The Legends of Impact17
We've gone to great lengths to curate the best content dynamos and bring you the most relevant thought leadership topics anywhere. Your experience will propel your organization's growth and continued success.
Aaron Hillegass
Founder, Big Nerd Ranch
Aaron Hillegass started his career doing research for the US Navy at The Mitre Corporation’s Advanced Signal Processing Lab. He was part of the most important merger of our lifetime: Aaron was working at NeXT when it was purchased by Apple. He left Apple to create Big Nerd Ranch, a training and consulting firm that specializes in mobile and other emerging technologies. Big Nerd Ranch clients include Facebook, Google, Amazon, and LinkedIn. Aaron is the author of three popular books on software development including “iOS Development: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide”.
Aaron Hillegass
Founder, Big Nerd Ranch
Marketing Technologies and Modern Day Tools Panel

Adam Hua
VP of PartnershipsAdam Hua
VP of Partnerships, CitizenNet, A Condé Nast Company
Adam Hua is the VP of Partnerships at CitizenNet, a Condé Nast company. CitizenNet specializes in prediction technology for social media advertising in Los Angeles, CA. Adam conceptualizes and brings new solutions and products to market while fostering partnerships and business development. He has 15 years of digital and social advertising experience. Previously, Adam held senior executive roles at Adaptly, Compass Labs, and Marchex and been a part of two exits in the startup space. He is also the co-founder of Discovered, an entertainment marketplace, and an advisor to The Joint Chiropractic (Rosemead, Hoboken Franchisee), Magnitude Digital and HeroLA.
Adam Hua
VP of Partnerships, CitizenNet, A Condé Nast Company
Marketing and Technologies and Modern Day Tools Panel
Succeeding in Branded Content and Influencer Marketing with Paid Social
Succeeding in Branded Content and Influencer Marketing with Paid Social
The reality is simple. Users are consuming branded content at a high rate, and advertisers are jumping on the bandwagon to produce more content. Over the past year, there has been a surge of interest, solutions and software designed to improve the quality, performance and measurement of branded/influencer content. In fact, Facebook estimates that branded content has the potential to service a $23-billion addressable market.But why the hype? Advertisers publishing branded content can expect up to a 30% improvement on engagement metrics, creating a huge revenue opportunity. However, not all roads lead to success. An estimated 93% of celebrity endorsements violate FTC guidelines. In addition, organic reach declines by as much as 91% for branded content when published without paid media support on Facebook. The cost to service and grow this new revenue channel can be expensive.
As a result, there is a perception that marketers and publishers will resort to pay-to-play strategies for ensuring distribution of their content. Media buys alone are not enough to support these new publisher/creator business models. Top performance is achieved when coupling branded content with data-backed services and customized software solutions. CitizenNet observed a 285% lift in reach, 2x in publisher revenue margins, and performance up to 3x better than regular branded creative.
Akbar Jaffer
Chief Marketing Officer, ZorroSign, Inc.
Akbar Jaffer specializes in growth strategies combining his expertise in product marketing, commercialization, brand management and marketing technology. Akbar advises senior executives on implementing cutting-edge sales and marketing technologies, streamlining sales and marketing operations, optimizing business processes, and enhancing revenue engineering. He has worked with organizations such as Oracle, Bed Bath & Beyond, Olympus, UPS, Charles Schwab, HP and more as well as entrepreneurs and startups in both B2B and B2C. Currently, Akbar serves as Chief Marketing Officer of ZorroSign, Inc., an advanced digital transaction management (DTM) platform company that helps organizations bring about digital transformation using bank-grade security around electronic signatures, content automation, workflows and document management. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics & Computer Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, and has completed advanced studies in Internet marketing and social media strategies from the University of California, Irvine. Akbar authors PointOfIntersection.org, a blog about innovation.
Akbar Jaffer
Chief Marketing Officer, ZorroSign, Inc.
CMO Rockstars Panel
CMO Rockstars Panel

Alma Derricks
Chief Marketing OfficerAlma Derricks
Chief Marketing Officer, El Rey Network
An accomplished customer, media and market strategist with over 20 years of experience developing and launching innovative new businesses and brand extensions, Alma Derricks joined El Rey as Chief Marketing Officer in 2017 where she is responsible for driving corporate strategy, branding, business development and new ventures for filmmaker Robert Rodriguez’s network, studio and digital content businesses. Drawing on a unique combination of media and entertainment, professional services, and consumer products experience, she has launched multiple-medium brand extensions for a range of internationally acclaimed franchises including Star Trek, Entertainment Tonight, Peanuts and Dilbert and held a series of consultative and senior management positions at HBO, Paramount, Blue Man Group, Verizon, NBCU, Deloitte Consulting and most recently Cirque du Soleil where she ran global sales and marketing for a portfolio of eight resident shows in Las Vegas and Orlando. Alma is an IMA board member and a founding member of the Women’s Leadership Group.
Alma Derricks
Chief Marketing Officer, El Rey Network
Women Innovators Panel
Andrea Ward
Chief Marketing Officer, Magento
Andrea Ward is a marketing veteran with over 20 years in growing and leading high performing global marketing teams. Andrea joined Magento from Oracle, where she served most recently as Global Vice President of Marketing for Oracle Marketing Cloud. In this role, Andrea was responsible for the global launch, messaging, and demand strategy for Oracle Marketing Cloud, and was instrumental in driving the category creation and leadership for Oracle in the marketing technology space. Prior to joining Oracle, Andrea held a number of marketing leadership and financial management positions at high-technology and pharmaceutical companies. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and an MBA from Santa Clara University.
Andrea Ward
Chief Marketing Officer, Magento
Data-Driven Marketing: Hype vs. Reality
and What’s Coming Next (Connecting Data to What Matters Most, the Bottom Line)
Data-Driven Marketing: Hype vs. Reality and What's Coming Next (Connecting Data to What Matters Most, the Bottom Line)
While this has left business operators with mountains of new data, the ability to connect this data to drive differentiated experiences and business outcomes can still seem like a pipedream. In this talk, Andrea Ward will explore tactics and case studies for how modern marketers are using this newfound wealth of data to their advantage, including a discussion of how new tools like AI, Chatbots, and even Virtual Reality are coming into the fold.Aya Zook
Chief Business Development Officer, DefinedCrowd
Aya Zook is Chief Business Development Officer at DefinedCrowd, responsible for managing sales and marketing. Prior to DefinedCrowd, he spent 10 years at Microsoft in various senior roles from product management in MSN, Windows Live and Bing to managing marketing teams and media partnerships at Bing Fund, Microsoft Ventures and Accelerator. Before joining Microsoft, Aya worked for an interactive agency as a designer and a project manager. He sits on the International Executive Council of the Internet Marketing Association (IMA) and serves as an advisor to Hing Hay Coworks. He graduated from the University of Washington where he studied philosophy.
Aya Zook
Chief Business Development Officer, DefinedCrowd
IMPACT17 Startup Pitches
Innovation is at the heart of IMPACT 17 and engine of emerging ideas in tech and business is almost exclusively being driven by startups.
IMPACT17 Startup Pitches
At this 4th annual pitch off, a handful of disruptive startups will present on stage to compete for social glory (priceless!) and $25,000 equivalent in PR work from a top agency. Judges include industry veterans from the likes of Microsoft, SVB, and successful founders.Justin Andresen
Head of Sales, Drips
Conversations Matter
The on-demand economy has evolved the consumer to expect what they want when they want it. Beyond immediacy and access, the on-demand economy has to evolve to respect consumers’ time.
Conversations Matter
The on-demand economy has evolved the consumer to expect what they want when they want it. Beyond immediacy and access, the on-demand economy has to evolve to respect consumers’ time. And companies have to evolve toward better interactions and more authentic communications. Big companies and brands need to act small. They have to put the power in the consumer’s hands. And for brands, technology is key in scaling communications. However, technology alone won’t win. Conversation campaigns need to be carefully designed. They need to be consistently tested and modified. As humans our conversations are natural, consider the elements and the senses. While data is abundant and can continue to inform the design, consumers expect more.Bruce Hensel
Chief Medical Health and Science Editor, NBC TV Network; Chief Medical Officer, Cloudbreak
Emmy-winning journalist and broadcaster Dr. Bruce Hensel has heartfelt feelings about our healthcare system and a dynamic approach to medicine. Throughout a 30-year career, millions have benefited from his stories on breakthrough advances and cutting edge treatments. As NBCTV’s Chief Health, Medical and Science Producer, Anchor and Correspondent, Dr. Hensel turned “doctorese” into plain English to make complex and confusing medical jargon understandable. In this high tech world that has never been more important. Which is why Dr Bruce is now CMO of Cloudbreak Health a leading Telehealth company. He has won 13 Emmys and two Golden Mikes for his work, has had a nationally syndicated radio show and has produced three award winning documentaries for Showtime
Hevis the author of the book, “Smart Medicine: How to Prevent Medical Mistakes and Get the Most Out of Your Medical Care.” He was Chief Content Writer, Chief Medical Officer and Chairman of the Medical Advisory Board for drkoop.com and a founding member of the Bioethics Committee for Privacy Protection on the Internet. es.
He has also received the Communicator of the Year Award from the Publicist Association and top reporting prizes from the American Aesthetic Society, American Heart Association (four times), American Diabetes Association, and California Medical Association. He was Chairman of the American Red Cross Medical Advisory Committee and also served on the Board of Directors of the American Heart Association. He currently serves as Regional Director for Emergent Medical Associates which owns 16 emergency rooms and is a Full Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCLA boarded in two medical specialties
Bruce Hensel
Chief Medical Health & Science Editor, NBC TV Network; Chief Medical Officer, Cloudbreak
Telehealth

Cammie Croft
Chief Community Officer & Managing DirectorCammie Croft
Chief Community Officer & Managing Director, FWD.us
Cammie Croft is the Chief Community Officer and Managing Director of FWD.us’ flagship office in San Francisco where she leads the technology, creative, audience, and partnerships teams. She is a nationally recognized and award-winning political technologist whose work spans the White House, Amnesty International, Khan Academy, the Guardian, and the 2008 Obama Campaign.
Prior to joining FWD.us, Cammie served as the Deputy Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, where she advised on integrated digital, communications, and marketing strategies for human rights advocacy campaigns building their first-ever Digital and Strategic Communications Department.
For the first term of the Obama Administration, Cammie leveraged technology and digital tools to transform the way government interacts with the public. During her tenure, she served as Sr. Advisor and Director of Digital Strategy and Communication at the U.S. Department of Energy where she established the first Office of Digital Strategy and transformed the Department’s online presence into an award-winning program. Cammie also served as the Deputy Director of New Media at the White House where she played a pivotal role in creating and shaping the White House’s first New Media department. Cammie came to the White House from the 2008 Presidential Campaign after serving as the New Media Rapid Response Director for Obama for America.
Cammie resides in Oakland with her husband, son, and two ungrateful cats, Sam and Max.
Cammie Croft
Chief Community Officer & Managing Director, FWD.us
Immigration Reform

Claudio Ludovisi
VP, Head of Strategy and Business PlanningClaudio Ludovisi
VP, Head of Strategy and Business Planning, ABC Entertainment, Disney ABC Television Group
Claudio Ludovisi is the Head of Strategy and Business Planning for ABC Entertainment, where he reports to the President of ABC Network and works with senior leaders across the Disney ABC Television Group.
With over 20 years expertise in strategy, general management and marketing, Claudio has held both direct P&L management and senior staff roles in world-class entertainment and consumer products companies. He is passionate about building new, brand-driven businesses and leading teams to extraordinary results in our “accelerating, digital, purpose-driven” world.
Prior to ABC, Claudio held several senior executive roles. He was SVP of Operational Strategy at NBC Entertainment Marketing & Digital, responsible for operational efficiency across all online and offline platforms. Before that, he was VP of operations for IMAX Filmed Entertainment, VP of Business Development for Corporate Marketing at Warner Bros. Studios and head of Warner Bros. Consumer Products Licensing in Latin America. Claudio also worked for Booz Allen & Hamilton strategic management consulting in the Media and Technology practice. His career began at Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising where he managed advertising campaigns for key Procter and Gamble brands in both the US and Europe.
Claudio holds an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a BA in Economics from UCLA, and speaks four languages. He guest lectures on various topics at Kellogg, USC’s Annenberg School of Communications, and UCLA’s Anderson Graduate School of Business.
Claudio Ludovisi
VP, Head of Strategy & Business Planning, ABC Entertainment, Disney ABC Television Group
Who are your biggest fans?
Identifying, reaching and empowering them can make all the difference in marketing your brand to success.
Dr. Stephane Muller
Business Programs Department Director, University of California Irvine
Stephane Antoine Muller is a longtime believer in online continuing education since he completed a Doctorate of Education from Universite du Maine (France) in 2006. As an educator, he taught French in eight countries at prestigious institutions such as Cambridge University, United World College of Canada and National University of Singapore. He has been teaching French online with UCLA Extension since 2008 and became the Director for the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences in 2012. Dr. Muller received the 2014 Annual Staff Honors Award for Leadership in appreciation of his contributions to the UCLA community. He is currently the Director of the Business Programs Department at UC Irvine and has the Digital Marketing Certificate program as part of his portfolio. He utilizes a variety of Internet marketing strategies to promote his courses online.
Dr. Stephane Muller
Business Programs Department Director, University of California Irvine
Education Panel
Embracing Technology: (Re)Designing the 21st Century Course and Promoting It through Internet Marketing
Embracing Technology: (Re)Designing the 21st Century Course and Promoting it through Internet Marketing
We consulted our instructors at UCI about their needs to use online tools to share their knowledge and asked our students about their visions for a great online course. Both parties value a fully integrated learning platform with comprehensive content, thorough principles of learning, high-quality teaching and aligned assessment. We will present an overview of those four points and discuss how the use of the learning management system (LMS) has evolved over the last seven years, as part of an alternate course content delivery with synchronous and asynchronous contents. We will also talk about online assessment tools that had significant impacts on streamlining University Assessment requirements. Lastly, we will examine the use of Internet marketing to promote our courses, which led to higher student enrollment.Eric Lundbohm
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Enough Content
Eric Lundbohm is a recognized CMO with three decades of marketing and executive experience, including over 15 years of cybersecurity industry background. He is the founder of Enough Content, a B2B marketing consulting firm that delivers global marketing strategies and demand generation programs for rapidly growing technology companies. His background in cybersecurity has been shaped by running marketing for several security firms, including M86 Security, iSheriff and NSS Labs. Eric holds a Masters degree in Business Administration from The Ohio State University and a Bachelors in Management Information Systems from the University of Rhode Island.
Eric Lundbohm
CMO Lead, IMA
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Enough Content
Cybersecurity Basics for Marketing Departments
Marketing departments have a unique set of circumstances when it comes to keeping their world safe from cyber issues.
Cybersecurity Basics for Marketing Departments
Marketers tend to have many SaaS-based tools to do their work; CRM, Marketing Automation, and Social media tools. How then do marketing departments keep things safe? Eric Lundbohm, a long-time CMO in cyber-security companies, shares his thoughts and recommendations.Helen Norris
Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Chapman University
Helen Norris is the Chief Information Officer at Chapman University. She has almost 30 years’ experience working in IT leadership roles. Originally from Ireland, Helen earned a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, and a Master’s degree in Computer Resource Management and Business Administration from Webster University in St. Louis. She holds a project management certification (PMP) from Project Management International (pmi.org) and is a fellow of the Educause Leading Change Institute. She serves as a board member of the Southern California Society of Information Management (scsim.org) and a trustee of the National Endowment for Financial Education (nefe.org). Helen also previously served as the Director of the Sacramento Women in Technology International network (witi.com).
Helen Norris
Vice President & Chief Information Officer, Chapman University
Educational Panel
Frenemies: The Complex Relationship Between the CMO and CIO (with David May)
Frenemies: the complex relationship between the CMO and CIO (with David May)
We do this by coming together on projects around usability, accessibility and mobility, among other things. In this session, we’ll describe what we’ve accomplished together and more importantly, how we’ve accomplished it. |
Ian Kalin
Chief Data Officer, eHealth, Inc.
As Chief Data Officer for eHealth, Ian Kalin oversees all data services for the company, leads its data sciences practice and leverages business intelligence to improve operations. Before coming to eHealth, Ian was the U.S. Department of Commerce’s first Chief Data Officer. His data experience also includes roles as a Presidential Innovation Fellow for the Department of Energy, Director of Open Data for Socrata, Special Data Consultant for Google and Managing Director for Power Advocate. Ian started his career in the U.S. Navy where he served as a nuclear engineer and as a counter terrorism officer. He holds degrees from Georgetown University and Old Dominion University and was awarded the Robert Seamans Fellowship from the Harvard Kennedy School for leadership in technology and public policy.
Ian Kalin
Chief Data Officer,
eHealth, Inc.
MarTech and Global Customer Experience
Revolutionizing Healthcare with Data
Revolutionizing Healthcare with Data
Recent explosions in regulatory complexity and IT investments have opened up new opportunities to improve people’s lives and deliver new market solutions. eHealth, a pioneer in internet marketing, is building exciting new technologies to empower people to take control of their own healthcare. Recently, we have witnessed fantastic business improvements by deploying data science and big data platforms to connect with people on health issues and guiding them on how to save money. At eHealth, we believe that these data-driven technologies can revolutionize American healthcare.Isabelle Bart
Marketing & Communications Director, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
Isabelle Bart is the Marketing and Communications Director at the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN. In her current role, Isabelle oversees marketing, communications, creative and digital strategy efforts for AACN, which represents the interests of more than 500,000 acute and critical care nurses. Isabelle is currently leading her team in shaping the digital journey for this community of exceptional nurses. Her professional experience includes more than 15 years in healthcare and medical devices, working in business planning and marketing strategy for globally recognized companies such as Abbott and Advanced Medical Optics. Isabelle holds a Masters in Business Administration from ESSEC Business School in Paris. She also holds the CIM (Certified Internet Marketer) certification from the Internet Marketing Association. Isabelle serves on the Board of Directors of the Child Creativity Lab and has been involved in numerous non-profit events such as Team In Training and the 2015 Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles.
Isabelle Bart
Marketing & Communications Director, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
Women Innovators Panel

Johnathan McGowan
Chief Executive OfficerJason Garcia
Vice President, Silicon Valley Bank
Jason Garcia is a Vice President in SVB’s tech practice where he focuses on early and growth stage software and hardware companies in Utah. He is a portfolio manager for a $50MM venture debt portfolio and has contributed over $200MM in capital commitments. Before SVB, Jason worked in M&A investment banking for Goldman Sachs and public accounting for KPMG. He is passionate about helping startups understand the broader innovation economy, develop capital strategy, and form relationships with investors and partners.
Johnathan McGowan
Chief Executive Officer, TakeNote Global
Startup and Pitch Testimonial
Jason Neubauer
Chief Executive Officer & Founder, Santa Claus Affect
Jason Neubaur is one the top influencer marketing professionals in the world according to Forbes, Huff Post, Entrepreneur and others. He has built three multimillion-dollar businesses utilizing influencers for brand development. He has personal relationships with over 250 influencers and has collaborated with over 1,000 influencers and more than 30 brands to create authentic influencer content. Some of his top influencer campaigns include Helicopter Trampoline for Sprint with Jake Paul, Sprint’s LiveUnlimited campaign and The Santa Claus Affect. Jason is also Co-Founder of Sprint’s Millennial and GenZ division, “Candy Bar.” He started his first company with $31,695 won on Wheel of Fortune and five years later made a deal on Shark Tank for a company he founded with his best friend, Chris Stoikos. Jason is currently Founder and CEO of Santa Claus Affect and Co-Founder of Challenged, YouBetMe, Coolbox (as seen on Shark Tank) and 123Wish. Jason serves as an advisor to Dollar Beard Club and 15 other companies. He is a member of the Young Entrepreneurial Council, a board member of the non-profit Deedly, and a mentor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the seventh best entrepreneurship program in the country and an industry thought leader for IVY. Jason’s mission is to effect change around the world by shifting the way people view charitable acts with the motto, “your legacy is defined by how many people’s lives you’ve touched.”
Jason Neubauer
Chief Executive Officer & Founder, Santa Claus Affect
How Brands Win Gen Z With Content Marketing
Jay Symonds
Senior Account Executive, Amazon
Jay has more than 15 years of experience in marketing including advertising, media, brand development, interactive marketing and search engine optimization. Over the years, he has worked with some of the largest and most brand-focused organizations in the world including Target, Toyota, GM, Honda, Staples, CBS and Sony. Jay is currently a Senior Account Executive at Amazon, working in the Amazon Media Group, based in Seattle. Prior to his role at Amazon, he was a partner at 451 Marketing, a national award-winning firm specializing in PR, digital media, search marketing and social media. Early in his career, Jay helped create and launch some of the most dynamic and innovative web ad campaigns seen in the last decade, having the pleasure to work with personalities such as Tiger Woods, Lebron James and Eli Manning. With a unique blend of passion, enthusiasm and creativity, he enjoys working with a wide variety of companies from startups to Fortune 500 and all aspects of helping companies grow. Jay has stayed true to his desire to provide outstanding results for his clients. His goals are to continue to be the person that people know will deliver on his word and be a pleasure to work with. As he puts it, he wants his clients to be “raving fans.”
Jay Symonds
Senior Account Executive, Amazon
Amazon Innovations
Jeanniey Mullen
Global Chief Marketing Officer, Mercer
Over the past 20+ years, Jeanniey Mullen has worked with the world’s leading entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs inside client side businesses and agencies. She has focused on defining and growing results by creating powerful digitally-enhanced marketing programs, partnerships and distribution that strengthen brands and drive innovation. From startups to new divisions within Fortune 500 organizations, this work has delivered short-term results and helped create longer term gains with defensible, unique selling propositions (USP’s) that ensure competitive advantage, growth and a digital presence. Jeanniey is driven by the opportunity to inspire global brand advocacy by creating a compelling combination of innovative go-to-market strategies and growth-based, digitally driven, data-oriented marketing programs. Her unique combination of traditional and digital expertise enables her to effectively and creatively design and deploy initiatives that drive straight to the bottom line. Organizing multi-functional, powerful teams that hit the ground running to drive results that compound with collaboration is a fulfilling success she continues to enjoy. As a recognized mentor and advisor, Jeanniey continuously helps others excel as a frequent speaker, columnist and published author.
Jeanniey Mullen
Global Chief Marketing Officer, Mercer
CMO Rockstars
Jeff Hassemer
Chief Strategy Officer, Alterian
Jeff Hassemer is a global product marketing executive known for his thought leadership and notable product achievements in the areas of customer experience, marketing technology and advertising technology solutions. As CSO for Alterian, he oversees marketing and sales to effectively position and sell its Adaptive Customer Experience™ platform. His 20 years of experience in the industry and passion for teaching others make Jeff a strong and knowledgeable leader. In his spare time, Jeff can be found at one of his kids’ many sporting events. From ice hockey to fastpitch softball to golf, and more, he and his family love sports. In fact, he and his wife even have their own sporting goods franchise. Based in Denver, Jeff also loves spending time in the Colorado wilderness.
Jeff Hassemer
Chief Strategy Officer, Alterian
MarTech and Global Customer Experience Panel
John Costello
Corporate VP Business Development & Government Relations, Microsemi Corporation
Mr. Costello earned a degree in business from Loyola University in Los Angeles in 1983 and Management Development Program UC Irvine in 2005.
Mr. Costello is employed by Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC) a company offering a comprehensive portfolio of semiconductor and system solutions for communications, defense & security, aerospace and industrial markets. Products include high-performance and radiation-hardened analog mixed-signal integrated circuits, FPGAs, SoCs and ASICs; power management products; timing and synchronization devices and precise time solutions, setting the world’s standard for time; voice processing devices; RF solutions; discrete components; security technologies and scalable anti-tamper products; Power-over-Ethernet ICs and midspans; as well as custom design capabilities and services. Microsemi is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, Calif., and has approximately 4000 employees globally.
Mr. Costello currently holds the title of Corporate Vice President of Business Development for Security/Defense and Government Relations, where his responsibilities include developing and implementing strategy related to forward looking technologies, markets, as well as promoting laws and policies conducive to the Microsemi’s technology roadmap. These markets include information assurance, anti-tamper technology, advanced weapons systems and satellite payload applications where security and reliability are paramount. Mr. Costello is responsible for Microsemi’s major initiatives involving Government Relations including the acquisition of “Trusted” microelectronics and GPS denial mitigation solutions.
John Costello
Corporate VP Business Development & Government Relations, Microsemi Corporation
Microsemi – A Successful History of Bold Decisions/Negotiating on the Corner of Main and Mean
Microsemi – A Successful History of Bold Decisions/Negotiating on the Corner of Main and Mean
It also led to tremendous growth to a company struggling to grow in revenue and shareholder value. The individual leadership players were complete opposites causing clashes and conflicts in the corporate culture.The pressure and stress associated with Microsemi’s new corporate strategy took its toll on those not willing or able to adapt to a new culture. The industry itself became openly hostile to the path we Microsemi chose and in order to successfully execute the plan would take a specific skill set not many were equipped to handle.
Kevin Maloney
Chief Executive Officer, International Executive Council
Kevin Maloney is a sales and marketing executive with 22 years of experience in business development, technology, operations, finance and investor relations with early to mid-stage companies. His track record encompasses leadership, strategic relations, innovative marketing, sourcing capital and building companies. He is an expert at attracting and motivating productive teams and executing clear strategic plans. His skills in establishing, cultivating and managing client, media and investor relationships have resulted in increased company sales, exposure and funding through more than 1,000 early to mid-stage investor pitches, 100+ corporate road shows and nearly $60M+ in capital.
Kevin Maloney
Chief Executive Officer, International Executive Council
International Executive Council
Lindsey Carnett
CEO & President, Marketing Maven
Lindsey Carnett is a spirited trailblazer who prides herself on giving a voice to the underdog. Named to the 2016 Entrepreneur 360™ list of “Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America,” Marketing Maven specializes in PR, influencer marketing, social media advertising and reputation management. Recently named AI Global Media’s Most Influential Female in Marketing, USA and honored as Folio: Magazine’s 2015 Top Women in Media, she lectures at universities, conferences and professional marketing organizations globally. She has appeared in the Forbes Most Powerful Women Business Leader issue and on CCTV, Newsmax, Business Rockstars, NPR, The Doctors, Telemundo, FOX Business, TheStreet.com, Huffington Post and USA Today.
Lindsey Carnett
CEO & President, Marketing Maven
Women Innovators Panel
Selecting the Right Influencers to Rise Above the Noise
Selecting the Right Influencers to Rise Above the Noise
With a plethora of influencers available to brands, what should the key influencer identification process look like? This session will review how to find influencers based on the target demographic of the brand, how to conduct outreach to influencers, options for compensation, disclosure requirements and how to measure success of a campaign. The influencer integration strategy will incorporate PR, event marketing, content marketing, advertising and social media marketing perspectives.Lindsey Germono
President, Germono Advertising Company
Lindsey Germono, President of Germono Advertising Company and Host of Drop and Give Me 20 podcast, is an expert in traditional and new media advertising with extensive experience working with small and medium sized businesses seeking to broaden their marketing strategy. She has over a decade of traditional media planning, placement and management experience, and has stayed on the forefront
of advancements in new media marketing. She is a sought after speaker on marketing and advertising topics, and has led speaking engagements at Old Dominion University, Regent University, The Milspo Project, Internet Marketing Association, and more. She serves as an advocate for military entrepreneurship, serving on the board of directors for The Milspo Project, and has been featured in
Forbes, U.S. Small Business Administration, and NextGen Milspouse. Lindsey is a graduate of Old Dominion University, and received her MBA from Regent University. She is an active member of Pi Beta Phi Fraternity and contributes both on a local and national level with their philanthropic causes. In her spare time, Lindsey enjoys traveling and spending time with her family, friends, and dogs.
Lindsey Germono
President, Germono Advertising Company
Women Innovators Panel
Marcie Merriman
Executive Director, Ernst & Young LLP (EY)
A globally recognized leader in consumer ethnography, cultural anthropology and brand strategy, Marcie Merriman has a 25-year track record of working with boards, CEOs and their teams to propel the innovation of brands, categories and businesses.
As a successful entrepreneur and former retail industry executive, with both Victoria’s Secret and Toys R Us, Marcie’s passion lies in connecting the dots between consumer needs, market influencers and business requirements to enable business innovation and growth. Marcie is especially focused on leveraging her experience and intimate knowledge of Millennials and Gen Z to help clients differentiate their businesses and tap growth opportunities with these complex and ever-changing generations.
Marcie is currently a leader in EY’s Digital Experience Practice where she teams with clients to understand nuances of human behaviors within societies and organizational implications that can be addressed through improved experiences, including the deployment of digital technologies.
Marcie holds an Executive MBA from Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management, with a focus on marketing strategy. She earned a BA in Social Sciences from Michigan State University, where she focused her studies on anthropology and sociology.
Key client relationships have included Nike, Berkshire Hathaway, Royal Caribbean, Goodyear, Victoria’s Secret, Mars, Equinox, American Express, United Heath Group, Darden Restaurants, Bayer, Starbucks, Luxottica, PepsiCo, Jack Daniels, McDonalds and eBay.
Marcie Merriman
Executive Director, Ernst & Young LLP (EY)
Move Over, Millennials: Make Way for Gen Z
Move Over, Millennials; Make Way for Gen Z
Generation Z, the teens and tweens coming of age today, are not just another Millennial story. Far from it. They are more self-aware, more self-reliant and more driven than the generation they follow. Intuitively innovative, uber-productive, goal-oriented and realistic, they are growing to be savvy consumers and employees. Businesses hoping to connect with them need to understand who they are and how they are about to turn today’s market on its head.To compete in today’s uber-challenging model, businesses are migrating toward digital in order to delight consumers in redefined, imaginative ways. To survive in an experience-led world, retail must take note of these changes. But to win, it is imperative for retailers to focus on meeting the expectations of today’s most demanding lot: the true digital natives, Gen Z, today’s teens and tweens. Gen Z is quickly moving us all into an “anything is possible” world. Resonating with Gen Z and staying relevant will undoubtedly be a Herculean effort, but it can be done. Retailers will be required to use every tool at their disposal to deliver experiences shoppers cannot bear to live without, and gain an irreplaceable and indispensable space in the mind of the consumer.
Marcie explores how, why, and the implications and opportunities this market shift provides retailers. We look forward to sharing insights from a national EY survey of 1000 adults and 400 teens to understand the differences between generations to gain insight into today’s changing consumer behavior, focusing especially on those who grew up with technology (Millennials) versus those who were born into it (Gen Z).
Mark Samuel
Chief Executive Officer, IMPAQ
Mark Samual is a thought leader and CEO of IMPAQ, an award-winning international consulting firm that guides organizations in achieving measurable breakthrough results within six months through a unique system that links Execution, Culture and Deliverables. Mark is the best-selling author of the acclaimed “Creating the Accountable Organization” and the award-winning “Making Yourself Indispensable: the Power of Personal Accountability.” Mark is considered a “practical visionary” by top executives in many Fortune 500 companies. CNBC, Bloomberg and Fortune magazine have recognized him as a top authority on how companies can eliminate silos and replace blame with shared ownership and accountability. Mark’s work has effected long-term, positive, profitable improvement in companies worldwide, including The Royal Bank of Canada, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, Enbridge Pipeline, Pacific Seafood, Chevron Corporation, American Express, Genentech, Kaiser Permanente, Roche Pharmaceuticals, Fairchild Semiconductor, Honda Corporation, Texas Instruments, AMGEN, The GAP, Baxter Pharmaceuticals, Hewlett-Packard, Ameren, Florida Power & Light, City of Red Deer, the University of California at Berkeley, Habitat for Humanity, Hilmar Cheese, Pacific Gas & Electric, Michelin Tires, UK National Health Service, Siemens and many more.
Mark Samuel
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, IMPAQ
Leading Above the Noise: Transforming Your Organization and Yourself
Leading Above the Noise: Transforming Your Organization and Yourself
Regardless of your role, you can’t just be an expert at what you do, you have to be a leader to navigate these turbulent watersTransforming your organization and yourself provides a strategy for rising above the natural silos that exist. Combining our minds, hearts, and behaviors we can raise our level of leadership to leverage your talents and others’s to better serve your customers and to be more profitable. You will leave with a fresh and expanded view of your role in your organization and with your family.
Michael Aburas
Integrated Media Director, MGM Resorts International
Michael Aburas has been executing performance marketing campaigns for MGM Resorts International that drive increased direct sales and contribute to exceeding business goals since 2010. As the Integrated Media Director for MGM Resorts International, Michael leads the media investment strategy, planning, buying and campaign execution for SEM, international advertising and the M life Loyalty program.
Additionally, Michael has been the project manager overseeing the implementation, onboarding, training and strategy for the Adobe media tech stack for the MGM Resorts enterprise, enabling deeper audience segmentation and more efficient acquisition and communication across paid media. Michael joined MGM Resorts in 2004. Prior to joining the media team, he held multiple roles in marketing, HR, finance, sales and development.
Michael has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from the University of Nevada Las Vegas and an MBA from the University of Phoenix.
Michael Aburas
Integrated Media Director, MGM Resorts International
MarTech and Global Customer Experience Panel
Adobe Project
Michelle Frank
Senior Manager, Global E-Commerce, Harman
Michelle Frank is a 10-year veteran in the e-commerce space. She began her career working with iconic fashion brands in North America, including Bloomingdale’s, Louis Vuitton and Nine West in roles focused on e-commerce marketing channels. In 2013, Michelle expanded her horizons globally and joined HARMAN as the Senior Manager of Global E-Commerce, managing their lifestyle consumer audio brands JBL, Harman Kardon, Infinity, AKG and Harman Audio. At HARMAN, she is in charge of the Demandware platform, global expansion onto Demandware and managing all third-party relationships. To date Michelle has helped HARMAN launch 50 e-commerce sites and 45 content sites in 28 countries and 19 languages.
Michelle Frank
Senior Manager, Global E-Commerce, Harman
MarTech and Global Customer Experience Panel
Perry Evoniuk
Chief Technology Officer, Evite
Perry Evoniuk has been Chief Technology Officer at Evite since March 19, 2015, and has more than 25 years of IT experience. He has served as Director of Information Systems for Amgen and as Vice President of Software Engineering and Enterprise Architecture at drugstore.com. Perry was responsible for the drugstore.com technology platform including the long-term roadmap, technology standards and guiding principles. He joined drugstore.com in 1999 and has held several positions managing development and implementation of web store infrastructure. Prior to joining drugstore.com, he served in research and development positions at Attachmate Corporation, a host connectivity provider, and at Hughes Aircraft, an aerospace and defense company. Perry holds a Master of Science degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado.
Perry Evoniuk
Chief Technology Officer, Evite
Marketing Innovations Panel
Perry Viscounty
Latham & Watkins LLP
Perry Viscounty, a nationally recognized trial lawyer and partner at Latham & Watkins, serves as a trusted advisor to leading and emerging global brands seeking to protect and leverage their most important intellectual property assets. Apple, craigslist, GE, VIZIO and Entrepreneur Media, as well as several video game developers and publishers, trust Perry’s holistic approach to litigating and counseling on cutting-edge technology, data privacy and intellectual property issues. He is widely regarded as a go-to lawyer for complex, multifaceted and high-stakes cases that often set precedent and define the legal landscape. Offering a unique combination of business-savvy technology and policy acumen, Perry helps clients in a wide variety of industries meet and overcome the challenges of rapidly evolving market and legal considerations. Perry’s perspective and insight on issues relating to trademarks, copyrights, patents and trade secrets, among others, is documented through extensive thought leadership that includes numerous speaking engagements and authorships that address the latest IP trends and issues across the technology industry.
Perry Viscounty
Latham & Watkins LLP
Disclosing Paid Endorsements: Being Mindful of the Risk and Reward
Endorsements must be honest and not misleading. This basic truth-in-advertising principle applies to all media, including social media.
Disclosing Paid Endorsements: Being Mindful of the Risk and Reward
While television and magazines have been around for decades, new digital channels, including YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat, have expanded access to the consumer and continue to grow. The ease of marketing in these channels may suggest that federal false advertising and consumer protection laws do not apply to social media. However, as shown by the Federal Trade Commission’s enforcement actions, this is not the case.As brands increasingly tap social media platforms to promote their products and services, marketers and influencers must be mindful of the risks associated with such marketing tactics. Specifically, all marketing activities must comply with Federal Trade Commission guidelines to guard against unlawful acts. These guidelines include clear and conspicuous disclosure and accuracy of the marketing message. However, there is not a one size fits all approach, and each marketing campaign must be individually tailored to conform with the guidelines. Thus, while the revenue reward may be great, all marketers and influencers must be aware of the risk.
Ruth Brajevich
Vice President & Strategic Initiatives, Ware Malcomb
Ruth Brajevich is Vice President, Strategic Initiatives for award-winning, international design firm Ware Malcomb. The company is ranked in the top 25 architecture/engineering firms by Building Design + Construction magazine and top 40 interior design firms by Interior Design magazine in the United States. A member of Ware Malcomb’s executive team, Ruth collaborates with company leaders across the firm’s 22 offices. Since 1998, she has played a key role in the company’s transformation from a regional to international design firm.
Ruth oversees strategy for the Ware Malcomb brand, marketing, public relations, communications and culture for Ware Malcomb. She is involved in organizational development and leads strategic initiatives within the firm. She originated and oversees strategic planning, leadership development and culture initiatives.
Ruth is both an accomplished speaker and gifted writer. She has given numerous presentations and has been published on a variety of digital marketing and leadership topics. In 2017 she was recognized via Science of Digital Marketing as one of the Top 50 Most Influential CMO’s and Marketing Leaders for 2016. Ruth was also honored by the Internet Marketing Association with a Women Leaders Award in 2016.
Ruth Brajevich
Vice President & Strategic Initiatives, Ware Malcomb
CMO Panel
Peter V. Lopez III
Cloud Solutions Architect, Microsoft
Dynamic Security in the Digital Age
Threats to industry are evolving as quickly as our technology advancements, breeding new exploits at an exponential rate.
Dynamic Security in the Digital Age
Threats to industry are evolving as quickly as our technology advancements, breeding new exploits at an exponential rate. Combining this with an explosion of connected devices and people provides a fertile ground for those seeking to do harm or take advantage of the less informed. In this session, we will discuss emerging technology and methods to protect people and property.Ryan Miyaki
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Comped Marketing
Ryan Miyaki in a serial entrepreneur specializing in disruptive and innovative technologies. His entrepreneurial career began at the age of 18 in the production industry when he created a series of workshops and events. After production, Ryan transitioned into the technology industry and began developing mobile applications. He created a mobile app allowing customers to order beverages from their phone to the bar which was eventually adopted and modified by Anheuser-Busch. Seeing opportunity in Las Vegas, Ryan moved to pursue the trade show and conventions industry where he procured a position with Trefis out of M.I.T as a junior analyst with primary emphasis on tech analysis. From that role, Ryan was able to position himself among leaders across various industries. Ryan is currently the Founder and CEO of Comped Marketing, an award-nominated and highly disruptive advertising tech distribution platform powered by IBM Watson’s artificial intelligence with a mission to expand the ad-tech industry.
Ryan Miyaki
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Comped Marketing
Business Intelligence and Marketing Innovations Panel

Susan Akbarpour
Co-Founder & CEOSusan Akbarpour
Co-Founder & CEO, Mavatar Technologies Inc.
Susan Akbarpour is the co-founder and CEO of Mavatar Technologies Inc. She oversees the strategic and creative direction of the company, leveraging her extensive network and proven background in product design, development and marketing.
Susan is a visionary entrepreneur with over 25 years of hands-on experience building and advising successful and innovative products and businesses in technology, media, retail and management consulting. She founded Mavatar soon after receiving her MS in Management from Stanford University in 2010.
Under her leadership, Mavatar has emerged from a simple web browser application to modular, turnkey and cloud-based enterprise software equipped with a large array of omnichannel solutions such as large-scale Phygital Marketplace enabler software, Shoppable Content Publishing platform, mCart and Social e-Commerce Engine.
The Mavatar cross-channel PaaS platform straddles Marketplace, Affiliate and Social Marketing. Mavatar-powered Marketplace and mCarts Operators allow shoppers to buy products from impressions in digital and physical worlds, changing the way retailers acquire new customers and stimulate incremental sales by empowering and incentivizing their greatest brand advocates’ authentic voice. Mavatar solutions help enterprise customers to close the gap between online and offline shopping, sales and advertising.
Throughout her journey as an entrepreneur, journalist, publisher, investor, board member, community advocate and political fundraiser, Susan has received multiple media, community and business awards, spoken at various conferences and is frequently featured in mainstream media. Susan is also a general partner at Monjeri Investments, member of the board of directors at IMA International Executive Council and VOMax Corporation, member of Stanford Business School Alumni Association, Stanford Women On Boards, and a prestige member of Watermark, a nonprofit organization that is a community of executive women.
Susan Akbarpour
Co-Founder & CEO, Mavatar Technologies Inc.
Introducing CCommerce!
This panel will discuss the importance of closing the gap between online and offline commerce leveraging CCommerce (Contextual Commerce) technologies.
Introducing CCommerce!
- Modern shoppers are product oriented and start their journey from contextual impressions of the product. They hardly start the discovery from stores, websites and even mobile apps anymore!
- Retailers and CPGs are lost and broke, tracking shoppers between their mobile, web and physical touch points with no plan to monetize the data down to the sales dollars.
- They are tired of ineffective affiliate networks and digital advertising campaigns. Over $300 billion dollars per year is spent on push advertisements, while the average CTR rate is only 0.01% and a tacit agreement between ad networks kept the average cost per acquisition(CPA) undisclosed!
- Retailers’ cost of e-commerce sales is between 30% to over 60% as they have to pay multiple intermediaries for any transaction that happens in their sites.
- They only want to reward their products’ real influencers (content publishers) on a pure PPP (Pay Per Performance) model, but they can’t identify them as the traffic they pay for can be hijacked by “last click” intruders (Tools publishers)!
- Marketplace is a successful model and 70% annual growth, but top retailers can’t be represented in Amazon and other marketplaces without losing control of fulfillment and their brands’ dignity, listed next to a fragmented market of SMBs.
Tim Moran
Chief Executive Officer, CMO 100
Back in 2009, a small team was assembled to bring to life a deceptively simple idea: Curate content from around the web that would be of interest to chief marketing officers. This was the vision of Josh James, CEO and co-founder of Omniture. With little to go on but that idea and a great url, this little group went on to create CMO.com. Tim Moran was fortunate enough to be the editorial lead for this project, along with Austin Bankhead, Gayle Kesten, and the terrific folks at Axis41 in Salt Lake City. In looking back at emails from ’09, he reports that the team was thrilled when it managed to top 1,000 page views for a day and 30,000 for the month. There were barely a few hundred subscribers to its weekly newsletter, and almost all of the content was blurb-and-link curation. When Tim recently left Adobe (where CMO.com ended up after that company purchased Omniture), monthly page views were more than 10 times that (400,000), newsletter subscribers passed 40,000 and Twitter followers were north of 85,000. Curated content is now limited to a few a day, with more than 25 pieces of original content by some of the best writers, executives and consultants in the business are posted a week. The likes of the Content Marketing Institute’s Robert Rose and Joe Pulizzi, Velocity Partners’ Doug Kessler and others regularly cite CMO.com as a prime example of “brand-as-publisher” at its best. Among other accolades, the site was recently highlighted as a Top 50 Content Marketing Brand by NewsCred and won the 2014 CMI Award for Best Overall Editorial—Digital. There are other, new CMO.coms out there waiting to be created in almost every industry and for any enterprise. In the meantime, Tim has joined the IMA as CEO of its new CMO 100 Network: Leading the Digital Transformation. More on this terrific community as it develops.
Tim Moran
Chief Executive Officer, CMO100
CMO Rockstars
Tracy Morgan
Senior Director, Engineering & Data Science, nContext
Tracy Morgan
Senior Director, Engineering & Data Science, nContext
Business Intelligence and Marketing Innovations Panel
Victor Cho
Chief Executive Officer, Evite
Victor Cho has 24 years of experience in software and Internet technology with extensive expertise in defining, developing, scaling, marketing and managing profitable Internet and software products and businesses. Victor is currently the CEO at Evite, the leading digital invitation and social event planning service with over 32 million registered users. He is also a key board member at Modo Payments, a mobile payments hub that connects any payment system with any other payment system through a proprietary digital COIN.
Victor Cho
Chief Executive Officer, Evite
Diversity in the Workplace
Warren Kay
Chief Revenue Officer, SOCi
Warren Kay has over 15 years of experience driving innovation and results in technology and media. He is currently serving as the Chief Revenue Officer and Member of the Board of Directors for venture-backed software company, SOCi.
Prior to joining SOCi, Warren spent approximately two years at Under Armour, most recently holding the position of Global VP of Advertising. At Under Armour, he was at the forefront of technology and fitness, leading the integration of multiple health and fitness apps into Under Armour. Before Under Armour, he was a Principal at The Goodison Group, a consulting firm he co-founded to focus on media and technology companies, for over four years.
In addition, he has served in executive positions for the Houston Chronicle, Trada, iPromote, News Corp, Yahoo! and IAC-Citysearch. Warren holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Texas – Austin. He has been married for 17 years to his wonderful wife Laura and is the proud father of two boys, Nate (9) and Austin (12).
Warren Kay
Chief Revenue Officer, SOCi
Marketing Technologies and Modern Day Tools Panel
Panel

Yves Le Sieur
Sr. Director, Strategy and PlanningYves Le Sieur
Sr. Director, Strategy and Planning, VDS
Yves Le Sieur is a resourceful and creative leader with more than 25years of agency experience, including stints at Chiat-Day and Saatchi and Saatchi. Yves has also worked on the client side, most notably as Creative Director with Joico Laboratories, where he was instrumental in successfully transitioning Joico from a local beauty label to a global entity as a member of the Shiseido family of healthcare brands. With extensive knowledge of branding and creative strategic issues, he brings a particular sense of style and aesthetic to each project he touches, and continues to set the standard for creative and digital innovation.
Adept at implementing high-profile, brand-based marketing programs within a variety of consumer industries, both public and private, he continues to create integrated creative strategies to develop new/existing customer, brand/product evolution and media endorsement. As a strategic thinker, brand assessment enthusiast and writer, Yves leverages effective storytelling and peerless communication skills to convey the intent, potential and emotional experience of an idea or product.
Yves is currently the Senior Director for Strategy and Planning at VDS, a Southern California agency that focuses on data science and conversion marketing, specifically for the education sector. In addition to his client-facing responsibilities, he helps create a groundbreaking agency culture that unites, enhances discovery, promotes and nurtures talent, while fostering collaboration and innovation.
Yves is the recipient of a BFA from the University of Montreal, an MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles as well as an intensive Marketing Strategy Certificate with an emphasis in New Media Marketing from the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.
Yves Le Sieur
Sr. Director, Strategy & Planning, VDS
Education Panel
The New Education Track