Our mission at Mobile Monday is to increase the size and innovation of the local mobile industry by facilitating connections between companies and people: helping investors connect with new mobile startups, companies connect with new employees, entrepreneurs connect with each other, and bringing new professionals and students into the mobile industry.
Our community includes hackers, entrepreneurs, mobile professionals, investors from angel groups and venture capital firms, and CEOs and senior management of mobile companies.
Our activities in Chicago include running monthly networking events for 60 - 120 people, managing a mailing list for hundreds of local mobile professionals, and facilitating access to mobile and general technology industry events both locally and throughout the Midwest.
Most importantly, we strive to create a fun and innovative culture in which our industry can thrive.
People
Trace Johnson, Co-Chair, 2010 - Present
"I am very excited to help lead Mobile Monday Chicago. MoMo Chicago conducts impressive events that bring together startups, established firms, engineers, marketers, entrepreneurs and other interested parties to discuss mobile strategies. I am working to help MoMo Chicago continue to grow its role in consolidating the Chicago technology community. Specifically, I am focusing on deepening corporate relationships to grow our capabilities and the size and quality of our events."
Bio: Trace has extensive experience in managing high-volume, consumer-centric transaction sites. Prior to joining mPayy, Trace was Product Manager and Manager of Marketing Systems for Orbitz Worldwide, which included the main Orbitz travel sites, eBookers.com in the United Kingdom and cheaptickets.com. Prior to Orbitz, Trace was the Director of Business Development at Zacks Investor-Reach Advertising Network. Trace consulted with the New Media Group of the Obama for America campaign, establishing online fundraising and donor segmentation strategies. Trace holds a B.A. from Northwestern University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
Jeff Schwartz, Co-Chair, 2010 - Present
"I'm honored to co-chair the Mobile Monday Chicago group and help connect and educate professionals working in the mobile space. As an entrepreneur, I understand the unique challenges faced by new companies as they try to make their mark in the mobile arena. At MoMo Chicago we will continue to put on great events that connect entrepreneurs, business & financial leaders, developers, designers, marketers, and anyone else interested in the mobile industry to help strengthen Chicago's role as a technology and innovation hub."
Bio: Jeff Schwartz is a founder and the Director of Mobile Technologies at NoNa, Inc. For more than 15 years Jeff has been developing highly scalable enterprise products and applications. Prior to NoNa, Jeff was the Chief Technology Officer of a software company specializing in advanced document management systems. Recently, Jeff developed the Summit World mobile application, which debuted at last summer's Red Hat Summit/JBoss World conference. NoNa's first mobile application will be available by early 2011. Jeff was also the featured presenter for the October 2010 MoMo Chicago meeting with a presentation entitled, "Cross Platform Mobile Development: The Easy Way to Develop Native iPhone & Android Apps."
Anthony Hand, Events Co-Chair, 2009 - Present
"I'm excited to be helping connect and educate professionals working in the mobile space or looking to undertake mobile projects. There are already lots of great
stories of local companies working hard to bring their innovations to market as well as legacy companies learning how to become nimble players with new mobile products and services. We hope you'll join us in learning more about them and being inspired by their successes and lessons learned. As Chicago's role as a technology and innovation hub continues to grow, we're working hard to bring together entrepreneurs, business & financial leaders, and talent (developers, designers, marketers, and more) to foster the synergies that spark innovation and job growth."
Bio: Anthony Hand is a user interface designer at Motorola working on the Android platform and enjoys participating in Chicago's bustling technology and entrepreneurship scene. Anthony has a Master's degree in Human-Computer Interaction from the Univ. of Michigan and has designed user experiences for all of the major smartphone platforms and mobile Java. Previously, Anthony has held user experience design positions with iSkoot (a mobile software startup), Nokia (handset manufacturer), and SavaJe Technologies (a mobile OS startup). On the side, Anthony promotes and maintains MobileESP, an open source code library for PHP, Java, .NET, and JavaScript to detect mobile device visitors to web sites.
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Mobile Monday