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2005 Expo Keynote & Featured Speakers

LeBlanc, a Minnesota native, is a 22 year Member of the National Speakers Association, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of this prestigious association. His work around positioning, and marketing has gained National attention. Mark is a consummate professional who moves people in the right direction, challenges them to create an identity that supports them in the marketplace. Understanding the marketing and selling process and creating a marketing game plan are central to his work. Over 400 small and large business groups have turned to Mark to how to think, take action, and focus their efforts for a better return on time, energy, money, and creativity.

For more information, go to www.markleblanc.com. Because of his commitment to the speaking profession and his service to the Minnesota Speakers Association, the group instituted The Mark LeBlanc Award For Outstanding Service. This award, created in 1997, is given annually to that member who consistently demonstrates a high level of service to the speaking industry and the association.

Adam Ginsberg is the "entrepreneur's entrepreneur" having extensive business and training experience across many industries. Although one of eBay's most successful small business owners, Adam is not just a "technology marketing wizard" but also an exceptional speaker and trainer. He presents practical step-by-step formulas which are easy to follow and implement and his casual yet informative style draws significantly from his own inspirational success story.

In 2001 Adam began selling on eBay. In under one year he became the #1 seller in the Sports Category and was named the #1 new seller on eBay in 2002. Adam's commitment to success on eBay is demonstrated by his outstanding (98%+) feedback satisfaction score and his Titanium Power Seller Status, eBay's highest level. He has established several successful stores on eBay and he has personally sold over $20,000,000 on eBay in the last three years.

Adam graduated from Tulane University with a Bachelor of Science in Management and a minor in psychology He has been featured in Billiard Digest, Kiplinger, Entrepreneur and Fortune Magazines. He has also been interviewed and been seen on CNBC with David Faber and ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. Locally in 2004, Adam was featured in a KARE 11 News Extra and on UPN 29 News

Adam has written "How To Buy, Sell & Profit on eBay" a powerpacked instructional book detailing advanced selling strategies on eBay. He has also written the #1 selling "Automatic Money Machine", teaching small businesses how to automate their online presence. His latest venture, AudioDash.com provides the ability to add audio to your auction listings. Adam can also be seen live at his beginning and advanced Internet training seminars conducted throughout North America.

What if you heard of a woman who grew up in a public housing project in Philadelphia, surrounded by teen mothers and gang violence, herself the product of a single-parent family dependent on welfare? What if you heard about another woman, who enjoyed all the privileges of an exclusive finishing school followed by an Ivy League university and an exciting career, first in law and then in journalism?

What if I told you that both of those women are Dawn Rivers Baker?

Dawn Rivers Baker, editor and publisher The MicroEnterprise Journal, is the nation's only small business journalist who specializes in reporting from the microbusiness perspective. She has spent the past five years analyzing legislation and regulatory proposals specifically as they impact very small and home-based businesses, and keeping her readers up-to-date on the latest microbusiness demographic research and economic trends. Thanks to her expertise in microbusiness demographics and policy, Ms. Baker has been quoted in publications such as the Chicago Tribune, Home Office Computing and CBS Marketwatch, and was named 2003 Small Business Journalist of the Year by the Syracuse (NY) District of the SBA.

Sue Malone is the number one provider of the SBA Community Express Loan Program through Innovative Bank of Oakland, California. Sue’s involvement began with the program’s inception in 2003. Since then, Sue has helped fund over 8,000 SBA Community Express loans.

She travels the nation meeting, promoting and funding small business owners. She is fueled by her passion to help small business owners pursue their dreams.

For over ten years, Sue Malone served as the CFO and Vice President of a commercial and industrial real estate firm in Northern California. During her tenure, she took the company from a local bay area firm to a regional firm with a nationwide network. In addition, Sue was the first woman-parking operator in the United States with seven parking facilities in San Francisco. She holds an MBA from St. Mary’s College.

Sue’s community involvement is extensive. She spearheaded the nation’s first for-profit and not-for-profit ice cream parlor, Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, In Oakland, California. This business trained inner city teenagers to operate a business, and it enjoyed profit its first year.

In addition, Sue was responsible for the World Figure Skating Championships’ branding and merchandising for, which brought in sales of over $369,000 in three days. She is also an active member of The American Cancer Society National Gala Task Force. She has helped raised over $13 million dollars for The American Cancer Society.

Sue is married and the proud mother of three children.

Michael Coles, an accomplished businessman, community leader, education advocate, and family man, is living proof that there are no limits to what we as individuals can accomplish. In January 2003, Coles accepted the corporate reins of Caribou Coffee Company. He now leads the 12-year-old company as it extends its market reach and builds its international presence. Caribou is the second largest coffee-house chain in the U.S.

Coles has been an entrepreneur all of his life and put those skills to the test in 1977 when he co-founded the nationally successful Great American Cookie Company with an initial investment of only $8,000. When Coles sold the company in 1998, it had hundreds of stores nationwide with sales over $100 million.

Michael’s belief that there are no limits that cannot be overcome was severely tested. Six weeks following the opening of his first cookie store, a near-fatal motorcycle accident left him disabled and his doctors told him he would never walk again unaided. With the help of his family and friends, Michael did overcome his disability. By 1984 he had set two World Transcontinental Bicycling records . And in 1989, Michael joined a four-man team to win the Race Across America, biking 3,000 miles from Los Angeles to New York. His records still stand today.

In recognition of Michael’s success, leadership and benevolence, Georgia's Kennesaw State University declared that the institution’s School of Business be named and known in perpetuity as the Michael J. Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University.

Michael currently serves and has served on numerous boards of corporations and non-profit organizations. He lives in Atlanta with his wife Donna and they are the parents of three adult children, Lorin , Jody and Taryn.

Latino Midwest News Theater
Booths 506 & 507

“Marketing to Latinos”

The Latino market is a thriving part of the economy of the Midwest and of the nation. This workshop is designed for professionals seeking to understand this emerging market and learn a few techniques required to craft effective strategies to capitalize on it.

Adolfo R Cardona, Publisher-owner of Latino Midwest News, Marketing Instructor at St. Marys University of Minneapolis and the University of St. Thomas, pursuing a PHd at TUI in Business Administration, founder and president of the Minnesota Hispanic Business Institute.