HostingCon

Ditlev joined UK2 in 2006 where his mission was to turn around the company from both a financial and operational perspective. The three year strategic plan to achieve this consisted of the “clean up year” in 2006, the “roll out year” in 2007 and the “acquisition and consolidation” year in 2008. As Chief Executive, Ditlev not only championed the strategic plan, but played an active role in the projects supporting the transformation. UK2 Group is now one of the largest and fastest growing web hosting companies with significant operations in both the UK and US. Ditlev has spoken at many conferences on subjects related to online business and marketing. At HostingCon 2008 he took part in a keynote panel as an expert on Mergers and Acquisitions. Ditlev has 20 years of online experience and holds a Bachelors Degree from AAU in Denmark, with a Major in Macro Economics and International Business.

Dave Koston is the co-founder at Fortuity. Previously, he was the Vice President of Operations at cPanel, a global leader in web hosting automation software providing hosting automation tools to tens of thousands of servers worldwide. While at cPanel, Dave was responsible for ensuring optimal day to day operations along with spearheading the company’s business development efforts. He holds a B.A. degree from the University of Delaware.

As the hosting marketing manager of outbound programs within the Communications Sector at Microsoft, Monish Sood is responsible for driving the awareness and adoption of the Microsoft products and solutions for Hosting, as well as the worldwide marketing strategy for the company’s hosting channel business.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Sood served as the director of marketing at HostMySite.com, where he was responsible for the planning, direction, and implementation of all marketing strategies, including product positioning, advertising, customer service and technical support.

Sood holds a Bachelor’s degree in advertising from the University of Kansas.

Derek Vaughan is a web hosting industry veteran, marketing consultant and writer. Mr. Vaughan has architected the marketing growth of several prominent web hosting success stories leading to acquisition including Affinity Internet, Inc., Aplus.Net and HostMySite.com. Prior to his entry into the web hosting industry, Mr. Vaughan was responsible for online marketing at The Walt Disney Company where he marketed ecommerce for the ESPN.com and NASCAR.com brands. Mr. Vaughan received his M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University and currently serves on the HostingCon Advisory Board.

Brett Tabke has worked in the computer industry for almost three decades. Tabke is currently the CEO and founder of WebmasterWorld Inc. He was also the founder of PHD Software Systems, a specialty software manufacture that produced a line of software for Commodore computers in the 80’s and 90’s.

Tabke authored several books on assembly language programming for Western Design on the 65816 micro processor. Tabke was the noted author of Karma 128, a leading edge assembler for the 65816 processor.

Tabke has run community networking sites continuously since 1984. The evolution from stand-alone BBS’s to forums on the web and his commitment to community building is a logical extension for Brett. His fascination with the web spurred him to start building web sites and learning as much as possible about online traffic. He quickly became an expert on the subject of Internet traffic, and was a source of information for many of his business contacts and associates who were looking to get better traffic from the search engines.

Tabke coined several SEO staples as “Link Farm”, “SEO Themes”, and the classic “SERP” (Search Engine Results Page). He was also featured in the Biography Channel special on the Google founders. Tabke was also a founding board member of SEMPO. He also wrote a chapter for the best selling “Google Hacks” book. He is also the first known person to have fully decoded the Excite and most of the Altavista serach engine algos. Tabke’s “26 Steps to 15k a Day” is one of the most widely read documents in SEO history.

Tabke is the PubCon Chairman and CEO Of WebmasterWorld Inc.

(Curtis) R. Curtis is a sixteen-year veteran of the Internet and co-founder of one of the first service providers (ISP). He is a recognized leader in the Internet, hosting and search marketing industries, and speaks regularly at related conferences on hosting infrastructure, online marketing and the evolution of the Internet.

Since the early 1990s, Curtis has been involved in the evolution of the Internet, working first as a consultant with both the Federal and Provincial government, then in 1993, moving on to the startup and management of one of the first ISPs. He has worked with online access providers and telecommunication companies such as BCTel (Telus), Rogers, Sprint, GroupTelecom and the banking industry. Prior to joining RankSense SEO, he was the Sr. VP, Sales & Marketing with Superb Internet Corp. (2000-2008), a leader in the hosting industry.

Curtis holds a Bachelors degree Business Administration from the University of Alberta, a Bachelors degree in Economics & Computer Programming from the University of Manitoba and did his Post Graduate work in Marketing and Business Law at the University of Calgary.

George Karidis joined SoftLayer in January, 2008, and is responsible for the company’s strategic growth and marketing activities. Prior to joining SoftLayer, Mr. Karidis spent seven years with Devonshire Investors, the private equity arm of Fidelity Investments. There he drove the strategic planning efforts of portfolio companies focused on the telecom, hosting, and software markets, taking active roles in each company from inception through domestic growth and international expansions. Previously, Mr. Karidis led business development for a startup serving the SME market, and spent more than 6 years with the Yankee Group as an industry analyst covering the telecom and IT sectors. He holds an Honors Bachelor of Commerce Degree from McMaster University with majors in finance, accounting, and economics, and an MBA from the University of Ottawa.

Aaron Phillips is a HostingCon Veteran with 100% exhibitor status since its inception. While employed by FastServers.Net, Mr. Phillips was one of the first vendors that believed in the overall concept of a hosting based industry event which became a key sponsor in 2005.

Mr. Phillips has been in the hosting industry since 1996 and has focused on search engine marketing, branding, operations, automation, and product development through FastServers.Net where he was Vice President of Sales and Marketing. During his tenure as VP of Sales and Marketing Mr. Phillips has participated in various advisory roles including Ping! Zine and HostingCon.

Recently Mr. Phillips has joined the ranks as a global provider of automation tools at cPanel. The move from consumption to distribution of the cPanel products/services will provide Mr. Phillips with new challenges while utilizing his past experience and relationships to help excel an already tremendous company.

Mr. Snead is an attorney in private practice in Washington D.C. His practice focuses exclusively on representing companies and other entities active in the internet infrastructure. In his 13 years in this area, Mr. Snead has represented these companies both in-house and as outside counsel. These companies include multinationals, middle tier hosting companies, and two guys, a server, a T-1 and a huge MasterCard balance. He has spoken extensively on subjects of importance at over 50 conferences. His views on the impact of Federal legislation on small-to-medium internet businesses have been quoted in the Washington Post and San Jose Mercury News. He is also a columnist and blogger for the Web Host Industry Review. Mr. Snead received his J.D. in 1991 from Georgetown University Law Center and is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia and State of New Mexico.