Sheri Bachstein
VP, Product & Responsive Web
The Weather Company
As the vice president of product for The Weather Company, an IBM Business, Sheri Bachstein is responsible for weather.com, the responsive website of The Weather Channel brand. In this role, she oversees the team that helps deliver top products and experiences to consumers on weather.com, a top-25 U.S. web and mobile property with sites in 30 languages to serve consumers around the globe.
Bachstein joined The Weather Channel in 2007 working on the digital properties, most recently serving as vice president of product operations, where she oversaw monetization, operations and the agile team for the company’s digital properties. She worked previously for the television network as a producer and as part of the “storm tracking” team that went into the field to cover storms (1997-2000).
An Atlanta native, Bachstein received her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Georgia
State University.
State University.
Session: Hyperlight Sites for Global Scalability
Emily Christner
VP & GM - TV Guide.com, TV.com & Metacritic.com
CBS Interactive
Emily Christner has 15 years of experience in media, entertainment and sports for venerable brands such as the Boston Bruins, Virgin and TV Guide. She is currently the Vice President and General Manager of TVGuide.com, TV.com and Metacritic, a portfolio of premium sites for entertainment decision-making in the CBS Media Group portfolio, Last.FM, MetroLyrics and Chow.com. Prior to that, she was Vice President of Business Operations for the Media Group.
Prior to CBS Interactive, Ms. Christner was Vice President of Marketing for TVGuide.com and TV Guide Mobile, where she led consumer audience growth and new product launches through social media, market research and analytics. She was a key part of the leadership team that transformed the brand and the independent digital unit into a profitable entity; it was acquired by CBS Interactive in 2013.
Ms. Christner holds a BA from Boston College and an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business.
Session: Scaling Diversity
Jarrod Dicker
Head of Ad Product and Technology
The Washington Post
Jarrod Dicker is Head of Ad Product and Technology at the Washington Post and founder of RED, the ad research experimentation and development group. Prior to the Washington Post, Jarrod held product leadership positions at the Huffington Post, Time Inc. and RebelMouse. In 2013, Jarrod was ranked #20 on Business Insider's list of the 30 most creative people in social media marketing.
Session: Build Your Own Ad Tech Solutions
Wendy Frazier
VP, Software Engineering
The Weather Company
Wendy Frazier brings more than 15+ years of experience and leadership in the digital space. As VP of software engineering for The Weather Company, an IBM Business, she oversees the web engineering team. She’s responsible for the development and scale of new sites, management of existing and expansion into the emerging markets.
Frazier joined Weather in 1999 as software engineer of business development, developing and distributing data feeds to various clients. Intrigued by the web landscape, Frazier worked her way through the business ladder to now overseeing the division she once built apps for.
Frazier is an active member of Women In Technology (WIT), Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) and several other digital industry groups.
A native of Atlanta, and diehard Falcons fan, Frazier continues to reside there with her family.
Frazier joined Weather in 1999 as software engineer of business development, developing and distributing data feeds to various clients. Intrigued by the web landscape, Frazier worked her way through the business ladder to now overseeing the division she once built apps for.
Frazier is an active member of Women In Technology (WIT), Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) and several other digital industry groups.
A native of Atlanta, and diehard Falcons fan, Frazier continues to reside there with her family.
Session: Hyperlight Sites for Global Scalability
Nathan Griffiths
Interactive Editor
Associated Press
Nathan Griffiths, Interactive Editor at the Associated Press, builds interactive data visualizations and news applications and is now focused on developing alternative digital formats for storytelling, including 3-D, 360 video and virtual reality. Prior to working for the AP, he worked for a decade in the technology industry. He has a Masters degree in Journalism from the University of Hong Kong.
Session: Virtual Reality and 360 Video
Layne Harris
VP, Innovation
360i
Layne Harris is an award-winning technologist, maker, and fan of all things digital. He leads the innovation group at 360i working diligently on pushing the boundaries of marketing technology. Most recently, Layne played an integral role in the creation of Adaptoys, the first adapted versions of popular toys that allow people with paralysis to engage in active play with their families.
Layne started his career in tech working for traditional software giants such as Microsoft and Adobe in Seattle, but he could no longer ignore his creative side and moved to New York, where he landed head first into advertising. Layne’s obsession for emerging technology such as Internet of Things, 3D printing, virtual reality, gaming, drones and mobile have had a huge impact on his client work and he has quickly become an industry thought leader for both technology and marketing. He regularly provides expert commentary to publications including TechCrunch, Fast Company, Adweek, and Creativity.
You can follow him on Twitter (@hellroy).
Session: Keynote - Running an Innovation Lab
Alexandra Kanik
Data Reporter
Ohio Valley Network
Alexandra Kanik is the data reporter for the Ohio Valley Network, a new collaboration that covers economic, agricultural, health and environmental issues impacting Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia. She also serves on the Reader Advisory Board for MediaShift’s metrics section. Previously, Alexandra was metrics editor at MediaShift. She began her career in journalism with PublicSource, a non-profit news organization in Pittsburgh, as their interactive developer and metrics analyst.
Session: Making analytics part of your routine with Slack
Katrina Kibben
Director of Marketing
RecruitingDaily LLC
Katrina Kibben is the Director of Marketing and Managing Editor for RecruitingDaily, and has served in marketing leadership roles at companies such as Monster Worldwide and Care.com, where she has helped both established and emerging brands develop and deliver world-class content and social media marketing, lead generation and development, marketing automation and online advertising.
An expert in marketing analytics and automation, Kibben is an accomplished writer and speaker whose work has been featured on sites like Monster.com, Brazen Careerist and About.com.
Session: Scaling Diversity
Greg Lavallee
Director of Technology
Slate
Greg Lavallee is the Director of Technology at Slate. He has been building software in the publishing industry since joining WaPo Labs in 2009 (part of what was The Washington Post Company) and subsequently working on its news aggregator, Trove. Greg was the lead architect of the Alexa Skill for Trove and is currently assisting with new Alexa integrations at Slate.
Greg has a BA in Linguistics from University of Maryland. He runs the DCJS meetup in Washington, DC where he lives with his wife and young kids in an old house that always needs work.
Session: Publishing on Amazon Alexa
Samantha Minish
Director of Digital Content Products and Strategy
Accuweather
Samantha is Director of Digital Content Products and Strategy for AccuWeather, overseeing the digital strategy for both video and content across the company’s growing platforms. Samantha has worked on both the editorial and product side of the video and content business, with time at Gannett, AOL and The Weather Channel.
Session: A Dynamic Shift in CMS
Nick Rockwell
CTO
The New York Times
Nick has served as the Chief Technology Officer at The New York Times since 2015, focused on building the Times' web and mobile products. Previously he was Chief Technology Officer of Conde Nast, the publisher of Vogue, WIred, The New Yorker and other titles. From 2000 to 2010 he was the Digital CTO at MTV Networks. In 1996 he joined a small music website called SonicNet, that was one of the first "Silicon Alley" web startups in New York.
Throughout his career Nick has worked at the intersection of media and the Internet, building media product for mass audiences. Today he is helping The New York Times complete the transition from one of the news media's most storied publishers to a truly modern, digital media company.
Nick graduated from Yale in 1990 with a B.A in Literary Theory, and later learned to code on the mean streets of Silicon Alley. Along the way he did time in several bands, playing shows at CBGB's and other clubs around the Lower East Side. He lives in Brooklyn.
Session: Scaling Diversity
Julie Sommerville
VP, Engineering
Business Insider
Julie Sommerville has been VP of Engineering at Business Insider since 2010. She has played a pivotal role helping BI scale its technology to match the expansion of the company, which rapidly grew from under-the-radar start-up to renowned international media brand. Previously, Julie worked as a backend developer, DBA, and dabbled in DevOps during her 12 years in the New York City tech scene. Her interests include big data, building great teams and building diversity in engineering. Julie holds a masters degree in computer science (NYIT), a law degree LLB/JD (University of Edinburgh, Scotland) and a Masters degree in International Relations (GIIS, Geneva, Switzerland). Born and raised in Scotland, Julie lives in Manhattan with her partner and two young sons, Zin and Giric.
Session: Scaling Diversity
