Thursday Speaker Bios

LuAnn Glowacz
LuAnn is an Austin-based independent PR strategist and business writer for professionals and CEOs including attorneys, physicians and IT consultants. In the past 10 years, LuAnn has helped build PR and thought leadership for executives at DMI (the “got milk? folks), IBM, PBS, and SmarterWill.com, and has most recently earned client mentions in The New York Times, Money Magazine, WGN, Chicago Tribune and more. She also ghostwrote the book Cut Your Tax in 2010 (And Preserve Your Legacy). Last month, LuAnn was featured by Mashable in the article “The Future of Public Relations and Social Media.” She recently had the opportunity to speak to Texas State’s PRSSA chapter on the topic of personal branding.

Jenna Oltersdorf
Jenna Oltersdorf, principal, Snackbox, has managed and executed programs for sole proprietorships up to major international corporations and her agency experience ranges from a small firm in St. Louis to working at the Chicago headquarters of the largest independently owned PR firm in the world. And, before the age of 30, she launched Snackbox with her husband and business partner, Eric Oltersdorf.

Lisa Peterson
Lisa is a 10-year veteran of consumer tech and entertainment PR. At the global agency Porter Novelli, she has managed strategic public relations programs for corporate clients including PricewaterhouseCoopers and Hewlett Packard to launching the next big cutting edge Web 2.0 start-up. Prior to joining Porter Novelli, Lisa worked for entertainment public relations firm Rogers & Cowan in New York City representing music legends such as Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones, Sir Elton John, and the Allman Brothers. Lisa’s passion lies in media relations, having secured national placements for her clients in highly visible media outlets such as CNN, New York Times, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal.

Rachel Farris
Rachel Farris is the director of PR and new media for PetRelocation.com. She was hired as the second employee at PetRelocation.com in 2006 and while working in sales and customer service, she offered to start the company blog. As online communications became more important to the PetRelocation.com brand, Rachel transitioned into building the public relations and online marketing strategy. She has earned media for PetRelocation.com in publications including Forbes, the San Francisco Chronicle, Inc. and the Washington Post. She also covers politics and media for The Huffington Post and has written for Texas Monthly, The Texas Observer and Mobility magazines.

Michael Vivio
Michael Vivio is the publisher at the Austin American-Statesman. In this role he is responsible for all business and editorial operations of the Statesman and its affiliated publications, including Statesman.com, which has the highest local reach of any newspaper website in the U.S. Prior to his appointment in 2008 he was publisher of the Waco Tribune-Herald. He began his career as a newspaper carrier for the Dayton Daily News in 1978 and held advertising positions at the Marion Star (Ohio) and Suburban News Publications. He previously owned an independent marketing firm in Ohio.

Michael is married to Beth Vivio, a full-time community volunteer and has two sons, ages 6 and 10. He is a graduate of The Ohio State University and currently serves on the boards of the Salvation Army, Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, United Way Capital Area, and Texas Daily Newspaper Association. He is past president of the Heart of Texas Better Business Bureau.

Sarah Vela
Sarah Vela, CEO HelpAttack! has been working in the social media space as a content strategy consultant, marketing specialist and podcaster for over a decade. Her clients have included small business and creatives seeking to find better ways to connect with their customers and audiences online. She frequently interviews start-ups and funding experts for startuplucky.com , and is part of a biweekly roundtable discussion on social media trends called Push My Follow. Her experience prior to working in the tech scene involved marketing and content strategy for nonprofits and health care companies. Her focus has always been on working for organizations that promote positive change.

David Neff
David J. Neff, Cofounder Lights. Camera. Help. has over 10 years driving innovation and change in the Non Profit sector Nationwide. Which includes starting the American Cancer Society’s High Plains online donations program, film program and social media programs. He has started his own Non Profit called Lights. Camera. Help. and speaks and consults all across the U.S. on everything from Social Media to Non Profit Tech. He also won the American Marketing Associations Social Media Marketer of the year for 2009.

Ehren Foss
Ehren Foss, President Prelude Interactive has a decade of diverse technical experience with web programming, database administration, and many of the open source tools that help make the web an amazing place to work. He is the founder of Prelude Interactive, a web development firm. Before that he worked at Alchemy Systems an Austin, TX company specializing in professional development and training systems. At Alchemy, in addition to being the technical lead on a number of projects, Ehren managed a small team to address the unpredictable and diverse needs of more than 40 web services clients. Ehren is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and rather enjoys cycling, travel, and keeping up with the bleeding edge of web technology.

Jake Frick
Jake Frick, Account Executive at Lopez-Negrete, graduated from Texas State in May 2009 with a BA in Advertising. Mr. Frick competed in the National Student Advertising Competition for AAF as an undergrad at Tx State. This ultimately secured his position on the Account Management team at LNC for the Walmart Hispanic Account.

Bill Stotesbery
Bill Stotesbery is CEO and General Manager of KLRU-TV, Central Texas’ PBS station serving an 18- county area. Before joining KLRU, he had a 30 year career in public affairs and communications, mostly for technology companies in the Austin area. In 1983, he became the first local employee of the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC), the nation’s first large scale industry joint research venture, where he was director of government and public affairs. Bill was also co-founder and partner of GTT Communications, one of Austin, Texas’ first high tech public relations firms, which was sold to Edelman Public Relations in 1998.

Bill received a Master’s degree from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin in 1977, and started his career as a public sector consultant with Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co. (now BearingPoint). He has previously served as a member of the board of the Texas Department of Information Resources, chair of the Texas Center for Educational Technology at the University of North Texas, and chairman of the National State Government Affairs Committee of the American Electronics Association, among other positions, and has been active in local affairs, including chairman of Leadership Austin and currently serves on the board of the Great Austin Chamber of Commerce.

Dee Kapila
Dee Kapila serves as the Web Master for KUT radio. She has also appeared on a panel for SXSW 2009 titled “Gaming as a Gateway Drug: Getting Girls Interested in Technology.” On the panel Kapila represented Girlstart, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering girls in math, science and technology.

Eli Martinez
As the founder and driving force behind SHARK DIVER magazine, Eli has become a formidable entity in the shark diving community. He is also no stranger to the dangers posed by extreme sports or big animals, having spent 6 years as a rodeo bull rider. His love of adventure and nature is what inspired him to create SDM.

Disillusioned by conventional diving mags and documentaries, Eli drew his inspiration for all of SDM’s projects from the action sports genre; rock climbing, surfing, skate boarding. His creative vision continues to push the envelope. In 2005 Eli continued to expand his horizons by producing his first full length feature film, Summer of the Sharks. The film follows three shark divers on a road trip through North America and the Caribbean, showcasing the highs and lows of life as professional shark divers. Eli followed up his first film by producing a second and much more controversial film, The Shark Con, which is a conservation film that takes a deep look at the business of sharks; from shark fishing, to shark diving to the science of sharks. So far The Shark Con, has been accepted into 21 film festivals from around the world, and has received 11 awards to date. Eli has since worked as a host/cameraman/safety diver for the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet NBC, and National Geographic channel.

Jette Momant
In 2004, Jetté Faith Momant created and launched her own award winning event and wedding firm based in Austin, Texas called Décor Jetté. Through owning this company, she became quite well versed in the media landscape of Austin and the surrounding region. In 2008 she launched Manna Lifestyle Marketing, a lifestyle marketing firm which specializes in helping to boost sales and gain interest for area boutiques, catering companies, beverage producers, restaurants, tech start ups, and fashion lines through unique and creative event marketing and public relations initiatives. Much of her promotional initiatives revolve around the utilization of creative use of social media tools. She feels that social media platforms are a great way to find out what’s going on in the city. To take its pulse and, eventually, to direct that pulse. She is currently merging Décor Jetté and Manna Lifestyle Marketing services into one entity: Jetté Momant PR & Event Productions.

Tolly Mosely
TOLLY MOSELEY is a book publicist at PR By the Book, where she specializes in literary media relations. She also hosts the award-winning local lifestyle blog, Austin Eavesdropper, and organizes a bi-annual event for Austin bloggers called “The Bleet-Up” (think meet-up + bloggers). Her writing has appeared on Discovery Channel’s TreeHugger.com, PlanetGreen.com, Village Voice’s feminist blog HeartlessDoll.com, and in many Austin magazines.

Wesley Faulkner
Wesley’s experience spans multiple facets of the technology industry, from manufacturing to product development. His passion for technology was fostered through over thirteen years of experience in technical and customer service support, field engineering, and digital media entertainment development.

Laura Villagran Johnson
Co-Founder/Creative Director at A
ustin Social Planner, Development Relations and Events Manager at KLRU-TV, Austin’s PBS. Laura Villagran Johnson is the Co-Founder and Creative Director of an Austin online, digital magazine and interactive calendar website called Austin Social Planner. She also specializes in working with non-profit event planning, doing work with many beloved Austin organizations, including: the Long Center for the Performing Arts, Lance Armstrong Foundation, and currently KLRU-TV, Austin’s PBS. Laura’s current project at KLRU is working on the Opening Night of the new Moody Theater and Austin City Limits Stage in downtown Austin, February 2011. She is a graduate of the Leadership Austin Emerge program, currently sits on the Catalyst 8 Leadership Council, and spends her spare time soaking up Austin culture.

Camille Styles
Camille Styles is the owner of Camille Styles Events, a design & planning firm that transforms ordinary events into extraordinary experiences. Her modern aesthetic and eye for detail come together to create parties that are simply chic and all about fun. Camille is also a lifestyle contributor to numerous online and print publications, as well as the editor of Style Notes, where she shares the unique sources and stylish discoveries that inspire her events and her life.

Francisco Garcia
Francisco Garcia III has a penchant for conversation. His background includes four years of web & radio broadcasting; more than three years experience in PR and marketing for various clients; organizing events of 100 guests or more; three years of web content development/management; and two years experience helping non-profits & small businesses with social media efforts. Currently, Francisco is the Media Specialist for the Texas Veterinary Medical Association (TVMA), a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the veterinary profession in Texas. He manages the TVMA website, social media accounts and is a writer for the organization’s Texas Veterinarian magazine where he authors a column on how social media can help veterinary practices in Texas. In his spare time, he performs shows with Austin electronic music producer, Exstus.

Isadora Vail
Isadora Vail, a public safety and police reporter, has been with the Austin American-Statesman for four years. She has covered landmark cases such as the first man in the state prosecuted under Jessica’s law and the high-profile police shooting of Nathaniel Sanders II. Isadora graduated from Texas State in Dec. 2005 when she was named Print Journalism Student of the Year. While in college, she worked at the Star as a news reporter, was the president of the Society of Professional Journalists and was an intern at the San-Antonio Express News.

Jason Buch
Jason Buch is a business reporter for the San Antonio Express-News covering automotive, manufacturing, telecom and technology. A 2007 graduate of Texas State University-San Marcos, Buch was editor of the University Star during the 2006-2007 school year. While attending Texas State, he worked for the Hays Free Press. Buch interned at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and worked at the Laredo Morning Times from 2007 to 2009, spending most of his time covering crime. He joined the Express-News’ business desk in July 2009. In November, he will move to the metro desk where he’ll cover immigration and border affairs.