Organizers

Andreas Loppnow

Andreas is this year’s lead organizer. When he is not busy with WordCamp organizing, he builds WordPress Websites for VONT, a digital marketing agency and newly formed ESOP in Westbrook, ME.

Born in Germany and transplanted to Maine 10 years ago, he spends his time navigating American culture, reffing soccer (football!) games, golfing, and sailing when he is not looking at computer screens. He lives with his wife, children and grand child in Portland.

Gary Thayer

Starting his career as a developer by writing programs for TI-83 calculators when he was in high school, Gary has thrown himself into learning new technologies over the years. He is now a Web Engineer at 10up and an active member of the WordPress community. Gary has also spoken at several WordCamps in the US and Canada, leads the local WordPress Meetup chapter for Southern Maine, and has been Lead Organizer for WordCamp Portland, ME twice.

Stephen Quirk

Stephen started using WordPress in 2006 as a way to feature his photographic work online.  He launched Factory Portland in 2011, a blog that covers both Maine music and events.  In 2014 he helped start BruteProtect, which was later acquired by Automattic.  He resides in Cumberland with his wife and two children.

Jesse Fowler

Jesse has been called a serial entrepreneur. Opening a gas station / bait & tackle shop while still in high school, he was dedicated to making business grow and convert better. A few years later, he has taken this real world experience and brought it into the virtual world. Jesse loves working with small businesses and start ups and believe that it’s the foundation of this country. Jesse is dedicated to learning more and always training to provide new techniques to clients of OSC Web Design.

Sam Hotchkiss

Sam has been many things– a developer, an award winning rapper, a world traveler, a whitewater raft guide, an entrepreneur, a strategist, and a leader. Over the last 4 years he served as lead of the popular Jetpack and Akismet plugins before stepping down to focus on his most important role yet as a father, husband, and gentleman farmer on his small farm in Cumberland.

Chris Badgett

Chris Badgett is known as “the online course website guy.” He is the CEO of the course building tool for WordPress powered websites called LifterLMS which helps online course creators convert their expertise and life experiences into income by creating impactful online courses. Before LifterLMS, Chris’s company built custom course and membership platforms with WordPress for clients. Chris also hosts a podcast for course creators and education entrepreneurs called LMScast. He is a course creator himself on topics ranging from permaculture to cooking to technology.