Speakers

Certified Public Accountant. Owner of Yudichak CPA PC. As a passionate small business owner himself, Damon knows firsthand the joys and challenges of small business ownership. In 2010, the Triangle Business Journal recognized Damon as being one of their 40 Under 40 leadership recipients. In his free time, Damon enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters. He also enjoys running. Having now completed four half-marathons, he looks forward to running his first marathon in late 2011.

Michael has over 20 years experience in information technology covering a wide range of specialties including: web design, software engineering, e-commerce solutions, artificial intelligence, and Internet marketing. He is a member of the World Association of Internet Marketers and of SEO Professionals. He has degrees in Linguistics, Philosophy and Theology.Experience: Michael is a contributing author to SEOToday.com, the premier website for SEM professionals, and a contributor to “Building Your Business With Google for Dummies” by Brad Hill (Wiley Publishing). He is a frequent presenter at Ultra Advanced SEO Symposiums, a meeting of select masters of the search engine marketing industry, and has been invited many times to speak at Search Engine Workshops. Michael is a licensed instructor and owner of the North Carolina Search Engine Academy. He recently became a frequent instructor on search engine technologies at the U.S. Patent Office. He has been a guest lecturer at the NC State University Graduate Math Department and was invited as a panelist at a National Institute of Statistical Sciences Workshop on Non-Negative Matrix Factorization.The companies and organizations Michael has consulted with include: 1-800-Flowers, Alcatel-Lucent, AOL, Drs Foster & Smith, IBM, InterActiveCorp, Sony and WebMD.

Mital M. Patel focuses his boutique law practice on serving entrepreneurs, business owners/executives, and technology startup companies. His services span the business life cycle, ranging from early stage start-up and incorporation, contract drafting/review, intellectual property protection and counseling, employment and business growth, to mergers, acquisitions and wind down. His background as an entrepreneur, computer programmer and web designer allow him to speak his clients’ “language” and provide clear legal counsel that makes business sense. Mital developed his passion for technology when he majored in Computer Science at NC State University, where he graduated with honors and received his Juris Doctorate as a Charter member of the Elon University School of Law.

David Rogers is a freelance software development consultant living in Orlando, FL, where he helps organize the local PHP, Python, and Coding Dojo groups, speaks at local conferences, and teaches best practices in the industry at BarCamps and other (un)conferences. He specializes in building custom systemizing applications for the web — in the cloud or not — and around town, he’s known as an expert on Test-Driven Development, Agile Development (Scrum, XP, Lean, Kanban), and general Software Development Life Cycle concerns that inevitably get ignored or deferred. And he’s a pretty nice guy to talk to. He might even buy you a drink.

Richard Powell

http://samedis.com
Richard is freelance web designer working in Chapel Hill. Over the past eight years, Rich has had the opportunity to design and build sites for underwater photographers and educators, acupuncturists and investment firms, software consultants and musicians. He enjoys finding just the right arrangement of pixels and code to suit each client.

Tim is a web developer in Minneapolis, Minnesota who went from indie developer in college to business owner upon completion of his degree.Tim provides technical vision and execution to help build a more vibrant, community driven web experience. As a graduate of the computer science department at North Dakota State, Tim is trained in software development best practices. Furthermore, his experience developing for the World Wide Web yields successful, second-to-none products completed in a time-sensitive manner. He loves contributing to projects and helping to guide them to success.

Patrick O’Keefe is the founder of the iFroggy Network, a publisher of websites. He has been managing online communities since 2000 and is the author of Managing Online Forums, a practical guide to managing online social spaces. He has been responsible for the cultivation of communities like KarateForums.com, phpBBHacks.com and PhotoshopForums.com. He blogs about online community at ManagingCommunities.com, his favorite record label at BadBoyBlog.com and more at patrickokeefe.com. On Twitter, he’s @iFroggy.

Michael Eaton is the founder of Validus Solutions, a custom software development and coaching company that specializes in leveraging client-based technologies. Validus has been developing solutions using Microsoft tools and technologies since 2001 and serves clients throughout the mid-west. Michael speaks throughout the United States at various regional events, user groups and conferences sharing his love of client development to other developers. He also spends time coaching and mentoring other developers. Michael runs the Kalamazoo X Conference and is a C# MVP. When not working on projects or spending time with his family, he treats his World of Warcraft addiction with ample doses of…World of Warcraft.

Pepper Oldziey is a Manhattan, NYC native. She attended Parsons School of Design, the original one, in New York, and has a BFA in Graphic Design and a Master’s in Educational Media. A professional designer for 40 years, Pepper began her career in the New York world of Corporate Identity for Multinational Corporations, and has worked as a University Publications designer, a Magazine Art Director, and a Textbook Designer. Her most recent business efforts are focused on web design and complete marketing development for web and print branding. She was awarded a ” ‘Webby’ 2006 Official Honoree Non-Profit Philanthropic Category ” for her website development for an educational foundation. Her freelance design business has been called “Peppergraphics” since 1969, and her online portfolio website is “Peppergraphics.com.” Her newest venture is a collaborative team called “PositivelySpherical.com” specializing in web presence management and Search Engine Optimization for websites. She is an “Inside919 Network Partner” here in the Triangle.

Laura Creekmore is an experienced, award-winning content strategist, online community expert and project manager. Working in digital media since 1996, she is skilled in bridging the divide between business needs and technical realities. After a dozen years in digital media, Creekmore opened her own firm in January 2009. She helps clients with content strategy and management, search application optimization, taxonomy and information architecture, and online communities. She developed, and her team now implements, the content strategy for a private personal health improvement site. She also manages the content development and community engagement strategy for a software company’s private customer community, working to improve service and drive down costs. Creekmore served as director of content and community, managing the team that designed the site taxonomy and handled customer interaction. She is the recipient of many industry awards, including recognition from the the Custom Publishing Council, the Web Marketing Association, the Webby Awards, the Association for Publication Excellence Awards and the Publications Management Magnum Opus Awards.

Joseph D’Agnese and Denise Kiernan are freelancers and writers who speak often on issues facing freelancers. In this community, they’re probably best known as the authors of The Money Book for Freelancers (Random House). They are both incorrigible geeks, as evidenced by the fact that they’ve also authored two books about the signers of the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution, called Signing Their Rights Away and Signing Their Lives Away. Denise is author of an upcoming book from Simon & Schuster about the Manhattan Project, and Joe published a book for kids about Leonardo of Pisa, namesake of the Fibonacci Sequence. Visit them at joedenise.com.

Laney Dale

http://appuware.com
Laney Dale has worked in the IT field for over15 years which has included various aspects including development, security, and management. Early in his career Laney was recruited into KPMG’s Information Risk Management practice where he lead projects for clients of all sizes. After leaving KPMG Laney started an audit practice that grew to 150 people over 5 years. Laney left his practice to start a software company in 2008. this company NuOpus began developing mobile apps and became appubator inc in 2010. At appubator Laney has helped develop over 40 mobile apps including and industry leading mobile app for babysitting management.

 

 

Web & Graphic Designer, Writer, Marketing Consultant. Based in the Greater Fort Lauderdale, FL area, Neil Tortorella brings with him over 30 years experience as an award-winning graphic designer, writer and marketing consultant. He has operated his own design and marketing consulting practice, Tortorella Design, for over 20 years. Through Tortorella Design, Neil has worked with several Fortune 500, along with small to mid-sized companies, to develop pragmatic solutions to their communications challenges. His key strength is blending branding and marketing strategy with memorable visuals and copy to create a distinctive impression in the minds of his clients’ audiences.

I’m NOT an Entrepreneur, I’m a Micro Business Owner and very proud of it.

My sole mission is to connect Micro Business Owners and Solo Professionals together “Online” so that they can take that Relationship “Offline” where it will build and benefit them, their clients and local community they serve. I do this via the ComeOnInside.com Network of Local Business Networks across the United States. How can I help you?

I have an interest in helping people get over the “Entrepreneur Syndrome” (everyone wants to be one) and put the spotlight on how important being a micro or small business owner is to our local economy. 1099 is Cool!