SPEAKERS - 2022 State of Search
We offer the best speakers on digital marketing in the industry – people with real-world experience.
The 2022 Speakers of State of Search
Fanny Dunagan
Fanny Dunagan is the Co-Founder & Content Strategist for PathLynks, a consulting firm that helps small, medium and enterprise-level companies with employer & personal branding and content & video marketing. She's passionate about helping people find their voice and create a legacy through thought leadership and content creation. She’s spoken about branding and videos at a variety of marketing and technology associations, as well as at the headquarters of Toyota and Whole Foods.
Jeremy Vest
Jeremy has created video marketing strategy for several fortune 100 companies and famous YouTubers. His customers have billions of views and millions of subscribers on YouTube. He speaks all over the world and helps video creators Unlock their superpower on video so they can live the life they were born to live.
Bill Hartzer
Bill is a frequent speaker at various search, domain name, and digital marketing conferences and events such as the NamesCon, SMX and PubCon conference series. He’s also spoken several times at monthly Dallas/Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing Association meetings and is the 2013 recipient of the DFWSEM.org Churchill Award.
Bill is well recognized as a thought leader in the SEO and digital marketing world and writes frequently for Search Engine Journal, Practical eCommerce Magazine, and is regularly published in many online publications. He maintains a blog at www.BillHartzer.com, and has a weekly podcast called “Digital Marketing with Bill Hartzer” that can be found on YouTube, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, and on Apple Podcasts. He has two decades of search engine marketing, SEO, domain name, and social media marketing experience.
Austin Armstrong
Austin Armstrong is a lifelong digital marketer, public speaker, host of the TikTok podcast BusinessTok, and CEO of Socialty Pro, an organic SEO & TikTok marketing agency. Austin has posted over 2000 videos on TikTok tripling his own business and thousands more across his clients' accounts. Austin loves helping individuals and companies grow their online presence in order to generate brand awareness, customers, and product sales by getting creative and thinking outside of the box.
www.socialtypro.com
David Ogletree
David Ogletree is the director of paid search at WrightIMC, a Dallas-based full-service digital marketing agency. He is a full-stack marketer and has worked in every stage of the online marketing process for more than 25 years at agencies and as an independent contractor on small local businesses to Fortune 500 companies selling services and products.
https://wrightimc.com/
Casey Markee
Casey Markee is the owner of internet consultancy Media Wyse. An SEO since 1998 with over two decades of experience, he has been working exclusively with food and lifestyle bloggers since 2015. During that time he’s worked with thousands of bloggers across six continents and currently has a six-month wait for site audits. He likes long walks to the refrigerator and back, has a six-figure comic book collection, and believes bacon and candy corn are gourmet foods.
https://www.mediawyse.com
Joy Hawkins
Joy is the owner of the Local Search Forum, LocalU, and Sterling Sky, a Local SEO agency in Canada & the USA. She has been working in the industry since 2006 and has written for publications such as Search Engine Land and Moz. You can find her on Twitter or volunteering as a Product Expert in the Google Business Profile Community.
www.sterlingsky.ca
James Brockbank
With a 12-year SEO career behind him, James is a growth-focused search marketer with a specialist focus on delivering high-performance content-led strategies. James has previously spoken at conferences including PubCon, SMX West, SMX London, State of Search, WordCamp, BrightonSEO, YoastCon, Learn Inbound, and Ungagged, and is a contributor to industry publications including Search Engine Journal and Search Engine Watch.
https://www.digitaloft.co.uk
Steve Hammer
Steve Hammer is the President and co-Founder of RankHammer, the 2015 US search awards small agency of the year. Steve is a sought after speaker on the subjects of search marketing, PPC and analytics. In particular, he has been noted as a leader in AdWords Scripts and Google Tag Manager. Steve's experience in online media and traditional marketing allows a strategic and long-term view of search marketing. He has achieved extraordinary and sustainable results in several competitive online industries often exceeding growth rates in excess of 50% per year. Steve has held a number of exemplary positions including Director of Search Marketing for ACE Cash Express, General Manager for Stir, and a practicing Chemical Engineer for BASF. He holds a MBA from the prestigious Kellogg School of Management. Steve is very active in the Dallas and Search Marketing community, as a former VP of the DFWSEM. He has spoken at prestigious meetings and conferences including SMX Advanced, Pubcon, ClickZLive, State of Search, Ignite e-commerce and Interactive Insights Summit
https://www.rankhammer.com/
Gabe Mederos
Gabe Mederos is a marketing communications professional with over 20 years of experience in strategy development, social media marketing, influencer relations, and leadership.
Gabe has held senior management roles for many leading organizations, including top brands such as Scotiabank, TELUS, Nestlé Purina PetCare, Purolator and Wattled. He is currently a Vice President, Social & Emerging Platforms with Weber Shandwick, where he helps tell compelling stories for Weber Shandwick's clients through innovative and integrated social strategies. Gabe is also a social media instructor at two of Canada's top colleges, Humber College and George Brown College, and is on the Board of Directors at IIDEA Council, a not-for-profit organization founded with the goal of bringing industry professionals and organizations together to foster open dialogue, collaboration and development solutions to create positive change in the areas of inclusion, diversity, equity and accountability.
Chris Mechanic
Chris is co-founder & Chief Growth Officer @ WebMechanix, a leading digital marketing agency focused on paid media, performance creative & data-driven optimization. Since 2009, he's helped 100s of health, finance, tech & B2B brands like Amazon, Microsoft, Thermo Fisher & Motley Fool lower their cost of customer acquisition, scale spend & find new traffic sources. Chris is a speaker, author, angel investor, serves on several boards & also co-founded obo. -- an award-winning CRM & digital transformation consultancy focused on Salesforce, HubSpot & Monday.com. Prior to starting WebMechanix, Chris spent years honing his craft as an online publisher & affiliate marketer, before being recruited by an agency & falling in love with the business. Chris graduated from the University of Maryland's Smith School of Business & stays plenty busy with a young & growing family in the Baltimore-DC area.
www.webmechanix.com
Jeff Ferguson
Jeff Ferguson is a passionate growth marketer and digital educator who has led online marketing efforts for companies such as Hilton Hotels, Kimberly-Clark, InterActiveCorp, Experian, and Napster.
During his more than 25 years in digital marketing, he has worked with renowned brands such as Belkin, Billabong, CBS, eHarmony, Hilton Hotels, JustFab, Kimberly-Clark, Manchester United, Napster, Paychex, PetSmart, Popcornopolis, The Smithsonian, Stila Cosmetics, ThriveMarket, Sony, and many more.
Honored as one of PPC Hero’s “Top 25 Most Influential PPC Experts” for three years in a row, Jeff Ferguson is a regular presenter at Ad:tech, AllFacebook Expo, Conversion Conference, eMetrics, Search Marketing Expo (SMX), Digital Hollywood, Online Marketing Summit (OMS) and Consumer Electronics Show (CES). He has been both a speaker and board member at Search Engine Strategies (SES).
Jeff is a columnist for Search Engine Journal, where his legendary data research projects have tipped many sacred cows of SEO and paid media advertising malpractice.
As an adjunct professor for UCLA, Jeff teaches introductory and advanced digital marketing classes and designed the school’s first-ever course on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Jeff volunteers time with the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) and Digital Analytics Associations (DAA) on both the national and regional levels, where he serves as a board member of the Los Angeles chapter.
amplitudedigital.com
Kelly Benish
As Vice President of Global Strategic Partnerships at Uberall, Kelly manages their Partner Acquisition and Partner Growth Management teams to ensure client success, growth and constant innovation in the space. Kelly is a national speaker including engagements through SMX East and West, Pubcon, SIGMA (the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America), AACS (The Australasian Association of Convenience Stores), SMASH (Senior Care Sales & Marketing Summit), MDMC (Midwest Digital Marketing Conference), Digital Summit, B2SMB, BIA Kelsey, Borrell, Local Media Association, Local Search Association, Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, Association of Directory Publishers, Inland Press Association & more.
Www.LinkedIn.com/en/Kelly-benish
Scott Baradell
Trust expert Scott Baradell is editor of the Trust Signals blog, author of the upcoming book Trust Signals: Brand Building in a Post-Truth World, and founder and CEO of Idea Grove, a unified PR and marketing agency. Idea Grove has ranked three times as an Inc. 5000 company, was named Small Agency of the Year by the Dallas chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), and was honored as a 2022 Inc. Best Workplace. Magazine. Scott has an Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) from the PRSA and speaks on PR and marketing topics at industry events nationwide. He lives in Dallas with his wife and five children.
https://www.ideagrove.com
Sean Dolan
Achievement-Driven Digital Marketing and Entertainment Executive with over 11 years of experience. Highly regarded for developing processes, and strategies that provide tremendous results, as well as keynote speaking at major events. Creator of campaigns that are instrumental in driving client sales performance, improving ROI, increasing operational efficiency, and boosting customer acquisition rates.
www.PushFire.com
Ruth Burr Reedy
Ruth Burr Reedy is the CEO of UpBuild, a marketing agency specializing in technical SEO, advanced web analytics, and whole-funnel digital strategy. Ruth has been working in SEO since 2006, including stints at agencies, as an independent consultant, and in-house at companies like RealNetworks and Moz. She has been a regular State of Search attendee and speaker since 2012 and is delighted to return! Ruth lives in Oklahoma City, OK with her spouse, kid, and dogs.
https://www.upbuild.io
Scotty Smith
Scotty Smith has over 25 years of corporate marketing experience and managed several global software product launches. He runs CycleWerx Marketing, an agency providing marketing, sales enablement, and HubSpot solutions for B2B software- and information technology-based companies.
https://www.cyclewerxmarketing.com/
Hank Hoffmeier
Hank is an author, speaker, podcast host and Sr. Manager of Client Solutions at iContact, a Ziff Davis company. With a passion for all things digital and social, combined with more than 20 years of experience in sales and marketing, he has been dubbed the Digital Marketing Infotainer because he makes marketing fun and successful.
www.hankhoffmeier.com
Mark Irvine
Mark’s decade of PPC experience has included analyzing data and spotting trends within over 30,000 Google, Bing, and Facebook ad accounts and managing the PPC Team at SearchLab Digital. He regularly presents his research on trends in the PPC industry on webinars and at conferences around the world and his work has also been featured on outlets such as The Washington Post, MSNBC, BBC and CNN. In 2019, Mark was named the Most Influential PPC Expert in the world by both PPC Hero and Microsoft.
https://searchlabdigital.com/
Kristine Schachinger
Founder of Sites Without Walls. Consultant with almost 20 years experience in website development, design and implementation. Currently working in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) specializing in News, E-Commerce, Technical SEO, Google Ranking Signals plus Site Audits and Recoveries with an additional focus in Accessibility.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kschachinger-seo
Erica Aveard
Erica is an experienced digital marketing and client relationship manager. After beginning her career in paid search, she took her paid media experience to client services, building lasting and meaningful relationships for both agency and client. Erica has worked on brands of all sizes, from national e-commerce labels to local real estate clients, and has experience in both the B2C and B2B worlds. She fiercely believes in data-driven decision-making for everything from keywords to content. In her spare time, you'll find her acting as Social Media Manager for her rescue dog, Walter.
Mary Albright
Automator of the mundane, Mary builds tools with google apps scripts and google sheets to make life easier. After a long career in fashion that took her across the globe, Mary transitioned to the world of Content and SEO in 2016. She’s currently the lead SEO at GOAT Group and in her spare time works on various side projects at The Flourish Co
Kyle Roof
Kyle is responsible for the development and implementation of all SEO techniques used by the SEO agency High Voltage SEO and the SEO tool PageOptimizer Pro. Kyle is also the co-founder of Internet Marketing Gold, a global community of 3000+ SEO professionals who test and prove cutting edge SEO techniques.
Kyle’s SEO techniques and discoveries are followed by many SEO professionals and business leaders, he has been featured in many respected publications and is a regular speaker on SEO and SEO testing at conferences throughout the world.
Ryan Jones
Ryan leads the SEO team at Razorfish. He also runs WTFSEO.com, serverheaders.com and seodataviz.com
https://www.ryanmjones.com
Eric Enge
Eric Enge has been a recognized thought leader in SEO over the past 20 years and is known for this in-depth research studies that he publishes on a regular basis. He is also an author of The Art of SEO. The book is published by O’Reilly media and is on its third edition. In addition to State of Search, Eric speaks at many other search conferences, including Pubcon, Search Marketing Expo, and others. He was founder or Stone Temple Consulting which he sold in 2018 to Perficient and is now the President of Pilot Holding Corporation.
Julie Jones
Julie Jones excels at creating short- and long-term plans that focus on increasing revenue and conversion. She has overseen Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics implementations for both startups and Fortune 500 companies throughout her career. Julie has also created the website learnwebanalytics.com to help educate marketers about the world of website analytics. In her current role at Baylor Scott & White, her focus is on implementing web and app analytics solutions and enhancing current data hygiene practices. Through this, she improves the ability for hospitals and physicians to make data-driven marketing decisions.
Russel Dubree
Russel is insanely passionate about helping business owners scale their business in a way that brings profit, purpose, and meaning in their lives by establishing a high performance culture.
In his 20 year career, Russel has been a USAF officer, air traffic controller, airfield manager, bank supervisor, bank teller, call center agent, lifeguard, factory worker, lawn mower, paperboy, gas station attendant, painter, cemetery maintenance worker, furniture mover, comedy club bouncer, entrepreneur, CEO, COO, CFO, project manager, account manager, office manager, bookkeeper, HR administrator, content writer, data analyst, recruiter, benefits specialist, sales lead, marketing coordinator…and many more.
https://performancefaction.com/
Curtis Boyd
Jennifer Navarrete
Jennifer Navarrete was an early adopter of podcasting, social media, and virtual events this experience well prepared her to recognize the impact Web 3.0 will have on the world as the next evolution of global communication, monetization, and social media develops. She currently hosts podcast, social audio rooms, and workshops educating fellow early adopter content creators about Web3.
Sarah Ciocila
Sarah is the Paid Media Director at PCG Digital. Overseeing the agencies Paid and Social Media teams allows her to connect dots often lost and overlooked with dealers Paid Media efforts. What Sarah loves most about working in the automotive space is the immense amount of creativity and collaboration that goes into dealerships digital marketing efforts. Sarah is currently working with the PCG’s Paid and Social Media teams to create hand in hand Paid Media Strategies for the Automotive Industry.
Tom Shapiro
Tom Shapiro is CEO of Stratabeat, a B2B marketing agency specializing in SEO, content development, content marketing, web design, account-based marketing (ABM), and conversion optimization. Through his career, Shapiro’s clients have included Intel, GE, AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, UnitedHealthcare, and P&G. Previously, Shapiro was the Director of Digital Strategy at iProspect. During his five years at the agency, the number of employees grew from 85 to 700+. With a passion for neuroscience and behavioral science, Shapiro’s insights have been published in Chief Marketer, CMO.com, CNN.com, Forbes, and MarketingProfs. Shapiro is the author of the books “Rethink Lead Generation: Advanced Strategies to Generate More Leads for Your Business” and “Rethink Your Marketing: 7 Strategies to Unleash Revenue Growth,” both available on Amazon.
https://stratabeat.com/