Team 2013

Melissa Clouthier
HOST ORGANIZER
Melissa is a blogger. She has written at iVillage, ProteinWisdom, RightWingNews, RedState, PajamasMedia, DC Caller. Melissa writes at her own blog MelissaBlogs.com and owns the podcasting site LibertyPundits.com where she has a personal podcast The Right Doctor and a podcast with Andrew Malcolm, politics writer at Investors Business Daily called Malcolm & Melissa. Melissa also microblogs (aka: tweets). She loves social media and bloggers and helping people learn to do these things to promote the conservative cause. Melissa is also a chiropractor who practices with her husband in Texas. She has three kids and two dogs. Last year Melissa joined the ranks of dirty consultants, founding Slingshot Communications. Follow her @MelissaTweets.

Ali Akbar
HOST ORGANIZER
Ali is the President of the National Bloggers Club, Inc. He got his political blogging start on MySpace where he was ranked as one of the most popular political bloggers. Remember, it was popular once upon a time. Ali is the CEO with Vice and Victory Agency, LLC, a firm specializing in political marketing on the digital medium as well as general public affairs and coalition building. He is the Publisher of ViralRead.com, published by the content arm of his operation, Pundit Syndication. Never missing a moment to fight the establishment, he was one of the first few National Tax Day Tea Party coordinators in February of 2009, building much of the technical infrastructure that led to the most successful protest in American history—with at least 1.2 million people attending in 81 cities organically. He tweets @ali.

Aaron Marks
HOST ORGANIZER EMERITUS
Aaron is a marketing professional based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Aaron previously served as a partner in Vice and Victory Agency, LLC, his third business venture, which is a digital media firm serving both political and non-political clients, and has offices around the country. His previous clients include candidates, organizations, and non-profits at all levels, including Presidential, U.S. Senatorial, Congressional, Gubernatorial, and many others. Aaron has been at the forefront of new media and technology for nearly a decade, building websites and web applications and helping organizations create an online foothold. He has also spoken at a number of political conferences, helping to train activists around the country on how to use new media effectively. Aaron is also a member of the faculty at the Leadership Institute. He tweets @AaronMMarks.

 

Bill Murphy
2013 BLOG BASH DIRECTOR
Bill is a political consultant based in Jersey City, New Jersey, specializing in digital public affairs. He recently served as Romney-Ryan 2012′s Deputy Social Media Director, managing content dissemination across the various social networks and coordinating with online influencers to spread the campaign’s message on a daily basis. He is also the organizer of the weekly #polichat discussion that happens on Twitter where digital and professionals share best practices. Bill is a veteran campaign operative, having worked all across the country in the areas of fundraising, online communications, and campaign management. This is Bill’s 3rd Blog Bash and he likes to get down. He tweets @BillMurphy.

 

 

 

Adrienne Royer
COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR
Adrienne Royer discovered “web logging” in 2003 when Professor Glenn Reynold’s Instapundit.com was featured in her undergraduate marketing class at the University of Tennessee. She then launched her own political blog, which she maintained through 2011. Last year, Adrienne experienced the deep-blue environment of Massachusetts when she became the Communications Director for the Sean Bielat for Congress campaign in 2012. Most recently, she joined the Federation for American Immigration Reform as the online grassroots manager and returned to the DC Metro area. You can follow Adrienne at @AdrienneRoyer on Twitter and Pinterest.

 

Elyssa Giordano
MEDIA RELATIONS COORDINATOR
Elyssa is a current student at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia studying Politics and History.  She is a huge fan of blogging, social media, and CPAC; formerly working as the CPAC Staff Assistant.  When she isn’t working, tweeting, or in class, she writes for Ali’s website, ViralRead.  She lives for planning events, working as advance staff, and executive different parties across DC.  While Elyssa is new to the Blog Bash scene, she is just as eager as the rest of her coworkers to make sure the event goes off without a hitch.  She tweets @ElyssaGiordano.

 

 

 

Jeff Duntez
BLOGGER OUTREACH COORDINATOR
In 2006, Jeff Dunetz, Editor/Publisher of The Lid tired of writing for other peoples sites and opened his own (originally called Yid With Lid). Since then he has broken many stories of national significance including the Helen Thomas anti-Semitic video, Chas Freeman’s strange positions regarding the Middle East and China (which caused him to renounce his nomination as Chairman of the National Intelligence Council), George Soros’ involvement with J-Street and most recently Jeff broke the story about Israel-related changes in the Democratic Party Platform which dominated the news coverage of the first few days of the convention.

 

 

Bethany Bowra
WEBSITE COORDINATOR
Bethany is a teenage blogger who founded Next Generation Voters to share a youth perspective on current events. Since then she has worked with various organizations, including Smart Girl Politics Action, Citizen Patriot Response, The High School Conservative, and Viral Read. After meeting with and interviewing many high-profile elected officials and activists, Bethany has only been further inspired to continue making a difference. She hopes to continue blogging and helping give a voice to young conservatives.

 

 

Madeleine McAulay
SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR
Known as the Teenage Political Maverick, Madeleine McAulay is a 17 year old, Christian Conservative who isn’t willing to sit back and watch her future be destroyed by irresponsible politicians. Madeleine is the author of the blog, FaithHopeandPolitics.com, and is a Junior in high school.

 

 

 

John Eakin
REGISTRATION COORDINATOR
John Eakin is a political consultant in Ohio, speaking at several national events, including the 2011 and 2012 Christians United For Israel (CUFI) Washington, D.C. summit, the 2010 College Republican National Committee Board Meeting, the 2010, 2011, and the 2012 Ohio College Republican Federation State Convention. In the past, John has worked exclusively with the College Republican National Committee, Young Republicans, the Ohio Republican Party, CUFI, and several other political and issue based organizations. Currently, John is working for the most admired technology company on earth. John is a proud technology geek, tweetaholic, and above all a Christian.