The power of online and mobile networking to connect people for money, jobs and love is undeniable. We invite you to join us for a thought-provoking evening with industry visionaries to learn where we’ve been, where we are and explore exciting possibilities about ways we can connect in the future. In addition, we’ll look at the potential pitfalls of this powerful tool that can result in diminishing, instead of developing, more effective communication. Find out more about how entrepreneurs are building successful business models, and on an individual level, how anyone can now increase his or her circle of influence through some of these technologies both professionally and personally.
Our panel includes Konstantin Guericke, Co-Founder, LinkedIn; Elizabeth Lane Lawley, PhD, Rochester Institute of Technology; Bill Bryant, CEO, Mobile Operandi; and our moderator Mike Flynn, Publisher of the Puget Sound Business Journal.
Bios
Konstantin Guericke, Co-Founder & Vice President of Marketing of LinkedIn is leading the efforts to spread the word about LinkedIn and to educate users about how to advance their career and business through their trusted contacts on LinkedIn. Prior to LinkedIn, Konstantin served as VP of Marketing at Presenter, where he led product marketing, public relations and corporate marketing. Before Presenter, Konstantin was VP Sales & Marketing responsible for the initial public launch of social software pioneer Blaxxun. Other executive roles included EVP at Caligari and Project Director of publicly-traded Micrografx. At Beresford Partners, Konstantin helped the CEOs of over two dozen high-tech startups develop their positioning and marketing strategy. He graduated with distinction from Stanford University with a B.S. and M.S. in Engineering.
Elizabeth Lane Lawley, PhD, Rochester Institute of Technology, joined the faculty of the Information Technology department at RIT in 1997, teaching primarily in the areas of web design and development technologies. Her current teaching and research interests focus on social computing technologies such as weblogs, wikis, and real-time chat environments. She also conducts research and speaks on the topic of gender imbalances in technology and education.
She received her master's degree in Library Science from the University of Michigan in 1987, and went on to work at the Library of Congress and then Congressional Information Service. In 1992 she founded Internet Training & Consulting Services, which provided services to a number of clients in business, government, and education throughout the 1990s. She received her doctorate in Information Science from the University of Alabama in 1999.
In 2004 she founded RIT's Lab for Social Computing, of which she currently serves as the director.
William K. (Bill) Bryant has had early and instrumental involvement in over twenty leading software and Internet companies, serving variously as a founder, senior executive, investor and Board Member. He is currently CEO of mophone (www.mophone.com), an early leader in mobile community. mophone’s super-easy web-to-mobile experience combines the best of social networking with hot mobile content, creating a compelling “super-distribution” channel for mobile content based upon peer recommendations.
Previously, Bill was a co-founder and CEO of Qpass (www.qpass.com), and Netbot, Inc where he served as President. Prior to mophone, Bill was a Partner with Atlas Venture (www.atlasventure.com), an international venture capital firm.
In the early 1990s, Bill was the founding Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing at Visio Corporation. He has been an investor and board member in many successful early stage companies including Loudeye, Isilon Systems, AEI Music, Singing Fish, Throw, Exstatic Software, Cascadia Capital and Viafone.
Mike Flynn is in his 24th year with the Business Journal, and his 20th as publisher. During his years with the Journal, he has seen major economic changes, technological developments and the resulting impact on the marketplace. He has had the unique opportunity to closely observe hundreds, if not thousands, of start-ups and businesses that have taken advantage of new opportunities, and how they adjusted the course of their business models to create strategic value. A champion of business, Mike has twice been honored as SBA Media Advocate of the Year for Washington State. He has also chaired the steering committee for the past two Governor’s Conferences on Small Business. Prior to the Business Journal he spent 20 years with United Press as a reporter, a regional manager and an editor. In addition to overseeing the Journal, Mike is on the executive committees of Junior Achievement, Downtown Seattle Association (past chair of both); on the boards of the Greater Seattle Chamber, the Bellevue Chamber, and the Harbor Club. In addition, Mike is a master networker—online or offline.
