About our speakers…
Keynote 
Guy Thier, Chief Information Officer, Bally Total Fitness.As CIO, Guy is responsible for creating and executing Bally’s technology vision to support Bally’s market strategy. His agenda includes the use of emerging technologies to uniquely position Bally in the marketplace, streamlining technology and business processes, and developing a highly effective work force. Prior to joining Bally in 2003, Guy worked for Empowered Software Solutions as a management consultant where he served clients including Sears, US Filter, and Jays. The engagements included leading the implementation of store systems, enterprise application integration, supply chain, distribution and logistics, and IT transformation. Prior to joining Empowered, Guy held VP of IT positions at Linc Capital and Chernin’s Shoes. Guy holds a Bachelor degree in computer science from Lewis University.

 

Session Presenters
Doug Rozen, SVP Creative, Interactive, Media and Mobile, AIMIA is responsible for developing and leading Aimia’s (incorporating Carlson Marketing) creative, interactive, media, mobile and social capabilities – ensuring innovative ideas exceed present and future client needs. He believes in “creativity that works”, where people must have “thirst” for emerging channels, and that Interactive is any channel – from web to mobile – that leverages technology to create true two-way dialogue. Clients include: Visa, JP Morgan Chase, General Motors, Hallmark, Delta, P&G, Amtrak, Coca-Cola, Best Buy, JetBlue and Ford.
Jeffrey Sweeter is the president and founder of Cogi Systems and a University of Minnesota graduate with a BS in Economics (math and statistics emphasis). He has been developing for the Android platform since November 2009. With over 16 years of software development experience with full life cycle exposure from gathering business requirements to product release and support in enterprise environments.
Lisa Foote is a Co-Founder of MixMobi, Software as a Service for creating, sharing and measuring mobile content. She is a recovering “suit” with experience at Target, GE, CapitalOne and Prudential.
Hayden Creque is the founder and principal attorney at Creque Law – a firm that provides experienced counsel on mobile and desktop privacy and best practices, information security, and Internet law. Hayden advises businesses in diverse matters, including corporate governance, contracting, employee benefits and compensation. He is an experienced civil litigator and an accomplished transactional lawyer. Hayden serves on the board of directors for the Blandin Foundation. He also volunteer broadcasts, from the studios of KVSC, the St. Cloud Times and other newspapers for Central Minnesota’s blind and print disabled.
Paul Bourdeaux leads the Mobile Team at Sundog, a marketing + technology company headquartered in Fargo, ND. He has over a decade of experience as a software engineer, and enjoys immersing himself in new technology (something that Sundog gives him plenty of opportunity to do!). Even before the iPhone explosion, Paul saw the potential that mobile had as a marketing channel, and he has been passionately advocating it ever since. Outside work, Paul is very active in his community. He also loves football, live theatre, and spending time with his wife and two kids.
Damon Allison is a Software Engineer at Code 42 Software focused on mobile app development. Damon helped write Code 42′s Windows Phone / iOS CrashPlan applications along with the underlying mobile communication stack. Damon has been developing mobile apps primarily on iOS since 2008 – working for a few brand name companies such as Best Buy, General Mills and Cisco as well as a bunch of startups. Prior to 2008 Damon worked as an independent consultant and for Microsoft Consulting Services writing .NET applications.
Peter Pascale is an Enterprise Architect at Pearson VUE. By day he battles the ever-changing and interesting demands of the enterprise with a sword of java and shield of agility. Nerds unite behind his box and arrow diagrams, users rejoice in the spoils of excess business value and kindly enterprise citizens are released from the shackles of technical debt. By night he masquerades behind the mask of Mother Robot, his alter-ego business identify devoted to birthing creative technology and spawning little robots in his current love, Android.
Breon Nagy is a self-proclaimed “mobile nerd”. He is an active member, speaker, and organizer for several local mobile and technology groups; including Mobile Twin Cities, Android Users Group, and Google Technology Users Group. Breon is also a freelance technology writer specializing in device and app reviews.
Rory Lonergen has a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University with a focus on communication systems, embedded devices and software. Mathematical modeling is another strong suit of his. He has designed and built several portable oxygen analyzers for SCUBA divers ranging from basic units to more complex ones. While C/C++ and PowerPC assembly were his preferred languages in college, he has branched out into Flex, Objective-C and Rails.
Jeff Brand is a .NET Developer in Microsoft’s Developer and Platform Group. Jeff assists customers in evaluating, developing and deploying applications built on the .NET Framework and the Microsoft platform, with a current focus on Windows Phone and Windows 8. He has been with Microsoft for sixteen years and has served in variety of roles including infrastructure consultant, e-commerce technology specialist, and enterprise technology advisor.
Aaron Bannin, Nate Dykstra & Jimi Van Guilder have a combined 20 years experience in mobile content working on anything from ringtone and wallpaper applications to games on multiple platforms. Currently all working for Recharge Studios, a subsidiary of W3i, which partners with mobile game developers/publishers to bring their games to market on iOS, Android, and Windows phone through development and marketing funding, user acquisition, analytics, and production support. Recharge is currently offering $10M in funding to developers to bring new games to market via our AppX Program.
Curt Prins is an active tech marketer with startup and Fortune 500 experience, Curt applied mobile techniques to raise over $15K and to increase engagement by 40% for a local youth nonprofit. In the summer of 2011, he launched PoliMobile, a SaaS company that helps Democratic candidates and progressive groups fundraise, engage and empower their core supporters.
Dakota Reese Brown is a User Experience and Game Designer. While completing his M.S. in Digital Media at the Georgia Institute of Technology, he worked as a Lead Researcher within Georgia Tech’s Mobile Technologies Group during the pre-iPhone “Wild, Wild West” days of the smartphone revolution. Dakota’s games have been featured in several international festivals including Living Game Worlds, Come Out & Play 2006, CHI 2007, PerGames 2007, and Come Out & Play 2010. As a UX/Interaction Designer, Dakota has created award-winning mobile experiences for clients including Best Buy, Wheaties, and Medtronic.
Bob McCune is owner of TapHarmonic, a Twin Cities-based consulting and training company. He’s passionate about Mac and iOS development, object-oriented design, and mobile user experience. He was a longtime Java and Web developer, but had a transformative moment the first time he picked up an iPhone and has never looked back. Bob is also the founder and group leader of the Minnesota CocoaHeads user group.
Rob Bajorek is a software engineer at Code 42 Software. He’s worn many hats over the years, from Unix sysadmin to startup executive. At Code 42, he is creating software for the iOS and Mac platforms. Outside of the tech world, Rob also tries to keep up his Japanese and Chinese abilities acquired from studying in Japan and Taiwan.
Mike Brown, VP Business Development, Mobile At Olson. With 20 years of experience in digital marketing, retail communications and broadcast media Brown has been part of the Olson mobile team (formerly known as MyThum Interactive) since 2004, building and executing mobile strategies for clients including Molson Coors, Hershey’s, Ford, Sony, Ontario Lottery and Cineplex Entertainment. Since being one of the first companies to achieve cross-carrier connectivity in the early days of mobile marketing, the Olson team has gone on to launch some of the most innovative and industry-recognized programs in North America, including the first mobile-ticketed event, some of the largest permission-based mobile marketing databases, and more recent high-profile augmented reality applications.
Jeremy Haberman is a software developer at Livefront. A recovering iPhone fanboy, he is now a full-time Android developer. He enjoys the craft of software development and is obsessed with solid technical architecture. Jeremy is an active member of the Android Users Group of Minnesota.
Dr. Lisa Snyder joined the Lakeville Area Public Schools to serve as Superintendent of Schools on August 15, 2011. Dr. Snyder has a long, distinguished career in education and education leadership. She began her career as a teacher in the Winona Public Schools as a 7th and 8th grade English and technology teacher. She also taught in the St. Charles Public Schools in 7th and 8th grade English, science, social studies and technology.  She served as the Director of Technology for the Cotter Schools Inc.; the Director of Instruction for the Sparta Area Public Schools; the Elementary / Middle School Principal for the School District of Holmen; and the Superintendent of Schools for the Merrill Area Public Schools.
Sam Kirchmeier is a software developer at Livefront. Sam has over 10 years of experience as a developer building mobile apps for iOS and web apps with a variety of technologies like Ruby on Rails, ASP.NET, and hand-crafted HTML/CSS. When he’s not writing the next big iOS app, you might find him teaching at Hennepin Technical College or out on the disc golf course practicing his technique.
Bob Andersen is the Director of Instructional Technology for Saint Mary’s University graduate schools and professional programs. In this position, he is responsible for the educational technology used by 4,500 students and 500 adjunct instructors. Bob is also an associate professor and teaches courses in wireless networking, information security, IT strategy, IT for non-IT students and management principles. Prior to joining Saint Mary’s, Bob was an IT/networking professional and served in leadership and technology positions at American Express and Northwest Airlines; he was also a consultant at Ernst Young. Bob earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of NY.
Norman Orstad is Senior Designer for :coderow. Designing for over 10 years, he accidentally discovered the joys of HTML/CSS in 2004. He’s designed and developed web sites for large non-profits, international computer hardware companies and local startups. Training to be the mythical “Desingineer”, his focus still remains on combining typography and design principles with web standards.
Robert Altman is mobile software developer and consultant. He is the lead iOS developer at TelventDTN. Robert has 20 years of experience in the software development and a broad experience base covering iPhone, iPad, Windows Mobile and CE; as well as Windows, .NET, Mac, and many other systems; as well as a number of Microsoft certifications, including MCP, MCAD, MCSD, and MCSD for .NET (C#). Robert is currently Vice President of Public Relations for TechMaster-TC, a Twin Cities technology-focused Toastmasters chapter.In his spare time, Robert enjoys learning new technologies; and pursuing current topics in Quantum Information Theory. He is particularly interested in development of and software for quantum computers (although there is still a great deal of uncertainty about them).
Chris McLaren leads Emerging Media & Strategy at Gage Marketing. Gage is a tech-savvy, strategically-driven, results-obsessed marketing agency with offices in Minneapolis, Redmond, and Los Angeles. Clients include Microsoft, 3M, and Thomson Reuters. A veteran interactive and emerging media marketer, Chris is constantly working on behalf of Gage clients to find the point at which emerging media hype ends and real business value begins.
Michael Sichmeller leads the User Experience practice at Gage.  Gage is a tech-savvy, strategically-driven, results-obsessed marketing agency with offices in Minneapolis, Redmond, and Los Angeles. Clients include Microsoft, 3M, and Thomson Reuters. With 15 years’ history in experience design and usability, Michael’s passion is creating persuasively intuitive and ambiently usable transmedia experiences that align business and user goals.
Brad ArmstrongBrad Armstrong works for Code 42 Software as the lead engineer on the Android team, responsible for their flagship CrashPlan mobile product. With nearly 15 years of software development experience, he was an early adopter of Android starting with the pre-1.0 SDKs, “I started building apps long before I even had a phone!” Brad also shares his Android passion and knowledge as co-founder of the Android Users group of MN.