Adrian Tobey
I got involved in as part of my job description for digital marketing. Quickly it became apparent to me that I would need to know a lot more in order to deliver on the increasingly complex asks of clients. After spending a lot of time during off hours to perfect my knowledge, it became a hobby to work on a plugin called FormLift which began life as a custom job for a client, and then quickly grew into a passive income generator.
Contact
Website: https://www.trainingbusinesspros.com
Al Davis
Started out as a Product Manager for a hosting company, looking at various software to include.Started with b2/cafelog and followed it as it became WordPress and have been involved ever since.
Contact
Website: http://wpteach.com
Twitter: @adavis3105
Alan Lok
Alan Lok manages the cloud professional services team at Scalar Decisions. In his spare time, he helps SMB with CMS development (WordPress, Joomla, Liferay) and web stack performance tuning/analysis. He has previously managed DevOps and development teams. Alan has presented in the past at various WordCamps in North America on topics of performance optimization and scaling WordPress.
Contact
Website: http://wlx.ca
Twitter: @alan_lok
Andrea Middleton
I wanted to start a wine blog in 2006, and both my best friend and my husband suggested I use WordPress. I was hired in 2011 to manage the WordCamp program, and good gracious a lot has happened since then!
Contact
Website: https://andreamiddleton.blog/
Twitter: @andmiddleton
Ben Moore
Apart from personally tinkering with WordPress since 2010, I’ve been employed at WP Engine since the start of 2013. I’m currently a Business Intelligence Developer, and am passionate about bridging WordPress and the JavaScript (AngularJS) communities.
Contact
Website: http://skypress.io
Twitter: @bmo_tv
Brian Hogg
My first WordPress project was taking a Joomla! extension and converting it into a WP plugin, and I never looked back 🙂
Contact
Website: https://brianhogg.com
Twitter: @brianhogg
Brian Rotsztein
Brian is a passionate renaissance man whose enthusiasm as an experienced digital entrepreneur has shined since the 1990s. He keeps his professional life interesting by successfully multitasking between being a CEO, Internet marketing professional, conference speaker, author, professor, content creator, mentor, photographer, web designer, media guest (TV, radio, podcasts) and startup founder. His highly praised book, Content Marketing Ideas, is a complete guide to content creation and maintains an influential five-star rating on Amazon. He is in demand as the head of established brands such as Uniseo.com and RedstoneX.com, President of the Canadian Internet Marketing Association, Editor-in-chief of Citynet Magazine, Head of WordPress maintenance service WP Phone Support and Editor at The WP Crowd, among other accolades. Brian holds two Master’s degrees and has taught at McGill University and Boston College.
Contact
Website: http://www.rotsztein.com
Twitter: @brianrotsztein
Instagram: @brianrotsztein
Chris Yee
Chris is a web developer based in Toronto, Canada. He has over 10 years of web design and development experience. Since 2010 he has been using WordPress to build custom websites with delightful user experiences.
Outside of WordPress, Chris enjoys video games, all things disney and traveling around the world.
Contact
Website: https://chrisyee.ca/
Twitter: @cmyee
Christina Varro
I am a web professional with 15+ years experience, and nearly a decade of experience building and managing WordPress websites for clients through my freelance business – Varro Creative. I have spoken at several WordCamp events in Canada and the US, as well as presented to various WordPress groups across the country. I am excited to collaborate and share knowledge with others in the WordPress community.
Contact
Website: http://www.varrocreative.com
Twitter: @varrocreative
Conrad Hall
I started with WordPress in 2008 building my own site. Since then, I have written a book about site creation for copywriters, developed two blogs, a podcast and built several hundred sites for business owners.
Contact
Website: http://GettingHappyProject.com
Twitter: @conradauthor
David Bird
Creating my own business website forced me to learn WordPresss. I’ve never looked back.
Contact
Website: http://birdseyemarketing.com
Twitter: @birdseyemktg
David Mackey
I’m a Digital Marketing Consultant based in Kanata. I have 25+ years of experience building and supporting multi-tiered server applications and telecommunication systems. My recent programming and consulting experience includes six years of working with WordPress. I dream about reshaping the shopping experience with WordPress at https://modshopr.com.
I discovered WordPress in 2011 when I was looking for a better development framework for my first public website. Since then, WordPress has opened up into a full web application platform. I haven’t looked back since.
Contact
Website: https://modshopr.com
Twitter: @dbmackey
Drew Wilde
I work at Bluehost and run a WordPress site on the side for my 501c3.
Contact
Website: https://grassrootsshakespeare.com/
Twitter: @Drewbewilde
Gilles Gagnon
Gilles has had an eclectic career. He has been a programmer, network analyst, network administrator, musician, music composer and producer, video producer and web designer.
He has worked in the corporate world for some 15 years with another 15 years as a business owner and operator. He has a passion for delivering outstanding customer service.
When not tending to his clients, Gilles enjoys cycling, playing squash, traveling, reading, and public speaking.
Contact
gilles@gillesgagnon.com
http://trueconnectionsweb.com
http://trueconnectionsvideo.com
http://www.thewisdomspeakers.com
Guy Gentil
I’ve been a Project manager for a Press editorial company in Paris, in charge of the maintenance and updating of the WordPress website “la Gazette de communes”. I worked for 2 years as a project manager in a digital agency dedicated to WordPress on various projects (showcase websites, e-commerce, multilingue, media etc…).
I am also a freelancer who build WordPress websites, mainly for small companies and associations.
Contact
Website: http://www.betg-creation.com
Ian Forrest
Ian is a full-stack developer based out of Toronto. Currently he works at BiblioCommons, where he leads the development of a multi-site WordPress application used by public libraries in over twenty cities. He has also had some successful side projects including gradient-animator.com, a CSS generator for animated gradients, and shopfiller.com, an Amazon filler item finder for free shipping (that actually works in Canada). In his free time he enjoys watching old movies and playing softball.
Contact
Website: https://ianforrest.me/
Twitter: @ianforr
James Strang
I started using WordPress in 2007 after having 4 years of experience with website design. As I got to know the platform I started to specialize in WordPress. I operated a website design and technical consulting business for 5 years, and I now work at Sortable as the head of customer success. At Sortable I support large publishers who are monetizing websites, many of whom are using WordPress.
Contact
Jason Eke
Nearly ten years ago I started using WordPress as a CMS for my canoe building business.
I also started using video and published on Youtube, then shared the videos through my site and socially.
After a couple years I became one of the leading publishers in the canoe culture and was getting around 10,000 views per month.
I decided to put more effort into film and produced a short film “Canoe: Icon of the North” and interviewed some of Canada’s leaders in the canoe world (builders, instructors, Olympic Athletes, etc).
My views continued to increase and I now receive between 20-30,000 views per month.
Over the years my skills and knowledge of both WordPress and video have developed greatly. Now, I work full-time as a content creator and publisher.
I owe a lot of my success to WordPress.
Contact
Website: http://www.trailguidepictures.com
Twitter: @jasoneke
Jeremy Josey
I discovered WordPress about 3 years ago. I have been a developer for 15 years and have always created my own CMS’s once i saw wordpress and custom post types i knew it was time to make the move to WordPress.
Contact
Website: http://www.jeremyjosey.com
Twitter: @jeremyjosey
Jesse Emmanuel Rosario
I am a User Experience designer who specializes in building insightful, usable, and creative digital experiences. I started using WordPress right around 2008, documenting my teenage angst until I got tired and created a new one for chemistry class. I would soon use WordPress professionally in 2010 and have since built multilingual sites for small businesses and non-profits. My UX portfolio is built with WordPress and is my lifeline to the UX world today!
Contact
Website: http://jemrosario.com
Twitter: @jemrosario
John Centofanti
I own a small marketing agency and web design is a key part of our services. I’ve been fascinated by WordPress ever since we started using it in 2012. We exclusively use WordPress for all new sites today.
Contact
Website: http://www.creativestreammarketing.com
Twitter: @JohnCentofanti
John Gamboa
John is a Technical Success Manager in the Customer Experience team at WP Engine. He spent the better part of four years living in South Korea and China, where he worked as a technical editor, writer and web developer before returning to the U.S. and moving to Austin, Texas. His first WordPress blog was created in 2008 to keep track of his travels while studying abroad in Singapore. The rest, as they say, is history.
Contact
Website: https://jpgamboa.com
Twitter: jgamboa
Jonathan Perlman
Jonathan Perlman is an experienced web developer and teacher that works for Dawson College in Montreal, Quebec. He builds custom web solutions for the students, faculty and staff. Recently he’s been leveraging WordPress more and more to do the heavy lifting while focusing on the needs of the institution with custom themes and plugins. Some of his sites have been built for a select few whereas others are visited by 12,000+ applicants. Jonathan is also an instructor for Dawson’s Centre for Training and Development specializing in web technologies such as HTML & CSS, PHP and WordPress.
Contact
Website: https://jpurpleman.ca
Twitter: @jpurpleman
Jordan Quintal
I’ve been a WordPress Developer and Community Contributor since 2007.
I have a wealth of experience in the freelance world as well as running a small WordPress agency for a number of years.
Contact
Website: http://jordanwp.com
Twitter: @jordanwpcom
Joshua Wold
I got started in web design back in 2007, and at that time I began playing around with WordPress. Since then I’ve built, or worked with teams to build, WordPress related sites ranging from small blogs to enterprise platform solutions.
My background is in design. As such I apply that to whatever work I’m doing; whether that’s building a website, writing product requirements a Product Owner, or contributing to Core related tickets.
I love to run, read, and sketch. My wife and I live with our two kiddos in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and absolutely love it here!
Contact
Website: http://joshuawold.com
Twitter: joshuawold
Matthew Graham
Started as a blogger, moved to development after going back to school.
Contact
Website: https://mattgraham.ca
Twitter: @themattyg
Michelle Ames
Was introduced to WordPress when I started an organization with a friend. Her husband built a site for us and made us learn how to use it. Since then I’ve built over 250 sites, coordinate the Rochester, NY meetups and WordCamp Rochester. I <3 WordPress.
Contact
Website: https://marketedbymichelle.com
Twitter: @michelleames
Mike Pun
I have been a technologist and product builder for uncounted years. Over those years, I lead teams building products for businesses such as automotive dealerships, pharmacies, and other owner operated businesses.
Locol Media is a digital signage company that does it differently. We are a content distribution system that allows web site builders to leverage their web site work for in-store and mobile content distribution. We also use WordPress ourselves to power some of our applications, such as our gamification capabilities.
My technology journey started with assembly language programming on mainframes (showing my age), through time spent building enterprise systems, then over to web and mobile apps. Lately though, I seem to be spending a lot of time around our WordPress integration efforts, but also working through an obsession with Deep Learning and artificial intelligence.
Contact
Website: http://www.locol.media
Neha Patel
I am a Web Developer and Designer by profession, an Artist and an Entrepreneur at heart. I am a WordPress Enthusiast. I run and operate a Business of my own in Montreal, Canada and work at a multi million dollar marketing firm as a Digital projects specialist. I like how WordPress is such an amazing platform to build great things and how millions of people can use it to achieve their passion with a little bit of dedication. Also, I mentor at a non profit organization called Ladies learning code and other such organizations that make a difference.
Contact
Website: https://www.web247.solutions/
Twitter: @kpatelneha23
Paul Bearne
I am a freelance senior WordPress full stack developer. I live and work in Southern Ontario, Canada, serving both a local and an international client base.
I discovered WordPress in 2006 when asked to explore the use of collaborative tools internally for a multinational corporation, setting up a 200+ multi-blog site using WPMU on IIS7. As part of this project, I created my first plugin, Author Avatars which now has 10,000+ active installs.
From this point on, the community, the flexibility and the velocity of WordPress has made it the platform of choice for my work.
I specialize in creating highly performant scalable, accessible and SEO friendly code (plugins and themes) for large WordPress sites that are often multi-site, multi-language, VIP and/or e-commerce.
I have made core commits in 3.9, 4.0, 4.2, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6 and 4.7 and lead the virtual meetup, [Contrib2Core](http://www.meetup.com/WPToronto/events/232050203/).
I also continue to support my growing [list of plugins](https://profiles.wordpress.org/pbearne/#content-plugins ) and the wider WordPress community.
Contact
Website: http://bearne.ca/
Twitter: @pbearne
Paul Tobey
For the past several years, speaker, author & business leader Paul Tobey has shared the stage with the world’s best motivational speakers & thought leadership gurus including: Gary Vaynerchuk, Simon Sinek, Seth Godin, Brian Tracy, Lisa Nichols, Sandra Yancey, Brian Klemmer, Rob Riopel, Jay Baer, Clate Mask & a host of others.
So, why is it that some people are not that familiar with him? Because, while he ranks among the world’s best motivational speakers, he spends most of his time building a thriving Digital Marketing Agency and Training Company. And that’s a good thing for your event because he doesn’t just talk about success, he is actually super successful in his own business.
Paul Tobey is an expert digital marketing trainer, best-selling author, thought leader, online marketer, engaging Speaker, Infusionsoft Award Winning Certified Partner and CEO of Training Business Pros, one of Canada’s leading digital marketing training and implementation companies. He has appeared
on countless stages and interviews across North America.
He’s been featured and interviewed on CTV, CBC, 680 News, City TV, Japan Times, Toronto Star, Globe & Mail, Montreal Gazette to name just a few.
Paul’s subject matter for his keynotes, breakout sessions and training is diverse, as he is knowledgeable and experienced in a great many areas. His presentations are always engaging because he uses an advanced form of NLP and Suggestology; the subject of his best-selling book “Suggestology.” What does that mean? People actually have fun and actually learn real-world skills.
Contact
Website: http://www.trainingbusinesspros.com
Remy Perona
I’m currently the lead developer of WP Rocket, a commercial caching plugin created by WP Media. Previously I was a freelance WordPress websites & themes developer.
I’m also a speaker at WordCamps & WordPress related events.
Contact
Website: https://remyperona.ca
Twitter: @remyperona
Robin Macrae
I started with WordPress in 2008 building a site to use in an SEO consulting business. I’ve been involved in the WPTO Meetup since 2010 and currently am a co-organizer of the WordPress Pros sub-group. I build sites and apps and do consulting work in content marketing, SEO and page speed optimization.
Contact
Website: http://workspacebuilders.com/
Twitter: @Robin_Macrae
Rodrigo Donini
I worked as a developer remotely for 8 years exclusively with WordPress, working on different projects from the simplest to the most complex for clients around the world.
Contact
Website: http://donini.me/en
Twitter: @donini
Sam Lalonde
Sam is a Senior Campaign Manager and Strategist @ Bloom Search Marketing. Over the last 6+ years, he has managed advertising campaigns in some of the most competitive spaces on the internet. Sam is a trusted advisor to his clients and loves pushing the ad platforms to their breaking point.
Contact
Website: https://www.makeitbloom.com/
Twitter: @sam_lalonde
Shannon Smith
I had just finished grad school, and underemployed with plenty of time on my hands, I built my own server using an old laptop. Then I set it up as a private collaborative blogging and photo sharing system for my friends and family. This was pre-MAMP, so I just built up each level starting with Apache, and ending with WordPress. This was before Flickr, and Facebook, but what I built was an all-in-one system to communicate and share info. I chose WordPress because, at the time, it was the only system that could integrate with all the pieces I wanted to use (photo gallery, forum, wiki, etc.). Also that Kubrick theme was pretty hot!
Contact
Website: http://www.cafenoirdesign.com
Twitter: @cafenoirdesign
Shanta Nathwani
Shanta is a full-stack web developer and educator in web design. She has spent the last five years at Sheridan College heading up the Web Design and Capstone track for the CCIT program.
She is a recent graduate of the Full-Time Web Development program at BrainStation in Toronto. Her latest project, An Affordable REST, helps people find subsidized housing based on need instead of location.
Shanta has attended 30 WordCamps (including this one) and spoken at 26 of them, and co-organized four WordCamps (Milwaukee, Hamilton and Toronto). She is a regular speaker at DevTO, has spoken at FITC Web Unleashed and Bifrost Conf and is scheduled to speak at Full Stack Conference Toronto, 2017.
Contact
Website: http://shanta.ca
Twitter: @ShantaDotCa
Tamara MacDuff
I began using WordPress as a blog many moons ago. I transitioned into using it as my website a few years ago – and I haven’t looked back. Now, I am in the process of re-branding and will be using my WordPress theme to update and create my new website. I have been a speaker at several WordCamps: Toronto, Buffalo, & Rochester and have spoken on topics such as content creation and SEO.
Contact
Twitter: @TamaraMacDuff1
Tom Whitaker
I’m the founder and CEO of Harness Software. I started building simple WordPress-powered websites in 2009. I’d never written a single line of code before that. When I was asked by a construction company client to create a solution for managing health & safety information, I used what I knew….WordPress. Today our application is used daily by over 5000 contractors across North America and we’re still powered by WordPress.
Contact
Website: https://www.harnessup.com
Adrian Tobey
I got involved in as part of my job description for digital marketing. Quickly it became apparent to me that I would need to know a lot more in order to deliver on the increasingly complex asks of clients. After spending a lot of time during off hours to perfect my knowledge, it became a hobby to work on a plugin called FormLift which began life as a custom job for a client, and then quickly grew into a passive income generator.
Contact
Website: https://www.trainingbusinesspros.com
Al Davis
Started out as a Product Manager for a hosting company, looking at various software to include.Started with b2/cafelog and followed it as it became WordPress and have been involved ever since.
Contact
Website: http://wpteach.com
Twitter: @adavis3105
Alan Lok
Alan Lok manages the cloud professional services team at Scalar Decisions. In his spare time, he helps SMB with CMS development (WordPress, Joomla, Liferay) and web stack performance tuning/analysis. He has previously managed DevOps and development teams. Alan has presented in the past at various WordCamps in North America on topics of performance optimization and scaling WordPress.
Contact
Website: http://wlx.ca
Twitter: @alan_lok
Andrea Middleton
I wanted to start a wine blog in 2006, and both my best friend and my husband suggested I use WordPress. I was hired in 2011 to manage the WordCamp program, and good gracious a lot has happened since then!
Contact
Website: https://andreamiddleton.blog/
Twitter: @andmiddleton
Ben Moore
Apart from personally tinkering with WordPress since 2010, I’ve been employed at WP Engine since the start of 2013. I’m currently a Business Intelligence Developer, and am passionate about bridging WordPress and the JavaScript (AngularJS) communities.
Contact
Website: http://skypress.io
Twitter: @bmo_tv
Brian Hogg
My first WordPress project was taking a Joomla! extension and converting it into a WP plugin, and I never looked back 🙂
Contact
Website: https://brianhogg.com
Twitter: @brianhogg
Brian Rotsztein
Brian is a passionate renaissance man whose enthusiasm as an experienced digital entrepreneur has shined since the 1990s. He keeps his professional life interesting by successfully multitasking between being a CEO, Internet marketing professional, conference speaker, author, professor, content creator, mentor, photographer, web designer, media guest (TV, radio, podcasts) and startup founder. His highly praised book, Content Marketing Ideas, is a complete guide to content creation and maintains an influential five-star rating on Amazon. He is in demand as the head of established brands such as Uniseo.com and RedstoneX.com, President of the Canadian Internet Marketing Association, Editor-in-chief of Citynet Magazine, Head of WordPress maintenance service WP Phone Support and Editor at The WP Crowd, among other accolades. Brian holds two Master’s degrees and has taught at McGill University and Boston College.
Contact
Website: http://www.rotsztein.com
Twitter: @brianrotsztein
Instagram: @brianrotsztein
Chris Yee
Chris is a web developer based in Toronto, Canada. He has over 10 years of web design and development experience. Since 2010 he has been using WordPress to build custom websites with delightful user experiences.
Outside of WordPress, Chris enjoys video games, all things disney and traveling around the world.
Contact
Website: https://chrisyee.ca/
Twitter: @cmyee
Christina Varro
I am a web professional with 15+ years experience, and nearly a decade of experience building and managing WordPress websites for clients through my freelance business – Varro Creative. I have spoken at several WordCamp events in Canada and the US, as well as presented to various WordPress groups across the country. I am excited to collaborate and share knowledge with others in the WordPress community.
Contact
Website: http://www.varrocreative.com
Twitter: @varrocreative
Conrad Hall
I started with WordPress in 2008 building my own site. Since then, I have written a book about site creation for copywriters, developed two blogs, a podcast and built several hundred sites for business owners.
Contact
Website: http://GettingHappyProject.com
Twitter: @conradauthor
David Bird
Creating my own business website forced me to learn WordPresss. I’ve never looked back.
Contact
Website: http://birdseyemarketing.com
Twitter: @birdseyemktg
David Mackey
I’m a Digital Marketing Consultant based in Kanata. I have 25+ years of experience building and supporting multi-tiered server applications and telecommunication systems. My recent programming and consulting experience includes six years of working with WordPress. I dream about reshaping the shopping experience with WordPress at https://modshopr.com.
I discovered WordPress in 2011 when I was looking for a better development framework for my first public website. Since then, WordPress has opened up into a full web application platform. I haven’t looked back since.
Contact
Website: https://modshopr.com
Twitter: @dbmackey
Drew Wilde
I work at Bluehost and run a WordPress site on the side for my 501c3.
Contact
Website: https://grassrootsshakespeare.com/
Twitter: @Drewbewilde
Gilles Gagnon
Gilles has had an eclectic career. He has been a programmer, network analyst, network administrator, musician, music composer and producer, video producer and web designer.
He has worked in the corporate world for some 15 years with another 15 years as a business owner and operator. He has a passion for delivering outstanding customer service.
When not tending to his clients, Gilles enjoys cycling, playing squash, traveling, reading, and public speaking.
Contact
gilles@gillesgagnon.com
http://trueconnectionsweb.com
http://trueconnectionsvideo.com
http://www.thewisdomspeakers.com
Guy Gentil
I’ve been a Project manager for a Press editorial company in Paris, in charge of the maintenance and updating of the WordPress website “la Gazette de communes”. I worked for 2 years as a project manager in a digital agency dedicated to WordPress on various projects (showcase websites, e-commerce, multilingue, media etc…).
I am also a freelancer who build WordPress websites, mainly for small companies and associations.
Contact
Website: http://www.betg-creation.com
Ian Forrest
Ian is a full-stack developer based out of Toronto. Currently he works at BiblioCommons, where he leads the development of a multi-site WordPress application used by public libraries in over twenty cities. He has also had some successful side projects including gradient-animator.com, a CSS generator for animated gradients, and shopfiller.com, an Amazon filler item finder for free shipping (that actually works in Canada). In his free time he enjoys watching old movies and playing softball.
Contact
Website: https://ianforrest.me/
Twitter: @ianforr
James Strang
I started using WordPress in 2007 after having 4 years of experience with website design. As I got to know the platform I started to specialize in WordPress. I operated a website design and technical consulting business for 5 years, and I now work at Sortable as the head of customer success. At Sortable I support large publishers who are monetizing websites, many of whom are using WordPress.
Contact
Jason Eke
Nearly ten years ago I started using WordPress as a CMS for my canoe building business.
I also started using video and published on Youtube, then shared the videos through my site and socially.
After a couple years I became one of the leading publishers in the canoe culture and was getting around 10,000 views per month.
I decided to put more effort into film and produced a short film “Canoe: Icon of the North” and interviewed some of Canada’s leaders in the canoe world (builders, instructors, Olympic Athletes, etc).
My views continued to increase and I now receive between 20-30,000 views per month.
Over the years my skills and knowledge of both WordPress and video have developed greatly. Now, I work full-time as a content creator and publisher.
I owe a lot of my success to WordPress.
Contact
Website: http://www.trailguidepictures.com
Twitter: @jasoneke
Jeremy Josey
I discovered WordPress about 3 years ago. I have been a developer for 15 years and have always created my own CMS’s once i saw wordpress and custom post types i knew it was time to make the move to WordPress.
Contact
Website: http://www.jeremyjosey.com
Twitter: @jeremyjosey
Jesse Emmanuel Rosario
I am a User Experience designer who specializes in building insightful, usable, and creative digital experiences. I started using WordPress right around 2008, documenting my teenage angst until I got tired and created a new one for chemistry class. I would soon use WordPress professionally in 2010 and have since built multilingual sites for small businesses and non-profits. My UX portfolio is built with WordPress and is my lifeline to the UX world today!
Contact
Website: http://jemrosario.com
Twitter: @jemrosario
John Centofanti
I own a small marketing agency and web design is a key part of our services. I’ve been fascinated by WordPress ever since we started using it in 2012. We exclusively use WordPress for all new sites today.
Contact
Website: http://www.creativestreammarketing.com
Twitter: @JohnCentofanti
John Gamboa
John is a Technical Success Manager in the Customer Experience team at WP Engine. He spent the better part of four years living in South Korea and China, where he worked as a technical editor, writer and web developer before returning to the U.S. and moving to Austin, Texas. His first WordPress blog was created in 2008 to keep track of his travels while studying abroad in Singapore. The rest, as they say, is history.
Contact
Website: https://jpgamboa.com
Twitter: jgamboa
Jonathan Perlman
Jonathan Perlman is an experienced web developer and teacher that works for Dawson College in Montreal, Quebec. He builds custom web solutions for the students, faculty and staff. Recently he’s been leveraging WordPress more and more to do the heavy lifting while focusing on the needs of the institution with custom themes and plugins. Some of his sites have been built for a select few whereas others are visited by 12,000+ applicants. Jonathan is also an instructor for Dawson’s Centre for Training and Development specializing in web technologies such as HTML & CSS, PHP and WordPress.
Contact
Website: https://jpurpleman.ca
Twitter: @jpurpleman
Jordan Quintal
I’ve been a WordPress Developer and Community Contributor since 2007.
I have a wealth of experience in the freelance world as well as running a small WordPress agency for a number of years.
Contact
Website: http://jordanwp.com
Twitter: @jordanwpcom
Joshua Wold
I got started in web design back in 2007, and at that time I began playing around with WordPress. Since then I’ve built, or worked with teams to build, WordPress related sites ranging from small blogs to enterprise platform solutions.
My background is in design. As such I apply that to whatever work I’m doing; whether that’s building a website, writing product requirements a Product Owner, or contributing to Core related tickets.
I love to run, read, and sketch. My wife and I live with our two kiddos in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and absolutely love it here!
Contact
Website: http://joshuawold.com
Twitter: joshuawold
Matthew Graham
Started as a blogger, moved to development after going back to school.
Contact
Website: https://mattgraham.ca
Twitter: @themattyg
Michelle Ames
Was introduced to WordPress when I started an organization with a friend. Her husband built a site for us and made us learn how to use it. Since then I’ve built over 250 sites, coordinate the Rochester, NY meetups and WordCamp Rochester. I <3 WordPress.
Contact
Website: https://marketedbymichelle.com
Twitter: @michelleames
Mike Pun
I have been a technologist and product builder for uncounted years. Over those years, I lead teams building products for businesses such as automotive dealerships, pharmacies, and other owner operated businesses.
Locol Media is a digital signage company that does it differently. We are a content distribution system that allows web site builders to leverage their web site work for in-store and mobile content distribution. We also use WordPress ourselves to power some of our applications, such as our gamification capabilities.
My technology journey started with assembly language programming on mainframes (showing my age), through time spent building enterprise systems, then over to web and mobile apps. Lately though, I seem to be spending a lot of time around our WordPress integration efforts, but also working through an obsession with Deep Learning and artificial intelligence.
Contact
Website: http://www.locol.media
Neha Patel
I am a Web Developer and Designer by profession, an Artist and an Entrepreneur at heart. I am a WordPress Enthusiast. I run and operate a Business of my own in Montreal, Canada and work at a multi million dollar marketing firm as a Digital projects specialist. I like how WordPress is such an amazing platform to build great things and how millions of people can use it to achieve their passion with a little bit of dedication. Also, I mentor at a non profit organization called Ladies learning code and other such organizations that make a difference.
Contact
Website: https://www.web247.solutions/
Twitter: @kpatelneha23
Paul Bearne
I am a freelance senior WordPress full stack developer. I live and work in Southern Ontario, Canada, serving both a local and an international client base.
I discovered WordPress in 2006 when asked to explore the use of collaborative tools internally for a multinational corporation, setting up a 200+ multi-blog site using WPMU on IIS7. As part of this project, I created my first plugin, Author Avatars which now has 10,000+ active installs.
From this point on, the community, the flexibility and the velocity of WordPress has made it the platform of choice for my work.
I specialize in creating highly performant scalable, accessible and SEO friendly code (plugins and themes) for large WordPress sites that are often multi-site, multi-language, VIP and/or e-commerce.
I have made core commits in 3.9, 4.0, 4.2, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6 and 4.7 and lead the virtual meetup, [Contrib2Core](http://www.meetup.com/WPToronto/events/232050203/).
I also continue to support my growing [list of plugins](https://profiles.wordpress.org/pbearne/#content-plugins ) and the wider WordPress community.
Contact
Website: http://bearne.ca/
Twitter: @pbearne
Paul Tobey
For the past several years, speaker, author & business leader Paul Tobey has shared the stage with the world’s best motivational speakers & thought leadership gurus including: Gary Vaynerchuk, Simon Sinek, Seth Godin, Brian Tracy, Lisa Nichols, Sandra Yancey, Brian Klemmer, Rob Riopel, Jay Baer, Clate Mask & a host of others.
So, why is it that some people are not that familiar with him? Because, while he ranks among the world’s best motivational speakers, he spends most of his time building a thriving Digital Marketing Agency and Training Company. And that’s a good thing for your event because he doesn’t just talk about success, he is actually super successful in his own business.
Paul Tobey is an expert digital marketing trainer, best-selling author, thought leader, online marketer, engaging Speaker, Infusionsoft Award Winning Certified Partner and CEO of Training Business Pros, one of Canada’s leading digital marketing training and implementation companies. He has appeared
on countless stages and interviews across North America.
He’s been featured and interviewed on CTV, CBC, 680 News, City TV, Japan Times, Toronto Star, Globe & Mail, Montreal Gazette to name just a few.
Paul’s subject matter for his keynotes, breakout sessions and training is diverse, as he is knowledgeable and experienced in a great many areas. His presentations are always engaging because he uses an advanced form of NLP and Suggestology; the subject of his best-selling book “Suggestology.” What does that mean? People actually have fun and actually learn real-world skills.
Contact
Website: http://www.trainingbusinesspros.com
Remy Perona
I’m currently the lead developer of WP Rocket, a commercial caching plugin created by WP Media. Previously I was a freelance WordPress websites & themes developer.
I’m also a speaker at WordCamps & WordPress related events.
Contact
Website: https://remyperona.ca
Twitter: @remyperona
Robin Macrae
I started with WordPress in 2008 building a site to use in an SEO consulting business. I’ve been involved in the WPTO Meetup since 2010 and currently am a co-organizer of the WordPress Pros sub-group. I build sites and apps and do consulting work in content marketing, SEO and page speed optimization.
Contact
Website: http://workspacebuilders.com/
Twitter: @Robin_Macrae
Rodrigo Donini
I worked as a developer remotely for 8 years exclusively with WordPress, working on different projects from the simplest to the most complex for clients around the world.
Contact
Website: http://donini.me/en
Twitter: @donini
Sam Lalonde
Sam is a Senior Campaign Manager and Strategist @ Bloom Search Marketing. Over the last 6+ years, he has managed advertising campaigns in some of the most competitive spaces on the internet. Sam is a trusted advisor to his clients and loves pushing the ad platforms to their breaking point.
Contact
Website: https://www.makeitbloom.com/
Twitter: @sam_lalonde
Shannon Smith
I had just finished grad school, and underemployed with plenty of time on my hands, I built my own server using an old laptop. Then I set it up as a private collaborative blogging and photo sharing system for my friends and family. This was pre-MAMP, so I just built up each level starting with Apache, and ending with WordPress. This was before Flickr, and Facebook, but what I built was an all-in-one system to communicate and share info. I chose WordPress because, at the time, it was the only system that could integrate with all the pieces I wanted to use (photo gallery, forum, wiki, etc.). Also that Kubrick theme was pretty hot!
Contact
Website: http://www.cafenoirdesign.com
Twitter: @cafenoirdesign
Shanta Nathwani
Shanta is a full-stack web developer and educator in web design. She has spent the last five years at Sheridan College heading up the Web Design and Capstone track for the CCIT program.
She is a recent graduate of the Full-Time Web Development program at BrainStation in Toronto. Her latest project, An Affordable REST, helps people find subsidized housing based on need instead of location.
Shanta has attended 30 WordCamps (including this one) and spoken at 26 of them, and co-organized four WordCamps (Milwaukee, Hamilton and Toronto). She is a regular speaker at DevTO, has spoken at FITC Web Unleashed and Bifrost Conf and is scheduled to speak at Full Stack Conference Toronto, 2017.
Contact
Website: http://shanta.ca
Twitter: @ShantaDotCa
Tamara MacDuff
I began using WordPress as a blog many moons ago. I transitioned into using it as my website a few years ago – and I haven’t looked back. Now, I am in the process of re-branding and will be using my WordPress theme to update and create my new website. I have been a speaker at several WordCamps: Toronto, Buffalo, & Rochester and have spoken on topics such as content creation and SEO.
Contact
Twitter: @TamaraMacDuff1
Tom Whitaker
I’m the founder and CEO of Harness Software. I started building simple WordPress-powered websites in 2009. I’d never written a single line of code before that. When I was asked by a construction company client to create a solution for managing health & safety information, I used what I knew….WordPress. Today our application is used daily by over 5000 contractors across North America and we’re still powered by WordPress.
Contact
Website: https://www.harnessup.com
