Bridging Brands & Bloggers Speaker Bios

Beth Blecherman, @techmama
Beth Blecherman is a techie turned blogger mom turned authority, speaker, gadget expert and social media consultant.She started her career in application development, system auditing, and then Senior Manager, Computer Process Integrity, for Deloitte. After senior management she decided to take on family management and started blogging as her career 2.0.

Beth founded TechMamas.com as a platform to discuss technology and gadgets for families.She is also co-founder and Chief Technology Mom of the Silicon Valley Moms Group, collaborative mom blogs in cities across the country as well as the first international site: Canada Moms Blog. She also consults with companies on social media strategies to reach “digital moms” and regularly speaks at conferences on parenting, social media and technology.

Tim Hurst, @ecopolitologist
Tim Hurst is the founder of ecopolitology and executive editor of LiveOAK Media, a new media company publishing websites that focus on energy, the environment and sustainable living. In addition to his editorial and social media duties, Tim writes about energy and environmental politics, clean tech, and sustainable business. Tim has published all over the Web at sites like CleanTechnica, Celsias, Gas 2.0 and Sustainablog; and in print in The Encyclopedia of U.S. Campaigns, Elections and Electoral Behavior (Sage, 2008). When he’s not he’s reading, writing, or talking about environmental politics with anyone who will join him, Tim likes to ski, hike with his aging labrador and get dirty in his Colorado vegetable garden.

Michelle Madhok, @shefinds
Online Shopping Expert Michelle Madhok, Founder and CEO of SheFinds Media, has worked with top online content producers for over a decade. Prior to founding SheFinds Media in 2004, Madhok held positions at AOL and CBS. SheFinds.com and sister site, MomFinds.com, aim to make online shopping easy and fun for busy women by highlighting only the best pieces and prices.

Madhok’s media career began in at CBS where she took the lead in building CBS.com into a major portal. In 1998 Madhok moved on to AOL as group director where she led a team in creating what became the world’s largest online women’s channel. In 2004, she left AOL to start SheFinds Media.

Madhok has appeared as an online shopping expert in several print and online publications, as well as on ABC, CBS, NBC, PIX and others. She earned a BS from UC Berkeley and MS from Northwestern.

David Wescott, @dwescott1
David Wescott directs the social media team for APCO Worldwide, a global public affairs firm. He served as a legislative aide to U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and worked on energy and economic issues. He also managed a pediatrics department in a public hospital in the mid-nineties.

David writes a personal blog called It’s Not a Lecture and a column called “Living Locally, Working Globally” for Business Lexington. He is a contributor and podcast producer for Earth & Industry. He lives in Durham, North Carolina, with his wife, his son, and his chocolate Labrador retriever.

Susan Getgood, @sgetgood
Susan Getgood is co-founder and managing director of Blog With Integrity. She has been involved in online marketing since the early 90s, witnessing first-hand the evolution of the web to the interactive communities we participate in today. She’s passionate about helping brands and bloggers connect in mutually beneficial ways, which is the focus of her marketing practice and professional blog Marketing Roadmaps. She also writes a personal blog, Snapshot Chronicles and a family travel blog, Snapshot Chronicles Roadtrip. Her first book, Professional Blogging for Dummies (Wiley) will be published in July 2010.