2012 Speakers (More TBA Soon!)

The following is a growing list of speaking being confirmed for our conference. We will regularly update this page in the weeks to come!

Ann Ueno | @ann_ueno | Director of Marketing at Starwood Hotels & Resorts – Starting her career selling keywords at AltaVista, Ann soon realized her passion for online marketing in a much different capacity. Ann has ridden the waves of marketing in the hospitality world and has expertise in direct response, SEM/SEO, customer service, social media, & social purpose marketing. Ann’s focus is not just on driving results, but more importantly on people. She has partnered personally & professionally with organizations such as Ronald McDonald House Charities, International Justice Mission, & Hospitality Cares. Ann is a wife and step-mother, a blogger, philanthropist, global traveler, a foodie and a runner.

Ariana Klitzner | @missionmeasure | Engagement Manager at Mission Measurement – Ariana stands at the crossroads of the business and social sectors. As an Engagement Manager, she is uniquely positioned to understand the inner workings of non-profits while also applying business principals to help sharpen and strengthen their missions. Known for her strong communication skills and rich non-profit experience, she works closely with clients to help them solidly define their identity and goals before measuring their impact.

Ben Morrison | @benthemorrison |One part nerd and one part attention-whore Ben Morrison has spent his whole life making people laugh. Now living in Los Angeles, Morrison regularly tours the country delivering his electrifying act that includes live multimedia and photography. On TV you’ve seen Morrison on Last Comic Standing, as the lead on the final season of MTV-hit Punk’d, as one of the late Robert Schimmel’s last-collaborators on the pilot HOBOS, and as a regular contributor on Al Gore’s CurrentTV. He is also the humour columnist for both Mutineer and Crohn’s Advocate Magazines.

Brad Jeffrey | @mvt121 | CEO-President and Servant of Movement121 – Brad is Co-Founder of Movement121, a social innovation company whose vision is to transform  the lives of 1,000,000 people trapped in unfathomable poverty to become self-sustaining.  Previously, he founded Home Staging Management and was Vice President/Co-Owner of IRMCO. Brad’s executive experience includes 27 years of sales, marketing, design, leadership, and business development. Through several recent life-changing experiences, Brad’s journey led him to discover and pursue his passion to utilize business as a tool to empower the poor for sustainable legacy change.

Brent Freeman | @entrepreneur411 | Founder & CEO of Roozt.com - At the age of 22, Brent was negotiating multi-million dollar contracts with Fortune 500 firms & traveling across the globe. During the Great Recession, a light bulb went off to create an online platform that allows everyday shoppers to connect, learn, and show with the most inspiring cause oriented brands out there. Roozt.com will be the go-to destination for mainstream online shoppers.

Brian Jenkins | @LbrianJenkins | Founder & President of Starting Up Now & Entrenuity – Brian has successfully provided entrepreneurship training to youth and adults for over 17 years in Chicago, nationally, and abroad. For more than 17 years, Brian has led entrepreneurship training workshops for teachers and youth workers nationally and internationally. He is directly responsible for training thousands of urban young people in the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and financial literacy, in addition to teaching character/integrity based business operations. Brian has also directed on-site program management for schools, youth programs, and community-based organizations.

Brittany Martin Graunke | @zealousgood | Founder & CEO of Zealous Good, a website that connects people with extra goods to donate to local charities with matching needs.  Brittany studied Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences at Northwestern University and began her career in the Chicago office of Bain & Company as a strategic business consultant. She joined the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago as a strategic engagement manager, where she realized the need for a more efficient process for matching donated goods with non-profit organizations. Shortly thereafter, Zealous Good was born in Chicago and since then Brittany has been focused on making the in-kind donation process easier, faster and more meaningful.

Catherine Rohr | @defyventuresNYC | Founder & CEO of Defy Ventures – Catherine began her career in venture capital and private equity. At age 25, she made a life transforming decision to start following the ways of Jesus. She founded and developed the vision for the Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP). Now back in New York City, Catherine has founded her second nonprofit organization, Defy Ventures-which provides ambitious men who have criminal histories with transformational entrepreneurship, leadership, & career opportunities. Catherine is committed to inspiring her entrepreneurs to “defy the odds” by embracing a new lifestyle, and is creating a scalable model that can impact every urban community in America.

Claire Diaz Ortiz | @ClaireD | Leads Social Innovation at Twitter & Author of Twitter for Good – Claire Diaz Ortiz (née Williams) leads social innovation at Twitter, where she has worked since 2009. Among other things, she manages Twitter’s philanthropic, social good, and cause marketing initiatives, including the Twitter for Nonprofits program. She is the author of Twitter for Good: Change the World, One Tweet at a Time (August, 2011), her second book.

Dan Portnoy | @DanPortnoy | Founder of Portnoy Media Group & author of The Nonprofit Narrative: How Stories Can Save the World. For over a decade, Dan has worked with the toughest outposts of Fortune 500 companies to get them back on track and with big results. He is sought after to help flesh out business ideas, coach teams and lead senior staff through the digital age. Dan started The Portnoy Media Group in 2006 to help nonprofits, companies and organizations better tell their stories. Dan’s cultivation of story ideas builds community, engages the free radicals and removes the barriers between traditional cultivation and acquisition.

Dave Blanchard | @dave_blanchard | Founder of Praxis- Prior, Dave was a Principal Designer at IDEO Chicago, where he co-led the studio’s social innovation portfolio. He graduated from Babson College with a concentration on entrepreneurship, and then went on to found two startups in the music industry. He completed graduate work at Northwestern University, earning an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and a Masters of Engineering Management in Design from the McCormick School. He lives in Manhattan with his wife Courtney and son Noah.

Eddo Kim | @thesupply | Founder of The Supply – a nonprofit organization that is building low-cost private secondary schools in slums worldwide. Combining passion with a thirst for research, Eddo holds steadfastly onto the belief that these informal slums have the potential to be thriving urban spaces in the 21st Century. Eddo, a native Southern Californian, received his bachelors from the University of Pennsylvania, M.A. in Education Leadership at Columbia University, and Ed.M in International Education Policy from Harvard.

Eric Stowe | @ericstowe | Founder & Executive Director of A Child’s Right – Eric is a social entrepreneur who places focus on water, children, health, poverty — and solutions. He is Founder & Executive Director of a child’s right — an innovative organization distinguished not only by its remarkable impact upon safe water delivery for children, but also its radical commitment to transparency for donors.

Hannah Song | @hannahsong | President & CEO of Liberty in North Korea (LiNK). She joined in 2006 as Deputy Director, dividing her time between managing day-to-day operations and coordinating overseas programs, including refugee shelters and fact-finding missions. At the end of 2008 she became President, now managing the organization from their headquarters office in California.  Along with her exceptional staff, the organization works to redefine public perceptions of North Korea, provide protection and direct assistance to North Korean refugees, and create strategies to empower the North Korean people to accelerate change in their country.

Jacquelline Fuller | Director, Charitable Giving & Advocacy at Google – In 2007, Jacquelline helped launched Google.org & began leading Google’s charitable giving. Jacquelline previously served as Deputy Director of Global Health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior experience also includes serving as speechwriter to U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Dr. Louis Sullivan.  Jacquelline ghostwrote the inspirational autobiography, “Never Forget” by Kay Coles James.  She received her BA in political science from UCLA and a Masters in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. She serves on the boards of World Vision & the Eastern Congo Initiative.

Jason Saul | @missionmeasure |Founder and CEO of Mission Measurement, a strategy consulting firm that helps corporations, nonprofits and public sector clients to create value through social change. He has advised some of the biggest players in business and social change: Walmart, Starbucks, McDonald’s, Kraft, Levi Straus & Co., Easter Seals, American Red Cross, 4-H, the Smithsonian and USAID, among others. Jason has authored two books outlining his innovative approaches to social change: The End of Fundraising and Social Innovation Inc. Jason serves on the faculty of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where he teaches corporate social responsibility and nonprofit management.

Jeremy Cowart | @jeremycowart | Celebrity Portrait Photographer & Founder of Help-Portrait – Jeremy is the founder of Help-Portrait, a worldwide movement of photographers.  After the earthquake hit Haiti 2010, Jeremy responded with his “Voices of Haiti” photo essay which was displayed in the halls of the UN in New York. He traveled with Britney Spears in 2009 as her tour photographer and the Passion World Tour in 2008. Jeremy photographed many people in the music and entertainment fields, such as Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, & Sting. He’s worked with multiple non-profit organizations & traveled throughout Africa. He has published 3 Coffee Table books that feature his photography: “Hope in the Dark”, “The Poor Will Be Glad” and “Awakening”.

Joel John Roberts | @joeljohnroberts | CEO of PATH (People Assisting the Homeless), a group of nonprofits that builds housing and provides services for hurting people. In the past few years, his agencies have raised nearly a third of a billion dollars in capital revenue for affordable housing. In this changing world, Roberts has transformed a traditional homeless agency into an innovative social good organization. Roberts is the author of “How To Increase Homelessness”, publisher of PovertyInsights.org, and a writer for Huffington Post.

John Piercy | Founder & Principal of Neighbor Capital, LLC | John is a social entrepreneur who leverages retail business expertise to bring about sustainable, social impact. Founding Neighbor Capital, LLC, in 2009, he continues to partner with businesses, non-­profits and governmental agencies to develop social-­purpose
business solutions to social issues such as poverty, unemployment, wellness, and
more.

Jon Carson | @biddingforgood | CEO of BiddingForGood – Jon is a serial entrepreneur with over 20 years in building and scaling for-profit enterprises that serve a broader social purpose. He has funded and endowed social entrepreneurship lectures at both Yale and Babson College. Jon has started and profitably sold three companies, the most recent being FamilyEducation Network (Fen.com). In total he has returned in excess of $175 million to investors and has never lost investor money. He is currently on the board of Taunton Press, and the Lewis Institute of Social Entrepreneurship at Babson College.

Josh Middleman | @jrmiddleman | Director of Partnerships for Ashoka Changemakers – Josh works to build strategic partnerships with corporate and foundation and non-profit clients. Prior to joining Ashoka, Josh worked as a Democratic fundraiser and campaign consultant, where he developed partnerships in support of several progressive candidates. Josh has been a consultant for the UNDP and the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana, where he worked to enhance the prospects of a community owned eco-tourism venture. Josh has spent considerable time living, working and studying abroad including two years in Egypt where he earned a Masters degree in International Relations from the American University in Cairo.

Joshua Tolle | @joshuatolle | Founder & CEO of Method Capital LLC – Josh is a serial entrepreneur who has dedicated his life to building ventures to support his greatest vice, a resolute devotion to changing the world.  His  most recent endeavor, Method Capital, is an ambitious venture capital company founded upon the principle of enterprising hope. Method is a progressive, culture-first investment group that exists primarily to aid & sustain the development of human capital.

JR Kerr | Strategist at ROI Ventures, LLC – He joined ROI because of his deep commitment to big ideas that can change the world. Prior to joining ROI, JR worked as the Director for Programming & Curation for Chicago Ideas Week & Lead Curator for the Curation Group. JR’s 15 + years experience in communicating complex ideas, convening networks of influence around social issues, and creating compelling stories has led him to work with Soledad O’Brien, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, The Gates Foundation, The One Campaign, The White House Public Engagement Office & Office for Faith Based & Neighborhood Partnerships. JR is also a curator of the Ideation Conference and Community focused on convening an intimate tribe of change makers across sectors committed to making the world more human. He also serves on the board of the Soledad O’Brien & Brad Raymond Foundation. His first book on “the influence of the small” in cultural innovation is due out this summer.

Jud Kinnucan | @bindonated | Founder & CEO of Bin Donated – Jud believes that one person’s trash really can be someone else’s treasure. Kinnucan started Bin Donated in July, 2009, with a vision of connecting Chicago area residents businesses and their excess inventories, goods or desire to donate with non-profit organizations
who can benefit from the business’ generosity. To date, his efforts have collected thousands of pounds of books, hygiene products and food.

Keith Kall | @keithkall | Executive Director of National Foundation Corporation Development for World Vision – Keith builds and manages multi-million dollar, joint-equity corporate partnerships for World Vision that bridge the gap between the business and humanitarian sectors. Keith has developed key relationships with industry-leading companies, like P&G, Johnson and Johnson, Verizon, Eli Lilly, IBM and Western Union to tackle problems and help meet the development needs of families and communities in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Klayton Korver | @klaykorver | Co-Founder of Seer Outfitters – Director of the Kyle Korver Foundation and President at Seer Outfitters, Klayton’s role involves managing micro and macro details of both ventures. Working in conjunction with each other, our businesses are working every day to provide directed quality assistance and produce quality products. Focused in the cities Kyle’s played, the KKF currently includes a six-year ongoing mission in the projects of North Philly, a nonprofit construction company and RAIN (Renewing and Inspiring Neighborhoods) in Salt Lake City, an outreach program in Chicago, and various annual fundraisers and tournaments. Seer Outfitters offers quality, comfortable clothing made the right way.

Laura Zumdahl, Ph.D. | @LauraZumdahl | Vice President, Nonprofit Services at Donors Forum – Laura provides leadership to Donors Forum’s capacity-building efforts to strengthen nonprofits in the sector. Previously, Laura served in a variety of leadership roles in the nonprofit sector in legal aid, higher education, and child welfare. She was also the Interim Executive Director and Associate Executive Director of Cabrini Green Legal Aid. Laura teaches undergraduate and graduate level courses in social work and nonprofit administration. Laura’s professional path and involvement in the community stem from her passion to create effective and innovative nonprofits to solve social problems and develop strong leadership. She was named a 2010 Emerging Nonprofit Leadership Fellow by the Chicago Community Trust.

Linda Darragh | @darraghchicago | Director of Entrepreneurship Programs for the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and a clinical associate professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where she teaches the New Venture Lab and the Social Entrepreneurship Lab courses. In her role with the Polsky Center, Darragh serves as a coach for the New Venture Challenge (NVC), Chicago Booth’s renowned business competition, as well as the newly-launched Social New Venture Challenge.

Linda Novick O’Keefe | @common_threads | Executive Director of Common Threads – Her experience, desire to develop innovative solutions to social problems combined with her passion for food led her to start Common Threads with chef Art Smith and artist Jesus Salgueiro in May 2003. Their vision was for a non-profit organization committed to educating Chicago’s youth about cultural diversity, the culinary arts and the importance of nutrition. Common Threads reverses the trend of generation of non-cookers who have been raised on over-processed food. The program helps to combat the childhood obesity epidemic that is ravaging particularly the African American and Latino communities while honoring many families’ cultures.

Lindsay Avner | @lindsayavner | Founder & Executive Director of Bright Pink, the only national organization with an exclusive focus on prevention and early detection of breast and ovarian cancer in young women. Under Lindsay’s leadership, Bright Pink has secured national cause-marketing partnerships with several prestigious companies such as Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, American Eagle Outfitters, EXPRESS, & eBay. In 2010, Bright Pink was named the #1 Charity in Chicago by Chicago Scene Magazine. Lindsay has spearheaded a national movement and empowered countless young women to be proactive, not reactive—to see themselves as advocates for their health, not victims of a disease.

Melissa Harris | @chiconfidential | Business columnist at The Chicago Tribune – Her twice-weekly column chronicles the city’s business elite. Prior to the Tribune, she covered criminal justice for The Baltimore Sun and local politics for The Orlando Sentinel. A graduate of Northwestern and Johns Hopkins universities, she landed her first “job” at age 15, covering prep sports for the Mason (Ohio) Pulse-Journal. In her senior year of high school, she thought she had made it when the paper paid her $25 for a story.

Mike Bonifer | Co-Founder & CEO of GameChangers, a company that uses game design to help teams and organizations build their narratives.  He is the author of GameChangers – Improvisation for Business in the Networked World, the foundational text for his company’s work. Beginning with his role as the publicist on the motion picture Tron, through his pioneering work in cable television (The Disney Channel), digital video (Betacam), web design (Toy Story), and streaming media (Live Earth), Bonifer has helped shape the way we use technology to tell and share stories. For more on GameChangers and to read Bonifer’s Blog, visit www.gamechangers.com.

Nicole Hansen | @nikkihans | Actress, Producer, and President of Green Galaxy Enterprises – Nicole leads a renewable energy consulting business focused on building partnerships among green technology companies, governments, educational institutions, and nonprofits. These efforts include media, marketing, and event production for green companies including publicity and product placement.  In 2008, she produced Save It by 10-year-old Nikos Spiridakis with Executive Producer Marshall Herskovitz. Nicole produced the first Renewable Energy Conference and Awards Gala at the United Nations, sponsored by the Honduran Permanent Mission to the UN. She also partnered with the Los Angeles Entrepreneurs’ Organization to raise funds for renewable energy initiatives. She was also responsible for securing donations of FTL Solar tents to Haiti in 2010.

Patty Huber | @patty360 | Manager of Groupon Grassroots – Patty leads the philanthropic arm at Groupon. Harnessing the collective action platform, Patty developed the Groupon Grassroots initiative to turn deal seekers into do-gooders by tapping into the collective power of the group to respond to local community need. Passionate about volunteer involvement and crafty with online engagement, she has led Grassroots in raising funds and awareness for local charities across the nation.

Paull Young | @paullyoung | Director of Digital of charity: water – Paull Young is a member of the executive leadership team at charity: water, a non-profit devoted to bringing clean and safe drinking water to the 1 billion people without. Paull has direct responsibility for digital marketing and online revenue. Frequently nominated as one of the leading digital non-profits, charity: water was the first non-profit to have 1 million Twitter followers and raises 75% of its funds come through digital channels. In just 5 years charity: water has provided clean and safe drinking water to over 2.5 million people and raised over $60 million.

Pete Aiello | @goteampete | Founder of TeamPete – Originally from Louisiana, Pete was introduced to improv comedy while attending Vanderbilt University. Through his business, TeamPete, he uses improv as a tool for high impact team building. He is willing to bet you money that rediscovering a childlike sense of play can improve your life and your business.

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Saya Hillman | @sayahillman |Founder of Mac ‘n Cheese Productions – Saya is from Evanston, IL, a graduate of Boston College, and a resident of Chicago.  An Accidental Entrepreneur, she helps folk enhance their lives via unique, comfortable yet challenging, fun, and sometimes ridiculous ways, via her company Mac ‘n Cheese Productions.   She has drunk the self-employment kool-aid and loves sipping it with others.

Sharon Schneider | @sharonschneider | Founder and CEO of Good Karma Clothing for Kids, a new subscription service that delivers right-sized baby clothes—right when you need them. Our mission is to help parents save time, save money and save the planet. Good Karma recently won COMMON Pitch NYC to be crowned “best collaborative consumption startup” and has been featured on Good Day Chicago, Mashable, Technorati, GOOD, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Babies.com, Trendhunters and many others.

Shaun King | @shuanking | Founder of HopeMob – Shaun King is one of the most respected social entrepreneurs and humanitarians in the world.  His social media and web projects have raised over $5,000,000 for charity, received over 100 million visits on the web, and recently won the Mashable Award for Most Creative Social Good Campaign.

Suzanne Muchin | Founder and a Lead Strategist of ROI Ventures, LLC— a strategy firm that packages social impact for the marketplace. Suzanne’s 20+ years of experience using the tools of design, communication and go-to-market strategy allow her to rapidly identify the best path for making products, knowledge and brands matter more. Suzanne also developed and launched ROI Ventures’ incubator (Return on Inspiration Labs, LLC) and its media arm (ROI Distributed, LLC), and along with Rachel Bellow, co-hosts the weekly, radio talk show: The Dirty Truth.

TOMS | Allie Tsavdarides Manages the Community & Grassroots efforts at TOMS – In 2006, American traveler Blake Mycoskie befriended children in a village in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created TOMS, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One. Just last year, TOMS evolved from a shoe company to the One for One company, now addressing an entirely new need in addition to shoes through eyewear, helping give sight to people in need.

Tony Chen | @Tonyschen | @mvt121 |Vice President and Servant of Movement121 – Tony is Co-Founder of Movement121, a social innovation company whose vision is to transform the lives of 1,000,000 people trapped in unfathomable poverty to become self-sustaining.  After 10 years of useful, but unsatisfying corporate experience, Tony finally took the leap and pursued his passion for entrepreneurship.  He launched four social-integrated ventures within seven years, one of which was acquired in 2009.  Tony loves working on digital/social strategies and considers his sweet spot to be “kingdom entrepreneurship for kids” – building businesses that make a lasting impact on our world’s children.

Tyler Merrick | @tylermerrick | @project7 | Founder of Project7 – a company based on the belief that when given a choice, consumers would choose a brand that gave back to those in need—and he was right.  By purchasing Project 7 sugar-free gum and mints, bio-bottled spring water and fair-trade and organic coffee, people are making a conscious decision to do good, and positively impacting one of seven critical areas of need: Feed the Hungry™, Heal the Sick™, Hope for Peace™, House the Homeless™, Quench the Thirsty™, Teach them Well™ and Save the Earth™. Project7 is available in over 3,000 stores across the country, including Walmart Supercenters, Caribou Coffee stores & grocery retailers.

Victor Saad | @victorsaad | @lyproject | Founder + Catalyst for Leapyear Project – Victor is a dreamer. That’s probably why he attended Ideation 3 years ago. Since then, he and a few friends started exploring an organization that networks creatives, companies, and causes (The Prop). He realized some schooling could be helpful, but the price tag was lofty and the methods didn’t fit. So, he created an 18-month plan to learn from organizations and companies, and inviting people to use 2012, a Leap Year, to create change in their world. The Leapyear Project is creating space for everyone to premier design firms to see problems and create solutions in communities around the world.

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2011 Speakers

Ben Keesey | CEO of Invisible Children

Ben Morrison | Founder of Laugh-Aid, Former Co-Host of Punk’d

Bobby Ghoshal | CEO of FLUD News

Carina Cristiano | Atlantic Corridor Project

Chad Mayer | Executive Director of ShareFest

Charles Lee | CEO of Ideation Consultancy

Chris Heuertz | International Executive Director of Word Made Flesh

Craig Watson | Executive Director of Arts Council for Long Beach

Dan Portnoy | Founder of Portnoy Media Group

Esther Havens | Humanitarian Photographer

Jeff Shinabarger | Founder of Plywood People

Jennifer Vides | Development Director of the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Monica

Joel John Roberts | CEO of PATH (People Assisting the Homeless)

Joshua Dubois | Special Assistant to President Obama & Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

JR Kerr | Lead Architect for Aitreni Group

Keith Kall | Executive Director of National Foundation Corporation Development for World Vision

Kohl Crecelius |  CEO & Co-founder of Krochet Kids intl.

Lee Fox | Founder of KooDooZ

Mark Horvath | Founder of InvisiblePeople.tv

Michael Cory Davis | Actor, Filmmaker, & Humanitarian

Mike Foster | Co-Founder of Plain Joe Studios

Nikole Lim | Founder of Freely in Hope

Richard Kang | Co-Founder & CEO of wipit

Rob Morris | Founder of Love146

Randy Paynter | Founder of Care2.com

Rod Arnold | COO of charity: water

Scott Belsky | CEO of Behance

Sean Carasso | Founder of Falling Whistles

Shivani Siroya | CEO of InVenture

Tyler Merrick | Founder of Project7