About

Inverge: the interactive convergence conference was founded and is produced by Steve Gehlen for his company IndePlay, Inc. See the Advisory Board list.

For more information about the concept of invergence, see the invergence blog.

To read more about the inspiration behind the Inverge conference, see the Founder’s Note from the Inverge 2007 printed program (PDF).

Recommended background reading:

Steve Gehlen Bio
Steve Gehlen is an Internet strategy consultant, manages global professional networks and produces events through his company IndePlay, Inc.  He is the founder of the Internet Strategy Forum and the Internet Partner Forum and the author of the Internet Presence Ecosystem blog.

Starting in 1994 he had 4-year stints as the top Internet strategist at Nike, Hollywood Entertainment Corp. (dba Hollywood Video) and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).

Steve started his career in Information Technology, with 10 years of experience, first as a developer writing C and assembler code, then later leveraging desktop computing and local-area networks to improve business processes at companies such as PacifiCorp and Nike.

Having studied both mass media and computer science at the University of Oregon, when the two started to converge in the mid-90’s Steve shifted his career from IT to marketing and business development, focusing on digital technologies such as CD-ROM, online services and the Web.

He made this career switch at Nike and was mentored by two Marketing VPs during his time there, including Andy Mooney, Chairman of Disney Consumer Products. The Nike.com site that Steve produced (their first) for the 1996 Olympic Games was technically innovative at the time, with every element on the page coming from a relational database. The site introduced the world to sprinter Michael Johnson’s famous gold shoes via hi-res images distributed from the site and seen in media outlets around the world.

In 2000, while working at Hollywood Entertainment Corp, Steve took over management of Reel.com, a leading movie information and e-commerce Web site and up until that time a subsidiary of the company. He helped complete negotiations with Buy.com as the primary e-commerce partner for VHS and DVD sales and later was the architect of a deal with 800.com, adding a consumer electronics store to Reel.com. While under Steve’s management, Reel.com’s annualized sales volume was $12 million.

In 2002 Steve co-wrote the business plan for Nutcase Helmets (available at Target and Wal-Mart) as a consultant to Morrow Creative Group.

In 2004 Steve founded the Internet Strategy Forum as an organization and also developed the concept for and produced the first Internet Strategy Forum Summit conference that same year. In 2005 he developed the concept for the ISF’s original research study, the Corporate Internet Strategist Survey, the first study to fully examine the role of in-house Internet strategist.

In 2007 Steve founded and produced Inverge: the interactive convergence conference, a digital thought-leader conference.

Steve is on the Board of Directors of Race for Peace, the Advisory Council for the InnoTech Conference & Expo and was a judge for the 2006 Yahoo! Big Idea Chair Awards.

A musician since age 15, Steve is the co-founder and Director of the American Roots Music Festival, an annual event that celebrates original American music genres (folk, blues, bluegrass, jazz, gospel, etc.) and the importance of music education. This event is primarily a fundraiser affiliated with Keeping the Beat, a nonprofit organization that Steve founded in 2007 to provide support to K-12 music education programs in rural Oregon.  So far the Festival has distributed over $24,000 to such programs.

Steve has held leadership positions with several nonprofit organizations prior to the Internet Strategy Forum and Keeping the Beat.  In 1991, he established the Portland Chapter of the Microcomputer Managers Association and served as President through 1994. In 1998 he was asked to serve on the initial Portland State University Multimedia Professional Program Advisory Board. Later he was a founding Advisory Board member of the Oregon Multimedia Alliance (later merged with the Software Association of Oregon).  Steve also served on the Board of Directors of the Portland Creative Conference for six years, including leadership roles in marketing and sponsorship.

So far Steve has been responsible for bringing in nearly $500,000 in revenue for various Oregon nonprofits.