2023 judging panel

B.L. OCHMAN contributes to AdAge, MediaVillage, YPO Impact, Social Media Today, Verticals Collective and many others. Since 2012, she has been producer and co-host of the award-winning Beyond Social Media Show Podcast. She is a long-time social media star with 11,000 Twitter followers. A multi-faceted marketing professional skilled in development of high-yield, innovative programs that drive visibility and sales, Ochman is also a member of the Advisory Board of Teens for Food Justice and volunteer advisor to AmanacerLA.org which empowers underserved children, adults and domestic abuse victims with comprehensive mental health and case management services. She has produced more than 500 podcasts, video interviews and live-streamed events.

CHRIS MACDONALD is a professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management in Toronto, where he teaches business ethics and critical thinking. He is director of the Ted Rogers Leadership Centre. A philosopher by training, his scholarly work ranges across corporate ethics, professional ethics, healthcare ethics, and philosophical moral theory. He is the author of two textbooks, and makes frequent media appearances. He recently co-founded Choice Point Solutions, Inc., to design custom ‘mini-simulations’ for ethics & compliance training.

THORNTON MAY is a futurist, a cognitive scientist and an anthropologist studying the value-producing behaviors of the various “tribes” comprising the modern enterprise. His book, The New Know: Innovation Powered by Analytics analyzes what organizations know; how they come to know and how they act upon what they know and don’t know. Passionate about obliterating digital ignorance from the executive suite he currently serves as Co-Director of the Innovation Lab at the Olin College of Engineering; Executive Director of the CIO Solutions Gallery at the Ohio State University College of Engineering. The editors at eWeek honored Thornton, including him on their list of ‘Top 100 Most Influential People in IT.’ The editors at Fast Company labeled him ‘one of the top 50 brains in technology today.’ www.thorntonamay.com

MIKE NIETZEL is a senior contributor to Forbes online, writing on higher education. He is president emeritus of Missouri State University. After earning his B.A. from Wheaton College (Illinois), Nietzel was awarded a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Illinois in 1973. He then joined the faculty at the University of Kentucky, progressing through the professorial ranks and serving as director of the Clinical Psychology Program, chair of the department of psychology, dean of the graduate school, and provost. In 2005, Nietzel was appointed president of Missouri State University. Following retirement from Missouri State in 2011, he became senior policy advisor to Missouri Governor Jay Nixon. Recently, he has authored two books: Degrees and Pedigrees: The Education of America’s Top Executives(2017) and Coming to Grips With Higher Education (2018), both published by Rowman & Littlefield.

ALY WALANSKY is a freelance lifestyle journalist based in New York City who has been writing and editing in the industry for over 20 years. Her bylines can be found in Forbes, Food Network, Southern Living, The Kitchn, AllRecipes, Clean Plates, and many more. A graduate of City University of New York at Brooklyn College with degrees in both Journalism and English Literature, she continues to live in Brooklyn, where her interests include mixology, recipe development, royal history, and her adorable pups.

KAT BRYANT is a freelance writer and editor based on the Washington Coast. Her most recent newspaper job was with The Daily World in Aberdeen, where she earned a national writing award. Previously, she held numerous editorial positions at the Phoenix Business Journal and the Silicon Valley Business Journal, earning several industry accolades for editing, headline writing and design. She attended the University of Arizona in Tucson, where she worked on the student daily newspaper and discovered her true calling.

Award-winning journalist MICHELE LERNER has been covering business and real estate topics for more than three decades for The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Washingtonian magazine, REIT magazine, Mansion Global, Bankrate, Forbes, Barron’s, Penta, Pro Builder, Green Builder, numerous realtor association publications and more. She has written two books for consumers about buying and building homes, as well as hundreds of articles for business owners and entrepreneurs. Michele previously served as a judge at the International Builders Show.

JEFF SIEGEL, the Wine Curmudgeon, is a wine writer and wine critic who specializes in inexpensive wine – the wine, he says, that most of us drink. His most recent book is The Wine Curmudgeon’s Guide to Cheap Wine (Vintage Noir Media) and he oversees the award-winning Wine Curmudgeon website (winecurmudgeon.com). He has taught wine, spirits, and beer at El Centro College and the Cordon Bleu in Dallas.

JENN VANDEZANDE is an experienced writer, editor, and content strategist, and is the Editor in Chief of The Future of Customer Engagement & Experience, an industry award-winning site.

She’s a contributor to some of the biggest names, including Forbes, and Inc., as well as a TEDxMoorgate host. She’s also a Circklo Business Configurator Academy mentor, where she takes incubator candidates on a journey to demonstrate to them the power of words, relevant content, and how intelligent, targeted, and purposeful thought leadership analysis can elevate the credibility, reputation, and long-term success of any start-up.

She’s worked with brands to provide strategic planning, thought leadership, SEO guidance, copy and marketing content, technical writing, corporate communications, and grant writing. She donates her time to several non-profits, assisting with their leadership and strategic planning, messaging, social, and branding efforts.

SAVAS ABADSIDIS is the founder, editor and publisher at #GayNrd. Prior to founding #GayNrd, he served as editor-in-chief and executive editor at a vast variety of outlets, including Antenna Magazine, B Magazine, Complex Magazine, Paper Magazine and Tally Ho! Magazine. A graduate of Hobart College, he also worked at Warner Bros. and Wizard Publications, and was behind the early success of Abercrombie & Fitch Quarterly.

DALE DAUTEN has been researching achievers and innovation since his days at Arizona State and at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. His early work prompted a government publication to call him a “guru” to White House staffers, and during the past four decades, his six books have been published in a dozen languages and have developed a large following worldwide. Dale writes newspaper columns nationally syndicated by King Features. For many years, he wrote “The Corporate Curmudgeon,” and he continues to write “JT and Dale Talk Jobs” with employment expert, Jeanine “JT” O’Donnell. Their work appears weekly in dozens of newspapers.

KEN WENTWORTH, aka “Mr. Biz®”, is the award-winning host of “Mr. Biz Radio”, which airs for 20+ hours each week across several different networks, and has been featured 250+ times on Forbes, Yahoo Finance, Fast Company, The New York Finance, and American Express. The Mr. Biz® brand also operates a streaming channel, Mr. Biz Network, which airs several shows that help entrepreneurs and business owners globally. Ken is the author of three bestselling books, including the most recent “Don’t Fake the Funk”, which provides an easy-to-implement, proprietary four-step methodology. Ken is also a strategic business partner who helps business owners run their companies more profitably and more efficiently. After ascending to the top 3% at a Fortune 15 company and breaking six World Records, Mr. Biz® now uses his experience and expertise to help others develop their skills to become the best version of themselves.

JULES ROGERS, associate editor of The Portland Tribune and editor of The Business Tribune and Opportunity Magazine with Pamplin Media Group, has been a business journalist for more than 12 years. An alumnx of the University of Oregon with a B.S. degree from the School of Journalism and Communication, Rogers has also been published in U.S. News & World Report, Business Insider, MSN, Quiltfolk magazine and more.

DUSTIN KLEIN is an award-winning business journalist, bestselling author, and chief content officer of Smart Business. Over the past 30 years, he has interviewed thousands of business and civic leaders, and helped more than 60 CEOs and entrepreneurs transform their ideas into books. As chief content officer, Dustin oversees all aspects of Smart Business’ content strategies across print, digital, and live channels, and spearheads the national Dealmakers Conference series, which each year brings together thousands of CEOs, entrepreneurs, family office leaders, private equity firm partners, venture capitalists, and M&A advisors across more than a dozen cities. A former investigative politics reporter and digital media entrepreneur, Dustin joined Smart Business in 1997 after serving as the business editor of several daily newspapers. When he’s not knee-deep in content, Dustin can be found either spending time with his wife and children or indulging in his greatest passion: baseball.

ROB ENDERLE is author of Unfiltered Opinion and has been published in Computerworld, Datamation, TechNewsWorld, techspective and TG Daily. He is also president and principal analyst of the Enderle Group, a forward looking emerging technology advisory firm. With over 25 years experience in emerging technologies, he has provided regional and global companies with guidance in how to better target customer needs, create new business opportunities, anticipate technology changes and present their products. Currently Rob focuses on the emerging technology trends in personal technology.

BRAD KANE is the Editor for Worcester Business Journal. Kane came to Worcester from its sister publication Hartford Business Journal, where he most recently served as managing editor. Kane talked his way onto HBJ’s staff in May 2010, previously working as a Boston Globe correspondent and a staff writer for the Patriot Ledger in Quincy. In another journalism life, he covered local politics in northern Ohio and southwest Florida. Kane has been honored for his work by the Alliance of Area Business Publications, the Florida Press Club, Ohio Associated Press and the National Society of Professional Journalists. He graduated from The Ohio State University, with an honor’s degree in journalism. He lives a calm, sleep-filled life in Wilbraham, Mass. with his wife, five young children and three dogs. In his 42 minutes of weekly free time, Kane runs the sidewalks, streets and trails of Western Massachusetts.