We are very excited to announce the speakers for WordCamp Rochester! We are humbled to have such a variety of highly dedicated, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic WordPressers joining us.
WordCamp speakers are entirely volunteer. They self-fund their travel and accommodations to speak at WordCamps all over the world. We are grateful for their commitment to the Rochester WordPress community.
Adam W. Warner
Adam W. Warner first discovered WordPress in 2005 and has since founded several WordPress-focused businesses that provide education, plugins and consulting services for online business owners.
In 2016 he brought his passion for WordPress to SiteLock as a Product Evangelist. Adam has since delivered his zeal for WordPress to many WordCamps and other events all over the world.
In addition to WordPress, Adam is passionate about his family, robots and of course, life, the universe and everything.
Andy McIlwain
Andy McIlwain wrangles content and community projects at GoDaddy. On the side, Andy spends his time brushing up on his developer skillz by working with local community groups and small businesses. He’s been a WordPress advocate since 2007, co-organizing WPToronto since 2011 and WordCamp Toronto 2011-2015.
Andy Staple
I’m a UX & UI designer with over 16 years of experience building digital products, websites, and applications. I am the Creative Director of Staple Creative. I’ve always been drawn to almost anything artistic or creative. From Classic Automotive Design to Web Typography and all of the wide-ranging bits between those two points.
Ben Dunkle
Ben Dunkle is a teacher, designer, and occasional artist. He’s a core designer for WordPress.org, and has designed thousands of icons for WordPress, including the Dashicons that we see in the wp-admin. Ben has organized and spoken at numerous WordCamps and runs a bi-weekly WordPress users meetup group.
Bridget Willard
She is the co-host of WPblab, a show on the WPwatercooler network, co-organizer of Women Who WP Meetup, and Team Rep on the Make WordPress Marketing Team.
She blogs about social media and, of course, WordPress on her site at bridgetwillard.com
Christine Baker Marriage
Christine Baker Marriage here of Christine Baker Marriage Consulting. This is my name not what I do. I am NOT a professional baker nor am I a marriage counselor. I can however, help you create that SWEET spot in your life where you are able to MARRY your work life, your home life and your personal life so that you are more balance, more productive and the best version of you.
Learn more about me at ccbakermarriage.com.
Jim Echter
Jim and his wife run two businesses under the umbrella of True Creations. True Creations Woodturning (tcturning.com) and True Creations Quilting (tcquilting.com). Jim has an extensive background in high technology sales, marketing and customer service. He has been involved in several start-up companies but now follows his passion with his woodworking. Jim has a MS – Service Innovation and Leadership from RIT. He and his wife live in Penfield, NY and they have two adult children.
Jonathan Perlman
Jonathan Perlman is an experienced web developer and teacher that works for Dawson College in Montreal, Quebec. He builds custom web solutions for the students, faculty and staff. Recently he’s been leveraging WordPress more and more to do the heavy lifting while focusing on the needs of the institution with custom themes and plugins. Some of his sites have been built for a select few whereas others are visited by 12,000+ applicants. Jonathan is also an instructor for Dawson’s Centre for Training and Development specializing in web technologies such as HTML & CSS, PHP and WordPress.
Joseph Fusco
Joe is a WordPress developer for Incsub, the company behind behind WPMU DEV, CampusPress, & Edublogs. A local to Rochester, Joe is a WordPress core contributor, & has assisted in the development of both the Twenty Sixteen & Twenty Seventeen default WordPress themes.
Karen Cleveland
As a Digital Marketing Strategist, Karen works with established business owners who want to focus on providing value to their ideal clients.
Karen uses a proven process based on the Buyer’s Journey concept to identify what content the prospect needs as they discover, evaluate, and make the purchase decision. The resulting Digital Marketing Strategy positions that content across the digital footprint (social media, website, and follow-up email marketing) where the prospects can find it!
Karen collaborates with website developers, graphic designers, social media consultants, content writers, and other specialists who recognize how a comprehensive Digital Marketing Strategy improves the effectiveness of what they provide to their clients. She often serves as a Project Manager to coordinate the Digital Marketing implementation for clients.
Karen also contributes to world peace by volunteering with AFS, an international exchange student organization. Ask her how you can get involved too! www.afsusa.org.
Lee Hurst
I’ve been building websites since 1995. I worked with IBM building web applications with clients like Kodak in the early 2000’s.
Since then I’ve been working at Garlock Sealing Technologies where I develop eCommerce applications, global / multilingual websites, analytics applications and digital marketing strategy.
My passion lately is developing analytics strategies that make sense for busy small business owners. Oh , and I run the Rochester Digital Marketing and Learn Tai Chi in Rochester Meetup groups.
Luke Gedeon
Luke started pressing words in the 1.5 days and immediately turned it into a corporate project management and workflow tracker. He hasn’t stopped pushing the edges of WordPress capabilities since. Luke founded WordCamp RhodeIsland, contributes to core, and solves pressing problems at XWP. When he isn’t tearing code to shreds, he is playing with his wife and seven kids or inventing a new spoken language.
Matt Graham
A seasoned coder and a clever video and audio producer, Matt uses a wide range of technologies to bring even the most outlandish ideas and designs to life. His innate curiosity translates into exceptional problem solving skills. With over 10 years of technical experience behind him, Matt is an expert in both mobile device and computer development.
Even before he was a developer, Matt was using WordPress for his blogging needs, back when he was a “prolific” blogger, before it was cool. Matt has been developing with WordPress for 6 years, almost exclusively for 2 years.
Matt is from Whitby, ON, Canada and he is currently Co-Founder and Developer at RocketCloud Inc, a startup web development company; a freelancer and aspiring coworking space founder.
Michelle Ames
Overextended, overcommitted, entrepreneur, volunteer, and social butterfly. Avid Scrabble player. Tea snob. Mom. School board member. Marketing enthusiast. 11th hour expert. WordPress fanatic. Lead organizer of WordCamp Rochester, NY. WordPress Rochester meetup organizer. Frequent WordCamp speaker.
Michelle is the owner and marketing diva at Marketed by Michelle.
Mike Farney
Mike’s 26 years of experience working for start-up software companies and large technology corporations has given him a broad range of knowledge of large and small businesses. He possesses a unique blend of channel development, strategic partner development, and sales experience that has given him the ability to provide his team and customers with great advice about their business and how it relates to internet sales. In addition, his analytical training and experience has given him the ability to identify opportunities and execute Internet Marketing plans and strategies that increase sales for his customers.
Miriam Goldman
Miriam is a web developer for a boutique digital marketing agency in Ottawa, Canada. She has been developing for over twelve years, and with WordPress since 2008. She is a co-organizer of WordCamp Ottawa, and is a regular speaker and participants in the local Ottawa WordPress Community.
Outside of her development life, she competes in Latin ballroom dance, and teaches karate. Miriam is also very obsessed with her dog.
Nick Adams
Nick Adams is a web developer and the Lead Happiness Buff at WP Buffs, which is a Washington DC-based WordPress Support company with employees distributed around the world. Nick moved to Rochester from Connecticut in 2014 and can often be found in various parks around the city, working from his phone while he’s out on a walk.
Ron Brennan
Ron is the owner of CANI Consulting Group, a Buffalo-based firm that works with companies to help them establish and improve the efficiency of their business and marketing operations. He holds degrees in Computer Programming and Business Management and has been developing custom websites with WordPress since 2008.
Shanta R. Nathwani
Shanta is a full-stack web developer and educator in web design. She has spent the last five years at Sheridan College heading up the Web Design and Capstone track for the CCIT program.
She is a recent graduate of the Full-Time Web Development program at BrainStation in Toronto. Her latest project, An Affordable REST, helps people find subsidized housing based on need instead of location.
Shanta has attended 30 WordCamps, spoken at 26 of them, and co-organized four WordCamps (Milwaukee, Hamilton and Toronto). She is a regular speaker at DevTO, has spoken at FITC Web Unleashed, Full Stack Conference, and Bifrost Conf.
Shawn Hooper
Shawn Hooper is the Director of IT at Actionable.co where he builds tools to integrate the many systems used in a distributed company.
Hailing from Ottawa, Canada, Shawn has been building web applications since the late 90’s, with a focus on WordPress since 2011. He is a core contributor to the WordPress open source project, and has spoken at WordPress events in Canada, the United States and Australia. Shawn is also the co-organizer of WordCamp Ottawa.
Tracy Rotton
Tracy is the Founder and Principal of Taupecat Studios, a digital media agency that specializes in custom WordPress development. She has twenty years of professional web development experience and is a front-end expert. She is also a core WordPress contributor and co-organizer of WordPress D.C. She lives with her husband and two children near Washington, D.C.
Trevor Johnson-Steigelman
Trevor is the owner of Coaches of Technology, Inc., a company that provides classes on the programming of robots and microcontrollers for youngsters. The company also provides technology training for adults, including iPad and Windows. More information is available at coachesoftechnology.com.
Trevor is also an Assistant Professor of Physics at Finger Lakes Community College. He uses his website, physicsthisweek.com, to help students at FLCC and other schools learn the fundamentals of physics.
He uses coachesoftech.com to help teach teachers how to implement technology in their classrooms.