Speakers

Alex Stillwagon

Hi There. I’m Alex. I live and work in Alabama as a Web Developer, Graphic Designer, and Professional Photographer.

By day I write web code like PHP and CSS. At night, I’m Batman! I’m a geek all the time.

Political Views: Canon • Mac • iPhone • Batman • Dogs • Gandalf • HTML5

@alexstillwagon
1000slices.com – Photo Blog
AlexStillwagon.com

Allen Moore

Allen is a Design Engineer at 10up, a full service digital agency that makes web publishing and content management simple and fun. Allen has been designing and developing websites since he bought his first computer in 1997. He discovered WordPress in 2005, with the goal of providing a simple publishing platform for his clients. He tested different Content Management Systems, but the learning curve for publishers made WordPress stand above the rest.

Prior to 10up, Allen was a WordPress Developer at NC State University (2012 – 2014), and a freelance designer and developer for the first eight years of his career.

When he is not in front of a computer, Allen spends time with his wife Karoline and his dog George. He loves a good book, cup of coffee, pint of local beer, and cigars & Scotch. Allen is an avid guitarist and vocalist of over 20 years.

You can find Allen on Twitter at @creativeallen or on his blog at http://allenmoore.me.

Bill Robbins

Back in 2008, Bill had a crazy idea to start selling WordPress themes and life has just gotten better from there. He and his wife Nikki call Birmingham home and you can often find them chasing their three boys around town.

Brian DiChiara

I started almost exclusively using WordPress about 3-4 years ago, coming from a background of writing my own CMS and building applications in standard PHP and PHP Frameworks like Codeigniter. Since August of 2013, I’ve been freelancing full-time 90% off referrals and the great WordPress community has been keeping me busy. My wife and I have 2 awesome boys and a beautiful baby girl. My primary goal I’m working towards is to at some point be able to provide for my family solely on recurring/passive income. I’ve lived in the Birmingham area all my life and am passionate about making the WordPress community better, especially here in Birmingham.

Brian Krogsgard

Brian loves building websites and building them with WordPress. He has a passion for WordPress theming and creating practical solutions that solve client problems. He’s the Director of Operations at Range, a design & development agency, and WordPress.com VIP partner. He also runs Post Status, a WordPress industry blog that keeps him on the forefront of what’s happening in the WordPress community. Brian likes his coffee freshly ground and his craft beer hoppy. When he’s not working, he’s probably hanging out with his wife and blue Great Dane in Birmingham, Alabama.

Cal Evans

Many moons ago, at the tender age of 14, Cal touched his first computer. (We’re using the term “computer” loosely here, it was a TRS-80 Model 1) Since then his life has never been the same. He graduated from TRS-80s to Commodores and eventually to IBM PC’s. For the past 13 years Cal has worked with PHP and MySQL on Linux, OSX, and Windows. He has built a variety of projects ranging in size from simple web pages to multi-million dollar web applications. When not banging his head on his monitor, attempting a blood sacrifice to get a particular piece of code working, he enjoys building and managing development teams using his widely imitated but never patented management style of “management by wandering around”. These days, when not working with PHP, Cal can be found working on a variety of projects like CoderFaire. He speaks at conferences around the world on topics ranging from technical talks to motivational talks for developers. If you happen to meet him at a conference, don’t be afraid to buy him a shot of Bourbon. Cal is based in Nashville TN where he is happily married to wife 1.30, the lovely and talented Kathy. Together they have 2 wonderful kids who were both smart enough not to pursue a job in IT.

Carrie Rollwagen

Carrie Rollwagen is a writer, small business owner, blogger, Vespa owner and coffee aficionado. She blogs for various corporate clients and for Church Street Coffee & Books (churchstreetshop.com). When she’s not writing or posting to Instagram, Carrie teaches monthly social media seminars. Find her on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at @crollwagen.

Chanda Temple

Writing is Chanda Temple’s passion. She worked as an award-winning reporter for 16 years in Birmingham before going into public relations in 2012. She used WordPress to launch her blog, www.chandatemplewrites.com, in the summer of 2014 to reconnect with her passion. WordPress has a lot of bells and whistles to create a “pretty’’ website, but one must also create engaging content that will keep people coming back for more. Follow her on Twitter at @chandatemple.

Cliff Seal

Cliff is a UX Designer at Pardot, a salesforce.com Company — a leader in B2B marketing automation — where he has co-led team efforts on a complete Pardot.com refresh and a major UI overhaul. Cliff has been working on the web for over five years as Logos Creative, and founded MusicGrid.me and Evermore. He has spoken around the world, covering topics such as user experience process, content strategy, and WordPress. He lives in Atlanta with his wife April, and enjoys nerding out over music and cycling through the city.

David Hickox

I’m a web designer from Birmingham, AL with 15 years of experience building websites big and small for a wide variety of clients. I’m passionate about usability, obsessive about typography, and addicted to the mobile web. When I’m not designing, I also make music and grow a beard. I’m on Twitter and Dribbble at @roboticarm.

Greg Rickaby

Greg stumbled upon WordPress in 2006 and has been converting PSD’s into child-themes ever since. He started as a freelancer and now works full-time with WebDevStudios as a Design Lead. When offline, Greg loves to make homemade pizza and watch football. Saturday you’ll find him with a beer in one hand and grilling with the other. Sunday, he’ll be behind an audio console at Wiregrass Church in Dothan Alabama – making praise and worship come to life.

Jake Goldman

Jake is the President of 10up, a full service digital agency that makes web publishing and content management simple and fun. At 10up, he serves name brand clients like TechCrunch, ESPN, Consumer Reports, NBC Universal, and Google. In just over 3 years, Jake built 10up from 1 to more than 70 full time employees. Jake has been quoted on publications like c|net, written for Smashing Magazine, taught at Boston University, and presented at conferences around the country. He is a core contributor to WordPress, maintains some highly rated WordPress plug-ins including Simple Page Ordering, and organizes the Sacramento WordPress Meetup.

Jenny Munn

Jenny is an SEO strategist who specializes in helping non-techies, business owners and marketers understand what search engine optimization is truly about: generating more website leads. Jenny has taught SEO workshops at WordCamp Atlanta, Digital Atlanta, Solo PR Summit, and various blogging and social media events around town.

For more info visit Jenny’s SEO blog.

Karla Archer

Karla Archer is a local web and print designer, technophile, writer and idea generator. For blogging and web design, WordPress and the Genesis framework are her weapons of choice. (and dark chocolate and coffee are her fuel.) Prior to starting Archer Creative with her husband, Randy, Karla ran Fruition Designs, an online graphic design boutique. Originally specializing in print design, her leap into blogging in 2005 made the decision to learn web design and coding an easy one. When not designing and writing for others, she blogs about living simply and purposefully at LivingTheLifeFantastic.com.

Kathryn Lang

Kathryn C. Lang is a natural born Hopesmith that lives and writes in a little cabin in the woods in North Alabama. Her encouragement and support (and often her materials) come from her loving children and husband (and best friend for more years then either want to admit). Her passion for helping others find a life of peace and joy has provided her with opportunities to share her encouragement through her own experiences in words both written and spoken. Kathryn believes that each person has a unique purpose to fulfill. She desires to help others find their own path to that purpose and design. A life lived in purpose will be one filled with peace. Kathryn offers a phrases of hope in order to shine the Light on the moment. She works through her columns, articles, books and workshops. Her personal hope is that every person who encounters her words will feel as if those words were written (or spoken) just for her or him. “In my fiction, I tell a story that provides an uplifting message entrenched in hope. In my non-fiction and columns, I offer words that will point to hope. In my talks, I tell stories that inspire hope. Helping others discover their path to hope is my focus. I write to a woman that is trying to walk the tightrope of family, work and God – and keep them all in the right balance. She has a sense of humor, enjoys a little snark now and then, and references movies and songs in her every day speech. She plays with words and enjoys being around others that can keep up. She has a solid relationship with God, but hungers to go deeper. She is not afraid of faith in her own life or in the lives of those she encounters. She lives a life reaching for the rainbow.”

Twitter: Kathrynclang
Facebook: theKathrynCLang 
Google+: +KathrynCLang 
Website: KathrynLang.com 
Email: KathrynLang@KathrynLang.com

Kathy Drewien

speaker | trainer | cheese slave| patient non-geeky teacher | WordPress fanatic | sweet tea lover | believes success is teamwork | loves to laugh | enjoys eating

I specialize in helping you avoid the pain and expense of not knowing what you don’t know. My passion for WordPress shines through in my speaking, teaching and consulting as I help clients through the process of building their websites.

Kyle Evans

Kyle has been working and playing in web development since 2000, when he learned HTML out of curiosity for how the web works. He turned this hobby into a career and now works for Infomedia, a web shop in Birmingham, Alabama that uses WordPress to create custom sites for a wide range of clients.

Louis Dorman

Louis Dorman has been designing for the web since the days of dial-up. After graduating from the Art Institute of Phoenix in 2001, he went on to be responsible for the design and manufacturing of millions of products around the world. Louis was one of the first employees at Mashable, one of the most popular WordPress-powered websites. As former Art Director, he managed all areas of design, from the web presentation and UX to marketing collateral, as the company scaled to 30 million+ monthly unique visitors. Somehow, along the way, Louis’s love of food and innovation inspired him to co-found Comboware, a patented product in the housewares industry. When Louis isn’t realizing beautiful, usable websites, he still spends his free time designing fonts, creating functional art pieces and finding inspiration in the beauty of the outdoors.

Micah Wood

Micah has been the lead developer on Coca-Cola’s SparkCity Marketing Intranet, the Orkin pest control website, and Great Jake’s Rainmaker law firm CMS. He was also the sole developer for two successful SaaS products, MySmartBlog and CVRite, during the initial product development and launch phases. An avid WordPress plugin developer, Micah has experience supporting products with thousands of users and is a frequent speaker at various WordPress Meetups and WordCamps across the southeast. Micah is a Georgia State graduate with a dual major in business management and marketing and has consulted for companies around the world on SEO and inbound marketing strategies. He also occasionally blogs about WordPress and other web development topics.

Michele Butcher

Michele is a full time blogger, designer, and all around awesome person. Michele started her love for WordPress back in 2010. She got her feet wet working with Bit51 as a content creator and support ninja until its merger with iThemes. Michele is the Lead Organizer for the Southern Illinois WordPress Meetup and the newest member of the WP Security Lock team. When not in front of a screen, Michele enjoys life with her family and friends. Follow me on Twitter at @Michele_Butcher

Mickey Mellen

As a founder and partner of GreenMellen Media, Mickey is regarded as the token “tech guy” and his insights are greatly valued on the GreenMellen team. With over 10 years of WordPress experience and a passion for helping others, you will often find Mickey leading a North Atlanta-based MeetUp, All Things WordPress. He is also highly involved in social media and knows the ins and outs of everything from Facebook to Google+. You can also find Mickey coaching his daughter’s soccer team, playing softball or enjoying ice cream with his two girls and wife, Kelly.

Nancy Thanki

I take photos, shoot film, design stuff, and try not to be too pretentious about it. My very first client was a woman in her eighties running a spectacularly successful cancer non-profit program…who didn’t really use email, let alone anything else. I trained her to set-up and maintain a WordPress site. Throughout undergrad I gave regular talks to perspective students and parents on the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of college. Now as both a web designer and filmmaker, I’ve realized that I’m teaching very similar lessons to many of my clients, especially those that haven’t worked much with visual design, on how to avoid the pitfalls of “en vogue” to create products that can withstand the test of rising and falling fashions in typography, photography, film, and design.

Nathan Ingram

I built my first web site in 1995 back when the Internet had just begun walking upright. Since then, I’ve developed sites big and small, and lived through clients good and bad. For years, I developed custom web sites using Dreamweaver, then I found WordPress and never looked back. In addition to my freelance web development work, I serve as Technical Editor for WebDesign.com, where I teach WordPress and Web Design via live webinars.

Rachel Carden

Rachel Carden is a full-time WordPress dreamer, and Web Communications Specialist for The University of Alabama, who loves to get lost in code and gets way too excited when she discovers a new WordPress action or filter. When she’s not programming, she’s a fitness junkie who enjoys fantasizing about trips to the happiest place on earth and watching a lot of crimson-dressed men play football. She also likes to tweet: @bamadesigner.

Reneta Tsankova

Reneta is the Chief Operations Officer at SiteGround.com. She joined the company in 2004 and has been involved in almost every aspect of the business since then. The smooth user experience, outstanding customer service and strong company image are just a few of the things she takes cares of. She says that being a non-technical person in an extremely geeky company is her favorite challenge.

Sara Cannon

Sara has a passion for art, design, and typography. She is Partner and Creative Director for Range – A design and development agency specializing in WordPress. Sara loves open source, her pets, and traveling. You can find her on twitter @saracannon or writing on her blog sara-cannon.com. “Life is short, art is long, typography is everything, code is poetry.”

Tammy Hart

Tammy Hart has been playing on the web since she was a teenager and quickly fell in love with customizing it. WordPress helped her take that love to a whole new level and she has been whipping it into shape for the last 9 years. Her once free-time hobby quickly grew into the career it is today and she is now a Design Engineer for 10up, a full service web agency that specializes in medium to large scale WordPress projects. You can learn more about Tammy at her blog, tammyhartdesigns.com.

Wade Kwon

Birmingham native Wade Kwon works as a communications consultant. He also serves as conference director for Y’all Connect. The Poynter Institute selected Wade as one of 35 Influential People in Social Media. Birmingham Magazine readers selected him as Best Tweeter 2 years running in the Best of B’ham 2010 and 2011 online polls. His site, Magic City Post, was voted Best Website in the Birmingham’s Best 2011 readers’ poll by the Birmingham News; it also won 2011 Green Eyeshade Awards for Best Blog and Specialized Site. Wade has used WordPress for 9 years. Twitter: @WadeOnTweets

Williesha Morris

Williesha Morris has been hustling gigs of the freelance variety since she graduated from the University of South Carolina with a journalism degree in 2001. She has worn many hats including mystery shopper, office manager, customer service rep. Since 2012 she has been pursuing the dual title of administrative consultant and writer. Having this title allows her to never get bored, along with helping small business owners and entrepreneurs get more done and show freelancers how to truly live a “free” freelance life.

You can find her at My Freelance Life.com, on Facebook and Twitter.