Amy has worked for the City of Suwannee for over 17 years. Amy's event team produces 25 events per year and hosts another 20 in their parks. Amy's events have won awards with the SFEA and she won Event Director of the Year in 2020.

Ayla Crippen is a Media Advertising Executive with over 20 years of experience. Her passion is helping marketers make efficient advertising decisions that drive results. She is a data expert that helps advertisers get results. Her expertise within the tourism industry has spanned over 10 years. Ayla lives in Atlanta with her husband, Richard, and their two children, Jack and Dash.

Holly joins Matt in their presentation. They are part of the team at SquareFrame Media, a full-service marketing agency located in Blue Ridge, Georgia. SquareFrame has clients in a variety of industries and has years of experience in marketing. In the complex and ever-changing digital landscape, their goal is simple:
to make marketing awesome.

Joseph’s adventurous spirit and vision helped craft Advance Travel and Tourism. And his passion for travel and adventure runs deep, starting back in college, when he adventured into Pisgah National Forrest for 36 days straight, backpacking down parts of the AT, learning about the land, navigation, and survival. His appetite and desire to seek out new places and experience life beyond the normal corporate standards, guides his approach to business and leadership. Be real.
Joseph’s profession career in digital marketing and media began over 17yrs ago and has been with Advance Local for over 10 yrs. He helped to lead and launch Advance Travel and Tourism, a team that focuses on destination marketing digital strategies. He is also a TMP, certified from Southeast Tourism Society and holds a BSBA with an emphasis in Marketing from Southern Miss.

Matt joins Holly for this presentation of Designing in Canva. They are part of the team at SquareFrame Media, a full-service marketing agency located in Blue Ridge, Georgia. SquareFrame has clients in a variety of industries and has years of experience in marketing. In the complex and ever-changing digital landscape, their goal is simple: to make marketing awesome.

An entrepreneur at heart, Tobie has combined her experience in marketing along with her passion for supporting small businesses to become the chief strategist of a marketing agency that specializes in social media management, CBT Digital.

Anne Poe is a Georgia native, currently living in Jefferson, Georgia with her husband Kevin. She has a Masters degree in Math Education and is a professor of mathematics for several universities.

Anne has been geocaching since February 2012. Since then, she has found over 35,000 geocaches and has hidden almost 400 caches of 13 cache types that have earned over 8,000 favorite points. She has found geocaches in all 50 states, as well as 36 other countries! In 2018, she was elected to the Georgia Geocachers Association Hall of Fame.

In 2014, she was responsible for creating the “Jackson County Heritage Trail” and in 2021, Anne partnered with the Jackson County Tourism board and a couple of her caching partners to create the “Jackson County Agritourism Geotrail” which turned into a MEGA event and one of the leading trails in the country. Thousands of people from 8 different countries have visited Jackson County to geocache which has contributed tremendously to the tourism dollars.

Brian is a digital marketer for the Jekyll Island Authority, joining the team in 2017. Blending his passions for storytelling and technology, he oversees digital marketing for Jekyll Island, including its social media presence. An award-winning photographer, Brian’s work has appeared in Travel + Leisure; O, The Oprah Magazine; and Atlanta magazine. The University of Georgia’s Grady College alumnus currently resides in the Golden Isles.

Ilke Lander is a serial entrepreneur with businesses in the fields of hospitality, martial arts, wellness, property management, wine industry, personal development, and business consulting. She has navigated many challenges and crises to thrive in business and life. Passion about conditioning, discipline and purpose, she talks about ways to dominate modern-day battles.

Judy Randall has spent more than 30 years “capturing the voice of the customer” in tourism research, destination development, teaching and consulting. She is President and CEO of Randall Travel Marketing,
Inc., and has conducted comprehensive research studies for over 150 small, medium and large destinations. Judy, along with Dr. Larry Gustke, co-authored the annual Top Ten Trends in Travel and
Tourism (published annually 1995-2019). Judy is one of the top speakers in the travel industry and has spoken at numerous U.S. and international travel conferences. Now, in “semi-retirement” Judy is
still serving clients, but on a part-time basis between traveling and world excursions! Email her at judy@RTMnet.com to contact her, or call 704-677-4442.

Mike Kiernan co-founded Panel Built, Inc, and as President, his primary focus is performing day-to-day management and executive decision making.

Panel Built is a prefabricated building, steel and architectural components manufacturing company
started in 1995. Kiernan grew up in the prefabricated industry, installing his first building at age 15. Since that time, he has performed and managed most every aspect of the pre-engineered and prefabricated building industry. His responsibilities include installation, general contracting, project management,
purchasing, designing, to include design-build projects, manufacturing and fabrication, human resources, sales and financial reporting and responsibility.

Panel Built has been in business for 28 years and serves several markets around the country and overseas. Panel Built’s mission is to solve their customer’s space needs with excellence and great service. Panel Built has six facilities and employs over 250 team members. Panel Built’s client list includes most every fortune 1000 industrial company in the US.

Kiernan also co-owns K-CON Building systems since 1989, a general contractor focusing on Government and commercial/industrial construction throughout the country. Additionally he co-owns Pat and Mike LLC, a real estate holding company. He also owns Pat and Mike K LLC a solar energy generation company.

Accomplishments:
Married to his College sweetheart and father of four children.
School Board Chairman, and other community boards
Active member in First Baptist Church of Blairsville, GA
Economic Development Authority Board member
Businessperson of the year 2018
Member 1988 National Championship Football Team, Furman University.

Ansley Connor has been a proud member of the tourism marketing world for the past four years and is currently the social media and content manager for Visit Savannah. In 2018, she graduated from Georgia College and State University with a Mass Communication degree. As a Savannah native, she is passionate
about producing authentic, valuable and aspirational content of her hometown. When she isn’t creating content and trying to make Savannah go viral, you can find her at an Orange Theory Fitness class, whipping up a new recipe or on a trip with her friends.

Connie serves as Community Development Director for the City of Toccoa and has been employed for more than 30 years. She coordinates planning, downtown development, Lake Toccoa event facilities and special projects.

Jay Markwalter, a native of Savannah, and his wife, Sumner, live in Augusta. They have two sons, Joe
and Hart. Markwalter serves as Executive Director the Georgia Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus (GACVB), the advocacy, education, and leadership development resource for our state’s destination marketing organizations and tourism industry professionals. He works with travel and hospitality industry partners to elevate Georgia’s tourism-driven economic development.

Prior to becoming the statewide organization’s director in 2018, Markwalter served as GACVB President
while representing the Augusta CVB team. He served as Director of Marketing Communications and
Director of Sales with the Augusta CVB from 2014 – 2018.

From 2004 – 2014, Markwalter led the tourism-based economic development efforts in Atlanta-metro
and the north Georgia mountains as the Tourism Director for Lawrenceville (2004-2011) and Dahlonega-
Lumpkin County (2011-2014).

In his career in downtown development and tourism, he has served on the Georgia Downtown Association and 13-State Southeast Tourism Society Board of Directors as well as several state and regional hospitality, arts, and economic development organizations. He is also a member of the Georgia Economic Developers Association (GEDA), Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Georgia Society of Association Executives (GSAE), Southeast Tourism Society (STS), Destinations International, and the U.S. Travel Association. Currently, he serves as State Chair for Georgia for the STS Congressional Summit on Travel and Tourism.

Julie Paysen has been President of Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce since 2014. She oversees the day-to-day operations of the Chamber, and is an advocate and community partner supporting commerce and tourism in the community.
Julie is a Georgia Certified Chamber Executive, a graduate of the U.S. Chamber Institute of Organization Management and the Georgia Academy for Economic Development. Julie is also the Georgia Film Liaison for Stephens County, home of 7 movies in the last eight years. Julie joins Connie Tabor in presenting the topic of the Economic Impact of the Entertainment District and the Film Industry.

Mike Robertson is the Vice President of Brand Partnerships and Director of Culture at
MediaOne North America. He is responsible for keeping the mission, vision and values of
MediaOne before the team, and providing digital media strategy and account management
services for clients in several states.

Mike was born in Texas but grew up in Rome, Ga, graduating from Berry College with a BA in
History. He also holds a Certificate of Master with a concentration in Biblical Studies from
Reformed Theological Seminary and a Digital marketing certificate from Cornell. He is Google ad
display certified, Google ad words certified and Stackadapt certified.

He trained under senior leadership at MediaOne and has won the 2021 Gold award for Digital
co-op for Bourbon partnership of Come Find Bourbon, and the 2022 Maryland Tourism award
for Best Digital campaign with Talbot County. He worked with clients from Texas to Florida and
as far north as Maine in the tourism and hospitality Industry. Mike has presented in front of the
state associations of CVB’s of Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Georgia on a range of topics.
Mike resides in the city of Atlanta, GA, with his wife and two sons.