TampaBay

Confirmed Speakers

• Kathleen Taylor
  Kathleen Taylor is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit healthcare and social services sector. She currently directs the community engagement functions of a large nonprofit hospice organization. In her career, Kathleen has worked with children in foster care, teens in the juvenile justice system, people with traumatic brain-injuries, priests awaiting ordination, people who are dying and those that love them, faith communities, coalitions, healthcare organizations, first responders, women’s groups, public libraries, and even dental offices.
• Nikhil Goyle
  At age 17, Nikhil Goyal is the author of All Hands on Deck: Why America Needs a Learning Revolution to be published in September 2012. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, NBC, Huffington Post, and Edutopia. He has also contributed three Letters to the Editors for the New York Times. Nikhil has spoken to thousands at conferences around the world from Qatar to Spain. He is leading a Learning Revolution movement to transform the American school system. A senior at Syosset High School, Nikhil lives in Woodbury, New York.
• Deena Fidas
  Deena Fidas is the Deputy Director of the Public Education and Outreach department for the Human Rights Campaign where she works with employers on inclusive policies and benefits for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees. Deena manages the Corporate Equality Index survey administration to more than 1,200 major U.S. employers and authors the Corporate Equality Index report. Deena has worked for the American Civil Liberties Union, Hillary Clinton for President and as a researcher at American University's Women & Policy Institute.
• Mark Knipp
  Mark Knipp is a software designer and data scientist specializing in how we experience software, especially when we think no one is looking. He is particularly interested in what we can can learn from the vast amount of data collected in the myriad of systems that pervade the internet and business. Mark's research focuses on the insight we can gain from the millions of little actions that take place as we live our digital lives. Currently Mark is working on a system that uses gamification of business intelligence system interactions to drive positive competitive and collaborative behavior in its users.
• Dr. Sidney Pierce
  Dr. Sidney Pierce is currently a professor at the University of South Florida’s Department of Integrative Biology. His current research involves photosynthetic animals, especially the molecular biology behind the intracellular symbiosis between the digestive cells of a sea slug (Elysia chlorotica) and algal (Vaucheria litorea) chloroplasts, with applications in medicine—gene therapy. Dr. Pierce’s work has been featured on radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, and even Weekly Reader, internationally as well as domestically. In fact, his research was recently featured in a French documentary, “The Power of Plants” on the France 5 network in France.
• Adam Bohn
  Adam Bohn is founder and president of Artix Entertainment, an internationally popular online video game design and marketing company. In fact, over 150 million user accounts have been created for his games. In addition to creating online adventure games, Adam is a life-long martial artist, earning his 3rd Degree Black belt in Tae Kwon Do and practicing other martial arts, including Hapkido, Tang Soo Do, Muay Thai Kickboxing and Krav Maga.
• Sharon Britton
  Sharon believes there is an artist living inside everyone, and when we connect to that artist, we can convey our innermost truths. She credits her husband and children, practicing yoga and surrounding herself with a tribe of people who foster self-expression, with providing the freeing environment to awaken her inner artist. Before becoming a painter, Sharon was a partner at a national law firm in New York City where she practiced litigation and intellectual property law, handling well-known cases on behalf of famous recording artists, record labels and publishing companies. Sharon received her Bachelor of Arts from the American University in 1989 and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center in 1992, graduating both with honors.
• Jordan Raynor
  Jordan Raynor is a widely recognized digital strategist who has spent his career solving real problems in government and politics through technology. Jordan is a Co-founder of Citizinvestor – a crowdfunding platform for local government projects. Jordan most recently served as the Client Director at Engage where he lead work on the Voting Information Project - an initiative of the Pew Center on the States, Google and Microsoft. In 2010, Jordan led Foursquare’s “I Voted” Project that allowed Foursquare users in the U.S. to find their polling place location, check-in, and unlock an “I Voted” badge. Jordan was selected as a Google Fellow at the Personal Democracy Forum for his work at the intersection of government and technology.
• Gert Garman
  Mary Frances “Gert” Garman is a Creativity and Innovation Catalyst for Disney Destinations, where she facilitates brainstorming sessions for the Disney Parks and Resorts worldwide. Prior to this, she served as the Event/Marketing Manager for the City of Orlando, specializing in executing Mayor Buddy Dyer’s signature events. For five years previously, she was the Assistant Athletics Director of Marketing and Promotions for the University of Central Florida. She graduated from UCF in 1987 with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism: Advertising/PR.
• David Hendricks
  David is an elementary school music teacher and a trainer for Little Kids Rock, a national charity that provides free guitars and teacher training to low income schools. He is currently designing curriculum with the goal of using modern music to transform music education, focusing on encouraging children to preserve the creative skills they are born with.
• Jayme Cellitioci
  How do free-choice science learning platforms - like science museums, science-technology centers, aquariums, zoos, eco-tourism experiences and nature centers - tell the stories of science and nature? How will they tell them in the future? And how might this inspire others in telling the stories of their domain? Breaching humpback whales, unearthed Ice Age fossils and Venus transiting the Sun offer key insights to consider. Jayme Cellitioci is the principal of ULU Consulting, a consulting and facilitation practice. Jayme’s passion for connecting the public with science and nature has brought her to the Netherlands, Greece, New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, Hawaii and across the mainland US, engaging people in science-based experiences. Combining a B.S. in Psychobiology and an M.S. in Creativity and Change Leadership from the International Center for Studies in Creativity, Jayme is highly energized by the process of designing creative and transformative free-choice science learning experiences for children, adults and families.
• Michael Kruse
  Michael Kruse is a staff writer on the enterprise team at the Tampa Bay Times. In 2012, he won the Paul Hansell Award for Distinguished Achievement in Florida Journalism, given by the Florida Society of News Editors to the best writer in the state. He won the American Society of News Editors' distinguished nondeadline writing award in 2011. His work has been recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists, the Society for Features Journalism, the Associated Press Sports Editors, the City and Regional Magazine Association and the National Headliner Awards, and in categories ranging from sports explanatory to business reporting, from short features in newspapers to long profiles in magazines.
• Reuben Pressman
  Reuben loves building. Multiple businesses and non-profits have sprung from his deep passion for solving problems, turning challenges into opportunities, & starting things that will change our world. Reuben recently graduated with a degree in entrepreneurship. He's founded many organizations and projects carefully crafted to bring humans closer together. From hanging swings in the middle of the night to advising technology, entrepreneurship, local business, the arts, and the creative class, Reuben takes every opportunity he can to encourage meaningful relationships, create happiness, and make fun!