Speakers
Benu Aggarwal, President and Founder, Milestone, Inc. SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Benu Aggarwal, founder and president of Milestone Inc., is a highly recognized expert in digital marketing solutions, voice search, SEO, and local. Benu oversees product development, client services, technology, and strategic vision for the company. Under her leadership, the company has prospered as it launched a suite of SEO-first software products and thousands of websites of which dozens won design and technology awards. With her technical marketing experience, entrepreneurial spirit, and motivating attitude, Benu has the ability to translate technical ideas into tangible practice that drive results for customers.
Kristina Azarenko, SEO Consultant & Founder, MarketingSyrup Digital Inc. SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Kristina is an eCommerce & Technical SEO consultant who helps businesses get the traffic and sales they deserve. She’s the founder of MarketingSyrup Digital Inc. - an SEO consultancy based in Toronto, Canada.
Kristina is the creator of the SEO Challenge Course that helps people learn SEO properly. She is also a speaker at such international conferences as Google Search Central, Women in Tech SEO Festival, BrightonSEO Ecommerce Summit and others.
Basheer Bergus, Co-Founder, Growphoria SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Basheer Bergus is the co-founder of Growphoria with over ten years of experience in paid media. Basheer is an omnichannel marketer, most recently coming from acKnowledge Digital Marketing, a full-service digital agency where he founded the media team and was Director of Media Execution & Strategy. Basheer has been executing media and leading strategy across paid social platforms since the advent of Facebook ads, and is passionate about keeping up with the best practices and nuances of the channel considering its integral position in growth marketing.
Ashley Berman Hale , VP, Professional Services, Deepcrawl SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Ashley Berman Hale heads up the Technical SEO Consulting team at DeepCrawl. She combines 17 years experience in business development, project management and technical SEO, delivering success for a range of global brands such as; Cisco, VW, Viacom, HP and Rotten Tomatoes. Recognized by Google as an expert as part of their Top Contributor program, Ashley possesses expertise in crawling/indexing issues, ranking, mobile, internationalization, hacked sites, inclusive design, user-experience, and more.
Robert Berousek, SEO Training & Development Manager, Dealer Inspire SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Robert Berousek is the SEO Training & Development Manager at Dealer Inspire. He enjoys teaching the ability to craft expert-level, holistic SEO strategy, keyword research, and more for Dealer Inspire’s newest SEO Specialist. Robert also specializes in SEO implementation for custom website builds, technical SEO, and overall website architecture.
Jessica Bowman, Enterprise SEO Consultant & Author of Executive SEO Playbook, SEOinhouse.com SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Enterprise SEO in-house has been putting food on Jessica Bowman's table since 2002. She's the trusted advisor for some of the biggest brands in the world and quickly mobilizes teams company-wide to start taking action on SEO within days from developers to product managers to merchandisers. Jessica created the only online, enterprise-level company-wide SEO training uniquely designed for large corporations to mobilize an SEO army across all roles, company-wide. Jessica founded SEOinhouse.com, a consultancy focused on doing SEO in-house and she literally wrote the playbook on doing SEO at a large company.
Michael Brenner, CEO and Founder, Marketing Insider Group SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Michael Brenner is a top Content Marketing influencer, an experienced CMO and Digital Marketer with stints at brands like SAP and Nielsen and multiple high-growth startups. Today, Michael runs a fast-growing content marketing agency, Marketing Insider Group. He is also the author of The Content Formula, and Mean People Suck. When he's not running after his 4 kids, or building effective content marketing programs. Michael enjoys sharing his experiences and client stories to inspire leaders like you to create growth and impact.
Crystal Carter, Senior Digital Strategist, Optix Solutions SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Crystal Carter is a Digital Marketing professional with over 10 years of experience working with SEO and Marketing clients around the world. As a Senior Digital Strategist for Optix Solutions, she identifies and implements tactics that help businesses optimize digital activity, drive sales, engagement, and growth. Her passion for research and mastering the latest digital tools helps push clients to the forefront of the digital landscape.
Bruce Clay, President, Bruce Clay, Inc. SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Bruce Clay is founder and president of Bruce Clay, Inc., a global digital marketing company recognized as a worldwide leader in search marketing. Bruce began conducting SEO training in 1999, and since then more than 5,000 individuals have attended BCI’s courses internationally. Bruce wrote the first program for web page analysis, and today BCI’s proprietary SEOToolSet™ is in its sixth generation. Before founding BCI, Bruce had a long career as a technical executive with leading Silicon Valley firms. Bruce holds a BS in math and computer science and received his MBA from Pepperdine University. Bruce has authored many books, including “Search Engine Optimization All-in-One for Dummies” for Wiley. He has spoken at hundreds of marketing industry events, including Search Marketing Expo (SMX), Search Engine Strategies, WebmasterWorld, Affiliate Summit, Ungagged, PubCon and ad:Tech, and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, PC Week, Wired Magazine and many other publications.
Matt Colebourne, CEO, Searchmetrics SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Matthew Colebourne is the CEO of Searchmetrics. He brings outstanding management ability as well as profound experiences from various senior leadership roles in the digital marketing area. Moreover, Matthew has an extensive track record of scaling technology businesses. Before joining Searchmetrics in January 2020, Matthew served as EMEA Managing Director at Innovid, which he joined from Trinity Mirror, one of the UK’s leading regional publishers. Beforehand, he was the European VP International for DoubleClick. He also managed the turnaround to profitability of paid search company, eSpotting, before its sale to FindWhat. Matthew is internationally minded and has worked in Europe, USA and Asia.
Andrea Cruz, Director of Client Strategy, Tinuiti SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Andrea Cruz recently joined Tinuiti as a Director of Client Strategy.
In the past, she led and executed demand generation programs for clients. Andrea has been responsible for driving and implementing SEM, Social Media, ABM, and content syndication campaigns on platforms including Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Facebook, LinkedIn, and more.
Beyond paid search and social platforms, Andrea is proficient in Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, various CRMs and has previous experience in operations and B2B purchasing.
Originally from Venezuela, Andrea holds a Masters in International Business from Hult International Business School and is fluent in Spanish, English and French.
Neha Divanji, Founder, Growth Spin Limited SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Neha Divanji is the founder of Growth Spin- a growth marketing agency based in London. We work with companies (series A funded and above) and help them with top of the funnel user acquisition.
In her last capacity as a full time employee, she was the global head of digital marketing for a 3bn $ conglomerate.
Allison Duvall, SEM Senior Manager, Merkle SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Allison Duvall is a Senior Manager in Performance Media, specializing in Search Engine Marketing. Since joining the team in 2015, she has worked with numerous clients across industries including Retail & Apparel, Jewelry, Home Goods & Furnishings, Beauty & Cosmetics and CPG. In SEM, Allison is passionate about professional development, optimizing team structures, building a strong remote team culture and working cross functionally.
In addition to her day-to-day at Merkle, Allison is the coordinator of the Professional Development Roundtable sessions, a co-chair of the Microsoft Taskforce and a member of the Cross Channel Think Tank.
Outside of work, Allison is an avid cyclist with a passion for both cyclocross and road racing.
Nati Elimelech, Tech SEO Lead, Wix SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Nati Elimelech is the Technical SEO Lead at Wix. When he’s not helping millions of websites become SEO-friendly, you can find him teaching veteran SEOs and agencies about advanced SEO solutions, large-scale SEO and handling SEO infrastructure challenges.
And if he’s not doing any of that, Nati spends his time with his lovely wife, baby girl, cat and dog.
Eric Enge, President, Pilot Holding SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Eric Enge has been speaking about digital marketing for more than a decade. He has keynoted many conferences including Pubcon Las Vegas, State of Search in Dallas, and Next10x. Eric is lead co-author of The Art of SEO, and also provides content to sites such as Search Engine Land, and Moz. Eric is particularly well known for the research that he publishes on key aspects of search. Eric was named 2018 Search Personality of the Year at the Drum Search Awards, 2016 Search Marketer of the Year (Male) at the Landys, and 2016 Search Personality of the Year at the US Search Awards, and Stone Temple Consulting was also named Best Large SEO Agency of the Year at the US Search Awards.
Eric is President of Pilot Holding, and was the Founder and CEO of Stone Temple Consulting (STC), a 70+ person digital marketing agency based in Massachusetts.
Jonathan Epstein, Chief Executive Officer, Brewco, Inc. SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Jonathan Epstein is chief executive officer of Brewco, where he and his team are multiplying the impact search engine optimization can deliver for clients of the company's AI platform.
Epstein has played a key role driving innovation across multiple industries, from digital media to gaming to marine technology, computer vision, and marketing technology. Prior to starting Brewco, he led the launch of the AI-powered experience optimization solution Evolv, which was spun out from early AI leader Sentient Technologies. In other CEO and president roles Epstein helped introduce gesture control into game consoles and helped develop the world's first battery-powered fiber optic controlled remotely operated underwater vehicle. Earlier in his career, he founded GameSpot, one of the world’s largest gaming sites, and was GM of IGN.com and president of GameSpy. Epstein is a director, advisor and investor with a number of disruptive start-ups. He holds patents in marine technology, in-game advertising, and gesture recognition.
David Farkas, Founder and CEO, The Upper Ranks SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
David Farkas is the founder and CEO of The Upper Ranks, a company focused on building quality, relevant links.
He feels fortunate to have had the opportunity to sharpen his link building skills with his friend, the late Eric Ward, who not only taught him the tools of the trade, but also imparted his code of ethics, and his knack for achieving results.
"David’s team at The Upper Ranks follows the right approach to building links ethically without cutting corners. This is the approach that has always worked for me and will continue to stand the test of time." - Eric Ward
With over 12 years in the field, he's helped hundreds of SEO agencies, publicly traded companies, startups, and more increase their online presence with his link building services.
Emma Franks, Account Based Marketing Manager, TAB Bank SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Emma Franks is the Account Based Marketing Manager at TAB Bank, and has a passion for puzzles and problem-solving. Emma launched her digital marketing career in 2015, specializing in lead generation through paid search, paid social, display and video advertising, as well as email and content promotion. As a lifelong learner with Masters degrees in Marketing and Business Management, Emma enjoys the opportunity to share her expertise through blogs, webinars, whitepapers, and presenting at virtual and onsite workshops and conferences. Emma has spoken at Hero Conf London, SMX Advanced, PubCon Florida, Utah DMC, and SEMPO events. She has also appeared on the PPC Show podcast and has written for the PPC Hero, Instapage, and AdStage blogs.
Gary Galloway, Global Product Marketing Director, Adthena SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Gary Galloway is a versatile product marketer with more than 20 years of experience implementing digital marketing products and solutions. Galloway is currently Global Product Marketing Director at Adthena, a global search intelligence solution for brands, marketers, and agencies.
He joined Adthena from Valassis Marketing Solutions where he led all product marketing activity for their high-growth digital advertising solutions (paid search solution for brands and key retailers, in-house programmatic Connected TV (CTV), and an eCommerce solution. Prior to Valassis, he created and led the Product Marketing team for Netsertive, a paid search technology company, that helped brands optimize paid search campaigns across their distributed local retail sales channels.
Gary has served as an Adjunct Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill and currently serves in that same capacity through the University of South Florida where he created and teaches a digital marketing course for the next generation of marketers. Gary frequently speaks to retail association groups, brand groups, and businesses at conferences across North America.
Brad Geddes, Co-Founder, Adalysis SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Brad Geddes has been involved in PPC since 1998. He is a co-founder of AdAlysis, a PPC recommendation engine. Brad is the author of Advanced Google AdWords, the most advanced book ever written about Google's advertising program. Brad has worked with many of the world's leading companies in managing and perfecting their PPC management and workflows. One of his trademarks has been demystifying the complicated aspects of SEM. Not one to hold secrets, Brad prefers to educate marketers on the various aspects of crafting successful marketing campaigns to ensure the success for all parties involved.
Colleen Harris, Senior Product Manager for Business Intelligence, Sincro SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Colleen Harris is the Product Manager for Business Intelligence at Sincro and has more than 13 years of digital marketing experience in the automotive, healthcare and entertainment industries. She brings a passion for data analytics and content creation and has been referred to as the “Google Whisperer”. Colleen has published white papers on Google Analytics & Google Data Studio best practices, how to use “near me” in content and the impact local call tracking numbers have on SEO. Recent speaking engagements include SMX West, WordPress Camp, CX Data Analytics, Lesbians in Tech, Digital Summit at Home, Digital Summit Seattle, Dallas, Portland and Detroit, Automotive Analytics Summit, Digital Marketing Strategies Conference, and SMX Advanced. Outside of Sincro, Colleen is a member of Women in Analytics has volunteered as a digital consultant for non-profits.
Amy Hebdon, Founder & CEO, Paid Search Magic SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Amy Hebdon is the founder of Google Partner agency Paid Search Magic, and is a top Google Ads conversion expert & paid search coach with over 16 years of hands-on experience. She was named as one of 2020's Top 25 Most Influential PPC Experts by PPC Hero, and her PPC marketing experience and insights make her a welcomed contributor to Search Engine Journal, PPC Hero, CXL, Copyhackers, Supermetrics and Unbounce. She co-hosts the free Facebook group Google Ads for Savvy Digital Marketers.
Bill Hunt, CEO, Back Azimuth Consulting SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Bill Hunt is the CEO of Back Azimuth Consulting, which focuses on helping companies improve their Global Digital Marketing Strategies. Bill has extensive experience in multiple verticals uncovering missed opportunities and accelerating growth by implementing strategic centers of excellence to maximize e-commerce programs at multinational corporations.
Bill is the co-author of the best-selling book "Search Engine Marketing, Inc." Driving Traffic to Your Companies Web Site from IBM Press. This book has been adapted into the best practice guide for many global companies.
Katy Hunter, Senior Director Product Marketing, Microsoft SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Katy Hunter is a strategic marketing leader eager to drive impact. She is dept at integrating engineering, customer voice and storytelling to drive business outcomes. Katy has experience driving consumption for B2B digital businesses by connecting upstream business and product planning to multi-channel ROI-driven GTM execution resulting in differentiated offers and optimized client experiences. She's a champion of talent committed to D&I, mentorship and building impactful teams.
Rodney Ip, Global Product Lead, Google Ads, Google SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Rodney Ip is a Global Product Lead for Google Ads where he is responsible for commercialization and product strategy of the latest innovations in Google Ads. He has been in the digital marketing industry for over 15 years, 8 of which have been at Google where he's worked in four different Google office locations. He is also part of Google for Nonprofits, a program where Googlers consult with nonprofit organizations to maximize the value of their digital strategies.
Michael Johnson, Partnerships Development Manager, Page One Power SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Michael Johnson has been in the SEO Industry for over eight years. He's developed hundreds of successful SEO campaigns and strategies for a variety of companies, ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 brands. As the Partnerships Development Manager at Page One Power, Michael provides actionable link building and content creation advice for people in the SEO industry as well as outside of it, and helps brands find solutions for the problems they face in their SEO efforts.
Hannah Johnson, Associate SEO Manager, Merkle SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Hannah Johnson is an Associate SEO Manager who has worked for a variety of clients ranging from TV and film to tourism and high tech. Prior to working in SEO, she worked in SEM and other paid channels, both at Merkle and other companies. When she isn’t working with a client to improve their web presence, Hannah enjoys learning about project management, improving workflows, and working cross functionally. She’s on the new hire onboarding team as well as the operation and cross-channel think tanks. Outside of work, you can find her doing aerial arts, learning to bake something new, or playing with her puppy.
Dixon Jones, CEO, DHJ Ventures SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Dixon Jones is a well-known, respected and award-winning member of the Internet Marketing community with 20 years of experience in search marketing and 25 years of business innovation. He is an expert in Information Retrieval manipulation, specifically in Big Data environments, a pioneer of the Freemium SAAS subscription business model, and a family man.
Amanda Jordan, Director, Local Search, LOCOMOTIVE Agency SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Jonathan Kagan, VP of Search, 9Rooftops|Cogniscient Media SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Jonathan Kagan entered the online marketing industry in 2005 – starting out in the SEM world. From there, he progressed and expanded into other sectors of the digital marketing world. Currently he is the VP of Search & Biddable Media for 9Rooftops|Cogniscient Media. Prior, Jonathan had run search marketing teams for Mediacom, Forbes, and Digitas. Overseeing enterprise search operations for clients that included American Express, Revlon, GlaxoSmithKline, Equifax, Mead Johnson, and Abbvie. In addition, he also created and over saw Digitas Central America's search marketing operation. You may of seen some of his presentations on mobile, programmatic and multi-screen marketing at conferences like Search Insider Summit, Digital Summit, ClickZ Live,Connect and SMX.
Sean Kainec, VP - Strategic Growth & Marketing, Quattro SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Sean Kainec (VP-Strategic Growth & Marketing) is a career digital- and technology focused-marketer with extensive e-commerce, retail, and strategy experience. He currently leads search and digital media programs for Quattro, where he works across multiple clients and verticals to implement holistic digital media strategies.
Sean joined Quattro from Comcast where he led his team to Search Engine Land’s In-House SEO Team of the Year. He also ran The Home Depot's SEO program for three and a half years prior to Comcast and is a regular speaker at many industry conferences and events.
His goal at Quattro is to grow the agency into a powerhouse digital program leader, as well as change the way agencies and clients work together.
Kelli Kemery, Senior Market Research Manager, Microsoft SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Kelli Kemery is the lead market researcher for Microsoft Advertising's Market Intelligence team, focusing on consumer psychology, brand building and the importance of digital marketing (specifically search and native) to building strong consumer connections.
Diane Kulseth, Senior SEO Consultant and Trainer, Siteimprove SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Diane Kulseth is the Senior SEO Consultant and Trainer at Siteimprove, where she leads SEO education for the US team and works with customers and prospective customers in building a stronger SEO strategy. Prior to her current role, she served in Digital Strategy positions at the University of St. Thomas, the largest private college in Minnesota and local non-profit, CaringBridge.org. With over 10 years of cross-vertical experience, including Fortune 500 brands, e-Commerce, Healthcare, and Government, Diane enjoys digging into and solving complex digital marketing problems that customers face, enabling them to connect with qualified audiences and increase their brand reach. She is a frequent speaker on SEO & digital marketing with recent appearances at the Digital Summit and SMX Next.
Aaron Levy, VP of Paid Search, Tinuiti SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Aaron Levy has been in the industry for 15+ years, leading paid media campaigns with clients ranging from Fortune 50s to startups and local businesses. He leads the 100+ person enterprise SEM team at Tinuiti, a full-service digital agency with offices across the US. Aaron's role is to help his team build strategies for some of the most recognizable brands in the world. Aaron "focuses" on the years ahead while his team works days and weeks ahead looking years ahead, making sure that clients are set up for the long term. Aaron's a frequent industry speaker and instructor at Drexel and University of Vermont, working to grow the next generation of great marketers. In his free time, he's either on the golf course, the hockey rink or in a kitchen (hopefully his own).
Melissa Liu, Associate Media Director, Search, RPA SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Melissa Liu has over eight years of experience in paid search marketing. Having worked in and developed performance media solutions in the USA, New Zealand, Australia and China, she can offer valuable insights across countless markets and verticals. Her exceptional ability as an artist also helps her to inject creativity into a specialism that can often be mechanical, driving business growth and compelling results for her clients.
Andrew Lolk, Founder, SavvyRevenue SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Andrew Lolk is a paid search/social marketer, speaker, and agency owner since 2010. He's the founder of SavvyRevenue: a PPC agency solely focused on managing paid search for ecommerce stores looking to scale their PPC advertising profitably.
Our core opinion on PPC is that automation should drive everything at scale, and you need to understand and solve the business problem, not solely the PPC challenges, to scale successfully.
We focus on the European market, and are headquartered in Denmark taking US stores across Europe.
Carolyn Lyden, Director of Search Content, Search Engine Land SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
With over 10 years of experience in content and SEO, Carolyn Lyden now serves as the Director of Search Content for Search Engine Land and SMX. Carolyn is both endlessly passionate about search marketing and a staunch advocate for marketers as a community leader and educator. She most recently ran her own agency, Search Hermit, where she specifically set out to help women- and BIPOC-owned businesses improve their presence and performance in search. Carolyn has experience in all verticals in search marketing, with particular expertise in content marketing, strategy, local search marketing, and analytics. She is also a well-known figure in the search community through her experiences speaking in various search conferences and as the leader of the popular #SEOchat on Twitter.
Joe Martinez, Co-Founder, Paid Media Pros SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Joe Martinez is the Co-Founder of the Paid Media Pros YouTube channel. He is a regular contributor to WordStream and Social Media Examiner. He has also written for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land, PPC Hero, SEMrush, Unbounce, Leadpages, Optmyzr, and AdStage. He has hosted webinars for SEMrush, Unbounce, Quora and Microsoft Ads. He regularly speaks at conferences and organizations such as SMX (Advanced, Munich, East, West), HeroConf, Inbound, Pubcon (Pro, Florida, Austin), SMXL, SEMPO, and more. Finally, he was named a Top 25 Influential PPC Expert by PPC Hero in 2017-2020.
Michelle Morgan, Co-Founder, Paid Media Pros SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Michelle Morgan is a Co-Founder of Paid Media Pros and international speaker. She’s been in PPC since 2010 and has honed her PPC skills in both in-house and agency roles. She won “SEM Speaker of the Year” at the Search Engine Land Awards in 2018 and was voted the Most Influential PPC Pro from PPC Hero in 2020.
Stephen Rahal, Director of Product Marketing, Coveo SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Stephen Rahal joined Coveo in April 2019, overseeing positioning and go-to-market strategy for the cloud relevance platform. Prior to Coveo, he held product and marketing leadership roles at a series of start-ups and scale-ups, most recently as the VP of Product Strategy at a SaaS intranet and online community platform. Stephen has a passion for emerging technologies and helping to scale high-growth companies. He resides in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Andreas Reiffen, Founder & CEO, Crealytics SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
As founder and CEO of Crealytics, Andreas Reiffen has crafted the performance advertising strategies of many of world’s most successful ecommerce retailers, including Zappos, ASOS, Zalando and Revolve. He helped these companies drive exponential growth by acquiring high-value new customers through Paid Search and Paid Social while, at the same time, reducing advertising costs. He's since adapted these advanced acquisition strategies into a standardized, repeatable process that has proven to be equally successful for traditional retailers such as Lands’ End, Foot Locker, Urban Outfitters or Staples.
Abby Reimer, SEO Manager, Uproer SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Abby Reimer is an SEO Manager at Uproer, where she develops SEO and content strategies for ecommerce and technology clients. Her career goal is to make SEO more accessible for marketers of all experience levels. She believes wholeheartedly that better search results are better for everyone.
Kevin Rowe, CEO, PureLinq SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Kevin Rowe is the founder of PureLinq a technology-backed contextual link building solution. Kevin has worked with some of the hottest Silicon Valley startups, as well as fortune 100 companies, to create enterprise-class innovative and sophisticated programs in off-page SEO.
He is also the creator of Mention Connections, a solution to secure links in unlinked brand mentions, at a 90% response rate. This solution is for e-commerce companies selling branded products that would benefit from links to category or product brand pages.
Pankaj Sabharwal, Senior Digital Marketing Manager | Google Ads Platinum Product Expert, Grazitti Interactive SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Pankaj Sabharwal
Senior Digital Marketing Manager | Google Ads Platinum Product Expert, Grazitti Interactive
|Pankaj Sabharwal is the Senior Manager, Digital Marketing at Grazitti Interactive. As a Marketing Strategist, he is actively involved in looking after the organization’s digital marketing programs from start to finish.
He has experience of over 15 years in leading paid, organic, digital analytics and social media marketing campaigns across a wide variety of industries. A Google Ads Platinum Product Expert, Pankaj has a strong expertise in transforming businesses online.
Kyra Sammis, Customer Success Manager, Trustpilot SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Kyra Sammis and her team believe that people want to shape and improve their world. So they bring consumers and businesses together to make things better by offering a free and open to all review platform built on collaboration. If everyone helps each other to improve customer experiences, then we’re all working to make the future a brighter place.
Currently also serving as the External Events chairperson for the Trustpilot Women in Leadership organization.
Nicholas Scalice, Founder, GrowthMarketer SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
With over 12 years of digital marketing experience, Nicholas Scalice runs a conversion-focused growth marketing agency specializing in landing page optimization and marketing automation. He’s also the host of a top-rated podcast called Growth Marketing Toolbox and he writes a weekly marketing newsletter called GrowthMarketer Weekly, which is read by over 4,600 subscribers.
Ashley Segura, CoFounder, TopHatContent SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Ashley Segura is a world-renowned public speaker and CoFounder of TopHatContent, a content marketing agency based in Los Angeles. With both in-house and agency experience, Ashley has perfected the craft of content marketing, teaching hundreds of brands how to achieve ROI from their content.
Speaking both internationally and throughout the US, Ashley regularly teaches workshops and speaks at industry conferences like Content Marketing World, SMX, Pubcon, BrightonSEO, SearchLove, Digital Summit, Retail Global, and the prestigious SMS Sydney.
Ashley has also co-authored the best-selling book “The Better Business Book V.2” and is a contributing writer to industry blogs such as Search Engine Journal, Social Media Examiner, and AuthorityLabs.
Kristen Seto, SEO Manager, Trusted Media Brands, Inc. SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Kristen Seto is an SEO Manager at Trusted Media Brands, formerly known as Reader's Digest Association. In her day to day she is collaborating with editorial teams on keyword research and content strategy, training teams on SEO best practices, and serving as a stakeholder on projects related to user experience. She has been in the SEO space for 3 years, with a prior background rooted in journalism and social media. Kristen holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland.
John Shehata, VP, Global Audience Development Strategy & CRM, Conde Nast SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
John Shehata is Founder of NewzDash.com and Global Vice President of Audience Development Strategy & CRM at Condé Nast overseeing SEO, Social Media Strategy, Audio Growth and Email & CRM for all premium brands (Wired, Epicurious, Glamour, Vanity Fair, Vogue, The New Yorker, GQ, etc.).
John has 21+ years of experience in the digital marketing space working with top national brands and fortune 500 companies. John is also the founder of NewzDash.com, a leading News & Editorial SEO platform that helps publishers boost their traffic and visibility in Google Search Top Stories and Google News. Previously, John was the Executive Director of Search, Social Media at Disney ABC TV Group.
Shehata led SEO and social strategies for (ABC News, ABC TV, Oscars, and Disney Channels) and worked closely with all TV shows (GMA, Nightline, 20/20, World News, etc.). In his long career focusing on editorial SEO and Social Strategy, John has trained many writers, bloggers, journalists and editors on Search Engine Optimization and Social Media and how to write news while keeping Search and Social channels top of mind.
Prior to Disney, Shehata was the director of SEO and Social Media for Advance Local. Shehata established and led the SEO and Social Media teams for all their digital brands (NJ.com. al.com, Cleveland.com, MLive.com, NOLA.com, etc.) and trained all the news sites and newspapers edit teams (The Plain Dealer, The Star-Ledger, The Oregonian, etc) on best online search/social practices. Shehata is recognized particularly for his SEO strategies for News and Technical SEO. He built multiple SEO products and has written several articles and continues to speak at conferences that focus on SEO and Social Media.
Pascal Skropke, CMO, Design-Bestseller SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Pascal Skropke, CMO at Design-Bestseller, has been leading the strategic development of the Marketing, IT and UX/CX departments since 2018. He actively uses his previously long experience in paid marketing and e-commerce to shape the international growth of Design-Bestseller. With its unique assortment and with excellent customer service and interior advice, Design-Bestseller is one of the Europe's leading premium interior e-commerce companies.
Colt Sliva, SEO Engineer, iPullRank SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Colt Sliva is an SEO Engineer at iPullRank. With 10+ years of experience ranging from full-stack development to technical SEO, his active research projects include natural language processing and graph algorithm visualization. Having developed with a wide variety of programming languages and CMS's, he enjoys solving edge case problems for enterprise clients.
Danita Smith, SEO Program Lead, North America and Senior Web Specialist, Schneider Electric SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Danita leads the SEO program for North America at Schneider Electric. She advises, consults, teaches, and learns every day, with a mission to help others become more empathetic and create content that gets found. She also works closely with editorial, media, and global teams to make their web a better place for all who use it. She enjoys collaborating over a great cup of coffee. When Danita's not working, she's an active volunteer and treasures spending quality time with her family and friends.
Anastasia Sorokina, Director, SEM, WITHIN SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Anastasia Sorokina is a Director of SEM with nearly seven years of experience in paid search and eCommerce. Anastasia started her career with in-house teams, building brands’ digital presences through a variety of channels before moving to the agency side to focus on paid search.
Anastasia's passion for eCommerce led her to develop strong expertise in feed management, building shopping ads strategies that scaled revenue for an array of cross-category clients. The client roster ranges from Fortune 500 companies to emerging brands from the following industries: Beauty & Cosmetics, Retail & Apparel, Jewelry, Real Estate, and Travel.
Anastasia loves to engage with the PPC community on both Twitter and LinkedIn. Her project work has been recognized by the Search Engine Land Awards, U.S. Search and the Drum Search Awards.
As a member of the CO-OP career program, Anastasia mentors and assists local grads, helping them to land full-time digital marketing dream jobs.
Chris Spann, Senior Technical SEO, Deepcrawl 
Roxana Stingu, Head of Search & SEO, Alamy LTD SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Roxana Stingu heads Search & SEO at Alamy. She's spoken at many events including conferences such as BrightonSEO, WTSFest and DMLA. Some of her favorite topics are page speed, image search and how the internet works. She's also an active member of the Women in Tech SEO community.
Roxana loves getting into the nitty-gritty of SEO and her favorite pastime is automating anything repetitive that she encounters at work, or in life.
Patrick Stox, Product Advisor, Technical SEO, & Brand Ambassador, Ahrefs SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Patrick Stox is a Product Advisor, Technical SEO, & Brand Ambassador at Ahrefs. He's an organizer for the Raleigh SEO Meetup (the most successful SEO Meetup in the US), the Beer and SEO Meetup, and the Raleigh SEO Conference. He also runs a Technical SEO Slack group and is a moderator for /r/TechSEO on Reddit.
Pooja Swaika, Analytical Lead, Microsoft 
Sam Tomlinson, Executive VP, Strategy & Analytics, Warschawski SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
With a background spanning business, data and finance, Sam Tomlinson is a radically different kind of marketer – one with a singular focus of making businesses better.
This background, combined with a unique combination of analytics skills, performance marketing expertise and deep understanding of brand, allow him to challenge the status quo, see hidden opportunities, develop novel strategies and build scalable systems to capitalize on those opportunities.
In his role as EVP of Strategy & Analytics, Sam leads Warschawski’s award-winning Digital & Analytics teams in the development, execution and optimization of integrated digital campaigns and measurement strategies. Sam has established a data-driven culture throughout the agency while delivering exceptional bottom-line growth for clients through the fusion of innovative digital strategies with robust, multi-channel marketing campaigns.
Since joining Warschawski, Sam has led successful marketing communications initiatives for many of the agency’s global, national and regional clients, including Dole Packaged Foods, Biologics Consulting, Hogan Lovells, Chesapeake Utilities Corporation (NYSE: CPK), KeyW (NASDAQ: KEYW), Janet, Janet & Suggs, Kabateck LLP, JMT, WSP (OTCMKTS: WSP), Sagamore Ventures, Sagamore Spirit and numerous others.
A digital native, deep generalist, and passionate innovator, Sam has a unique ability to connect seemingly disparate concepts in novel ways. His brings an unparalleled understanding of the digital ecosystem and how each component within that ecosystem can work together to create an exceptional outcome. His experience with specific platforms, including Facebook, Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, Quora, Reddit, YouTube, Programmatic/DSPs, and Amazon, and knowledge of strategic and tactical methods give him the ability to craft comprehensive strategies, execute them flawlessly and optimize them relentlessly across dozens of channels. This approach has led to successful outcomes for clients with a wide variety of industries and business models, including, B2B, B2C, B2G, DTC, SaaS, lead generation, and more.
As a thought leader and pioneer in the digital and data marketing spaces, Sam is frequently sought out for comment and expertise. He is regularly invited to speak at major regional, national and international conferences, including HeroConf, SMX, PRSA ICON, Search Marketing Summit (AU), AMEC & The Digital Analytics Association, among others. He is regularly quoted by prominent national, regional and industry publications.
Sam is a member of the Executive Education faculty at the renowned Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, an adjunct instructor at Georgetown University and Cabrini University, and a guest lecturer at New York University. Sam is a member of the Paid Search Association Board. Sam was named one of the “Marketers of Tomorrow” by Target Marketing, a Maryland Daily Record 2020 VIP List winner one of the Top 50 Most Influential PPC Experts by PPC Hero.
In addition to his role at Warschawski, Sam is a managing partner at W Ventures, a one-of-a-kind VC and accelerator company that focuses on high growth potential companies based in or willing to relocate to or co-headquarter in the Baltimore/Washington region. As a managing partner, Sam supports portfolio management and acquisition while using his expertise in analytics and performance marketing to challenge the status quo, identify hidden opportunities, develop novel strategies and build scalable systems to capitalize on opportunities.
Sam completed his undergraduate degree at Franklin & Marshall College, and received his MBA with Honors from Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business. Outside of work, Sam maintains a 7-handicap, is a die-hard Flyers fan and travel enthusiast.
Dr. Lauren Tucker, CEO, Do What Matters SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Dr. Lauren Tucker is the founder and CEO of Do What Matters, an inclusion management consultancy. Her mission: To challenge and short circuit the operational inefficiencies that promote exclusion and bias by designing inclusion solutions that foster greater creativity, innovation, and growth, especially in industries that produce cultural content.
“When it comes to diversity, it’s hard to be a prophet in your own land.” So, Dr. Tucker turned her 30 years of communications experience into a business helping "storytellers" to integrate inclusion management strategy into the business of making cultural content that is memorable, meaningful, and remarkable to an increasingly multicultural and global market. Most importantly, she helps her clients build and nurture healthy internal cultures to creates stories that DO NO HARM.
Dr. Tucker and her consultants emphasize their practice differs from traditional diversity management in that inclusion management is a talent-centered strategy that frames issues around diversity as a symptom of operational inefficiencies that corrode creativity and innovation. Ultimately, her inclusion first perspective focuses on building solutions that elevate difference as a solution to be embraced rather than a problem to be solved.
She is an entrepreneur with a history of leadership, research, practice and activism in race, ethnicity, gender and is currently an honorary research fellow at the School of Mass Communication Research Center at the University of Wisconsin, where she received her doctorate. Tucker has also worked at some of the world’s most renowned advertising agencies, including Leo Burnett, Burrell Communications, the Martin Agency. She is also co-founder of Indivisible Chicago, a progressive political organization dedicated to making civic activism easy, accessible, and impactful.
Frederick Vallaeys, Co-founder & CEO, Optmyzr SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Frederick Vallaeys co-founded Optmyzr in 2013 to give search marketers the tools they needed to make managing pay-per-click (PPC) accounts quick and simple. A former Google executive and one of the tech giant’s first 500 employees, Fred spent close to 10 years managing and evangelizing for the AdWords (now Google Ads) product, and is best remembered for his work on Quality Score.
Fred is also an accomplished author and speaker on PPC account management, automation, and scripts — having spoken at high-profile events like SMX Advanced and Hero Conf and having published “Unlevel the Playing Field: The Biggest Mindshift in PPC History” in 2022 and "Digital Marketing in an AI World: Futureproofing Your PPC Agency" in 2019.
He is also the host of Optmyzr’s PPC Town Hall, a live video podcast that empowers paid search professionals with the latest insight about the search channels and marketing tools. He was recognized as 2018’s SEM Contributor of the Year by Search Engine Land, top 10 on PPC Hero’s definitive industry ranking of the most influential PPC experts of 2021, and Search Marketer of the Year for 2021 by Search Engine Land.
Follow him on Twitter @siliconvallaeys.
Purna Virji, Senior Consultant, Content Solutions, LinkedIn SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Purna Virji is a globally recognized content strategist and Senior Content Solutions Consultant at LinkedIn. She has been named by Adweek on their Young Influentials List, was crowned the Search Personality of the Year by the US Search Awards and was named by PPC Hero as the #1 Most Influential Expert in the world.
She is a columnist and top-rated international keynote speaker who regularly speaks at conferences such as AdWeek, DMEXCO, The Next Web Conference and INBOUND.
Prior to joining LinkedIn, Purna led global learning and thought leadership programs for Microsoft. An award-winning former journalist, Purna is an avid traveler, aspiring top chef, and enthusiastic tennis player in her spare time.
Shayla Wentz, Marketing Automation and Demand Generation Manager, Grazitti Interactive SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Shayla Wentz is an experienced Marketing Communications Manager with a demonstrated history of crafting successful demand generation initiatives focused on driving revenue growth. She is a strong marketing professional skilled in sales, analytics, marketing automation, Salesforce.com, omni-channel communications and strategy, and B2B. A Marketo certified expert, Shayla also has expertise in the development and execution of international and multi-segment communications plans designed to ensure a brand's products and services stand out in the market.
Jonathan Wilson, Director, Digital Marketing, Wolters Kluwer SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Jonathan Wilson is a digital marketing executive with extensive, proven expertise and P+L responsibilities up to $20 million. He has deep strategic and operational expertise in paid and organic inbound digital channels, including search, paid social and display, as well as marketing automation and data visualization. In 15+ years of digital marketing experience at blue chip B2B and B2C companies in both client and in-house roles, he has managed teams up to 90+, and maintains a strong focus on scalability, process and performance. In addition to volunteering for underserved STEM communities, he is board member for non-profit and for-profit organizations.
Murat Yatağan, Consultant, Growth and Product Management, Brainly SMX Next 2021 Speaker:
Murat Yatağan has led marketing, growth, and analytics at companies such as Brainly, Global Savings Group, and Google. Currently, Murat is the VP of Growth at Brainly, building and scaling a high-performing growth team to acquire users globally. Previously, he was a Director, SEO for GSG, overseeing global organic traffic performance. Prior to that, he led webspam policy enforcement for EMEA markets at Google. Prior to joining Google, he worked as a Research Assistant in the Computer Science Faculty of IUE.
He is an executive advisor of a few startups and investing in early-stage startups. He is a brand ambassador of OnCrawl, an award-winning search marketing intelligence tool. He has been a Head Judge for Global Search and US Search Awards, and a Judge for European, UK, and MENA Search Awards.
