Dr. Joseph Plummer is currently an Adjunct Professor of Marketing at the Columbia Business School. A leading expert on brand building and marketing communications research, Plummer co-authored The Online Advertising Playbook, which researches the emergence of the Internet as a marketing platform and reviews strategies of how major brands have used digital media. Currently, he is a Senior Associate at Olson Zaltman Associates, and was a recipient of the distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award from the Advertising Research Foundation in 2011.

Dr. Plummer was the editor of The Journal of Advertising Research, and was awarded the Distinguished Marketing Practitioner award by the Association of Marketing Science in 2007. Previously, he was EVP at McCann Worldgroup, Vice Chairman at DMB & B, EVP at Young & Rubicam, and SVP at Leo Burnett. He was also a managing director at Paine Webber/Y&R Ventures, and Chief Research Officer at the Advertising Research Foundation.

Dr. Plummer received his B.A. from Westminster College, his M.A. in mass communications, and Ph.D. in communications from Ohio State University—where he's currently on the President's Council.

John Byrne is chairman and editor-in-chief of C-Change Media Inc., a digital media startup that is launching a network of websites for the global business community. He led BusinessWeek.com to record levels of reader engagement and traffic, oversaw the redesign of the site, and helped to develop and launch a major Web 2.0 initiative called the Business Exchange—an innovative product utilizing social media and news aggregation. In 2008, BusinessWeek.com received 21 awards and nominations for journalism excellence.

Previously, Mr. Byrne was editor-in-chief of Fast Company magazine, and holds the record for the most cover stories as a journalist at BusinessWeek. Byrne joined BusinessWeek in 1985 from Forbes magazine where he served as an associate editor and staff writer. He has authored or co-authored eight books, including two national bestsellers.

Byrne has his M.A. in journalism from the University of Missouri and his B.A. in English and political science from William Paterson College. He is on the board of advisors of the Peter Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate as well as the dean's advisory board of William Paterson University's Cotsakos College of Business.

Charles Scrase joined Google full time in 2008 after completion of his graduate studies at Duke University. During his master's education, Scrase took on several positions at Google, including Regional Industry Lead, Local & Classifieds, and Manager, Global Ad Operations. Scrase spent five years in the West Indies doing international educational development work, first as a United States Peace Corps volunteer and then as the Director for a regional literacy education initiative in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Prior to his work experience abroad, Scrase worked in the field of marketing research. He now leads the Education and Government business within Online Sales at Google and is based in the Ann Arbor, Michigan, office.

Scrase received his B.A. from the University of Michigan and his M.B.A. from the Duke University Fuqua School of Business.

As Partner at PulsePoint Group, Paul Walker works with clients to develop strategies and innovative solutions that engage prospects, customers, and employees in more relevant and effective ways through digital, social, and mobile media. He has been a social media advisor to leading global brands like Dell, Johnson & Johnson, Nike, ExxonMobil, Novartis, and MasterCard. He was one of the principal architects of Dell's early social media strategies, leading a project to develop and implement a comprehensive, new digital media capability for the company.

Prior to joining PulsePoint, Paul worked on a special assignment for the President of The University of Texas to develop a comprehensive social media strategy and to better engage UT's vast alumni group using digital, social, and mobile media. Paul was the founder and global leader of digital media practices for GCI and Cohn & Wolfe, a principal at GameChange, and the managing director of Y&R/Burson-Marsteller in Singapore, where he founded the company's Indonesian office.

Walker is a graduate of the University of Texas.

Scott Jaschik is one of the three founders of Inside Higher Ed, a fully online source for news, opinion, and jobs for all of higher education. Along with Doug Lederman, he leads the editorial operations of Inside Higher Ed, overseeing news content, opinion pieces, career advice, blogs, and other features.

Jaschik is a leading voice on higher education issues, quoted regularly in publications nationwide, and publishing articles on colleges in outlets such as The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, Salon, and elsewhere. He has been a judge, or screener, for the National Magazine Awards, the Online Journalism Awards, the Folio Editorial Excellence Awards, and the Education Writers Association Awards. He is a member of the board of the Education Writers Association. From 1999–2003, Scott was editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education, an information and news source for college and university faculty members and administrators.

Jaschik graduated from Cornell University in 1985.

Rebecca Harrington is the Editor of Huffington Post College, a high profile, one-stop site promoting student media and providing readers with aggregated content on campus happenings and higher education news. She has helped lead HuffPo College’s new wave of journalism, aggregating content from college media and student newspaper websites, and featuring student columnists and reporters to contribute as bloggers.

Harrington wrote for The Harvard Crimson during her undergraduate studies, and has contributed to Interview and W Magazine. She graduated from Harvard University in 2008, and received her master’s from The Columbia School of Journalism.

Maisha Walker is founder and president of Message Medium, a digital agency that helps small business owners to harness the power of the Internet and create dynamic and profitable brands online. She has been building websites and online communities for more than 14 years. Maisha is a featured online columnist with Inc. Magazine and her blog is now the most popular on that site.

In 2008, Maisha received the sole nomination from the New York City Small Business Commissioner for the annual New York Enterprise Report Small Business Awards, winning a finalist spot for innovation and excellence in Sales and Marketing. She has been featured on NBC news, Entrepreneur magazine, Black Enterprise magazine, and Bnet, and her content has been promoted by Guy Kawasaki, Rieva Lesonsky, the former editor of Entrepreneur magazine, the American Marketing Association, and even Perez Hilton. Maisha has personally conducted more than 400 classes and workshops on Internet Marketing and website design, and is passionate about teaching small businesses what they need to know to create dynamic and profitable brands online.

Walker attended Princeton University and received her B.A. in French and Italian.

Kristen Smarr is responsible for the creation of the Office of Communications at the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR,) a college consisting of more than 700 faculty and staff and 3,000 students. The Office of Communications acts as an internal agency charged with managing the college's reputation across media platforms. Smarr recently led a year-long brand research project designed to understand CAFNR's reputation among its key constituents. The College is currently in the process of unveiling its new brand campaign, which includes a significant online component.

Smarr's 20-year career path has taken her through the nuances of sales, event planning, incentives management, advancement communications, and higher education communications, always with an eye toward customer service and reputation management. Prior to joining CAFNR, she was the director of external relations for the university. Smarr also has experience in business as the incentives coordinator and sales representative at IKON Office Solutions.

Smarr received her B.A. in public relations from William Jewell College and is currently working on her M.A. in journalism and strategic communications at the University of Missouri.

As senior partner at Y&R/BrandBuzz, McGowan leads LG's home appliance and home electronics accounts and oversees BrandBuzz's Andersen Windows & Doors business. Currently, McGowan is helping develop a new practice collaboration between Brand Asset Consulting and BrandBuzz that is aimed at the higher education market—Y&R.Edu.

Prior to joining Y&R, McGowan spent five years at Saatchi & Saatchi in Rochester, New York. There, he integrated advertising, direct marketing, and public relations for such brands as IBM Consulting Services and Champion Sports Apparel, and even helped the Eastman Kodak Company launch their first digital camera. McGowan then returned to Y&R, leading integrated programs for Xerox by partnering with other Y&R brand companies, including Wunderman (direct marketing), Landor (brand positioning and identity), and Burson-Marsteller. He also worked on Y&R's AT&T corporate account and its brand advertising campaigns.

McGowan holds a B.S. in public relations/journalism from Utica College of Syracuse University and has received four Gold Effies from the American Marketing Association.

Prior to launching Recrue Media, Mark was President of Landon Media Group, a national advertising sales operation managing several high profile industry concerns, including Recruitment Marketplace and Movie Marketplace. Each platform focused exclusively within the industry verticals of corporate employment and national movie launches and DVD releases planning and executing on and off-line advertising campaigns. Both programs designed new research and media placement platforms incorporating organic industry data with customized applications that allowed advertisers to identify and prioritize their best revenue markets. Used extensively by all major movie studios, distributors, corporate HR consultants, and employment advertising agencies the Landon Marketplace business units became leading industry resources until their acquisition by Rec Hall Communications in 2009.

At Recrue, Mark develops and manages the affiliate partnerships we have with employment focused advertising agencies and national corporate employers. He directs all digital recruitment solutions in the areas of healthcare, entertainment, and all Fortune 1000 HR. Mark received his undergraduate degree from Ithaca College and has MBA from Pepperdine University.

Joel Morrow is the CEO of Mobile Fusion, a leading mobile marketing and social media agency. Mobile Fusion helps clients proactively manage the student lifecycle before, during, and after becoming students. Mobile Fusion’s clients include universities, brands like Kellogg's and Bacardi, and other marketing leaders such as Red Robin Burgers and the Direct Marketing Association (DMA).

Morrow is a frequent industry speaker for the American Marketing Association (AMA), Direct Marketing Association (DMA), the National Retail Federation, the National Restaurant Association, and other groups. Previously, he was Director of Product Development, Digital Ventures at Western Union, where he developed and executed the company's mobile marketing strategy/roadmap and global mobile money transfer product.

Mr. Morrow earned his M.B.A. from the University of Colorado at Boulder and his B.A. from Vanderbilt University.

Ian Davidson is the Director of Media Sales for OpenX. Davidson has been establishing partnerships with advertising networks, demand side platforms, agencies, and direct advertisers since joining the Media Services team in 2010. Previously, as a member of the business development team from 2008, Ian identified potential partners for OpenX Enterprise and OpenX Market, leading the entire business development process including specification and development of custom ad serving solutions.

Before joining OpenX, Davidson held client development and media buyer and planning roles at Spot Runner. Initially responsible for developing and managing partner relationships with companies including Time Warner, NBC, Comcast, and ABC, he progressed to managing media strategies for a portfolio of television accounts before moving into client development. At OpenX, Davidson acquired and expanded major national accounts while developing client strategy and execution on branding, direct response, viral, and lead generation campaigns across diverse media spectrum.

Ian is a graduate of the University of Southern California.