Speaker Bios - The Council of Independent Colleges

technology. The firm, mStoner, integrates brand, web, and social media for schools, colleges, and
universities, and its assignments include print design and broader marketing initiatives. Stoner has spoken
at hundreds of professional conferences and has authored chapters for CASE and Open University Press
books and many professional articles. He also earned a CASE Crystal Apple in 2003 as one of the
organization’s top speakers.
Contact: Michael Stoner, Co-Founder and President, mStoner, PO Box 171, Woodstock, VT 05091-
0171; (802) 457-2889 or (312) 622-6930; michael.stoner@mstoner.com
Donna Talarico is the integrated marketing manager in the Office of Marketing Communications at
Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. She was an adjunct faculty member at Wilkes University, where
she designed and taught a course on public relations and social media; she frequently presents in
classrooms and boardrooms on the same topic. Prior to joining the staff at Elizabethtown, Talarico
worked in sales and marketing at Solid Cactus, a leading eCommerce developer. She also worked in the
continuing education field as a career school admissions representative and in various aspects of radio.
Until she relocated to Central Pennsylvania, she was a long-time contributing writer for Wilkes-Barre’s
popular alternative weekly, the Weekender. She also is the founder and publisher of Hippocampus
Magazine, a monthly online literary magazine dedicated to creative nonfiction. She has an MFA in
creative writing and a BA in communication studies, both from Wilkes University.
Contact: Donna Talarico, Integrated Marketing Manager, Office of Marketing and Communications,
Elizabethtown College, 1 Alpha Drive, Elizabethtown, PA 17022; (717) 361-1464; talaricod@etown.edu
Amy Walter is political director for ABC News. Based in Washington, Walter oversees all political
coverage on ABCNews.com, including ABC’s “The Note.” She also guides planning and editorial
content of all political news and provides on-air analysis on ABC News programs, including World News
with Diane Sawyer, Good Morning America, Nightline, This Week with Christiane Amanpour, ABC News
Radio, and ABC News Now. Walter joined ABC from National Journal’s The Hotline, where she was the
editor-in-chief and served as the political publication’s primary voice for the last three years. In this role,
she provided regular analysis of the national political environment in her weekly NationalJournal.com
column, On the Trail. She has also been a regular contributor to PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and
provided political analysis on CNN, C-SPAN, CBS’s Face the Nation, NBC’s Meet the Press, and HBO’s
Real Time with Bill Maher. Walter was a member of CNN’s Emmy-award winning election-night team in
2006. From 1997 to 2007, she served as the senior editor of the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan
publication, where she earned accolades for successfully handicapping U.S. House races and was
frequently quoted as a congressional election expert in the major newspapers around the country. During
this time, she also contributed to National Journal magazine and CongressDaily. Walter was named one
of DC’s “50 Top Journalists” by Washingtonian Magazine in 2009 and honored with the Washington
Post’s Crystal Ball award for her spot-on election predictions in 2000. She graduated summa cum laude
from Colby College.
Contact: Amy Walter, Political Director, ABC News, 1717 DeSales Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036-
4401; (202) 222-7600; amy.walter@abc.com
Menachem Wecker is an education reporter at U.S. News & World Report and a religion and arts blogger
for the Houston Chronicle. Prior to joining U.S. News, Wecker worked at George Washington University
for five years, first as assistant director of public affairs at the Elliott School of International Affairs and
then as a writer for the university’s official online daily news service, GW Today. Before coming to the
university, he was assistant editor of B’nai B’rith Magazine. His articles and reviews have appeared in
publications such as Arab American News, Religion News Service, Mormon Artist Magazine, Mormon
Times, National Catholic Reporter, New York Arts Magazine, NY Press, American Jewish Life Magazine,
World Jewish Digest, Jerusalem Post, Washington Jewish Week, Baltimore Jewish Times, and Jewish
Currents. A painter, Wecker—who trained at the Massachusetts College of Art, School of the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston, and Art Institute of Boston—has exhibited his drawings, paintings, and photographs at
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