2012 Speakers

Norm Brodsky had already launched seven successful businesses—including a three-time Inc. 500 company—by the time he began writing the Street Smarts column in Inc. with Bo Burlingham in 1995. The column has proved to be enormously popular with readers of the magazine and was twice a finalist for a National Magazine Award. In 2008, it received a gold Azbee award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. With the success of the column came numerous speaking invitations. Brodsky now lectures widely and has become a frequent guest on MSNBC.

@NormBrodsky

Kevin Daum is an Inc.com columnist and an Inc. 500 entrepreneur whose sales and marketing techniques resulted in more than $1 billion in sales and three Amazon #1 best sellers. Kevin has authored several books, including Amazon #1 Best Sellers Video Marketing for Dummies, ROAR! Get Heard in the Sales and marketing Jungle, and Green$ense For the Home, winner of the 2011 Outstanding Book from the American Society of Journalists and Author’s. He has built multiple businesses, including TAE International, a marketing consultancy, and most recently ROARing Video, which helps companies communicate compelling messages through humorous video.

@AwesomeROAR

Findery is a new social mobile application for places that launched into private beta in February 2012. Previously, Fake was the cofounder of Hunch, a search and discovery engine, and Flickr, the popular photo sharing site. Hunch sought to build the “taste graph” of the Internet, mapping every user on the Internet to every entity, and their affinity for that entity. Fake sits on the board of Creative Commons, is Chairman of the Board of Etsy, and serves on the Advisory Board of the UC Berkeley School of Information. She was named to the Time 100 most influential people in the world, and received an Honorary Doctorate from RISD.

@Caterina

Neil Grimmer is CEO and Co-founder of leading organic baby, toddler and kids food brand, Plum Organics®. Neil has led the launch of over 100 innovative products making Plum Organics one of the fastest-growing food brands in the US. He also pioneered the first to market spouted pouch that has single-handedly revolutionized a dormant baby food category. He was formerly the VP of Strategy and Innovation at Clif Bar & Company, and prior to that a Senior Designer at IDEO. Now, at Plum Organics, Neil has set out to reinvent the experience of healthy eating by providing innovative solutions that nourish children from the highchair to the lunchbox – ensuring healthy eating habits grow with each bite and every child. @NeilGrimmerCEO

Brian Halligan is CEO & Co-founder of HubSpot, an all-in-one marketing software company he co-founded six years ago to help businesses transform the way they market their products. Since its founding, HubSpot has accumulated over 7,500 customers, has been ranked as the second fastest growing software company on the Inc. 500, one of the 20 most promising companies in America by Forbes, and the eighth fastest growing technology company in the world by the Deloitte Fast 500. He is a Senior Lecturer at MIT where he teaches 15.S16 Entrepreneurial Product Development and Marketing. He is author of two books: Marketing Lessons From the Grateful Dead and Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs, which is in its seventh printing, has sold more than 50,000 copies, has been translated into nine languages, and peaked at #17 overall on the Amazon bestseller list. Brian was named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2011 New England award recipient. In his spare time, he sits on a few boards of directors, follows his beloved Red Sox, goes to the gym, and is learning to play guitar.
@bhalligan

Scott spent 10 years as an event promoter in New York City before leaving to volunteer on a hospital ship off the coast of Liberia, Africa as a volunteer photojournalist. Returning home to New York City two years later, he founded the non-profit organization charity: water. Turning his full attention to the global water crisis and the one billion people without clean water to drink, he created innovative public installations and unique online fundraising platforms to spread international awareness of the issue. In four years, with the help of more than 200,000 donors worldwide, charity:water has funded more than 3,800 water projects in 17 developing nations. Those projects will provide over 1.7 million people with clean, safe drinking water.

@scottharrison, @charitywater

Ashton’s career spanned from owning her own business at age 16 to teaching in public schools and from working as a VP at a rapidly-growing furniture company to starting and owning her own multi-million dollar lighting and catalog business, . She has won business awards, authored business articles, designed numerous home accessory products, is often quoted in her industry and has spoken on many panels. She has appeared on the Christopher Lowell show and NBC New York Open House. In her book, From ADD to CEO, she tells the story of her own company’s journey through good times and bad under the sporadic leadership of an ADD personality and how she finally found help to get to her “end game”.
@ShadesofLightVA

Chip Heath is a professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business, teaching courses on business strategy and organizations. He is the co-author (along with his brother, Dan) of two books. Their most recent book, Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard debuted at #1 on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. Their first book, Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, was a New York Times and Business Week bestseller, and was an Amazon Top 10 Business Book for 2007 for both editors and readers. It was translated into 27 languages including Thai, Arabic, and Lithuanian. His parents are just happy that their sons are playing well together.

@heathbrothers

Dan is a Senior Fellow at Duke University’s CASE center, which supports entrepreneurs who are fighting for social good. He is the co-author of Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, which debuted at #1 on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. The Heath brothers previously co-wrote the critically acclaimed book Made to Stick, which was named the Best Business Book of the Year, spent 24 months on the BusinessWeek bestseller list, and has been translated into 29 languages, the last of which was Slovak.
Heath is a columnist for Fast Company magazine, and he has taught and consulted with organizations such as Microsoft, Philips, Vanguard, Macy’s, USAID, and the American Heart Association.

@heathbrothers

Meg is a contributing editor for Inc. magazine. Her regular column, “Balancing Acts”, examines the effects of business on families. Meg’s new book, For Better or For Work: A Survival Guide for Entrepreneurs and Their Families, expands on column topics such as the queasy necessity of raising money from friends and family, the emotional risks for couples that work together, and the entrepreneur’s feelings of guilt concerning the limited amount of time spent with children and family. As the wife of Gary Hirshberg, founder of Stonyfield Yogurt, Meg has faced most of these challenges in her own life.

A privately held business based in Boston. Life is good^® spreads positive vibes through its colorful collection of apparel and accessories as well as through its social mission, Life is good^® Playmakers, to help kids overcome poverty, violence and illness. Jake, Life is good’s iconic hero with the contagious smile, teaches men, women and children that optimism is fun, healthy, and empowering. In 1994, with a combined sum of just $78 in the bank, Bert and his brother John officially launched Life is good. Believing that consumers are overwhelmed by too much “advertising noise” in the marketplace, Life is good^®focuses on forging meaningful, emotional connections, and relies heavily on consumer word of mouth to build its brand. Today, Life is good^®products are sold by over 4,500 retailers nationwide. The company presents a powerful and inspiring model for seamlessly integrating a for-profit and a non-profit. Bert, John, and The Life is good^®Company are living proof that “Optimism can take you anywhere.” @Lifeisgood

Indigo Triplett Johnson, founder and CEO of talent management firm Careers In Transition Inc., is a leader in performance efficiency. As a former U.S. Marine, Indigo has garnered a stellar reputation for improving performance and productivity through various human capital strategies. As a prolific speaker and author of the book series Playing by the Unwritten Rules, Indigo successfully incorporates ‘game-changing’ methods to capitalize on an organization’s strengths. Her innovative strategies have been adopted by senior-level private and government entities such as the CIA, NASA, CDC, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Army, and Halliburton.
@IndigoTriplett1

Guy Kawasaki is the author of ten books including The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way. Mr. Kawasaki is a founding partner and entrepreneur-in-residence at Garage Technology Ventures, a seed and early stage venture capital fund. He is also the co-founder of Alltop.com, an “online magazine rack” of popular topics on the web—the success of which is attributed to social networking tools such as Twitter.

Kawasaki is considered one of the top 50 most popular bloggers worldwide, and was recently selected by Invesp.com as the #2 top marketer of 2008. Previously, Kawasaki was an Apple Fellow at Apple Computer, Inc. He says, “When I saw what a Macintosh could do, the clouds parted and the angels started singing. For four years I evangelized Macintosh to software and hardware developers and led the charge against worldwide domination by IBM. I also met my wife Beth at Apple during this timeframe – Apple has been very good to me.”

@Guykawasaki

President and founder of ChicoBag Company, Andy Keller has a gift for developing simple product solutions to large environmental issues. Keller invented the first ChicoBag® brand reusable bag in 2004 as a response to an overwhelming encounter with loose plastic bags at the landfill. His entrepreneurial spirit coupled with small business expertise has contributed to helping millions of people start a healthy reusable-bag habit.
@ChicoBag

With 6,000 flight hours in more than 50 different aircraft, 375 aircraft carrier landings, 39 combat missions and more than 50 days in space, Astronaut Mark Kelly is one of our country’s most experienced pilots.

Mark Kelly is an American hero who inspires others to be their best while remaining true to their core values. He exemplifies leadership, the importance of teamwork, and courage under pressure

Dave is the co-founder and CEO of Likeable, an award-winning social media and word-of-mouth marketing firm comprised of communications and consultancy agency Likeable Media, and software platform Likeable Local. Likeable was named to both the 2011 and 2012 Inc. 500 list of fastest growing private companies in the United States. Dave’s first book, a New York Times, USA Today, and Amazon #1 bestseller, was Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook (and Other Social Networks). His second book is titled Likeable Business: Why Today’s Consumers Demand More & How Leaders Can Deliver.
@DaveKerpen

Josh is the CEO and managing partner of Detroit Venture Partners. Together with business partners Earvin (“Magic”) Johnson and NBA team owner Dan Gilbert, he is actively rebuilding urban areas through technology and entrepreneurship. Linkner is also adjunct professor of applied creativity at the University of Michigan and is the founder, chairman, and former CEO of ePrize. He has been honored as the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and is a President Barack Obama Champion of Change award recipient.
@joshlinkner

Keith McFarland’s is author of Bounce and the best-selling book, The Breakthrough Company. He is founder of McFarland Strategy Partners, a strategic advisory firm for growth companies. Earlier in his career he was a two-time Inc. 500 CEO

Touchstorm founder, chairman and CEO, Alison is the industry’s visionary behind the digital media company that produces, distributes and optimizes branded online editorial videos for a wide range of clients, including General Mills, Procter & Gamble and Sony. Under her leadership, Touchstorm has pioneered a unique approach to video production and distribution that has helped eminent brands create online video campaigns with TV-like reach and Internet-like engagement, reaching hundreds of millions of consumers through online videos. Touchstorm videos provide consumers with useful content they are actively seeking online and positions brands as industry experts to provide the market with the best in how-to online video.
@AlisonProvost

Jen is the head of social media at Warby Parker, a company determined to radically transform the eyewear industry. Founded in February 2010, Warby Parker designs and sells boutique-quality frames and prescription lenses for $95 (whereas glasses of comparable quality cost $500 or more). For every pair sold, a pair is given to someone in need. Jen oversees all social media and editorial strategy, campaigns, and partnerships at Warby Parker. Previously, she led the digital strategy and campaign development for brands including Ford, Comcast, Disney, MTV, Amazon, and Estée Lauder while at Brooklyn-based agency Carrot Creative.
@jennifer

With 25 years of leadership, in a wide variety of businesses, Jim brings experience in managing organizations in both public and private environments across many functional areas. He has most recently run professional service, telecommunications, software, hardware and capital equipment businesses. All of these businesses had extensive international operations — Jim has done business in 26 countries, spanning the globe. Jim enjoys growing companies and helping others grow theirs.

Simon Sinek teaches leaders and organizations how to inspire people. With a bold goal to help build a world in which the vast majority of people go home everyday feeling fulfilled by their work, Sinek is leading a movement to inspire people to do the things that inspire them. A trained ethnographer and author of Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. Simon is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post, writes his own blog, simonsinek.com and makes regular guest appearances on MSNBC’s Your Business, among others. Simon is an adjunct staff member of the RAND Corporation, one of the most highly regarded think tanks in the world. Simon lives in New York, where he teaches graduate level strategic communications at Columbia University.

@simonsinek

Marie is a writer, advocate and founder of the Pat Tillman Foundation, a nonprofit organization that invests in veterans and their families through education and community. In the fall of 2008, she began a major initiative – the Tillman Military Scholars program – which aims to create the next generation of leaders by helping a select group of veterans, active servicemembers and their spouses fulfill their academic dreams. She helps tell the story of the power, possibility and devotion of every veteran and military family member. She lives in Chicago.

@mariektillman

Howard is the General Managing Partner for the Chicago High Tech Investors and a member of Mayor Emanuel’s Council of Technology Advisors and Governor Quinn’s Illinois Innovation Council as well as an advisor to many technology businesses and an Adjunct Professor at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Over the last 40 years, in addition to founding more than a dozen high-tech companies, creating thousands of new jobs, and training dozens of talented managers who’ve gone on to lead their own ventures, Howard has created, developed and achieved liquidity in excess of $1 billion for a number of his businesses including CCC Information Services, Imagination Pilots, Coin Dealer Services, Tunes.com, Worldwide Xceed Group, Kendall College, and The Cobalt Group.
@tullman

Doug Ulman is a three-time cancer survivor and nationally recognized cancer advocate. After overcoming chondrosarcoma and malignant melanoma twice during college, Doug and his family founded the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. Doug led that organization as Executive Director for four years before joining LIVESTRONG as director of survivorship in 2001. In his current role as President and CEO, Doug is responsible for the strategic vision and direction of LIVESTRONG. Doug currently holds numerous civic and charitable board positions across the country and recently completed a four-year term as the Chairman of the National Cancer Institute Director’s Consumer Liaison Group.

@LIVESTRONGCEO

Nina Vaca is the Chairman and CEO of Pinnacle Technical Resources. A workforce management solutions provider that delivers staffing, payrolling/IC compliance, vendor management and vendor management systems (VMS) technology to recruit and manage contingent labor across multiple industry verticals. Under Nina’s leadership, Pinnacle has become one of the fastest growing firms in a $100+ billion dollar industry, with over 4,000 personnel working throughout the US and Canada. Ms. Vaca is a Director with Comerica, Inc. ™, Director with Kohl’s Corporation ™ and Chairman of the Board of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. In 2011, she along with 7 other luminary entrepreneurs including Michael Dell, Magic Johnson and Tory Burch, was appointed as a founding Director of “Startup America.”
@pinnacleHQ

Sunny has a track record of high achievement in all of his endeavors, including as an entrepreneur, CEO, investor, board member, and military leader. Prior to co-founding Satori Capital, Sunny co-founded and served as chief executive officer of Data Return, a leading provider of managed services and utility computing. Prior to co-founding Data Return, Sunny served as a Team Lead at Microsoft, focused on supporting Microsoft’s largest clients and partners. Prior to joining Microsoft, Sunny served as a Section Leader of the 2nd Ranger Battalion (U.S. Special Operations Command). Leveraging his expertise in strategy, operations, and capital allocation, Sunny is actively engaged with several private businesses as an investor, advisor, and board member. Additionally, Sunny is a member of Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) where he serves as the North American Co-Chair of the organization’s Sustainable Business Network.

Jason invests his time, energy and focus serving as an agent of change. He is an advisor and consultant to companies and governments, the author of blogs, articles and books on productivity, business performance and teams managing through rapid change. With over 20 years of education and operational experience, Jason has been involved in the creation and transformation of leadership programs and “think-tank” type discussions directed to prioritization and focus in the workplace. Jason has spoken for companies in 12 different countries and has spent time lecturing for universities on 2 continents while developing and presenting corporate learning curriculum worldwide.
@JasonWomack