June 30th & July 1st, 2021

Brandi Boatner is an award-winning digital communications professional and prolific public speaker based in New York City. Currently, she serves as the social and influencer communications lead for Global Markets in IBM corporate communications, a newly created position.  Her responsibilities include developing a consistent approach to how global markets drive engagement across digital and social platforms, key events and with influencers (both internal and external) around strategic communications narratives such as Hybrid cloud, Blockchain, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity. 

Additionally, Boatner has extended responsibilities serving as the Brand Communications Manager for IBM Marketing supporting external engagements including press, events and social media for IBM’s Senior Vice President of Digital Sales and Chief Marketing Officer.

Recently, Boatner was inducted into the Loyola University New Orleans School of Mass Communications Hall of Fame known as the Den of Distinction, the youngest member ever inducted. She was also honored and inducted into the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) Hall of Fame in late 2018. 

Brandi is a true advocate for diversity and inclusion serving as a member of IBM’s Diversity and Inclusion Council and also serves as the former chair and current professional development chair of the IBM Black Network of New York business resource group. Given her efforts around diversity in the public relations industry, she is one of more than 40 PR leaders featured in the book Diverse Voices: Lessons in Leadership published by the Public Relations Society of America Foundation.  Boatner is very active in the public relations industry where she holds several leadership positions within PRSA on both the local and national level. She speaks all around the US and the world on a variety of industry and marketplace topics and enjoys traveling, shoe shopping and spending time with family and friends in her hometown of New Orleans.

Carmen Shirkey Collins is the Senior Social Media and Brand Manager for the Cisco award-winning Employee/r Brand team that you’ll find behind the @WeAreCisco social media accounts. She created the strategy behind making personal connections with current and future talent by amplifying the employee voices in Cisco’s 70K-person organization.

Carmen was named the 2020 Digital Communicator of the Year, a 2020 Top Woman in PR, the Social Media Professional of the Year four years in a row, and her team was named the 2020 Digital Team of the Year. You can find her @cshirkeycollins on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. When she’s not enjoying the Florida weather with her husband and ‘fur-kid” cat.

Danny Gardner is the Social Intelligence Lead, US Digital Analytics at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a multi-national pharmaceutical company, where he is responsible for building an in-house social intelligence capability. While his responsibilities are constantly evolving, he regularly executes social listening, data analytics, and business intelligence reporting across GSK’s world-renowned consumer healthcare brands, such as Advil and Sensodyne, to inform and drive their enterprise digital marketing strategy.

Previously, he held the same role at Pfizer where he was acquired as part of the $12B consumer healthcare joint venture between them and GSK. Danny began his full-time career with W2O Group, an integrated healthcare marketing and communications agency, where he held cross-functional roles in data science, social listening, market research, and applied analytics.

Danny holds a BA in economics from the University of Maryland, College Park and an MBA in business analytics & marketing from American University’s Kogod School of Business.

Ken Gibbs, Jr. is one of the foremost digital executives in the content space.  Most recently, he served as the first Vice President of Digital Video & Social Media Marketing Strategy for BET Networks, where he managed all digital video and social media content for BET, BET Her, BET JAMS, BET Soul, and the BET Experience.  Gibbs, Jr. has a passion for entertainment and technology.  He began his digital career as part of the original staff of Henry Louis Gates’ Africana.com and remained with the product as it was acquired by Time Warner, then merged with AOL to become what was eventually known as the new Aol BlackVoices.com. Since then Gibbs, Jr. has gone on to hold leadership positions at Interactive One, Essence, Loop21.com and BET Networks.  Today, he is the Social Lead for the newly formed Action/Thriller vertical at Amazon Prime, where he manages the social strategy for Amazon Prime Original series and films in the action and thriller genres.

Josh hails from Canada and has been with our organization for over seven years. He has a decade worth of experience in the social listening, management and analytics space working with various brands and agencies. Josh currently heads up the product specialist team in the Americas for Meltwater Social.

Julie leads the largest social media practice in the Philadelphia area, having grown it from a team of 4 to a team of 75+ dedicated social media strategists over the past five years. Incorporating social intelligence with paid social strategy, the practice allows Julie to bring her passion for healthcare along with her 15+ years of experience across a wide variety of industries including fashion, non-profit, technology, and consumer goods. CMI Media Group specializes in healthcare, and Julie’s innovation-focused leadership has brought many firsts to the industry, including pharma-firsts with companies like Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Reddit. Julie’s strengths lie in mentorship, client relationships, innovative ideation and strategic business growth. In 2020 she was a featured speaker at Social Media Day and was awarded the PM360 ELITE Award in the Transformational Leader category as well as the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association Rising Star Award.

Liz leads the US Scaled Marketing team at Twitter, responsible for developing integrated marketing campaigns and activations to inspire and educate the brand’s Fortune 500 advertising partners. Liz works internally and externally to increase consideration for Twitter amongst marketers and agency decision-makers while helping to drive business impact and increase revenue. Prior to joining Twitter, Liz led Campaign Strategy at Macy’s, where she managed the brand’s holiday and seasonal fashion campaigns with specialized focus on millennial customer acquisition and retention. Liz earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Marketing at Elon University in North Carolina.

Jennifer Mangold is the Director of Social Media at Indeed, where she leads a global team who ‘Help People Get Jobs’ through our @Indeed channels. During her 13 years building award-winning social media programs, she has overseen social media strategy, advertising, social network partnerships, and employee social advocacy programs for tech companies.

Jennifer has led social media efforts for multiple large brand campaigns, including three Super Bowls, most recently winning the 2021 Twitter Brand Bowl Audible award for best real-time activation.

Prior to Indeed, she led the Global Social Media team at Vrbo, part of Expedia Group. Jennifer received her undergraduate degree in Business from Texas A&M University and earned an MBA in Management.

Peter works on LinkedIn’s Brand Strategy Team, helping LinkedIn’s largest clients and their agencies develop best-in-class B2B marketing strategies.

Larry, a veteran high school English teacher at Lindenwold High School, started BookSmiles in September 2017.  Always an avid reader, he graduated from the University of Rochester with a BA in English and a day later received a commission as an officer in the US Navy. 

After his discharge, he considered going into advertising but instead became a Kinko’s manager while completing his Masters in Teaching at The College of New Jersey. He has taught high school English for twenty years.

He started BookSmiles, a 501(c)(3),  four years ago, stockpiling and distributing gently used children’s books out of his garage and classroom.  The nonprofit has to this date distributed over 500,000 books to children in need.  He believes that all children can have a personal library and he knows that an alliance of educators, parents, and literacy warriors can make it happen.

Andrew has been a social media manager since before it was a valued role that companies hired for. While in college pursuing an engineering degree he managed social media for his acappella group, track team, and other organizations within his university. By being a power user of today’s most popular platforms since their infancy, managing strategies for accounts of multiple diverse niches, and growing his video editing skills as a content creator, he is the posterchild of Social Media Unicorns.

Karie is a Client Partner at Reddit, helping Fortune 500 brands and their agencies find their place among Reddit’s passionate communities. Prior to Reddit, Karie worked as a social media strategist and account lead at VaynerMedia.  She lives in New York, NY with her husband and one-year-old son.

Elea Feit is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business where she has developed courses in data-driven digital marketing (undergraduate), marketing experiments (masters), and Bayesian and causal inference (PhD). Her recent research focuses on how marketers can use randomized experiments to measure advertising incrementality. She is also the co-author R for Marketing Research and Analytics with Chris Chapman. More at eleafeit.com.

Marion Leary is the Director of Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Nursing. As the Director of Innovation at Penn Nursing she works to amplify and educate nurses as leaders in health and healthcare innovation. Ms. Leary is a member of the American Nurses Association’s Innovation Advisory Committee and a Founding member of the Society of Nurse Scientists, Innovators, Entrepreneurs and Leaders (SONSIEL). She is a host of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing podcast, Amplify Nursing, and a contributor to the American Nurses Association’s official journal, the American Nurse as part of the My Nurse Influencer’s column. In August 2019 she was named as an Influencer of Healthcare winner in the category of Excellence in Innovation by the Philadelphia Inquirer. In 2017, she was named Geek of the Year for her outstanding achievements in Philadelphia’s vibrant geek community in the areas of innovation, technology, and activism.

With nine years of experience in health care communications and marketing, Zelly Lodin has a passion for telling stories, making authentic connections, and building an engaged audience. In her role as Senior Corporate Communications Consultant at Delta Dental of California, she has amplified and enhanced the company’s D&I efforts, with Delta Dental’s 2020 Pride Month campaign earning a spot on the Digiday Worklife Awards shortlist. In her past life, she worked at a trade union and continues to be an engaged activist outside of her career.

Leslie Mac is a Brooklyn girl, Organizer, Digital Strategist, and Communications expert. She currently serves as the Communications Director for The Frontline. A seasoned Digital Strategist & Social Media Advisor, via LM Consulting she helps her clients create diverse, imaginative campaigns and branding that focus on inclusivity and justice-minded content. Recent clients include Google, UltraViolet, Articulate, UMass Amherst, Amazon, Meadville Lombard Theological School, Canvas8, and The Advancement Project. For more information visit LeslieMac.com

Jonah Martinson began his career as a community manager at a Philadelphia-area creative agency before starting at Digitas Health in 2014 as an early member of their social media team. During his time at Digitas Health, Jonah has used his passion for healthcare to work with clients to embrace the power of social to reach consumers in meaningful ways. He has led strategy and activation for award-winning social campaigns across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and Snapchat. Most recently, Jonah has taken on a new role as Director of Content Strategy, overseeing all digital and content strategy work for his clients. When he’s off the clock, you can find Jonah managing his dog’s Instagram account or quoting 6-year old Vine videos.

Veronica McKee has built a career in marketing across a wide variety of firms. Currently the Vice President of Marketing for The Haverford Trust Company, Veronica has also led marketing for snack food, consulting, and commercial real estate companies. She has driven brand transitions for wealth management, transportation, and non-profit organization, developed social media programs for B2B and B2C businesses as well as non-profit campaigns, and worked in franchised environments to frame branded marketing across all platforms. Veronica has guided teams through business challenges like brand integrations during an acquisition, attribution of results across traditional and digital channels, and creating new revenue streams.

After graduating at the top of her class at Penn State, Veronica continued on at both Villanova and Wharton for graduate and certificate studies. In 2014 the Philadelphia Business Journal named her to their Women of Distinction list. She served for four years as president of the non-profit Career Wardrobe and remains on their advisory board. Veronica and her husband have two rescue dogs, who they adopted as puppies found on the streets of West Philadelphia – one blind and his brother who acted as his Seeing Eye dog. The dogs have more than 40,000 Facebook followers! She likes to relax by cooking and playing with the dogs, and by writing blogs and social media posts about both hobbies.

Follow her dogs @BrotherlyLovePups on Facebook

Ejolee, pronounced ah-jo-lee, is a social media strategist who has extensive experience in the non-profit sector with organizations such as Doctors Without Borders, iMentor, and Kepler. Specializing in social media strategy and storytelling, Ejolee has worked with program, fundraising, marketing, and communications teams to create content that amplifies the voice of the organization and its community.

One of the most sought after minds in strategic communications and creative business innovation, Rakia Reynolds is the Founder and Executive Officer of Skai Blue Media. With more than a decade of proven experience advising culture-shifters, industry leaders, and globally-impactful brands, Rakia Reynolds leads her eclectic team of communication architects and brand strategists.

An award-winning multimedia communications agency, Skai Blue Media serves a robust and diverse client list, which has included Airbnb, Alicia Garza, Dell, Morgan Stanley, the City of Philadelphia, Serena Williams, Jill Scott,  and more. As Rakia and her team like to say, the Skai Blue team works with people, products, and places on their business, branding, and bragging. In addition to Skai Blue Media, Rakia is also the Founder and Executive Officer of Evryday Jane and Fan of Your Brand. Rakia resides in Princeton, NJ with her family.

Patty Ryan is a proven leader with deep paid social media expertise across entertainment, CPG, QSR, retail, financial services – and most recently pharma. Patty built social media teams at two agencies prior to joining Publicis Health Media where she has been leading the practice across Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York offices.

The PHM social team’s ambition is to accelerate innovation within the category. Having more than tripled the size of the team and launching over 15 “first-to-market” tactics in less than two years, it’s safe to say they’re well on our way.

When Patty isn’t planning social media, she’s likely consuming it on TikTok on a NJ beach with her dog Ollie.

Kaiti VanArsdale began her media career 10 years ago working as a media planner at a local Philadelphia media agency. As paid social opportunities continued to grow, she transitioned her focus to social media planning and buying to help grow the portfolio of business. Kaiti’s experience spans across many different platforms and verticals including CPG, healthcare, sports and retail. Most recently, Kaiti has taken her passion for social into the Pharma industry working as an Associate Director of Paid Social at Publicis Health Media. Kaiti prides herself on being a team leader, creating a collaborative environment to produce innovative social executions.

When Kaiti is not creating social strategies across Pharma brands, she teaches two classes at Temple University, Intro to Media Planning and Social Media Marketing.

Jimmy White IV is a South Philadelphia native who passionately seeks to make a positive impact for youths and veterans locally and nationally through collaborations with organizations such as We The People Stage, Year Up, the Weekly Fight and the Travis Manion Foundation.

He is an Operation Iraqi War veteran who served on broad the fast attack submarine USS Montpelier as a nuclear electrician. He was awarded several honors as a service member including three Navy Achievement medals and the title of Junior Sailor of the Year for his dedication and his outstanding performance.

Jimmy is a dedicated business professional who has rose through the ranks of the Facilities Management profession starting as an entry level maintenance mechanic to senior leadership advancing to the position as a Global Operation Manager. He is currently a member of the property management team for the Comcast Technology Center as the Operations Manager which is occupied by Comcast, NBC 10 Studios and Four Seasons hotel & restaurants.

He is a passionate speaker who presents to audiences on the topics of character, leadership, professional/personal development and living a life of purpose. He is a husband and father of three amazing children, Jim-Jim, Jo-Jo and Jack-Jack. He is a minister and youth department president at the Prophetic Church of Christ in South Philadelphia.

In 2018, he was awarded the Travis Manion Foundation “If Not Me, Then Who” award in recognition of his work honoring the life of Chris Hixson who heroically passed away confronting the shooter during the Parkland School shooting. Through partnership, with Chris Hixon’s son (Thomas Hixon), they inspired students through leadership presentations exemplifying Chris Hixon’s character, bravery and service to other.

Tiffany is the Senior Director of Digital & Social Communications at Comcast. She brings 15+ years of storytelling experience in marketing and communications roles for high-profile brands, including Dell and Motorola, and most recently was a Director of Communications for Walmart. 

Tiffany has an MBA from University of California, Irvine and dual bachelor degrees in Communications and Psychology from the University of Southern California (USC). She recently relocated from Pasadena, CA to the Philadelphia area with her husband and two children.

Cass (Oryl) Bailey is the president and CEO of Slice Communications, an agency in Philadelphia with fully dedicated public relations and social media teams that provides clients with actionable content and data-oriented approaches. She believes that integrated public relations and social media efforts are vital to accomplishing business goals when looking to grow and expand awareness of a company.

Cass brings a wide variety of experiences to the communications strategies she develops for the firm’s clients. With a background in international politics, economics, and philosophy, communications has become her passion and she has been tapped by various industry associations and the media to share her insights and experiences in the field.

Before founding Slice, Cass was a senior account executive at one of the top public relations agencies in the northeast region. She began her career at Ketchum Public Relations in Washington, DC, and has also held positions with the Honorable Mark Oaten, Member of Parliament for Winchester; the Tory Party in the United Kingdom; and New Economy Strategies.

She is deeply involved with her community, serving as Chair of the Board for Tree House Books, Secretary of the Board for Hopeworks ‘N Camden, and member of the Red Cross Philadelphia Leadership Council. Cass graduated from The Catholic University of America with a degree in international politics, economics and philosophy.

Kyle Huff is the Social Media Specialist for the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau (PHLCVB) – the official Tourism Promotion Agency for the City of Philadelphia globally and primary sales and marketing arm for the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Kyle oversees the management and strategies for the PHLCVB’s 11 owned social media accounts – including those in France, Germany and China – while also developing original photography and content for the PHLCVB’s website and blog.