Early Bird Session (Virtual Audience)
Kathryn Bondi
Digital Design Manager
Posture Interactive
What is a Brand? (And why does it matter?)
.From retail packaging to digital content, branding is everywhere and has the largest impact on consumer decision-making. Join us as we go beyond logo design to explore the many elements that create truly memorable brand experiences. In this session, you will learn the importance of a strong brand and the recipe for gaining loyal customers, eager investors, and a more significant bottom line.
Kathryn is currently digital design manager at Posture Interactive, an advertising agency in Scranton that focuses on website design and digital marketing. She has been building brands online with a group of incredibly creative minds for 6+ years and lives and breathes all things web and branding. She was previously Creative Director for the web team at Net Driven, an internet marketing company where she mastered the art of making the tire industry look exciting. Kathryn served on the board of directors for the American Advertising Federation of NEPA for 10 years and is currently communications secretary on the AAF District board. She graduated from Marywood University with her BFA in Graphic Design, where she is currently an adjunct instructor in the Graphic Design program as well as teaching Communication Graphics at the University of Scranton. Kathryn has enjoyed mentoring many of her students as design interns and AAF members over the past 10 years. In her spare time, she makes her own cheese (yes, really) and enjoys homebrew beer with her husband, dog, and 2 cats.
Joey Zarcone
Marketing Director
Posture Interactive
From retail packaging to digital content, branding is everywhere and has the largest impact on consumer decision-making. Join us as we go beyond logo design to explore the many elements that create truly memorable brand experiences. In this session, you will learn the importance of a strong brand and the recipe for gaining loyal customers, eager investors, and a more significant bottom line.
Joey spends his days creating brands, fine-tuning messages, packaging products, promoting events, and enhancing digital experiences. With more than fifteen years of experience in the creative field, he has worked with brands of all shapes and sizes, near and far. As the Marketing Director at Posture Interactive, Joey thrives on collaboration between clients and creative teams. He graduated from Marywood University with a BFA in Graphic Design, where he is currently an adjunct instructor in the Graphic Design department. Joey has dedicated countless hours of time and talent to local non-profit organizations and arts-in-education initiatives in our local community. He currently serves as vice-chair of the board at the Everhart Museum. Outside of work you’ll likely find Joey whipping up something in the kitchen or creating a mess with his latest DIY obsession.
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Stephanie Gresh
Assistant Teaching Professor
Penn State University World Campus & Wilkes-Barre Campus
IDEA Hub Coordinator
Penn State Wilkes-Barre Campus
Opening Keynote Speaker
Emotional Intelligence and Entrepreneurship
Ask yourself what the most essential skill mastered by successful entrepreneurs is. Is your answer emotional intelligence? This is probably not even among the top five that come to mind when you answer this question. Emotional intelligence has been proven to be a practical, powerful, and necessary skill among the entrepreneurial eco-system, though its presence is not well known.
Emotions affect consumer purchasing behavior from social media influencers to local small businesses. Are you able to recognize emotions in yourself and respond to them effectively? Are you aware of the emotions of those you hope to earn as a consumer of your ideas? From handling criticism to inspiring after failure, to avoiding complacency and successfully pivoting, managing emotions as a skill is essential for all inspiring and successful entrepreneurs.
Stephanie’s experience spans across several change-based organizations and within the higher education industry. She has been recognized for working with organizations to help restructure their business processes. She has worked as an implementation consultant and trainer, assisting NGOs and nonprofit organizations.
Stephanie’s professional experience includes a variety of consulting services in support of operations including strategic planning, change management, business process improvement, financial management, coaching, accreditation, and curriculum development primarily in the nonprofit and higher education sectors.
Stephanie’s current research emphasis is concerned with relational dynamics during and following significant change. She has presented at the International Leadership Association (ILA) in Prague, Los Angeles, West Palm Beach, and Montreal. She has several published articles and book chapters and is a contributing member in the followership research community. Stephanie served as a co-chair for the 2019 Global Followership Conference and is a contributing editor in her field.
Stephanie also has over ten years of experience teaching at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels within higher education in management, marketing, finance, entrepreneurship, behavioral science and leadership. In addition, Stephanie serves as a dissertation committee chair and contributing member on several dissertation committees in her research field.
Stephanie earned her Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership and holds an MBA and BSBA in Business with concentrations in Marketing and Finance.