Since joining PepsiCo in 2008 from his post as EVP of Weber Shandwick's social media practice Screengrab, B. Bonin Bough has been tasked with getting PepsiCo on the social media map and into the hearts and minds of online brand influencers.

For many years, the industry has looked to PepsiCo as a leader and trendsetter. However, the days of Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, and Tina Turner ads lighting up TV are over. To break through, a brand needs to move from just delivery impressions to building connections with online influencers -- and this is something few CPG companies have been able to do. But as PepsiCo’s global director of digital and social media, Bough has helped the PepsiCo brand parlay itself as a traditional advertising icon into the realm of digital social brand interaction.

Tapping into his proven track record of online community building, social media, social video, and digital marketing, Bough has been instrumental in integrating social media and the "online conversation" into PepsiCo's overall brand vision, engaging online consumers, and tracking behavior and trends that the brand can leverage successfully. Bough is credited with bringing PepsiCo to SXSW and recently helping launch the "Dear Mr. President" viral campaign, and the launch of female-targeted online community The Juice, to name a few of his accomplishments during his time with Pepsi. Many of Bough's achievements in the world of interactive marketing have won him numerous awards, including a Webby, Stevie, Golden Pencil, Sabre, Big Apple, Com Arts and SXSW -- Viewers Choice for MrPicassoHead.com.

In a past life, Bough was a professor at NYU's Center for Publishing Graduate Studies from 2000 to 2005.

"Since he joined PepsiCo last year, Bough has slowly helped the company break through in some innovative ways, particularly using Twitter and Friendfeed. This has enabled him in a short amount of time to help one of the biggest marketers in the world build connections with online influencers and set a course others will follow." Steve Rubel, SVP, Director of Insights, Edelman Digital

Sam Farraj, is responsible for leading the strategy and business development activities for Digital Media Solutions at AT&T.
Before joining AT&T in April of 2008, Mr. Farraj was responsible for launching the digital media group at MCI. He has also been EVP of product development at Vaultus, Inc., which provides wireless mobility solutions for enterprise customers. He also served as SVP of Marketing and Product Development at CMGI Solutions, an enterprise-focused Internet solutions provider, as well as leadership positions at e.Spire Communications, an integrated communications provider. Prior to that Mr. Farraj started his career at MCI.
Mr. Farraj is a graduate of the University of Maryland where he also received a master's degree in management information systems.

John Parry was appointed President and CEO of Solix in June 2004, after serving as Executive Director of Program Operations for NECA for 6 years.  He has over 33 years of experience in the telecom industry, including various positions of increasing responsibility with Bell Atlantic Corporation (now part of Verizon).  Prior to joining NECA, he was President of Bell Atlantic Network Systems.

Parry’s educational background includes a BA in English from University of South Carolina and an MBA from Pace University.  He also completed the Tuck Executive Program at Dartmouth College.

Parry served two tours of duty in Vietnam while a Lieutenant in the US Navy - completing various assignments in the Surface Warfare, Aviation and Intelligence communities.  He retired from the US Navy Reserve as a Captain in 1990.

Marc Samuels is President and co-founder of HillCo HEALTH, a boutique group of seasoned principals providing advisory services to leading health care delivery, financing, manufacturing, and service entities. HillCO HEALTH is a division of HillCo Partners, an Austin, Texas-based public policy advocacy firm consistently ranked as the top lobby team in the state.

From 1998 to 2000, Samuels served as founder of and a partner in the Health Policy Group, a Washington, D.C.-based healthcare public policy and business strategy firm, along with J. Michael Hudson, former Deputy (and Acting) Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).  Prior to that, he held various positions within state and federal government, including advising both former President George Herbert Walker Bush and then-Texas Governor George W. Bush on healthcare issues, as well as Executive Assistant to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC). 

AT HHSC, Samuels’ work included coordinating the health policy agenda for all major federal and state health programs under the commission’s management, including Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP policies to address the uninsured and long-term care.  As Health Policy Advisor to then-Governor George W. Bush, Samuels crafted S.B.10, Texas’ first major Medicaid overhaul designed to update and improve Medicaid delivery through managed care.  He was also responsible for crafting a multi-faceted approach to address uninsured children through development of the Texas Healthy Kids Corporation, the state’s precursor to the federal CHIP program.  While at the White House, Samuels actively assisted the President’s Council on Competitiveness, helping craft the president’s healthcare plan and working to speed access to new drugs through expedited Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review.  He conducted analysis and policy development on Medicare Parts A and B, including inpatient and outpatient hospital care, physician services, issues relating to prescription drugs, coverage of new technologies, quality of care, and fraud waste, and abuse in the Medicare program.

Samuels is a graduate of The University of Texas School of Law, Yale School of Medicine and the University of Michigan.  His comments and analyses have appeared in Medical Economics, Health Systems Review, Journal of Health Care Finance, Disease Management News, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Dallas Morning News, and Texas Medicine.