Jason Groupp

Jason Groupp, Director of Education and Membership, Photo+ Group
Jason Groupp is the Director of Education and Membership for the Photo+ Group, which includes WPPI and Photo Plus Expo. Like Woody Allen, Jason adores New York City, far beyond any healthy proportion. Jason first fell in love in with The City while attending The Fashion Institute of Technology, then during the past 15 years in his West Chelsea photography studio, and now in the downtown offices of Emerald Expo, where he says that each day is truly an adventure.

Mark Heflin

Mark Heflin, Director, American Illustration – American Photography
Mark Heflin is the Director of American Illustration and American Photography (AI-AP), the leading juried annuals of contemporary commercial- and fine art-illustration and photography. AI-AP also produces the Latin American Fotografía and Ilustración and the International Motion Art Awards competitions and publishes the daily newsletters Pro Photo Daily, DART: Design Arts Daily, Motion Arts Pro, Dispatches From Latin America and Profiles. Heflin is also the Executive Director of ICON The Illustration Conference. ICON, a nonprofit organization, produces a bi-annual, national conference for illustrators, art directors, graphic designers and educators.

Scott Krenitski

Scott Krenitski, Director of Business Development, Tongal
Scott Krenitski is Director of Business Development at Tongal, a creative social platform for brands and a meritocracy for talent. At Tongal, Scott is responsible for connecting the world’s largest advertisers and agencies into exciting new possibilities by leveraging Tongal’s distributed workforce model to create shareable content for the digital space. Previously, Scott worked at Google for three years as an online advertising strategy consultant, with a focus on YouTube and the digital video space. He also has passion for social entrepreneurship and international development, having worked and done research in Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya. He has a Master’s degree from the University of Oxford in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, and a Bachelors degree from Vanderbilt University in Human and Organizational Development.

Giuseppe Oliverio

Giuseppe Oliverio, Founder & CEO of Photographic Museum of Humanity
Giuseppe Oliverio is the founder and CEO of Photographic Museum of Humanity, a international community of 4,000 selected photographers that he started in Buenos Aires in 2012. He and his team of photo editors have so far curated 27 online exhibitions on the platform, featuring the work of internationally recognised photographers like Jacob Aue Subol, Anastasia Taylor Lind, Alejandro Chaskielberg, Diana Markosian Hajime Kimura and have contributed in the promotion of emerging talents with the PMH annual Grant, which featured Martin Parr, Alec Soth, Kira Pollack, James Estrin and other prestigious jurors in the course of its first three editions. Giuseppe gives workshops and talks on 2.0 photography at international festivals like Paraty Em Foco in Brazil and events like Ojo de Pez meeting in Barcelona. He also writes articles on Latin American photography for TIME. Giuseppe holds a degree in Economics at Bocconi University, a Master Degree in Quantitative Finance at London Cass Business School.

Melanie Philippe

Melanie Philippe, Marketing Director, World Photography Organisation
Melanie’s career in the creative industries has taken her from film to television, and now, with her true passion: photography. Melanie has a keen eye for discovering and promoting the work of emerging and professional photographers, serving on the judging committees for United Photo Industries’ THE FENCE and Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year, among others. Following seven years with the World Photography Organisation, Melanie currently serves as Marketing & Communications Director. From London to New York, Sao Paolo to Shanghai, she has cultivated a large network of photographers, whilst developing marketing and communications strategies for the international photographic audience.

Lauren Wendle

Lauren Wendle, VP & Group Publisher, The Photo Group
Lauren Wendle is the Vice President and Group Publisher of The Photo Group, the photography industry’s largest collection of magazines, websites, and trade shows in North America. Leveraging over 25 years of experience, Lauren spearheads the coordination, sales, and promotional strategies for several magazines including Photo District News and Rangefinder magazine. Capitalizing on the growth of interest in mobile photography, The Photo Group has developed a sister site – Shutterlove.com — to enhance the education and embrace the interests of photo enthusiasts, under Lauren’s guidance. In addition, Lauren also oversees all aspects of PhotoPlus Expo, the largest annual photography show in North America, and the Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) Conference, both of which are under the Emerald Expositions’ company umbrella. Prior to joining Photo District News, Lauren was Director at Advertising Photographers of America (APA), the national association for professional and advertising photographers, and Director of Photography at the Image Bank, the largest and most respected photo archives library of its time. Lauren Wendle is a native of Tarrytown, New York and has two daughters.

Allen Murabayashi

Allen Murabayashi, Chairman, PhotoShelter
Allen Murabayashi is the Chairman and Co-founder of PhotoShelter, the worldwide leader in photography portfolio websites, photo sales, marketing and archiving tools for photographers. Allen previously served as a founding employee and Senior Vice President of Engineering at HotJobs.com, where he assisted in the company’s massive growth from a 4-person start-up to a publicly-held company with over 675 employees. He oversaw a staff of 50 engineers, and was responsible for the development of HotJobs.com, Softshoe, and a number of internal applications.

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