Bergen Anderson

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As VP of Client Services, Bergen makes sure that things get done and people are taken care of. As an oldest child and a perfectionist, she’s quite skilled in her role. Bergen has a theater degree from Gustavus Adolphus College and actively participates in Chicago’s theater scene. This background, plus her previous work experience in real estate and finance, has prepared her to be flexible and creative in any situation.

Bergen lives in Andersonville, on the north side of Chicago, and will speak Swedish with you if you ask her to.

Quick facts about Bergen:

• She is very tall and uses this advantage on the volleyball court whenever possible.
• She plays the guitar, piano, percussion, a little French horn, and has even dabbled with the oboe.
• She once played a unicorn, a fairy princess, and a bird – all in one play.

Erin McDaniel

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As a Community Manager, Erin strives to ensure members are talking about the most important topics in social media, feeling connected to one another, and having great conversations every day. She’s an instigator, moderator, connector, and concierge.

Erin graduated from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana and has a background in social media, marketing, and PR. Most recently, she was the Community Engagement Manager at Sears Holdings Corporation where she helped develop corporate social media guidelines and directed growth and engagement strategies for their primary social media platforms. She lives in Chicago with her husband and enjoys the ever-changing restaurant scene, running along the lake path, and all the awesomeness that is Chicago in the summer.

Quick facts about Erin:

• She started using social media for marketing when it was called “blogger outreach” and “talking with users.”
• Some of her favorite dinner conversations consist of talking about food: the food being eaten, the dish coming up next, and restaurants to try. This is also why she runs several miles every week.

Evelyn Galante

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As a Community Manager, Evelyn’s #1 goal is to make members happy. She welcomes new members to SocialMedia.org, gets them talking with like-minded councilmates, and makes sure they’re having an amazing Council experience. Her expertise is in building long-term relationships with social media leaders. Evelyn combines this talent, along with her freakish organizational skills, to provide exceptional member care.

Evelyn has a background in Engineering of all things, but has been in communications for four years (yep, she’s one of those rare personable math nerds). Previously, she worked in Washington D.C. doing best practice research for global communications teams. She gave up her pant-suits for cowboy boots when she moved to Austin in 2010 and joined the SocialMedia.org family. Evelyn loves life in Austin, where she enjoys perusing farmers markets, hiking through the many parks with her dog, and cheering on her marathon-running husband.

Quick facts about Evelyn:

• She was born in São Paulo, Brazil and lived there until the age of 6.
• She was called to jury duty on the same day as Alan Greenspan.
• She loves all food and will eat anything — except ketchup.

Kurt Vanderah

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Kurt is the General Manager of SocialMedia.org and the Chicago office of SocialMedia.org. He works closely with the Councils of SocialMedia.org, advancing the conversation about social media and connecting executives across the Fortune 1000. He takes great pride in the honor of working with leaders of social media efforts at big brands and helping them talk with one another to make social media a more integral and reliable part of doing daily business.

A University of Illinois graduate, Kurt’s first life was in radio, including more than a dozen years at WGN-AM in Chicago. Kurt came to SocialMedia.org in 2008, encouraged by the company’s firm belief that doing good business can be fun. And so far, so good.

Quick facts about Kurt:

• He has seen major league baseball games in 45 stadiums, past and present.
• He loves his job so much, he happily makes the daily 90-minute commute. Each way.
• His favorite travel destination is home, where he can see his wife and two beautiful kids.

Cale Johnson

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As Editor and VP of Content, Cale leads the content team in their mission to create great content, earn loyal fans, and have reasonably non-broken websites. He’s part copywriter, part editor, and part project manager.

Cale has a degree in Journalism from Drake University and got his start covering sports for The Des Moines Register. After two years in Chicago, Cale’s now part of the Austin SocialMedia.org crew. He lives with his fiancé and their three cats (yes, three — it’s a Brady Bunch scenario), and he’s a big fan of the town’s BBQ, outdoor adventures, and days under 110 degrees.

Quick facts about Cale:

• He rides a Harley (but doesn’t own leather chaps).
• His hometown is smaller than yours.
• He once ate fried butter and lived to tell about it.

Kristen Platt

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As Content Producer for SocialMedia.org, Kristen supports the team by writing, editing, and coordinating content for our blogs, newsletters, and public websites. She also manages the editorial calendar, helps with event marketing, and is even known to break out her graphic design skills now and then.

Kristen is one of the few Chicago natives on the team and will openly brag about her city to anyone who will listen. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Advertising and Design from DePaul University last year while interning for SocialMedia.org and, because we all got along so well, decided to stick around as a full-time part of our crew.

Quick facts about Kristen:

• She attends, on average, at least one live concert a week.
• She owns over 15 different kinds of wigs (and wears them often).
• She once got fourth place in a Ms. Pac Man arcade tournament.

Tyler DeBoer

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Tyler is in charge of making pretty pictures for the company. He spends most of his day with at least two Adobe programs running and browses font websites and design magazines for fun.

Tyler was born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska, and has an Advertising degree from the University of Nebraska. He’s an avid sports fan, and he’ll wake up at 6:00 on a Saturday morning without complaint to watch Liverpool play a soccer game across the pond. Consequently, there are few things in life more satisfying to him than a Saturday afternoon nap.

Quick facts about Tyler:

• He plays a mean guitar on Guitar Hero (but sadly not in real life).
• He can solve a Rubik’s Cube.
• He was, at one time, the youngest person in the world.

Erica Alatorre

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As Event Producer for SocialMedia.org, Erica sweats the details. There’s nothing she likes more than having an event go off without a hitch.

Erica has a Marketing degree from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio. Right after college she moved to Austin, TX and started working for the Texas Aggregates and Concrete Association (TACA). After almost five years at TACA, she was ready for a change and decided SocialMedia.org was the answer. As the only native Texan in the office, she’s likely the only person using the term “y’all.”

Quick facts about Erica:

• She has a spoiled dachshund named Holly.
• She always has a nicely stocked inventory of markers and crayons.
• She was born in Corpus Christi, TX. No, she didn’t know Selena.

Jen Bachelder

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Jen leads the event team through challenges of all kinds — the planned, the unexpected, and the half-an-inch-of-snow-in-Austin. She’s the Event Producer, and she’s pretty serious about it.

Before joining SocialMedia.org, Jen earned her graphic design degree from Marietta College. She got her start in the event-world planning at Invisible Records and has since found that her experience planning rock shows is surprisingly applicable to running SocialMedia.org events.

Quick facts about Jen:

• She designs postcards and calendars out of her everyday garbage.
• She’s the kind of Vikings fan that remembers Moss’s rookie season.
• Her hometown is almost as small as Cale’s.

Evette Tan

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As a member of SocialMedia.org’s Community Team, Evette helps keep the community healthy for our members by finding other great brands to join their ranks. She also serves as a liaison for event sponsors.

Evette got her bachelors in Business Administration at the University of the Philippines before packing her bags and moving halfway across the world for a master’s degree in Marketing Communications from the Illinois Institute of Technology. She joined SocialMedia.org as an intern and loved it so much, she never left.

Quick facts about Evette:

• One of her favorite things about living in Chicago is actually the weather.
• She enjoys going on road trips to watch hockey in all sorts of awesome cities.
• She once had a speaking part on a Broadway musical.

Peter Waldheim

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Peter Waldheim serves as Senior Strategist for SocialMedia.org, focusing on the social media needs of top global brands operating within large-scale corporate environments. An expert in framing messages, communicating content, and engaging the public, Waldheim previously served as Interim CEO of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, Senior Strategist for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Online Operations, and CEO for the Association of Interactive Media.

Waldheim first became interested in how you can influence public opinion during his involvement in the American civil rights movement during the late 60′s. Since then he has served as a consultant to more than 80 nonprofit organizations, more than two dozen Democratic senators, congressmen, and national political organizations, as well as working with senior marketing executives from many of the world’s most distinguished brands and marketing agencies.

Ryan Ronayne

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As a member of SocialMedia.org’s Community Team, Ryan helps keep the community healthy for our members by finding other great brands to join their ranks. He’s a liaison for potential members to the SocialMedia.org community.

Ryan has a degree is Marketing Communications from Columbia College Chicago. He completed eight internships during his collegiate career, including his favorite at SocialMedia.org. After getting over his sports interest (five internships), he started his career at SocialMedia.org using his communication skills to find other talented social media leaders to join SocialMedia.org. He loves living in Chicago and enjoys the local restaurants, comedy shows, and sporting events.

Quick facts about Ryan:

• He went 3-0 in the Taco Bell Saucy Sprint mascot races at Minute Maid Park.
• Even though he’s now two inches taller than Ryan, he’ll always call his younger brother “smalls.”
• He’s a volunteer at the Anti-Cruelty Society. It helps to hold him over until he can get his own dog.

Shaina Novotny

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As a member of SocialMedia.org’s Community Team, Shaina is a liaison for potential members to the SocialMedia.org community.

Shaina has a degree in Strategic Communications from the University of Minnesota. She started her career in account management at a Minneapolis-based political ad agency (some may say this is where her guilty pleasure for political fodder developed). One day Shaina decided it was time for a change of locale, so she packed up her car and headed south. After arriving in Austin, TX she found a home with other spontaneous Austin transplants at SocialMedia.org. Now Shaina spends her week days doing what she loves most: talking to people.

Quick facts about Shaina:

• She makes award winning peanut butter bacon fudge (and has the trophy to prove it).
• She moonlights as a wedding coordinator.
• Don’t make her say “calendar,” “bag,” or “bagel”…we haven’t gotten the Minnesotan out of her yet.

Aly Kumpula

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As Administrator for GasPedal, Aly works on the details. Organizing, planning, and working deep into the heart of Excel are just a few of the things that make up her day.

Aly has a Communications degree from Sterling College in Sterling, Kansas. After graduating in May of 2011, Aly joined GasPedal as an intern and liked the company so much she didn’t want to leave.

Quick facts about Aly:

• She went to a college with less than 900 students.
• Despite living 10 minutes away from Six Flags, she does not like amusement parks.
• She can’t believe it took her 22 years to get to Texas.

Andy Sernovitz

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Andy Sernovitz teaches word of mouth marketing.

He wrote Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking and the fantastic blog “Damn, I Wish I’d Thought of That!”

Andy runs SocialMedia.org, the community for social media leaders at the world’s greatest brands, and WordofMouth.org, where marketers and entrepreneurs learn to be great at word of mouth marketing.

He’s the leader of the word of mouth movement, which teaches companies to earn the respect and recommendation oftheir customers. He’s passionate about marketing ethics and travels the country teaching companies how to be nicer to people.

Andy taught word of mouth marketing at Northwestern University and internet entrepreneurship at the Wharton School of Business, ran a business incubator, and started half a dozen companies. He created the Word of Mouth Marketing Association and the Association for Interactive Marketing.

Quick facts about Andy:

• He has testified before Congress three times.
• He was on the Ali G Show.
• He once sauntered 32 miles around the coast of Manhattan.

Roni Rivera

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Roni is the Operations Administrator for our Chicago office. She handles the mailings, orders supplies, and enjoys providing administrative support. Before joining the SocialMedia.org team she worked in non-profit, manufacturing, real estate, healthcare, and retail.

Roni grew up in Manila, Philippines and has earned a masters degree in Philosophy from San Francisco State University. What she loves best about Chicago is its architecture, food scene, neighborhoods and lakefront.

Quick facts about Roni:

• She managed to get down to 40 feet during her very first scuba dive.
• She likes to paint at least one room in their home a different color every summer.
• She loves to make dessert.

Shelley Woodard

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As Operations Administrator, Shelley makes sure the Austin team has what it needs to do their jobs. She sets up the meetings, stocks the closets, and buys the toys.

Shelley has a degree in management from Ashford University and spent 6 years in the Army Reserves as a mechanic. She moved all over the country and finally decided to settle in Austin and has been part of the SocialMedia.org team since July of 2011.

Quick facts about Shelley:

• She has a boxer named Tigger.
• She took welding classes in high school.
• She teaches piano.