Tuesday Speaker Bios
Ted Burton
Ted is the Director of Media Relations for EnviroMedia, the nation’s only PR and advertising agency dedicated soley to improving public health and the environment.Ted is the former Director of PR for Capital Metro. Prior to his PR career, he worked as a reporter, investigative reporter, executive producer, assistant news director and news director for TV stations in Austin, Joplin, MO, Tulsa, OK, Corpus Christi, Lubbock and San Antonio.
Brett Cannon
Brett Cannon is the owner of Paper Thin Media, a music publicity company that also specializes in event publicity, artist publicity and brand/identity marketing.
Cannon has had more than 9 years of experience in the music industry. At 17 years old he became the head talent buyer of Equal Eyez Entertainment, at the time, the largest music production company in South Texas. During his time at Equal Eyez, he worked with many high-profile artists.
He went on to be the marketing director for a successful artist merchandising company. There he was able to win countless bands and artists as clients.
At his first internship, Cannon worked for a large appellate law firm in their media relations department. There he was able to successfully pitch stories to Good Morning America, 20/20 and The Dr. Phil Show. However, music was always on his mind.
In 2007, Cannon started Paper Thin media, now the largest music publicity company in his region. He works with such acts as Blue October, White Denim and Bob Schneider and has secured features in Esquire, SPIN, Rolling Stone and The Boston Globe.
Mike Cearley
As a senior strategist in the Fleishman-Hillard’s growing digital/social practice, Mike Cearley has more than 10 years of emerging & social media, technology, and integrated marketing experience. Cearley joined Fleishman-Hillard from digital marketing agency, imc2, where he was the company’s leader and driving force of its Digital Out of Home (DOOH)/Emerging Media practice, 360lbs. Cearley developed the company’s cornerstone DOOH software, IntelliBooth, in 2005, and applied it for many of the agency’s clients such as GlaxoSmithKline, Schering-Plough, Shire and EMD Serono. He is a leading advocate in the industry and currently authors a blog, www.11thscreen.com, where he explores all things Digital/Interactive Out of Home and its convergence with our everyday lives. Cearley began his career in New York City, working as an interactive producer at an advertising agency, Corbett Accel/Kinect. There, he utilized his filmmaking background to lead and produce all of the agency’s audio, video and interactive initiatives. His work has resulted in many industry awards, including Interactive Marketing Awards, Telly Awards, and the Cine Golden Eagle. Cearley received a BFA from Texas State University. He lives with his wife and three children in Dallas.
Christine Cox
Chris Cox Communications is a communications business started in Austin, Texas in 2007 focusing on writing tight copy and on reaching out to media and the public to ensure clients consistent visibility within the community at large and within the client specific industry. Principal, Christine Cox, is from Louisiana and has over 20 years experience in media relations, public relations consulting, and news and magazine writing. Her clients today include austinwoman magazine, Locale Magazine, LowFares Magazine, Austin Address & Lifestyles, Giving City, Texas Construction, Structura, Inc., pTracker, LLC, Living Yoga, and Yoga Wellness Programs. In New Orleans, Cox worked 8 years as the Media Relations Director for a national consortium of 65 plaintiffs’ law firms. In that position, Cox handled media relations with media outlets including (but not limited to) the New Orleans Times Picayune, the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, 60 Minutes, and other major media standards throughout the U.S. In her capacity as a media relations director, Cox coached some of the nation’s top lawyers in media relations techniques, while garnering major media attention for several large class action suits against the gun manufacturing industry and distributors and 13 tobacco companies and their subsidiaries and distributors. She produced video, did public speaking, made television appearances, and maintained relationships with media members for these highly controversial and important legal actions. Cox has a BS in Journalism and another in English from Louisiana State University, and is a former FCC certified broadcaster. She currently is a board member for the Association of Women in Communications, a national organization, as well as Chair for Freelance Austin and a member of the Writers League, Society for Marketing Professionals Services, and the Public Relations Society of America. Please see her linked in profile at www.linkedin.com/in/christinercox for more information and a resume.
Sonia Diaz
Sonia Diaz is a Senior Account Executive at Cheryl Andrews Marketing & Public Relations in Miami, Florida. Before coming to Cheryl Andrews, Diaz was a core team member of the Travel & Tourism practice at Burson-Marsteller Miami (BM) for the Costa Rica Tourism Board. Her roles included crisis communications, media relations for the US and Canada markets, leading digital initiatives, managing television production, industry relations and strategic counsel and assessment for the client. In 2010, Diaz’s work on the New Seven Wonders of Nature Campaign earned the team a nomination for an International Public Relations Association (IPRA) award in Digital Media Relations. Diaz started her career in public relations at Edelman in their Austin office while taking on freelance work within the Austin region for non-profit organizations and local businesses. While in Austin she developed a strong media relations base within the local and regional markets as well as within other large Hispanic markets such as Texas, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Phoenix. Some of Diaz’s key accounts included Shell, Astra-Zeneca, Kingsford, Texas Beef Council, Texas Chapter of the Recording Academy of Arts and Sciences and Crestor. Her interest in working with Latin American clientele motivated her move to Miami to join BM in February of 2007. Throughout her career Diaz has also worked in the industries of technology, US Hispanic, consumer brands and corporate communications. Her key accounts have included NII Holdings, Orange Business Services, SAP, Fed Ex and Goodyear. Additionally, Diaz managed media relations for the Miami Herald Americas Conference and garnering coverage in every country in Latin America as well as in the US. Diaz has a Bachelor of Arts in Modern Languages, as well as a Minor in Mass Communications from Texas State University. She is fluent in both Spanish and English.
Rebecca Feferman
Rebecca Feferman joined the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference & Festival in Fall 2008 to handle all Press and Publicity for the event. In her role, she strategizes and manages the timeline for
all news announcements, facilitates national and local press opportunities for the festival and its filmmakers, coordinates Red Carpet premieres during the event and assists in programming. Before joining SXSW, she spent five years as a publicist representing actors at ID Public Relations in Los Angeles, where she shepherded the long-term publicity goals for clients such as Paul Giamatti, John Krasinski, and Ed Helms among others. In addition to tailoring and implementing project-based campaigns by working directly with top-tier media, Feferman handled crisis management and devised specialized positioning to secure major award nominations and wins for her clients. Prior to joining ID, Rebecca worked in the National Publicity department of Warner Bros. Pictures where she was involved in national press activities on behalf of such films as Mystic River, Matrix Revolutions, and Troy. A graduate from the University of Michigan, Feferman is originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Elaine Garza
Elaine Garza founded Giant Noise in January 2006. Since inception, the company has grown to include offices in New York City and Austin with a client roster that represents some of the most respected brands in the country. Prior to founding Giant Noise, Garza served as director of communications for a host of award-winning titles that included music publications VIBE, Spin and the critically acclaimed Outside magazine. In addition to her work with industry trades such as Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter and Adweek, Garza also managed the publicity campaign for the Jeep World Outside Festival, a 23-city interactive music tour featuring Sheryl Crow, Train and Maroon 5. Garza’s PR expertise also includes a five-year tenure at HarperCollins Publishers, where she worked on publicity campaigns for Howard Stern, Alice Waters and Joan Rivers. Garza is based in Austin, Texas and serves on the board of the Austin Music Foundation.
Jenifer Glenn
Jenifer Glenn graduated High School in Dallas in 1976. She came to Texas State and lived in Beretta Dorm and Treehouse Apartments until her graduation in 1980 from the
School of Journalism (now referred to as Mass Comm) with a concentration in PR and Advertising. Her first job was Advertising Coordinator for a residential relocation center in Dallas that was funded by residential real estate advertising. She was hired away by one of the advertisers to run their residential leasing program. One of her tenants asked her to work for his company as an Office Building Manager. She soon progressed to a fully accredited Property Manager, managing multiple commercial office buildings. She started her own company, Tenant Link Inc./Let’s Party! in 1996 to manage Tenant retention events for Office Buildings. 14 years later still going strong!
John Kelso
John Kelso never did like Adolph Hitler much. See, Hitler is the reason that the word “Oklahoma” is on Kelso’s passport, which really honks Kelso off. When Kelso was born in 1944, his dad, Elmer G. Kelso, was training at Fort Sill, Okla. for World War II. And Kelso blames Hitler for this. So Hitler can kiss Kelso’s ass. Kelso has worked as a humor columnist for the Austin American-Statesman since 1977. Before coming to Austin, he worked at several other newspapers: the Manchester (N.H.) Union-Leader, The Columbian Missourian, The Boonville (Mo.) Daily News, the Portsmouth (N.H.) Herald (which some of the locals referred to as The Mullet Wrapper), The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post, and the Racine (Wis.) Journal Times. During those years Kelso did everything in the newspaper business from being the fishing writer to serving briefly as a society editor (the gal went on vacation and Kelso filled in). About two years ago Kelso moved down toward Manchaca with his wife Kay and teenage daughter Rachel, who made the dean’s list at Texas State University. Kelso can see Giddy-Up’s beer joint from his house. The family has a yappy yet lovable Yorkshire terrier named Ziggy. Kelso also enjoys going to Longhorn football games and watching too much sports on TV.
Richard Lopez
Richard Lopez, a Waco, TX native, graduated from Texas State University in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts and Communications-Print Journalism. While at Texas State, Lopez was very involved in Christian organizations on campus, as well as being a Senator in Associated Student Government. In 2008, Lopez was lead author of the bill that increased the athletic fee for students, essentially doubling the student contribution from $12 million to $24 million per year. Lopez has been published in many publications including regular columns in the Waco Tribune Herald, BobcatFans Magazine and The University Star. Lopez is currently the Assistant Director of Student Activities and Community Liaison for Athletic Development at San Marcos Academy. The 103 year old educational institution is one of the oldest in the state
of Texas. Lopez resides in San Marcos, TX.
Brad Mays
Brad Mays currently a lead in Fleishman-Hillard’s Global Digital Practice Group, Mays is responsible for defining industry best practices and agency guidelines for emerging online and mobile channels. His current focus is on finding emerging opportunities and building programs for mobile engagement and social CRM. With a background in brand and reputation management, Mays is also called on to provide counsel on blogger relations, influencer outreach and online crisis management. His current responsibilities include building creative and strategic online programs, helping brands maximize their sponsorship activations, developing online brand engagement strategies, new business development and generally understanding and defining the trends in social media and mobile activation. Mays graduated summa cum laude from Texas State University in 1996.
Ginny Murphy
Ginny has over 25 years of graphic design and marketing experience. She has been working with clients on projects that include corporate identity and branding, sales and marketing materials and management support projects such as Powerpoint presentations and project management. Additional skills include website design, trade show solutions and special event organization.
Greg Neal
Greg Neal is President of Supertex Studios LLC, a media branding and consulting service he created in 2007. Supertex clients include a wide range of leading cable network and entertainment companies, including The Weather Channel, MGM, Scripps Networks, Food Network, and Soap Net Most recently, he served as Vice President and Creative Director at OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, working on the initial development of the network brand and creative tone. Prior to starting his own company, he spent the previous 7 years as a Vice President for Scripps Networks. In 2006, Neal was appointed Vice President of Food Network, where he oversaw all creative branding for the network, including on-air promotion and design. He was responsible for a major rebrand of the network that year, when Food Network received record primetime ratings. He was also awarded the 2007 Multichannel News and Broadcasting and Cable Magazine “Brandbuilder of the Year”, for his work at Food Network. Earlier, he helped reposition and brand Nashville-based Shop At Home, Scripps’ Cable Shopping acquisition. There, he oversaw creative efforts
on-air, as well direct marketing materials. He was also part of the original launch team for Fine Living Network, which was awarded “Best Overall Design” from the Broadcast Designer’s Association in its first year on the air. He was responsible for building and hiring the entire creative and post-production teams, as well as establishing the network’s look and feel. Earlier in his career, he served as Head of Special Projects/Senior Producer at Fox Family Channel (since sold to ABC), as well as Producer at Hollywood advertising agency ALP, where he produced marketing campaigns for Columbia Tristar, Rysher Entertainment and Twentieth Television. In 1994, Neal was hired on the launch team of Scripps’ HGTV, Home and Garden Television, helping write and produce the network’s first on-air promotional campaigns. Greg has won over 70 major broadcast industry awards, including Promax, BDA, New York Festival, Telly and Addy Golds. He has also been a featured lecturer at The Portfolio School in Atlanta, and Otis School of Design in Los Angeles. He is a graduate of the University of Texas, Austin, and currently resides in San Marcos, Texas, at the foot of Texas Hill Country.
Paul Osbon
Paul Osbon has been managing the Austin, Tx band Quiet Company since August of 2007. He is responsible for all booking, promotion, & runs all the social media for the band. His focus on building a fan-based network through social media has helped the band’s popularity explode across Texas & even helped them become the 1st band without a major label to have a song in rotation on both 101X & KGSR in Austin.
Ronald Oswalt
Ronald Oswalt, a Jackson, Mississippi native, graduated in the fall of 1989 with a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Health and Human Sciences. In 2000, he received the outstanding alumni award from the University of Southern Mississippi Alumni Association. Oswalt has over 20 years experience in medical sales and marketing but sports have always been his passion. Last year, Oswalt served as Vice-President/General Manager for the Austin Turfcats professional arena football team. The team made the championship game in just the team’s first year in the Southern Indoor Football League. His team was recognized for having the best website and best media coverage among SIFL teams in 2009. He was also recognized by the Indoor Football Network as General Manager of the Year. He has also worked for the Katy Copperheads of the National Indoor Football League, Texas Copperheads of the arena football league 2, and the Beaumont Drillers of the American Professional Football League. During his tenure with the arena football league 2 his media guide garnered several awards at league meetings. Oswalt has also worked as active media covering the New Orleans Saints, Houston Texans and the University of Southern Mississippi. He also has covered the Humanitarian Bowl, Liberty Bowl, Texas Bowl and Alamo Bowl for college football just to name a few. Oswalt is currently the Special Assistant for Athletic Development for San Marcos Baptist Academy in San Marcos, Texas. The 103 year old educational institution is one of the oldest in the state of Texas. Oswalt is currently very active in the community serving as an ambassador with the San Marcos Texas Chamber of Commerce, San Marcos Lions Club and a member of the Kiwanis of San Marcos. He is supported by his wife Machel of twenty years and his two boys Aubrey and Hayden.
Miker Stovall has been working in film and video production for over 10 years. His experience includes work on Oscar winning films as well as national commercials and music videos. Recruited by interactive agency imc2 in 2007, Stovall moved from Los Angeles to Dallas to serve as their Director of Production. He handled video, audio, photography and 3D animation efforts for every brand in the agency’s portfolio. Whether being produced in house or working through his network of industry contacts, he helped numerous client achieve their engagement goals. While in this position, Stovall developed a new business unit and ultimately branched off to form an affiliate production company where he served as executive producer, leading the way to a new profit center. Before his work at imc2, Stovall worked on feature films with a variety of respected directors and producers, some of which include Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, Sam Mendes and Judd Apatow. Serving primarily as a union production coordinator, he learned invaluable lessons about delivering compelling work on time and under budget. Since transitioning from entertainment to advertising, Stovall has had the opportunity to deliver content in a variety of verticals. Working with brands like Proctor & Gamble, Eli Lilly, Mars, Samsung and Coca-Cola have helped him hone the craft of interpreting complex objectives to yield robust results. His content has been viewed on every screen from a laptop to the digital billboards of Times Square. Relishing new challenges, Stovall is constantly seeking out innovative story-telling techniques and technologies. Though an LA transplant, he is a Texas native who is happy to be back home. Stovall is a magna cum laude graduate of Texas State University, where he earned a bachelors degree in fine arts.
Lauren Tuttle
Lauren Tuttle is the Account Executive & Social Media Strategist for Wyatt Brand (wyattbrand.com ). She joined the company in 2009 from the Austin office of the global public relations agency, Cohn & Wolfe (formerly GCI), where she was the consumer team intern and worked on national accounts such as Seventh Generation, RadioShack, GelPro, Corner Bakery, and many more. Before joining Cohn & Wolfe, Lauren interned with local agency Elizabeth Christian & Associates Public Relations, where she gained hands-on public relations experience in energy, education, healthcare, business and real estate. Before joining an agency, she interned in the communications department as the public relations intern at the San Antonio Museum of Art. Follow twitter.com/laurenptuttle.
Nick Weynand is the founder, president and strategy director for TradeMark Media, an award-winning interactive agency. Weynand started the company in 1999 while earning his degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Since 1999, Weynand has dedicated his time at TradeMark Media to building a company that supports the highest Web standards in the industry. Through Weynand’s leadership, TradeMark Media is committed to building professional, cutting-edge interactive media that helps clients achieve and exceed their business goals. Weynand now provides strategy consulting for clients and manages the business activities of TradeMark Media. He’s a firm believer in accessible, usable Web design and feels he has an o
bligation to make the Internet a better place. He speaks regularly on topics from interactive design to small business administration. Weynand spends his free time volunteering for various organizations and is currently a board member and the operations committee chair for EmanciPET, an Austin-based animal welfare organization. Weynand lives in southwest Austin with his wife, Courtney, his daughter, Eisley and his dog, Heidi. He enjoys cooking, reading and anything outdoors.
David Wyatt
David Wyatt is the Business Director and co-founder of Wyatt Brand (wyattbrand.com )—a boutique public relations, branding, design, and social media agency in Austin, Texas. He boasts 10+ years of direction and strategy for the Austin Museum of Art, Austin Symphony, Ballet Austin, Art Alliance Austin, and dozens of smaller and medium sized arts and non-profit endeavors along with corporations wishing to align themselves with civic endeavors. With an early career nurtured in arts/nonprofits and a creative nature, Wyatt launched Wyatt Brand alongside his wife and partner Rachel in 2006 when they saw a need for the kind of quality public relations, design and branding services that they had spent the last several years developing within prominent cultural institutions and nationally recognized publications. Wyatt earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin in Studio Art. Follow twitter.com/wyattbrand and facebook.com/wyattbrand.