Washington DC

iStrategyLabs has hand selected a group of super-talented, socially-savvy Board Members to co-create the week with us. The Social Media Week DC board members will be charged with a handful of roles and responsibilities that will exert their leadership in ways to help the broader DC region’s social media community. Together, we will make Social Media Week DC a thrilling exposure to rich and beneficial experiences for everyone who participates.

Follow our Twitter List of Advisory Board Members

Shashi Bellamkonda

Shashi Bellamkonda currently oversee all social media and public relations activities at Network Solutions, a firm that helps small businesses start and market their businesses on the Web. In this role, he has compiled an impressive record of achievements that includes transforming the company’s Web presence, creating and executing a comprehensive social media strategy and brand presence, dramatically increasing coverage in national media, and establishing the company as a valuable SMB resource. In earlier positions at Network Solutions, he oversaw development and go-to-market strategies to drive growth for a suite of Web technology products.

His achievements:

• Been recognized twice as one of the Top 100 Tech Titans by the Washingtonian;
• Spoken at major national events such as SXSW, BlogWorld, Digital East, IABC, PRSA, and Affiliate Summit;
• Integrated multi-platform marketing plans to help a diverse range of businesses expand their brand;
• Served as a Marketing Advisor for SCORE and as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.

His successes and accomplishments are derived from a compelling combination of creative abilities, sound business savvy, solid communication skills, and attention to details.

Lisa Byrne

An experienced marketing professional and events planner with a background in hospitality, Lisa Byrne has built an outstanding reputation for her community involvement and leadership in Washington DC, both online and off. Lisa works with Pappas Group, an independent, award-winning creative agency, as Social Strategist. Founder of Social Zest and DCeventjunkie, and Co-Founder of DC Wine Week, Lisa is a web and events entrepreneur with the goal of bringing people together.

Philippe Chetrit

Too many hats. He wears an MBA cap as he runs Affinity Lab, a coworking space and entrepreneurial collective in DC. Affinity Lab has helped launch over 200 businesses in the last 10 years with an 85% success rate.  He sports a tech startup helmet as he launches Tixelated, a mobile event platform. Tixelated is a whole new paradigm in event ticketing.  And he rocks a DJ’s bandana, as his DJ collective, Fatback has been voted best DJ’s in DC two years in a row.

Michael M. Clements

Michael M. Clements is a media and entertainment professional with a portfolio of work ranging from print, online, digital, and social media content creation and strategy as well as film, television, performing and visual arts projects. He currently handles digital and social media strategy for Washington Life Magazine, Genki Media LLC and ArtJamz. He has worked in Washington D.C., Hong Kong, Japan and Los Angeles. He received a MA International Communications from American University and BS Communications from Florida State University.

Jen Consalvo

Jen Consalvo is COO and Editor of Tech Cocktail, a media company focused on entrepreneurs, startups and innovation, as well as the founder of Thankfulfor.com is an online gratitude journal community that has been covered by CNN, TechCrunch and CBS News among others. She has worked in product development for over a decade, leading large and small teams in a range of product areas such as digital imaging, community & social platforms and personalization. Much of her career was at AOL, planning and building products used by millions of people globally. Consalvo is also the co-producer of Digital Capital Week (@DCWEEK), a week-long festival in Washington DC focused on technology, innovation and all things digital in our nation’s capital.

Jen was named one of the 2011 100 DC Tech Titans by Washingtonian magazine, was profiled in DC Modern Luxury’s “The Smart Set” feature, covered in the Washington Post story “Digital Nomads Choose Their Tribes” and in the Huffington Post story “What is Work? Cutting Yourself Free With Heart“.  Outside of the tech world, photography, travel and health are her passions. Her blogs include JenConsalvo.com and BodySoulConnect.com. Her book, Love Your Photos: A Simple Guide To Photographic Happiness is available now.

Mark Drapeau 

Mark Drapeau is the Director of Innovative Engagement in the Microsoft Office of Civic Innovation in Washington, DC. He edits their digital magazine, Publicyte.com. He previously worked at the National Defense University and has a PhD and BS in animal behavior.

Paul Duning

Paul is Co-Founder & Publisher of Capitol Communicator, a highly target-networked community in the greater Washington/Baltimore region that connects with over 50,000 unique communicators in the professions of public relations, advertising, marketing, online/offline media, graphic design, video, photography, and the multitude of support professions by providing them with news; insights; education; opportunities for networking, career enhancement and a marketplace.

Over the past 20+ years, Paul’s executive experiences have included digital media, integrated marketing, mergers & acquisitions, business development, operations management and strategic alliances for several companies, including two Inc. 500. He also provides consulting services.

McKee Floyd

After graduating from the University of St. Andrews in 2008 with a Masters in International Relations, McKee moved to Washington D.C. as a Legislative Assistant for Congressman John Tierney (D- MA). In 2010, McKee chose to leave her career on Capitol Hill to open Washington D.C.’s first whoopie pie bakery – Whoops! Bakeshop, which she ran during the summer and fall of 2010. After closing her bakery, McKee joined the digital and experiential marketing firm iStrategyLabs and in the spring of 2011 McKee led iStrategyLabs team as the experiential and digital strategy firm for sweetgreen’s sweetlife festival. After the completion of the festival she rejoined sweetgreen’s ranks as their Director of Brand Development.

McKee’s work has been featured in national publications including NBC Washington, the Hill, and AOL. Her writings have appeared in AOL City’s Best, and All Things Go, and she has consulted on product development with national brands Nestle Toll House and Willy Wonka Candies.

Jill Foster

Cited by ForbesWoman as one of 30 women entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter, Jill Foster is principal of Live Your Talk.  Based in the Washington, DC region, she is a speechwriter and coach for people in technical and social tech fields.  Believing strong communities come from strong conversations (and public speaking skill) — Jill works with award-winning entrepreneurs, CEOs, and innovators makin’ it happen as public speakers — on stages like TED and TEDx, Ignite, plus a variety of keynotes around the globe.  A social technology advocate, her work has been in conversation in The Washington Post, Huffington Post, Guardian UK, Washingtonian Magazine, and a range of media outlets. 

An Executive Board member of DC Web Women, Jill is the founding editor of blog community Women Grow Business  – a top ranked blog on social media and marketing. In 2010, she led TEDxPotomac’s speaker coaching team, supporting speaker voices like Alexandra Cousteau and Craig Newmark. And in 2009, she won the Apps for Democracy Social Citizen Award for a co-produced project on how technology could help Washington, DC neighborhoods. As a multimedia blogger, she fulfilled a lifelong dream in 2008 by serving as a “Big Tent” credentialed blogger for the Democratic National Convention.

Banafsheh Ghassemi 

Since 2010 Banafsheh has been leading the design and implementation of differentiating constituent experience and relationship strategies of the American Red Cross across digital and off-line touch-points for a broad and diverse constituent-base that includes financial donors, blood donors, volunteers, active military personnel and their families, public health and safety instructors and their students, corporate and foundation partners and many more.

Prior to ARC, for 15+ years Banafsheh held executive leadership roles in the mobile and mobile internet industries in various capacities ranging from implementing innovative product and customer experience strategies, sales and channel strategy, CRM as well as other customer-centric technology investments.

Banafsheh has a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Maryland and an MBA from The George Washington University.

Garlin Gilchrist II 

Garlin Gilchrist II, a native of Detroit and creator of Detroit Diaspora, is National Campaign Director at MoveOn.org. After graduating with degrees in Computer Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Michigan, Gilchrist became a Software Engineer at Microsoft. During that time he co-founded The SuperSpade: Black Thought at the Highest Level, a leading Black political blog, and served as Social Media Manager for the 2008 Obama campaign in Washington state. Garlin is a highly sought after thinker doing cutting edge work at the crossroads of traditional organizing and online activism. speaking before every constituency on youth empowerment in revolutionary new organizing spaces, increasing civic engagement & participation though emerging technologies and protecting civil rights in the age of the Internet.

Shana Glickfield

Shana Glickfield is a Partner with Beekeeper Group, a leading public affairs firm specializing in digital communications in Washington, DC.  Shana advises a wide variety of corporate, association, and nonprofit clients on their online communications strategies, focusing on social media and mobile technology. Before founding Beekeeper Group, Shana was managing NextGenWeb.org, the online community of USTelecom, the trade association representing broadband companies like Verizon and AT&T.

Shana graduated from Michigan State University and has a law degree from Temple University.  She was the founder of The DC Concierge, a renowned local blog from 2006-2010, and is one of the top 100 independent Twitterers in Washington, DC.   She was one of five women named “up and comers in technology” recently by Washington Post and made Washington Life magazine’s list of the most creative people in new media.

Angie Goff

Angie Goff anchors the weekend editions of News4 Today and reports during the week. Angie realized the power and impact of social media early and uses that expertise in her reports.

As an Army brat, Goff spent her childhood living both in the U.S. and South Korea, but she calls Northern Virginia home. She graduated from Herndon High School and attended college at George Mason University.

Prior to joining NBC4, Goff spent several years as a multi-media journalist at WUSA in Washington. She also anchored and reported for WIS-TV in Columbia, SC where she won an Emmy. Other stops in her career include KMEG-TV in Sioux City, Iowa, and Entertainment Tonight.

Goff’s reporting has taken her from the Iowa Caucuses to hurricane coverage along the East Coast.

Goff’s use of crowd sourcing and viewer-generated content has been a driving force behind her popular blog, OhMyGoff.tv. She is often asked to speak on panels about how social media is changing news. (Please check out her Twitter and Facebook accounts.)

She’s also involved with many community organizations including the Yellow Ribbon Fund and the Susan G. Komen Foundation. In recent years, Washington Life magazine named Goff one of the most influential Washingtonians under 40.

During her off time, the new mom stays busy but hopes to train for another marathon soon. Goff lives in Northern Virginia.

Katie Harbath 

Katie Harbath is the Associate Manager for Policy at Facebook, where she focuses on political outreach. Prior to Facebook, Katie was the Chief Digital Strategist at the National Republican Senatorial Committee. She previously led digital strategy in positions at DCI Group, the Rudy Giuliani for President campaign and the Republican National Committee. Katie holds a BA in journalism and political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Danny Harris

Danny Harris, a “modern-day Studs Terkel” according to the Washington Post, is the editor of People’s District, a website dedicated to raising Washington, D.C.’s interest in itself and its people through storytelling. His work has been covered by, among others, The New York Times, NPR, NBC, Baltimore Examiner, and DCist.com. Harris also builds story-based marketing and advocacy campaigns for clients ranging from the D.C. Mayor’s office to Business Improvement Districts to social service organizations. A native of New York, he holds a B.A. from Connecticut College and an M.P.A. from Princeton University. 

Alli Houseworth

Alli Houseworth is a social media consultant for the arts. Prior to venturing out on her own, she was the Communications and Audience Development Director at theatreWashington where she executed the rebranding of the 27 year-old company (formerly known as The Helen Hayes Awards), was the Director of Marketing and Communications at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and founded the New York-based TKTS Patron Service Representatives Program—a customer-service program whose mission it is to provide a positive theatre-going experience for those in line to buy tickets.

Named one of the “Top 100 Theatre Tweeters You Must Follow” by BroadwayWorld.com in 2010 & 2011, Alli has spoken on the topic of social media for Theatre Communications Group, the International Special Events Society, ArtsReach, March of Dimes, the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, and served as a live-tweeter at From Scarcity to Abundance: Capturing the Moment for the New Work Sector at Arena Stage. Alli has guest lectured at Barnard University, the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and American University, and is on the faculty of the MFA Theatre Management and Producing program at Columbia University where she teaches Audience Engagement: In Line and Online.

Alexander B. Howard

Alexander B. Howard is the Washington Correspondent for O’Reilly Media, where he focuses on the intersection of government, citizens and the Internet, sharing the voices, technologies and issues that matter in that space. In addition to the O’Reilly Radar, he has contributed to the National Journal, Forbes, the Huffington Post, Govfresh, ReadWriteWeb, Mashable, CBS News’ What’s Trending, Govloop, Governing People, the Association for Computer Manufacturing and the Atlantic Monthly, amongst others. Quite a few people know him as “@digiphile” from his use of Twitter.

Howard is a frequent speaker and moderater at O’Reilly Media conferences and many other events in Washington and beyond, including the Web 2.0 Summit and Expo, Club de Madrid, National Archives, DC Week, SXSWi, Strata, GOSCON, AMP Summit, Tech@State, Club de Madrid, the Poynter Institute, AAAS, Social Security, NIST, the Cato Institute, and the State of the Net. He is a native of upstate New York and graduate of Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Currently, he lives in Capitol Hill with his wife, greyhound and a growing number of pots, pans and houseplants.

Katherine Kennedy 

With a life-long passion for philanthropy, Katherine found a home as a principal at Availor Partners social impact fund & on the board of Availor Philanthropy. Growing up in Silicon Valley, after high school graduation in 2002, Katherine attended Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles where she completed her studies in Political Science & Business along with enjoying the opportunity to study Comparative Politics & Literature at Oxford University’s Queens College. Upon graduating LMU in 2005, Ms. Kennedy moved to D.C. to complete her Master’s Degree in Communication, Culture, and Technology at Georgetown University. While taking a unique career trajectory to the intersection of media and philanthropy with a show on MTV International, Kennedy studied Non-Profit Management in 2008, earning a certificate at Duke University. Today, Katherine acts as the spokesperson for the Prevent Cancer Foundation’s “Save Your Skin Campaign” while chairing their 5k and works with numerous charities around the DC area. She has also been recently honored by Rosewood Group, The Washington Center, and Apex Society’s “30 under 30″ but finds the most reward from racing in charity runs for numerous causes around DC. In 2011, Katherine was named as one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Shapers and to the Vanguard forum.

Rachael King

Social Media Account Executive, iostudio.

Rachael King is a social media strategist, community manager, and Gen Y blogger. She is currently traveling the country, speaking to and teaching the 54 states and territories of the National Guard how to use social media as a marketing and recruitment tool. She is President of Social Media Club – DC, Event Manager for a digital community of 18,000+ called 20 Something Bloggers, and a co-organizer of the annual meet up Bloggers in Sin City. She unabashedly adores karaoke and french fries of all shapes and sizes, and would love to get a drink while snarkily people watching with you.

Gwynne Kostin

Gwynne Kostin is working with federal agencies to build a citizen-centric path for mobile access to government as Director of Mobile in the Office of Citizen Services & Innovative Technologies at the U.S. General Services Administration. 

Gwynne previously directed GSA’s Center for New Media and Citizen Engagement, where she worked to make it easier for government to engage with citizens and citizens to engage with government through the development of cross agency tools, policies and services. She launched the government’s free, policy-compliant “build-a-blog” platform apps.gov NOW and the contest platform challenge.gov.

As Director of New Media for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, she drove the use of new technologies to solve business problems by creating the department’s first social media strategy, developing cross-agency web communications for disaster response, and leading new media communications and strategy for the department’s 22 agencies.

Prior to joining public service, she spent ten years in new technologies, including founding a game-changing Internet startup in an association and leading strategic Web communications in health care and education.She grew up near Detroit and spent her undergraduate years at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She’s only lived in D.C.for 25 years, but her two amazing sons are born and bred residents of northeast D.C. Gwynne enjoys talking to interesting people and figuring out how things work. 

Raina Kumra

Raina Kumra, Director of Innovation at the BBG, along with Robert Bole are taking the federal agency responsible for international media and updating its content, access and distribution for the digital age. The new leadership team will help advance the BBG’s mission to reach global audiences, collaborating with BBG Networks: the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio and TV Marti, Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks. The new team will focus on public-private partnerships, and innovate across content, access and distribution for the BBG.

Raina most recently served as Senior New Media Advisor in the State Department’s Office of eDiplomacy, Diplomatic Innovation Division. She is the founder and CEO of The Agency for Holistic Branding, a strategic design firm who’s mission is to create work that improves people’s lives by creating cross-cultural impact. She founded Light Up Malawi, a non-profit focused on renewable energy in Africa. She serves on the Advisory Boards for MedicMobile, (open source mobile health), SMS:Credit (open source micro-finance tools), EpidemIQ (open data for health) and Sanjhi (media literacy for Indian youth). Previously, Raina led the conversion of Wieden+Kennedy New York to a full-service digital agency in her role as Director of Digital Strategies.

Raina has worked with Microsoft, Burberry, Nike, Nokia, Levi’s, Unilever, Nestle, Avaya, IBM, Intel, Cantor Fitzgerald, Johnnie Walker, Match.com, ING Direct, ONE.org, Mentos, JWT, ABC Family, EA, ESPN, Brand Jordan, and several others blue-chip brands.

Raina engages across multiple disciplines: creative through planning, and acts as a catalyst for digital learning internally while providing clients with non-traditional approaches to branding.

Raina holds a B.S. in Film and Television production from Boston University, an M.A. in Interactive Telecommunications from NYU’s ITP program and an M.Des.S. in Design Studies for Digital Applications in Urban Planning and Architecture from Harvard University. Her work has been published in several journals and is part of the MoMA permanent collection.

Rachelle Lacroix

Rachelle Lacroix is a Vice President at Fleishman Hillard Washington, D.C, leading a number of digital communications programs for the firm’s global digital group. She enjoys the challenge of helping clients meet their goals through the convergence of social media and PR, marketing and creative. Rachelle regularly shares her experience through various speaking engagements and when unplugged pursues her interests in the arts.

Peter LaMotte

Peter LaMotte is President of GeniusRocket a creative agency in Washington DC. Peter was first hired by GeniusRocket to run their marketing department, but eventually became President of the company at which point he changed the business model from a crowdsourcing company running video and design contests, to a creative agency powered by a vetted professional community. GeniusRocket now produces national television and online ads based upon crowdsourced concepts for brands such as Kraft, Sylvan Learning, Purina, and others. Peter came to GeniusRocket from Corporate Executive Board where he was with the Marketing Leadership Council and Customer Contact Council. He has worked in the sales and marketing divisions of IBM, Apple, and Intrepid Aviation. He holds a B.A. in International Business from Rhodes College and a MBA from Vanderbilt University.  Peter often speaks on the topic of Crowdsourcing and how it is effecting the future of advertising and creativity.

Alexis Levine

Alexis Levine founded Savvy Media – a marketing and advertising agency that focuses on the newest trends in emerging media. By staying current with the latest in technology, social media, digital marketing, advertising and traditional media, Savvy Media plans integrated-results, driven campaigns that are efficient and cost effective. Savvy Media’s goal is to help clients “spend less smarter” utilizing the newest tools in emerging technology.

Prior to jumping into the Entrepreneurship world, Alexis worked at Clear Channel Communications and CBS Radio and Digital. In addition to her creative passion and dedication to her clients, Alexis also finds time to give back to the community serving as a board member with Dreams For Kids. DFK is currently working on a holiday event, which will bring Christmas to over 700 homeless and underprivileged kids in Washington DC.

Alexis embraces the notion the notion of “work is life” – partnering with over 50 game changers in the new media space to create strategic teams of marketing dominance. Alexis calls Washington DC “home base”, if not there you will find Alexis in New York, Los Angeles or a warm climate with a nice beach town!

Svetlana Legetic

Svetlana Legetic was born at the very beginning of the 80s in Novi Sad, (then) Yugoslavia. She has been educated in (now) Serbia, England and finally, Savannah, Georgia where she got her Masters Degree in Architecture in 2003. She soon after moved to DC, worked in urban revitalization and hospitality design projects and in 2006 realized her myspace blog, mainly containing photos and things to do in DC, was too popular for it’s own (private) good so she took the site public.

That site is now www.BrightestYoungThings.com, the biggest independently owned cultural website and event planning organization in DC, with 80+ contributors, 100,000 individual readers a month and a daily series of articles dedicated to all things good in the nation’s capital. NY Times, right around Christmas 2010, called it: “…a Web-site-turned-events-organizing juggernaut that has become the locus of Washington’s new-cool art and music scene.” She likes her life. A lot.

Geoff Livingston

Geoff Livingston is an author and marketing strategist. Cited by the Washington Post for his blogging skills, Geoff’s new book, Welcome to the Fifth Estate, was released on May 31, 2011. He is currently working on his third book, tentatively scheduled for release in May, 2012.

Steve Lunceford

Mr. Lunceford is Senior Manager for Deloitte Services, LP, specializing in strategic communications using both traditional channels and online media. He has 20 years experience in media relations and corporate communications (10 years in the public sector), working with key international, U.S., local and trade media while supporting Fortune 100 firms. He has broad-based expertise in corporate positioning and raising awareness for brands, products and services; from public sector projects to wireless, broadband to enterprise IT, as well as entertainment, hospitality and travel industry experience. Mr. Lunceford is also an expert in crisis communications planning and execution, has become a leading voice in the “Government 2.0” and Open Government movements.

Elaine Mensah

Elaine Mensah is a leading contributor to the fashion industry in Washington, DC. She has a unique blend of public relations, marketing, communications, technology, and entrepreneurial experience and has worked for numerous fashion insiders and corporate institutions including New York design houses Cynthia Rowley and Thuy; The Fashion Group International, Deloitte Consulting, LLC, BearingPoint, Unisys, US Small Business Administration; and stints at the National Geographic Society, and NBC Dateline.  As Creator/Host of online fashion radio show Fashion BS and SVELTE TV, Elaine has interviewed some of the industry’s biggest names  including Jason Wu, Lela Rose, Fern Mallis, Nigel Barker, Phillip Bloch, Ted Gibson, Joe Zee, Denise Richards, Bethenny Frankel just to name a few. 

From 2007-2010, Elaine served as the Fashion Director & Vice-President of Production for nonprofit Fashion Fights Poverty, which under her production, has been named Washington’s Top Fashion & Beauty Events by Biz Bash Magazine two years in a row (2008 & 2009). Currently, Elaine is the Founder of SVELTE, LLC and is also serving as Publicity Chair for The Fashion Group International of Greater Washington, DC.  She has a Law and Society degree from American University and a Masters in Communication, Culture and Technology from Georgetown University.

Annalisa Meyer

Annalisa Meyer brings a passion for the local arts scene and a diverse background in strategic communications, stakeholder outreach and marketing specific to arts, cultural and education institutions to Artisphere, a new model for urban arts centers located in Arlington, VA. Prior to joining the Artisphere team, Annalisa was with Fleishman-Hillard International Communications supporting clients ranging from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and National Museum of African American History, Ford’s Theatre Society, D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities and Artomatic to the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Exclusive Resorts and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Annalisa’s background also includes publicity and marketing for the Folger Shakespeare Library and the Studio Theatre. She earned a B.A. in visual media from American University and studied at the FAMU Academy for Film, Television and the Performing Arts in Prague, Czech Republic. 

Shavanna Miller

Shavanna Miller is the Social Media Manager at Rosetta Stone, where she oversees US social initiatives and growth of global social communities totaling nearly 1 million members. She previously worked at community organizing startup Meetup.com as well as in publishing at Travel + Leisure Magazine and TeenVogue.com.  Shavanna has been interviewed by PBS, ABC, and appeared on MSNBC for her role as Co-Creator of the site whatthef***hasobamadonesofar.com. She graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University and holds a Masters in Media and Communications from the London School of Economics.

Robert Michael Murray

Robert Michael Murray is vice president, social media, for the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C. As one of the first social media executives for a global media company, he is responsible for harnessing social technologies across the Society’s various media platforms and non-profit efforts.

For nearly two decades Murray has been a senior strategist focused on communications, emerging technologies and live-event production in the commercial, nonprofit, political and higher education sectors. His work has garnered national and international media coverage; outlets include BBC, CNN, C-SPAN, The Washington Post, The New York Times and others.

In April 2011 Folio Magazine named Murray to its 2011 Folio 40 list along with Arianna Huffington, Mashable’s Pete Cashmore, Apple, The New York Times and others. The list recognizes the “most distinguished magazine and media professionals from every corner of our industry.” In recognizing Murray, Folio wrote: “In 19 months Robert Michael Murray has turned National Geographic [NG] into a social media powerhouse, a behemoth to be envied by publications around the world. In that short time Murray brought millions of fans to NG’s Facebook page, without ads or paid acquisition, while transforming the brand every step of the way.” National Geographic’s social media footprint now has 10 million fans and followers from around the globe.

In addition to his position at National Geographic, Murray is an adjunct professor in public relations and corporate communications at Georgetown University, where he teaches courses on digital storytelling and social media. He lectures on topics ranging from: pervasive to persuasive technologies; the power and limitations of media; digital and transmedia storytelling; and the varied ways in which social/emerging technologies intersect with culture, society and human rights. Murray also serves as senior associate with Georgetown University’s Institute for Law, Science and Global Security.

Before joining National Geographic in August 2009, Murray was director of digital media communications and strategy at Georgetown University, responsible for institutional uses of digital media and emerging technologies for internal and external communications.

Prior to joining Georgetown, he served in a number of communications and technology positions, including as webmaster for the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles in 2000.

Vijay Ravindran

Vijay Ravindran joined The Washington Post Company as senior vice president and chief digital officer in February 2009. In his role, Ravindran focuses on digital news product development. Ravindran founded and leads WaPo Labs, which develops experimental news products, including the personalized news aggregation site Trove. Ravindran also serves in various leadership roles at SocialCode (the leading Facebook-dedicated advertising agency), The Washington Post’s online initiatives, Slate, Avenue100 Solutions (a leading analytics-based performance marketing company), and Ongo (a Company investment).

Previously, as chief technology officer of Catalist LLC, a start-up political technology company that built a national voter database and data mining tools for political campaigns, Ravindran led all the technology aspects of developing the company’s software products. He joined Catalist at its inception in late 2005. During the 2008 election cycle, Catalist clients included the Obama for America and Hillary Clinton presidential campaigns.

Prior to Catalist, Ravindran was a technology director at Amazon.com. From 2003 to 2005, he led the ordering services group; the department was responsible for consumer purchasing on all Amazon properties. This included the product development and operations for “Shopping Cart,” “Checkout,” “1-Click” and “Your Account,” as well as the initial creation and management of “Amazon Prime.” From 2001 to 2003, he built and led the teams that owned the core order-processing and identity services for Amazon and its partners. Ravindran joined Amazon in 1998 as a software engineer. Prior to Amazon, Ravindran was a software developer at American Management Systems in Fairfax, VA, and Dusseldorf, Germany.

Ravindran graduated from the University of Virginia with a BS in systems engineering. He is a member of the board of directors of the Alliance for Excellent Education.

Jim Rosenberg 

Jim Rosenberg is the Head of Social Media at the World Bank, where he oversees global social media efforts, including crisis response, campaigns, standards, and capacity building.  Owned by 187 member countries, the World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries for investments in education, health, public administration, infrastructure, financial and private sector development, agriculture and environmental and natural resource management.

Previously, Jim managed outreach for a global mobile phone banking program housed at the World Bank and supported by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In this role he facilitated a culture of external engagement through media relations, blogging, social networking, and live events. He managed the team’s role in the GSMA Mobile Money Summits in 2008 (Cairo), 2009 (Barcelona) and 2010 (Rio de Janeiro), as well as at the Clinton Global Initiative (2008).  He first joined the World Bank in 2004 as the Multimedia Editor for the South Asia region.

Jim has nearly eight years of experience as a radio journalist. He has been a producer for Bob Edwards at XM Satellite Radio, and for four years was a local radio reporter at NPR affiliate WAMU-FM where he
covered business and technology. Jim was also the lead reporter for WAMU’s coverage of Sept. 11th, and its aftermath at the Pentagon. He contributed stories frequently to Marketplace, the public radio business program of record in the United States. His work was recognized with two New York Festivals Bronze WorldMedals, as well as a regional Associated Press award. Before joining WAMU, Jim was the radio producer for the Washington bureau of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Jim holds a master’s in Journalism with a focus on new media and broadcasting from Columbia University in New York, where he today serves as a member of the Alumni Board.

Nicholas Skytland

Nicholas Skytland is a NASA engineer, designer, and entrepreneur. As Director of NASA’s Open Government Initiative, he has a passion for engaging all generations in the adventure of space exploration and is continually working to help NASA embrace new technologies, increase public participation and innovate on how the Agency does business.

Combining elements of space exploration, science, technology, visual art and storytelling, Skytland is well known for many of his presentations promoting NASA, the human space program, participatory exploration and the Open Government initiative.  Skytland has spoken to numerous audiences, including the Pentagon, the United Nations, Disney Imagineering and venues around the nation about NASA and the excitement of exploration and discovery.  He is also co-creator of Open NASA, a collaborative experiment in open, transparent and direct communication about the American space program.

Skytland has worked at NASA for 10 years and currently leads the NASA Open Government Initiative.  Prior to this worked as a project manager in NASA’s Human Research Program, planning future exploration missions, designing the next generation space suits, and developing an open-source computational model to simulate human response to spaceflight.  He has also worked in the Strategic Partnerships Office encouraging new partnerships and collaboration with industry, academia and other governments. Skytland started his career at NASA training astronauts for spaceflight missions in NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory.

In 2004, Skytland worked for the X PRIZE Foundation and was instrumental in the planning of the first privately funded, manned space launch of SpaceShipOne in the Mojave Desert.  He has also worked in the space tourism industry at Zero G Corporation and coached people to experience the excitement of weightlessness during parabolic flight.  Skytland also runs his own new media consulting company and has worked on a number of interesting projects, including co-founding SpaceAlumni.com – the first online network connecting leaders in the space industry.

Skytland holds a bachelor’s degree from Valparaiso University in mechanical engineering, a master’s degree from the International Space University in Space Studies and a MBA from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business.

Sarah Taylor Sulick

As the voice of the Smithsonian’s Twitter and Facebook, Sarah engages followers in the happenings of the world’s largest museum and research complex.  A member of the Smithsonian’s Office of Public Affairs, Sarah helps coordinate the nearly 300 social media accounts across the 19 museums, 9 research centers and the National Zoo that make up the Institution. She also helped build the Smithsonian’s first mobile app for visitors, develop the Institution’s first social media policy and leads the Institution’s social media working group. Before joining the Office of Public Affairs,  Sarah spent 7 years as a publicist for the National Zoo where she spearheaded their new media initiatives when she wasn’t at the beck and call of the superstar pandas. Her favorite part of the Smithsonian is the National Worm Collection. Don’t believe her? Check out the behind the scenes twitter tour before your judge.

Scott Talan

Scott Talan, MPA, is a full-time professor of in American University;’s School of Communication. He has worked in media, PR, and communications in four distinct fields: TV News, Politics, Nonprofits and Higher Education. Scott worked at the United Nations, Harvard University and the New Mexico Legislature. He recently served as the Dir of Communications for the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs.

Talan has worked as a writer at ABC News Good Morning America. He’s also reported on-air for local TV news stations in several states (Florida, New Mexico, California) covering politics including the 2000 presidential recount story.

Before news, Talan was as an elected city council member and Mayor of Lafayette, California. His first career was in nonprofit communications working for the March of Dimes. 

Talan received his Master in Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, studied broadcast journalism at Stanford after getting his BA from the University of California at Davis. 

Prior to joining American University Scott was an adjunct faculty member at George Washington and Johns Hopkins. At American Talan teaches media, PR, writing and social media classes.

Degrees

• Harvard-Master of Public Administration
• Stanford-Broadcast Journalism Certificate
• University of California Davis-Bachelors of Arts

Maxine Teller

Maxine Teller is a seasoned business strategist who improves organizations’ efficiency and effectiveness by building communities, fostering collaboration, and employing social networking principles and digital technologies. She is adept at fostering relationships, negotiating partnerships, forging alliances, and launching new ventures to advance core objectives. Well-versed in the policy, cultural, organizational and technology challenges of both public and private sector organizations; Maxine serves as a respected adviser to senior leaders. Throughout her career, she has proven success developing new revenue opportunities and distribution channels from inception through implementation.

Chloë Troia

Chloë is a senior studying marketing at American University and the President of the AU Social Media Club. Originally from Rhode Island, Chloë has worked in Washington, DC and Manhattan gaining valuable experience in advertising, fashion marketing, event planning, and sales. She spent her summer interning with Ogilvy in account management and hopes to pursue a career in advertising working on digital strategy and creating branded content. Besides social media, her hobbies include running, hot yoga, and quoting Judd Apatow movies.

Merici Vinton

Merici Vinton is a digital government meets open data type. As an MBA grad with a passion for change management, she sees  technology as a means to solving problems — not an end to itself. After working on the Obama New Media team, Merici moved to DC because she wanted to help bridge the gap between government and people – and figured websites and citizen-centric technology was a great place to start (nothing like picking an easy battle, eh?).Most recently, Merici built the web team for the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and led the successful and praised launch of consumerfinance.gov.She lives in Logan Circle with her fiancee, Dominic, and two cats, Jeffrey and Jeffrey.