Eric Weaver – Account Director & Strategist at Tribal DDB

Eric Weaver is a veteran marketer who has helped drive awareness, revenue and loyalty for household brands across the United States. As one of the very first digital marketers, over his 18-year career Eric has helped firms like Brita, Clorox, De Beers, eBay, Ford, GE, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft Foods, Lincoln, Mattel, the Mayo Clinic, Procter & Gamble, RCA, the US Postal Service, and the Clinton Administration build and extend their brands online.

Dave Hanley – Principal of Banyan Branch

Dave Hanley is a founder and principal at Banyan Branch, a Seattle-based social media marketing agency whose clients include Disney, the Gates Foundation, Parallels, Clarisonic and Seattle startups such as Wetpaint, TeachStreet, and Entertonment. Dave has worked in web marketing for several years, specializing in creating and marketing massively viral social applications.

Daniel W. Rasmus – Author of Listening to the Future

Daniel W. Rasmus, the author of Listening to the Future, is a strategist who helps clients put their future in context. Rasmus uses scenarios to analyze trends in society, technology, economics, the environment, and politics in order to discover implications used to develop and refine products, services and experiences.

Kristen Ruby – CEO, Social Media Marketing & PR Strategist

Kristen Ruby is the President and Founder of Ruby Media Group. Kristen “socializes” businesses for web 2.0 and helps companies adapt traditional marketing into social media platforms. Kristen specializes in social media optimization, branding in real time and optimized PR. By utilizing various social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, Kristen creates online visibility for her clients and increases overall branding awareness.

Dr. Udi Schlessinger – Managing Partner of U Labs

Dr. Udi Schlessinger is the founder and managing partner of U Labs, a consulting company based in New Jersey specializing in all aspects of affiliate marketing with a focus on intelligent tool building. As principal of his company, Udi leads R&D on all aspects of affiliate marketing and aims to be on the cutting edge of this industry.

Mike Whitmore – President of Fresh Consulting

Mike Whitmore is an accomplished business executive and sales leader who began his professional career with WordPerfect Corporation leading a multinational development team in building the first release of WordPerfect Office in a handful of Germanic languages. His leadership continued delivering high-value results for Novell, Intel, Fujitsu, Compuware, AT&T Wireless, QWest, T-Mobile, Boeing Space & Defense and Unisys Corporation.

Joe Kennedy – The Connector

Joe Kennedy enjoys helping people connect. Joe founded Eastside Entrepreneurs in October 2008 and the group now has over 1,700 great, local members and many excellent events which have helped connect many locals and their businesses. In addition to producing, attending and participating in social media events, Joe has recently launched a personal social media social media campaign to find employment – to join in or follow along, please visit: JoeKennedy.biz.

Darren Williger – President and CEO of Regillo Consulting Group

Darren Williger has been social marketing since he could speak! With more than 600 websites to his name and the most followed non-celebrity on Twitter in Chicago, Darren brings a unique understanding of the new media landscape. From hand coding one of the 1st social networks in the 1980’s, to SEO & Social networks, Darren’s love of technology has kept him on the cutting edge of IT. This passion also produced over $80 Million in sales for Dell in just 3-years! Darren is currently the President and CEO of Regillo, Inc., an 18-year old Chicago-based new media marketing firm, founded on his vision to bring like-minded people together using technology.

Darren has worked with several global enterprises, including Alcan, Kraft, Rotary, Hewitt, Chicago Stock Exchange and more. Using new media methodologies, Darren helps businesses succeed in the new economy.

Jeff Dance – Founder of Fresh Consulting

Jeff Dance, founder of Fresh Consulting, has managed or advised several web-based businesses and led dozens of consulting projects, including Social Media and Enterprise 2.0 strategy projects, working with entrepreneurs to fortune 500 clients. Prior to founding Fresh Consulting, Jeff was a Strategy and Operations management consultant at Deloitte Consulting where he worked on projects across the nation and pioneered nationwide initiatives on the West Innovation team. Jeff is also a level 3 professional snowboard instructor who trains instructors part-time throughout the winter season to keep things “fresh”.

Bille Baty – Serial Entrepreneur

Bille Baty is a serial entrepreneur, having started more than 10 successful businesses and serving as consultant for dozens of other start-ups. He brings to the table more than 25 years of C-level management and marketing experience in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America and China. Bille has served as Regional Manger, Regional Vice President, President, COO, CEO, and Managing Partner of companies in Oilfield Services, Financial Services, Marketing, Distribution, Advertising, Legal Services, Internet Marketing and Consulting. Bille is a consultant for marketing, social media, brand personality and networking. He is the Managing Partner of Phi Concepts, which is currently working on the development of a Zero Emissions Automobile and a Travel Club start-up.