James Laws
In any business someone needs to steer the ship. As the co-founder and CEO of the WP Ninjas this is what James does with great joy. Having co-created the increasingly popular Ninja Forms and the first of it’s kind Ninja Demo WordPress plugins, he is always looking for the next innovation or market where the ninjas can have the greatest impact.
With over 16 years of experience in web design and development, internet marketing, business management, and public speaking, James has had his hands in every aspect of running successful and not so successful businesses. He has led everything from churches and
charities to coffee shops and Web Development Shops.
Building a successful business and helping others with their own endeavors isn’t just what James does for work, it’s also his favorite hobby. With the help of the WP Ninjas team, James organizes the Chattanooga Area WordPress Meetup to help build and support the WordPress community in his little corner of the world. You may also find James speaking at WordCamps from time to time and occasionally answering a question or two in the WordPress.org support forums.
Tracy Levesque
Tracy has been designing websites since Mosiac was used to browse the web. She has expertise in front-end design and development. At YIKES you can find her managing projects, running discovery meetings and working on business development with Mia. Tracy still loves to code — day-to-day she works on building WordPress themes and plugins.
Tracy also loves to teach and present on all things WordPress. She has spoken at WordCamps Philly, New York, Montreal, San Francisco and Lancaster. She was also a contributor to multiple versions of WordPress. As a Girl Develop IT instructor, Tracy shares her decade of WordPress experience.
When not behind a computer, Tracy loves to drink coffee, ride her bike, play drums, hang out with her daughter and take pictures of abandoned buildings.
Mendel Kurland
Hey there, I’m Mendel, an intrapreneurial change-maker, developer, speaker, and teacher.
I love the outdoors, so you’ll usually find me hittin’ the trails between tech events and code-slinging. I’ve also usually got my nose in a cup of single origin, Chemex-brewed coffee. As a GoDaddy Evangelist, I spend most of my time hanging out with developers, designers, entrepreneurs, and creative people all around the world to make sure their opinions and suggestions are heard.
Jennifer Bourn
I am founder of Bourn Creative and an award-winning designer who has been in the design, web, and digital strategy trenches since 1997. Today I consult on brand, website, and digital strategy, lead graphic design and web design projects, and specialize in WordPress theme design.
When not obsessing over pixels, margins, and type, I manage the Bourn Creative brand and the creation and iteration of our internal systems and processes. I love speaking and I write for the Bourn Creative blog as well as the WP Elevation, CoSchedule, and GoDaddy Garage blogs.
I also so-organize the Sacramento WordPress Meetup Group.
Steve Zehngut
Steve Zehngut founded Zeek Interactive in 1995. Despite dozens of hey-day dot-com offers to “partner up” for mountains of stock options, he remains the creative and technological force behind the Huntington Beach based company.
With a degree in cinema and a background in graphic design, Steve has been a multimedia producer for over twenty years. Steve is a frequent panelist and speaker at industry trade shows, including SXSW, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) and various WordCamps.
He has been a Macromedia Advisory Board Member, a member of Producer’s Guild and an Advisory Board member at the Art Institute. In addition, Steve has participated as a mentor in the American Film Institute eTV Workshop.
Steve has also taught interactive development courses at University of California Irvine, University of Southern California, American Film Institute, and California State University Long Beach.