Speakers

WordCamp Cape Town 2011 Speaker Bios

WordCamp Cape Town 2011 will offer 2 tracks of talks and workshops, each offering sessions hosted by some of the most interesting WordPress professionals around.

The tracks are:

  • Publisher Track – This track will focus on the role of content in WordPress Web development, including blogging, content creation, content management and content strategy.
  • Tech/Development – The development track will be focused on the more technical aspects of developing with WordPress, including Plugins, User Interface design and scalability.

There are slots for 20 speakers to deliver their presentations. Presentations should be 30 – 45min long and there will be a short Q&A session after each talk.

Adii Pienaar

I’m an entrepreneur at heart and as co-founder at WooThemes, I’ve cultivated a semi-obsession with business models, branding, optimization & anything that could lead to a good ‘ol strategic conversation. See his website. Follow him on Twitter and Flickr.

Ashley Shaw

Owner of LightSpeed a WordPress Development company with focus is on building magazine websites that require eCommerce, social networking, forums, blogging and social media integration. He is so passionate about WordPress that he decided to organise the 2011 WordCamp Cape Town event. On the rare occasion that Ashley isn’t online, he is probably trail running and biking the mountains or spending time with friends. Follow him on FacebookPlusTwitter, & LinkedIn.

Byron Rode

Recently co-founded Tangram, a full service development and design agency. Loving Father and Husband. Professional Photographer. Web & Mac Developer. Tattoo Canvas. Fluent in WordPress, jQuery, and PHP. Lover of all things Apple. Follow him on Facebook, PlusTwitter, & LinkedIn.

Charl Norman

Charl Norman is a web entrepreneur behind local social networks Blueworld and Zoopedup, he also owns a network of leading blogs including Car Blogand Bandwidth Blog, writes for tech and auto publications such as Leadership mag, guest lectures at UCT/CPUT and does the occasional public speaking event. See his website. Follow him on Facebook, PlusTwitter, & LinkedIn.

Craig Strachan

Craig starting programming on the Apple 2 +, and has been immersed in software development since then. He has worked several large and small websites, including woolworths.co.za, santam.co.za and oldmutual.com. Currently, he runs and hosts over 30 WordPress websites for clients, as well as running how own own personal blogs on the WordPress platform. See his website. Follow him on FacebookPlusTwitter, & LinkedIn.

Dan Milward

Dan Milward is an Open Source advocate, avid game creator, owner of Instinct and WordPress evangelist based out of Wellington, New Zealand.

Dan runs the Open Source WordPress e-Commerce Plugin, a software solution that people use to create their own online shops where they can sell their products online. The WP e-Commerce Plugin allows people to sell both digital and tangible goods online and has had over 1.5M downloads – meaning that there WordPress e-Commerce experience is unparalleled. Follow him on FacebookPlusTwitter, & LinkedIn.

David Perel

26 yrs old, co-founder of Obox. Ex-racing driver and keen designer. Didn’t go to University, self taught in coding, design and business. See his website. Follow him on FacebookPlusTwitter, & LinkedIn.

Fred Roed

Fred is currently the CEO of digital marketing agency World Wide Creative, with clients such as Virgin Mobile, Old Mutual, Fancourt, Exclusive Books, Democratic Alliance and HSRC, and is also the co-founder of The Heavy Chef Project, dedicated to demystifying digital marketing. Fred is obsessed with brand strategy and digital media – with side habits of pizza, Hawaiian shirts, movies, Danish beer and fine wine. Fred also happens to do a mean version of ‘Angie’ by the Rolling Stones at 3am in any randomly selected Korean karaoke joint (there’s a video somewhere on YouTube). See his website.Follow him on Facebook, Plus, Twitter, & LinkedIn.

Jason Bagley

Entrepreneur, blogger and co-founder of Whitespace, a boutique design agency. Passionate about design, typography, mobile, business, internet startups and football! Jason helped organise the 1st WordCamp in South Africa and he simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity to speak at the 2nd WordCamp. See his website. Follow him on Facebook, Plus, Flickr, Twitter, & LinkedIn.

Jeffikus Pearce

Most know me as Jeffikus. I’m a lead developer at WooThemes where I focus on PHP and JQuery. I have a background of web application development and WordPress customization. I pre-dominantly work on the engine behind all our 95+ themes – theWoo-Framework. Code is beautiful. See his website. Follow him on FacebookPlusTwitter, & LinkedIn.

Jess Green

Jess is an avid WordPress user (not developer), running a number of websites focusing on immigration to South Africa and group buying. His main aim is focus on niche industries where customer service is lacking, building top quality WordPress sites. Follow him on Plus, Twitter, & LinkedIn.

Joe Botha

Joe Botha is the CEO of TrustFabric, a Cape Town based startup which is building a new fabric for business relationships, giving individuals control over their personal information.

Joe has a successful track record of starting and running companies in the telecommunications industry; two ISPs: Frogfoot Networks and Amobia Communications and South Africa’s first vendor neutral data centre provider: Teraco Data Environments.

He studied Industrial Engineering and Computer Science at Stellenbosch University and worked as Senior Systems Engineer at Amazon.com. To relax he takes photos, enjoys hiking and spends time with Mia: his 5 year old daughter.

His WordPress blogs:

  • Swingeek
  • Joebotha
  • Trustfabric
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    Jonathan Duguid – MC

    Social Media Manager & Publicist. Writer/Crit [@ReviewMe @10and5 @UCTRadio]. Theatre Lover. Radio Host, Arts/Lifestyle Editor & Brand Manager [@UCTRadio]. See his website. Follow him on FacebookPlusTwitter, & LinkedIn.

    Marc Perel

    WordPress, Coldfusion, php, jQuery Developer and co-owner of Obox Themes. Keen runner and cyclist. See his website. Follow him on FacebookPlusTwitter, & LinkedIn.

    Matt Geri

    Adventurous web and mobile developer, also chief geek at WPGeeks. Co-author of the WordPress plugin called MobilePress which turns WordPress blogs into mobile blogs. See his website. Follow him on FacebookPlusTwitter, & LinkedIn.

    Neil Pursey

    Neil is the owner of WebGrowth, co-partner in ThinkSEO and co-partner in the GROW Academy. He is passionate about search and website usability. He discovered SEO by chance in a previous business of his, realising the need for SEO skills in South Africa he founded WebGrowth in 2006. He has a deep desire for helping businesses succeed through search marketing as well as education & social development. He came across WordPress in 2008 and has never personally built a website in anything else besides it since then. Follow him on FacebookPlusTwitter, & LinkedIn.

    Nur Ahmad Furlong

    I develop Communications which are “Human Centric” in other words, facilitating the new ways people are starting to interact and communicate by helping companies speak to people in their own language.

    I have been involved with Graphic/Web Design, XHTML Development, CSS coding, Brand Development, Conceptual & Strategic Development, Animation, Illustration & Information Architecture. I design & conceptualise for both printed or electronic media.. See his website. Follow him on Facebook, PlusTwitter, & LinkedIn.

    Oluniyi D. Ajao

    Oluniyi is an Internet Entrepreneur and technology enthusiast based in West Africa. He is a leading blogger in Africa and has been using WordPress for his personal blog since 2005. He manages Web4Africa Ltd, a web design & hosting company in Ghana. See his website or follow him on Facebook, Plus, Twitter, & LinkedIn.

    Rafiq Phillips

    See his biography or see his website . Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

    Roy Foubister

    Roy, started his career life as a network engineer in South Africa then moving to Botswana. A natural progression happened as he moved from networks to servers after gaining an “old school” MCSE qualification while managing the Barloworld Botswana infrastructure. The MCSE life was short lived once Linux was in the mix, Opensource was the way forward! After meeting his wife in Botswana, Roy moved to Cape Town. Once in Cape Town, Roy realized that his hobby was actually a skill and started osOutsource. The business developed a number of web sites, mainly for channel partners. In early 2008 he was asked to look after the keo.co.za rugby blog. Roy now applies his skill as CTO at FormFunction with a dynamic team of people. Follow him on Facebook & Twitter.