Danielle Gould is the founder and managing editor of Food+Tech Connect, a media company connecting decision makers with the information, technology, and people they need to fuel food system innovation. Through in-depth interviews, events, and consulting, she helps organizations develop products that help build a food system shaped by better informed decisions.

Danielle is a regular contributor to Forbes and her work has been featured in: GOOD, The Atlantic, front page of Google News, techPresident, TechCrunch, PSFK, Grub Street, Serious Eats, Gothamist, Gizmodo, and Michael Pollan’s Link of the Day. Prior to founding FTC, Danielle worked on PR and business development at BrightFarm Systems. Her expertise includes food systems, urban agriculture, open government, open research, the semantic web, open innovation, social entrepreneurship, and social media. Connect with her on Twitter, Google+, or Linkedin

CARMEN HUGHES
With more than 15 years experience in PR, Carmen Hughes has honed her expertise counseling technology-based, venture-backed, early-stage startups in the area of public relations and social media.  At Ignite Public Relations, she spearheads a team of professionals to help clients scale their business and drive revenues by expanding corporate and product awareness and implement social media initiatives.

Some of the companies Carmen has helped to expand their market presence include: NTT, Shop.com, Appcelerator, Friendly for Facebook, Syncplicity, Urban Airship, LongJump and Producteev. Prior to joining Ignite, she founded Mindshare Communications and built a steady track record of successfully introducing unknown, early-stage companies to the market, including Calico Commerce, BeVocal, Epicentric, and Moai Technologies, all of which were successfully acquired or went public. In addition to working on the client-side for an ERP software company, she polished her communications skills at some of the Bay Area’s most established PR agencies.

Receiving her first subscription of Bon Appetit at the ripe age of 10, Carmen is an avid cook and baker, owning a mini-library comprised of cookbooks.  She is also an app-aholic, enjoying dozens of apps on her iPhone and iPad.

Carmen has served multiple years on the executive committee and previously as a board member and advisor for the MIT/Stanford Venture Lab (VLAB).

KRISTINA JOHNSON
Kristina Johnson is a former professional chef who now exercises her culinary creativity on her blog www.formerchef.com. Her focus in writing about food is to show people step by step that cooking great food can be fun and does not have to be intimidating. In addition, she writes a bit about being an urban gardener and food sustainability issues. She’s also a passionate traveler who has been to over 35 countries and is looking forward to her next culinary adventure which she shares on www.wired2theworld.com.

AMANDA KOOSER
Amanda C. Kooser is a freelance technology writer in New Mexico. She covers gadgets and apps for CNET’s Crave blog. Amanda comes from a cook-from-scratch family and can be found making apple/green chile/cheddar pies with an iPad on the kitchen counter. For more information, please visit amandakooser.com.

RIEVA LESONSKY
Rieva Lesonsky is CEO of GrowBiz Media, a media company specializing in covering small businesses and entrepreneurship. A nationally known speaker and authority on entrepreneurship, Lesonsky has been covering America’s entrepreneurs for nearly 30 years. Before co-founding GrowBiz Media, Lesonsky was Editorial Director of Entrepreneur Magazine.

Lesonsky has appeared on hundreds of radio shows and numerous local and national television programs, including the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, Fox Business News, The Martha Stewart show and Oprah, and can regularly be seen on MSNBC’s Your Business.

Lesonsky is an editor-at-large for AllBusiness.com and also writes about small business for SCORE, Small Business Trends, SBA.Gov, Network Solutions, American Express OPEN Forum, AT&T, AOL Small Business and The Huffington Post. In 2009, she was named to Folio Magazine’s “Folio 40” list, which honors publishing’s top innovators.

Lesonsky is the author or co-author of several books about entrepreneurship, including Startup Success: Boost Your Chances for Business Success With Web 2.0, Marketing 101 and Startup 101, all available at her blog, SmallBizDaily.com. Follow her on Twitter @rieva and visit her new SmallBizTrendCast website to learn about the latest food trends.

ANNE MAXFIELD
Anne Maxfield is a multi-talented serial entrepreneur and is the founder of The Accidental Locavore, which aims to take the mystery out of farmer’s markets, and show them how she cooks with what’s local and fresh.

Twenty years ago, Anne Maxfield co-founded Project-Solvers, Inc, to provide freelance talent to the apparel industry. It was acquired by Select Staffing in 2005. Anne’s business model to provide free-agent talent to leading designers, manufacturers and retailers in the apparel and accessories industries created a $20 million dollar market.

Anne Maxfield holds a B.F.A with honors from Rhode Island School of Design.  After her studies at R.I.S.D., she spent a year in Paris and was awarded one of five national scholarships to attend the Chambre Syndicate de la Haute Couture. She serves on the Advisory Board for Consultants 2 Go, and is a former Advisory Board member of Marist College, and the University of Delaware. She is the winner of the 2005 NAWBO Signature Awards.  Anne has been a frequent speaker at the Fashion Institute of Technology, R.I.S.D., Pratt Institute, The New School, Marist College and has made many appearances on NY1 Small Business Report, and Bloomberg TV. She is also a long time member of the Women President’s Organization, and in her spare time, is an avid sports enthusiast whose hobbies include figure skating and golf.

BRIAN MORRISSEY

Brian Morrissey is editor in chief at Digiday, where he leads content for the publication and events. Digiday is bringing authority, insight and honesty to coverage of the digital media and marketing industries. Brian has covered the internet media industry for the past decade. He joined Digiday in February following six years at Adweek, where he was digital editor.

GORDON PLUTSKY
Gordon Plutsky is the Chief Marketing Officer for King Fish Media where he partners with clients on their marketing strategy and manages the social media, mobile marketing, market research and measurement/analytics aspects of their integrated marketing campaigns.  He is also responsible for the King Fish brand message, marketing and public relations.  Gordon writes and edits the King Fish Think Tank blog and is the host of the King Fish Kings of Content podcast and developed the King of Content iPhone and Droid App for King Fish.  He is a regular contributor to sites such as to Chief Marketer.com, CMO.com, iMedia Connection, Media Post and Marketing Profs.

Previously, he was Group Marketing Director for the CMP Channel Group (now Everything Channel), responsible for marketing CRN, VARBusiness, channelweb.com, face-to-face events and webcasts.

Prior to CMP, Gordon was Executive Director of Marketing and Research at Ziff Davis Media, where he headed the marketing and research function of PC Magazine, eWeek, and Smart Business.  Earlier at Ziff Davis, he was the Marketing and Research Director of PC Magazine and managed market research for PCWeek.  Gordon started his career in marketing and research at IDG.

Gordon has a B.S. in Psychology from the University at Albany, an MBA from Northeastern University and completed Stanford Business School’s executive education program in marketing management.  Plutsky lives north of Boston with his wife Susan where he enjoys crossfit, running, cooking and all things food.