We’ve assembled a who’s who panel of judges to help separate the wheat from the chaff – and recognize those who are truly breaking new ground in earned media. Meet the people you have to impress to make it to The Earnies short list – and stay tuned as additional pros join our panel.
AGILITY@work
As earned media rapidly continues to evolve, communications professionals need to evolve, too. To move in real-time. To move with even greater agility. AGILITY@work is the social hub dedicated to agile engagement, sharing the tips, tools and best practices to navigate and succeed in today's changing media landscape. Learn more >
Matt Johnston
With more than a decade of marketing experience at companies ranging from early start-ups to global enterprises, Matt Johnston leads uTest's marketing and community efforts. After joining uTest in late 2008 as VP of Marketing & Community, Matt was promoted to the position of CMO in early 2011, where he continues to lead uTest’s efforts in shaping the brand, building awareness, generating leads and creating a world-class community of testers. In his expanded role as CMO, Matt’s focus has expanded to include more strategic initiatives, such as partnerships and helping to plan uTest’s expansion strategy.
Prior to joining uTest, Matt served as VP of Marketing at crowdsourcing pioneer, OnForce. Before that, he was the Director of Marketing at Mimeo.com and worked at Herman Miller as a commercialization strategist. Matt earned a B.A. in Marketing from Calvin College, as well as an MBA in Marketing & Technology from New York University's Stern School of Business.
Tim Moore
Tim has spoken to thousands of people internationally about using social media in their work, in all sorts and sizes of businesses. As an analyst, his online influence assessments, strategy maps and implementation of best practices have helped numerous companies drastically improve their monetary conversions.
Tim is author of the forthcoming book "Hype Is Dead," currently serves as SVP/Social Business Architect at Maximum, and is the CEO and lead singer of CrushIQ. He has been engaged in technology consulting for nearly 20 years and is frequently requested to share his honest assessments and digital evaluations, via his addictive delivery style, with companies at events internationally. He is also called upon regularly as a social media reference by the likes of ABC News, AT&T, CNN, The New York Times Company and many others. He is certified by the Social Media Academy and is addicted to Karaoke.
Liz Strauss
Combining her skills as business strategist, product analyst and master teacher, Liz Strauss works with international corporations, small business and entrepreneurs to create high-growth strategy based on influence, impact and irresistible difference. Liz is co-founder of SOBCon, the business strategy workshop event that grew out of her popular Successful-Blog.com – which carries 4,300 articles and 94,000 reader comments. She has built strategies and products with an international network of businesses on four continents and teaches a yearly course session at the Masters Degree Level for the Digital Publishing Program at City University of London.
In 2011, Liz Strauss was awarded the prestigious title of Titan of Web 2.0 at the World Forum “Communication on Top” in Davos, Switzerland and is the highest ranked woman on Dun and Bradstreet's 68 Most Influential Small Business People on Twitter. Liz has been named twice to the Top 100 Social Media & Internet Marketing Bloggers, the Top 100 Most Influential Marketers and the Top Social Media Strategists To Watch In 2010.
David Armano
As Executive Vice President, Global Innovation & Integration for Edelman Digital, David's mandate is to uncover and activate innovative digital 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 over 70,000 combined subscribers to his blog (Logic+Emotion) and Twitter stream. Logic+Emotion has consistently ranked in the top 30 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 well 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 4A's and co-founded the "Allhat" event series billed by SXSW as populated by "the most respected voices in digital".
Deirdre Breakenridge
With over 20 years in the communications industry and currently CEO of Pure Performance Communications, Deirdre Breakenridge has counseled senior level executives at companies including Empire Today, Hershey’s, Infineum, JVC, Kraft, Michael C. Fina, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and the World Bank.
Deirdre is the author of four Financial Times books. Her most recent book, “Putting the Public Back in Public Relations,” co-authored by Brian Solis and published in March 2009, is available in major bookstores and online. Deirdre speaks internationally on the topics of PR, branding, marketing and social media communications and has been the keynote speaker at numerous conferences including the RIT Social Media and Communications Symposium, Maine Public Relations Counsel (MPRC), Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) and the USA Gymnastics / Visa Championships Conference.
Deirdre blogs about PR 2.0 strategies and is the co-founder of #PRStudChat, a dynamic Twitter discussion scheduled monthly for PR students, educators and PR pros. The National Association of Professional Executive Women (NAPEW) named her Woman of the Year in 2009 and Traackr recognized Deirdre as the #1 PR 2.0 Influencer in 2011.
