Speakers
Click here for a complete list of speakers at the 2012 WISE Symposium
Megan Auman
:: Crafting an MBA
Megan Auman is a designer, metalsmith, educator, and entrepreneur who has built a multi-faceted business around her passion for great design and sustainable business. Her eponymous jewelry line is sold in stores across the US and online.
In 2009, Megan founded Crafting an MBA to help designers and makers develop their business skills. Megan received a BFA from Syracuse University and an MFA from Kent State University.
Yvonne Conte
:: Humor Advantage, Incorporated
Yvonne Conte is a Corporate Climate Expert, professional speaker and coach. Her company, Humor Advantage, Inc. has provided speakers for small, medium and Fortune 500 companies. Her clients include Xerox Corporation, Time Warner, GE Global, Continental Tire, Lucent Technologies, Merck & Medeva Pharmaceutical and over 800 other leading organizations.
Over one million speeches are delivered to businesses groups every year in the US. 90% of them are forgettable. Yvonne's audiences are entertained, energized and moved to take positive action in their lives. She promises to improve the way people live, work and play by changing the way they look at the world, causing them to be happier, healthier individuals. Happier people are more productive
She is a sought after motivational speaker for conferences, conventions, company training and other events conducting 60 keynotes a year at major conferences. In addition to being a radio and TV personality, Yvonne is also a best selling author of six books including Cry, Laugh, Cook and Serious Laughter. For more information visit www.YvonneConte.com. Media inquires contact Ryan Prucker at 315.430.7584 or email ryan@imagelight360.com
Barbara Corcoran
:: Real Estate Mogul, Business Consultant, Speaker
Barbara Corcoran's credentials include straight D's in high school and college and twenty jobs by the time she turned twenty-three. It was her next job that would make her one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the country when she took a $1000 loan to start The Corcoran Group. She parlayed the loan into a five-billion-dollar real estate business and sold it in 2001 for $70 million.
Barbara is the real estate contributor for NBC's TODAY Show where she comments weekly on trends in the real estate market. She's also an investor/shark on ABC's reality hit Shark Tank. In the first season, Barbara bought eight young businesses that she's shepherding to success. Shark Tank returns to ABC for eight new episodes this season.
Barbara is the author of Use What You've Got, an entertaining business book that has become a national best-seller, as well as Nextville, Amazing Places to Live Your Life. Her latest book, Shark Tales, is due out in January 2011.
As a speaker, Barbara brings her front-line experience and infectious energy to every group she addresses. Motivational, inspirational, and sometimes outrageous, Barbara Corcoran's tell-it-like-it-is attitude is a refreshing approach to success.
Tara Gentile
:: The Art of Earning
Tara Gentile is a creative business coach who empowers passion-driven entrepreneurs to actualize their ideas, visions, and dreams – turning them into dollars and cents. She is working to build a New Economy that is lead by passionate individuals & organizations instead of corporate machinations. Her creative approach to branding, product development, and marketing incorporates both strategy and high touch design.
She writes frequently for the Daily Worth, Crafting an MBA, and The Mogul Mom. She's the author of several popular digital guides including her latest on the relationship between personal art and money, The Art of Earning. She's a proud mama to a 3 year old named Lola.
Lisbeth R. McNabb
:: w2wlink
Lisbeth McNabb is CEO and founder of w2wlink. After driving high levels of growth as CFO and Strategist for Match.com in October 2007 she launched a professional women's content and community digital business. Her professional background includes 20+ years in innovation across sales and business development, operations, finance and planning in growth and emerging stage businesses at Match.com, Frito-Lay, American Airlines, AT&T and Sodexo
Lisbeth is a board of director and audit chair of Nexstar Broadcasting, a Media company on the NASDAQ exchange, an advisory board member of American Airlines, Southern Methodist University, Texchange, University Nebraska Entrepreneurship Center, and company advisor to digital, technology and consumer companies including ClubCorp, Sittercity.com and GenGreen.
Lisbeth is the Co-Chair of Women Corporate Directors – Dallas and a member of NACD and Entrepreneurs Foundation of Texas. w2wlink is a portfolio company of Astia. A mentor at Southern Methodist University, University of Nebraska, and a former mentor at Mentium.
She received her B.S. at University of Nebraska and M.B.A. from Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business. She was honored as Distinguished Alumnae by SMU Cox School of Business, 2011 and Top 25 Women in Business, Dallas Business Journal.
Tierra Destiny Reid
:: TDR Brands & Stylish Consignments Boutique, America's Favorite Retail Strategist
With a compelling combination of business savvy, straight-to-the-point inspiration, and a signature 100 watt smile, 30-year-old Tierra Destiny Reid is an entrepreneur's entrepreneur. After less than two years as the owner of Stylish Consignments boutique, this military wife and mother of two took a less than $10,000 cash without investors after being laid off from her corporate job, and turned it into six figures in gross sales in the midst of a challenging retail market. Her boutique, nestled off the beaten path in Lilburn, Ga, quickly became one of Atlanta's fastest growing and most notable businesses, serving over 4,000 customers and voted The Best of Atlanta by the Atlanta Tribune.
More importantly, the boutique's success put a spotlight on Tierra as a bold and daring entrepreneur with the ability to inspire and teach others to thrive — not just survive — in business. Her honest, pull-no-punches, profit-driven approach quickly established the New York native as a standout speaker for national conferences such as Tory Johnson's (National Media Contributor) Spark and Hustle and Pink Magazine's Spring into Ownership. Ultimately, the audience demand for Tierra's insight led her to establish Serious Startups, a national service provider for retail and small business owners looking for solid strategies, in 2010. Charming, insightful, outspoken, and passionate about empowering others, Tierra Destiny Reid is poised to be one of the great voices of the new generation of American business.
Hamdi Ulukaya
:: Chobani/Agro Farma
Agro Farma's CEO, President and Founder, Hamdi Ulukaya, was born and raised in Turkey where his family, who has cheese and yogurt operations spanning throughout Turkey, has an extensive history of dairy farming and manufacturing.
Ulukaya's personal journey in the dairy industry started in the US, where he moved to pursue a MBA at SUNY Albany after earning a Bachelor's degree in Political Science in Turkey. It was during his time in New York that he first realized the opportunity to make high-quality yogurt and feta cheese accessible to consumers in the US.
His vision came to life with the 2002 launch of Euphrates, a wholesale producer of authentic feta cheese located in a state of the art facility in Johnstown, NY. The company takes its name from the Euphrates River that flows nearby Ulukaya's home in the eastern mountains of Turkey.
After reaching quick success with Euphrates, Hamdi started Agro Farma in 2005 and spent almost two years perfecting the recipe for the company's first product offering--a Greek yogurt line called Chobani. The first cup of Chobani hit shelves in September 2007 and has since become America's #1 yogurt brand, growing more than 200% over the past year alone.
Chobani, or "chopani," means shepherd in Mediterranean languages and is a word that holds much meaning for Ulukaya as it's a symbol of giving yet asking nothing in return.
This notion of generosity shines true to the brand, as it donates 10% of its annual profits, through their Shepherd's Gift Foundation, to individuals working for positive, long lasting change.
Hamdi resides in Norwich, NY. His passions include traveling, writing, horseback riding, and sailing. Hamdi is also an avid supporter of independent films and funds several festivals throughout the year.
Nell Merlino
:: Count me in
Nell Merlino is the Founder and President of Count Me In for Women's Economic Independence, the leading national not-for-profit provider of resources for women to grow their micro businesses into million $ enterprises. She is author of "Stepping Out of Line: Lessons for Women Who Want it Their Way in Life, in Love, and at Work," from Broadway Books, which is available from Amazon.com.
Throughout her career, Nell Merlino has been inspiring millions of people to take action. She is the creative force behind Take Our Daughters to Work Day, which moved more than 71 million Americans to participate in a day dedicated to giving girls the opportunity to dream bigger about their future.
Through Count Me In, Nell is now inspiring women entrepreneurs to dream big and achieve even more. She is leading a global movement to empower women entrepreneurs to grow their businesses to a million dollars and beyond by providing tools, resources, and a supportive community of their peers. Count Me In's Make Mine a Million $ Business program reaches women entrepreneurs in communities around the country through events and on-line community. This movement will not only add millions of jobs and billions of dollars of economic activity, but take women to new levels of independence, empowering them to act as economic leaders.
Nell is also the founder and President of Strategy Communication Action, Ltd. (SCA) in New York City, a firm specializing in the creation of public education campaigns that motivate people to act. She is a member of the U.S. Department of State Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy (ACIEP), and appointed a Pathways Envoy by the U.S. State Department to promote women's business growth throughout South and North America. Nell also sits on the board of the American Enterprise Organization. Prior to founding Count Me In, Merlino created campaigns like the YWCA's The Week Without Violence, the United Nations' Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, worked in two state governments, was an advance woman in presidential politics, a union organizer and a Fulbright Scholar.
Merlino lives in Manhattan with her husband, Gary Conger
