Speakers

2012 Conference Speakers

Chelle Bize

Thirty years media experience and human resource related organizations have contributed to the knowledge and expertise of Classified veteran, Chelle Bize. Bize’s career has stretched from the west coast to the east coast. She has held media positions in Colorado, Oregon, Washington, New Jersey and now, Nevada. Ms. Bize has served on several national media industry boards as well as recruitment specific organizations. She is a member of NAA, SHRM, SNHRA, and the Nevada Staffing Association. She is a board member of Southern Nevada Workforce Connections and is on the Advisory Council for USVets.org. In 2011 she received her basic Human Resource Certification from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.

Ms. Bize is currently the General Classified and Recruitment Manager at the Las Vegas Review Journal and LVRJ.com where she manages 20+ job boards, career events and print publications.  She, her husband, Chet and their two cocker spaniels have lived in Las Vegas for eight years.

Vince Coultis

Vince Coultis, Sales Training and Development Manager for The McClatchy Company, has been delivering his enthusiasm and passion for the newspaper business for more than 25 years. With a varied background as a vendor to the newspaper industry at the Sunflower Group and ProMax training as well as senior-level newspaper advertising and training executive experience, Coultis will deliver practical and useful tips for you to put into practice as soon as you get home. Be ready to learn, and to laugh, with his positive hiring and training ideas for you!

Shannon Kinney

Shannon Kinney has over 15 years of experience in the development of successful Internet products, sales and marketing strategy. She has worked on the teams developing successful Internet brands such as cars.com, careerbuilder.com, and over 60 online media properties for newspapers all over the U.S. and Canada. Prior to that, she spent over 10 years in media sales and sales management in Maine. She is an experienced speaker, trainer, and consultant, and worked with small and large companies alike. She is considered an expert in the field of online marketing and social media, and speaks regularly at conferences on the subject.

Lance Lambert

Growing up in an automotive family, it’s no surprise that Lance Lambert’s early professional career was in the auto industry. This experience led him to the front door of the leading online auto inventory site, AutoTrader.com. This is where Lambert learned all aspects of online advertising. His career then shifted gears to the world of online newspaper advertising after being courted by The Ventura County Star (an E.W. Scripps property).

With The Ventura County Star, Lambert was fortunate enough to be a part of the industry’s evolution and transition to online. In early 2009, he developed a business plan and job description framing out a retention strategy for the online newspaper business. This strategy was so successful that it was adopted by Scripps Corporate in late 2009. They soon gave Lambert the opportunity to implement this strategy across all properties as the Senior Corporate Retention Manager. While at E.W. Scripps, he managed a corporate team of sales analysts and worked with 26 campaign specialists at the local level to retain advertising dollars. This position required him to have full knowledge of the company’s entire product portfolio, including, but not limited to, online display, SEM, SEO, Facebook/social, email marketing, mobile advertising and analytic reporting.

Lambert’s primary role was to assist in deployment, implementation and execution of retention and optimization strategies. His corporate team provided training and follow-up guidelines to ensure greater retention and advertiser satisfaction. He also managed the Click Fuel, Media Trust, IfByPhone and Who's Calling programs. While his core focus is advertising efforts in the emerging media space (i.e. NP.com, Yahoo!, SEM, Social and mobile), Lambert incorporates the legacy media products in retention efforts as well.

Lambert is currently a Regional Manager with Carfax based out of Knoxville, Tenn. He is responsible for executing account strategies and managing relationships through team and individual assignments to drive revenue growth with existing dealer subscribers.

Randy Lopez

Randy Lopez is Director of Account Services at Johnson Gray Advertising, a full-service agency with an impressive roster of
clients in the hospitality, healthcare, and financial industries among others.  

Known as a creative thinker and brand visionary, Randy has previously held VP Marketing roles at Del Taco, Buca di Beppo, Ruby’s Diner, and executive marketing positions at Arnold Palmer Golf Management and TGI Friday’s. More than a traditional marketing practitioner, his operations background allows him to understand the specific challenges organizations face as well as strategic resources needed to grow the global “brand”. 

He is a frequent guest lecturer on the topics of social media, brand building, and public relations appearing at the National Restaurant Association Marketing Executives Group, Word of Mouth Supergenius Conference, UCLA Restaurant Industry Conference, Multicultural Marketing events for the PRSA and International Group of Department Stores (IGDS) among others. His roster of clients include University of California – Irvine, Wood Ranch BBQ, Wolfgang Puck, Tommy Bahama, Red Robin Restaurants and Behr Paint.

As a featured spokesperson for the Colon Cancer Alliance (CCA) and Stage 4 cancer survivor, he speaks to a national audience on "Surviving" both for organizations and life in general. He was featured on CNN’s Special Investigation: Saving Your Life hosted by Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Lance Armstrong. Recently, Randy appeared on CBS HealthWatch™: Colorectal Cancer / Digestive Health Awareness Webcast hosted by Dr. Travis Stork of The Doctors. 

Randy has been featured in numerous publications including BRANDweek, Adweek, Nation’s Restaurant News, Inland Empire Magazine, and Restaurants & Institutions. 

He is currently a board member of the Colon Cancer Coalition, a nationwide non-profit that supports colon cancer awareness and support through their ongoing "Get Your Rear in Gear" events. Randy is also a founding member of Inland Valley Repertory Theatre based in Southern California.

Jamie Naughton joined Zappos.com, Inc. in 2004 right after the company relocated from the bay area to Las Vegas.  As Speaker of the House, Jamieworks directly with CEO Tony Hsieh, focusing on the culture for which the company has become known.  Her role is essential in creating and driving the architecture of the dynamic culture as well as focusing on culture R&D to ensure Zappos.com always stays relevant to both the employees and their customers.  Jamie travels the country to work with world renowned companies, authors, researchers, and business leaders to help spread the concept that by focusing on your employees and customers, good companies can become legendary companies.

Zappos.com, Inc was established in 1999 and has since quickly become a leader in online apparel and footwear sales by striving to provide shoppers with the best possible service and selection.  In 2008, the company’s gross merchandise sales exceeded $1 billion. Zappos.com currently stocks millions of products from over 1000 clothing and shoe brands.  The Zappos Family of Companies was recognized in 2009 and 2010 by Fortune Magazine as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For,” debuting as the highest-ranking newcomer for the 2009 list and moving to the #6 spot in 2011.

Bryan Nelson

After graduating from Northern Arizona University with a degree in Advertising in 2002, Mr. Nelson started his professional career with the Las Vegas Review-Journal as the Classified Real Estate Call Center Supervisor, and then the Real Estate/Rental Division Manager. Nelson was instrumental in successfully “imploding” the traditional Classified Division into a more cost effective and “new business” driven call center earlier this year. As the Business Development Manager, he manages a call center of 30+ employees (local and classified) who handle circulation customer service, print and digital sales, and of all things local show tickets! In only six months, Nelson has launched a customer management system for advertising, plus a new circulation customer service portal. He is active in several community service groups including Jump for Joy Foundation, Las Vegas and has been continually active with the Greater Las Vegas Realtors. Bryan and his wife Christy have lived in Las Vegas for 10 years and have a three year old daughter, Keira.

Jason Taylor

Jason Taylor is President of the Chattanooga Times Free Press, a top ranked newspaper both regionally and nationally in advertising, circulation and online performance. He moved to Chattanooga three years ago from Honolulu, Hawaii where he was the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the state’s largest newspaper.