Presentations

Speakers

Kyle Michael Miller, @kylemichael - Morning Keynote Speaker
Kyle Michael Miller is the lead social media producer for NBC’s TODAY where he oversees the digital and social media platforms for TODAY’s Fourth Hour with Kathie Lee and Hoda and TODAY’s Take with Al Roker, Natalie Morales, Willie Geist and Tamron Hall. During his nearly six years at NBC, he has produced the Orange Room and helped integrate more digital elements into the live TV broadcast. You may have seen Kyle in front of the camera where he’s had the opportunity to tell uplifting and inspirational stories on the air. He’s been working at NBC since he graduated from Kent State in 2009.

Kyle recently launched a brand called Hope Dealer where he plans to tell more stories about faith, hope and people overcoming life’s toughest challenges.
Scott Monty, @ScottMonty - Afternoon Keynote Speaker
Scott Monty is an internationally recognized leader in digital communications, digital transformation, social media and marketing. As CEO and founder of Scott Monty Strategies, he counsels brands and agencies on strategy, executive communications, influencer management, the customer experience and digital initiatives.

Scott spent six years at Ford Motor Company, as a strategic advisor on crisis communications, influencer relations, digital customer customer service, innovative product launches and more. He also has a decade of experience in communications and marketing agencies, where he had clients that included IBM Healthcare and Life Sciences, Coca-Cola, American Airlines, T-Mobile, GE Software and more.

He is a board member of the American Marketing Association and an advisor for RPM Ventures, My Dealer Service, Crowd Companies and Clever Girls Collective. He writes about the changing landscape of business, technology, communications, marketing and leadership at ScottMonty.com, where he distributes the widely acclaimed newsletter The Full Monty, and is the executive editor and co-host of the Sherlock Holmes website and podcast I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere.
Luke Armour, @lukearmour - Keynote Moderator
Luke Armour teaches undergraduate and graduate classes such as PR Case Studies, PR Tactics, Online PR Tactics, Social Media Strategies, Strategic Writing and Messaging in PR and Social Media in Public Relations. Luke also serves as the coordinator of Flash Communications, University Communications and Marketing's student-PR agency and internship experience. At Flash Communications, Luke manages students who work side-by-side with professionals to craft stories for internal and external clients and publications, staff university events and manage branding for Flash Comm. Prior to joining Kent State, Armour worked in the digital practice group at Fleishman-Hillard, managing social media, mobile, podcasting and Web strategy and execution for a variety of clients across numerous industries. Luke has served as a PR coordinator for BlogTalkRadio, an online citizen-broadcasting network and a PR account executive at Innis Maggiore, in Canton, Ohio. Armour holds a master's degree in communications from the University of Akron and a bachelor's degree in speech communications from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.
Amy Dolzine, @amydolz - Session Speaker
Amy Dolzine is a Global Knowledge Awareness Advisor with Ernst & Young LLP in Cleveland. She helps build a better working world by applying the EY Knowledge deployment strategy to tools and major programs across the firm. As a Social Enterprise Engagement, Research and Innovation Lead, she enhances EY’s use of Yammer and SharePoint. With these tools, EY professionals can collaborate and share insights, improving client service. She received the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award for 2016 for her contributions to the field of enterprise social networking in the Office 365 network — and is one of the first MVPs ever recognized for Yammer activities. Amy, who joined EY in 2015, has more than 18 years of experience in marketing communications and strategy, business analysis, information solutions and social enterprise community management. She earned an MBA from Case Western Reserve University and a BA in Psychology from Denison University.
Adam Earnheardt, Ph.D., @adamearn - Session Speaker
Adam Earnheardt, Ph.D., (2007, Kent State University) is chair and associate professor of communication studies in the Department of Communication at Youngstown State University. He is a social media researcher, educator, critic and enthusiast. Earnheardt also studies the connections between social media and sports fandom. He writes the Sunday "Connected" column for The Vindicator newspaper (northeast Ohio) on social media and culture and maintains an active blog at www.adamearn.com.

Earnheardt served as executive director of the Ohio Communication Association and as chair of the National Communication Association's Mass Communication Division. Earnheardt has published several books including Sports Fans, Identity, and Socialization: Exploring the Fandemonium (co-edited with Haridakis & Hugenberg; Lexington, 2012), The Modern Communicator: Applications and Strategies for Interpersonal Communication, Group Communication and Public Speaking (co-authored with O’Neill; GRT, 2009), Sports Mania: Essays on Fandom and the Media in the 21st Century (co-edited with Hugenberg & Haridakis; McFarland, 2008), and Judging Athlete Behaviors: Exploring Possible Predictors of Television Viewer Judgments of Athlete Antisocial Behaviors (VDM Publishing, 2008).

He has authored or co-authored more than a dozen peer-reviewed journal articles, encyclopedia entries, and book chapters. Earnheardt has served as an expert source on social media, sports and fandom on various television and radio programs, and in several publications including Parade Magazine, Psychology Today, Playboy, and several newspapers and magazines including the Baltimore Sun Times, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Vancouver Magazine and others.
Christy Hajoway, @ChristyHaj - Session Speaker
 Christy Hajoway is a marketing and communications professional with custom publishing, agency and corporate communications experience in a variety of industries. In her role as advanced communications representative at FirstEnergy, she is responsible for day-to-day social media management and customer service for FirstEnergy and its 10 electric utilities in Ohio, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
 
Christy began her career nearly 10 years ago in the Custom Solutions department at Penton Media, where she oversaw the production of B2B content marketing programs for internal and external customers. She then joined the team at inbound marketing agency PR 20/20, serving in the strategic planning and execution of integrated inbound marketing campaigns.
 
Christy is a proud graduate of Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, and a member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and Akron Press Club. When she’s not in the office you can find her teaching Zumba classes or checking out one of Cleveland’s new restaurants.
Christina Klenotic, @cklenotic - Session Speaker
Christina Klenotic joined the Digital Marketing Team at KeyBank in 2014 as SVP, Social & Digital Marketing. At Key, she oversees social marketing for the enterprise organization, manages digital activation for the bank’s sponsorships and leads digital strategy projects for the retail website. She holds more than 15 years of marketing experience in strategic marketing communications, with a specialized expertise in social media marketing, digital marketing and idea generation.

In addition to her role at KeyBank, Christina had agency stints with Rosetta (NYC and Cleveland), Dix & Eaton and Marcus Thomas. Her industry expertise has largely centered on financial services, retail and hospitality organizations.

In 2015, she co-founded SheInTheCLE.com, a blogger collective for women in Cleveland. She has been a board member of Playhouse Square Partners for the past six years and is a Bridge Builders Class of 2015 graduate.
Alyssa Purvis, @aapurvis - Session Speaker
Alyssa Purvis came on board to KeyBank’s Digital Marketing Team in 2015 as the Social Media Manager. In her role at Key, she helps lead social strategy for the enterprise organization and manages social support of the bank’s community, retail/corporate, and sponsorship activations.

Her five years of marketing experience have ranged from agency roles to non-profit marketing and public relations, spending time at AKHIA and the Western Reserve Historical Society. The wide range of experience allowed Alyssa to develop expertise in strategic marketing overall, but her strong interest in focusing on social strategy is what led her to the financial industry.

Alyssa is a proud Baldwin-Wallace College grad and serves on a variety of non-profit committees including Destination Cleveland’s YP Advisory Council and the Market at the Foodbank Committee for the Greater Cleveland Food Bank.
Jennifer Ristic, @jristic - Panelist
Jennifer Ristic is a marketing communications professional with more than 14 years of experience building integrated PR and marketing programs for B2B and B2C brands across a wide range of industries. Ristic is vice president of content at Point To Point, a B2B marketing agency specializing in content-driven demand generation initiatives. Her team most recently received a 2015 Business Marketing Association B2 Award in the marketing activation category for its work with OSI, a construction sealant and adhesive brand.
 
Previously, she was an account director at Airfoil, a public relations agency that serves technology brands. During her time at Airfoil, her Microsoft SMB team won a 2013 Silver Anvil Award.
 
Throughout her career, Ristic has built and executed marketing communications programs for brands including Microsoft, eBay, PayPal, Infor, NVIDIA, Plex Systems, YouSendIt (now Hightail), Altair, Henkel Consumer Adhesives, OSI, Progressive Foam Technologies and Flavorseal.
Michael Schwabe, @mikeschwabe - Panelist
As a 12-year industry veteran, Michael understands the value of time and energy spent, and works with clients to break down complex concepts into easily understandable information so they can maximize their communication efforts. Expanding on this premise, he believes that technology shouldn’t be scary and companies should feel free to experiment and find the right mix of online and offline channels.



Michael enjoys finding the right mix of marketing and communication solutions for the clients he works with, breaking down the idea of integrated and full-service marketing communications into just plain ole’ marketing. He is an account director for Pierry Software, a consultancy that helps companies optimize their digital marketing campaigns using Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Pierry Software was ranked #21 in the "2015 Fastest Growing Companies" by the San Francisco Business Times.

Michael has a bobble head of himself and make sure to ask him about his almost shark attack when he was 12 – it was, as best stated using 2014 buzzwords, “Totes cray, cray.”
Chris Sledzik, @csledzik - Conference Moderator
Chris Sledzik has nearly a decade of experience blending public relations, information architecture and digital marketing to solve business challenges for employers, clients and nonprofits. A constant student of social media, Sledzik has led speaker recruitment for YouToo since 2011, watching the discipline evolve from budding marvel to renown media and marketing channel.
 
Sledzik started his career managing internal communications and marketing support for Goodyear Engineered Products, now ContiTech – an 8,000-employee, $2 billion global business. He honed his skills at Marcus Thomas with the agency’s PR team, helping clients with media relations strategy and social. Now at Brandmuscle, Sledzik focuses on content marketing: telling the story of a rapidly growing local marketing software and service company. He also provides social strategy and support to Brandmuscle clients like DIRECTV, Allstate Insurance, Sprint and more.
 
Sledzik’s undergraduate degree in technical communication is from Miami University. He is also a proud alumnus of PRKent’s in-person master’s degree program.
Kathleen Stansberry, Ph.D., @kstansberry - Session Speaker
Kathleen Stansberry is an assistant professor of public relations and social media at Cleveland State University. Her research examines the development of influence within online communities and looks at ways public relations practitioners can effectively engage publics using social media. She is cofounder of the newly launched Media Engagement and Digital Interaction (MEDIa) Center at the CSU School of Communication. Dr. Stansberry also founded the Social Media Learning Lab, a space dedicated to training students in advanced social media research and analytics, at the University of Akron in 2013. Her professional experience includes nearly a decade of work in corporate, agency and nonprofit public relations, most recently as the online community manager for the International Society for Technology in Education. Dr. Stansberry offers consulting and training services in digital analytics and data analysis, online community management, and the use of social media in integrated strategic communication campaigns. 
Amanda Vasil, @avasilicious - Conference Moderator
Amanda Vasil (@avasilicious) brings years of integrated marketing and storytelling experience to her role as senior account manager at Global Prairie. While her roots are in public relations, Amanda has expanded her focus to include social media, digital listening/monitoring, content strategy and insights and analytics, shaping thought leadership positioning for B2B and B2C companies. She is a graduate of Kent State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Relations.