Speakers

Kimanzi Constable

Kimanzi Constable is an author who self-published two ebooks and sold over 80,000 copies, his first published book is in bookstores everywhere! He is a life coach who helps people figure out what their dreams are and how to make them a reality. He is a consultant who works with companies worldwide on how to effectively find their target audience and truly connect with them through social media. He is an international speaker who has spoken at 12 WordCamp’s all over the world. His mission is to help people live the full and abundant life they deserve.

Ben Pollock

Ben Pollock is a nine-year WordPress enthusiast, more content- than code-oriented. He is Director of Online Media for the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, columnists.com. Ben manages other sites; his is benpollock.com with a blog at benpollock.com/brick. A three-decade-plus journalist, he reports for thecitywire.com. He lives in Fayetteville with his wife and their critters.

Bryan Alexis

Bryan Alexis received his Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design degree from Southern Arkansas University, holds a Master of Arts degree in graphic design from Northwestern State University of Louisiana and a Master of Fine Arts in visual design from The University of Arkansas. Bryan has worked at the University of Arkansas ? Fort Smith for over six years teaching Graphic Design, Web, Motion, Creative and Advertising Design. He has spent the last thirteen years teaching graphic design in Arkansas colleges and has worked as a graphic designer in various capacities from freelance to art director for over seventeen years. www.bryanalexis.net

Tom Hapgood

Tom holds degrees in journalism and fine arts and teaches Web Design, Motion Design and Typography at the University of Arkansas. Tom has designed websites for clients such as Marriott, MTV, American Bankers Association, Lifetime, Nickelodeon, Water Environment Foundation and Verizon. He led the interface team for the Pachyderm web-based presentation software. With a background in both fine arts and journalism, Tom has presented at conferences for College Art Association, Museums and the Web, New Media Consortium and Siggraph, as well as at WordCamp.

Jay Langston

Jay Langston is the Marketing Manager for Alternative Design in Siloam Springs, AR. He has extensive knowledge & experience in the fields of Internet marketing, ecommerce and social media marketing. Jay previously had stints as the Ecommerce Marketing Manager at Hermes NexTec LLC, and as the Director of Online Sales & Marketing at Innovative, Inc. Jay has over 15 years experience in marketplace ecommerce (eBay & Amazon) and currently owns Backstage Toys, an online retail business in Fayetteville, AR. Jay has a BSBA in Retail Marketing from the University of Arkansas and recently launched a new business blog, Brand Lifting.

Barry Belford

Barry Belford is the Lead Software Designer for The Belford Group, a full-service marketing and web development agency in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He possesses a comprehensive knowledge and extensive background in web design and web development which stems from over 14 years of experience as an application developer. Barry is proficient in several programming languages and systems which has allowed him to create several pieces of custom-designed software, including Online Signup. When he’s not crunching code, you can find Barry cooking a recipe found on Food Network or spending time with his wife and three children.

Tate Barber

I am a self-taught developer new to the WordPress scene, and have been developing alongside my brother, Blake, for one to two years. Among other things, I am an entrepreneur, husband, pianist, camper, Frisbee thrower, and paleo/primal-blueprint enthusiast.

Josepha Haden

Josepha Haden works for Automattic (WordPress).

keynote| What’s New with WordPress

Patrick Houston

Patrick Houston is the owner of Patrick Houston Design Studio ( www.patrickhouston.com ), a full-service design studio in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Patrick spent 20 years in the advertising agency industry as a graphic designer and art director before opening PHDS in 2005.
In 2010, Patrick began using WordPress for the studio’s clients, and has designed and developed more than 4 dozen websites using the platform since that time.
“The power of WordPress for site owners lies in its overall ease-of-use, its ability to design on the fly, and the extensive plugin availability that allows functionality enhancements without knowing how to write code.”

Jacqueline Wolven

Jacqueline started her career designing packages for Ninja Turtle Toys, Star Wars Episode One Packaging, and a host of consumer goods. After a solid career in graphic design in San Francisco she jumped feet first into corporate business development working with Bechtel National, Inc. and then Carlson Marketing Group as Director of Marketing Communications. Prior to the dot.com bust Wolven with clients to define their message and explode their brand, she worked with technology clients such as Sun, Citrix, and HP. Her travel and incentive marketing programs and materials are featured in the Pampered Chef corporate museum, as well.

Blake Barber

Blake Barber has been developing WordPress themes and plugins professionally for 2 years, while dabbling with WordPress and web development for years before. He and his brother, Tate Barber, are co-founders of Anchor Studios, a custom WordPress theme and plugin dev shop, in Little Rock. Blake enjoys finding solutions for complex WordPress deployments with the new devops movement. He and his wife remain busy with 3 sweet foster children. You can follow him on twitter @cblakebarber and on GitHub @clakeb (https://github.com/clakeb).

Colin Condray

Blue Zoo Creative was the brainchild of co-creators, Collin Condray and Eric Huber. They decided to make things easier for business owners by creating websites for entrepreneurs who want to manage their own success. In 2011, after two years of operation, they realized that business owners were ready to add more powerful and integrated tools to grow their businesses. Savvy business owners delegate certain tasks so they can focus on their core competencies. Blue Zoo Websites, LLC re-launched as Blue Zoo Creative to offer custom services in website design and development, social media integration, digital advertising, and graphic design. Recently, we added copywriting services to enhance your marketing efforts.

which track? business?| WordPress Security

Trisha Salas

Trisha Salas is a seasoned WordPress developer who also dabbles in BuddyPress and bbPress.  She has the mind of an engineer and, simultaneously, the uncanny ability to relate what she does to her clients and peers in a way that they can understand and appreciate. She’s a people person without really realizing it.  Her projects run the gamut from nonprofit to corporate and small business. She is as comfortable in a graphics editor as she is in a text editor, but much prefers the latter.  Her strengths lie in coding and wireframe but her innate assets include design, branding and business development.  When she isn’t working on a project or playing with code, you can find her hanging out on the BuddyPress-Dev IRC channel or you can find her on the web a twww.trishasalas.com and on Twitter at @trishacodes

Chris Look

Brenda Baskin

Brenda Baskin is a writer, humorist and an avid blogger whose work has been featured on WordPress’ “Freshly Pressed.” Her articles and essays have been published in various newspapers, magazines and websites, and she’s recently delved into the world of self-publishing. A semi-professional smart aleck, her one-liners have been printed on lapel buttons, t-shirts, bumper stickers and greeting cards. Originally from Memphis, she now lives in NW Arkansas with her musician husband and a tiny dog named Theo.

Alex Patin

Alex is a front end web developer from Nashville, Tennessee. He currently builds killer websites at JLB, a sweet web shop in Franklin. Alex is a member of the Nashville WordPress Developer Meetup, and was a part of the planning group for WordCamp Nashville. He nerds out over video games, technology, and anything with an awesome story. Follow him on Twitter, @patin__

Rebecca Haden

Rebecca has been writing for the web since 1998, and has been an SEO professional since 2006. Her degrees are in Linguistics and she has extensive experience in marketing and strategic communication. Featured in the Wall Street Journal in 2009, Rebecca has optimized websites and provided SEO strategy and content for clients on four continents. Before taking on the web, Rebecca was a writer and a teacher, and she still teaches writing at a local college. Rebecca is a frequent presenter at conferences and workshops.

Business Track| World Domination with WordPress Collaboration Tools

Cotton Rohrscheib

Husband, Father, entrepreneur, SKYWARN® certified storm chaser, blogger, podcaster, developer, WordPress fanboy, was raised by wild dingos until the age of nine when I left to join the circus. I also have the arms of a gladiator and Full-Blown ADHD. I have two amusing stories of Hoot Owls attacking people but I’m best known for my role as Partner and Co-Founder of Pleth, LLC, a full-service creative agency w/ offices in Batesville, Jonesboro, and Conway.

Megan Perez

“With over 8 years experience with WordPress, Megan is an experienced WP trainer, social media marketer, and content strategist. He provided training for over 80 different companies in the past year alone. Megan delivers comprehensive one-on-one instruction and also has experience with group instruction and public speaking. He’s presented at both national and local conferences and co-authored a book on professional development. When he is not training, he’s raising two handsome and very charming boys; sighing at the restlessness of his two rescue dogs; steaming vegetables and fruits for his 10 month-old baby; building LEGOs; and coaching his 7 year-old’s basketball team at the local Boys & Girls Club.”

Sean Borsodi

“Sean is Senior Web Designer at Sharp Hue, with experience creating over one hundred custom WordPress themes. Specializing in WordPress-based content management systems and UI/UX design. Fluent in multiple object oriented programming languages along with an array of front end technologies such as jQuery, HTML5 and CSS3 responsive design techniques.”