Mark W. Schaefer is a globally-recognized speaker, educator, business consultant, and author who blogs at {grow} - one of the top marketing blogs of the world. His podcast, The Marketing Companion, is also among the top 1 percent of most popular business podcasts.Mark has worked in global sales, PR, and marketing positions for more than 30 years and now provides consulting services as Executive Director of U.S.-based Schaefer Marketing Solutions. He specializes in social media training and clients include both start-ups and global brands such as Dell, Johnson & Johnson, Adidas, and the U.S.

Air Force. Mark has advanced degrees in marketing and organizational development and is a faculty member of the graduate studies program at Rutgers University. A career highlight was studying under Peter Drucker while studying for his MBA.He is the author of five other best-selling books, The Tao of Twitter, Return On Influence, Born to Blog, The Content Code, and KNOWN. He is among the world's most recognized social media authorities and has been a keynote speaker at many conferences around the world including Social Media Week London, National Economic Development Association, the Institute for International and European Affairs, and Word of Mouth Marketing Summit Tokyo.