-to-business and business-to-consumer industries.

In addition to his work at the agency, he is the publisher of SocialMediaB2B.com, a multi-author blog dedicated to providing examples and thought leadership for B2B companies planning to incorporate social media into their marketing strategy. Kipp also blogs on technology and social media at his personal blog DigitalCapitalism.com. He also co-hosts TalkSocialNews.com a daily video podcast on social media with Wayne Sutton.

An active event organizer in the Raleigh-Durham, NC area Kipp helps organize local events including Triangle Social Media Club, Social Media Breakfast Raleigh, Tweetups, Barcamps, Ignite Raleigh, and other events that focus on technology and social media. He has spoken at these events as well as the Blog Carolinas conference, Product Camp RTP, TIE Carolinas, as well as client events.

His social media experience includes the development of strategy and tactics utilizing corporate blogs, podcasts, online reputation management, blogger relations, social bookmarking, microblogging platforms, RSS, social media optimization, social networks, online video sharing and other web-based forms of communication.

Kipp obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, with an emphasis in public relations, from Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va.

Jason Keath
Founder, Social Fresh

Jason Keath is the Founder of Social Fresh, a Social Media events and training company. Jason works as a social media consultant, event planner and blogs at JasonKeath.com. He thrives on ideas, helping others, and connecting people. You can find him doing business from your local coffee shop, traveling to tech conferences across the country, and playing tennis or cycling in his home town of Charlotte, NC.

Wayne Sutton
PartnerOurHashtag.com

Wayne Sutton is an entrepreneur, strategist, and producer with a passion for video blogging and social media. With nearly 15 years experience in the technology and social media sector, he’s provided counsel to business leaders ranging from founders of small start-ups and representatives of non-profit organizations to CEOs of large and small corporations. Wayne has seen the web mature to allow video to become a popular medium to share information online. Wayne covers online technology, gadgets, industry news, conferences, product reviews, and the people behind them on his online video channel WayneSutton.TV. Wayne co-hosts Talk Social News, a daily video podcast on social media with Kipp Bodnar and blogs at SocialWayne.com