Global Gurus

Brenda Bence is passionate about two things: branding and leadership—and how the two work together. After earning her MBA from Harvard Business School, she spent 20 years building billion-dollar mega brands across four continents for Fortune 100 consumer giants like Procter & Gamble and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Brenda then started her own business to help companies and individuals define and grow their own successful leadership brands.

Brenda combined her years of expertise in brand-building along with her passion and experience in corporate leadership to create a unique, step-by-step personal leadership branding system that is based on the same methods used by household name brands.

Now sought after as a speaker and coach across six continents, Bence is one of only a handful of professional speakers worldwide who have earned the coveted Global Certified  Speaking Professional title from the Global Speakers Federation, reflecting her mastery in addressing diverse, multi-cultural, and multi-generational audiences around the world.  Brenda is also a Certified Executive Leadership Coach who has coached almost 1,000 leaders to help them build their brands, leaders who hail from 60 nationalities and 70 industries.

An avid writer, Bence has authored 11 books that have won over 40 book awards. In 2020, the Advanced Reader Edition of her latest book, The Forgotten Choice, was released to critical acclaim and will be launching globally in early 2021.

Jerome Joseph is an award-winning Brand Strategist, Global Speaker and Thought Leader focused on Brand Strategy, Digital Branding, Internal Branding & Personal Branding. With his experience as a CEO & Board Member of a public listed brand agency & global group, Jerome brings real life brand expertise through keynotes, workshops and consulting.

Jerome Joseph is a bestselling Author of 8 books on Branding including the acclaimed “Internal Branding: Growing your Brand from Within”& his newly releasedbestseller: “The Brand Playbook”. Jerome Joseph has over23 years of experience and has impacted overa1000 brands, including many Fortune 500 companies, in 34 countries. The combination of real-life consulting experience, global expertise and proven speaking skills, makes Jerome a highly sought-after speaker in the market. Some of the brands that Jerome has worked with include: Dell, SAP, Pfizer, Prudential, BASF, HSBC, OCBC, DHL, LEXUS and many more.

Jerome Joseph delivers compelling branded programs based on proven methodology, driven with his highly infectious personality, practical experience and interactive style of speaking. He is dedicated to transforming and creating brands with the result that audiences can expect to be engaged while attaining a wealth of great insights.

Jerome Joseph holds the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation which is held by the top 12% speakers in the world. He was awarded the prestigious Global Speaking Fellow in 2015 for speakers with global reach&expertise and is the 30th speaker in the world to achieve this. Jerome is also an accredited Professional Management Consultant (PMC) a designation for top tier proven management consultants.

As Australia’s leading Personal Branding authority, Jane helps experts & organisations build trust-based, high-impact communication with their staff and customers. Having helped over 80,000 people she has been featured on Sky Business, The Today Show, The Age, Sydney Morning Herald and the BBC.

Jane holds one of the top 1% viewed LinkedIn profiles globally & is the host of the #1 ranked “Jane Anderson Brand You Show” Podcast in iTunes where she has interviewed world leading experts such as Seth Godin. She has also  been nominated for and won numerous industry awards for her expertise including:

■ International Stevie Awards for Coach & Entrepreneur of the Year 

■ nominated Telstra Business Awards 2014, 2016, 2018 & 2019

■ top 25 branding blogs globally

■ top 6 branding experts in Australia

The author of 7 books, she is one of 12 LinkedIn Influencers in Australia & New Zealand, she has interviewed over 1500 experts in their field and is also the creator of the Influencer Indicator, the world’s first diagnostic for experts to identify marketing gaps in their practice.

She typically helps her clients with Personal Brand Strategy, Content Creation and Lead Generation for Consultants. She is particularly passionate about building the capability of coaches and Business Managers who work with industry leaders.

She has also worked with some of the world’s leading brands such as Bluescope Steel, Amadeus, Virgin Australia, IKEA, LEGO, Mercedes-Benz, Telstra, International Rice Research Institute, University of Queensland, Wesfarmers, Australian Medical Association, Shell Energy.

Richard is The Brand Guy. He co-runs a Brand Strategy & Design & Communication Company in Sydney called Brandcraft. He also delivers interactive workshops and keynote talks for in-house projects (Change Management, Employee Engagement, L&D), and at conferences and seminars across Australia as well as abroad.

After working in multi-national ad agencies on brands such as Coca-Cola and Microsoft, he left the ad industry to pioneer a new way to do branding where everything you DO and SAY as a business must be driven by and aligned to your brand strategy – your business strategy, your products and services, your culture and people, your customer service and trade relationships, your marketplace positioning as well as [and not just] your marketing communications. Companies he has branded with in this way include QBE, PwC, CSIRO, Clayton Utz, Bayer, NSW State Government, Mortgage Choice, Data 61, Steadfast, and Munich Re.

Big YOU is Richard’s most popular keynote/workshop. He believes everyone has potential that extends far beyond their actual day-to-day performance. Instead of living and working a 10/10 life, people settle for 7/10 because it gets the job done, it doesn’t require them taking any risks or chances, and it’s a safe bet. Ranging from 60 minutes to 8 hours, Big YOU explores the fears and personal agreements which are holding people back in life and at work. Big YOU then moves participants out of their safety zone as it gets them to see the potential and possibilities for themselves and their lives, and to make new agreements. (bigyou.com.au)

Richard has published two books; is a regular contributor to blogs and podcasts; does a few pro-bono and low-bono branding projects every year; and he occasionally appears in the media on brand-related stories.

Martin Lindstrom is sought after as a branding/marketing/keynote speaker and workshop leader by companies and organizations throughout the world. The rapid rise of his career has made him one of today’s most respected branding speakers in the world according to the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He sits on several boards globally, and his clients include Disney, Mars, Pepsi, American Express, Mercedes-Benz, Reuters, Visa, McDonald’s, Kellogg’s, Ericsson, Yellow Pages and Microsoft. He energizes audiences with his creative genius and dynamic, motivational style. Lindstrom’s reputation for earning “a guaranteed standing ovation” at his compelling lectures on branding accompanies his popularity as an Advertising Consultant, keynote speaker, Branding Consultant, workshop leader and in-house trainer. Martin Lindstrom is the author of 5 books, including collaborative works with industry icons such as Dr. Philip Koter Kotler on Marketing), Paco Underhill Why We Buy), Dr. Don Peppers, Martha Rogers 1to1 Marketing) and Patricia Seybold (Customer.com). Buyology – Truth and Lies About Why We Buy (Doubleday, New York), has been translated into over 40 languages.

Sally Hogshead is a New York Times bestselling author, Hall of Fame® speaker, and the CEO of How to Fascinate, helping companies develop messages that persuade and captivate. By age 24, she became the most award-winning copywriter in the United States, and she’s been described by the press as “an advertising mastermind” who “changed the face of North American advertising.” Her campaigns for brands such as MINI Cooper, Nike, and Coca-Cola have fascinated millions of consumers. To develop the science of fascination, Hogshead measured over one million professionals over the course of a decade. Using this research, she built a marketing system that now lives inside organizations such as IBM, Twitter, and Porsche. Her two most recent books, Fascinate, and How the World Sees You, are both national bestsellers.

Karen McCullough is the most energetic, positive and inspirational speaker in the business. She worked for respected brands. She studied high performing brands. And she built a successful brand from the ground up. Karen is an inspiring speaker who draws on her varied background as a highly successful educator, businesswoman, entrepreneur, and CEO to enlighten and entertain audiences from some of the world’s top companies, universities, and organizations. Karen McCullough knows people, knows trends, and she knows how things work. She is a master at opening people’s minds to the opportunities of change. Through her study of generational behavior, business relationships, social trends, and technology Karen has tapped into an innovative model that leads to positive action and drives desired results.

Donald Miller is the CEO of StoryBrand and every year helps more than 3,000 business leaders clarify their brand message. Combined, Don’s books have spent more than a year on the New York Times Bestsellers list. His books include: Blue Like Jazz, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, and Scary Close.

Don is widely considered one of the most entertaining and informative speakers in the world. His audiences are challenged to lean into their own story, creatively develop and execute the story of their team, and understand the story of their customers so they can serve them with passion. Don’s thoughts on story have deeply influenced leaders and teams for Pantene, Chick-fil-A, Steelcase, Intel, Prime Lending, Zaxby’s, and thousands more.

Don lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife, Betsy, and their chocolate lab, Lucy.

A Fast Company expert blogger and the subject of numerous articles in Forbes, ADWEEK, Huffington Post and Business Insider, David Brier is the recipient of the Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship medallion, presented to David by Shark Tank star and NY Times bestseller Daymond John.

An award-winning veteran (recipient of over 330 international industry recognitions) in branding, rebrands, design and brand strategy, David has designed and transformed global brands, regional and local brands, and brands for startups and even cities.

David also wrote the new “branding bible” and Amazon bestseller, Brand Intervention, 33 Steps to Transform the Brand You Have into the Brand Need, with a Foreword written by Daymond John of Shark Tank and FUBU.

David is also a highly sought-after guest on podcasts and live streams on the topic of branding, and his popular One Minute Wednesday series found on YouTube.

Rita Clifton CBE has been called ‘Brand guru’ by the Financial Times and ‘The doyenne of branding’ by Campaign magazine. She is a writer, keynote speaker, conference chair & practitioner on all aspects of brands, branding and business leadership.

Her career has included being a Vice Chairman at Saatchi & Saatchi, as London CEO and Chairman at the global brand consultancy Interbrand and as co-founder of BrandCap. She is also a portfolio chairman and non-executive director on the board of businesses including ASOS and Nationwide Building Society, and her non-profit boards have included WWF and the Sustainable Development Commission.

Rita is a regular columnist and media commentator, as well as author of ‘The Future of Brands’ and two editions of The Economist ‘Brands and Branding’. She is working on her new book as we speak!

Karen Kang is the best-selling author of BrandingPays™: The Five-Step System to Reinvent Your Personal Brand.  Karen has more than 20 years of experience in brand strategy consulting.  She is the founder and CEO of BrandingPays LLC, a corporate and personal branding company. Karen has trained thousands of professionals on the unique BrandingPays System for personal branding, and has consulted to more than 200 organizations. Her clients have included AT&T, Adobe, AstraZeneca, Genentech, HP, Intel and UC Davis Health System.

Before starting her own brand strategy consulting firm in 1994, Karen was a partner and principal with Regis McKenna Inc., the Silicon Valley marketing firm that launched the Apple and Genentech brands, and a vice president with TFB/BBDO, a high technology advertising and public relations agency. Her book has been featured in BusinessWeek, Fast Company, Forbes, Fortune, More and Working Mother and was an Editor’s Pick on WSJ Radio. She has been interviewed as a branding expert on ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX network affiliates.

Karen’s marketing and communications background gives her a 360-degree view of branding. A former newspaper journalist on both the East and West Coasts, she has held executive positions in marketing consulting, advertising and public relations firms. She is a sought-after speaker at national organizations and leading business schools such as London Business School, Stanford, and Wharton (UPenn). A member of Phi Beta Kappa, she holds a B.A. degree from Mills College and an M.S. degree from Boston University.

Professional keynote speaker, business author and branding consultant Joe Calloway is an expert in developing customer focused teams. Joe’s approach is both innovative and compelling. He speaks frequently on business competition and is a straight talking expert on competition and continuous improvement. Joe Calloway is a performance expert who helps people and companies think competitively, improve constantly, and act decisively. He is the author of four ground-breaking business books including the best-selling Becoming A Category of One, which received rave reviews from The New York Times, Retailing Today, Publishers Weekly and many others. Joe is a partner in Engage Consulting Group and is also a partner in BizVideos, a company that produces short business videos for use in meetings and corporate events. Joe has been inducted into the Speakers Hall of Fame, but he doesn’t do “speeches.” Instead, Joe actively engages people in sessions that challenge assumptions and create new ways of thinking.

William Arruda is a motivational speaker, entrepreneur and the world’s leading authority on the topic of personal branding. He’s the bestselling author of the definitive books on the topic: Career Distinction and Ditch. Dare. Do! His latest book, Digital YOU helps readers translate their real-world brands for the virtual world. William is the CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer) of Reach Personal Branding and the co-founder of CareerBlast.TV – a personal and digital branding video learning platform for innovative organizations. His products have been used by over a million people across the globe. He’s honored to work with many of the world’s most revered brands, including 20% of the Fortune 100. William regularly shares his thoughts on workplace trends and branding in his Forbes column. He holds a Master’s degree in Education.

Bernadette Jiwa is a recognised global authority on the role of story in business, innovation and marketing and the author of six best-selling books on marketing and brand storytelling. Named by Smart Company as a Top Business Thinker 2018. She advises, consults and speaks to entrepreneurs and business leaders who want to build meaningful brands.

Bernadette’s blog, TheStoryofTelling.com was voted as the Best Australian Business Blog in 2012 and chosen by Smart Company as one of Australia’s Top 20 Business Blogs in 2013 and 2014. It topped that list in 2016. Bernadette’s book Meaningful featured on Inc Magazine’s Best Business Books of 2015.

She has been named as one of the Top 100 Branding Experts to Follow on Twitter and she spoke at TEDxPerth about ‘The Secret To Spreading Ideas’.

Her work sees her advising, consulting with and speaking to entrepreneurs, business leaders and global brands, (like EA, LinkedIn, Zappos and Adidas). Bernadette works with them to intentionally create products, services and marketing that help them to matter to their customers.

Simon Middleton is a brand strategist, manufacturing entrepreneur, business development adviser, keynote speaker, and author.

His books include the Amazon category bestseller Build A Brand In 30 Days, the definitive branding guide for small businesses.

Simon is creator of Blackshore: British Coastal Clothing and the original founder of outdoor brand Shackleton.

He has appeared on CNN, Bloomberg, Sky, Five and BBC (Today, Breakfast, BBC News, and Newsnight) as a brand commentator, and has been active in the made-in-Britain fashion sector as an entrepreneur and manufacturer.

Simon has substantial experience in business fundraising, both through angel investment and with crowdfunding campaigns.

He is frequently rated as top speaker at conferences, and is noted for his considered and compassionate approach to tackling business, brand, and personal development challenges.

Now Simon brings his experience and knowledge to brand leaders, including entrepreneurs and senior corporate executives.

You can work with Simon in a range of ways, including: mentoring, full consultancy projects, conference keynotes for your organisation, or workshop events that can transform how your people think and behave.

However you engage him, Simon will always take you further on your journey to create authentic meaning and purpose

Laura Ries is a leading marketing strategist, bestselling author,branding Guru and television personality. Since 1994, Laura has run Ries & Ries, a consulting firm with her partner, father and legendary Positioning pioneer Al Ries. Together they consult with Fortune 500 companies on brand strategy and are the authors of five books which have been bestsellers around the world. They have traveled to over 60 countries from Chile to China and India to Indonesia teaching the fundamental principles of marketing.

Most businesses make significant investments in their #1 asset: human capital, then experience costly business problems like ineffective recruiting, turnover, underperformance, threats to morale and leadership gaps. What’s usually missing is a clear connection between the people strategy and the business strategy to create measurable bottom line results. That’s where we come in.

Amber Hurdle Consulting is a multi-award-winning talent optimization firm that pioneers using both science and marketing principles to solve these problems by strengthening your brand from the inside out. As a Predictive Index (PI) Certified Partner, we teach you how to generate and use real data in the form of people analytics, and then we sit on your bench as analytics experts, bringing along almost 20 years of branding, marketing and public relations experience. With these tools, we partner with you to design a compelling internal relations strategy featuring three key areas:

#1 We work with your leaders on their personal brands, so they increase self awareness and see and harvest the greatness in others.

#2 We teach you to use a scientific, repeatable method to recruit, retain and inspire top talent, elevating your culture while crafting a world-class employer brand.

#3 We then help you leverage strong leaders and a “best places to work” environment so that happy employees are serving happy customers…ultimately elevating your business brand.

Brand strategist and storyteller Robin Fisher Roffer provides the rocket fuel that has launched and evolved dozens of media brands all over the world such as A&E, Animal Planet, CNN, Comedy Central, Discovery, FX, Hallmark Channel, History, Lifetime, MTV, and TNT. As Founder and CEO of Big Fish Marketing, Inc., she leads an award-winning creative team adept at unearthing a brand’s essence and filter, its look, feel and tagline, market positioning, value proposition and key messaging to both consumers and the trade. Sought after for leading edge ad sales strategy, Robin is the go-to person for television networks, technology companies and content creators ready to bring audiences to brands across multiple platforms. Robin uses her rare combination of talents to craft persuasive sales narratives and has produced Upfront presentations for AMC, BET, Bloomberg, Food Network, Fox Networks Group, HGTV, Scripps Networks and Univision. She inspires sales leaders to give press-worthy keynotes, and trains their teams to take the story on the road. With a mission to inspire humanity to fearlessly embrace change, Robin has authored four books including Make A Name For Yourself, The Fearless Fish Out Of Water, Reinventing Yourself, and her latest book, Your No-Fear Career.  A speaker and frequent media guest on fearless leadership and personal branding, Robin keynotes corporate conferences at companies such as Walmart, Microsoft, AIG and Starwood Hotels and top business schools like Columbia, Wharton, USC and Northwestern.

Dan Schawbel is the Managing Partner of Millennial Branding, a Gen Y research and consulting firm. He is the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Promote Yourself: The New Rules For Career Success (St. Martin’s Press) and the #1 international bestselling book, Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future (Kaplan Publishing), which combined have been translated into 15 languages. Both bestsellers were published before Dan’s 30th birthday. Dan is a columnist at both TIME and FORBES, and has been featured in over 1,000 media outlets, such as “The Today Show” on NBC, “Street Signs” on CNBC, “The Nightly Business Report” on PBS, “The Willis Report” on Fox Business, People Magazine, The Economist and Wired Magazine. He’s spoken at Google, NBC Universal, McGraw-Hill, Oracle, Harvard Business School, MIT, Time Warner, IBM, and CitiGroup.

Liz is an author, coach, consultant, and motivational “speecher” who shares how to brand out, stand out, and cash in on your business. In fact, her clients typically boost their income by at least 40% after working with her!

Big Company, Big Stage Experience
This fiery redhead has engaged audiences at Pfizer, Warner Brothers, Abbott Labs, Qualcomm, and over 150 other companies and associations. She is a former brand manager at Quaker Oats, Business editor at Times Mirror, and lowly book “schlepper” at Macmillan Publishing. She gives over 75 talks per year across the globe including Hawaii, Canada, and China.

Media Maven Dishing the Dirt on Branding
Liz has appeared on virtually every news station including CNN, CNBC NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, and perhaps even PMS. Her quick wit and quips gets her quoted in The Huffington Post, The New York Times, Fortune, and The Wall St. Journal. She was the branding columnist for Entrepreneur magazine reaching over 1.1 million readers per month and now writes for the Dubai-based Brand Knew. You can hear her sexy soundbites as the celebrity branding expert on Hollywood Scandals for seasons 1 and 2.

Biz Author Who Serves Up Business Boosting Strategies
Based upon her consulting and coaching, Liz shares strategies that work in all 3 of her books: How to Speak Gooder, Red Fire Branding, and DUH! Marketing. Liz recognizes the value of R&D: Ripping off great ideas from one industry and Duplicating them with her audiences.

Entertaining, Motivational “Speecher” Who Shares What Sizzles and Fizzles
Coming from humble beginnings and then almost going bankrupt in 2007, Liz poignantly shares how she rebuilt her business as if the phoenix rising from the ashes. Dispelling business myths, she shares what really works in today’s ADD, “always connected” world.

Al is a legendary marketing and branding strategist and the bestselling author (or co-author) of 11 books on marketing including Positioning, Marketing Warfare, Focus, The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR and War in the Boardroom. After graduating from DePauw University, Al worked in the advertising department of General Electric before founding his own advertising agency in New York City, Ries Cappiello Colwell in 1963. The agency later changed to marketing strategy firm, Trout & Ries. In 1972, Al co-authored the now infamous three-part series of articles declaring the arrival of the Positioning era in Advertising Age magazine. The concept of positioning revolutionized how people viewed advertising and marketing. Marketing was traditionally thought of as communications, but successful brands are those that find an open hole in the mind and then become the first to fill the hole with their brand name. When Advertising Age magazine choose the 75 most important ad moments of the last 75 years celebrating the publication’s 75th anniversary, the emergence of positioning came in at number #56. Ad Age commented on how the concept remains just as relevant in today’s environment, 

“The positioning era doesn’t end. What became a part of the marketing lexicon in the early ‘70’s holds its own in the textbooks of today.”

Al was president of the Association of Industrial Advertisers (now the Business Marketing Association) and the Advertising Club of New York. He was also chairman of the Club’s Andy Awards. In 1989, Sales & Marketing Executives International gave him its “Tops in Marketing” award. In 1999, PR Week magazine named him one of the 100 most influential PR people of the 20th century. In 2009, the readers of Advertising Age were asked “What’s the best marketing book you’ve ever read?” The No. 1 book: Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries & Jack Trout. The No.2 book: Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy. The No.3 book: The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al Ries and Laura Ries. 

Jeremy Miller is a brand strategist and the #1 Globe and Mail bestselling author of Sticky Branding.

For Jeremy, branding is deeply personal. After watching his family’s business nearly hit rock bottom, he and his family were forced to take a long hard look at the way the company was run and at the industry as a whole.

Jeremy realized it wasn’t his company’s sales people or marketing processes that were failing, it was their brand. This caused him to regroup, revamp, and rebrand the business. And within a year the company turned the corner and rocketed into growth mode.

That experience inspired Jeremy to embark on a decade-long study of how companies grow recognizable, memorable brands — what he calls Sticky Brands.

Fast forward to today, Jeremy has interviewed thousands of CEOs and business owners and profiled hundreds of companies across dozens of sectors. He lives and breathes marketing, branding, and business development, and he knows what it takes to grow a Sticky Brand.

Jeremy works with companies to develop branding and marketing strategies that make them stand out and drive sales. He is a sought after speaker delivering entertaining and informative talks on branding and business development.

Douglas Van Praet is the author of Unconscious Branding: How Neuroscience Can Empower (and Inspire) Marketing. He is also the founder of a marketing consultancy whose approach to advertising and marketing draws from unconscious behaviorism and applies neurobiology, evolutionary psychology, and behavioral economics to business problems. He has worked at agencies and corporations in N.Y. and L.A. and positioned many of the most iconic brands in advertising, most recently as executive vice president at Deutsch L.A., where his responsibilities included group planning director for the Volkswagen account.

Leonard Kim’s TEDx Talk, Why You Should Let Your Fears Guide You, has been internationally recognized as one of the best TED Talks by Forbes and Inc. Magazine.

Leonard is recognized by Forbes as a Top Marketing Influencer, Inc. Magazine as a Top Digital Marketer and Top Youth Marketer and by Entrepreneur as a Top Personal Branding Expert. Adweek recognized him as one of their Socially Strong Entrepreneurs Every VC Should Be Following. He went from being almost homeless to becoming a personal branding expert whose content has been read over 10 million times. He has amassed a social media following of well over 500,000 people. He’s been featured in a huge list of publications, including Mashable, Inc, Entrepreneur, Forbes, Fortune and more.

Leonard is managing partner of InfluenceTree. At InfluenceTree, Leonard and his team teach you how to build your brand, get featured in publications and growth hack your social media following.

Tim Halloran has built and directed some of the world’s largest brands. With over 20 years of strategic consumer brand management, insights, and new product development experience, he speaks extensively to business professionals on ways to improve the relationships between their brands and consumers. Mr. Halloran is President of Atlanta’s Brand Illumination and has provided guidance to top marketing companies, including Coca-Cola, Home Depot, Kraft Foods, Glaceau (vitaminwater/ smartwater), Georgia Pacific (Consumer Package Group), Vita Coco, Sprout Organic Baby Food, the NBA, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Chico’s/White House Black Market, Atlanta’s Fox Theatre, Simon Malls, and Turner Broadcasting. Prior to consulting, Tim spent 10 years in the Coca-Cola brand management organization, leading multiple beverage brands and marketing innovations. His successes at Coke include the national launch of Powerade sports drink and its sponsorship of the Olympics, co-development of Dasani bottled water, development of Coke’s first Internet marketing initiative with his work on Cherry Coke, and the overhaul of Coca-Cola’s U.S. tea strategy, including the creation of Gold Peak Tea. Tim has been featured as a brand expert on numerous radio, television, and newspaper outlets. He was awarded Innovator of the Year by Coca-Cola and named Max Award Finalist for Innovation by Georgia State University.

Kirsten Vernon (formerly Dixson) is the Personal Branding and Online Reputation Management Strategist for aspirational leaders who want to profit from their ideas. With her keen insight, she helps her clients discover their brands and create a distinct online and offline communications platform to reach their goals..Kirsten is the coauthor of Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand (Wiley) and has trained more personal branding strategists than any other person in the world in her work with Reach Personal Branding. As one of the first Reach-Certified Personal Branding Strategists and a Certified Job and Career Transition Coach, she has successfully helped hundreds of professionals with career marketing since 1997. As a media resource and speaker on building and managing your online brand, she’s been interviewed on The Today Show and quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Real Simple, More, Advertising Age and CIO.com.

From Madison Avenue to Wall Street to the halls of academe to founding a New York City-based brand strategy company, Catherine Kaputa’s experience has taught her how to brand products, services and herself. Now, Catherine shows others how to apply the principles and strategies from the commercial world of brands to your most important product – You. Catherine is the author of the award-winning You Are a Brand, In Person and Online, How Smart People Brand Themselves for Busienss Success, winner of the Ben Freanklin Award for Best Career Book. Her book for entrepreneurs, Breakthrough Brnading, won the Silver medal in the Book of the Year Awards, Business Category from Foreword Magazine. Her new book on women and success is Women Who Brand: How Smart Women Promote Themselves and Get Ahead.

Karen Post earned the title, The Branding Diva – by being a little crazy -crazy smart – crazy creative and crazy effective. A no-nonsense, tell it like it is, expert. She’ll show you how to kick up your business and your bottom line with a distinct brand. Karen is the author of *Brand Turnaround* and *Brain Tattoos* and is regularly featured in international news outlets, such as Fox Business, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and Entrepreneur Magazine. Not only is she a branding practitioner, she’s a serial entrepreneur too. At 22, she founded an award winning advertising agency that made her clients millions. In 1994, she started a successful litigation communication company. In 1999, she established an internet start-up she’d like to forget. Her life and business journey has included ups and downs, victories and defeats all adding to her success and unique experience-rich perspective. Throughout her career, her work has benefited diverse industries, from start-ups and non-profits to Fortune 500 companies that include ACNielsen, Celanese, Choice International, Cox Cable and Media, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Chevron, Johnson & Johnson, Bank of America, Xerox, Pepsi, and Procter & Gamble, along with many emerging businesses, trade associations, professional athletes, entertainers and politicians.

Rob Frankel began his career in advertising, eventually evolving his practice to become “the best branding expert on the planet,” a moniker bestowed upon him not by his mother, but several of his peers and acknowledged in Jaclyn Easton’s now out-of-print book, “StrikingItRich.com”. His first book, “The Revenge of Brand X: How to Build a Big Time Brand on the Web or Anywhere Else,” was published in two editions, the second of which was updated and expanded.

Rob is also the author of “The Artist Who Loved Women,” a biography of artist Patrick Nagel, the most successful yet anonymous American artist of the 1980s. In addition to documenting Nagel’s dynamic, brief life (he died in 1984 at the age of 38), Rob is a collector of, and authority on many of Nagel’s pieces.

To find out more about Patrick Nagel, or to ask,buy and sell his work feel free to swing by PatrickNagelGroup (dot com) to meet and talk with other Nagel fans.

If you’re a movie producer, you can get the cost of your book 100% reimbursed as soon as your feature film about the book, “The Artist Who Loved Women,” is released. Seriously. No kidding. We all know how cheap Hollywood people can be.

You can find out more Rob and his books at the web sites that bear the same names.