Todd Van Hoosear

Todd leads a split life: half technologist, half communicator. He blames the economy -- well, not this economy, but the one back in the early 1990s, when he wanted to get into PR but found that I.T. paid much better. So he learned how to write code and worked on some great technology projects in the early days of the Web, including one of the first "virtual university" projects, as well as early Web interfaces for a couple popular enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms.

But in his heart, he knew he was a communicator. So he slowly ingratiated himself with his marketing teams and made his way to the dark side: PR. He's led regional, national and global public relations teams in the telecommunications, CAD/CAM, networking and Web spaces with great results. Along the way, his technology background ensured that he was an early social media and Web 2.0 adopter -- launching his first blog in 2004.

Todd serves as a founding member and interim board member of the Social Media Club and currently runs the Boston chapter; serves as vice president of social media for the Publicity Club of New England; was recognized as a 2009-2010 Fellow of the Society for New Communications Research; and sits on the IABC’s Social Media Release Working Group -- ensuring that PR and marketing are well-represented in social media efforts.