Kush Abdulloev, Affiliate Program Manager, VMInnovations
Kush Abdulloev is the Affiliate Program Manager at VMInnovations, a Lincoln, NE based online retailer that has served over half a million customers since 2005. Under Kush’s management VMInnovations affiliate program has reached ShareASale’s Top 100 PowerRank within 4 months and is experiencing triple digit growth month to month.
In addition to managing VMInnovations affiliate program, Kush is a passionate marketing strategist who specializes in increasing VMInnovation’s websites online visibility, brand awareness and sales by implementing and improving search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click (PPC) and social media operations.
Tim Ash, CEO, SiteTuners Chair, Conversion Conference
Tim Ash is the CEO of SiteTuners.com, a landing page optimization firm. During his 15 year involvement with the Internet, Tim has worked with Google, Facebook, Nestle, Symantec, Verizon Wireless, eHarmony, Canon, Sanyo, Rhapsody, American Express, Sony Music, CBS Interactive, Real Networks, American Honda, COMP USA, Symantec, Harcourt Brace, Universal Studios, HomeGain, Fair Isaac, TransUnion, Rand McNally, Red Envelope, Black & Decker, Ed Hardy, and Coach to develop successful Internet initiatives.
Tim is a highly-regarded presenter and keynote speaker at SES, eMetrics, PPC Summit, Affiliate Summit, PubCon, SMX, OMS, AffCon, LeadsCon, Internet Retailer, and eComXpo. He is the founder and chairperson of Conversion Conference, and a contributing columnist to numerous. He is the host of the weekly Landing Page Optimization show and podcast on WebmasterRadio.fm.
Tim received his B.S. from UC San Diego “with highest distinction” while attending on a full U.C. Regents academic scholarship. He also completed his M.S. during his PhD. studies in computer science at UC San Diego, specializing in Neural Networks and Artificial Intelligence. He is the author of the bestselling book Landing Page Optimization which has been reprinted several times and translated into six languages. Tim is currently working on the expanded 2nd edition of the book with co-authors Rich Page and Maura Ginty.
Julia Barrett, Head of eBay Partner Network, North America & Australia, eBay, Inc.
Julia Barrett is head of the eBay Partner Network, North America & Australia. With more than 300,000 active websites in the program, the eBay Partner Network is one of the largest affiliate marketing programs in the world. Julia came to eBay from Shopzilla, Inc., where she built and managed the Shopzilla Publisher Program in addition to overseeing product development of Beso and several enterprise initiatives. Prior to Shopzilla, Julia worked within Institutional Equities at Bear Stearns. Though she misses Wall Street, she is much happier in the exciting and ever-changing world of internet marketing.
Chris Bishop, Founder & Managing Director, 7thingsmedia
Chris Bishop, a 28 year old self-confessed “Ecommerce junkie”, is enjoying the biggest year of his professional life.
He self-funded and conceived London & New York-based digital media agency 7thingsmedia just over two years ago during deep recession. Now the company – named Best Agency at this year’s annual London industry black-tie – has enjoyed an astronomical rise in its short tenure due to their overwhelming results on behalf of “superbrands” clients including – Ted Baker, Agent Provocateur, and GANT.
With plethora of accolades acknowledging his contribution to Performance Marketing including the prestigious Commission Junction European Marketing Show award for “Outstanding Personal Contribution to Affiliate Marketing in 2007.
Listed in VOGUE.com’s 100 Most Influential People in Online Fashion, Bishop is also Non-Executive Director for global music events brand Fashion Rocks and lectures for Econsultancy training the next generation of digital gurus.
Sarah Bundy, CEO, All Inclusive Marketing Inc.
Sarah loves the business she’s in. As a passionate, high level thinking Internet Marketing Specialist, she has been a top performer for more than half a dozen corporations in her lifetime. Over the last decade, she has managed affiliate programs, lead sales teams, and written and implemented online marketing plans for several multimillion dollar corporations.
Throughout her sales and marketing career, she has been recognized for ten sales achievement awards, four customer service awards, been nominated for employee of the year twice, won Marketing MVP twice, and had her company nominated for two different awards in 2009: Best New Start Up of the Year in Vancouver, BC and Best New Outsourced Program Management Company of the Year by A Best Web.
Sarah now leads a team of highly skilled affiliate marketing specialists in both her companies, All Inclusive Marketing, Canada’s leading full service affiliate management company, and Affiliate Management Trainers, a training and Consulting firm for Internet retailers with in-house affiliate programs.
Sarah believes in integrity, honesty, and that energy and persistence concur all things. She pushes her team for continued personal and professional development, as well as her own abilities as a team leader, industry expert, and teacher in the online marketing space.
Linda Bustos, Director of Ecommerce Research, Elastic Path Software
Linda Bustos is the director of ecommerce research for Elastic Path Software and the author of the Get Elastic Ecommerce blog. As an ecommerce consultant, Linda has helped some of the world’s largest online retailers and technology brands improve their conversion rates and user experience. An online retailer herself, Linda moonlights as a jewelry designer for Robin Hood Couture, her line of handmade accessories.
Todd Crawford, Co-Founder, Impact Radius
A recognizable veteran, Todd Crawford brings to Impact Radius a passion for performance advertising and a commitment to its growth. As a co-founder, he evangelizes the opportunities presented by a multi-channel approach to the performance model. Prior to Impact Radius, he served as vice president of sales and business development for Digital River’s affiliate network, oneNetworkDirect. Todd also contributed to the founding team at Commission Junction in 1998 and led its business and sales development efforts as vice president for more than seven years. In 2007, Todd won the Affiliate Marketing Legend Award at the Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards in Las Vegas. He holds a bachelor of arts at the University of Minnesota, Twin-Cities.
Ryan Diehl, Affiliate Program Manager, Best Buy
Ryan Diehl manages the Best Buy affiliate program with 8 years of digital marketing experience including affiliate and email marketing, comparison shopping engines, and other online partnerships.
Benjamin G. Edelman, Assistant Professor of Business Adminstration, Harvard Business School
Ben is a faculty member at the Harvard Business School, where his teaching and research explore the online economy. Ben is particularly interested in what can go wrong online — from scams that trick consumers to schemes that defraud advertisers, not to mention governments blocking web sites and all manner of other disputes. Ben also assists selected advertisers and ad networks in auditing the quality of the traffic they buy, helping them to focus their spending on high-quality publishers where placements will be most effective. Ben’s writings are available at www.benedelman.org.
Representative clients include the ACLU, AOL, the City of Los Angeles, the National Association of Broadcasters, Microsoft, the National Football League, the New York Times, Universal Music Group, the Washington Post, and Wells Fargo.
Ben holds a Ph.D. in Economics, a J.D., a M.A. in Statistics, and a B.A. in Economics (summa cum laude), all from Harvard University.
Karen Garcia, Co-Founder & CEO, GTO Management
Karen Garcia is a co-founder and CEO at GTO Management, an outsourced affiliate program management company. Karen has twelve years of experience in e-commerce and marketing beginning in 1999 with the development and management of the affiliate program for Shari’s Berries as well as their e-mail and print advertisement channels and SEO and SEM campaigns. Karen has consulted on and profitably managed dozens of affiliate programs on many different network platforms ranging from large national brands such as National Geographic and MediFast to niche merchants like BowlingShirt.com and MakeBeer.net as well as the conference, Blog World Expo. In 2009, she was nominated for an Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Award for Affiliate Marketing Advocate and the GTO-managed BowlingShirt.com program was nominated for Exceptional Merchant against industry heavyweights Amazon and eBay. She was awarded the 2009 ShareASale “Pay It Forward” Award for Industry Advocate for her work on the Advertising Tax issue. Karen can be reached at karen (at) gtomanagement.com
Chris Goward, Co-Founder & CEO, WiderFunnel Marketing
Chris Goward, Co-Founder and CEO of WiderFunnel Marketing Optimization, is one of the leading experts globally in Conversion Optimization. The business processes that he developed, including the WiderFunnel LIFT Framework™ and Kaizen Method™ increase conversion rates for clients that need to generate more leads and sales from their websites by between 10% and 280%.
Since building his first client’s website in 1994, Chris has been optimizing online and offline marketing for companies such as eBay, Epson, SAP, Getty Images, BabyAge.com, Outrigger Hotels, and Google, among others. He also branded and launched the Rockit Roller™ personal-powered scooter with investor backing in 2004.
His work has been published in Marketing Sherpa, Search Engine Watch, the Google blog, Search Engine Marketing Journal and DM News. He has been recognized with a Gold award from the Canadian Marketing Association and as one of Marketing Magazine’s “Ones to Watch”.
John Greathouse, Partner, Rincon Venture Partners
John Greathouse is a partner at Rincon Venture Partners, a venture capital firm investing in early stage web-based businesses. John has held a number of senior executive positions with successful startups during the past fifteen years, spearheading transactions, which generated more than $350 million of shareholder value, including an IPO and a multi-hundred-million-dollar acquisition. He is also a Co-Founder of RevUpNet, a performance-based online marketing agency.
John is a CPA and holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School. He is a member of the University of California at Santa Barbara’s Faculty where he teaches several entrepreneurial courses.
Kristin Hall, Head of Publisher Development, Google Affiliate Network
Kristin Hall is the Head of Publisher Development at Google Affiliate Network and a member of the Performance Marketing Associate Board of Directors.
Peter Hamilton, Partner & CMO, HasOffers
As Partner and CMO at HasOffers, Peter overseas customer acquisition, partnership development, content creation, design and brand development while also spending time with product and usability. Peter joined HasOffers before the company launched their first product in 2009. As the first affiliate tracking software on the cloud, he worked to build a brand, reputation, and platform that quickly became a new industry standard, growing to more than 10,000 accounts and tracking more than $1 million in affiliate payouts every day. In 2011, Peter led the marketing launch of MobileAppTracking.com, the world’s first unbiased tracking platform for mobile app advertising. Follow him on twitter: @peterhamilton
Sam Harrelson, Independent Ecommerce Consultant
Sam Harrelson is an independent ecommerce consultant and teacher based out of the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina and the South Carolina Upstate. With a wide academic background including studies in Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology, String Theory and Divinity School, Sam views the online marketing world through a wide lens and focuses on the industry’s ability to reach individuals, form communities and create social memes.
Instead of “consumers,” Sam sees individuals as producers of content and investigates how developing technologies and applications furthers the ability of people to participate in marketing efforts rather than just consume. Sam has a decade of experience in the affiliate and performance marketing industry with experience as a publisher, email marketer, website owner, Director of Business Development, Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and advertiser along with previously publishing the Digital Moses Confidential, ReveNews and CostPerNews.
Lena Siara Huang, Sr. Manager, eCommerce & Customer Experience
Lena Huang is a Senior Online Marketer who has worked for companies such as JC Penney, Marriott, Rosetta Stone, and Bertelsmann with responsibility for maximizing sales through online marketing and on-site optimization.
She has managed a variety of interactive, consumer-focused marketing campaigns, including Affiliate Marketing, Performance Display, Retargeting, On-site Marketing, SEO, and Paid Search – driving multi-million dollar revenue growth and double-digit ROI gains. She has worked in a number of industries, including retail, travel, and media, across The Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.
Lena has spoken on various topics at A4U Expo, AffCon, Commission Junction, and the DC Hospitality High School. She holds a graduate degree in Business Administration with specialization in International Marketing and Global Cultures.
Simon Jones, VP of Strategic Solutions, Plimus
A Silicon Valley veteran, Simon has worked with software companies like Interwoven, Hyperion and Adobe for over a dozen years in a variety of strategic marketing, sales and development roles. At Plimus, Simon ensures that solutions are developed and strategically positioned to meet the needs of e-commerce 3.0 and the evolving e-commerce marketplace.
Siva V. Kumar, Co-Founder & CEO, TheFind, Inc.
Siva Kumar brings passion, panache and a dose of good-willed humor to his role as co-founder and CEO of TheFind, the second largest shopping search engine and the twelfth fastest-growing private company listed on the Inc. 500.
With his characteristic zeal, Siva set out to create a better shopping experience, one that keeps the consumer’s needs front-and-center. Today, after years of engineering magic, user-interface design and capital generation, Siva’s original vision has come to life as TheFind, a best-in-class shopping resource, allowing consumers to easily and efficiently shop over a half of a million stores, manufacturers and retailers – online, in stores and on their mobile devices.
Siva received his MBA from the University of Chicago; an MS from Pennsylvania State University; and a BS from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India. He resides in Menlo Park, Calif. with his wife and two daughters who now shop more efficiently than ever, thanks to TheFind.
Rebecca Madigan, Executive Director, Performance Marketing Association
Rebecca Madigan is executive director of the Performance Marketing Association. Since leading the formation of the PMA in 2008, Rebecca has built the PMA to be the only trade association representing performance and affiliate marketing. The PMA has committed to connect, inform and advocate on behalf of this growing industry, most recently spearheading the fight against the ‘affiliate nexus tax’, legislation being proposed in several states, and which is detrimental to affiliate marketers. Rebecca was formerly director of product management at Commission Junction, Impact Radius, and at Lurn, Inc., where, with Anik Singal, they launched the formation of the PMA in April 2008. She has collected 25 years of leadership experience in product management and marketing and been a member of technology standards and professional organizations such as WAP Forum, Bluetooth and Wireless LAN Special Interest Groups (IEEE 802.15 and 802.11), Mobile Advisory Council, and GSM, CDMA, TDMA and CDPD mobile technology standards groups. She holds a bachelor degree in Anthropology from University of California, Santa Barbara, and lives in southern California.
Dave Naffziger, CEO, BrandVerity, Inc.
David Naffziger is CEO of BrandVerity, a provider of brand protection and affiliate compliance tools to affiliate managers, agencies and networks. BrandVerity’s PoachMark(http://www.brandverity.com/poachmark) product provides unparalled insight into the search activity of affiliate marketers, giving brand owners a comprehensive suite of tools to ensure compliance with their search policies and recover fraudulent commissions. PoachMark is used to protect the brands of 6 of the 10 largest Internet Retailers as well as those of thousands of affiliate programs of all sizes. Prior to BrandVerity, David was VP of Engineering at Judy’s Book a Seattle-based local search company. Prior to Judy’s Book, David co-founded and was Director of Research at Quova prior to its acquisition by Neustar, Inc. (NYSE: NSR). David received his BS from MIT.
Tony Pantano, CEO, Imwave, Inc.
Tony Pantano is the CEO of Imwave, Inc. (www.imwave.com), with offices in York, Pennsylvania and Reston, Virginia. The Company’s primary focus is building and launching effective pay-per-click (PPC) search engine keyword marketing campaigns for our affiliate marketing partners.
Mr. Pantano began his career in the Internet industry 18 years ago as a Principal and Vice President of Cyberia Communications, Inc., a start-up Internet Service provider in York, Pennsylvania prior to its acquisition by D&E SuperNet, 1998.
He served as President of D&E SuperNet and later as Vice President of Business Services for OneMain.com-an EarthLink company, providing leadership and strategic direction for all aspects of daily operations.
Mr. Pantano most recently served as Regional Vice President of Interactive Media & Director of Marketing with the York Newspaper Company leading team responsible for the creation and implementation of all consumer marketing programs and Internet operations all of Media News Group owned newspapers in Pennsylvania.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business/Economics from the University of Pittsburgh and a Masters of Business Administration degree from York College of Pennsylvania.
Ali Pasha, Product Manager, Google Affiliate Network
Ali Pasha is a Product Manager for Google Affiliate Network. He previously worked on Google Code, Google AJAX APIs, and Microsoft Visual Studio.
Marc Phillips, CEO, Skumatic
As an author of 6 published Internet technology books, including “Successful Ecommerce” and “The World’s Best Online Advertising Campaigns”, and a serial entrepreneur, Marc combines his passion for the affiliate marketing with technology.
Currently, Marc is the Founder/CEO of Skumatic.com, an technology platform that enables product catalogs on Facebook. Skumatic work with clients such as SchaffPartnerCentric, OPMPros and other OPMs as well as directly with clients including USMattress, StrawberryNet, BrandsDirect, DealsDirect and many more.
Marc’s previous online research company, APT Strategies, was founded in 1993 and sold to Jupiter Research Inc. (NASDAQ: JUPM) in 1999. He also co-founded Australia’s largest affiliate company, Commission Monster, acquired by Blue Freeway Ltd. Marc founded and sold a leading affiliate website, Sportbets to Paddy Power Ltd., and founding shareholder of GlanceGuide Inc, an online video metrics firm acquired by Nielsen in 2010.
He currently serves on the Board of Geodelic, Inc., a publisher of local guides for mobile users and other start ups in Silicon Valley. Marc holds a Bachelor of Economics & Commercial Laws from the University of Melbourne and lives and works in Palo Alto, CA.
Kim Rowley, Founder, Key Internet Marketing, Inc.
Kim Rowley @KIMarketing has been in the affiliate marketing space since 1998 and is the founder of Key Internet Marketing, Inc. where she authors several niche blogs including a top shoe blog, ShoeaholicsAnonymous.com. She also helps people save time and money at KIMarketing.com. Ms. Rowley has been featured in several publications including USA Today and Revenue Magazine and has presented on specific topics of ecommerce entrepreneurship, content creation and affiliate marketing secrets at such events as BlogWorld New Media Expo and Infotec. Kim is also an Adjunct Professor for the University of San Francisco teaching Advanced Affiliate Marketing Techniques. Kim volunteers her time as a SCORE counselor to share her marketing expertise and serves as a member of the Affiliate Summit Advisory Board as well as on the boards of several local civic organizations.
Jared Saunders, Affiliate Program Manager, Jenson USA
Jared Saunders (aka TurboJared) joined Jenson USA in early 2007 and is currently the Affiliate Program Manager. In his role he is tasked with managing their affiliate marketing department, Building and maintaining relationships with their affiliate partners, growing familiarity of the Jenson USA brand, collaborating with vendors on marketing strategies, finding new ways to let customers interact with Jenson USA, and participating on their business development and strategy team. Previous to Jenson USA, Jared was a regional account manager for PBD West and negotiated and maintained purchasing contracts, display agreements, and handled payments between major product vendors and franchised Exxon Mobil owners. Outside of Jenson USA, Jared is a devoted husband, father of 3 (almost 4), avid cyclist, Marketing Consultant, and OPM.
Jason Spievak, Co-Founder & CEO, RingRevenue
Jason Spievak is the co-founder and CEO of RingRevenue, the leading call performance marketing solution. Nearly all leading U.S. performance advertising networks license RingRevenue’s platform, including Commission Junction, LinkShare, ShareASale, the Google Affiliate Network, PepperJam, Epic Media and dozens of others. Prior to founding RingRevenue, Jason was a Director and CFO at CallWave, where he led its successful IPO in 2004. Prior to CallWave, Jason was Vice President of technology M&A in Broadview’s Silicon Valley office, where he was the execution lead on more than $1.25 billion in successful technology mergers. Jason has also held product management roles with Nextel Communications and with Netopia, where he helped the company complete its successful IPO in 1996. Jason earned his MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University and his BA from UC Santa Barbara.
Kevin Webster, Internet Marketing Manager, Forbes Custom Products
Kevin Webster is the Internet Marketing Manager at Forbes Custom Products, and a web analytics blogger and author. He is currently completing his first e-book, Web Analytics for Brick and Mortar. Kevin has been involved in B2B Marketing since 2001, and Web Analytics since 2003. He has worked on projects in the affiliate and merchant space for product lines such as wireless, medical/HIPAA, custom manufacturing, and insurance/benefits. Kevin worked as an affiliate manager in the B2B space from 2006-2008.
Jenny Williams, Merchant Manager, Skimlinks
Jenny Williams is the Merchant Manager for Skimlinks, a content monetization tool that aggregates the programs of over 18,000 merchants and converts links and words into affiliate links for thousands of affiliates. Working in the areas of community management, social media, and business development of publisher acquisition and merchant management, Jenny has engaged in various areas of the affiliate marketing industry. She currently manages the 18,000+ Merchant and 30 Network relationships for Skimlink internationally.