Robin Raskin
Founder and President
Robin Raskin has spent the past 30 years exploring what it means to be living in digital times. An author, editor, magazine publisher, blogger, TV and radio personality, and founder of Living in Digital Times, Raskin says she’s never met a media she doesn’t like, and is happiest when she’s looking in awe at the role that technology plays in all of our lives.
An early champion of the digital lifestyle, Raskin has brought her unique perspective on technology to audiences around the world. Raskin is the former editor of PC Magazine and editor in chief of FamilyPC. She served as Vice President at Ziff Davis Publishing, and she was one of the founding advisors at Yahoo! Tech. Raskin has been a columnist for USA Today Online and has authored 6 books about parenting in the digital age. Raskin was a regular contributor to CBS News and appeared regularly on CNBC, MSNBC, Lifetime and other networks. She’s served at the National Academy of Science and has testified numerous times in Washington to protect children in the digital age. Today she writes for Mashable and Huffington Post, and serves as the voice of Living in Digital Times as a frequently quoted expert.
In 2007, Raskin entered into a partnership with the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) to produce conferences and events focusing on lifestyle applications for emerging technologies. From its toe-tipping beginning, Living in Digital Times has grown to encompass six different lifestyle-meets-technology events at the International CES: Kids@Play, MommyTech, HigherEd Tech, Silvers Summit, Digital Health, and FashionWare, She also created and produced The Last Gadget Standing (now in its 14th year) and The Mobile Apps Showdown, both wildly popular events at CES. Raskin serves on numerous Boards of Advisors including the CEA Foundation, and the Cyclic Vomiting Association.
Raskin lives in NYC and the Hudson Valley, with her husband, her three drop-in-now-and-then children, and closets full of obsolete technology.
Linda Nessim-Rubin
COO and Managing Partner
Linda Nessim-Rubin is the Founder of Design Concepts DMC, a production company hosting corporate events, tradeshows, and summits; and is also a partner in Living in Digital Times, which focuses on promoting technology relevant to particular lifestyles.
Before starting Design Concepts DMC, Linda completed an 18-year stint as Executive Vice President of Communications and Branding for The Princeton Review, Inc., a leading provider of education services and products with more than 200 publications and 150,000 students worldwide. In her role, Linda was responsible for overseeing all public relations, market research, marketing communication efforts, branding, and Human Resources for the company.
Throughout the years, Linda has become adept at providing amazing experiences for her clients, whether it be an Elvis-themed birthday weekend in Las Vegas, a floating barge party through the Panama Canal, or leading an exclusive tour for 50 people to Peru. Her negotiating skills have made many a banquet manager weep and many a client dance with glee. With nearly 20 years of professional experience in the marketing of cutting-edge educational products, Linda has been quoted in publications such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Business Week.
Joel Rubin
CFO
Joel E. Rubin spent twenty three years with The Princeton Review, a publicly-traded educational services company. His most recent position was as Senior Vice President and COO of the Test Preparation Division, where he oversaw all business operations for the network of 54 field offices in the US and Canada. With the company since 1987, he also worked with the company as a franchise operator and owner, Vice President of Operations, and Vice President of Financial Systems. Joel received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Washington University in St. Louis. Joel lives in New Jersey, where he serves as a publicly elected member of the Norwood Board of Education and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Lincoln College of New England.
Jill Gilbert
Producer Digital Health Summit and Exhibit
Entrepreneur Jill Gilbert has spent her multifaceted career – from product and e-commerce strategist to publisher to producer of breakthrough technology trade shows and popular Hollywood films – sharing people-focused stories, information, trends, and insights with a wide variety of audiences. She is co-producer of the Digital Health Summit, the annual adjunct to the Consumer Electronics Show that showcases new technologies that are revolutionizing the practice and business of medicine.
Previously, she was Vice President of E-Commerce at Caring.com, where she headed up the company’s e-commerce channel and was responsible for industry relations. Prior to Caring.com, Jill was a co-founder and CEO of Gilbert Guide, a company that paired practical, expert advice and information with the first comprehensive national directory covering the entire continuum of senior care. Before founding Gilbert Guide, Jill served as Vice President of Production and Development at Love Spell Entertainment and Columbia Pictures.
Additionally, she worked on motion picture productions at Disney and MGM, including Mulholland Falls, Sister Act (I and II) and What’s Love Got to Do with It. Jill is a talented speaker, having presented at CES’ SilverSummit 2009; in 2009 and 2010 she spoke at the American Society on Aging annual conference; in 2011 she will speak at the What’s Next Boomer Business Summit. She also serves on the board of the Aging Technology Alliance and is a member of the Business Leadership Council in San Francisco. Jill is a graduate of the University of Southern California, where she earned a BS in Business Administration.
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Julie Sylvester
Co-Producer of the Sports Fitness and Outdoors Summit and Exhibit Co-Producer FashionWare
Julie is on the surface a gym rat but underneath a couch potato. Always looking for the latest technology gadget or training aid that will help her spend less time in the gym and more time on the internet playing video games* while still maintaining the status quo. She started a career in the theatre by relocating from the Midwest to the East Coast and eventually ended up in New York. Her production company Julie & Friends produces private and corporate events as well as fundraisers. She is on the Board of the League of Professional Theatre Women and the Co-Chair for the 30th Anniversary Celebration of the League in 2012.
Jinny Goldstein
Co-Founder Higher Ed Tech Summit
Jinny is regarded as a true e-learning pioneer. At PBS, Jinny launched several firsts in distance learning, including TeacherLine, Adult Learning Service, and LiteracyLink, an online service that helps adults improve their literacy skills and earn a GED. As PBS Senior Vice President for Education, Jinny was responsible for all education services and strategic relationships, and for raising over $75 million of public and private dollars. More recently Jinny served as Vice President for Education and Strategy for Smarterville, LLC where she guided a new partnership to revitalize Reading Rainbow, the award winning PBS children’s series. She is President of the Goldstein Education Group, providing strategic advice and services to educational and media organizations, institutions, foundations and companies.
Shana Duthie
Producer Silvers Summit
Shana Duthie has more than 20 years of experience in assisting technology start-ups and “early stage” companies reach their growth potential by serving on their executive teams. Ms. Duthie has held key executive positions in Sales/Marketing as well as Finance/Operations providing a powerful background for achieving ROI and other bottom line results. She was instrumental in the development of several wireless phone products that targeted the aging marketing including the SOSPHONE which launched in 1994 and the Jitterbug cellular phone which launched in 2006 and where she is named on several of the patents. She is currently the CEO of Nurture Connect, Inc. which creates and develops sales channels in the wireless health, aging-in-place technology and consumer electronics industries. Additionally she is the Vice-chairman of the Aging Technology Alliance which is focused on the increased awareness of technology designed and sold into the aging market. Shana graduated from Chapman University with a degree in Economics and a secondary minor in Pre-Med.
Warren Buckleitner
Director – Kids@Play Summit
Warren joins Living In Digital Times as the director for the Kids@Play Summit that will be presented at CES in January 2010. Born the same year as BF Skinner’s teaching machine (1958), Warren Buckleitner has been reviewing children’s technology products for over half of his life. After five years in the classroom and ten years at the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation, he established Children’s Technology Review earning him SIIA’s First Journalism Codie Award for “Best Software Reviewer.” He is an advisor to Consumer Reports WebWatch and teaches both at NYU and the Rutgers Graduate School of Education. He is also a regular contributor to the New York Times Circuits page, and writes for Parents, PARADE, Disney Family, Scholastic Parent & Child and others. Buckleitner holds a BS in Elementary Education , an MS in human development and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from Michigan State University. He is the founder of the Dust or Magic Institute and the Mediatech Foundation.
Debbie Dickman
Sales and Operation, MommyTech Summit
One of the most sought after planners in the tri-state area, Debbie has the unique ability to transform an idea into a truly one-of-a-kind event. Her outgoing personality and warmth coupled with her “hands-on” approach assures her clients of a wonderful planning experience and a truly memorable outcome!
Before joining Living in Digital Times and Design Concepts, Debbie spent 11 years as a pharmaceutical group Account Supervisor. Debbie has a real estate license and is a graduate of the University of Maryland. She is the mother of a beautiful 18 months baby boy.
Dr. Abby Kanarek
Director of Operations LIDT and Mobile Apps Showdown
Abby Kanarek has spent most of her adult life working in the field of education. In addition to teaching test preparation classes for many years, she has written materials to help prepare students for state grade-level tests, Advanced Placement tests, and college entrance tests. She has also developed reading and writing curricula for after-school enrichment programs.
In a previous life, Abby worked on policy issues for the New York State Assembly. With almost twenty years of experience in event planning, her organizational skills are exceptional – bordering on psychotic – which made her well-equipped to coordinate the Kids @ Play and Silver Summit details at last year’s CES.
Dr. Kanarek received degrees from Syracuse University (B.A., Sociology) and The University of California, Irvine (PhD, Urban Planning). In her spare times, she tries to not lose at Rotisserie League Baseball.
Brian Page
Mobile Apps Showdown
Brian is a technology consultant born and raised in New York. His current projects include Macintosh Consulting for MacNRG and Media Consulting for his own company, Old Dog. Spending his day maintaining one of the biggest XSAN production environments on the east coast, Brian lives and breaths tech. Having owned every iPhone since its release in 2007 and testing almost every app available, he truly is a mobile apps guru. When he’s not fixing, consulting or installing, you can usually find Brian watching the Yankees or the Giants and playing with his dog, Elvis. You can more about him at about.me/bpage
Sarah Katchpole
Living In Digital Times
Sarah Katchpole handles blogging and mailing list upkeep around the Living In Digital Times “shop”. She likes to keep things exciting: with a background in geology, Sarah is currently embarking on graduate studies in rehabilitative science and technology at the University of Pittsburgh. She also likes to travel and has an insatiable hunger for the local junk food and pop culture wherever she finds herself. Sarah hails from the tiny state of Rhode Island, and along with her dachshund Peanuts, now calls the tiny non-state of Washington, DC her home