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Barbara Lawton
Lt. Governor, State of Wisconsin
Barbara Lawton focuses her efforts as lieutenant governor on economic development -- putting people to work through strategic investments in a creative workforce and the green economy. As chair of the Wisconsin Arts Board, Lt. Governor Lawton led the agency to realign its efforts to move Wisconsin's creative economy forward through development of a strong arts and culture industry in every part of the state. She led the successful effort to pass legislation creating tax incentives for the film and video game industry in Wisconsin, which is already generating millions of new dollars for Wisconsin's economy. Lawton's leadership and the work of the Arts Board was recognized with her invitation to represent the states' interests on an exclusive National Arts Policy Roundtable convened by Robert Redford and Americans for the Arts at the Sundance Preserve last fall to address the topic “Thinking Creatively, Working Globally: The Role of the Arts in Building a 21st Century American Workforce.” Lawton's work also earned her an invitation to serve on a high-level think tank convened by the Aspen Institute to develop arts policy recommendations for the next president of the United States.

Douglas McLennan
Founder and Editor, ArtsJournal.com
Director, National Arts Journalism Program
Douglas McLennan is an arts journalist and critic and the founder and editor of ArtsJournal.com, the leading aggregator of arts journalism on the Internet. Each day ArtsJournal combs through more than 200 publications worldwide and posts links to the best cultural stories. The Boston Globe calls ArtsJournal a “must read” for anyone with an interest in the arts. The New York Times writes that “ArtsJournal.com has added something important to the cultural discourse.” Prior to starting ArtsJournal, Mr. McLennan was arts columnist and music critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. A former concert pianist, he holds a Master's degree in music from the Juilliard School, and has performed in Asia, Europe, and North America and lived and worked in Italy and in China. He has written on the arts for numerous publications, including as music critic for Salon.com, and for Newsweek, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and the London Evening Standard. He has been a music critic for National Public Radio's “All Things Considered,” and is a contributor to the new edition of Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Popular Musicians. A recipient of several awards for his work, including a National Arts Journalism Program Fellowship and a Deems Taylor/ASCAP Award for music journalism, he was recently named one of 100 Outstanding Graduates of the Juilliard School for the school's centennial.

Julie Peeler
Vice President of Arts & Business Programs
Americans for the Arts
Julie is an accomplished market researcher and marketing strategist with nearly two decades of experience in both the for-profit and nonprofit arena. While working at J. Walter Thompson and Foote, Cone & Belding, both major international advertising agencies, she developed growth plans for Fortune 500 clients including S.C. Johnson Wax, Kraft Foods, The Kellogg Co., and The Quaker Oats Co., as well as for the U.S. Olympic Committee. At the Arts and Business Council of Americans for the Arts, Julie manages the national expansion, implementation, measurement, and the dissemination of results and learning from Business Volunteers for the Arts, the National Arts Marketing Project, the MetLife Foundation National Arts Issues Forum Series, United Arts Funds, and other initiatives. Ms. Peeler is the founding director of the National Arts Marketing Project, which is designed to help nonprofit arts organizations understand the marketplace in which they operate, and develop innovative and effective marketing plans. She holds a BA in journalism from Loyola University of Chicago and a Master's in Management in Marketing and Nonprofit Management from the Kellogg Graduate School of Business at Northwestern University.

Panelists

Roy Elkins
Founder and CEO
Broadjam, Inc.
Roy Elkins is a well-known music technology entrepreneur who has been leading industry innovations for over twenty years. Elkins is the Founder and CEO of Broadjam Inc., serving independent musicians and industry giants such as Warner/Chappell, The Academy of Country Music, AMD, Yamaha, Peavey, and others. Broadjam provides technology services to publishing, record companies and musicians alike. Now with over 65,000 musician members, Broadjam is one of the fastest growing independent music sites in the marketplace. The Pro Services division of the company has encoded and indexed the works of George Gershwin, Usher, Green Day, India.Arie, Madonna, Led Zeppelin, and many others. Broadjams consulting group current and/or past customer list includes the Academy of Country Music, Warner Chappell, Huge Universe, Yamaha, Digitech, Peer Music, Pen Music, Advanced Micro Devices and many others. Before founding Broadjam, Elkins was the Vice President-Sales & Marketing for Sonic Foundry, and held several Director-level positions with Ensoniq Corporation.

Toni Sikes
Founder and Artistic Advisor
Guild, LLC
Toni's commitment to helping artists market and sell their work made The Guild the leading U.S. retailer of original artwork. Identifying a need for artists to reach new audiences, she founded The Guild publishing company in 1985 as a way to connect artists with architects and interior designers. Recognized as the industry standard, Guild Sourcebooks have spurred thousands of new art commissions around the world. In 1998, Sikes launched guild.com to market the work of artists to consumers. Today, The Guild presents the work of more than 1,200 artists through its award-winning website and direct-to-consumer catalogs. Sikes received a bachelor's in mathematics from the University of Alabama and a master's in market research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She frequently lectures on marketing the arts, and has authored several books.

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