Conference Speakers

Sam Addeo is a New York native and urbanist based in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Her work focuses on the creative intersection between the processes and pressures of urbanization and the culture of urban life.

Sam is currently working on issues related to open access, museum tech, and digital archives in New York City, the Hudson Valley and beyond as the Director of Community and Development at Urban Archive.

She holds an M.A. in Urban Affairs and has previously worked with...Read more

Mr. Allen’s business provides software development and consulting services, specializing in SAP technology. Mr. Allen has worked in all facets of the software development business at many local companies for over ten years. He has also taught Introduction to Advanced Business Application Programming at SUNY Polytechnic Institute as an Adjunct Lecturer. Mr. Allen has Masters in Engineering Management, as well as a Masters in Systems and Information Science, from Syracuse University. He has a...Read more

As founder and CEO of Technically Creative, Inc., Danielle orchestrates successful partnerships and projects through organization, innovation, and a little bit of magic. She holds an MBA in IT Business Management, has been a featured speaker at Own It! Entrepreneurial Women’s Conference and has steered the direction of Technically Creative for 15 years strong.

Technically Creative, Inc. is an IT services provider specializing in electronic communication surveillance, data loss...Read more

Propinquity Associates specializes in Knowledge Management and People Development. 

Before forming Propinquity Associates, Dennis Barnett worked for Champion International Corporation as a Director of Technology and Knowledge Transfer focusing in on Knowledge Management, Competitive Intelligence, Intellectual Property Management, Intellectual Capital Management, Idea Generation and other aspects of Organizational Development.

He served as a Vice President for the New York City...Read more

Deana Burke is the founder of Gracias, a mission-driven startup working to bring Bitcoin to young women and teens from diverse backgrounds. Before founding Gracias, Deana was co-founder at strategic consulting firm Agency of Trillions, which was acquired by Indiegogo in 2017. Deana Burke is also co-founder of CO, a co-working space in Rhinebeck built on a co-operative, community ownership philosophy.Read more

Casey works as the library sustainability coordinator at the Mid-Hudson library system, where he supports 66 member libraries in building their capacity to serve their communities. He has worked in libraries large and small as a clerk, librarian, director, and assistant director, and he loves finding new ways for libraries to support their communities.Read more

Sean Dague has been an Open Source developer for most of his professional life. He’s worked on numerous Open Source projects over the years including SystemImager, OpenHPI, Xen, OpenSim, NFS Ganesha, and OpenStack.

In 2003 he created HV Open, which runs a monthly lecture series on open technology topics. It serves the Hudson Valley of New York state.

He is currently part of the Quantum Computing team at IBM, building the software that makes IBM'...Read more

Ms. Daverington is a cryptoasset manager, cryptocurrency miner and founder of a boutique law practice, Daverington PLLC, that advises clients on crypto asset investing and regulatory compliance for decentralized finance. Ms. Daverington began her career as an Associate in the Derivatives practice group at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in New York. In later roles gained extensive experience supporting the derivatives, FX,...Read more

Bill Fioravanti joined the Orange County community in 1999 when he relocated with Frontier Communications from the Capital District area. 

A champion of youth development, Bill entered the non-profit world in 2004 as Executive Director of the Town of Wallkill Boys & Girls Clubs, which he led through a period of dramatic growth in Orange and Sullivan Counties. In 2009 he became Associate Executive Director for the YMCA of Middletown, leading the project to construct and launch...Read more

Peter Flood has over 30 years in the Media & Communication Industry. He is currently CEO & President of AIDA Content Management, Inc, a content management company offering media asset management and metadata solutions for all industries utilizing digital assets. Prior to starting AIDA Content Management, Flood served as VP of Finance and Business Development at Clippn, Inc. after two years at Zodiac Interactive working with Charter Communication to deploy their Cloud Guide on STB....Read more

James Hendler is the Director of the Institute for Data Exploration and Applications and the Tetherless World Professor of Computer, Web and Cognitive Sciences at RPI.  He also heads the RPI-IBM Center for Health Empowerment by Analytics, Learning and Semantics (HEALS).  Hendler has authored over 400 books, technical papers and articles in the areas of Semantic Web, artificial intelligence, agent-based computing and high-performance processing. One of the originators of the “Semantic Web,”...Read more

Eric Hinsdale is a knowledge management and information technology consultant. For the past three years he has worked for a boutique consulting firm helping organizations evaluate their information management practices and design solutions to make information more usable and secure. His prior experience includes twenty years working with academic technology, data management, and information systems in a variety of leadership positions in higher education.Read more

Michael Kealy is the Director of Technology in the Beacon City School District. The Beacon City School District is one of 57 small city school districts in New York State. Michael was one of 28 nationwide educators named as a 2018 CoSN Next Generation Leader Semi-Finalist. In 2018 he led the Coxsackie-Athens Central School District to the 1st place finish in the 2018 Digital District Survey Award sponsored by the Center For Digital Education (CDE) and the National School Boards Association (...Read more

Jordan Koschei is a product designer, developer, and writer living in Beacon. He’s currently the lead product designer at Spoke, a San Francisco-based enterprise AI startup, as well as the founding editor of Creative Hudson Valley. Jordan also runs Hudson Valley...Read more

For Annmarie Lanesey, Greane Tree Technology President, technology is a tool for innovation, community development, and empowerment.

Annmarie holds a Bachelor of Science in Electronic Art Media and Communication and a Master of Fine Arts in Integrated Electronic Arts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she received the RPI Founders Award of Excellence and a full scholarship to the Electronic Arts graduate program. Her creative work has won...Read more

Pat Meaney is a Senior Technical Staff Member and Master Inventor at IBM as the Chief Architect of IBM Z Memory. He was responsible for architecting and delivering the IBM Z RAIM memory subsystem and continues to be the lead architect for IBM Z Memory. Since joining IBM Poughkeepsie in 1986, Pat has held design, timing, and RAS leadership positions on the ES/9021 bipolar-based machines as well as the s390/System Z (Generations 4-15) CMOS systems. Mr. Meaney has achieved a twenty-sixth level...Read more

Mike Oates is the President and CEO of Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation (HVEDC), which recently announced plans to merge the Westchester County Association. HVEDC is the leading economic development agency for the seven-county region.

Prior to joining HVEDC, Oates was the Managing Partner for Bellefield Development Partners LLC, the developer of Bellefield at Historic Hyde Park in Dutchess County and an affiliate of T-Rex Capital Group, LLC. Bellefield is a $500 million...Read more

Adrian Pintilie has an experience of over 10 years in Drupal and he founded his own Drupal agency back in 2008.

Since then he has been a part of many innovative startups and the latest one being Openstory - a SaAs designed for Drupal.

He is an active member of the Drupal community with a born passion for IT.Read more

Vanessa  is an HR manager with an interest in building the most effective workforces possible. For over 10 years, she managed recruitment, onboarding and talent development. She believes a great company culture means happier employees and greater productivity. She is passionate about the Hudson valley as a wonderful place to live and work.  She is a Newburgh resident and looks forward to developing DocuWare as an employer of choice in the area. She believes the tech field is ever-evolving,...Read more

Kirk, a 25-year Woodstock resident, and for over 2 decades Kirk led technology consulting practices where he managed enterprise technology projects to optimized operations, data analytics and strategic planning for global organizations. 

Recently, Kirk led Woodstock’s Comprehensive Plan Project, the first plan adopted by the town board in 56 years. He now leads Woodstock’s Housing Committee. As an advisor for Luminary Media, Kirk has worked with teams for Bard College and RUPCO, and...Read more

Edward M. Shanker, is President of Meeting Tree Computer Corp., a Managed IT Department servicing small and medium size businesses in the Hudson Valley. As an MSP Meeting Tree Computer provides virtual CIO services and customized solutions for their clients using a combination of on premise and Cloud services and tools.

Prior to founding his business, Ed earned a Master of Science Degree and was an Associate Professor at Pace University where he taught Information Technology for over...Read more

John Sheehan is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Computer Science program coordinator at SUNY Ulster. His research interests include Healthcare Informatics, Medical Applications of Semantic Web Technologies, Software Engineering and Technical Entrepreneurship. Prior to joining SUNY Ulster he was founder and CEO of PrecisionCare, an electronic medical record software company in New Patlz, and an engineer and software development project manager at IBM Poughkeepsie. John received...Read more

Dr. Ludmila Smirnova is Professor of Education at Mount Saint Mary College, Newburgh, N.Y., where she has taught for the past 18 years. Previously, she was Dean of the prestigious School of Foreign Languages at the Volgograd State Pedagogical Institute in Russia. At the Mount, she offers courses in Psychology of Learning, Methods of Teaching and Teaching with Technology. She is widely recognized for her leadership in applying emerging Internet technologies to education. She has run numerous...Read more

Dr. Thomason holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering and worked in system software development for IBM for over 40 years.  He was elected a charter member of the IBM Academy of Technology.  He has taught at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Virginia Polytechnic Institute of Technology, and Oklahoma State University and began teaching at SUNY Ulster in 2013.Read more

Ken is the CEO and co-founder of Dot Blockchain Media, a company that has introduced a new music file technology architecture to modernize copyright management and media supply chains fit for the digital media age. Ken acts as an experienced independent investor and business advisor for music startups and artists, through his company Digital Daruma, with a specific focus on artist facing music and media...Read more