Kelley Skoloda
Partner & Director, Global Brand Marketing Practice
Ketchum

Kelley Skoloda, partner/director of Ketchum’s Global Brand Marketing Practice, is a recognized authority on marketing to women. She is responsible for thought-leadership, major client stewardship and Practice growth in the consumer arena. Kelley is the architect of the widely publicized Women 25to54, a communications offering that provides a better way to reach “multi-mindingSM” female consumers.

In Kelley’s distinguished career with the global, top-ten public relations firm, Ketchum, she has counseled dozens of companies and blue-chip brands including the American Iron and Steel Institute’s Canned Food Alliance, Aetna, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, Daimler Chrysler, Kellogg’s® Special K® along with other Kellogg’s brands, Kimberly-Clark, Libby’s and Rite Aid Corporation.

Kelley is a sought-after speaker and commentator on the subject of marketing to
women and has been featured in BusinessWeek Online, BRANDWEEK magazine, CNNMoney.com, Today’s Chicago Woman, The Washington Post, PRWeek magazine
and others.

Kelley’s recently launched blog, www.toobusytoshop.blogspot.com, is helping to collect input from women across the country for her upcoming business book, Too Busy to Shop: Marketing to Multi-Minding Women. Be sure to visit the blog and add your opinions. The book is slated for release in the spring of 2009 by Praeger Publishers.

Skoloda earned her M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh and her undergraduate degree from Seton Hill University, where she now sits on the Board of Trustees.
She and her husband, David, reside in Pittsburgh with their two children,
Jake and Ellie.

Tanya Van Court
SVP, Preschool & Parents Online
Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group

Tanya Van Court is the Senior Vice President, Preschool and Parents Online, Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group. In this role, Tanya oversees strategy and operations, as well as creative and editorial content for Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group preschool and parents online businesses. Tanya assumed this position in the fall of 2006 and is responsible for the day-to-day management of Nick Jr.com (Playtime and Nick Jr. Parents), broadband offerings Nick Jr. Video and Nick Jr. Parents TV, NOGGIN.com, GoCityKids.com and the community site ParentsConnect.com.

Prior to joining Viacom, Tanya served as vice president, New Media Video Products at ESPN, where she spearheaded the launch of ESPN 360, ESPN’s broadband video and online gaming player. Prior to joining ESPN, Tanya spent three years at Cablevision Systems, where she was responsible for launching Cablevisions VOIP service, Optimum Voice, and led Cablevision’s Operations and Customer Experience efforts for their digital cable product, Interactive Optimum (IO). She also helped to launch DSL in several international markets while working at Covad Communications.

Tanya is a graduate of Stanford University, where she received both her bachelors and masters degrees in Industrial Engineering. She is also a graduate from the National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) Executive Leadership Development Program and in 2005, was a Betsy Magnes Fellow in Women in Cable Telecommunications class. Tanya was also recently named one of the top 50 most influential minorities in Cable World.

Laura Tomasetti
Managing Director
360 Public Relations, LLC

As managing director of 360 Public Relations, Laura has helped brands and marketers such as LEGO, Crock-Pot, Vicks, The Walt Disney Internet Group, Hasbro, The First Years, The Every Baby Company and Diapers.com make meaningful connections with moms online and off. Laura leads the agency’s MomSquad and works closely with an array of traditional and social media and grassroots organizations that target moms. She held senior positions with global PR agencies and served as vice president of public relations for a division of Hasbro, Inc., prior to founding 360PR in 2001. She is a frequent speaker at industry events.

Carmelle Druchniak
Senior Communications Manager
Stonyfield Farm

Carmelle Druchniak, Senior Communications Manager at Stonyfield Farm, is a 25-year public relations veteran. After a brief career in newspapers, she focused on media relations in higher education, primarily at the University of New Hampshire, where she also focused on internal communications and video production. She came to Stonyfield Farm in 2004, and is currently part of the team responsible for Stonyfield Farm's broad scope of new and traditional media, bringing the company significant attention each year -- nearly 350 million media impressions in 2007.

Norma Blatto
Vice President, Publisher/Executive Director, American Baby Group
American Baby Group

Norma Blatto was named Vice President, Publisher/Executive Director of the American Baby Group in 2004. She has been with the franchise for 10 years, and has helped expand it to include profitable stage-based magazines, online, custom publishing, Hispanic, sampling and events businesses.

With an extensive background in sales, marketing and research, Norma is an expert in marketing to expecting and new moms. She has commissioned and presented studies to help “young family lifestage” marketers understand the needs and challenges of their target audience. These studies have examined the changing roles of first-time mothers, moms’ media usage, baby registry and second-time moms.

Her 20+ years’ experience includes sales and marketing management, multi-media integrated marketing and sales, custom publishing and marketing to Hispanics. She has served in several roles at the American Baby Group including Associate Publisher/Marketing, VP Marketing and Brand Development and Group Marketing Director. Earlier in her career she held positions in sales and marketing for Cosmopolitan at the Hearst Corporation and Health at Time Inc.

Norma is a member of Advertising Women of New York where she participates in their mentoring program.

Norma graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Rutgers University. She lives in New York City with her husband and 12-year old son.

Miriam Muley
Founder/CEO
The 85% Niche

Miriam Muléy maintains a vibrant entrepreneurial business as strategic marketing consultant, diversity expert, and business writer/speaker. She has 25 years of executive marketing and sales experience in Fortune 100 companies. She was most recently Executive Director of the Women’s and Diversity Markets at General Motors Corporation where she was responsible for marketing and sales to Women, Hispanics, African Americans, Asians, Youth, and Gay and Lesbian markets. Earlier in her corporate career she was EVP, Marketing at Carson Products, a division of L’Oreal, and General Manager at Avon Products, Inc.

For the past three years, she has led her own company The 85% Niche, a marketing consultancy firm dedicated to helping companies increase market share among women—a group that controls 85% or more of all purchase decisions. Her goal is to dispel the perception that women and mothers are a niche, monolithic audience. She does so through gender and diversity savvy marketing strategies that connect brands with women of all ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds—Caucasian, Latina, Black, Asian, Middle Eastern, and more.

Miriam, a second generation Puerto Rican, holds a M.B.A. in Marketing from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. Her colleagues and clients, who include Morgan Stanley, Procter & Gamble, and Merck have described her as, “an inspiring combination of smarts, savvy, and creative thinking.” Her new book on Marketing to Women of All Colors debuts this year.

Zanny Oltman
Consultant, Marketing Partnerships
Mothers Work, Inc.

Zanny is a consultant overseeing all marketing partnerships for Philadelphia-based Mothers Work Inc., the world's largest maternity apparel retailer, including the brands A Pea In the Pod, Mimi Maternity, Motherhood Maternity, Destination Maternity and the Futuretrust Mastercard. Zanny is responsible for all marketing opportunities created for companies serving expectant mothers and new families. She leads all data licensing initiatives, sampling programs, in-store signage campaigns, e-marketing, web sponsorship, and in-store and online subscription based programs. Tailored to each partner's needs, these programs connect with Mothers Work customers in search of the best products and services for them and their families.

With 15 years of experience in lifestyle marketing, Zanny has created programs which leverage traditional media, online environments, and retail space. She graduated from the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College with a B.S. in Television Production and received an MBA with a major in Marketing from Drexel University. Zanny lives in the Philadelphia area with her husband and two year old son.

Jerry Shereshewsky
CEO
Grandparents.com

Jerry Shereshewsky is CEO of Grandparents.com, the place for today’s new generation of active, involved grandparents to find everything they need to get more smile, more fun, and more memories out of the time they spend with their grandchildren.

Jerry may be the only marketing executive in the burgeoning digital technology field who's invented a new brand of soda pop.

Then again, he has been associated with breakthrough marketing ideas in every phase of his distinguished career. Starting at Y&R in the mailroom, he rose to Senior Vice President before moving to Wunderman, the premier direct marketing agency and then on to public relations giant Burson Marsteller. Then he decamped for the Bertelsmann Music Group where he was VP Marketing and Sales for Special Products. He left BMG in 1995 to join Seth Godin in an internet start-up: Yoyodyne.

He helped make Yoyodyne the premier direct marketing promotion company online and made them soooo attractive to Yahoo! that they bought them. After almost 9 years running marketing for Yahoo’s Media Sales Group, both in the US and internationally, he joined grandparents.com; a lifestyle website for the baby boomer grandparents of today and tomorrow.

He served on the Board of Directors of The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) as well as the Dean’s Advisory Board at the University of Wisconsin School of Business. He currently sits on the Advisory Board for the AdCenter at Virginia Commonwealth University, NY American Marketing Association and its EFFIE award program as well as the New York Ad Club.. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, where he received his degree in Russian History. Jerry lives in North Salem, NY with his wife Catherine, two boxers (Bert & Ernie) and the empty nests of his two daughters (Beryl & Lexi).

Denise Waggoner
Vice President Creative Research
Getty Images

Denise Waggoner is Vice President of Creative Research at Getty Images. As one of the pioneers of Getty Images’ industry-leading creative research techniques, Denise has a unique insight into how images work in the world today. Her team has unprecedented resources for studying the meaning and application of photographs, illustration and film around the globe. Using information derived from researchers on the ground, world wide, plus the weight of data generated by www.gettyimages.com, along with custom-designed forecasting methods, Getty Images Creative Research identifies – and perhaps even helps shape – the visual language of tomorrow.

John Driscoll
Vice President, Sales & Business Development
School Family Media, Inc.

John Driscoll brings more than 20 years of experience to his senior role with School Family Media. As Vice President of Physician Sales for Web MD and as Vice President of Field Sales for Whittle Communications, John has built wide-ranging, effective sales teams that have called on a diverse selection of clients. With Whittle and with A+America – a start-up fundraising company where he served as Vice President – John worked extensively in building mutually beneficial marketing programs focused on families with school-aged children.

For the past six years John has directed School Family Media’s Marketing Solutions Group where he has led the growth and development of award winning programs such as School Family Nights® and Back2School 2008 . He has been instrumental in creating custom programs that help companies such as Procter & Gamble, American Express, Target, Disney, and Nestle Waters connect with millions of moms and families with school-aged children through print, online and unique event marketing opportunities. John is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and lives in Medfield, MA with his wife and three children.

Aimee Gerry
West Coast Director of Sales
SheKnows

Aimee Gerry-Heindel is responsible for leading sales efforts as West Coast Director of Sales at SheKnows.com. SheKnows is the authoritative source for women ages 25-54 with exclusive articles and content on pregnancy, parenting, health, hobbies, entertainment, money, dating, beauty and celebrities. It is one of the fastest growing destinations on the web with sites like Soaps.com, LovingYou.com, TheHollywoodGossip.com, FabulousFoods.com, Childfun.com, and FamilyCorner.com.

SheKnows is currently one of the top 10 properties for women and attracts over 12 million unique visitors with over 100 million page views each month. Founded in 1999, the company is based in Los Angeles with sales offices in New York and Chicago and editorial offices in Scottsdale, AZ. SheKnows is part of AtomicOnline, a diversified online media company.

Aimee brings over 8 years of experience in the interactive space working for companies such as Avenue A Seattle, DoubleClick and Gorilla Nation. With the significant demand from marketers to reach the women's market, Aimee leads the East, Midwest and West Coast sales teams to meet and properly service its potential for SheKnows advertising clients.

Susan Ford
Vice President
C&R Research

Susan Ford has over 20 years experience delivering insights from quantitative, online qualitative and online hybrid qual-quant research for her base of consumer packaged goods, dining and media clients. Prior to joining C&R in 2006, Susan worked at Market Facts/Synovate and partnered with two of the company's largest Fortune 100 clients in the consumer packaged goods sector.

In addition to Susan's general market experience spanning product life-cycle phases and populations, she also specializes in: 1) youth insights and family studies, 2) constructing and maintaining specialty consumer advisory panels, and 3) measuring and monitoring new product development and awareness in the marketplace.

Susan holds a B.S. in Business Administration/Marketing from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Gigi Carroll
SVP, Group Creative Director, Creative Strategy
Draftfcb Chicago

Gigi Carroll is an unbridled thinker and designated hitter for the Draft FCB Group around ideas and inspirations linked to (among other areas) women's behavior and the entertainment world. She is a veteran of ad agencies, the movie world, the promotion arena, and motherhood. Gigi is responsible for the creative strategy and ideation behind a wide ranging group of major female initiatives including the breakthrough "24/24 Milk Your Diet: Lose Weight" campaign (an effort that escalated selected milk sales close to 12 percent over the previous year in addition to winning upwards of 30+ awards); CVS Skin Effects new product line launch; launches and positioning for several P&G products; and the launch of a new product for a major pharmaceutical firm.

Married and the mother of two young children, Gigi brings skills from soup to nuts to marketing. She has spent more than 20 years honing those skills as an innovator in advertising and promotions. As a leader in the Concept Group at Draft FCB Group, specializing in ideation, she has helped create additional innovative, successful campaigns for many other Draft FCB clients including Kellogg's and MasterfoodsUSA.

Early in her career, which includes executive posts at promotional agencies Frankel and Simon Marketing, Gigi developed winning efforts for a long list of clients including Burger King, Chevron Oil, Hallmark, McDonald's, Old Navy, and Toys R Us.

A graduate of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Gigi possesses wide-eyed exuberance, a passion for redecorating, and the firm belief that taking risks is one of the unheralded joys in life.

Dave Siegel
Founder & President
WonderGroup

Dave is the founder and "Big Daddy" of WonderGroup, the largest independent U.S. agency specializing in marketing and advertising to today's moms and their kids. After serving as the President of WonderGroup for the past ten years, Dave has moved on to take over the reigns as President of WonderGroup's Insight and Innovation Division, Launchforce - a premier new product development group whose clients include: Kellogg's, Purina, Sara-Lee, Nestle's, ConAgra, Kao Brands, Anheuser Busch and others.

Dave has spent the past 30 years immersed in youth and family marketing, advising some of the country's top corporations in such fields as: Food & Beverage, Household Cleaning Products, Health and Beauty Aids, Toys, Entertainment, Clothing, Retailing and others. He is a Gold Effie winner for his work on introducing and marketing the world's most successful leisure product of the 90's - the Super Soaker.

Dave has spoken at, keynoted, and chaired dozens of conferences throughout the world on youth marketing, marketing to moms and new products marketing. He is an author of the Great Tween Buying Machine (Deerborn Publishing), Marketing to the New SuperConsumer-Mom & Kid (Paramount Publishing), and the soon to be published Market Smart Design (HarperCollins) and Innovation-Myths and Mythstakes (Paramount).

Tracy Chapman
Co-Director of Brand Insight
Just Ask A Woman

Tracy has snooped in strangers' closets, medicine cabinets, refrigerators and even under beds. Some call her curious, others nosey. She'll admit to both. The truth is that Tracy just loves getting at the heart of the matter, which is to understand what really motivates people and makes them tick. As the Co-Director of Brand Insights at Just Ask A Woman, she gets to focus on her favorite marketing partner, women.

For over ten years, Tracy has been a pioneer of innovative techniques for mining consumer insights. As the Worldwide Associate Director of the Mind & Mood insights group at FCB/New York, she honed her skills at asking the important, probing questions that unearth the "whys" of human behavior and patterns. Tracy has conducted global research with women for clients such as Citibank, Nabisco, AT&T, Mattel, Merck and SC Johnson by talking to consumers wherever they naturally interact with a client's product or service. As a result, she has found herself in some very unique situations-in the principal's office in Wahoo, Nebraska, barefoot in a Taiwanese living room and off-roading with teens in Texas. Tracy has seen more then her share of back yards all across America.

Tracy brought this same tenacity and insatiable curiosity to the business sector where she helped mid-stage technology companies crystallize their brand positioning by listening both inside and outside the companies. In January 2002, she headed back to the consumer world and joined the Just Ask a Woman team.

Part explorer, part strategist, part mentor, Tracy helps clients connect with their female customers -- whether it's by giving speeches about the importance of the female consumer on their bottom line, leading immersion day summits to help companies interact with their most powerful consumer or personally interviewing 1000s of women.

When she's exploring for clients or just for herself, Tracy's curiosity always gets the best of her. And the benefits for her clients are immeasurable.

Naomi Cramer Overton
President
MOPS International

(Denver, CO) Naomi Cramer Overton has served as President, of MOPS International since June 1, 2007. She brings over 20 years experience in media, marketing, communications and organizational development with Fortune 50, non-profit and government organizations. She has a B.A. in Political Science with a Media emphasis from Stanford University and a MBA in Organizational Entrepreneurship and Marketing from UCLA Anderson School of Management. In addition, Naomi is currently enrolled in a Master of Arts degree program in Global Leadership at Fuller Seminary. She is a national speaker and contributing author for FullFill magazine (www.FullFill.org).

As President, Naomi leads MOPS International to encourage, equip and develop today's mothers of preschoolers to realize their potential as women, mothers and leaders. "As a mom whose life has been touched by MOPS, I've seen how better moms make a better world," says Overton. "I'm thrilled to join a team who connects moms to each other with resources that help us grow spiritually, emotionally, physically and intellectually. I look forward to coming alongside our existing moms while embracing whole new groups of world-shapers."

Stephanie Ouyoumjian
SVP, Director of Strategy
Publicis USA

Stephanie Ouyoumjian has been asking "why?" for as long as she can remember. Her fascination with understanding why people do what they do led her to acquiring degrees in both Anthroplogy and Women's Studies. Stephanie believes that successful brands are ones that have defined the psychology of a culture and the key motivators for specific segments, and then leveraged this knowledge to create powerful and compelling positioning platforms. She also knows that awareness and affinity alone are often not enough to get women to buy. They need holistic emotional engagement.

Stephanie has spent her career helping brands figure out that perfect equation that will turn consumer attitudes into action. She's guided strategic planning and research for brands including Motel 6, Home Depot and the US Airforce, resulting in their highest brand awareness, affinity and conversion measures ever. She developed a first-of-its-kind predictive ROI model by correlating what people say with what they actually do. She studied the life stages and lifestyles of consumers to create strategies that propelled brand awareness and purchasing for MasterCard, Nokia, Pepsi, Papa John's Pizza, Subaru, Chick-fil-A and Merck. Also, in her current role as Director of Strategic Planning at Publicis, where they not only market to moms, but have built a center of excellence for how to best market to the new main street, otherwise known as Middle America, She currently works on brands like Curves, Nestle and GlaxoSmithKline. Even when she's away from the office, she's managing two very important female brands - Madeleine who is five and Morgan who is two. Stephanie is proud of her Armenian last name, but says you can call her Stephanie O.

Kara Forney
Founder, The Bump Media, Inc.
Vice President and Publishing Director, The Bump
The Knot, Inc.

Kara founded The Bump Media, Inc. in 2003 as a direct result of a glaring need in the marketplace. Her inspiration came from her own two bumps (now eight and five), along with the desire to simplify the maternity maze and directly connect soon-to-be moms with their local product and service providers. Under Kara's vision and leadership, the company grew from one local guide in Phoenix, Arizona to 11 guides across the country while developing TheBump.com online vehicle and partnering with leading industry experts to become the go-to local resource for new and expectant moms. Wall Street soon took notice, and in February 2008 The Bump Media was purchased by The Knot, Inc. as a part of The Knot's strategy to expand into additional life-stages. Kara currently runs The Bump division within The Knot corporation and is thrilled to have The Bump be a part of The Knot's family of brands.

With a B.S. in marketing from the University of Arizona and an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, Kara has 19 years in the sales, marketing, and advertising field. She honed her sales skills out of college as an account executive for IBM, and after graduate school moved on to be the Director of Marketing at The Del Webb Corporation before launching The Bump Media, Inc. in 2003.

Sheila Lirio Marcelo
Founder and CEO
Care.com

Sheila Lirio Marcelo is a working mom and the Founder and CEO of Care.com.  Realizing that many busy moms struggle to find quality caregivers for their loved ones, Sheila created Care.com, an online service enabling families to find babysitting, nanny, child care, tutoring, pet care, and senior care providers. 

Sheila is a leading expert on care planning advice, having appeared on NBC's "Today Show" and "ABC News Now." Additionally, she has been featured in news outlets across the country, including The Boston Globe and Redbook. In 2007, Care.com was recognized by the Stevie Awards for Women in Business as Best New Company of the Year.

Care.com exemplifies Sheila's ongoing passion for community involvement and helping people through successful internet businesses. Prior to Care.com, Sheila served as an executive at several successful internet companies including: Upromise.com, an online service helping families save money for college; and TheLadders.com, an online service helping people find jobs.

Stacy DeBroff
Founder & CEO
Mom Central Consulting

Stacy DeBroff founded and serves as CEO of Mom Central Consulting (www.MomCentralConsulting.com), a leading national firm founded in 2006 and specializing in viral marketing to Moms. In the last year, Mom Central Consulting has partnered with over 80 national brands, Fortune 500 companies, PR firms, and venture-backed start-ups to build brand awareness and activate Moms to significant retail purchases or online participation. Stacy's expert marketing advice and insights have been featured in such publications from USA Today to the Wall Street Journal, and on TV shows from CNN's American Morning and Headline News to Fox and Bloomberg News.

Prior to this, Stacy, heralded as a "parenting guru" by the Wall Street Journal, authored four best-selling parenting books (Simon & Schuster) and launched Mom Central, Inc. (www.MomCentral.com), a company devoted to providing savvy advice to simplify and enrich the lives of busy Moms and their families. Stacy appears as a regular parenting expert on national TV show, including NBC's Today Show, CNN, The View, Tyra Banks Show, CBS' Early Show, The Daily Buzz, Mike And Juliet, Fox & Friends, and the Rachael Ray Show. Stacy also serves as a corporate spokesperson, trendspotting for the media on behalf of over 30 national brands.

In the 1990's, Stacy founded and ran as an attorney the Public Interest Office at Harvard Law School. Stacy lives with her husband, Ron, and happily engages in imperfect parenting of their two teens, Kyle and Brooks, in Boston, Massachusetts.

Nadine Vogel
President
Springboard Consulting, LLC

Nadine O. Vogel is President of Springboard Consulting, LLC, based in Mendham, NJ. Springboard is dedicated to providing businesses innovative, revenue generating marketing strategies as well as internal productivity/retention strategies (Diversity/Work-Life) that both target and support the one third of the U.S. population that either has a disability or has a child or other dependent with special needs. She is also the producer of the Disability Matters Awards Banquet and Conference which honors those firms that are making great strides in the areas of marketing, work-life and diversity as it pertains to the special needs population.

Nadine has authored numerous articles and is an internationally recognized advisor and speaker on a variety of topics. She is also a powerful motivational/inspirational speaker. She has held senior level positions in Corporate America including Vice President of Marketing and Division head for a line of busines in the financial services industry. She has also served as an Executive Director in the non-profit sector.

Recognized for her civic and professional activities, Nadine has received many awards and accolades including:
The 2008 New Jersey’s Best 50 Women in Business from NJBIZ
The 2007 Howard L. Green Humanitarian Award from the NJ Broadcasters Association
The College of Charleston's 2003 Distinguished Alumni Award
The Voices Award 2003 -individuals who have made a difference in the community
The Golden Gate University's 2002 Alumni Community Service Award
The Fast Company Magazine's 2002 debut list of "Fast 50" innovators -- individuals whose achievements helped change their companies or society
The Working Mother Magazine's Mothers We Love Top 25 List in 2000 and the magazine's 2000 Mothering That Works Award
The Who's Who in the East, Millennium Edition, Who's Who in the West, Who's Who of American Women, Who's Who in Finance and Industry (1998-2006). Who's Who in the World (1998-2004); Who's Who in America (2004)
The Election to the 2006-2007 Who's Who of American Women and both the 2007-08 and the 2008-09 Who'sWho in Finance and Business.

Nadine has been featured on NBC News, CNNfn, Lifetime Live on the Lifetime Channel, Good Day NY and Oxygen Television's Pure Oxygen program. She is the founder and past president of the board of SNAP, Special Needs Advocate for Parents, a member of the Religious School Board of Bnai Jeshurun and on the editorial advisory board for WorkLife Matters Magazine. She is a member of the College of Charleston Foundation Board and a member of the College of Charleston Department of Communications Professional AdvisoryCouncil.

Nadine received an MBA from Golden Gate University in San Francisco, CA and a BS in Industrial Psychology from the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC. She resides in New Jersey with her husband and two daughters, both of whom have special needs.

Laurie Klein
Vice President
Just Kid Inc.

Laurie Klein is recognized as an industry leader and regularly travels the country to discuss kid marketing challenges and provide kid marketing and product development seminars to some of the leading companies in the kid industry. She's been with Just Kid Inc. since its inception in 1994 and has overseen the creation of new kid products and marketing programs for clients such as Kraft Foods, Frito-Lay, 3M, Nabisco, Procter & Gamble, Kellogg, ConAgra, Minute Maid, General Mills, Johnson & Johnson, The Partnership For A Drug-Free America and more. She was also instrumental in the development of The Global Kids Study which was conducted in 12 countries around the world. Laurie has also authored several articles for Brandweek regarding kid marketing and currently writes a monthly New Product Watch newsletter for the industry which highlights all the new kid products, line extensions and promotions that have launched in the past month.

C.A. Webb
Marketing Director
Recycline

C.A. Webb has eleven years of experience working for a variety of mission-driven start-ups and rapidly growing organizations. As Recycline's first marketing director, she manages all aspects of consumer and trade marketing for the Preserve brand. Preserve offers style and performance driven products for your home that are made from recycled materials and are recyclable when you're finished with them. C.A. fell in love with Preserve because of its smart design approach. Preserve's toothbrushes, razors, tableware and kitchenware look good, feel good, perform well and are price competitive with category leaders and are sold at a wide variety of retailers including Target and Whole Foods Market.

Prior to joining Recycline, C.A. spent a year working with the Private Label group at Whole Foods Market in Austin, TX. There, she was involved in the development of the early stages of the Preserve Kitchen product line and the rebranding of Whole Foods' Private Label product portfolio. Before business school, C.A. was part of the early stage team at Fast Company magazine and one of Boston's leading charter schools.

C.A. is a cum laude graduate of Wellesley College and earned her MBA at the Simmons School of Management in Boston. She was awarded a full merit scholarship for her MBA, as well as a prestigious McCandless Fellowship for the school's post-graduate Entrepreneurship Program.

C.A. lives in downtown Boston and has not owned a car since 2001. Instead, she enjoys walking or taking public transportation or driving the occasional Zipcar around town. She joined Recycline because she believes that, while everyone can't afford to give up their car, most of us are looking for simple, meaningful ways to lighten our impact on the earth and create a better world for ourselves and future generations.

Dr. Alison Bryant
Senior Research Director
Nickelodeon/MTV Networks Kids & Family Group

Dr. J. Alison Bryant is Senior Research Director of Brand & Consumer Insights and Digital Analytics for the Nickelodeon/MTV Networks Kids & Family Group. She leads Nick's efforts to understand the digital lives of kids and families, conducting research on a variety of digital platforms (online, console and handheld gaming, interactive television, mobile), and manages research for the magazine group. Her Ph.D. is from the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California and before joining Nickelodeon she was an assistant professor of Telecommunications at Indiana University. She has published and presented extensively on media, kids and families, including two edited books - The Children's Television Community and Television and the American Family (2nd Ed) - and is associate editor for the Journal of Children & Media.

Nelson Boyce
Vice President of Digital Ad Sales
MTV Networks Kids & Family Group

Nelson Boyce is the Vice President of MTV Networks, Kids & Family Digital Advertising Sales. In this capacity, Nelson is responsible for a staff of more than 30 people nationwide and managing the advertising sales efforts for several sites, including: nick.com; nickjr.com; noggin.com; neopets.com; parentsconnect.com; addictinggames.com; the-n.com; and shockwave.com; among others.

Nelson generates more than $80 million dollars in advertising revenue for Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group's stable of websites. In his five years at Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group, Boyce has secured several new, non-traditional marketing partnerships for the various brands including: Nintendo; General Mills; and Unilever.

Previously, Nelson was Vice President of Sales for Nickelodeon's digital network targeting teens- The N-where he managed its sales staff across the country. Additionally, Nelson was an Account Manager at Nickelodeon in the Strategic Solutions Group within the ad sales department that focused on new business and non-endemic business acquisition for the network. He worked to sell clients into integrated marketing opportunities that sometimes extend themselves beyond the network to include Nickelodeon's online and magazine properties as well. Nelson was responsible for new business partnerships with Holiday Inn, Reebok and the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism.

Prior to Nickelodeon, Nelson was the Associate Publisher of Honey and Heart&Soul magazines, published by Vanguarde Media, Inc. a company he helped to co-found in 1998. He managed a national sales force of 15 professionals and in his five year stint with the company, he increased advertising revenues by more than +300%. Some of his clients included: Absolut; HBO; Ralph Lauren; L'Oreal; Target; and Honda.

Nelson also served as Advertising Director at Blaze magazine, an offshoot from the VIBE family which competed against SOURCE and XXL magazines. In its first issue, the magazine had over 125 pages of advertising, making it the number-one magazine launch in 1998 and the largest music magazine launch in history.

Nelson began his advertising career as an Account Executive with VIBE magazine and was responsible for breaking several pieces of new business particularly within the consumer electronic and financial service categories. He managed, sold sponsorship for, and emceed the VIBE College Campus tour.

Before VIBE, Nelson was Assistant Marketing Manager at Money magazine. Upon graduating from college, he was a Financial Analyst with PaineWebber in their Mergers & Acquisitions Group.

Nelson is an active member of NAMIC and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. He mentors and speaks to students through Management Leadership of Tomorrow. In 2006, Nelson was accepted into the NAMIC Executive Leadership Development Program at the Anderson School of Business at UCLA and was awarded a certificate of completion in April 2007. He is currently co-chair of the Viacom African American Affinity Group. In his five years with Viacom, he's participated as a member of the Nickelodeon Networks Diversity Team (2004) and acted as a mentor in the MTVN Ad Sales Training Program (2006).

Nelson has a B.A. in government from Harvard University and lives with his wife and son in New Rochelle, New York.

Paige Heninger
Co-host and Co-founder
MommyCast©

Paige Heninger is the co-host and co-founder of the highly successful podcast, MommyCast©. In addition to being a mom, wife and co-host of MommyCast, Paige is a mother of five children ranging in age from 1 to 13. She has had a variety of jobs including bus driver, nanny and EMT, but she loves being a stay-at-home mom the best. She enjoys volunteering for her church and also loves working on her family's history by blogging and maintaining a family web page, archiving photos and making family movies on her Macintosh. Paige is an expert in all things music and has loved promoting the new podsafemusic artists through MommyCast©. She aspires to one day be a mid-wife and in-between kids and podcasting, she manages to take a few college courses in pursuit of that goal.

Gretchen Vogelzang
Co-host and Co-founder
MommyCast©

Gretchen Vogelzang is the co-host and co-founder of the highly successful podcast, MommyCast©. In addition to being a mom, wife and co-host of MommyCast©. Gretchen is a seasoned dance instructor, artistic director, choreographer and arts management executive. She holds degrees in Theatre and Kinesiology. She also holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance Education from the University of California, Irvine. Ms. Vogelzang is currently President of Regional Dance America and hosts Dance in America, the first podcast devoted to dance in the United States.

Dawn Bates
Consumer Promotion Marketing Manager
Kimberly-Clark

Dawn is a Consumer Promotion Marketing Manager for Kimberly-Clark, a leading global health and hygiene company posting sales of $18.3 billion in 2007. During her eight year tenure, Dawn has had responsibility for North American strategic development and overall execution of consumer promotion on brands including COTTONELLE®, KOTEX®, DEPEND® and POISE®. Currently, Dawn oversees multi-brand integrated marketing initiatives including Room-A-Day Giveaway, Box Tops for Education and Speaking of Women's Health. These fully integrated marketing programs are approached from a media-agnostic planning perspective and designed to harness the collective strength of Kimberly-Clark consumer brands under one promotional umbrella to excite consumers, engage retailers and drive incremental sales and quality support. During her career, Dawn has planned and managed FSIs, direct mail, in-packs, Catalina, Upromise, Box Tops for Education, IRCs, in-store advertising & coupons, collateral, sampling, online coupons, social network media, website development, PR and event marketing.

Annette L. Maggiacomo
Director, Public Relations
Duffy & Shanley, Inc.

I take my work very personally.

Yes, it's my job to lead Duffy & Shanley's product and service publicity efforts, working with the entire agency to create campaigns that help build powerful brands. And with clients like Dorel Juvenile Group (makers of Quinny, Maxi-Cosi, Safety 1st, and Eddie Bauer consumer juvenile products) Foster Grant, Touchstone Crystal, and Twinklets by Swarovski, I get the chance to create innovative publicity programs that cut through the clutter and effectively target diversified audiences.

But as a mom of two young daughters, I love that just about every day I come to work I could create or build or inspire something - like the Safety 1st "Get On Board with Child Safety" (GOB) program - which might actually save the life of a child.

I have been instrumental in leading efforts that created GOB, a comprehensive partnership marketing program with 212 of the nation's children's hospitals and Safety 1st, a juvenile products leader.

With almost 15 years of agency experience, I like to think I truly understand the balance between agency and client, and that my expertise in cause marketing initiatives, national consumer media relations and strategic brand management brings credible value and integrity to my clients.

Liz Gumbinner
Co-Founder and Editor
CoolMomPicks.com

Liz Gumbinner is the co-founder and editor of CoolMomPicks.com. In just two years, the cheeky site has become one of the hottest shopping blogs on the web, keeping tens of thousands of parents a week apprised on what's cool in the world of baby gifts and gear and resources for moms. Cool Mom Picks has gained praise from Time, Advertising Age, Parents Magazine, and was recently lauded in Real Simple's Best Blogs feature. Some better know Liz as the voice behind parenting blog Mom-101 where she occasionally rants about blogger outreach efforts. She's also a published author and columnist, and is a contributor to the mommyblogger anthology, "Sleep is for the Weak" (Chicago Press, 2008) as well as "42 Rules for Working Moms" (Superstar Press, 2008). Liz is also an ad agency creative consultant, with award winning work under her belt for clients like Mitsubishi Motors, Universal Studios, Old Navy and Footlocker.

Rosie O'Neill
Senior Brand Manager, Barbie Tech
Mattel, Inc.

"Chief Barbie Girl" and Brand Manager Rosie O'Neill leads Mattel's Barbie Tech initiatives, which include the Barbie GirlsT platform, Barbie® i-DesignT gaming system, and upcoming tech segments launched under the Barbie® brand. In April 2007, Rosie served as Chief Barbie Girl launching the revolutionary Barbie GirlsT platform, a hybrid online-offline play experience that blends a fashion-forward, doll-inspired music player with the first virtual world designed exclusively for girls, BarbieGirls.com.

Rosie played an integral role in driving the overall strategy and vision behind the Barbie Girls platform, leading a team of internal and external players to design a hybrid play experience targeted to the way today's girls play, in a safe and mom-friendly way. Under O'Neill's leadership, BarbieGirls.com was named "the fastest growing virtual world ever" (Virtual Worlds News) and the "Best Toy and Hobby Website" (WebAward).

Recently, Rosie spoke at the Virtual World's conference in New York where she announced the launch of Parent's Place, a dedicated area within BarbieGirls.com designed to Educate, Empower and Engage parents about online safety - over 300, 000 parent accounts have been created since the launch of the program in April. Barbie Girls has continued to grow at an unprecedented rate and is now in six different languages with more than 13 million registered users across the globe.

Rosie joined Mattel in 2004, as a product manager on the company's core Barbie® business, overseeing development of Barbie® dolls, fashions, and accessories. In 2006, Rosiel assumed responsibility for the Barbie Tech division. Leading Barbie into the digital age, Rosie has secured partnerships with key players in the digital space, including Apple, through the launch of Barbie® Chat DivasT.

Prior to joining Mattel, Rosie served four years as Account Manager for a marketing communications agency, developing campaigns for brands such as Razor USA, Nature Made vitamins, the Got Milk? campaign, Hitachi, and Children's' Hospital Los Angeles.

Holly Robinson Peete
Actress, Author, Activist and Philanthropist
The HollyRod Foundation

Actress, author, activist and philanthropist, Holly Robinson Peete has been touched by the entertainment industry all of her life. Her career as an actress dates back more than two decades and has led her to becoming a voice for her father, her son and her community.

Holly can currently be heard daily, alongside her husband Rodney, on their radio program "Meet the Peetes." Airing on the Oprah & Friends network of XM Satellite, "Meet the Peetes" captures the reality of two working parents raising their four children, balancing their careers and being activists and advocates on issues which affect their lives. The Peetes balance issues, fun and family in a way only two people who have been married for 13 years can.

An accomplished author, Holly won the 2006 Quill Literacy Award with her first book Get Your Own Damn Beer, I'm Watching the Game: A Women's Guide to Loving Pro Football (2005, Rodale). She will release her second book, with co-author and daughter Ryan Elizabeth Peete, in 2009.

Holly's acting career has not taken a back seat to her burgeoning writing career or radio show. She recently starred in the original Lifetime movie "Matters of Life & Dating" for which she was nominated for an NAACP Image Award.

Holly had her first experience in front of the camera, and one could argue her philanthropic start, at the age of four when she appeared on television opposite her father, Matthew Robinson, on the award-winning children's program "Sesame Street." While she knew even at that young age her calling was to be an actress, Robinson Peete opted to lead a typical childhood rather than searching to be the next child star.

However, upon finishing her education Robinson Peete's heart led her back to entertainment. In 1986, she landed a starring role on the FOX television drama "21 Jump Street" opposite unknown cast members including Johnny Depp. She has gone on to star in three additional successful television series including "Hangin' With Mr. Cooper," "For Your Love," and "One on One." Robinson Peete's successful television career places her as one of only a handful of actresses to star in four shows in syndication.

Holly's study at France's renowned Sorbonne University and performances in Paris nightclubs proved her an obvious choice to sing throughout her acting career. Not only did she perform the theme songs for both "21 Jump Street" and "Hangin' With Mr. Cooper," she also did her own signing as Diana Ross in the miniseries "The Jacksons: An American Dream."

It is through her successful career and longevity in the entertainment industry which continues to keep Robinson Peete in the limelight that she has been able to give voice as an activist and advocate through the HollyRod Foundation. Formed in 1996 with the mission to help improve the quality of life of people plagued with devastating life circumstances, the foundation was given life through her father's sad but inspiring battle with Parkinson's Disease. Last year, inspired by her son, hollyrod4kids was formed to focus on children's causes and improving the lives of children affected by circumstances beyond their control. Through hollyrod4kids and her family's personal experiences, Robinson Peete has become an advocate for consistent and reliable education, outreach and support on autism. Her activism is respected around the world and she has appeared on such programs as "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "Larry King Live," "CNN," "Access Hollywood" and many other news, political, informational and entertainment shows.

Holly's philanthropic efforts have earned her numerous awards and honors including: The 1999 Woman of Conscience Awards, American Mentor Award, The Buddy Award presented by NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund, The Southern California Broadcasters' Assoc Community Service Award, 2004 Gerald R. Ford People Helping People Award, The 2004 March of Dimes Healthy Babies, Healthy Futures Award, 2004 USC Woman of Distinction Award, Anheuser Busch John E. Jacob Community Service Award, The Huntington Disease Society Distinguished Achievement Award, The 2004 and 2005 Girls Inc Mentor Award, and The 2006 A Place Called Home Humanitarian Award.

Born in Philadelphia and raised in Los Angeles from the age of nine, Holly was voted "most talented" in junior high school alongside fellow classmate and future actor Rob Lowe. She did her undergraduate studies at the prestigious Sarah Lawrence College where she majored in Psychology and French. She spent her junior year studying abroad at Sorbonne University in France, where she held a memorable performance with Jazz legend Lionel Hampton at the Hotel Meridian Jazz Club.

Holly and husband of 13 years former NFL quarterback and "Best Damn Sports Show Period" co-host Rodney Peete are the proud parents of four children. They currently reside in Los Angeles.

Peter Weingard
Vice President, Marketing
About.com

Peter joins the About.com team from The New York Times, where he was Director of Digital Marketing Solutions and where he built and managed a multimedia marketing team who, among other projects, created 'Times On Air'T, an original and exclusive in-flight video magazine presented by the JetBlue Card from American Express.

Before joining The Times, Peter was the Vice President of Database Marketing for Clear Channel Entertainment, the world's leading producer and marketer of live entertainment. There, Peter led the development of the company's data warehouse and digital direct marketing program. Prior to Clear Channel, Peter headed up the marketing department of New York City's first Internet incubator, Iron Street Labs. From 1992 to 1999 Peter held a variety of roles at DDB Worldwide, one of the world's top advertising firms. Peter holds a BA from Pace University and an MA in Marketing from New York University.

Stephanie Azzarone
President
Child's Play Communications

Stephanie Azzarone is president and founder of Child's Play Communications, the first public relations and marketing communications agency to specialize exclusively in products targeted to moms. Child's Play is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2008.

Prior to launching Child's Play, Stephanie was vice president and manager of editorial services at the Rowland Company, a top-10 firm, and vice president and assistant director of the marketing communications department at Hill + Knowlton, at the time the country's largest public relations agency.

Stephanie is a winner of the Silver Anvil, the most prestigious award in the public relations business, and has been a speaker at numerous seminars on marketing to moms, including Kid Power, the IIR Youth Marketing Mega Event, Toy Fair and Braincamp. She is also the editor and publisher of Marketing Communications: Kids, an electronic newsletter, and has written for numerous industry publications including the International Journal of Advertising & Marketing to Children. Stephanie has been quoted on the subject of reaching families in publications ranging from Education Update to USA Today.

At Child's Play, Stephanie has represented companies that are leaders in their fields, such as Warner Bros. Consumer Products, National Geographic Kids Entertainment, Hasbro, Gund, CVS/pharmacy, Parents magazine, Sylvan Learning Center, Samsonite and Kidz Bop.

To celebrate Child's Play's milestone anniversary, she launched a variety of new services, including Team MomT, the Web Mom Directory, the Bloggers Brunch and the Insider Mom NetworkT, all designed to reach mothers online and 1:1. These programs supplement the company's two decades of expertise generating traditional media publicity.

Previously, Stephanie was a freelance reporter for publications such as The New York Times and New York magazine.

A mom, as well as an avid biker, kayaker and glassblower, she lives in New York City.

Stephanie Moritz
Director, Public Relations
ConAgra Foods

As Director, Public Relations for ConAgra Foods, Stephanie Moritz is responsible for leading public relations, earned new media, word-of-mouth, influencer outreach and PR measurement for ConAgra's Consumer Foods brands and strategic platforms. Stephanie has overseen successful PR campaigns on iconic brands including Healthy Choice, Orville Redenbacher's Reddi-wip, Hebrew National and Egg Beaters.

Stephanie joined ConAgra Foods from The Hershey Company in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where she was the corporate spokesperson and led corporate public relations, media relations, product publicity and issues management for the corporation and brands such as Hershey, Reese's, York, and Ice Breaker's.

Prior to joining The Hershey Company, she held communication positions with Jim Beam Brands Co., Porter Novelli Convergence Group, the Illinois House of Representatives and Walt Disney Attractions, Inc.

Stephanie has served on various committees of The Canned Food Alliance (CFA), The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), The National Confectioners Association (NCA), The Chocolate Manufacturers Association (CMA), The Distilled Spirits Council (DISCUS), and The Century Council. She has a bachelors and masters in Communication from Eastern Illinois University.

David Douglass
Director of Search Marketing
DoubleClick Performics

As Director of Search Marketing at DoubleClick Performics, Douglass oversees the management of paid search marketing programs for a myriad of top brand clients across retail, financial services, consumer electronics, auto, and other marketing verticals. He has been instrumental in developing the team of search marketing experts that define DoubleClick Performics as one of the most successful and respected SEMs in the U.S.

Sarah Contardo
Director, Event Marketing & Sales, Midwest Region
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus

As Director of Event Marketing and Sales - Midwest Region, Sarah oversees ticket sales, advertising, sponsorship and strategic alliances for Midwestern engagements of Feld Entertainment's touring spectaculars, which include three tours of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey®, two tours of Disney Live! SM,eight tours of Disney On IceSM, and touring productions of High School Musical: The Ice Tour and Doodlebops Live!.

Her career at Feld Entertainment began in 2001 as a Marketing Manager and she has been responsible for more than 20 markets spanning from the central plain states, to the Ohio Valley and parts of Canada. In 2005, Sarah was elevated to Director, Event Marketing and Sales and has been in her current position since. A native of Cincinnati, Contardo received her Bachelor of Science in Business from Miami University (Ohio). She resides in Lebanon, Ohio with her husband and twin daughters.

Feld Entertainment is the worldwide leader in producing live entertainment around the globe. Feld Entertainment's productions have appeared in 5