Speakers for the 40th Family History Conference

J. Mark Lowe, CG, FUGAs

Mark, is a full-time professional genealogist, author, and lecturer who researches primarily in original records and manuscripts throughout the South. Mark has published articles in the Association of Genealogical Societies (APG) Quarterly, North Carolina Genealogical Society Quarterly, SPEAK!, The Longhunter, and other genealogical society publications. His weekly local history article appears in the Robertson County Times.

As the Director of the Regional In-depth Genealogical Studies Alliance (RIGSA), Mark developed and directed (with the RIGSA team) week-long interactive learning sessions and hands-on research focusing on original documents and manuscripts at regional archives in cooperation with the National Archives. He is an instructor at the Institute for Genealogical & Historical Research (IGHR) at Samford University in Birmingham and at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy sponsored by the Utah Genealogical Association (UGA). He is the former vice-president of development for the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS), immediate past-president of the Association of Professional Genealogists, and a Fellow of the Utah Genealogical Association. He was awarded the APG’s Grahame T. Smallwood Jr. Award in 2007 for personal commitment and outstanding service to the genealogical community.

Additional Speakers

Bruce Buzbee, is the founder and president of RootsMagic, Inc. and the author of RootsMagic and Family Reunion Organizer genealogy software. Bruce is a nationally known speaker and the webmaster of Family-Reunion.com, the world’s most popular family reunion planning site.

John Dougan is the Missouri State Archivist. He is an advocate for free online access to genealogical records. He previously worked with the Memphis/Shelby County Archives in Tennessee.

Eric Keith is the vice-president of marketing and sales of Footnote.com.

Patricia Luebbert is the senior archivist at the Missouri State Archives in Jefferson City, where she supervises the reference area. She is a frequent speaker on genealogical topics throughout the state.

Steven Rowan is a professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, specializing in European history. He has authored and/or translated eighteen books.

Russ Wilding is CEO of Footnote.com, having joined the company in November 1998.

Rounding out the program are the following local speakers:

Sandra M. BrunsmannHughes is an international speaker, author, genealogist, and consultant. She serves StLGS as the leader of the Irish SIG.

Bob Goode, a retired history teacher, is the current StLGS vice-president-membership. He is the author of the monthly “Web Resources” column in the StLGS newsletter and frequently lectures and teaches genealogy/computer classes. During his leisure time, Bob is working on writing his family history.

Dan Vornberg has been researching his own family background for thirty years. He has researched in the Salt Lake City Family History Library, Allen County Library, the Federal Archives and numerous courthouses and has attended many St. Louis Genealogical Society conferences. He has been lecturing and sharing research methods with St. Louis and Jefferson County audiences for the last five years.

Bob Goode is a retired Parkway North social studies teacher. He is researching and writing a family history on his surname ancestors. He is presently serving as StLGS vice-president, membership, as well as writing the Web Resources column in News ‘n Notes, lecturing, and teaching classes.

Ann Barberis Wittenberg is an active member of the German SIG and the StLGS publicity committee. She is a former StLGS treasurer and currently works in real estate.