Speaker: Scott McIntosh of Treehouse Digital
Scott McIntosh is President of DigitalTreehouse, a digital marketing agency based in Franklin, Tennessee, now focused on helping businesses harness AI for real-world efficiency gains. With 15+ years in digital marketing and SEO, including managing newsletter growth for more than 200 brands in publishing, Scott brings a unique perspective on how AI can strengthen, not replace, trusted media organizations. Before his marketing career, Scott served eight years as a Naval Aviation Officer with the U.S. Navy. He holds a BSBA from UNC Chapel Hill and an MBA from Lipscomb University.
Scott is the author of a book on SEO and publishes SmartOwner, a daily newsletter helping business owners cut through the AI hype and find practical applications that actually work. He specializes in showing non-technical teams how to use AI tools and automations to save hours each week while staying focused on what matters most: quality journalism and community trust.
Speaker: Ryan Dohrn of Brain Swell Media
Ryan Dohrn is the owner of Niche Media Events and the founder of media sales training firm Brain Swell Media. He has trained over 50,000 ad sales reps in 7 countries and the sales teams at over 30+ CRMA member titles. Ryan sells media every day and has been a part of over a BILLION dollars in media sales. He is a graduate of the Cornell Executive Leadership Program, and his 30-year media sales and marketing career includes leadership roles at Disney/ABC TV, Morris Publishing, PennWell Publishing, and The NY Times Company. He is an Emmy Award winner, multiple business book author and has been featured in USA Today and on Forbes.com.
Speaker: Bruce Pinchbeck of Letterhead
Bruce Pinchbeck is the Co-Founder and Head of Marketing at Letterhead. He has been an innovative figure in the media industry since he created a popular homework-help website at the age of nine. This website was featured on Oprah and Good Morning America. Before joining Letterhead, Bruce worked at New World Symphony and served as the Chief Creative Officer at WhereBy.Us. He has a rich background in creative direction and entrepreneurship. Bruce is also a National Geographic award winner who balances his professional life with a passion for community art projects.
Speaker: Shannon Kinney, Dream Local Digital
Dream Local Digital Founder and CEO Shannon Kinney brings more than 40 years of experience and more than 30 years of experience in leadership roles developing scalable digital marketing strategies to every speech she gives. She played a vital role in the development of such corporate giants as Cars.com, CareerBuilder.com, Knight Ridder Digital, LinkedIn, Google, eBay, and Microsoft until pivoting to found Dream Local Digital. Since Dream Local Digital’s creation in 2009, Shannon has helped media companies transform their business model and supported thousands of SMBs to develop and execute digital marketing strategies designed to grow and scale their businesses.
Speaker: Vatrice Chestnut of 10X Consulting LLC
Vatrice Chestnut is the founder of 10X Consulting LLC, where she helps leaders turn big goals into clear plans, aligned teams, and realistic workflows. Her work sits at the intersection of strategy, operations, and creative production, with a focus on using AI to support the people doing the work—not replace them.
With more than a decade of experience moving between vision and execution, Vatrice is known for translating complex ideas into simple, repeatable processes that real teams can use. She often uses a practical AI Strategist–Manager–Teacher–
Speaker: Meg Asby of PDX Parent
Meg Asby is the Digital Content Director at PDX Parent Magazine in Portland, Oregon, where she built the publication’s award-winning social media and short-form video strategy from the ground up. Under her leadership, PDX Parent earned Parenting Media Association Gold Awards for Best Use of Social Media, Overall Strategy, and Short-Form Video in 2024 and 2025, with reels reaching seven-figure view counts. Meg specializes in practical, sustainable social strategies that drive real audience growth and revenue.
Speaker: Natalie Sorge of NPS
Natalie Sorge is Chief Marketing + Growth Officer at NPS Media Group, a multi-channel marketing company helping publishers and subscription brands grow and succeed. With over 15 years of experience in the publishing industry (previously at Better Homes & Gardens), she uses her extensive industry knowledge to execute tailored digital marketing campaigns for 30+ clients, focusing on driving subscriptions, expanding audiences, and maximizing ROI. Under her leadership, her team has consistently delivered impactful results and forged strong partnerships within the industry.
Speaker: Patricia McGuinness of SBM Audience Development
Patricia McGuinness has been building better audiences for over 25 years. A self-proclaimed data nerd and experienced marketing strategist, she’s passionate about helping her clients use 1st-party data, analytics, traditional database management and innovative digital-first best practices to navigate the often bumpy road from legacy publishing company to digital-first and beyond.
Speaker: Kenny Katzgrau of BroadStreet
Kenny Katzgrau is the publisher of RedBankGreen and creator of Broadstreet, a company and ad manager that recently won the Local Media Association’s Best R&D Partner. Once an engineer at Mozilla and Yahoo, he fell into publishing, learned to sell, and took up the torch of helping RedBankGreen, an 18-year-old hyperlocal news outlet, stand for 100 years. He’s here to make sure other publishers stand for 100 years too–and the first step is taking marketing budgets back from Facebook and Google.
Speaker: David Arkin of David Arkin Consulting
David Arkin is a nationally recognized audience and digital strategy leader with more than 25 years of experience across journalism, media leadership, and consulting. He has served as a reporter, editor, executive, and advisor for newspapers, television stations, media associations, and news startups, helping organizations drive audience growth, develop new revenue streams, and modernize content, technology, and processes.
Most recently, David co-founded Check Out DFW, a local real estate and lifestyle site that reached more than 350,000 users in its first nine months and quickly became a leading revenue generator through a custom content marketing platform. A former Digital News Innovator of the Year honoree, David has led award-winning newsrooms and served on national industry boards, including the Associated Press Media Editors and the Local Media Association Foundation Board.
Speaker: Alex Mahdaven, Poynter Institute
Alex Mahadevan is director of MediaWise, Poynter’s digital media literacy project that teaches people of all ages how to spot misinformation online. As director, Alex oversees program and curriculum development, research and editorial content for MediaWise, which has reached more than 80 million people in 12 countries. Alex has taught media literacy to thousands of middle and high schoolers, and has trained hundreds of international journalists in verification and digital investigative tools. He follows and writes about the use of generative AI models in journalism and their potential to spread misinformation, and co-wrote Poynter’s AI ethics guide. Before becoming director at MediaWise, Alex was MediaWise program manager, and oversaw the launch of programs for college students and older adults. Prior to joining the staff at Poynter, Alex worked as a data journalist at the personal finance startup The Penny Hoarder. Alex also served as the news innovation editor at Observer Media Group.
Speaker: Don Harkey of People Centric Consulting Group
Don Harkey is sought after for his business insights in multiple industries. As a former engineer, Don brings a unique perspective to every organization he works with; he views every business as a machine and that machine is perfectly designed to get the results that it is currently getting. As the CEO of People Centric, Don loves to help people adjust their machine to produce better results. He is highly strategic, process driven and an engaging keynote speaker.
Speaker: Sabrina Sucato, Today Media
Sabrina Sucato is the associate digital publisher of Today Media, a family of lifestyle publications along the East Coast. With over a decade of experience in the industry, she oversees digital content, newsletters, social media, and websites for the company, as well as digital strategy and growth opportunities.
Speaker: Zach O’Brien, Active NorCal
Zach O’Brien is a media entrepreneur and content strategist with 15 years of experience spanning editorial, sales, marketing, and social media. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of Active NorCal, a leading Northern California outdoor and lifestyle media brand, and the creator of The SacraMemo, a newly launched media brand covering Sacramento’s business and creative scene.
Zach has worked with and spoken at the Niche Media Conference for more than a decade, produces industry content and runs social strategy for AIN Media Group, and runs Stonethrow Media, a content marketing agency helping brands and media companies grow audiences and revenue through smart storytelling and distribution.
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