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John T. Meyer

CEO, Lemonly

John T. Meyer wants to help everyone do work that matters. He is co-founder and CEO of Lemonly, a design studio that helps the world's best brands simplify their message. In nearly eight years, Lemonly has created infographics and visual stories for international brands like Marriott, Major League Baseball, Netflix, Marvel, the Green Bay Packers and the United Nations. John's goal is to make Lemonly the best place to work in the Midwest, and writes about company culture and building great teams with his newsletter at PointLetter.com. John loves to cheer on the Minnesota Twins and spend time with his wife Paige and daughters Margot and Liv.

Dr. Ryan Van Zee

Executive Director, Kelley Center for Entrepreneurship at DWU

Dr. Ryan Van Zee is an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and the Executive Director of the Kelley Center for Entrepreneurship at Dakota Wesleyan University. He has designed or taught classes in business, management, innovation, finance and marketing. He also comes with experience working in small business development, fundraising and consulting.

Van Zee received a bachelor's degree in business and computer education from Northern State University, a master's degree in education administration from California State University, Bakersfield, and a doctorate in administration from the University of South Dakota.

Dr. Van Zee was a Presenter at the United States Association of Small Business Educators National Conference in St. Pete, Florida in 2019 and presented on his book The Entrepreneurial Experience: Start Your Business 3rd ed. He was previously a Presenter at the United States Association of Small Business Educators National Conference in Los Angeles, California in 2018 on his previous edition The Entrepreneurial Experience: Start Your Business 2nd ed.

Dennis Yu

Chief Executive Officer, BlitzMetrics

Dennis Yu is the Chief Executive Officer of BlitzMetrics, a digital marketing company which partners with schools to train young adults. Dennis’ mission is to provide education at no cost to students.

He’s an internationally recognized lecturer in Facebook Marketing and has spoken over 730 times in 17 countries, spanning 5 continents, including keynotes at L2E, PubCon, Conversion Conference, Social Media Marketing World, Gultaggen, and Marketo Summit.

Dennis has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, LA Times, National Public Radio, TechCrunch, Fox News, CNN, CBS Evening News and co-authored “Facebook Nation” – a textbook taught in over 700 colleges and universities.

He’s a regular contributor to Adweek’s SocialTimes column and is published in Social Media Examiner, Social Media Club, Tweak Your Biz, B2C, SocialFresh, and Heyo.

Chris Prendergast

Chief Strategy Officer, Click Rain

As Click Rain's chief strategy officer, Chris oversees Click Rain’s service lines, ensuring that each client has the right teams and best strategies working toward their goals.Every strategy has its own measures of success, and Chris helps clients define what those should be. He works with a range of industries, from financial services to local business, and provides analytical insight based on the specific needs of each. As one of only 80 Certified Web Analysts in the country, he uncovers the factors that contribute to clients’ digital efforts, and builds strategies to help them improve.Chris specializes in strategy, analytics, and search engine optimization, and uses data visualization to tell clients the story behind their statistics. A respected speaker and consultant, Chris enjoys educating and inspiring people to take control of their digital strategy.

Natalie Eisenberg

Chief Executive Officer, Click Rain

Natalie Eisenberg has spent her career building brands across the region. After studying advertising at the University of South Dakota, she spent 12 years as an account leader with a regional advertising agency, working with clients in a variety of industries including healthcare, higher education, retail and non-profit.

Upon her move to Click Rain in 2016, Natalie spearheaded sales & marketing efforts until being appointed to the position of CEO in 2017. In this role, she serves as visionary for Click Rain’s next chapter as a people-first digital agency.

Natalie loves contributing to causes in her hometown of Sioux Falls. She serves on the Boards for the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce and Levitt at the Falls and volunteers regularly with Sioux Empire United Way, University of South Dakota Foundation, South Dakota Historical Society, and the Community College of Sioux Falls. She and her husband Troy have two children and enjoy year-round outdoor activities.

Brian Garrigan

Vice President - Agency & Brand Sales, Simpli.fi

Brian Garrigan leads agency and brand sales in the U.S. for Simpli.fi, a programmatic advertising platform built for the scale of localization and personalization. Brian holds an MBA and is a dedicated leader that is recognized for the ability to build, guide and sustain successful advertising technology teams.

Adam Proehl

Partner & Co-Founder, NordicClick

Adam has been in digital marketing since 1998. He is currently a Partner & Co-Founder at NordicClick Interactive in Minneapolis.

He is a National and International Conference Speaker; Seen at Pubcon, SMX, Digital Summit, MN Search, State of Search, Zenith Marketing, and more. When he isn't busy speaking you can also find him on Search Engine Journal as a contributing columnist.

Adam currently serves as an Advisory Board Member for The University of South Florida Digital Marketing Certificate Program and the Paid Search Association.

When Adam is not at work, he enjoys spending time with his family. He is married with 2 kids and a dog.

Mark Irvine

Director of Strategic Partnerships, Wordstream

Mark is chiefly responsible for creating WordStream’s data-driven industry research, analyzing data and spotting trends within over 30,000 Google, Bing, and Facebook ad accounts. 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. Mark was recently named the most influential PPC expert of 2019 by both PPC Hero and Microsoft.

Tanner Sifferath

Digital Marketing Manager, Carsforsale.com

Tanner is a digital marketing manager at Carsforsale.com, a national car advertising website and marketing software provider to over 22,000 car dealerships. At Carsforsale.com, Tanner drives search engine optimization and digital marketing initiatives to grow traffic and market share. As a passionate digital marketer and adjunct instructor at the University of South Dakota, Tanner strives to spread SEO and digital marketing knowledge to students and marketing professionals.

Kaitlyn Martinez

Interactive Developer, Click Rain

Kaitlyn received her bachelor’s degree in web design and production from Dakota State University. After graduation, she stayed on at DSU to complete a master’s degree in information systems and an MBA. In addition to her extensive education, she has experience in a wide range of dev projects, from CMS builds to standard front-end development.