Speakers

WordCamp Omaha 2011 will feature 12 speakers that will address our audience in the Harper Center at Creighton University.

Andy Brudtkuhl

Talk: Custom Theme Design

Andy Brudtkuhl is an entrepreneur, web developer, and founder of WordPress consulting company 48Web.

Drew Gourley

Drew Gourley is a graphic designer by degree and a web designer/developer by experience. He loves to work with WordPress because of its extendability and overall ease of use. Working at Oxide Design Co., he has had the opportunity to use creative problem solving to stretch the boundaries of what WordPress can do.

Eric Downs

Eric Downs studied graphic design at Metropolitan Community College (MCC), as he worked towards a degree in Graphic Communication Arts. While still in school, he worked as an Art Director for MCC, and also began freelancing under the moniker DownsDesign. After working for 3 years at the college, Eric resigned from MCC in 2007 to run DownsDesign full-time. DownsDesign grew its client base, and eventually into a 3 person studio. In August of 2011, DownsDesign merged with local design studio Image Made. Together, they plan to rule the world, and fill it with their graphic magic.

Jennifer Windrum

Jennifer doesn’t “do” status quo. She left the corporate world to create social change through her politically incorrect “WTF” (Where’s the Funding) for Lung Cancer? social media movement. Windrum is chronicling her mom’s battle with lung cancer and building a community of advocates to increase awareness and funding for the #1 cancer killer and THE least funded. No her mom didn’t smoke. Last year, Jennifer’s campaign was nominated as a finalist in Mashable’s 4th Annual Awards for “Most Creative Social Media Campaign” and recently featured in the Huffington Post.

Jennifer is also in full-blown start-up mode with the launch of her new sock monkey line called “smac!- Sock Monkeys Against Cancer,” where her long-terms dream is to have every hospital give smac! monkeys to everyone diagnosed with cancer.

Jennifer began her career in 1997 as a TV news reporter for KMTV-Channel 3, Omaha’s CBS affiliate. After three years in the news business, she transitioned to the “other side” – public relations – where she became press secretary for then Omaha Mayor Hal Daub. Now, she’s using all of her professional skills to lead a grassroots movement to make lung cancer a national priority – a move she truly believes is “her calling.”

Jodie Barr

President of OrderStorm Inc. The OrderStorm WordPress e-Commerce plugin is a PCI compliant shopping cart with 100+ gateways, extensive order management, automated drop-shipping and CRM.

Joe Evans

Joe is a blogger, SEO guy, and marketer extraordinaire. He is deeply involved with the local startup community, works hard, and plays hard.

Joe Frost

Todd Murphy

Talk: How I captured An Industry With WordPress

As Vice President of Universal Information Services, Inc. Todd Murphy orchestrates the development of cutting edge media monitoring and analysis services. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Todd returned to Omaha to drive the new media initiative for Universal. With Broadcast and Internet news monitoring accounting for over 50% of corporate revenue, Todd’s team has now developed the nation’s most comprehensive online and social media monitoring services. It was also under Todd’s direction that Universal instituted the most reliable media analysis program in the Nation.

Outside of Universal Todd has held the position of President and board member for all of his industry associations. Todd has also been instrumental in working with Congress on issues related to copyright law and media rights. A strong supporter of all media, it is clear to Todd that the mediums and modes of delivery for information may change, but the principles and goals that PR professionals apply fundamentally remain the same. Universal is one of only two companies that provide the full cycle of PR tools from releasing to tracking to analysis. That’s over 100 years of innovation from this Omaha company.

Wendy Townley

Geek Chic: How WordPress Helps Me (and Others) Look Cool

Wendy Townley (@wtownley) is an Omaha-based blogger and writer whose first book, Nerdy Thirty, was published in 2010. Wendy became an avid WordPress user and devotee after moving her blog (www.wendywriter.com) from LiveJournal to WordPress five years ago. Her personal website (www.wendytownley.com) and Nerdy Thirty website (www.nerdythirty.com) were both built on WordPress, and she uses WordPress for a blog she maintains as a part-time faculty member in the School of Communication at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Each semester, Wendy requires her undergraduate students to create and maintain blogs, encouraging them to use WordPress for its design and ease of use.

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