Media & Information

Esteemed specialists working in the fields of media education, digital media, multimedia and radio services

Michael Kurtz

Michael Kurtz

Michael Kurtz has worked in the field of design for over 20 years. A graduate of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in the field of Industrial Design, he’s worked in almost every aspect of design and media. Michael started his company “Designed from Scratch Concepts” in 2018 because he was frustrated watching as new businesses failed because of lackluster brands and terrible marketing. With his business he’s helping small businesses hit the ground running by teaching them how to demand respect, look professional, and compete with the larger companies in their field.
Michael knows how to grab people’s attention and never let go, how to tell a story that will resonate with your clients. Now, he’s going to teach you how to do it too.

Michael Kurtz has worked in the field of design for over 20 years. A graduate of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in the field of Industrial Design, he’s worked in almost every aspect of design and media. Michael started his company “Designed from Scr... Show more

Tami Wloch

Tami Wloch

Tami Wloch
Director of Social/Digital Marketing, Strategic & Creative Marketing Inc.
847-271-4066
Tami@SCmarketinginc.com
www.scmarketinginc.com

Professional BIO

Tami Wloch’s career includes 20 years of corporate sales and marketing experience in retail, tourism, and telecommunications, plus entrepreneurial experience gained by starting and managing multiple retail businesses.

Tami is highly skilled in Paid Social Ad Campaigns and runs customer campaigns that can obtain 50,000+ views in a month and have engagement rates 200%+ higher than average. Due to her successful ad campaigns, Tami serves on:
• Multiple Facebook Advisory Panels to analyze features and provide feedback to Facebook Corporate including the mobile app, video design, & their paid campaign programs
• An Adobe Spark Panel advising Adobe designers regarding features in their custom graphic & video program
• A LinkedIn Advisory Panel providing feedback for many tools used by LinkedIn, including their paid campaign program

Both Nationally and Internationally, Tami teaches classes in Social Media to help business owners understand the complex world of gaining customers thru Social Platforms. Tami’s presentations give attendees step-by-step instructions they can implement for immediate results. In addition, she is certified in both SEO and Google Analytics.

Specific areas of focus throughout her career include: entrepreneurship; small & mid-sized business marketing; teaching and educating; public speaking; networking referrals; advertising, promotions and publicity campaigns; client relations; paid social media campaigns; social media marketing.

Her educational background includes a BA in Education from the University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana and a second degree black belt in martial arts.


Recommendations By Past Attendees

“Tami is extremely knowledgeable and her presentation was outstanding! She found a way to make her material applicable to each and every business owner in the room (all who are from very different industries).” - Kyra Tillman, President at BTM Industries Inc

“5 stars to Tami for her outstanding knowledge within social media marketing. She delivers outstanding value and helped my team of consultants Expedia CruiseShipCenters NorthShore in more ways than I can describe in a paragraph. Thank you Tami!” - Paul Coplan, Owner, Expedia Cruise Ships Centers

“Before working with Tami, I had a clear understanding of how to use and navigate my own social media accounts, but was unsure of how to translate those skills to business accounts. Tami guided me through establishing, running, and most importantly, profiting from my social media business accounts. She's the best!” - Anna Dolezal, MS, Education Coordinator at National Association for Healthcare Quality

I attended Tami Wloch's presentation to over 1,000 delegates at MDRT meeting in Sydney recently and was most impressed. She spoke clearly and succinctly about the value of using Facebook and LinkedIn in your business to build your professional profile. Her topic helped me to understand the power of these social media tools in a simple and easy to implement manner. I would highly recommend Tami Wloch to any prospective organization seeking a knowledgeable & entertaining speaker to share valuable, practicable, tips and traps in social media use to help grow their business. - Michael MacQuillan, Financial Adviser, Sydney, Australia

Speaking Topics - SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING:
• How To Use Facebook & LinkedIn To Generate More Sales For Your Company
• Why You Should Be Using Twitter To Increase Your Business Sales
• The 5 Key Parts Of Your Website That Need To Be Changed to Get You More Business
• Free Ways To Use Google Analytics To Improve Your Website
• 5 Things Must You Change on Your Facebook Business Page to Attract More Clients
• 5 Changes to Your LinkedIn Profile That Will Get You More Business
• How Your Employees Can Use Social To Increase the Company’s Sales
• How To Effectively Use Social Media To Attract & Keep The Best Employees
• How to Set Up a Business Page on Facebook (& Why You NEED To Have One)
• Why You Need a Business Page on LinkedIn (in additional to your personal profile)
• What Must Be Included In Every Social Media Post to Drive Sales
• How to Use Local Facebook Events To Reach More Attendees And To Sell More Booths
• How to Reach More Potential Customers on LinkedIn for Free
• Other Social/Digital Media Topics As Requested

MEDIA AND SPEAKING EVENTS

September 2019 Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) Global Conference Sydney, Australia
Speaker: How to Successfully Use Facebook & LinkedIn To Generate More Sales

July 2019 Quad County African American Chamber of Commerce Aurora, IL
Speaker + Panelist: Growing Your Business Using Social Media

June 2019 Goldman-Sachs 10K Businesses Group Elmhurst, IL
Speaker: How to Use Facebook & LinkedIn to Increase Sales

May 2019 Expedia CruiseShip Center Buffalo Grove, IL
Speaker: How To Get More Travel Industry Clients with Social

March 2019 Pet Industry Professionals National Webinar
Speaker: How To Use Social Media to Land More Business

February 2019 Business Radio X Pensicola, FL
Speaker: How The Latest Facebook Changes Can Affect Your Business

February 2019 Extraordinary Professional Women’s Networking Group (EPWNG) Aurora, IL
Speaker: How To Use Social Media to Land More Business

December 2018 Webb Financial Group Lake Forest, IL
Speaker: How Your Company Employees Can Share On LinkedIn

September 2018 Grayslake Business Group (GBBG) Grayslake, IL
Speaker: How To Use Facebook To Grow Your Business

August 2018 Churchill, Quinn, Richtman, & Hamilton Grayslake, IL
Speaker: How Your Company Execs Can Share On LinkedIn

June 2018 PC Nation Evanston, IL
Speaker: How To Increase Sales With Your Facebook Biz Page

March 2018 HR Summit Chicago, IL
Speaker: Recruitment Marketing using Social

*Private/SemiPrivate Classes available year-round upon request

AV Needs:
- Large Screen
- Projector to connect to computer
- Clicker to forward the computer slides
- Microphone – only for large rooms

Tami Wloch Director of Social/Digital Marketing, Strategic & Creative Marketing Inc. 847-271-4066 Tami@SCmarketinginc.com www.scmarketinginc.com Professional BIO Tami Wloch’s career includes 20 years of corporate sales and marketing experi... Show more

Cynthia Epelle

Cynthia Epelle

I am interested in things that can change the world. Aside from writing, I also anchor events/shows and I act too.

I am interested in things that can change the world. Aside from writing, I also anchor events/shows and I act too. Show more

Nick Leigh

Nick Leigh

Since graduating with an honours degree in Business, Nick has dedicated his 25 year career to design and design leadership. From a backyard startup through agency life to WA’s biggest institutions, Nick has created and lead design teams across a broad spectrum of industries, platforms, experiences and brands in the UK and Australia. With entrepreneurial and leadership experience delivering design, marketing, customer and brand experience projects, and major strategy and transformation programs, Nick is still humbly learning the idiosyncrasies of human-centred design.

Since graduating with an honours degree in Business, Nick has dedicated his 25 year career to design and design leadership. From a backyard startup through agency life to WA’s biggest institutions, Nick has created and lead design teams across a broa... Show more

Tyler Hays

Tyler Hays

An Emmy award-winning filmmaker and recognized in Knoxville’s 40 Under 40 list, Tyler Hays is a co-founder and video strategist at Vessul Creative, a strategy-focused video marketing firm that helps companies implement effective storytelling to transform their business. Whether through traditional forms or virtual reality, Tyler believes that video storytelling is one of the most powerful ways to influence culture and make an impact. As a professional engineer turned creative entrepreneur, problem-solving is always as the core of how he approaches projects and has led him into directing video projects both nationally and internationally for clients such as the Travel Channel.

An Emmy award-winning filmmaker and recognized in Knoxville’s 40 Under 40 list, Tyler Hays is a co-founder and video strategist at Vessul Creative, a strategy-focused video marketing firm that helps companies implement effective storytelling to trans... Show more

Matteo Venturi

Matteo Venturi

Marketing manager e digital product integrator. La mia esperienza si basa su progetti di piattaforme HR digitali, e-Commerce e advertising.
Ho maturato la mia esperienza strategica in grandi aziende digital (Italiaonline, Matrix e Buongiorno). Negli ultimi anni mi sono occupato di lanciare startup #hrtech #ecommerce dal carattere innovativo e sociale (Jobmetoo, Jointly, Myco).

Marketing manager e digital product integrator. La mia esperienza si basa su progetti di piattaforme HR digitali, e-Commerce e advertising. Ho maturato la mia esperienza strategica in grandi aziende digital (Italiaonline, Matrix e Buongiorno). Neg... Show more

Zachary Eisenhauer

Zachary Eisenhauer

I have worn many hats - everything from end user, to administrator trainer, to server farm admin, and even to solutions architect (SharePoint included!)

I actively work in on-premises and cloud environments, and assist businesses of every size to solve technology challenges and streamline digital business processes. Having worn so many hats, my experience has taught me many lessons, and I love to share that experience with people!

I have worn many hats - everything from end user, to administrator trainer, to server farm admin, and even to solutions architect (SharePoint included!) I actively work in on-premises and cloud environments, and assist businesses of every size to ... Show more

Igor Vezmar

Igor Vezmar

A business and technology strategy executive with 20 years of experience in M&E and founding partner of Konstrukt, an execution-oriented media technology consulting and advisory firm. Has incubated and launch a variety of new businesses in media and technology with expertise in post-production, media logistics and multi-platform distribution.

A business and technology strategy executive with 20 years of experience in M&E and founding partner of Konstrukt, an execution-oriented media technology consulting and advisory firm. Has incubated and launch a variety of new businesses in media and ... Show more

Wesley Cabus

Wesley Cabus

Wesley is a Customer Success Engineer at Duende Software, helping Duende's customers to be successful by assisting developers with issues, documenting common problems and teaching about security / identity.

He's also a Microsoft MVP, board member of the VISUG meetup in Belgium and speaker at meetups and conferences, such as NDC London and Sydney, Copenhagen Developer Festival, WeAreDevelopers Berlin, Update Conference, TechDays, DevConf, DeveloperDays and Techorama.

Wesley is a Customer Success Engineer at Duende Software, helping Duende's customers to be successful by assisting developers with issues, documenting common problems and teaching about security / identity. He's also a Microsoft MVP, board member ... Show more

Suesi Tran

Suesi Tran

Suesi Tran is a Google Developer Expert in Dart & Flutter & Firebase, GDG Co-Organiser at GDG Melbourne and Flutter Melbourne, and a Women Techmaker Melbourne Ambassador. She has more than 18 years experience in mobile development, and started Flutter development since 2017.

Suesi is the founder of Nartus, the company behind MemoirME - a digital diary designed to help people preserve meaningful memories, relieve stress, and support better mental well-being. MemoirME empowers users to tell their own stories, in their own voices, with the goal of fostering reflection, healing, and personal growth.

Suesi Tran is a Google Developer Expert in Dart & Flutter & Firebase, GDG Co-Organiser at GDG Melbourne and Flutter Melbourne, and a Women Techmaker Melbourne Ambassador. She has more than 18 years experience in mobile development, and started Flutte... Show more

Sharon Smith

Sharon Smith

I'm a dual Microsoft Business Applications MVP in Customer Experience and Customer Service. An expert Microsoft Certified Dynamics 365 Solution Architect, who's led the delivery and implementation of several tailored and value-oriented solutions to meet diverse global and national business requirements, that lead to positive customer outcomes.

15x Microsoft Certified and Success by Design Accredited, I use its principles that blend strategic design, rigorous gap analysis, and the pursuit of excellence in service delivery, to craft pathways to success for customers.

As Founder of the UK Charity HeuristicDev: The Mentoring Hub and regular Community contributor through my HeuristicDev blog posts and public speaking, I have a 'thing' for learning, a thirst for knowledge, and a desire for sharing both to uplift and empower all.

I'm a dual Microsoft Business Applications MVP in Customer Experience and Customer Service. An expert Microsoft Certified Dynamics 365 Solution Architect, who's led the delivery and implementation of several tailored and value-oriented solutions to ... Show more

Dan Toft

Dan Toft

Meet Dan from Denmark 🇩🇰 - A Microsoft 365 developer and consultant 🧑‍💻 - with a huge passion for community 🙌

Dan has “only” been working with Microsoft technologies since 2018 📅 - making him a “cloud native” developer ☁️

When he started working with Microsoft 365, he instantly fell in love with the platform 🎉 - and especially how fast and easy it is to create real world value for end users 🚀 - and that is what he is passionate about sharing with others 🙌

When he’s not working the next community sample 🎉, blog post ✍️ or at work 🥱 - he loves to throw plastic in nature 🌳 - quite literally, Dan loves to play Disc golf 🥏

#SharingIsCaring 🙌

Meet Dan from Denmark 🇩🇰 - A Microsoft 365 developer and consultant 🧑‍💻 - with a huge passion for community 🙌 Dan has “only” been working with Microsoft technologies since 2018 📅 - making him a “cloud native” developer ☁️ When he started ... Show more

Taha Bouhsine

Taha Bouhsine

I am Taha Bouhsine, from a small town near Agadir, currently based in San Francisco, USA, trying to decipher the magic of AI and create cheesy-titled papers for the AI research community.

I am an AI/ML Google Developer Expert, I tend to be a generalist having experience working on different types of tasks in software engineering, machine learning engineering, research engineering, and electrical engineering while specializing in Deep Learning with a focus on Multimodality Deep Learning, Representation Learning, and Continual Learning. I published research papers on Machine Learning applied to different fields including aviation safety, civil engineering, security, and remote sensing.

I had the honor of founding a GDSC UIZ in Agadir. Together with my team, we organized over 90 events that reached more than 2,000 people. I am also the founder of MLNomads, a research community dedicated to collaborating on ML research projects on nights and weekends. I am also one of the Organizers of the new GDG Agadir team. I also enjoy the creation of small videos explaining different concepts in Machine Learning.

Apart from my community work, I'm a football enthusiast, just like any other Moroccan. I love watching our national team's matches and also playing football myself. I also enjoy cycling and swimming, and in the past, I used to practice karate, I participated in multiple international competitions. I enjoy writing poetry both in English and Arabic, which I use as a personal journal and self-reflecting way to understand myself and look for ways to improve myself. I also enjoy recording voice-overs of different poetries I like and also those ones I write, as well as recording podcasts that only my friends listen to. Recently, I started challenging myself to learn guitar and to learn how to play gnawa music over the guitar instead of the ganbri.

I am Taha Bouhsine, from a small town near Agadir, currently based in San Francisco, USA, trying to decipher the magic of AI and create cheesy-titled papers for the AI research community. I am an AI/ML Google Developer Expert, I tend to be a gener... Show more

Alexandre Piatetsky

Alexandre Piatetsky

Alexandre is a recognized expert in the Microsoft ecosystem, specializing in Microsoft 365, Copilot, and digital governance. As a Microsoft MVP, he regularly speaks at conferences and community events, sharing real-world experience, best practices, and actionable insights on Microsoft technology adoption.
With over 15 years of experience in solution architecture, project management, presales, and client advisory, Alexandre is passionate about knowledge sharing and collaborative innovation. He is deeply involved in the Microsoft community, helping organizations maximize the value of Microsoft tools while promoting security, compliance, and operational efficiency.
Alexandre is part of the French company Bleu, which owns and operates Microsoft’s first National Partner Cloud. He holds the position of Microsoft 365 Technology Lead there, and helps organizations harness the full potential of Microsoft 365 in a secure, compliant, and sovereign cloud environment.

Alexandre is a recognized expert in the Microsoft ecosystem, specializing in Microsoft 365, Copilot, and digital governance. As a Microsoft MVP, he regularly speaks at conferences and community events, sharing real-world experience, best practices, a... Show more

Riccardo Perico

Riccardo Perico

Back in 2010 I began my career in IT.
After a brief stint as ERP Consultant, I transitioned into Data Realm.

Over the years, I explored the world of data from various perspectives, working both as a DBA and a BI Architect.

I'm a Microsoft Certified Professional at different levels in databases, BI and Azure areas.

Microsoft MVP for Data Platform category x4 and Microsoft Fabric Super User.

I'm one of the leaders of Power BI User Group in Italy and I'd been speaker during the Power Platform World Tour and Global Power Platform Bootcamp stops in Italy.

You can find me speaking at Azure Saturday, SQL Saturday, Data Saturday, and other community events across Europe.

I served as a technical reviewer for the books “Extending Power BI with Python and R”, "Microsoft Power BI Quick Start Guide" and “Power BI Cookbook, 3rd Edition”.

Last but not least, Hard Rock and Heavy Metal addicted!

Back in 2010 I began my career in IT. After a brief stint as ERP Consultant, I transitioned into Data Realm. Over the years, I explored the world of data from various perspectives, working both as a DBA and a BI Architect. I'm a Microsoft Cert... Show more

Jamel Abed

Jamel Abed

Jamel Abed is a Microsoft MVP in Microsoft 365 Development and SharePoint, Senior Developer Advocate, and International Speaker with over 17 years of experience in architecting, building, and migrating enterprise-scale solutions.

He has successfully delivered projects across multiple industries, including Banking, Finance, Energy, Insurance, Healthcare, Aerospace, Defense, and Government, leveraging the full power of Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Power Platform, Azure, and SharePoint Embedded.

As a Solutions Architect and Developer Advocate, Jamel is passionate about empowering developers, promoting clean code, and driving product adoption. He specializes in designing end-to-end solutions across the Microsoft ecosystem, transforming complex business requirements into secure, scalable, and efficient technology solutions.

Ranked #1 Global Speaker on CommunityDays.org, Jamel regularly speaks at international conferences on topics such as SharePoint Embedded, AI integration, and cost optimization for data management. He is also a community leader and mentor, dedicated to fostering innovation and collaboration within the global tech community.

Jamel Abed is a Microsoft MVP in Microsoft 365 Development and SharePoint, Senior Developer Advocate, and International Speaker with over 17 years of experience in architecting, building, and migrating enterprise-scale solutions. He has successful... Show more

Mike Maadarani

Mike Maadarani

Mike Maadarani is a Microsoft Copilot & M365 MVP, a board member of the Microsoft Global Community Initiative, and a Cloud Solutions Architect who has been providing strategic solutions surrounding architecture, planning, migration and governance for medium to large-scale organization. With 30 years of IT industry experience, Mike spent the last few years managing and delivering collaboration solutions to a wide range of mid to large scale projects. He is an evangelist and visionary where he can and provide the business and technical leadership required for delivering successful global Microsoft 365 projects. This has giving him the opportunity to work with great talented colleagues and people who I have a lot of respect for their passion and dedication.

He is an active member in the Microsoft 365 community and have spoken in many Microsoft conferences, local events, and corporate functions.

Mike Maadarani is a Microsoft Copilot & M365 MVP, a board member of the Microsoft Global Community Initiative, and a Cloud Solutions Architect who has been providing strategic solutions surrounding architecture, planning, migration and governance for... Show more

Kajetan Duszyński

Kajetan Duszyński

Senior Developer/Team Leader at JIT Team with over 10 years of commercial experience. A passionate enthusiast for new technologies. Vlogger, blogger, YouTuber, and a person who feels best within the developer community. For more than 3 years, he has been helping people transition into the IT industry.

Senior Developer/Team Leader at JIT Team with over 10 years of commercial experience. A passionate enthusiast for new technologies. Vlogger, blogger, YouTuber, and a person who feels best within the developer community. For more than 3 years, he has ... Show more

Stephen Chin

Stephen Chin

Stephen Chin is VP of Developer Relations at Neo4j, conference chair of the LF AI & Data Foundation, and author of numerous titles including the upcoming GraphRAG: The Definitive Guide for O'Reilly. He has given keynotes and main stage talks at numerous conferences around the world including AI Engineer Summit, AI DevSummit, Devoxx, DevNexus, JNation, JavaOne, Shift, Joker, swampUP, and GIDS. Stephen is an avid motorcyclist who has done evangelism tours in Europe, Japan, and Brazil, interviewing developers in their natural habitat. When he is not traveling, he enjoys teaching kids how to do AI, embedded, and robot programming together with his daughters.

Stephen Chin is VP of Developer Relations at Neo4j, conference chair of the LF AI & Data Foundation, and author of numerous titles including the upcoming GraphRAG: The Definitive Guide for O'Reilly. He has given keynotes and main stage talks at numer... Show more

Maarten Mulders

Maarten Mulders

Since 2015, Maarten has taken the stage over 70 times at 40+ events across 20 countries, inspiring audiences with his practical insights and passion for technology.

His experience spans:
* Community-driven events: local meetups and Java User Groups;
* Top-tier international conferences: including JavaOne, Devnexus, JavaZone, multiple Devoxx editions, and J-Fall;
* Private engagements: in-house company events and guest lectures at both primary and professional education institutions.

Beyond speaking, Maarten actively shapes the developer and speaking communities. He spent three years on the J-Fall Program Committee, and now mentors upcoming speakers through the NLJUG Speaker Mentoring Programme and Info Support’s internal Speaking Community.

Since 2015, Maarten has taken the stage over 70 times at 40+ events across 20 countries, inspiring audiences with his practical insights and passion for technology. His experience spans: * Community-driven events: local meetups and Java User Gro... Show more

Louëlla Creemers

Louëlla Creemers

Louëlla Creemers is a software developer from The Netherlands, with a passion for .NET development. At the early stage of her career she’s also a successful content creator, teacher, blogger, and public speaker.

She has built a strong following of over 30,000 people on social media, thanks to her technical expertise and her commitment to helping others learn and grow in their careers. You can find her on Twitter and Linkedin, sharing different kinds of educational posts or dad jokes.

Louëlla Creemers is a software developer from The Netherlands, with a passion for .NET development. At the early stage of her career she’s also a successful content creator, teacher, blogger, and public speaker. She has built a strong following o... Show more

Valerie Junk

Valerie Junk

Hi there. I am Valerie Junk.
I am passionate about creating insights from data and designing dashboards using Power BI. With my expertise in data analytics and visualization, I support companies in developing effective data-driven strategies that yield results and take the business to the next level.
Microsoft Data Platform MVP

Hi there. I am Valerie Junk. I am passionate about creating insights from data and designing dashboards using Power BI. With my expertise in data analytics and visualization, I support companies in developing effective data-driven strategies that y... Show more

Christian Buckley

Christian Buckley

Christian is an award-winning product marketer and technology evangelist, and both a Microsoft Regional Director (RD) and Most Valuable Professional (MVP). Christian's 30-year tech career has included Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Evangelist for several leading SharePoint ISVs, and he was part of the Microsoft team that launched the hosted SharePoint platform in Office 365. He has worked with some of the world’s largest technology companies to build and deploy social, collaboration, and supply chain solutions, and sold his first software startup to Rational Software in 2001. Co-author of books on both SharePoint and software configuration management (SCM), Christian is one of the most widely published names within the Microsoft ecosystem, and can be found online at www.buckleyplanet.com and @buckleyplanet

Christian is an award-winning product marketer and technology evangelist, and both a Microsoft Regional Director (RD) and Most Valuable Professional (MVP). Christian's 30-year tech career has included Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Evangelist for ... Show more

Dennis Adolfi

Dennis Adolfi

With a strong passion for Sustainable Technology and Trustworthy AI, Dennis has been an active member of the Microsoft & Umbraco community well over a decade, writing hundreds of articles, tutorials, speaking at conferences, meetups, contributing to open source projects, youtube videos, podcasts, forums etc. for which he has been awarded 4x Microsoft MVP (AI Platform, Trustworthy AI and Developer Technologies), 7x Umbraco MVP, Top 3 Open Source contributor in Sweden 2024 and Top 5 Developers in Sweden 2023.

With a strong passion for Sustainable Technology and Trustworthy AI, Dennis has been an active member of the Microsoft & Umbraco community well over a decade, writing hundreds of articles, tutorials, speaking at conferences, meetups, contributing to ... Show more

Dr. Joe Perez

Dr. Joe Perez

Dr. Joe Perez is a game-changing professional who has made an impressive impact on the world of IT, health & human services, and higher education. With advanced degrees in education, Joe started his career as an educator and continued to further his education by earning a doctorate in education with a double minor in computers and theology. His career focus changed to IT in the early 1990’s when he started working as a Computer Consultant at NC State University. Three promotions later, Dr. Perez ended his successful 25-year career at NC State as Business Intelligence Specialist when he took another promotion to become Senior Business Analyst at the NC Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) in the fall of 2017.

Notably, Dr. Perez has been featured on multiple billboards in the iconic Times Square, a testament to his remarkable achievements and influence worldwide. This recognition, along with his Top 10 Global Thought Leader Rankings in IT Strategy & Big Data on Thinkers360 (2023 through 2025) and Gartner Peer Community Ambassador of the Year (2023), reflect his dedication and impact in the industry.

Having achieved significant success throughout his career, Dr. Perez's accomplishments include being promoted to Senior Systems Specialist and Team Leader, a position he has excelled in while showcasing his expertise and leadership skills. In addition to his full-time analytics/BI leadership role at DHHS, Joe was named fractional Chief Technology Officer at a North Carolina firm in October 2020. A top-ranked author with multiple #1 Amazon new releases, more than 20,000 followers on LinkedIn, and several professional certifications, he has consistently proven to be a much sought-after resource, highly-recommended international keynote speaker, data analytics & visualization expert, and specialist in efficiency and process improvement.

Perez, a recipient of the IOT Industry Insights 2021 Thought Leader of the Year award, speaks at numerous conferences each year, and continues to be in high demand to this day, expanding his reach into more than twenty countries around the globe, impacting thousands. Thanks to these outstanding accomplishments and influential presence as a leading expert in the industry, Dr. Perez has been welcomed into several prestigious Thought Leader communities. He was recently inducted into the United Nations Global Network of Data Officers and Statisticians and was selected to be a Distinguished Fellow in the Public Sector Network's Future Government Institute.

Dr. Perez's passion for teaching has never waned, whether as a speaker, workshop facilitator, podcast guest, conference emcee, or team leader; inspiring countless individuals to strive for excellence. He cherishes spending time with his wife and children, who he considers to be the "best things that ever happened to me." Besides being a gifted musician, singer, pianist, and composer, Joe serves in his church's Hispanic ministry. He even manages to publish a monthly military newsletter, The Patriot News, which has gained widespread recognition. His unwavering commitment to his community is an inspiration to all. To stay in shape, Perez hits the gym, and he loves watching Star Trek reruns to relax. "I'm a firm believer that if I'm not innovating, then I'm stagnating," says Joe. His devotion to innovation, his boundless energy, and his constant drive for excellence are the hallmarks of a truly exceptional individual, thus making Dr. Joe a perfect fit to inspire and engage your audience, leaving a lasting impact on your event.

Dr. Joe Perez is a game-changing professional who has made an impressive impact on the world of IT, health & human services, and higher education. With advanced degrees in education, Joe started his career as an educator and continued to further his ... Show more

Sagar Das

Sagar Das

Sagar is a Staff Android Engineer who has been building apps for 11 years now. He is also a Google developer expert in Android and a co-organizer for Google Developer Groups at Boston and enjoys educating for the mobile dev community.

Sagar is a Staff Android Engineer who has been building apps for 11 years now. He is also a Google developer expert in Android and a co-organizer for Google Developer Groups at Boston and enjoys educating for the mobile dev community. Show more

Ankur Roy

Ankur Roy

I am a Solutions Architect at Online Partner AB and a Cloud GDE. I have worked on several projects involving Google Cloud services and Google Workspace along with multiple other technology stacks and platforms.

I am a Solutions Architect at Online Partner AB and a Cloud GDE. I have worked on several projects involving Google Cloud services and Google Workspace along with multiple other technology stacks and platforms. Show more

Matt Topol

Matt Topol

Hailing from the faraway land of Brentwood, NY and currently residing in the rolling hills of Connecticut, Matt Topol has always been passionate about software. Matt has worked in infrastructure and application development, has lead development teams, and architected large-scale distributed systems for processing analytics on financial data. Matt is a PMC member for the Apache Arrow project, frequently enhancing the Golang library among other enhancements and helping to grow the Arrow Community. He wrote the first book on Apache Arrow "In-Memory Analytics with Apache Arrow" and spent the last couple years working on the Apache Arrow libraries full time and growing the Arrow Golang community. Matt is now a member of the ASF and also a committer on Apache Iceberg. Most recently, Matt and two colleagues have started the company, Columnar, focusing on data connectivity using Arrow Database Connectivity (ADBC).

In his spare time, Matt likes to bash his head against a keyboard, develop/run delightfully demented games of fantasy for his victims--er--friends, and share his knowledge with anyone interested who'll listen to his rants.

Hailing from the faraway land of Brentwood, NY and currently residing in the rolling hills of Connecticut, Matt Topol has always been passionate about software. Matt has worked in infrastructure and application development, has lead development teams... Show more

Vesa Nopanen

Vesa Nopanen

Vesa “Vesku” Nopanen is Principal Consultant for AI-Native Future Work at Sulava Gulf and a Microsoft MVP (AI & Microsoft 365). With 30 years in enterprise IT, he helps organizations create workplaces where people and intelligent agents collaborate seamlessly. Vesku specializes in leveraging Microsoft AI & cloud technologies —Copilot, Azure AI, Teams, Loop, Copilot Studio, and more— into practical platforms for co-creation, pairing deep technical expertise with a passion for technology and better worklife.

He writes the FutureWork.blog, speaks at global conferences, and is an active technology community member and event organizer accelerating the shift towards an AI-Native future.
Recognized as an MVP since 2019, Vesku continues to share insights that trailblaze the Age of AI.

🔗 linktr.ee/vesanopanen

Vesa “Vesku” Nopanen is Principal Consultant for AI-Native Future Work at Sulava Gulf and a Microsoft MVP (AI & Microsoft 365). With 30 years in enterprise IT, he helps organizations create workplaces where people and intelligent agents collaborate s... Show more

Paul Papanek Stork

Paul Papanek Stork

Paul is the Owner/Principal Architect at Don't Pa..Panic Consulting. He has been working in the information technology industry for over 30 years, and has played key roles in several enterprise SharePoint architectural design review, Intranet deployment, application development, and migration projects. he has been awarded the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for the last 17 consecutive years and earned his Microsoft Certified SharePoint Masters (MCSM) certification in 2013.
His core skills include architecting and customizing SharePoint environments both on-premises and in the cloud. He has significant experience leading SharePoint migration teams, troubleshooting infrastructure issues, and evaluating SharePoint environments for adherence to “Best Practices” and industry standards. He's authored several books and is a frequent contributor to the Microsoft forums.

Paul is the Owner/Principal Architect at Don't Pa..Panic Consulting. He has been working in the information technology industry for over 30 years, and has played key roles in several enterprise SharePoint architectural design review, Intranet deploym... Show more

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