David Wisnom III is the founder & Chief Strategist of SightCast Inc., a brand strategy and marketing consultancy. David's background in developing brand strategies covers the spectrum of brands such as UCSF, Huntington Hospital, Stanford Hospital & Clinics, Varian Medical Systems, Mechanics Bank, Wells Fargo Advisors, McDonald's, and Coca-Cola. David's accomplishments include co-authoring the book Before the Brand: Creating the Unique DNA of an Enduring Brand Identity, (published by McGraw-Hill) and most recently authoring “Rebranding the Corporate Enterprise: a Step-by-Step Guide.”
Prior to founding SightCast Inc., David was Managing Director of the FutureBrand, a global strategic branding firm. David was also Executive Director of Landor Associates, the leading strategic branding firm in San Francisco and opened their Chicago office.
David's current philanthropic work includes second term as past Board Chair of Community Gatepath, a 95+ year old nonprofit that provides essential services to children and adults with disabilities. Past roles include President of the Burlingame Soccer Club; Co-founder and Executive Chairman of the SMC Star Soccer Club; President of the Peninsula Civic Light Opera.
David attended the Cate School and Willamette University. He spends his rare free time with his wife, two kids, and lab Macallan fly fishing, cycling, and cooking.
“If you’re not relevant to your target audience, it doesn’t matter how different you are.” - David Wisnom III
It may be an overused word but Mimi is truly passionate about helping create truly outstanding workplaces.
Throughout her career, she has taken many business and personality assessments. With very few exceptions she weighs heavily towards creativity plus organization a combination that is highly unique she's been told. Due to this combination of strengths, she's had a very well-rounded background and experienced success as a strategist, a creative problem solver, a designer, a writer, a leader and a consultant. She’s worked in marketing, public relations, events, brand reputation, internal communications, design, corporate social responsibility, and executive communications. She’s worked for HR, Marketing and even once for Legal!
Mimi is currently a Senior Partner at her consulting firm, Streamline Communications, in the San Francisco Bay area, that specializes in internal communication and graphic design.
“It's absolutely no fun to implement a bad idea.” - Mimi Garrity Denman
Kevin Craine is a professional writer and editor, an internationally respected business analyst, and an award-winning podcast producer. Kevin's podcasts have been heard around the world, including the award-winning "Everyday-MBA.com" where he interviews best-selling authors about success tips and techniques that you don't learn in business school. He is the host and producer of "Bizcast" on C-Suite Radio and his interviews feature today's best thought leaders. He is the producer behind podcasts for Epson, Canon, IBM and Kelly Services, among others. Kevin has also been the written voice for some of North America's leading brands like IBM, Kodak and Intel, along with a long list of individuals and start-ups from a wide variety of industries.
“Good writing is good business.” - Kevin Craine
In spite of starting her career in accounting, failing IBM’s entry level sales exam, being given a territory that had never bought anything, and being told she couldn't sell without an engineering background, Kendra Lee entered the sales profession and proved those naysayers wrong. She turned her knowledge of numbers into her own approach to lead generation taking her to the top 1% of sales professionals in each IT company she sold for. She founded KLA Group, a sales and marketing agency, to consult, train and Do it For You so others, too, could beat the odds in sales and marketing and get more customers.
Under Kendra’s direction, her organization has assisted entrepreneurs, business owners, executives, marketers, and salespeople for over 20 years in penetrating SMB markets in just 12 weeks, increasing referrals more than 328% in just 7 weeks, and multiplying new client acquisition more than 31% year over year.
Kendra is the author of the award-winning books “The Sales Magnet” and “Selling Against the Goal.”
“Marketing can only go so far. At some point, a salesperson still has to pick up the phone.” - Kendra Lee
Libby leads the client services team at IDMLOCO, a digital strategy agency at the intersection of public affairs and marketing. With more than ten years of digital agency experience, Libby understands not just how to develop and implement successful campaigns, but also how to deliver exceptional communication and service to her clients.
A native Midwesterner, Libby has previously built and led digital agency teams for Campbell Mithun, AdFarm, and Flint Group, where her work for Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota earned a PRSA Silver Anvil. In 2012, Libby developed and taught the first class on social media for professional communicators at Minnesota State University - Moorhead.
“Dedicate at least 10% of staff time to learning, R&D, and development because that makes your processes, ideas for clients, and everything else that you do stronger.” - Libby Hall
Today we’re going to talk about #Hashtags. How do you use them -- and how do you use them well?
“Make sure you know what your hashtag means before you use it.” - Lee Caraher
So many books, so little time! We’ve taken the guesswork away by highlighting the best books you need to read this quarter.
“Each of these books has five nuggets that you can apply to your programs today that can help you have better results by next quarter.” - Lee Caraher
Julie developed Saison Beauty to bring together her passion for luxurious skin care treatments, eco health-friendly products, and holistic health.
Prior to launching Saison, Julie spent 20 years as a global brand marketing and e-commerce executive at leading companies across several industries including beauty and skincare, retail, fashion, food and beverage, and consumer electronics.
Most recently Julie was the marketing director for Gap Online International, overseeing the marketing of the Gap Europe, Gap Japan, and Banana Republic Europe e-commerce sites. While at Gap Inc., Julie also worked for the Gap Inc. Direct Marketing Strategy and Old Navy Online divisions.
Julie also worked with a number of other global brands and companies including Shu Uemura, Aveda, The Body Shop, Elle Magazine Interactive, Cosmopolitan Magazine Interactive, Fox Interactive (The Simpsons, Die Hard, The X-Files), Mattel Interactive (Barbie, Hot Wheels, Matchbox), Peet's Coffee & Tea, Hitachi Home Electronics and NEC Electronics.
“Whatever is the easiest to execute that is going to give me the highest result, that’s where I tend to lean my focus on.” - Julie Kim
Kristen Ruby is the CEO of Ruby Media Group, a full-service Public Relations and Social Media Agency in Manhattan. Ruby is one of the preeminent social media experts in America. Ruby is a pioneer in the world of social media and tech trends and is a frequent on-air contributor to FOX Business, Good Morning America and countless other networks. Kris was chosen by the Business Council of Westchester as the youngest “40 Under 40″ Rising Stars. Most recently, Ruby has been featured on Bravo as “one of the pre-eminent social media experts in the field.” For more information or to book Kris Ruby for a segment, visit www.krisruby.com.
“You should hire a PR person if you really want someone to package your brand properly and get you out there.” - Kristen Ruby