We are excited to announce the speakers for WordCamp Buffalo 2018! We are humbled to have such a variety of highly dedicated, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic WordPressers joining us.
WordCamp speakers are entirely volunteer. They self-fund their travel and accommodations to speak at WordCamps all over the world. We are grateful for their commitment to the Buffalo WordPress community.
Adam Warner
Adam W. Warner discovered WordPress in 2005 and has been working within the community ever since. To feed his entrepreneurial spirit, he founded several WordPress-focused businesses that provide education, plugins and consulting services for online business owners.
He is a true WordPress Evangelist in spirit and personality, and that happens to have been his job title when joining SiteLock.com. Today, he’s the Open Source Community Manager there, continuing to bring his experience and knowledge of the web, business, and security to many other communities.
Adam is also passionate about his family, robots, and of course Life, the Universe and Everything.
Adrian Roselli
Adrian is a member of the W3C Web Platform Working Group, W3C ARIA Working Group, and W3C Accessibility Task Force. He’s written articles for trade journals, web sites, and participated as an author and editor on five books. In 1998 he co-founded a software development consulting firm before leaving at the start of 2016. Some may recognize Adrian from his days helping to run evolt.org, one of the first communities for web developers. Adrian has been developing for the Web since 1993.
Amanda Gorman
Amanda Gorman helps nonprofits and wellness-based businesses build thriving online communities. As a Customer Success Coordinator at GiveWP she works diligently each day to assist nonprofits in growing their communities and receiving more donations online to make a bigger impact in the world. As an SEO consultant, she’s passionate about tending to the internet like a gardener would tend to their garden, so it can become a safe and fun place to connect again. Amanda uses her SEO superpowers to help her clients better understand their purpose, their audience, and how to better reach their people. Amanda is in love with her husband Casey, her nephew Jackson, and their dog Topanga whom all live together in Rochester, New York.
Anne-Marie Huurre
Anne-Marie has a long history in the computer game and mobile app industry.
She also continues producing and directing for companies needing marketing videos, podcasts and other content creation and digital media programs with a co-owned production company.
Today her professional efforts include creating workshops and content on stress management, mindfulness and energy medicine.
Ben Dunkle
Ben Dunkle is a teacher, designer, and artist. He actively works on the WordPress open source project, and has designed thousands of icons for WordPress, including the Dashicons that we see in the wp-admin. Ben has organized and spoken at numerous WordCamps and runs a bi-weekly WordPress users meetup group.
Connie Oswald-Stofko
Connie Oswald Stofko publishes Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com, the online gardening magazine for Western New York, and never runs out of things to write about. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in applied communication.
Eric Debelak
Eric Debelak has been creating WordPress sites for over 10 years. He is currently a co-founder and senior developer at 11 Online, a full service digital agency in Albuquerque, NM. At 11 Online, Eric works with a variety of technology, including React.js, Python, Laravel, Android and of course WordPress. Eric also previously taught full-stack web development at Central New Mexico Community College’s STEMulus Center.
Eric Nagel
Eric Nagel is a business-savvy technology executive with experience in programming and online marketing going back to 1999. He is passionate about developing applications that allow businesses, teams and individuals to achieve their goals through automated tools and access to actionable data.
Eric has spoken at local colleges, local and national conferences (including his own blogging conference, Type-A) on productivity, Mastermind Groups, SEO, affiliate marketing, and e-commerce. He also gave a 45-minute lecture to one unfortunate soul in a coffee shop on how to use Amazon MTurk and Machine Learning to automate repetitive tasks.
H. Trevor Johnson-Steigelman
Trevor is the owner of Coaches of Technology, Inc., a company that provides classes on the programming of robotics and microcontrollers for youngsters. The company also provides technology training for adults, including iPad classes, Windows training, and Video Lesson creation. More information is available at coachesoftechnology.com.
He is also an Assistant Professor of Physics at Finger Lakes Community College. He uses his website, physicsthisweek.com, to help students at FLCC and other schools learn the fundamentals of physics.
Jason Knill
Jason is Partner and Head of Giving at WordImpress, a WordPress plugin company who developed GiveWP.com, a Donation Plugin. Jason has worked on brand development and financial forecasting since acquiring the company and becoming Partner in 2014.
Joe Cartonia
A Buffalo native working in Virginia Beach as a WordPress plugin and API developer. Technology (electronics, computer hardware and software) has always been a major interest since the first grade. I also enjoy traveling, motorsports, snowboarding, playing guitar, and walks on the beach.
Jonathan Coupal
Jonathan has been in the technology industry since his first summer job in 1990, proceeding into the technical support field and becoming a co-owner in 1998 of ITX Corp, a software development company based in Rochester, NY. Jonathan plays the dual role of CTO and CSO for the company, focusing on tools that help the organization to effectively collaborate, and ensuring that their systems’ security is robust.
Matt Graham
A seasoned coder and a clever video and audio producer, Matt uses a wide range of technologies to bring even the most outlandish ideas and designs to life. His innate curiosity translates into exceptional problem solving skills. With over 10 years of technical experience behind him, Matt is an expert in both mobile device and computer development.
Even before he was a developer, Matt was using WordPress for his blogging needs, back when he was a “prolific” blogger, before it was cool. Matt has been developing with WordPress for 6 years, almost exclusively for 2 years.
Matt is from Whitby, ON, Canada and he is currently Front-End Developer at The City of Toronto Digital Technology Services and on the side a freelance technical advisor.
Michelle Ames
Marketing is intuitive for Michelle which is why she pursued and gained her MBA from the University of Rochester’s Simon School of Business. Michelle has over twenty years of experience in higher education; ten years owning a web design and marketing company; and currently serves as the Head of Customer Success for GiveWP.com
Michelle is a veteran of public speaking. Teaching is in her DNA. She’s been an instructor for a wide variety of topics including Using Quantitative Data Analysis Software, Meditative Drawing, Intro to WordPress, and Marketing for Massage Therapy. Michelle speaks at conferences all over North America. You can find many of them recorded on WordPress.tv including “Little Things That Make a Big Difference” and “Hidden Features of WordPress Revealed,” as well as panel discussions on marketing and women in technology.
When Michelle isn’t organizing events, she’s attending them, exploring photography, and mentoring people in her local community.
Michelle is the author of the soon-to-be-released “A Good Firm Handshake (and other essential business tips)” available soon on Amazon.com.
Say hi to Michelle on Twitter at @michelleames and check out her website at marketedbymichelle.com.
Nick Adams
Nick Adams is a web developer and Lead Happiness Buff at WP Buffs. Before working at WP Buffs, Nick had his own business, Revault Media. He is also one of the founding members of The WP Crowd podcast and blog.
Paul Oyler
Paul Oyler is a self-proclaimed “crazy old dude who wishes it were still the 1970’s but also loves 21st-century technology.” He has been using WordPress for almost 14 years, and in the last 4 years has become serious about the WordPress Community.
The owner of Oyler Creative in Butler, PA, Paul is a Follower of Jesus, Husband, Dad, ‘Pappy’, WordPress and Genesis user, Music Lover, Deadhead, Buffalo Sabres and Bills fan. His career path includes being a Web Site Builder, Social Media Manager, Small Business Owner, Photographer, eBay Seller, Truck Driver, Executive Housekeeper, Youth Pastor, Warehouse Worker, Machine Shop Laborer, Convienence Store Clerk, Book Store Clerk, Textile Mill Worker, Security Guard, College Athletic Department Manager, Janitor, Flea Market Vendor, Retail Manager, Burger Flipper, Paper Boy, Christmas Card Seller, Seed Seller, and Lemonade Stand Operator.
Sean Daly
I have recently started using WordPress, many years since I last built a website in the 1990s, and I am delighted with it. I am a journalist but worked for many years for a large corporation where I ran an advertising library intranet. I came to WP with a solid *nix background, but no direct experience with PHP, MySQL, CSS, or Javascript, and I have found the WordPress modular theme/plugin architecture has enabled me to build a bilingual website far more quickly than in the old days.
Shanta R. Nathwani
Shanta is an Instructor in Web Design at Sheridan College and is a full stack web developer. She is a WordCamp addict, martial artist and loves travelling.
Shawn Hooper
Hailing from Ottawa, Canada, Shawn has been building web applications since the late 90s, with a focus on WordPress since 2011. He is the Director of IT at Actionable, a learning and development startup based in Toronto. He is a core contributor to the WordPress open source project, and has spoken at WordPress events in Canada, the United States and Australia. Shawn is the lead organizer of WordCamp Ottawa 2018.
Tim Bouchard
Founding partner at Luminus in Buffalo NY, a creative agency that specializes in brand strategy and creative campaign production through traditional and digital means. Graduate of UB’s Media Study program with a background as a web developer and consultant for over 15 years.
Tom Harrigan
For the past two years I’ve been working with voice technology and created VoiceWP, a WordPress plugin that allows any site to create its own Alexa Skills. Just as the goal of WordPress is to democratize publishing, the goal of the project is to democratize the creation of voice applications, lowering the barrier to entry and allowing anyone to create voice apps. Partner & VP of Strategic Technology at Alley Interactive, focussed on working with large-scale digital publishers, and I’ve been working with WordPress professionally since 2012.