2013 Speakers L-Z
Diane Lang
Diane is the Social Media Manager for BlogHer, the premium cross-platformmedia network and publisher for women. A former lunch-lady, and self-taught social-media professional, she is proof that you can change
your life at the age of 40.
Diane has been featured in Ladies Home Journal, Columbus Monthly Magazine, and Babble’s List of the Top 100 Mom Blogs in 2011 and 2012. She was a BlogHer Voices of the Year Finalist in 2010, the BlogHer Voices of the Year Niche People’s Choice Honoree in 2011 and was recently named a Favorite Central Ohio Mom Blogger by the James Thurber House. When she isn’t tweeting, posting, or pinning for the BlogHer Community of 50 million, Diane can be found blogging at Momo Fali, where she writes about her sports-fanatic husband, teen daughter and her special-needs son.
Brad Lawless
Brad serves as Vice-President of Strategy for Collective Bias and also publishes much less than he would like at BradLawless.com. With over 13 years of experience working with major retailers, CPG companies and technology innovators, Brad has researched emerging trends in digital and social media since early 2003. When not online, he enjoys reading and exploring the abundance of outdoor experiences available in Northwest Arkansas.
Phil Lempert
As one of America’s leading consumer trend-watchers and analysts, Phil Lempert is recognized on television, radio and in print. He is the food trends editor and correspondent for NBC News’ Today show, where he reports on consumer trends, food safety and money-saving tips, as well as showcases new products. He makes monthly appearances on ABC’s The View, and has appeared numerous times on The Oprah Winfrey Show, 20/20, CNN, CNBC, Discovery Health and MSNBC, as well as on local television morning and news programs throughout the country.
Phil Lempert was one of the pioneers of the new information media, founding SupermarketGuru.com in 1994. The website is now one of the leading food and health resources on the Internet, visited by more than 9 million people each year. SupermarketGuru.com offers thorough food ratings, analyzes trends in food marketing and retail, and features health advice, unique recipes, nutrition analysis, allergy alerts and many other resources to help consumers understand their food, health, lifestyle and shopping options.
Lempert is contributing editor of Supermarket News, which exclusively runs his columns both in its magazine and on its website; as well as a content partner with SN which includes custom consumer surveys and other projects. He has been profiled and interviewed by USA Today, The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Newsweek, and Ad Age, and is interviewed by hundreds of publications each year.
Lempert is the author of Being the Shopper and Healthy, Wealthy & Wise. His previous books include: Phil Lempert’s Supermarket Shopping & Value Guide, Top Ten Trends for Baby Boomers and Crisis Management: A Workbook for Survival.
Mark Vander Ley
Mark Vander Ley is a father of 3 energetic boys and 1 baby girl. He is passionate about Jesus, his wife, his kids, writing, and serving others. All of these passions come together in his work at Parenting Boys Raising Men. He started this blog to be a resource and encouragement to parents working to raise loving, confident, and christian men. Mark has worked as a camp counselor, youth pastor, and therapist in residential, outpatient, and school settings.
Jim Lin
Jim Lin is a VP, Digital Strategist at Ketchum PR. In addition to relishing the fact that he gets to legitimately hang out on Twitter all day, Jim’s job is to push the boundaries of digital and social media (and often rationality) to ensure that his clients break through the chatter to become the conversation, whatever or wherever that may be. On the personal side, Jim is the blogger behind the popular Busy Dad Blog. To the outside world, his blog is a repository of anecdotal parenting adventures with his two kids; to Jim, it is a roadmap that helps him piece together where he’s been the past couple days, when he suddenly wakes up drooling and disoriented in his office. A native Bostonian, Jim holds a BA degree from Harvard University, a black belt in Shotokan Karate, a few Muay Thai trophies, and a whole lot of bumps and bruises to show for it… actually, those are from his kids.
Bruce Linton
Bruce Linton, MFT, Ph.D. is a psychotherapist and Founder of the Fathers’ Forum. The Fathers’ Forum specializes in men’s groups for new dads. He is the author of “Becoming a Dad, How Fatherhood Changes Men.” Bruce’s current work is developing an online social networking site for dads.
Kevin McKeever, AlwaysHomeAndUncool.com
When at-home dad Kevin McKeever is not losing hair over what his kids and dog have done, he composes any and every kind of copy for companies through Write On, Kevin Communications – his very own professional tax write-off. In between gigs, he blogs about his family’s foibles at Always Home and Uncool, contributes to parenting site DadCentric.com and pens a newspaper column for Hearst Connecticut Media Group, the latter of which last year earned him five top statewide writing awards and 25 percent less pay.
Polly Pagenhart
Since 2006, Polly has been blogging about her parenthood at Lesbian Dad, which has been recognized with awards from the Weblog Awards, the Bloggies, About.com, Red Tricycle, Circle of Moms, and Babble. Her essays have appeared in several anthologies, as well as at LiteraryMama, BlogHer, Parenting magazine, and a few academic journals, and she has spoken about writing and LGBT and alternative families at her alma mater, University of California, Berkeley, as well as at the social media conferences BlogHer, Mom 2.0, and Dad 2.0. She’s currently Editor-in-Chief at Lesbian Family.
Troy Pattee
Troy Pattee is the writer behind Dadventurous.com, a fair to average blog that follows his life as a dad, husband, and world citizen. He is a father of two brilliantly tall boys. He narrowly lost a competition with his wife to be the first to visit all 50 states. He has an MBA, and has held positions such as marketing director, entrepreneur, radio show host, copywriter, missionary, and brand spokesperson. Troy is believed to be the only speaker at the Dad 2.0 Summit who is certified by the IICRC as a Carpet Cleaning Technician.
Abby Penich
Abby Penich works as the Director of Public Relations and Social Media for ConAgra Foods. Since joining ConAgra Foods in July of 2006, Abby has worked in many different Global Marketing positions including: Consumer Promotions, Integrated Marketing, Sponsorship, Event Marketing in addition to Public Relations and Social Media. As Director of Public Relations and Social Media, Abby is charged with overseeing the multi-brand public relations news engine and leading the development of an internal community management function. She works on brands such as Healthy Choice, Marie Callender’s, Hunt’s, Chef Boyardee, Slim Jim, and Orville Redenbacher popcorn. Prior to ConAgra Foods, Abby held marketing positions of increasing responsibility at Simon Marketing, Archway Marketing and Kraft Foods. Abby lives in Naperville, IL with her husband and three daughters.
Chris Read, canadiandad.com
Chris Read is the voice behind the Canadian Dad blog. He is a father, writer, brand spokesperson and advocate for Dads everywhere. Chris writes about parenting for several sites including the PTPA, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and Life of Dad, where he also helps run the social media accounts. Chris is also the co-founder of the Gil Read Memorial Foundation, which helps less fortunate kids compete in sports.
Ted Rubin, collectivebias.com
Ted Rubin is the Chief Social Marketing Officer of Collective Bias, a Social Shopper Media Company. He is a leading social marketing strategist and in March 2009 started using and evangelizing the term ROR, Return on Relationship. Ted is the most followed CMO on Twitter according to Social Media Marketing Magazine. ROR is the basis of his philosophy…It’s All About Relationships! His book, Return on Relationship, was just released this month.
Chris Sandahl
Chris Sandahl is an award winning author, comedic writer, reoccurring talk show guest, real estate broker, and most importantly a father. Chris’s book, Babies Can Smell Fear: Mishaps and Mayhem from the First Year of Fatherhood, won a Mom’s Choice Award for Parenting Humor. Chris became a father in 2009 and his life changed drastically. Becoming a father improved his outlook and priorities on life and also significantly altered his sleeping schedule. Chris started focusing his comedy into the parenting blog ParentalGuyd.com which shared funny parenting experiences from the guy’s perspective. After building a strong following he turned the popular stories into Babies Can Smell Fear. Since the release of the book he has been appearing on TV shows promoting the book, offering dad advice and tips, and spreading the voice of active and involved fathers. Currently Sandahl is living new stories everyday with his beautiful wife, amazing daughter, hyper Springer Spaniels, and annoying cat.
Gerome Sapp
Gerome is the Founder/CEO of a new social influencer marketing and analytics platform called Fluencr.com. Gerome leveraged his experience as a former Notre Dame Football Captain/All-American and NFL athlete to create a platform that uniquely recognizes and rewards an individuals influence specific to a brand. Gerome is a father and experienced brand advocate, having been endorsed by Nike, Reebok, Under Armour and Sprint.
Matt Schneider
Matt Schneider is an at-home dad and lives with his wife and two boys in New York City. Matt is a founding member and co-organizer for the NYC Dads Group. He plans workshops, screenings, and lectures with parenting, family, and education experts on behalf of the group in addition to his regular contributions to the group’s blog and social media endeavors. Matt has written for New York Family Magazine, Huffington Post, Big Apple Parent, Role/Reboot, and The Good Men Project and has recently been featured in Bloomberg/Business Week and The CBS Sunday Morning Show with Charles Osgood.
Matt Servitto
Many know Matt Servitto for his series regular role as FBI Agent Dwight Harris on HBO’s iconic dramatic series “The Sopranos” which he won a SAG Award with the cast for “Best Dramatic Ensemble” along with his many seasons on the Peabody Award-winning series, “Brotherhood” on Showtime as corrupt politician “Don Donatello”. Other recent television work includes recurring roles on David E. Kelley’s NBC series, HARRY’S LAW along with a lead role in the new Adult Swim series, YOUR PRETTY FACE IS GOING TO HELL for the Cartoon Network. Matt’s studio feature work includes New Line’s “Going the Distance” opposite Drew Barrymore, Disney’s “Enchanted”, “No Reservations”, ”Hitch” and Woody Allen’s “Melinda & Melinda”. Independent film work includes “Compliance”, “I Do and I Don’t” opposite Jane Lynch, Slamdance Audience Award winner “The Project” and Sundance hits ”Big Fan” and “Two Family House”. He will next appear as a series regular on Alan Ball’s upcoming Cinemax series BANSHEE.
Matt is a graduate of The Julliard School and the father of a nine-year old and twin seven-year olds. He does not remember sleep.
Lance Somerfeld
Lance Somerfeld has been an at-home dad for four years, and resides in New York City with his family. Lance founded the NYC Dads Group in November 2008. The goal of this diverse community of 700 caring dads is to provide engaged, active, and involved fathers an opportunity to socialize, learn, and support each other as they navigate parenthood. The blog, a 2012 Top 10 Group Dad blog by Babble.com, seeks to be a loud voice for parents as we redefine what it means to be a “good dad.” Lance and the NYC Dads Group are regularly featured in local and national media, most recently appearing on The Today Show, The New York Times, CNN, and Fox News.
Jason Sperber
Jason Sperber has been blogging about being a dad and a SAHD for seven years at daddy in a strange land and Rice Daddies, the group blog by Asian American dads which he co-founded. He’s also been featured in stories about SAHDs in Time Magazine and on The Today Show. In former lives, he’s been a high school social studies teacher and a newspaper.com community manager. He is passionate about exploring the intersection of race, identity, culture, and parenting, and writes from Bakersfield, CA, where he lives with his family physician wife and two daughters.
Dave Taylor
Dave Taylor is a single dad to three terrific kids, 16, 12, and 8, and when they’re not driving him insane he’s either writing about parenting at GoFatherhood.com or technology at AskDaveTaylor.com. They reside in Boulder, Colorado, though oddly Dave doesn’t actually like skiing. Go figure.
Lamar Tyler
Lamar Tyler, CEO of Tyler New Media, wears many hats, not the least of which is being a husband and father of four. Using his motto “The Gatekeepers Are Gone,” Lamar, along with his wife Ronnie, has successfully leveraged social media to move the couple’s website Black and Married with Kids to become the largest independent, African American marriage and parenting site on the web. The site has grown in the last five years from a small personal blog to an international brand with nearly 150,000 Facebook fans. The Tylers have used their online platform to create offline opportunities that include four full-length documentaries that have been screened to sell-out crowds nationwide.
David Vienna, TheDaddyComplex.com
David Vienna is a screenwriter, playwright, former journalist, failed rock ‘n’ roll frontman and spent a few years writing for reality television. That one really awesome episode of “House Hunters” — yeah, that was his. He covers parenting issues at The Daddy Complex and The Huffington Post. His work has also appeared in Redbook, Tumblr’s Storyboard project and exquisitely crafted drunken emails to his friends from high school.
Al Watts
Al Watts is a ten-year veteran at-home dad to four children ages 10, 8, 5 and 4 in Omaha, Nebraska. He is the President of The National At-Home Dad Network which is committed to providing support, education and advocacy for fathers who are the primary caregivers of their children. Al contributes to several blogs including GoodMenProject.com, Role/Reboot.org and Momaha.com and is co-editing a book project chronicling the fatherhood revolution titled “Dads Behaving Dadly.”
Alan Weinkrantz / El Presidente / Alan Weinkrantz And Company
Public Relations advisor, Alan Weinkrantz has worked with teams who developed the standards that enabled the transmission of data through wireless networks, the development of computer networking, one of the first Internet cafes in the world, the rise of computer security, the commercialization of VoIP, the creation of the WiFi standard, the deployment of IPTV, a new wired home network standard known as G.hn, the world’s first Windows-based true multi-touch tablet PC, and many other transformational technologies that are now considered mainstream.
In addition to applying very traditional PR methods and having or knowing how to cultivate the right type of media contacts, he advises startup and established technology clients on how be content producers and curators in their own right via the Social Internet.
Weinkrantz has been involved in Israel’s technology and startup economy for almost two decades and lectures on his Above The Code™ method of strategic communications and PR.
