In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

Jane Ballback
126 Hitt Rd
Ashland, Oregon, 97520
United States

Betsy Massie

Betsy Massie graduated with an AB degree in American Studies and began a life-long love affair with the US Constitution. She received a Masters of Divinity at McCormick Theological Seminary and translated this training into work as a Stated Clerk of San Francisco Presbytery which involved the interpretation of Presbyterian law. Later on she received her credential in American History and English, and this provided her with the challenge of trying to make the US Constitution relevant to 11th and 12th graders. She loved this challenge. Now retired, she teaches the US Constitution at OLLI in Ashland, Oregon which is associated with Southern Oregon University. Now more than ever, she feels the urgency of making the US Constitution instrumental to our everyday lives.

Chris Chambers

Born in Ashland, Chris Chambers graduated from Oregon Stae University, College of Forestry, and worked for the US Forest Service and BLM for five seasons. In 2002, he went to work for Ashland Fire & Rescue where he coordinated the National Fire Plan grants, with hundreds of landowners, for five seasons. Chris co-authored the Ashland Community Wildfire Protection Plan and the Jackson County Integrated Fire Plan. Participating in the genesis and implementation of the Ashland Forest Resiliency Stewardship Project, Chris formed Ashland’s Firewise Communites and Fire Adapted Communities programs. He coordinates management of Ashland’s municipal forestlands, including the City’s prescribed burning program. Chris works with colleagues across the country through the Fire Adapted Communities learning network and International Association of Fire Chiefs to share knowledge and experiences in wildfire protection. He currently serves on the board of the Southern Oregon Forest Restoration Collaborative and the Governor’s Wildfire Response Council.

Daniel Sherrill

Daniel Sherill is currently performing as an instrumentalist with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Hairspray 2019, Oklahoma! 2018). He has toured nationally and internationally as a professional singer- songwriter, currently performing original compositions with the Ashland group Hollis Peach. Daniel has performed and taught workshops at the High Sierra Music Festival, Wintergrass, Oregon Country Fair, Sisters Folk Festival, Kate Wolf Music Festival, Britt Festival, OSF Green Show and others. He owns and manages a professional recording studio, produces albums under his own label, Rent a Puppy Records, and recently co-founded the nonprofit performance company, Ashland Folk Collective. In 2008, he received his BA in Music from the University of Pittsburgh with a minor in Latin American Studies. Daniel teaches private guitar, singing, and production. He offers songwriting and motivational workshops with Cascade Crest Transitions, Americana Project and music festivals around the Pacific Northwest.

Davis Wilkins

The first Hospice & Palliative Medicine specialist in Southern Oregon in 2008, Davis Wilkins, M.D. championed & helped launch both palliative care programs at Rogue Valley Regional and Providence Medical Centers. She recently helped open Celia’s House, the first end-of-life-focused residential care facility in the state of Oregon in the old Harry & David estate in Medford. Drawn to end-of-life care’s innate focus on what is meaningful in our life stories, Davis champions writing & storytelling as essential and connecting practices. A longtime humanities advocate, she has continued to write and use poetry in her work, and is active with The Hearth, a storytelling project based in Ashland. She is the proud mother of Tate and Luke and is at work on her first book. Of all the lessons her patients have taught her, this is the most precious: Make the most of the time you have; it could be shorter than you think.

James Adams

James Adams is the author of eighteen books about warfare, technology and intelligence, including his latest on Artificial Intelligence. Currently, James is the Chairman of Worldwide Audio, an independent creator of audiobooks for all major publishers. As the Managing Editor of the London Sunday Times, James covered national security. He is the former CEO of United Press International and founded a cyber intelligence business as well as a virtual intelligence company. As a Board member of the National Security Agency, he worked with a number of intelligence agencies on covert operations relating to cyber warfare, psychological operations and counter terrorism. James is an enthusiastic rower with Rogue Rowing and lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife, Renée Riley-Adams, a life coach.

Jennifer Mathews

Jennifer Mathews is a self-proclaimed spiritual cheerleader who loves meditation as much as she loves microphones. After her beloved died in 2011, Jen became passionate about sharing life-affirming perspectives on grief and loss through her writing, workshops, and presentations. She is on a mission to shift cultural messages that hold us back from joy and to help people connect to the spirit of who they are. Jen is a founding member and active organizer of the Ashland Death Cafe and the Living/Dying Alliance of Southern Oregon. As part of the Community Outreach and Education team of the award-winning film Death Makes Life Possible, she has facilitated conversations on death, dying, and the afterlife in the US, the UK and Ireland. Jen lives in Mount Shasta, California or wherever her camper van takes her. She is unapologetic for applauding when she sees rainbows, shooting stars, or bioluminescence.

Jessica Gomez

Jessica Gomez is the Founder and CEO of Rogue Valley Microdevices, Inc., the first microelectronics manufacturing company in Southern Oregon. She developed a love for high-tech entrepreneurship after holding positions at Standard Microsystems and Integrated Micromachines, Inc. In 2003, Jessica relocated to Southern Oregon and founded Rogue Valley Microdevices. Jessica serves on the Oregon Institute of Technology Board of Trustees. She was appointed by the Governor to serve on the Oregon Business Development Commission, serves on the Oregon Business Council’s Board of Directors, Chamber of Medford/Jackson County, and chairs Rogue Workforce Partnership. Jessica is married and the mother of two wonderful daughters. She ran as the Republican and Independent parties’ representative for Oregon Senate District 3. While she did not win that race, she continues to be dedicated to talking, learning and sharing with Oregonians. As an active member of the community, she is dedicated to supporting economic development.

Jim Teece

Jim Teece is the President & CEO of Project A, a global e-commerce digital agency and software developer, founded with his wife in 1990. He is also President & CEO of Ashland Home Net, Ashland’s largest Internet Service Provider (ISP), Cable TV and Phone Company. Jim is an innovator, public speaker and educator. He is a partner in Art Authority LLC, a company that prints and frames museum quality reproductions from museums around the world. Jim’s app, “Art Authority,” is a best selling app in the app store. As an active community member, Jim sits on numerous Boards, including the Jackson County Fair Foundation. & Expo, SOU Foundation, Peoples Bank and the Northwest Telecommunications Association. He and his wife Dena run all the businesses together and have two young adult children who live in Harrisburg and Bend, Oregon. Jim and Dena live on a small ranch in Ashland with lots of animals and high speed Internet.

Linda Hugle

Linda Hugle moved to Sams Valley during the 1970s back-to-the land movement with her husband Scott. They chose a remote 17-acre parcel with a single-wide mobile and no water. After a few pathetic stabs at farming and with a menagerie of farm critters, they found paradise on Evans Creek in Wimer in 1976. After sketching various floor plans on construction paper, they started building in 1977 and still live in their owner-built home. Linda graduated from high school at 16, married Scott at 17, and became a mother at 18. She taught high school Social Studies and Spanish, always looking for more engaging ways to connect content, skills and kids. She later became an administrator and was a Special Education Director and high school principal. Linda has been active in her community most of her life as a volunteer, advocate, fundraiser, nonprofit board member, and foundation trustee.

Merv George

Merv George Jr. is the Forest Supervisor on the Rogue River Siskiyou National Forest (RRSNF). He has held this position since May 2018. Prior to joining the RRSNF, he served as the Forest Supervisor on the Six Rivers, Lassen, and Los Padres National Forests. Merv began his Forest Service career as the Regional Tribal Relations Program Manager in the Pacific Southwest Region (R5) from 2008 to 2011. Before joining the US Forest Service, Merv served fifteeen years in various tribal government positions. This included serving on the Hoopa Valley Tribal Council and serving as Tribal Chairman (1995-1999). He is also the former Executive Director of the California Indian Forest and Fire Management Council and the Klamath River Inter-Tribal Fish and Water Commission. Merv obtained his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Native American Studies from Humboldt State University in 1997.

Neil Neimark, MD

Neil Neimark, MD, is family physician who successfully applies the principles of mind/body medicine, functional medicine and stem cell therapies helping his patients overcome illnesses that give them optimal health. He and other doctors across the United States are part of a group that enjoys being on the cutting edge of the enormous possibilities and positive results that stem cell produces today and will continue to be a crucial part of wellness in the future.

Scott Dewing

Scott Dewing is a technologist, writer, and teacher. He is the Director of Technology at St. Mary’s School where he also teaches courses in computer science. For the past eighteen years, he has been the technology columnist for Jefferson Journal, the listeners’ magazine for Jefferson Public Radio. You can read his current columns online at iJPR.org. Archives of his tech columns as well as other selected writings are available on his personal website: scottdewing.com. An Oregon native, Scott relocated to the Rogue Valley in 2000 after having survived Y2K down in the IT trenches in Seattle. He was born the same year the first data packets were sent over the ARPANET and astronauts set foot on the moon. “That doesn’t make me special,” Scott says, “just old enough to remember a world without the Internet.”

Sudhir Gautam

Sudhir Gautam is a mobile app developer who has been a leading edge engineer and technologist for over two decades now. He has helped design and develop several large-scale applications across the globe for entertainment, live events, ticketing, hospitality, mobile media distribution and B2B sectors, among others. Being a technologist and a parent of a tween, he is heavily invested in the research and implementation of soft skills like empathy, emotional intelligence, cognitive flexibility, problem solving, creativity, communication, collaboration, identity conflict resolution and storytelling, among others. He has given talks on some of these topics. Sudhir is also a bio-hacker, a short story writer and an aspiring comedy writer. He grew up in northern India in the beautiful foothills of the Himalayas, has lived and worked in Los Angeles for over a decade and now lives in scenic Southern Oregon.

Trever Yarrish

Trever lives to create amazing experiences. Trever Yarrish is a Founding Partner and CXO of ZEAL, an enterprise web and mobile applications development company. He is a co-founder of The Hivve, a co-working business space, also used for educational purposes and community events. Trever’s drive and passion for creating amazing experiences for other people has led him on some incredible adventures: from performing for people on stage to starring in a film; from serving coffee as a barista to becoming the Marketing Director of Dutch Bros. Coffee; from marketing director to co-founder of the marketing company Define Your Edge; from being a childhood programmer with a passion for design to co-founding Zeal.