Team

Meet the 2014 organizing team.

	Aaron Eden License Holder Aaron strives to co-create the necessary conditions and networks for rapid-prototyping of ideas, exploration, and growth in individuals, in classrooms, and in communities. Aaron strives to co-create the necessary conditions and networks for rapid-prototyping of ideas, exploration, and growth in individuals, in classrooms, and in communities, strongly inspired by Nikita Mishin. Aaron began his foray into TEDx by co-organizing TEDxYouth@Monterey in November, 2011. He will be heading out on a great family adventure beginning in May 2014, relocating his family to Europe and India to slow down, see the world, and research transformative learning models.
	Bob Cole Organizer, Curator, Tech Wrangler Bob is an accidental-turned-intentional technologist, tinkerer, and community-minded family guy that co-leads the Digital Learning Commons at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. He’s interested in emergence, social and eco-friendly entrepreneurship, and organizational learning. He’s been a part of the TEDxMonterey organizing team since 2010 and jumped into the organizer’s seat for the inaugural TEDxYouth@Monterey which took place November, 2011. This is his 6th TEDxMonterey event as an organizer!
	Eva Gudbergsdottir Organizer, Speaker Curation, Event & Public Relations Eva is the token Icelander in the group, drawing on her deep North Atlantic roots and journalistic experience to co-curate TEDxMonterey the past three years. Her day job is working as associate director of communications for the Monterey Institute of International Studies where she earned her master’s degree in public administration.
	Michele Swanston Organizer, Production & Technical Design Living, breathing, and working in all things production, Michele is a repeat team member with TEDx Monterey. Starting with TEDx Youth@Monterey in 2011, filming TEDx Monterey Sea Change in 201. When Michele is not working on a theater production, she’s ‘on the move’ helping small businesses grow their marketing through media.
	Cory Blandford & Hanna Kanabiajeuskaja Chief Interpreters Cory and Hanna are organizing the interpreting team that will make it possible for anyone anywhere in the world to listen to TEDxMonterey in Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Russian or Spanish—live! Like all of this year’s TEDx Monterey interpreters, Cory and Hanna are about to graduate with master’s degrees from the Monterey Institute of International Studies’ Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation and Language Education.
	Katie Brown Volunteer & Registration Coordinator Though originally from Maryland, Katie splits her time and heart between California and France. Passionate about language learning, teaching, and education abroad, she is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in International Education Management, with a special focus on France. Outside of class and work, Katie enjoys swimming, cooking, and rock climbing. Katie is excited to be a part of her first TEDx this year!
	Andrew Fiola Digital Artist Andrew is a computer science student at Cal State Monterey Bay with a passion for technology and a tendency to approach problems from unusual angles, which some might call ‘doing everything in the hardest way possible’. He signed on with TEDxMonterey help design some of the digital art for the event, and is thrilled at the opportunity to be part of the process of putting great new ideas out into the world. When he’s not building a computer or rigging his cellphone into a radio beacon for UFOs, he can sometimes be found working on his dream of becoming a published science fiction writer.
	Catherine Hambley Presenter Coach Catherine is a business psychologist, providing leadership coaching and organizational development. She understands how to facilitate positive change, improve individual and organizational effectiveness, drive a high performance culture, and enhance communication skills. She has coached leaders at all levels in delivering persuasive and engaging presentations.
	Evelyn Helminen Social Media & Web Evelyn has seen a few edges in her life. She grew up on the very Northern edge of Michigan, worked for a couple summers at the southeast edge of Alaska, and joined the Peace Corps to volunteer at the far edge of Eastern Europe. Her current job is as the Web Content Specialist at the Monterey Institute where she is finding ways to push the edges of the Institute’s online presence. And during the TEDxMonterey event, she will be on the edges of the crowd (and maybe a little bit in your face), photographing the event.
	Melissa Jennings Social Media Melissa is the web and social media specialist at the Monterey Institute. She finds that the hardest thing about working with social media for TEDxMonterey is getting sucked into the endlessly inspiring world of TED talks and emerging hours later trying to remember what she wanted to post about in the first place. When not exploring the digital world she spends every spare second outside running, hiking, and biking.
	Jeff McCall Livestream & Video Director Jeff is a jack of all trades (master of some) at Cal State Monterey Bay. His primary title is Digital Media Producer which includes broadcast and classroom video and multimedia. Besides that he’s admins academic technology tools for lecture capture, streaming media, digital signage, the learning management system and A/V control. He’s hoping robots take over the world so he can kill them, take them apart and re-use the parts for his own enjoyment and gratification.
	George Payne MC and Host George is a native New Englander with a long, intimate relationship with his own education. Dedicated to improving intercultural communications in educational settings, he studies International Education Management and Public Administration at the Monterey Institute with the intent to better link African and Middle Eastern education systems with each other, and with the United States. He’s also an avid poet and co-host of the Good Vibes: Open Mic events at MIIS, providing a platform for his classmates to better express themselves through the arts.
	Danielle Steer Experience Design Danielle is an Enrollment Manager and alumna of the Monterey Institute of International Studies. She is interested in user experience design, action research, and helping organizations, teams, and individuals ideate alternative solutions to complex problems. Danielle has undertaken the task of sitting on and enjoying as many epic benches around the world as possible in her lifetime. As a design and process fanatic, she is excited to be co-leading the creative team designing the participant experience for TEDxMonterey.
	Max Troyer Interpretation and Web Streaming Coordination Max is a Translation Consultant and Adjunct Professor in the Translation and Localization Management department at the Monterey Institute. Besides language, he has a passion for roller skating and enjoys visiting new rinks when traveling. For TEDxMonterey, Max is responsible for maintaining the foreign language concurrent audio streams, and is also the interpreter liaison for the 27 student conference interpreters from the Monterey Institute.