Media Day Panelists

Media Day’s goal is to educate Chicago’s top innovators on how to gain visibility in the marketplace. The day-long event includes discussions, talks, and interactive seminars featuring the following panelists:

Moderator

Dan Miller :
Dan Miller is publisher and executive vice president of The Heartland Institute, a 25-year-old, non-profit think tank that discovers, develops and promotes free-market solutions to public policy issues. He’s the former business editor of the Chicago Sun-Times and Crain’s Chicago Business, and served as the chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission. Miller was inducted into the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame in 2005, and was named Illinois Journalist of the Year by the Northern Illinois University faculty in 1981.
He began his career in Chicago with the Chicago Daily News, where he worked as a business reporter, editorial writer and assistant financial editor until the paper’s demise in 1978. After joining Crain Communications, he helped launch Crain’s Chicago Business, and served as editor for 10 years, during which time the weekly newspaper earned local and national honors for general excellence in business reporting, commentary and design.In 1998 Miller was named vice president of Crain Communications and publisher of Crain’s City & State, a national business newspaper for state and local government. In 1994, Illinois Gov.
Jim Edgar named him chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission, the state regulatory agency for public utilities. During his four-year tenure, Miller downsized the commission staff, and led efforts to deregulate the state’s telecommunications, electricity and motor-carrier industries. Following public service, he spent a year at the Heartland Institute, a libertarian-oriented think tank based in Chicago, as senior vice president and publisher. In July 1999 he was named business editor of the Chicago Sun-Times. Miller is a 1967 graduate of the University of Minnesota with a B.A. degree in American Studies. He began his journalism career as a copyboy for the Minneapolis Tribune, and worked for newspapers in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is married with three daughters and three grandchildren, and lives in Chicago’s West Rogers Park neighborhood.

Editorial Content

Sandra Guy :
Sandra Guy, a 28-year veteran journalist, has covered business, technology, financial and home-ownership issues at the Chicago Sun-Times, has written a weekly technology column for the past 11 years at the Sun-Times, and served as a former president of the Chicago chapter of the Association for Women Journalists. She has won awards for investigative and in-depth public service reporting in her native Appalachia.
Eric Benderoff :
Eric Benderoff brings two decades of major-market media experience to a range of tech-based clients, including Comcast, Harman, Huawei, LiveOps and mySpark Technologies, a start-up building an Android tablet for higher education. Benderoff provides senior media counsel including strategic content development for traditional media and emerging digital platforms, as well as expertise in mobile technologies, message development and media training.
Benderoff joined Burson-Marsteller after more than 15 years as a personal technology columnist, editor and reporter at both of Chicago’s major daily newspapers. As the tech columnist for the Chicago Tribune, his work was distributed nationally to a wide range of newspapers and consumer-focused websites. Considered an expert on consumer technologies, Benderoff was a frequent guest on national programs (including radio shows for the Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey networks) and his commentary was featured weekly on Chicago radio and TV.
At the Chicago Sun-Times, Benderoff was the business editor responsible for the development and introduction of the paper’s daily technology coverage.
Benderoff started Bendable Media in 2009, a content firm specializing in the development of traditional and digital editorial strategies. He advised tech start-ups, including Appolicious.com, a venture-backed social website focused on helping users find and share mobile apps. Among other strategic responsibilities, he assembled and managed a team of 40+ writers for the launch of Appolicious, which secured a content-sharing agreement with Yahoo.
Benderoff, a graduate of Michigan State University, lives in Chicago with his family. He is a member of the Illinois Technology Association.

Michael Arndt :
Coming soon…

Marketing/Advertising

Matthew Saleski :
Matthew A. Saleski joined Sun-Times Media as Vice President of Marketing in January 2010. Mr. Saleski has an extensive background in online, media and corporate marketing. Prior to joining Sun-Times Media, he was Strategic Account Director for Yahoo! Inc., where he was responsible for major corporate clients including Kraft Foods, Mars/Wrigley and PepsiCo. Formerly, he had been National Sales Manager-Yahoo! Display/Search. Prior to joining Yahoo! in 2007, he worked for Getty Images as Group Sales Director-Premium Accounts and Research.
Mr. Saleski also spent five years with the Tribune Company, from 2000 to 2005, where he worked in three positions, including Division Advertising/Sales Manager-Chicago Tribune Print and Online; Senior Manager-Classified Marketing-Chicago Tribune Print and Online; and Manager-Trade Marketing/Business Development and Strategy-Tribune Interactive. Prior to joining the Tribune, he worked for Kraft Foods and Ford Motor Co.
Mr. Saleski has a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Michigan-College of Engineering. He was recently named to Board of Advisors for the Chicago Innovation Awards. (www.chicagoinnovationawards.com).
Matthew also sits on the board of directors of the Chicago Sun-Times Charity Trust. Mr. Saleski is also a member of the CMO Club, the American Marketing Association- Chicago and is a marketing advisor to Lambda Legal, Chicago Chapter.
Cher Ames :
Director of Marketing & Promotions; For the last 10 years, Cher has successfully led the Marketing and Promotions department at CBS Radio’s All News powerhouse, WBBM Newsradio 780. With over two decades of experience in radio and sports marketing, she started her career in 1989 as Creative Services Director at CJSD-F shortly upon graduating from the Confederation College of Applied Arts & Technologies in Radio & Television Arts (Ontario, Canada).
In 1996, she hired an immigration attorney and moved to Cleveland, Ohio to take on a Marketing Directorship with Jacor Communications (now Clear Channel Communications), and was responsible for the successful call letter and brand transition from 3WE (WWWE) to WTAM 1100. In 1998, Cher was awarded a Silver ADDY for her Out of Home marketing campaign, “What in the World Happened Last Night”. In 1999 she accepted the role as Sales and Marketing Consultant at WGAR-FM and in 2000, graduated from the Center of Sales Strategies, Customer Focused Selling (Tampa, FL).
In 2001, Cher joined CBS Radio Chicago (then Infinity Broadcasting) as Director of Marketing and Non-Traditional Revenue and oversaw both WBBM and WSCR-AM. She is currently responsible for managing the WBBM brand exclusively and maintaining key relationships with the City of Chicago, the Chicago Bears, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and the Chicago Innovation Awards; in addition to working closely with the sales department to help advertisers grow their businesses. Cher lives with her husband in Printers Row in Chicago’s South Loop.
Greg Green :
Greg is currently global director of Agency strategy within Google’s Agency team, focused on enhancing Google’s value proposition to Agencies. In this role, Greg works closely with Sales, Product and R&D teams on critical Agency programs such as Insights for Media Planning, ROI and Media Mix, Media Analytics and Budget Allocation tools.
Greg was previously EVP, Managing Director, VivaKi Nerve Center and SVP, Global Head of Analytics at Digitas, both part of Publicis Groupe. Greg’s career also includes other leadership positions in Marketing Analytics as the Chief Strategy Officer at The Allant Group as well as leading the private sector business analytics initiative at Price Waterhouse, as a Principal Consultant.

Joseph White :
Joseph White, Chicago Sales Manager, for TITAN Chicago. Joseph has 17+ years of experience in the out-of-home industry. His track record includes developing and executing out-of-home campaigns for local, regional and national clientele while managing a sales team of eleven people.
Joseph’s career began as a marketing assistant at Patrick Media Group (now known as Clear Channel Outdoor) and handled various marketing and sales positions within the company. In 2003, Joseph was elevated to President, General Manager of Clear Channel Outdoor where he oversaw both their traditional and transit display divisions within the Chicago Market.
In 2005, Joseph joined Global Outdoor Services as Vice-President, National Sales Director. Joseph’s extensive sales and management experience quickly elevated Global Outdoor Services from a single market company, to a multi-market, multi-million dollar media company. Under Joseph’s tenure are Global Outdoor Service’s media revenue tripled to over $18M within his first year.
Joseph has been with TITAN Chicago since we were awarded the CTA Transit Contract in early 2007. He has been highly successful in growing both national and advertising agency business, while developing business from Chicago and regionally based businesses and corporations. Joseph has played in integral role in the growth and success of TITAN Chicago. Joseph graduated with a B.S. from Ball State University in Advertising and Marketing and currently lives in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago with his wife and two children.

Social Media Strategies

David Armano:
As Executive Vice President, Global Innovation & Integration for Edelman Digital, David’s mandate is to uncover and activate innovative social business solutions for Edelman’s clients as well as the firm. Armano also acts as Editor In Chief for Edelmandigital.com and has been working in the digital space since 1997. In his career, David has worked with global brands such as RIM, eBay, and adidas to name a few.
David is considered to be a highly influential voice on the subject of social media for business and has nearly 70,000 combined subscribers to his blog (Logic+Emotion) and Twitter stream. Logic+Emotion has consistently ranked in the top 25 marketing blogs according to the Ad Age Power 150. Prior to Edelman, David was a part of the founding team of social business consultancy Dachis Group and helped launch the business from stealth mode into the marketplace.
He also writes regular industry perspectives for the Harvard Business Review, and is best known for his distinct brand of visual thinking, which can be found both on the Web and in presentations all over the world. David serves on several boards advising start-ups, is an active judge in industry awards such as the Jay Chiat 4A’s and co-founded the “Allhat” event series billed by SXSW as being populated by “the most respected voices in digital”.

Crafting a Message

Tom Thompson:
Tom Thomson incorporates more than 15 years of Disney experience into developing tailored content for businesses looking to adapt Disney best principles and practices to their own organizations.
Tom’s Disney career began when he was selected to participate in College Program in 1992 at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Returning to Disney after graduation, he began a distinguished career in merchandise as a front-line manager at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, earning numerous awards for sales volume and team productivity. Along the way, he participated in the introduction of “merchantainment,” a philosophy designed to increase guest interaction. As a leader of leaders, Tom managed some of the busiest merchandise locations at the Walt Disney World Resort, ultimately serving as one of a small group of area managers responsible for a team of 475 cast members at the World of Disney Store in Downtown Disney, the company’s highest volume store.
Tom was selected to represent the Walt Disney World Resort from 1999-2000 as one of three official ambassadors. In this prized role, he served as a media spokesperson and goodwill emissary to share the Disney heritage and legacy and the friendly, diverse spirit of our cast around the world. Following his year as an ambassador, Tom took on the responsibility of managing the Traditions team, the group responsible for sharing the company’s history and heritage with thousands of new cast members each year.
Tom’s passion for service, building and nurturing great teams, and sharing Disney’s history and heritage eventually led him to join the Disney Institute team in 2007 as a facilitator. The next year, he was promoted to his current position where he’s able to work with groups and companies large and small to reveal the business behind the magic.
Prior to his Disney experience, Tom had a front row seat to the dynamics and power of teamwork as a television sports journalist. While covering Major League Baseball, along with the National Football League and local university athletics, Tom came to recognize the traits and processes that create winning teams.
Tom was awarded a Bachelor of Art in journalism and communications from the University of Kansas and is currently pursuing a Masters of Business Administration degree.