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Gene Austin
CEO , Convio, Inc.
Gene Austin is a Fortune 500 technology veteran with two decades-plus of experience leading aggressive growth of young companies as well as major business units at global corporations. Working with Convio’s management team, Gene is building a sustainable, long-term business through healthy and prudent, organic growth.
Since joining Convio in July 2003, Gene has been the driving force behind the company’s market-leading product innovation, strong customer acquisition, expansion of technology infrastructure and staff, and exponential revenue growth. Gene is experienced in accelerating the growth of companies like Convio that are based on the "software as a service" (SaaS), or on-demand, model. He served as Senior Vice-President of Sales and Marketing at Careerbuilder.com, an on-demand, Internet recruiting company, where he contributed significantly to growth leading to a 1999 public offering. After Careerbuilder.com, Gene worked at Dell as Vice-President and General Manager of Internet Servers, and most recently, Gene was BMC Software's Vice President and General Manager of Enterprise Data Management, a $600 million business unit.
Under Gene’s leadership, Convio has made Deloitte’s “Technology Fast 500” list, Inc. magazine’s “Inc. 500,” Red Herring's list of "100 Top Private Companies," Forbes’ list of "Fast Growing Privately Held Technology Companies,” and has been recognized as one of the fastest growing private companies in Central Texas for three consecutive years by the Austin Business Journal.
Gene has an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and BS in Engineering Management from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He is active in the Austin community serving on the Board of the Westlake Chap Club and is a member of the Austin Chamber of Commerce's Education and Workforce committee.
Robert Heard
Associate Executive Director , American College of Emergency Physicians
Robert Heard has extensive knowledge on successfully running nonprofit organizations, and has particular expertise in integrated marketing and fundraising. He currently serves as Associate Executive Director of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), a national medical society representing specialists in emergency medicine. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, AGEP has more than 23,000 members served by 53 chapters representing each state, as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. Prior to ACEP, Robert was the national director of programs and development for Irving, Texas-based Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Although fundraising is fundraising, whether it's online or offline, understanding the differences is critical for optimizing your use of the Internet to drive strong constituent relationships and contributions. Learn why it is critical to build a large email file and how to do so most effectively, how to communicate with and engage constituents electronically versus via postal mail , what types of appeals work best online, including how to use unique solicitation approaches like micro-campaigns to create urgency, and how demographic differences among Internet users might require different online messages and communication styles compared to those used with traditional mail donors. This session will include case studies contrasting the differences between online and traditional approaches as well as how both approaches can compliment one another.
Benefits and Learning Objectives
- How to apply offline fundraising skills and think like an online marketer
- Best practices for online success
- How to integrate online and offline approaches
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