Speakers

Jerome Ringo

Mr. Ringo is the immediate past chairman of the National Wildlife Federation in the US. Since becoming chairman of the board the in 2005, Ringo has sought to further the NWF's partnerships with other organizations, particularly those involved with combating ecological dangers in poor and minority neighborhoods. Jerome Ringo is also the president of the Apollo Alliance, an organization working to educate the public and lobby in Washington, D.C. about the need to invest in alternative energy, improve the competitiveness of American industry, rebuild cities, create good jobs, and ensure good stewardship of the economy and natural environment.

A former trade union leader and worker in the petrochemical industry, Ringo became concerned about the environmental and public health impact that refineries have on people living in adjacent communities. Eventually, Ringo left the industry to help educate people in communities
affected by petrochemical pollution, teaching them how to effectively stop the discharge of chemicals into neighborhoods around refineries, land lobby politicians for tougher environmental standards. Jerome Ringo is a leader who will share his insights into how can unite our allies in labour, environmental, and community organizations into a powerful movement for change.

Rahaf Harfoush

How did Barack Obama use social media to win the White House? Rahaf Harfoush has the surprising answers. For months, as a social media strategist for Obama, she helped develop the most innovative, comprehensive and high-stakes social media campaign ever conceived. Based on her extraordinary experiences at Obama headquarters, she delivers a riveting behind-the-scenes look at his new media campaign, showing us how to use online technologies -- and the powerful ideas of community that animate them -- to out-think and out-distance the competition.

A social media evangelist and strategist (her clients include British Telecom, MTV, and Unilever), Rahaf Harfoush recently publishe Yes We Did, a book about her work on the Obama campaign. She also appears frequently in the mainstream media, has spoken at Rotman School of Management, and studies various Net-related issues, including sustainable innovation, women and the Web, and the impact of technology on today's youth. She is a contributor to Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World, and was the research coordinator for Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything.

Panel:Communicate, Inspire, Build

David Black

David Black is a professor at Royal Roads University in Victoria with an expertise in media and cultural theory, interpersonal communication, communication history, technology criticism and political communication, and a professor at Royal Roads University in Victoria.

Before coming to Royal Roads in 2003, Black taught in the Communication Studies department at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo for a decade. In 2002 he published his first book entitled The Politics of Enchantment through Wilfrid University Press.

Black is interested in various practical forms of media production, especially as they relate to using media to teach theory and in the support of social justice issues.

In 2004 Black was named a finalist for the Kelly Outstanding Teaching Award, given out each year in support RRU’s commitment to teaching excellence. Nominations for this prestigious award are provided by students, staff and faculty and finalists are selected by a panel of peers from within the university.

Hamish Marshall

Hamish Marshall is the Research Director for Angus Reid Strategies in B.C. In addition to being a keen observer of BC and Canadian politics, Hamish has advised political campaigns in Bangladesh, Britain, and Norway, and helped establish a chain of radio stations in Afghanistan.

Flor Marcelino

The first Filipino woman elected in Canada, Flor Marcelino is an NDP MLA in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She was recently appointed the Minister of Culture, Heritage, and Tourism.

Flor was born in the Philippines and immigrated to Canada twenty-six years ago where she and her family have since made Winnipeg home. They first settled in the Weston community, one of the many vibrant neighbourhoods located in the Wellington constituency.

Previously a small business owner and community newspaper editor, she has been an active community leader having served with Project Peacemakers, St. Stephen's-Broadway Foundation, the Premier's Economic Advisory Council, and Broadway Disciples United Church. In addition to serving 8 years with the Global Ministries Board of US and Canadian Churches, Flor has also acted as support staff at Red River College for 17 years.

Rahaf Harfoush will also be participating on the panel.

Carole James Leader of the B.C. New Democratic Party

Jack Layton Leader of Canada's New Democratic Party