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Don Backus
Don Backus is Vice President of Global Market Development at Commotion, a Broadcast Electronics company, providing dynamic social media, digital and mobile platforms and solutions to the broadcast industry, targeted at building engagement with audiences and generating additional revenue. Commotion is based in Quincy, IL and Don is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
Prior to joining Commotion, Don was Vice President of Sales and Marketing at ENCO Systems, a digital audio automation company, based in Southfield, Michigan. Don joined ENCO in 1999, moving from Audio Broadcast Group in Grand Rapids, where he was a sales engineer and Digital Systems Manager. Prior to joining ABG in 1994, he was General Sales Manager of the Williams Communications stations in Longview and Tyler, Texas. From 1983 to 1993, Don was President and General Manager of WDBI-FM in Tawas City, MI. A number of programming, production and on-air positions preceded the purchase of WDBI-FM, including tenure at WVIC in East Lansing, WITL in Lansing and WSJM in St. Joseph.
Don attended Michigan State University in East Lansing and is a CRSM. Don has served two terms on the Michigan Association of Broadcasters board and is currently serving his first term as a board member of the Michigan Association of Broadcasters Foundation. He has also been a consultant for a number of leading broadcast and technology organizations and has done presentations at radio and professional audio conferences around the world.
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Jeremy Browe
Although only being in the media industry for a short period of time, Jeremy Browe knew from an early age that he always wanted to be involved in the world of radio and film.
After obtaining Final Cut Pro user certification from his mentor Steve Julin, Jeremy set out to make his dream a reality. After shooting and editing videos for the City of Detroit, corporate clients and a few weddings here and there, Jeremy launched his own production company called Harmelody Media LLC and his own YouTube network/channel called The Harmelody Network which has been seen by over 300,000 people in over 40 different countries.
In addition to producing, editing and shooting videos for his company, Jeremy also serves as the lead I.T. support for the Specs Howard School of Media Arts campus in Farmington Hills, MI.
When he's not busy developing new shows and content for his network (or slaving away at his 9 to 5), Jeremy finds time (albeit a minute amount) to learning new software, studying new media trends and analytics and even still finds time to spend with his fiancé, read one new book a month and dedicate at least 1 hour per day to his guilty pleasures of episodic television, video games and comic books. For More information about Jeremy Browe, visit www.jeremybrowe.com
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Gary Berkowitz
Gary Berkowitz has been in radio for over 30 years. A Speech-Communications graduate of Emerson College in Boston, Berkowitz began his career as an on air talent at various Boston area radio stations. He went on to be the Program Director at leading radio stations including WPRO-AM-FM, Providence, WROR, Boston, WHYT-WJR and WKQI, Detroit.
In 1990 Gary opened Berkowitz Broadcast Consulting specializing in the programming of AC radio. Since then, Gary has consulted for America's biggest and best AC stations including market leaders such as WMJX, Boston, WNIC, Detroit, WWFS (Fresh 102.7), New York, KEZK, St Louis, WLIF, Baltimore, KYXY, San Diego and many others. Today, Gary works with large and small broadcasters across the US to improve their programming, marketing and ratings. Berkowitz Broadcast Consulting is based in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
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Gregory Cunningham
Gregory Cunningham is a Field Agent/Electronics Engineer at the Federal Communications Commission’s Detroit Office and is responsible for enforcing the provisions of the Communications Act, the Commission's rules, orders, and various licensing terms and conditions. He is a graduate of Bachelors of Electrical Engineering from Michigan Technological University and Masters of Business Administration from Baker College, and began his career with General Dynamics testing military vehicle systems before moving to the FCC in 2008. The office conducts investigations and inspections in all non-government radio services in Michigan, Ohio and Eastern Kentucky. The office handles assignments involving the investigation of unlicensed radio stations, radio frequency interference resolution, marketing/importation regulations, and interfacing with various federal, state and local homeland security entities and Industry Canada.
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Larry Estlack
Larry is the Director of Technology for the Michigan Association of Broadcasters for over ten years. He oversees its technical programs including the Alternative Broadcast Inspection Program for radio and TV stations and its Engineering Hotline which provides engineers and operations personnel with technical information on current and evolving technologies, problem solving, FCC compliance, crisis and risk management, facility planning, reliability improvement advice and referral services to other information sources.
He has served as the chairman of the Emergency Alert System in Michigan for twenty years and as Chairman of the South Central EAS area since 1977. He is actively involved in building better alliances between the Emergency Management community and broadcasters to improve public warning.
Larry has been involved in both radio and television engineering for 30 years. He has served as facility designer and Chief Engineer of two new TV stations as well as numerous AM and FM radio stations and production facilities in Michigan.
With a face “perfect for radio”, Larry is also an on-air radio personality and has been playing rock ‘n’ roll long before it became “classic rock”.
He received the Michigan Association of Broadcasters first Engineering Excellence Award, and was induced in the Michigan Broadcast Hall of Fame in 2008.
Larry is an active member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers, is Certified as a Professional Broadcast Engineer and serves as a frequency coordinator for much of the State.
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Merit Gest
Merit Gest has more than 20 years experience with sales, sales management & training, working with companies to hire top talent, ramp people up quickly and retain them forever. She is President and Founder of Merit-Based Development, a Denver based boutique firm specializing in hiring and developing the people who develop business.
Prior to forming MBD, Merit was Senior VP of Sales for a nationwide sales training organization. She was also the youngest General Sales Manager for a radio station in the country’s third largest market. As creator of the “Professional Onboarding Process,” Merit uses the system to create custom Onboarding programs for companies so they know exactly what to do when a new hire shows up to work.
Merit is one of a small handful of specialists in the world certified and trained in Emotional Intelligence through Multi Health Systems and Cultural Transformation Tools through Barrett Values Center, giving her a unique perspective for hiring, Onboarding and retaining top talent.
Merit is an active member of The National Speakers Association, has been featured in Selling Power Magazine as an expert advisor, writes articles for Colorado Biz On-Line Magazine, contributes weekly to www.SalesManagementChallenge.com and speaks regularly for Vistage International, the world’s largest organization of CEOs. Merit also serves as the Onboarding Expert providing training exclusively to the broadcast industry through Noll & Associates.
Prepare yourself for a unique experience as Merit pulls business lessons from her adventures backpacking around the world, bungee jumping, sky diving, ice climbing, scuba diving, paragliding and… crashing.
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Scott Goodwin
Scott Goodwin is Associate General Counsel for the National Association of Broadcasters, where he focuses on legal and technological issues affecting TV and radio stations. A former reporter, Scott is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of Colorado Law School. In law school, he was managing editor of Colorado’s Journal on Telecommunications and High Technology and a finalist in the National Telecommunications Moot Court competition. A native of Detroit, he currently lives in Washington, D.C. after stints in California, Colorado and Italy. He is also the former lead singer of a rock band.
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Fred Jacobs
Fred has emerged over the past two decades as one of radio’s leading visionaries. He founded Jacobs Media in 1983, when he had the notion that Album Rock could be fragmented by the creation of the Classic Rock format. Today, Classic Rock stands out as the most successful radio format in the last 20 years.
Prior to launching the company, Fred spent the majority of his time designing and managing research projects as the Director of Research for the Radio and Publishing divisions for Frank N. Magid Associates, a leading research and consulting firm. Later, Fred became Director of Radio Research for the ABC-FM Owned and Operated Radio Stations. From there, Fred gravitated to the station side, becoming program director for legendary WRIF-FM in Detroit, before forming Jacobs Media.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults Jacobs Media’s major market Classic, Mainstream, and Active Rock clients, while having input in every client relationship.
Fred has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, and a Master’s degree in Telecommunications from Michigan State University.
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Paul Jacobs
Paul is the "suit" at Jacobs Media, rising up through the sales ranks to become a General Manager of a major market radio station at age 28. After graduating from Michigan State University in 1976 with a BA in Advertising, Paul immediately went to work selling radio for WNIC-FM in Detroit, where he realized one could actually make money selling air.
After a brief stint working for the William A. Robinson marketing services agency in Chicago, where he created campaigns for Philip Morris and Seagram's, Paul struck gold when he was hired as an Account Executive at WRIF-FM in Detroit. This experience launched his sales management career, and four years later, he became the General Sales Manager for KZEW-FM in Dallas, and ultimately, the General Manager for KHYI-FM, also in Dallas. He was lured home to run WDFX-FM in Detroit, before joining Jacobs Media as its General Manager in 1991.
Along with overseeing the day-to-day operations of Jacobs Media, Paul’s main contribution has been the addition of sales consulting services. As an expert in all Rock formats, Paul has made Jacobs Media clients’ untold amounts of money by aiding them in their understanding of how to sell, market, and position their formats via sales training seminars. He has conducted hundreds of client presentations on behalf of Jacobs Media clients, and has aided the Ford Motor Company and Procter & Gamble in improving their understanding of the youth market. Paul is a true "format champion" – someone who believes in the power of branding, and developing radio’s inherent assets.
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John R. Johnson
John Johnson has spent over 30 years in athletic publicity and is starting his 24th year as the only Communications Director in the history of the Michigan High School Athletic Association, where he has been a major force in promoting high school sports and its core values. Johnson has expanded and enhanced the Association's presence and image through creating nationally-recognized sportsmanship initiatives; Internet and statewide radio networks for state championship events; directing its television efforts including the MHSAA Network, its own Internet, statewide cable and over-the-air television program; expanding marketing, merchandising and new media efforts; creating corporately-sponsored scholarships for student-athletes; and serving as its primary spokesman.
He serves as a play-by-play voice for the MHSAA Network, handled television play-by-play duties of Detroit Catholic High School League championships on the Catholic Television Network of Detroit from 2000-09, and is an accomplished sports photographer. He has also authored two books on the administration of youth sports.
Nationally, Johnson has served as chair of the National Federation of State High School Association’s National High School Sports Record Book Committee. He is a regularly-featured guest on radio sports talk shows throughout Michigan; and a nationally-recognized expert and media resource on issues impacting educational athletics, frequently interviewed by local, statewide, regional and national media.
A native of Mt. Pleasant, Mich., and graduate of Michigan State University, Johnson served in sports information roles at Albion College, Ferris State University, Western Michigan University and Indiana University prior to joining the MHSAA staff.
Johnson resides in the greater Lansing area with his wife, Suzie. They have two children.
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Steve Julin
Steve Julin has been editing, directing and producing video for over 20 years. He was a principal partner in developing Media Power and is an Apple Certified Instructor, Boris FX Certified Instructor, as well as Michigan's first Avid Certified Instructor. He has edited and provided training for such companies as Ford Motor Company, Kmart, Comcast, The Discovery Channel, CBS, PBS and NBC.
In 2000, Steve received a Golden Eagle Award for documentary editing and was nominated for an Emmy in 2001. He also served as Senior Avid Editor at Grace & Wild HD Studios. Steve is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University where he received a B.S. in Television Journalism. Steve is currently a member of the advisory board for The William D. Ford Voc-Tech. Center and teaches summer camp at DAFT’s Focal Point.
In March of 2004 Steve’s first book, “Avid Xpress Pro: Power”, was released and published by Muska and Lipman. The 350-page book covers the Avid Xpress Pro editing system from capturing material to nesting effects and even includes a chapter with 25 power editing tips.
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Julie Koehn
Julie Koehn is the President of Lenawee Broadcasting Company, licensee of WLEN Radio, Adrian, Michigan.
Julie began her broadcasting career in 1985 as an Account Executive. She is a graduate of Michigan State University with a BS in both Industrial and Labor Relations and Political Science. Julie is a veteran of the Michigan Association of Broadcasters Board of Directors, serving as Chairman in 2005-2006, and is currently on the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Michigan Association of Broadcasters Foundation and a Trustee for the Michigan Association of Broadcasters Political Action Committee. Julie is on the Board of Directors of ATHENA Lenawee, serving as Treasurer and recently served as the first female Rear Commodore of the Devil’s Lake Yacht Club. Julie has also been a featured and panel speaker on small market radio at multiple NAB and RAB annual conferences, in addition to being the current District 13 representative to the National Association of Broadcasters Board of Directors which encompasses the State of Michigan.
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Lori Lewis
Lori’s radio career spans over 20 years, starting as a disc jockey in Las Vegas, Mobile, and Tampa as a team member of “The Bubba the Love Sponge Show on 98Rock. She went on to program Clear Channel’s WSMJ/Baltimore, during which time the station received two nominations for "Smooth Jazz Station of the Year.” She was named “Smooth Jazz Program Director of the Year” in 2007.
In 2008, Lori moved back to her hometown of Green Bay to serve as Multimedia Content Manager for Midwest Communications, during which time she created a comprehensive digital and social program for the company.
Lori joined Jacobs Media in 2011, filling a new position - Digital and Social Media Strategist. In her new role, she collaborates and creates strategic and tactical digital programs, analyzes which digital channels will meet the goals of clients, and how these tools integrate with other brands.
She has served on the steering committee for the 2011 NAB/RAB Radio Show, and has been a speaker/presenter/e Worldwide Radio Summit, the Conclave, and the Public Radio Program Directors. She also writes a weekly column for AllAccess – “Merge” – that specializes in social media.
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Victoria Lim
Nicknamed the "Queen of Convergence," Victoria Lim became an award-winning multi-platform, multimedia reporter before anyone even knew what that was... or would become. Now Victoria provides newsroom training through the Society of Professional Journalists to journalism professionals nationally and internationally.
You can read, watch and surf Victoria's stories covering personal finance to education, sports to pets. Victoria's reports from Haiti earned an Emmy nomination during her time at Bright House Sports Network, a 24-hour regional sports cable channel serving central Florida. Prior to joining BHSN, Victoria served as the senior consumer investigative reporter for WFLA-TV, the Tampa Tribune and tbo.com, where she pioneered convergence journalism. Her reporting earned more than two dozen honors including an Emmy, an Associated Press Individual Achievement award and being named Florida "Journalist of the Year" by the Society of Professional Journalists.
She's taught communications, news writing, and multimedia reporting at the University of Tampa, University of South Florida, and the highly regarded University of Missouri Journalism School. Her alma mater, Temple University, honored Victoria with induction into its journalism hall of fame, the Lew Klein Award.
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Bryan Marriott
Bryan is a 2008 graduate of the William Allen White School of Journalism at the University of Kansas. During his four year duration at the University of Kansas Bryan worked as a public relations intern for NASCAR and a sales and marketing intern for the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. In May of 2008 he was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Strategic Communications. Following graduation, he joined the Kansas City Chiefs as an Account Executive. Within Bryan’s first six months he posted over $100,000 in ticket sales (and this was during back-to-back losing seasons). He quickly discovered a career in sales.
After his relationship with the Kansas City Chiefs Bryan joined P1 Sales Systems LLC and assumed responsibility as Account Manager, a position that he continues to hold today. In his two plus years Bryan has implemented more than 900 stations to the P1 Selling training campus.
Bryan continues to work with media clientele on a national and international basis. Bryan currently resides in Kansas City, MO.
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Speed Marriott
Speed Marriott began his career in broadcasting over 30 years ago as a copywriter. He quickly discovered that copywriters drove cars from the previous decade, while account executives drove cars from the current decade. Based on this revelation the move was made to sales and he has never looked back. In 1981 Speed joined the sales department of Shamrock Broadcasting (Disney) and began what was to be a 13-year relationship. During this time Speed rose through the ranks from Account Executive, Local Sales Manager to General Sales Manager for KUDL-FM and WHB-AM Kansas City. In addition, Speed served as GSM for Shamrock's Pittsburgh and Denver operations. Other experiences include GSM for South Central Communications' WIMZ-FM and WJXB-FM Knoxville.
After six years on the road in radio, Speed returned to his hometown Kansas City and assumed responsibility as Director of Sales for Entercom's seven-station cluster. By year two of his tenure as DOS both revenue and market share doubled. While at Entercom, Speed was a three-year customer of Advantage Systems. Because of his belief in the program, he joined the Advantage Systems team in August of 2000, producing just under 3 million dollars in new revenue in his first year. Speed has been a part of the Advantage team for over ten years. In that time he has implemented over one hundred Advantage projects from Anchorage, Alaska to Lima, Peru... generating in excess of $50 Million dollars in new and direct revenue for his clients.
Speed earned a Bachelors degree in Mass Communications from Central Missouri State University. Professionally he has earned both CRMC, CRSM designation and has completed a variety of training programs including CSS, Disney's Service Magic, War College and the NAB Executive Management course at Georgetown University. He served from 1997-2001 on the Radio Advertising Bureau's MLC planning committee and NAB Radio Show planning committee 1997-1998. He also earned a variety of local and national recognition including a Nomination for Radio and Records Large Market Manager in 1997.
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David Oxenford
David Oxenford has over 25 years of experience in representing radio and television broadcasters before the Federal Communications Commission and other regulatory agencies, dealing with issues including the FCC multiple ownership rules, the conversion of radio and television to digital transmission, alien ownership, and all aspects of the content and technical rules regulating broadcast operations. Oxenford also provides advice to broadcasters around the country on political broadcasting, advertising rules and regulations, and represents Internet radio stations and other webcasters on music licensing and other regulatory and transactional issues. He currently a partner in the Washington, D.C office of Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP. He is a regular speaker at state and national broadcast and webcasting conferences and conventions.
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Glen Patterson
Glen Patterson currently serves as a Senior Sales Executive (Central) at TVU Networks. He has over twenty years of Sales and Marketing experience in the professional video equipment market. Glen has worked for Canon Video, Fuji Photo Film, Matrox Electronics and Broadcast Pix. He has thorough understanding of technology used in news production.
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Skip Pizzi
Skip Pizzi is Director of Digital Strategies at the National Association of Broadcasters, based in Washington, DC, where he advises the company and its members on new media and other emerging technology developments. His career has spanned the broadcast and new-media industries, as an engineer and technology manager at NPR and at Microsoft, with over a decade of experience at each.
Skip also spent seven years as technical editor at Broadcast Engineering magazine. He’s been a regular columnist for Radio World and Radio Ink magazines, and a contributor to other technical journals in the broadcast and new-media fields. He is the author of two books, and a contributor to several others, including the NAB Engineering Handbook and other technical reference books.
Skip is a graduate of Georgetown University, where he studied Electrical Engineering, International Economics and Fine Arts. He currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) Technology Group 3 (TG3), which is developing standards for the next generation of digital television broadcasting.
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Kate Pojeta
After years of being the go-to computer person in the office to being the one responsible for the websites, Kate detoured from the association world to the IT world. While fixing computers, integrating software and building websites are what fill most of her days, the most enjoyable part of running her own consulting business is being able to truly help people use technology tools that make work and home easier for them.
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Debbie Suminski
Debbie Suminski has been the Human Resources Manager at WXYZ-TV for 22 years. Her position serves as the key HR resource to local leaders and Deb is responsible for executing the HR strategy which supports and is aligned with the business goals and objectives. Deb oversees the successful implementation of programs in the following disciplines: Talent Management, Employee Relations, Organizational Design, Benefits and Compensation, and Labor Relations.
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Gary Westby
Gary Westby is employed as an Electronics Engineer/Agent at the Michigan based Detroit Field Office of the Federal Communications Commission in Farmington Hills. Gary’s communication career spans over 40 years, including eight years of active duty in the Army. He is a graduate of the Wayne State University School of Engineering and holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. Throughout his career Gary has worked at Michigan Bell, Ameritech, IBM, Sprint and Global Crossing, joining the FCC in 2008.
The FCC field offices are responsible for maintaining the integrity of the communications infrastructure including television, radio, satellite, and cable. Field agents are typically engaged with daily activities that range from routine inspections of broadcast towers, to locating and resolving RF interference to satellites. The Detroit field office has an area of responsibility that covers Michigan, Ohio, and Eastern Kentucky.
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Paul Weyland
Weyland’s radio career began in 1978 as an on-air personality in Austin, Texas. Three years later, he made the decision to go into sales. Throughout the 1980s and most of the ‘90s, Weyland practiced relationship selling and managed to become the top biller in the Austin market.
In 1995, Weyland was invited to develop and teach a full-semester course called Media Sales for the University of Texas Department of Advertising. He did this for three years while continuing to lead the market in billing on his stations.
In the summer of 1997, he accepted a two-year assignment with Clear Channel Communications International, to manage their first radio property in Prague, Czech Republic. Additional European assignments included consulting and managing stations in Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland and building and training a direct sales force for stations in London and Manchester.
Back in the United States, Weyland did direct sales training for Clear Channel stations and then worked as a cluster Director of Sales in the Austin market.
In February of last year, he started Paul Weyland Training Seminars. A skilled communicator, his mission is to increase his client’s revenues by creatively educating media salespeople and dramatically improving client results in both the U.S. and abroad. Weyland is published in Radio Business Report and Radio Ink magazines and continues to teach Media Sales at the University of Texas at Austin.
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Jennifer Williams
As Director of Interactive Marketing, Jennifer Williams drives the strategic planning and growth of Greater Media’s online and database marketing efforts.
A results oriented leader, Ms. Williams began her career in broadcast more than 20 years ago as an on-air and promotions director for WIBM-FM. Since then, Ms. Williams’ career includes marketing positions at some of Michigan’s most recognizable stations, including WJXQ-FM in Lansing, WODJ-FM in Grand Rapids, and 94.7 WCSX in Detroit. In addition to her work in broadcast, Ms. Williams also served as Vice President of Marketing for the non-profit Paws With a Cause, which trains hearing and service dogs for people with disabilities.
In 2006, Ms. Williams took on the position of Director of Interactive Marketing for the company’s Detroit stations, providing advertisers with entertaining, informational and effective marketing campaigns. In January of 2011, Ms. Williams was promoted to Director of Interactive Marketing for Greater Media, overseeing the interactive marketing efforts for all 21 of the leading broadcast company’s AM and FM radio stations. While at Greater Media, Ms. Williams has been an innovative leader applying new avenues to increase ratings and revenues.
A graduate of Albion College, Ms. Williams is a board member of the Michigan Association of Broadcasters Foundation, where she has served as a featured speaker and panelist.
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