Speakers

Panel moderated by SMC Chicago President, Jeff Willinger of RightPoint

Drew Metherd is senior marketing manager at Morningstar.  Drew is responsible for syndication, search marketing, and social media efforts resulting in incremental traffic and revenue to Morningstar.com.  He joined Morningstar in May of 2008, after ten years of online marketing and development with American Express and GE.  Drew’s current social media focus includes finding ways to make existing and new content more social, as well as discovering ways to increase Morningstar.com traffic and registrations via social projects.

Leslie Banks   

Leslie Banks is director of marketing for the Financial Communications Business at Morningstar. Banks is responsible for developing and executing the marketing strategy for advisor events, including the Annual Morningstar Investment Conference; advisor media: MorningstarAdvisor.com, Morningstar Advisor magazine; investor events, including the Annual Morningstar Stocks Forum, and Morningstar books for investors.  A champion for social media within the organization, Banks has spearheaded the social media strategy for the financial communications business.  In 2009, Banks was featured among the 12 financial Twitterers worth following by SmartMoney.com. Link: http://www.smartmoney.com/Investing/Economy/Tweet-This-12-Financial-Pundits-To-Follow-on-Twitter/?page=12

Shannon Paul

Shannon Paul began exploring social media as a university student, when she created a course of independent study dedicated to examining the impact of social media on mass communication. Shannon quickly established herself in the field of public relations as a resource for her colleagues on adapting traditional outreach practices for online communities using social media. Shannon writes articles, participates in several online communities, speaks and blogs at VeryOfficialBlog.com, a blog listed in the Advertising Age Power 150.

Shannon created and implemented the social media strategy for the NHL Detroit Red Wings and continues to work as a social media strategist and community manager for the financial services company, PEAK6 Online, parent company of online brokerage, OptionsHouse.

She was named one of Chris Brogan’s Top 8 Marketing Bloggers to Watch in 2009. She has been a speaker at SXSW Interactive, Blog World Expo, Module Midwest Digital Conference, Podcamp Michigan and several others.