Who We Are

It takes a committed team with eclectic talents to help you navigate your way through life in digital times. Together our team has multiple lifetimes of experience with all things digital.

Robin Raskin
President and Founder

Robin Raskin has spent the past 30 years exploring what it means to be living in digital times. An author, editor, magazine publisher, blogger, TV and radio personality, and consultant, Raskin says she's never met a media she doesn't like, and is happiest when she's writing about technology's second citizens: kids, seniors or women and technology.

Raskin is the former editor of PC Magazine and Editor in Chief of FamilyPC. She's been a columnist for USA Today Online and has authored 6 books about parenting in the digital age. Her latest book is The Parents' Guide to College Life. (Random House 2006). Today, you can find her work on Yahoo! where she covered Boomer technology, DiscoverCard's online magazine, and at RobinRaskin.com.

In 2007, Raskin became the co-founder of The Sandbox Summit : A Playdate with Technology, an event created in partnership with the Consumer Electronics Association (CES). From this toe-tipping begining, Living in Digital Times has grown to encompass 6 different lifestyle meets technology events that occupy a major part of CES's North Hall. She also created and produced, The Last Gadget Standing (now in its 10th year) and The Mobile Apps Showdown, both wildly popular events at CES. 

Raskin lives in NYC and the Hudson Valley, with her husband, her three drop in now and then children, and closets full of obsolete technology.


Linda Nessim-Rubin
COO and Managing Partner

Linda Nessim-Rubin is the Founder of Design Concept, a production company hosting corporate events, tradeshows and summits; and is also a partner in Living in Digital Times, which focuses on technology that's relevant to particular lifestyles.

Before starting Design Concepts Linda completed an 18-year stint as Executive Vice President of Communications and Branding for The Princeton Review, Inc., a leading provider of education services and products, with more than 200 publications and 150,000 students worldwide. In her role, Linda was responsible for overseeing all public relations, market research, marketing communication efforts and Human Resources for the company.

Throughout the years, Linda has become adept at providing amazing experiences for her clients, whether it be an Elvis-themed birthday weekend in Las Vegas or a floating barge party through the Panama Canal. Her negotiating skills have made many a banquet manager weep and many a client dance with glee. With nearly 20 years of professional experience in the marketing of cutting-edge educational products, Linda has been quoted in publications such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Business Week.


Dr. Abby Kanarek
VP Operations

Abby Kanarek has spent most of her adult life working in the field of education. In addition to teaching test preparation classes for many years, she has written materials to help prepare students for state grade-level tests, Advanced Placement tests, and college entrance tests. She has also developed reading and writing curricula for after-school enrichment programs.

In a previous life, Abby worked on policy issues for the New York State Assembly. With almost twenty years of experience in event planning, her organizational skills are exceptional - bordering on psychotic - which made her well-equipped to coordinate the Kids @ Play and Silver Summit details at last year’s CES.

Dr. Kanarek received degrees from Syracuse University (B.A., Sociology) and The University of California, Irvine (PhD, Urban Planning). In her spare times, she tries to not lose at Rotisserie League Baseball.


Susan Ayers Walker
Co-Founder Silvers Summit and Digital Health Summit

Susan Ayers Walker is a leading edge boomer and a freelance journalist reporting on the intersection of technology and aging. Her articles have appeared in AARP the Magazine, AARP.Org, ACM's Interactions, EETimes, MIT Insider, American Society on Aging Newsletter and other industry journals. She is a nationally known speaker on technology for aging-in-place and technology for caregiving. She has appeared on NBC, and CBS, and participated in a variety of radio talk shows. Susan is the co-founder and managing director of the SmartSilvers Alliance with a mission to foster technology applications that assist independent living for the older consumer.

Located in Silicon Valley, she co-produces the BoomerTech series of technology panels  and videos that focuses on the +50 market in consumer driven healthcare, brain fitness, and lifestyle applications. Susan is a member of AARP, American Society on Aging - Business Forum on Aging, a global board member of the MIT Enterprise Forum. She received her BSEE in electrical engineering from Northeastern University and her Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers.


Jinny Goldstein
Co-Founder Higher Ed Tech Summit

Jinny is regarded as a true e-learning pioneer. At PBS, Jinny launched several firsts in distance learning, including TeacherLine, Adult Learning Service, and LiteracyLink, an online service that helps adults improve their literacy skills and earn a GED. As PBS Senior Vice President for Education, Jinny was responsible for all education services and strategic relationships, and for raising over $75 million of public and private dollars. More recently Jinny served as Vice President for Education and Strategy for Smarterville, LLC where she guided a new partnership to revitalize Reading Rainbow, the award winning PBS children’s series. She is President of the Goldstein Education Group, providing strategic advice and services to educational and media organizations, institutions, foundations and companies.


Warren Buckleitner
Director - Kids@Play Summit

Warren joins Living In Digital Times as the director for the Kids@Play Summit that will be presented at CES in January 2010. Born the same year as BF Skinner’s teaching machine (1958), Warren Buckleitner has been reviewing children’s technology products for over half of his life. After five years in the classroom and ten years at the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation, he established Children's Technology Review earning him SIIA's First Journalism Codie Award for "Best Software Reviewer." He is an advisor to Consumer Reports WebWatch and teaches both at NYU and the Rutgers Graduate School of Education. He is also a regular contributor to the New York Times Circuits page, and writes for Parents, PARADE, Disney Family, Scholastic Parent & Child and others. Buckleitner holds a BS in Elementary Education , an MS in human development and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from Michigan State University. He is the founder of the Dust or Magic Institute and the Mediatech Foundation.


Rebecca Ayers
Director - Mommy Tech Summit

Rebecca Ayers is an accomplished marketing professional with 18+ years of experience in B2B and B2C marketing, press and analyst relations, event management, graphic design and e-mail/Web marketing.  Prior to joining the Mommy Tech team, she served as director of corporate communications for Web services software provider Mindreef, which was acquired by Progress Software, and also served as director of client services for a Boston-area boutique high-tech PR agency, C.H.E.N. PR. She also spent several years managing a worldwide tradeshow and event presence for NuMega Technologies, during the time it was acquired by Compuware Corporation.

Rebecca is passionate about bringing new technologies to market and spent several years as Marketing Chair/Vice President of the MIT Enterprise Forum of South Florida, a non-profit volunteer organization that fosters entrepreneurship in Florida. She is a graduate of Webster University’s Space Coast Campus with a Master’s Degree in Business Administration.


Michael Sarfatti, P.E.
Director Technical Operations

Michael Sarfatti is the co-founder and managing director of the SmartSilvers Alliance with a mission to foster technology applications that assist independent living for the older consumer. His articles have appeared in ACM's Interactions, the American Society on Aging Newsletter and Mobile Persuasion, a Stanford University publication. Michael has over 30 years experience in a variety of industries, including petrochemical, financial services, and information technology, holding positions in engineering, training, marketing/sales, business development and executive management. In Silicon Valley, Michael co-produces (with Susan Ayers Walker) the BoomerTech series of technology panels and videos that focus on the +50 consumer market potential in healthcare and lifestyle applications.