Josh Anker
- Job: QA Analyst at IdeaStar, Inc.
- Past: Electronics Technician in the United States Navy; Layout and Copy Editor for the student-run paper at Cleveland State University, The Cauldron.
- School: Graduate of Cleveland State University Honors Program, Magna cum Laude, class of ‘08. Majored in English, with a double minor in Communication and Computers & Information Sciences.
- Work: Quality assurance, including platform, unit, regression, rate, and workflow testing.
- Affiliations: IdeaStar, of course, The South Euclid Dog Park, SELREC.
- Passions:Music, reading, dogs, and all things Apple!
- Favorite Blogs: I read several LiveJournals and digg.com.
- Social Networks: LinkedIn, FaceBook
Jeff Dolsen
- Job: Creative Director at IdeaStar
- Past: Creative designer, animator, and musician with over 12 years experience in providing interactive solutions to retail, manufacturing and financial service companies.
- School: Life
- Work: Graphic Design, Flash Development, 3D Animation, Special Effects, Video Production, Audio Engineering, New Media Development, Online Advertising, Marketing, Brand & Identity Development, Standards Based Development, XHTML, CSS, Search Engine Marketing, and much more.
- Affiliations: IdeaStar, of course
- Passions: Art, Music, Film, and Emerging Technologies.
- Favorite Blogs: askaninja.com, theflashblog.com, creativegeneralist.blogspot.com, blog.media-freaks.com, theonion.com
- Social Networks: LinkedIn, FaceBook, MySpace.
Jim Fisher
- Job: Owner and President of IdeaStar.
- Past: 20+ years in multimedia, marketing and Web.
- School: Kent State University, BFA Journalism.
- Work: online marketing and doing the dirty work for clients.
- Affiliations: American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP); Alamy Stock Images; Cleveland
Museum of Art; Holden Arboretum; Professional Insurance Marketing Association (PIMA); Inter-Company Marketing Group (ICMG). - Passions: IdeaStar, photography, history and art.
- My photo safaris: Amish Country, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, Shanghai, Beijing, Xi’an, Guilin, Hong Kong, London and Munich.
- Recent reads: River of Doubt by Candice Milliard; The Map that Changed the World by Simon Winchester.
- Now reading: How the Scots Invented the Modern World by Arthur Herman
- Trophies: Finalist, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, 2002, 2003; see Web site for more.
- Latest iPod favs: The Silence Between Us by Bob Mould; She’s Gone by Resin Dogs
- Favorite Blogs: Matt Cutts, John Nack, Inside Lightroom, Google Earth
- New toys: Zoom H2, Canon G9, Logitech Pure-Fi Anywhere
- MyBlogs: Wazopia, Flipside
- Social Networks: LinkedIn, Flickr, FaceBook
- Skype: jd.fisher
Mary Fisher
- Job: Communications Manager for IdeaStar.
- Past: 20+ years newspaper reporter
- School: Kent State University, BA Journalism
- Work: Online marketing, managing e-commerce sites. Writing, writing, and more writing.
- Affiliations: I try to avoid them.
- Passions: Traveling, hiking, family, dinner parties, spelunking, french poodle clipping, IdeaStar.
- Favorite TV Shows: “Lost,” “The Office,” “The Simpsons.”
- Favorite Trips: Shanghai, Glacier National Park, London.
- Recent Reads: Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick.
- Now reading: Lots and lots of blogs.
- Favorite Blogs: Search Engine Land, Stuff White People Like.
- Favorite Conferences: Search Engine Strategies, Podcast & New Media Expo
Jason Nester
- Job: Creative Designer for IdeaStar.
- Past: Many years of website creation and design work.
- School: Art Institute of Pittsburgh — Associates in Graphic Design.
- Work:Graphic Design, Flash Development, Brand & Identity Development, Standards Based Development, XHTML and CSS.
- Affiliations: A+ Cerification, NEO Watercolor Society, and Ideastar of course!
- Passions: Painting, Drawing, Flash, Design and Karaoke.
- Recent Reads: Choke by Chuck Palahniuk; Computer Arts Magazine.
- Favorite Blogs: Ask a Ninja, Fail Blog, Spinfield.
- Social Networks: LinkedIn, FaceBook, MySpace.
Jamey Polak
- Job: Strategic Account Manager at IdeaStar.
- Past: 5 years in the health insurance industry – primarily in marketing and sales management roles.
- School: Kent State University/Notre Dame College of Ohio.
- Work: Working with clients to develop new solutions for the insurance market place; Studying Information Architecture and Web Form Design (fascinating).
- Affiliations: IdeaStar, of course
- Passions: Golf, Basketball, Family, Cooking meat with fire, Chipotle (not necessarily in that order).
- Recent Reads: GroundSwell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff; It’s Not About the Bike by Lance Armstrong.
- Now Reading: Web Form Design by Luke Wroblewski; Islamic Imperialism: A History by Efraim Karsh; Lots of White Papers.
- Current iPod Favorite: Gone by Switchfoot/
- Social Networks: LinkedIn, FaceBook
- Interesting Fact: I ate two Chipotle burritos in a single sitting and, to prove it wasn’t a fluke, I did it again two days later (side note: I did eat a burrito the day in between and have absolutely zero aspirations to ever repeat this feat).
Susanne Svette
- Job: Vice President and General Manager of IdeaStar.
- Past: 10+ years in Web and Online marketing, customer satisfaction and finance.
- School: Bowling Green State University, Marketing and Graphic Design.
- Work: company harmonizer, coordinating operations, Online marketing – including organic search engine optimization, paid search marketing.
- Affiliations: Cleveland Search Engine Optimization, Qualified Google Advertising Professional.
- Passions: IdeaStar, my daughters, photography, “LOST”.
- Latest iPod favs: Pete Seeger, early 1970’s Grateful Dead, The Jayhawks, Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
- Favorite Blogs: The Lost Diary, Zachstern, Aaron Brown Photography, Search Engine Land.
- New toys: Hannah Montana Electric Guitar.
- MyBlogs: Grace-Corey, Alethea-Jane.
- Social Networks: Sphinn, LinkedIn, Flickr, FaceBook .
- Favorite Vacation Spots: Maine, Key West, The Abacos.
Mike Wise
- Job: Vice President Insurance Technologies.
- Past: 20+ years in sales and technology.
- School: University of Washington, BA Communications.
- Work: evangelizing the Web and outsourcing within the health and life insurance industry.
- Affiliations: Professional Insurance Marketing Association (PIMA); Inter-Company Marketing Group (ICMG).
- Passions: sports photography, especially soccer, but also basketball, baseball, softball, football, few others.
- Trophies: 1972 Soap Box Derby Champion, Vermont and Western New Hampshire
- Recent reads: The Faith by Chuck Colson http://www.breakpoint.org/generic.asp?ID=7281 A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah http://www.alongwaygone.com/.
- Now reading: Love & Respect by Emerson Eggerichs.
- Latest iPod favs: Simply Nothing by Shawn McDonald
- MyBlogs: insuratech
- New toys: Garmin nüvi 350 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
- Social Networks: LinkedIn, smugmug