Organizers

Luke Gedeon – WordCamp Organizer and Monthly Meetup Co-organizer
Web Engineer at 10up working with larger media clients like TechCrunch, where his thoughtful approach to coding, knack for seeing the bigger picture under the hood, and client dedication has been essential.
Luke’s specialty is ensuring optimal coding practices both for individual functional components and holistic implementations. Luke is often responsible for internal and external code audits and reviews.
Luke has become a leading organizer for the WordPress Providence Meetup, and was a volunteer at WordCamp Boston in 2011. He has spoken at WordCamps in New York and Boston, and is now leading the organization of WordCamp Providence. Before joining team 10up, Luke managed his own web development agency, which specialized in WordPress implementations for small businesses.
When Luke is not writing code, he can usually be found spending time with his wife and six children, and occasionally, one of his many siblings. Luke is also a hobbyist student of linguistics, fascinated by the dynamics of different languages – a natural fit for a developer.

 

Al Caldarone – Website & Speaker Coordinator
Al has been working in the I.T. Industry for the past 20 years and coding websites since 1998, now he builds and oversees web applications for the State of Rhode Island. Specializing in .Net, VB, jQuery, SQL, PHP, HTML, & CSS, he freelances building custom WordPress themes.

 

John Botte – Swag, Signage & other printing
John Botte, is currently CTO and CoFounder of Digital Natives Group in NYC. Graduating from Bryant University in 2011, John has a knack for learning and takes every opportunity he can to learn about new technology and practical ways to apply them. He looks forward to meeting new people, learning new things and making new friends at WordCamp Providence 2012.

 

Brian Shim – Audio/Video
Brian is a web developer based in Providence, RI. With a background in electrical engineering, hardware design, and management, Brian eventually developed an interest in web programming as a hobby. Now he has made the transition to freelance web developer, mainly using PHP and JavaScript to create mobile and desktop websites and web applications.

 

Ramon Garcia – Volunteer Coodinator

Technical/Applications Trainer
Digital Videographer/Photographer
Community Training Volunteer

 

Sheila Oliver – Speakers’ Dinner
Sheila Oliver is the owner of Small Biz Web Shop, a WordPress web design company, located in Attleboro MA. She is also a partner at the Small Business Classroom, also in Attleboro.
Sheila works with a wide range of business owners, from entrepreneurs, attorneys, speech pathologist, bookkeepers, and many more. As a client of the Small Biz Web Shop, she takes the time to get to know about your business, and the goals for your business, and helps you convey that in a Website to market your business.
In 2012, Sheila founded the Small Business Classroom to share her passion with to teach business owners and entrepreneurs how to use the tools available to them to build and maintain their own website. She teaches WordPress, Google Apps, MailChimp, and Social Media.

 

Stephanie Schechter – Food & Beverage
Stephanie Schechter has over 18 years experience in consumer marketing related graphic design and industrial design. After graduating from Rhode Island School of Design, she has spent her career designing countless product merchandising programs, retail store fixtures, logos, printed promotional materials, environmental graphics, websites and advertisements.
Through her freelance consultancy, she now helps entrepreneurs define their brands and create an effective web presence. She is passionate about WordPress and the unlimited opportunities that it affords designers.

 

Mike Ryan – Venue
I have a history of entrepreneurism, particularly in technology. My backgrounds in marketing and technology lead me to look for innovative opportunities to bring new, effective products and services into the world.
I teach intro and advanced classes in web design, online traffic generation, and flash animation in evening courses at URI’s Providence Campus.I teach intro and advanced classes in web design, online traffic generation, and flash animation in evening courses at URI’s Providence Campus.

 

Matt Medeiros – Fundraising
Matt is the Director and Project Manager at Slocum Design Studio. He interfaces with clients, developers, and designers to ensure the best product possible. Years of experience in the technology field helps bring smart, scalable, and innovative products and services to the studio.
Matt keeps the client engaged by keeping them as much a part of the process as the rest of the team. Keeping projects focused on the scope and to the timeline are Matt’s major goals. At the inception of a project, he works hard to identify features and function. Before the project is delivered, he ensures the highest quality product for the client. Creating innovative and total solutions ensures that Slocum Design Studio and our clients earn market leading results.

 

Elsbeth Todd – Publicity Coordinator
Elsbeth is Founder and CEO of CollectivePlus, a promotion and event coordination company that connects the people and places of Rhode Island.  With a seventeen year creative background in product design, marketing and graphics, and a relative newbie to WordPress, she is inspired by the potential it offers the entrepreneurial business owner. Elsbeth is also the Founder and Organizer of The Providence Collective, Providence’s largest and most active social group on Meetup.com.

 

 

John James Jacoby – Monthly Meetup Co-organizer
Master of Alliteration at Automattic.
Vince Glortho of WordPress.com VIP.
Bee Keeper of BuddyPress and bbPress.
Father and friend to Paul the Puppy.
Cutter of Records; Shifter of Gears.

 

Jesse Freidman – Monthly Meetup Co-organizer
I have been designing and developing websites since 1999. I fell in love with it after a class in high school and never looked back. After graduating with a Web Management and Internet Commerce B.S. degree from Johnson & Wales University three things happened. I got married and started a beautiful family, was invited back to JWU to teach as a professor and I got a great job at Neal Advertising.

 

Matt Gedeon – Monthly Meetup Co-organizer
I am a web developer and audio engineer with Kdari Studio based out of Hope Valley RI. I’ve been working with WordPress for the last three years, learning it’s ins and outs and always learning new ways it can be used.
You’ll usually find me building something, or else engaged in witty conversation. Sometimes I sleep too.

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