[vc_row][vc_column][themeum_title title=”Featured Speakers”]
Charles Sterling
Charles Sterling is Senior Program Manager in Power BI Team based in Redmond. He came to Microsoft from being a marine biologist working for United States National Marine Fisheries doing marine mammal research on the Bering Sea. He started out at Microsoft supporting Excel and moved through a couple of support teams to being an escalation engineer for Microsoft SQL Server. Taking his love for customers (and diving), Chuck moved to Australia as a product manager and developer evangelist for the .NET Framework. In 2008 he moved back to Redmond as the Visual Studio community program manager and just recently moved to the Power BI team to continue his community passion and looking after the Power BI influencers and MVPs.
Andy Leonard
Andy Leonard is founder and Chief Data Engineer at Enterprise Data & Analytics, creator of the DILM (Data Integration Lifecycle Management) Suite, an SSIS Trainer, Consultant, and developer, a Business Intelligence Markup Language (Biml) developer and BimlHero, SQL Server database and data warehouse developer, community mentor, engineer, and farmer. He is a co-author of The Biml Book and SQL Server Integration Services Design Patterns and author of Managing Geeks - A Journey of Leading by Doing, Data Integration Lifecycle Management with SSIS, Building Custom Tasks for SSIS, and the Stairway to Integration Services. Andy blogs at andyleonard.blog where you can learn more on the About Andy page. .
Ken Puls
Ken Puls, FCPA, FCMA, is a Chartered Professional Accountant, blogger, author and trainer with over 20 years of business and financial modelling experience. His passion lies in exploring tools to turn data into information, and teaching others how to benefit from them. Ken has held the Microsoft MVP distinction since 2006 in both the Excel and Data Platform categories. He is also one of about 4% of CPAs to be recognized as a Fellow of his accounting body. Learn more about Ken at https://ca.linkedin.com/in/kenpuls.
Matt Allington
Matt Allington is a career data professional that has spent more than 30 years leveraging data to drive success. In 2014 Matt left the corporate world to start his own company (Excelerator BI) and now works full time to help others to use Microsoft BI products (Power BI, Power Pivot for Excel, Power Query for Excel). Matt is Microsoft MVP based in Sydney Australia, however has a global reach through his blog at http://xbi.com.au/blog
Charles Sterling
Charles Sterling is Senior Program Manager in Power BI Team based in Redmond. He came to Microsoft from being a marine biologist working for United States National Marine Fisheries doing marine mammal research on the Bering Sea. He started out at Microsoft supporting Excel and moved through a couple of support teams to being an escalation engineer for Microsoft SQL Server. Taking his love for customers (and diving), Chuck moved to Australia as a product manager and developer evangelist for the .NET Framework. In 2008 he moved back to Redmond as the Visual Studio community program manager and just recently moved to the Power BI team to continue his community passion and looking after the Power BI influencers and MVPs.
Robert Blaas
I have over 20 years of experience in the architecture, design and delivery of Business Intelligence solutions with a focus on the data structures required to effectively deliver business information. Over this time I have consulted with large multi nationals, local government and private companies in New Zealand and overseas. I have designed and developed enterprise data warehouses and large corporate data stores ensuring high quality data and information to business users. I enjoy working with people across a business to understand their requirements and translates these into sound technical structures. Having worked within multi-cultural environments, I am able to easily facilitate, mentor and coach business teams in meeting their information requirements.
Jonathan Stewart
Jonathan Stewart is a Business Intelligence consultant specializing in data visualization, data warehousing, and data management technologies. An advocate for educating others, he is a public speaker, teacher and blogger, continually teaching people about the Microsoft BI Stack. Since 2000, he has been working in the database field with industry leaders in healthcare, manufacturing, financial, insurance and federal, state and local governments. Jonathan is very active in the community. He has presented on SQL Server, SSIS, Reporting Services, Power BI and Business Intelligence at numerous SQLSaturday events, local user groups, and conferences throughout the United States and around the world. He participates in webcasts, podcasts, and online presentation events. He is also an active board member for his Columbus, Ohio PASS Local Group. Jonathan maintains a blog at https://sqllocks.net/. In his free time, Jonathan works with the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning commission to help improve central Ohio and enhance the quality of life of its residents.
John Liu
John is a trainer, consultant based in Sydney and founder of Flow Studio App In the last twenty years he specializes and blogs ( johnliu.net ) frequently on client-side scripting, custom development, Flows and PowerApps. Originally from a technical background in .NET, he is fluent with both creating custom software from scratch as well as extending out of box capabilities. John is a frequent speaker at Office 365 conferences and events around Sydney and Australia. He helps with organizing Sydney's SharePoint user group and Sydney PowerApps & Flow usergroups. He is a dual Microsoft MVP in Office apps and services and Business Applications (Flow and PowerApps). In 2018 he created Flow Studio app to help Microsoft Flow makers take their Flows to the next level.
Sandy Winarko
Sandy is a seasoned Product Manager with extensive experience in the US, Europe, and Asia, combining commercial/technical responsibilities in principal/senior roles at various TMT (Technology, Media, and Telecommunications) companies, such as Microsoft/Skype/Nokia, BSkyB (British Sky Broadcasting), and C&W (Cable & Wireless). At Microsoft, he is currently driving the efforts to modernize SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services) on premises and in the cloud as part of ADF (Azure Data Factory).
Leila Etaati
Leila is the First Microsoft AI MVP in New Zealand and Australia. She has a PhD in Information System from the University Of Auckland. She is the Co-director and data scientist in RADACAD Company with more than 100 clients in around the world. She is the co-organizer of Microsoft Business Intelligence and Power BI Use group (meetup) in Auckland with more than 1200 members. Leila is also the co-organizer of three main conferences in Auckland: SQL Saturday Auckland (2015 till now), Difinity (2017 till now) and Global AI Bootcamp 2-18. She is a Data Scientist, BI Consultant, Trainer and Speaker. Leila is a well-known International Speakers to many conferences such as Microsoft ignite, SQL pass, Data Platform Summit, SQL Saturday, Power BI world Tour and so forth in Europe, USA, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. She has over ten years’ experience working with databases and software systems. She was involved in many large-scale projects for big-sized companies. She also AI and Data Platform Microsoft MVP. Leila is an active Technical Microsoft AI blogger for RADACAD.
Reza Rad
Reza Rad is author, speaker, trainer and consultant. He is the world well-known name in the Microsoft BI field. Reza Rad is invited speaker in world’s best and biggest SQL Server and BI conferences such as PASS Summits, PASS Rallys, SQLBits, TechEds, Ignites, Microsoft Data Insight Summit, and so on. He is author of books on this topic, and he has more than 15 years’ experience in the Microsoft BI technologies. 10 years of his experience focused on training and consulting to the largest BI teams in the world. He is also Microsoft Certified Trainer for years. He is Microsoft SQL Server MVP (Most Valuable Professional) focused on BI and Data Analysis, He has been awarded MVP from Microsoft because of his dedication and expertise in Microsoft BI technologies. He is author of Power BI online book; from Rookie to Rock Star; http://radacad.com/online-book-power-bi-from-rookie-to-rockstar
Andy Leonard
Andy Leonard is founder and Chief Data Engineer at Enterprise Data & Analytics, creator of the DILM (Data Integration Lifecycle Management) Suite, an SSIS Trainer, Consultant, and developer, a Business Intelligence Markup Language (Biml) developer and BimlHero, SQL Server database and data warehouse developer, community mentor, engineer, and farmer. He is a co-author of The Biml Book and SQL Server Integration Services Design Patterns and author of Managing Geeks - A Journey of Leading by Doing, Data Integration Lifecycle Management with SSIS, Building Custom Tasks for SSIS, and the Stairway to Integration Services. Andy blogs at andyleonard.blog where you can learn more on the About Andy page. .
Gilbert Quevauvilliers
Microsoft MVP - Power BI Consultant using Microsoft Power BI to provide solutions for business challenges by sitting with the users within the business to build Power BI models which enable the business to gain insights. My goal is for the business to see their data on their terms by delivering Microsoft Power BI Solutions in weeks or less, thereby enabling them to move forward to leverage their data. I have assisted with the implementation and completion of Power BI which includes Power BI Desktop development, assistance with Power BI Gateway, Power BI Service, Power BI Internal Training, Power BI Best Practice & Power BI User Group sessions. Power BI training provided to Businesses based on their requirements. Participate and present at the Brisbane Power BI User Group Leader, SQL Saturday Presenter, Brisbane Power BI User Group, Power BI Community and publish blog posts to the Power BI Community Blogs. Past working experience in Business Intelligence (BI), working on large, complex end to end BI solutions for customers.
Ken Puls
Ken Puls, FCPA, FCMA, is a Chartered Professional Accountant, blogger, author and trainer with over 20 years of business and financial modelling experience. His passion lies in exploring tools to turn data into information, and teaching others how to benefit from them. Ken has held the Microsoft MVP distinction since 2006 in both the Excel and Data Platform categories. He is also one of about 4% of CPAs to be recognized as a Fellow of his accounting body. Learn more about Ken at https://ca.linkedin.com/in/kenpuls.
Matt Allington
Matt Allington is a career data professional that has spent more than 30 years leveraging data to drive success. In 2014 Matt left the corporate world to start his own company (Excelerator BI) and now works full time to help others to use Microsoft BI products (Power BI, Power Pivot for Excel, Power Query for Excel). Matt is Microsoft MVP based in Sydney Australia, however has a global reach through his blog at http://xbi.com.au/blog
Stefano Tempesta
Stefano Tempesta is a Microsoft RD (Regional Director), MVP on AI and Business Applications, and member of the Blockchain Council. A regular speaker at international IT conferences, including Microsoft Ignite and Tech Summit, Stefano's interests extend to blockchain and AI-related technologies. He created Blogchain Space (blogchain.space), a blog about blockchain technologies, writes for MSDN Magazine and MS Dynamics World, and publishes Machine Learning experiments on the Azure AI Gallery (gallery.azure.ai). "
Dejan Sarka
Dejan Sarka, MCT and Data Platform MVP, is an independent trainer and consultant that focuses on development of database and business intelligence applications. Besides projects, he spends about half of the time on training and mentoring. He is the founder of the Slovenian SQL Server and .NET Users Group. Dejan Sarka is the main author or co-author of eighteen books about databases and SQL Server. Dejan Sarka has also developed many courses and seminars for Microsoft, SolidQ, and Pluralsight.
Sergei Gundorov
The presenter, Sergei Gundorov, currently works as a Program Manager on the Power BI team at Microsoft. He has Master’s Degree in Business Administration. Sergei published numerous articles over the course of the last 26 years through multiple channels on various subjects that range from accounting and economics to in depth technical articles on MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network). Sergei’s most recent contribution was to the Security Whitepaper for Power BI published in May of 2017. He presented his most valuable technological advancements to worldwide developer audiences at TechEd, TechReady, and Office/SharePoint Developer conferences. He participated and contributed to numerous webcasts that focused on various technologies that he is considered to be an expert on. He is an inventor and filed several patent applications. Sergei runs popular technical “XLGeek’s Space” blog where his work is praised very highly by the readers and his apps users.
Uwe Ricken
Uwe Ricken has been working with IT systems since the 90s. He found the way to the technology of Microsoft SQL Server with the assignment for the development of membership administration software for the American Chamber of Commerce in Germany. After the development the software has been distributed to five additional European countries. The primary passion for developments with Microsoft SQL Server expanded in 2007 with his engagement as a DBA for the Deutsche Bank AG in Frankfurt am Main. After 6 years of operational experiences as a DBA and over 14 years as a developer of complex database models he earned in May 2013 the Microsoft Certified Master SQL Server 2008 certification which the highest technical certification by Microsoft. The successful year 2013 has been finalized with the first MVP award for his outstanding support to the Microsoft SQL Server community in Germany and Europe. Uwe Ricken was the first MCM + MVP in Germany! To provide his deep knowledge about Microsoft SQL Server to the interested community Uwe Ricken is blogging since 2010 at http://www.sqlmaster.de about his daily experiences with Microsoft SQL Server. His blog posts are in German language only to provide the German speaking SQL community enthusiasts deep inside views into the technology of Microsoft SQL Server. Uwe Ricken is a speaker on many international conferences and events and preferred topics for Database Internals Indexing and Development.
Chris Hoder
Chris Hoder is a Senior Program Manager on the Azure Cognitive Services team working to bring AI capabilities to all developers and companies. Chris currently focuses on the developer experience across the platform, driving a consistent experience and design in the APIs, SDKs and Docs. Prior to this role, Chris spent 3 years working directly with customers helping them bring their AI solutions to life from ideation to deployment. Outside of work, Chris is an avid skier, sailor and laser cutting enthusiast.
Charles Sterling
Charles Sterling is Senior Program Manager in Power BI Team based in Redmond. He came to Microsoft from being a marine biologist working for United States National Marine Fisheries doing marine mammal research on the Bering Sea. He started out at Microsoft supporting Excel and moved through a couple of support teams to being an escalation engineer for Microsoft SQL Server. Taking his love for customers (and diving), Chuck moved to Australia as a product manager and developer evangelist for the .NET Framework. In 2008 he moved back to Redmond as the Visual Studio community program manager and just recently moved to the Power BI team to continue his community passion and looking after the Power BI influencers and MVPs.
Jian Sun
A passionate technologist with 12 years’ experience in pre-sales and delivering business solutions with Microsoft Dynamics 365. The very first Microsoft business applications MVP in New Zealand awarded in 2010. Jian has led complex enterprise solutions across multiple industry verticals, working at Microsoft partners, enterprise customers and Microsoft. He strives for a trusted advisor role with customers and thrives on driving business impact and delivering business values with keen focuses on ROI and TCO. Currently, Jian is the Technology Specialist in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement at Microsoft New Zealand.
Sudhir Rawat
Sudhir recently joined Microsoft, NZ as DEV-PMM. He spent 14 years (around 13 years in Microsoft) in industry and involved in various activities like development, consulting, troubleshooting and speaking. He works extensively on Data and AI platform. He delivered talk in various conferences on various topics like BI, Big Data, IOT and AI. He delivered talk on Hadoop performance in SQL PASS 2015, Seattle. He also delivered sessions on another platform like Microsoft Tech-ed INDIA, Microsoft Azure Conference, Great INDIA Developer Summit, SQL Server Annual Summit, Reboot (MVP) etc. His certification includes Azure Data Scientist Associate, Azure AI Engineer Associate, Azure Data Engineer Associate, MCITP, MCTS, MCT, MCPS and MS. He author a book on "Operationalizing Big Data and Advance Analytics Solution using ADF". You can find him at http://aka.ms/connectsudhir, http://aka.ms/followsudhir, http://aka.ms/gitsudhir
Chimene Bonhomme
Chimene is the trusted technical advisor in the Microsoft Customer Success Unit for Azure Data Platform. My focus is big data, custom ML, AI, IoT, OSS, customer success and business strategy. Prior to joining Microsoft, Chimene worked as a Data Specialist Consultant and successfully delivered projects for cross industries and companies in the US, Australia and New Zealand. Chimene is also a regular speaker in various forums such as the Data Insight and Power BI User Group, Difinity, Global AI Nights, Azure Summit, SQL Saturdays, HINZ, and other Microsoft events.
Abhishek Narain
Abhishek works as a Product Manager in the Azure data group, leading the product efforts on Azure Data Factory - a hybrid, cloud-scale, managed ETL service on Azure. His primary focus is to enable hybrid and enterprise-grade security features in Azure Data Factory. Abhishek was a Microsoft MVP earlier before joining Microsoft and continues to be part of the technical community and recently co-authored a book on 'Operationalizing Big Data and Advanced Analytics Solutions'.
Yana Berkovich
Yana is a program manager in Microsoft, Power Platform team. Creating instructor led content for Power Platform products based in Bellevue WA. A former data platform MVP and consultant, moved from Russia to Israel to Canada and currently based in Seattle. Worked with Microsoft enabling the best data solutions using Microsoft products for customers across industries and countries. Community speaker and PowerBI enthusiast
Phil Seamark
Phil is a Senior Program Manager in Power BI CAT team. He is an experienced database and business intelligence (BI) professional with a deep knowledge of the Microsoft B.I. stack along with extensive knowledge of data warehouse (DW) methodologies and enterprise data modelling. He has 25+ years experience in this field and an active member of Power BI community Phil is passionate about all Microsoft BI technologies including Power BI. He is an active member, and always in the top list of authors in Power BI community. If you have a question, you might find Phil answering you there.
David Lyth
David is a senior field engineer with Microsoft New Zealand, helping customers in New Zealand and Australia, with both formal training workshops and custom "how can we make this better" work, across a variety of products both on-premises and in the cloud, including SQL Server, Azure SQL database, Azure SQL Datawarehouse, Power BI, data factory and databricks. Happy to reminisce about OpenVMS as well.
Sandy Winarko
Sandy is a seasoned Product Manager with extensive experience in the US, Europe, and Asia, combining commercial/technical responsibilities in principal/senior roles at various TMT (Technology, Media, and Telecommunications) companies, such as Microsoft/Skype/Nokia, BSkyB (British Sky Broadcasting), and C&W (Cable & Wireless). At Microsoft, he is currently driving the efforts to modernize SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services) on premises and in the cloud as part of ADF (Azure Data Factory).
Suzanne George
Suzanne George, Microsoft Regional Director and MCTS has developed, administered, and architected online applications since 1995 and has worked in various environments - small, medium, and very large companies. With a focus on Digital Transformation using Office 365 and O365 integration with applications; she has often been asked to speak at conferences around the country. She is an expert in designing, developing, deploying, managing and troubleshooting complex architectures and solutions on the Microsoft platform – with a focus on Collaboration Tools and application integration. Currently, Suzanne is a Chief Architect for Collaboration Services at Cognizant and has worked closely with Microsoft for years. She also was a contributing author for several books including the SharePoint 2010 Administrators companion.
Mihail Mateev
I am Senior Solution Architect at EPAM Systems, and also a Microsoft Regional Director currently living in Sofia, Bulgaria. My interests range from technology to entrepreneurship. I am also interested in programming, web development, and education. Technical Consultant, Community enthusiast, PASS Regional Mentor for Central Eastern Europe, chapter lead, Microsoft MVP - Microsoft Azure, Data Platform. Organizer of SQLSaturday, Azure Bootcamp, IoT and JavaScript conferences. My experience is in various areas related to Microsoft technologies, including Windows Platform, ASP.Net MVC, MS SQL Server and Microsoft Azure. I have a PhD in cloud computing and am a university lecturer on Smart Homes and Smart Energy IoT Solutions
Reza Rad
Reza Rad is author, speaker, trainer and consultant. He is the world well-known name in the Microsoft BI field. Reza Rad is invited speaker in world’s best and biggest SQL Server and BI conferences such as PASS Summits, PASS Rallys, SQLBits, TechEds, Ignites, Microsoft Data Insight Summit, and so on. He is author of books on this topic, and he has more than 15 years’ experience in the Microsoft BI technologies. 10 years of his experience focused on training and consulting to the largest BI teams in the world. He is also Microsoft Certified Trainer for years. He is Microsoft SQL Server MVP (Most Valuable Professional) focused on BI and Data Analysis, He has been awarded MVP from Microsoft because of his dedication and expertise in Microsoft BI technologies. He is author of Power BI online book; from Rookie to Rock Star; http://radacad.com/online-book-power-bi-from-rookie-to-rockstar
Stefano Tempesta
Stefano Tempesta is a Microsoft RD (Regional Director), MVP on AI and Business Applications, and member of the Blockchain Council. A regular speaker at international IT conferences, including Microsoft Ignite and Tech Summit, Stefano's interests extend to blockchain and AI-related technologies. He created Blogchain Space (blogchain.space), a blog about blockchain technologies, writes for MSDN Magazine and MS Dynamics World, and publishes Machine Learning experiments on the Azure AI Gallery (gallery.azure.ai). "
Steve Knutson
Steve is the Managing Director and co-founder Stratos Technology Partners, a Software Development and Technology Consulting firm based in Christchurch, New Zealand. Steve works as a consultant on Digital Workplaces and Technology projects for a wide range of clients and has extensive practical experience implementing solutions big and small. Steve is a Microsoft MVP for Office Services and Apps, organiser of IT community events and regular presenter at IT industry and community events.
Martin Catherall
Martin has over 15 years of experience working with data- driven applications built on SQL Server and the Microsoft Data Platform technology. He has substantial experience as a developer, database administrator and consultant. Martin founded the Christchurch SQL Server User Group and ran several SQL Saturdays in that city before relocating to Melbourne in early 2016. He currently volunteers as a Regional Mentor for PASS and maintains strong involvement in the Australian and New Zealand Data Platform communities. Martin's current interests are around database NoSQL, PaaS and data modernisation
Hamish Watson
Hamish is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and VMware Expert with a passion for efficient database & application deployment using DevOps methodologies. He has 20+ years IT experience in managing and deploying large scale databases on SQL Server technologies. Hamish runs a DevOps consultancy business Morph iT which is based in Christchurch, New Zealand. His company helps clients optimise their SQL Server instances as well as embrace using the Azure platform for both application and databases. Bringing DevOps efficiencies to databases is both a passion for Hamish as well as a key driver for his company. He has been managing SQL Server since SQL Server 2000 and pragmatic approaches to delivering business value to clients is his career passion. He speaks at many conferences & user groups and his topics range from Agile techniques for DBAs to tuning tempDB which mean that his sessions are informative, relevant and entertaining. Educating and helping others learn is a driver for Hamish and he is a PASS Chapter Leader, International speaker and a repeat guest lecturer at a local university.
William Durkin
William Durkin is a Data Architect for Data Masterminds. He uses his decade of experience with SQL Server to help multinational corporations achieve their data management goals. Born in the UK and now based in Germany, William has worked as a Database Developer and DBA on projects ranging from single server installations, up to environments spanning 5 continents using a range of high availability solutions. William is a regular speaker at conferences around the globe and is the organizer of the popular DataGrillen event.
Anupama Natarajan
Anu is a Data, Analytics and AI Consultant with 20+ years of experience working in design and development of Data Warehouse, Business Intelligence, AI enabled applications and SaaS integrated solutions. She is a Microsoft MVP in Artificial Intelligence, Microsoft Certified Trainer and really passionate in sharing knowledge. She enjoys solving complex business problems with innovative solutions using Microsoft technologies and use that experience in her training. Anu is a speaker at various conferences including PASS Summit, SQL Saturdays, Data Platform Summit, Difinity, Webinars and organise local user group meetups and SQLSaturday Organiser in Wellington, New Zealand.
Ben Watt
Ben is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and Managing Director of Datalineo, a Dublin-based consulting business. Ben is a long-time Power BI user and has a long background in SQL Server, data warehousing and data visualisation.
Martin Cairney
Martin has 20 years experience in SQL Server technologies. His experience spans both the Database Engine and infrastructure requirements, and Data Warehousing and BI implementations. He has worked across many industry sectors including London's global financial institutions and both State and Federal Government Departments. He is a Data Platform MVP, MCT and an experienced conference presenter, having presented at PASS Summit, SQLBits, and SQL Saturday events and User Groups round the world"
Craig Bryden
Craig has been working with SQL Server for over 20 years and currently holds several SQL Server based certifications. He has also previously held an MCT certification. Craig's contribution to the SQL Server community was recognised in 2018 and 2019 with a Microsoft MVP award. He was involved with Microsoft Learning to set some of the current SQL server Exams. Craig is the Chief Data Strategist at BiTQ. Craig is an organiser of the QLD Power BI User Group
Ben Weissman
Ben has been working with SQL Server since SQL Server 6.5, mainly in the BI/Datawarehousing field. He is a Data Platform MVP, MCSE Data Management and Analytics, MPP Big Data, MPP AI, MPP Data Science and MPP Data Analytics. He is also the first BimlHero Certified Expert in Germany, a co-author of The Biml Book and a Certified Data Vault Data Modeler. Ben has been involved in about 150 BI Projects and is always looking for ways to become more productive and make SQL Server even more fun! Together with his team at Solisyon, Ben provides training, implementation and consultancy for SQL/BI developers and data analysts in (upper-) mid-market companies around the globe.
Manohar Punna
Manohar Punna is a Microsoft Data Platform Consultant and a Data Platform MVP. In his day to day job he works on building database and BI systems, automation, building monitoring systems, helping customers to make value from their data & explore and learn. By passion Manohar is a blogger, speaker and Vice President of DataPlatformGeeks. He is a community enthusiast and believes strongly in the concept of giving back to the community. Manohar is a speaker at various Data Platform events from SQL Server Day, various user groups, SQLSaturdays, PASS Summit, SQLBits, MS Ignite, SSGAS & DPS. His One DMV a Day series is the longest one day series on any topic related to SQL Server available so far.
John Liu
John is a trainer, consultant based in Sydney and founder of Flow Studio App In the last twenty years he specializes and blogs ( johnliu.net ) frequently on client-side scripting, custom development, Flows and PowerApps. Originally from a technical background in .NET, he is fluent with both creating custom software from scratch as well as extending out of box capabilities. John is a frequent speaker at Office 365 conferences and events around Sydney and Australia. He helps with organizing Sydney's SharePoint user group and Sydney PowerApps & Flow usergroups. He is a dual Microsoft MVP in Office apps and services and Business Applications (Flow and PowerApps). In 2018 he created Flow Studio app to help Microsoft Flow makers take their Flows to the next level.
Indira Bandari
Indira is a Business Intelligence Consultant and an aspiring Data Scientist with over 15 years of experience in designing and developing data warehouses and analytical solutions. She has been awarded is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP in New Zealand. She has a Masters degree in Statistics and is passionate about data, analytics and learning data science. Volunteering and sharing her knowledge are her passions. In her pastime, she teaches game development for primary school children. She also teaches database concepts and data visualizations to 10-15-year-olds. She is a co-organiser for NZ Power BI User Group, Auckland AI Meetup Group and SQL Saturday Auckland. She is a speaker at various User Groups, Virtual Webinars, PASS Marathon, 24 Hours of PASS and SQL Saturdays in New Zealand and the Power Platform Summit in Australia.
Dave Dustin
Based in Wellington, New Zealand, Dave has been working in the IT industry, specialising in data-platforms, for more than 35 years. A Microsoft MVP for 10 years, he has been heavily involved in the community, including presenting at a large number of conferences and events around the world. He is currently a Principal Engineer at Xero.
Leila Etaati
Leila is the First Microsoft AI MVP in New Zealand and Australia. She has a PhD in Information System from the University Of Auckland. She is the Co-director and data scientist in RADACAD Company with more than 100 clients in around the world. She is the co-organizer of Microsoft Business Intelligence and Power BI Use group (meetup) in Auckland with more than 1200 members. Leila is also the co-organizer of three main conferences in Auckland: SQL Saturday Auckland (2015 till now), Difinity (2017 till now) and Global AI Bootcamp 2-18. She is a Data Scientist, BI Consultant, Trainer and Speaker. Leila is a well-known International Speakers to many conferences such as Microsoft ignite, SQL pass, Data Platform Summit, SQL Saturday, Power BI world Tour and so forth in Europe, USA, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. She has over ten years’ experience working with databases and software systems. She was involved in many large-scale projects for big-sized companies. She also AI and Data Platform Microsoft MVP. Leila is an active Technical Microsoft AI blogger for RADACAD.
Reza Rad
Reza Rad is author, speaker, trainer and consultant. He is the world well-known name in the Microsoft BI field. Reza Rad is invited speaker in world’s best and biggest SQL Server and BI conferences such as PASS Summits, PASS Rallys, SQLBits, TechEds, Ignites, Microsoft Data Insight Summit, and so on. He is author of books on this topic, and he has more than 15 years’ experience in the Microsoft BI technologies. 10 years of his experience focused on training and consulting to the largest BI teams in the world. He is also Microsoft Certified Trainer for years. He is Microsoft SQL Server MVP (Most Valuable Professional) focused on BI and Data Analysis, He has been awarded MVP from Microsoft because of his dedication and expertise in Microsoft BI technologies. He is author of Power BI online book; from Rookie to Rock Star; http://radacad.com/online-book-power-bi-from-rookie-to-rockstar
Andy Leonard
Andy Leonard is founder and Chief Data Engineer at Enterprise Data & Analytics, creator of the DILM (Data Integration Lifecycle Management) Suite, an SSIS Trainer, Consultant, and developer, a Business Intelligence Markup Language (Biml) developer and BimlHero, SQL Server database and data warehouse developer, community mentor, engineer, and farmer. He is a co-author of The Biml Book and SQL Server Integration Services Design Patterns and author of Managing Geeks - A Journey of Leading by Doing, Data Integration Lifecycle Management with SSIS, Building Custom Tasks for SSIS, and the Stairway to Integration Services. Andy blogs at andyleonard.blog where you can learn more on the About Andy page. .
Gilbert Quevauvilliers
Microsoft MVP - Power BI Consultant using Microsoft Power BI to provide solutions for business challenges by sitting with the users within the business to build Power BI models which enable the business to gain insights. My goal is for the business to see their data on their terms by delivering Microsoft Power BI Solutions in weeks or less, thereby enabling them to move forward to leverage their data. I have assisted with the implementation and completion of Power BI which includes Power BI Desktop development, assistance with Power BI Gateway, Power BI Service, Power BI Internal Training, Power BI Best Practice & Power BI User Group sessions. Power BI training provided to Businesses based on their requirements. Participate and present at the Brisbane Power BI User Group Leader, SQL Saturday Presenter, Brisbane Power BI User Group, Power BI Community and publish blog posts to the Power BI Community Blogs. Past working experience in Business Intelligence (BI), working on large, complex end to end BI solutions for customers.
Ken Puls
Ken Puls, FCPA, FCMA, is a Chartered Professional Accountant, blogger, author and trainer with over 20 years of business and financial modelling experience. His passion lies in exploring tools to turn data into information, and teaching others how to benefit from them. Ken has held the Microsoft MVP distinction since 2006 in both the Excel and Data Platform categories. He is also one of about 4% of CPAs to be recognized as a Fellow of his accounting body. Learn more about Ken at https://ca.linkedin.com/in/kenpuls.
Matt Allington
Matt Allington is a career data professional that has spent more than 30 years leveraging data to drive success. In 2014 Matt left the corporate world to start his own company (Excelerator BI) and now works full time to help others to use Microsoft BI products (Power BI, Power Pivot for Excel, Power Query for Excel). Matt is Microsoft MVP based in Sydney Australia, however has a global reach through his blog at http://xbi.com.au/blog
Stefano Tempesta
Stefano Tempesta is a Microsoft RD (Regional Director), MVP on AI and Business Applications, and member of the Blockchain Council. A regular speaker at international IT conferences, including Microsoft Ignite and Tech Summit, Stefano's interests extend to blockchain and AI-related technologies. He created Blogchain Space (blogchain.space), a blog about blockchain technologies, writes for MSDN Magazine and MS Dynamics World, and publishes Machine Learning experiments on the Azure AI Gallery (gallery.azure.ai). "
Ginger Grant
Ginger is a consultant who shares what she has learned while working with data technology at clients by providing training to people around the world. As a Microsoft MVP in Data Platform and a Microsoft Certified Trainer, she is proficient in creating solutions using the entire Microsoft Data Stack, which includes SQL Server, T-SQL, SSIS, SSAS, Power BI and Azure Data Cloud components including Databricks, Data Factory, Data Lakes, Data Analytics, IOT, Event Hubs, Machine Learning. In addition to blogging at http://www.desertislesql.com, Ginger has authored 70-774 Perform Cloud Data Science with Azure Machine Learning. When not working, she maintains her blog and spends time on twitter @desertislesql.
Dejan Sarka
Dejan Sarka, MCT and Data Platform MVP, is an independent trainer and consultant that focuses on development of database and business intelligence applications. Besides projects, he spends about half of the time on training and mentoring. He is the founder of the Slovenian SQL Server and .NET Users Group. Dejan Sarka is the main author or co-author of eighteen books about databases and SQL Server. Dejan Sarka has also developed many courses and seminars for Microsoft, SolidQ, and Pluralsight.
Uwe Ricken
Uwe Ricken has been working with IT systems since the 90s. He found the way to the technology of Microsoft SQL Server with the assignment for the development of membership administration software for the American Chamber of Commerce in Germany. After the development the software has been distributed to five additional European countries. The primary passion for developments with Microsoft SQL Server expanded in 2007 with his engagement as a DBA for the Deutsche Bank AG in Frankfurt am Main. After 6 years of operational experiences as a DBA and over 14 years as a developer of complex database models he earned in May 2013 the Microsoft Certified Master SQL Server 2008 certification which the highest technical certification by Microsoft. The successful year 2013 has been finalized with the first MVP award for his outstanding support to the Microsoft SQL Server community in Germany and Europe. Uwe Ricken was the first MCM + MVP in Germany! To provide his deep knowledge about Microsoft SQL Server to the interested community Uwe Ricken is blogging since 2010 at http://www.sqlmaster.de about his daily experiences with Microsoft SQL Server. His blog posts are in German language only to provide the German speaking SQL community enthusiasts deep inside views into the technology of Microsoft SQL Server. Uwe Ricken is a speaker on many international conferences and events and preferred topics for Database Internals Indexing and Development.
Victor Isakov
Victor Isakov (MCA, MCM, MCSM, MCT, MVP) is a Microsoft Certified Architect and trainer who provides consulting and training services to various organizations in the public, private, and NGO sectors globally. He specialises in performance tuning, upgrades, licensing optimization and helping organisations architect their Data Platform strategy. Victor regularly speaks at international conferences such as Microsoft TechEd/Ignite, PASS Summit, IT/Dev Connections, and SQLSaturdays. He has written a number of books on SQL Server and has worked with Microsoft to develop the SQL Server exams and certification. In 2017 he authored ""Exam Ref 70-764 Administering a SQL Database Infrastructure (1st Edition)"". Victor is one of only three non-Microsoft, Microsoft Certified Architects in the world.
Uwe Ricken
Uwe Ricken has been working with IT systems since the 90s. He found the way to the technology of Microsoft SQL Server with the assignment for the development of membership administration software for the American Chamber of Commerce in Germany. After the development the software has been distributed to five additional European countries. The primary passion for developments with Microsoft SQL Server expanded in 2007 with his engagement as a DBA for the Deutsche Bank AG in Frankfurt am Main. After 6 years of operational experiences as a DBA and over 14 years as a developer of complex database models he earned in May 2013 the Microsoft Certified Master SQL Server 2008 certification which the highest technical certification by Microsoft. The successful year 2013 has been finalized with the first MVP award for his outstanding support to the Microsoft SQL Server community in Germany and Europe. Uwe Ricken was the first MCM + MVP in Germany! To provide his deep knowledge about Microsoft SQL Server to the interested community Uwe Ricken is blogging since 2010 at http://www.sqlmaster.de about his daily experiences with Microsoft SQL Server. His blog posts are in German language only to provide the German speaking SQL community enthusiasts deep inside views into the technology of Microsoft SQL Server. Uwe Ricken is a speaker on many international conferences and events and preferred topics for Database Internals Indexing and Development.
Chris Hoder
Chris Hoder is a Senior Program Manager on the Azure Cognitive Services team working to bring AI capabilities to all developers and companies. Chris currently focuses on the developer experience across the platform, driving a consistent experience and design in the APIs, SDKs and Docs. Prior to this role, Chris spent 3 years working directly with customers helping them bring their AI solutions to life from ideation to deployment. Outside of work, Chris is an avid skier, sailor and laser cutting enthusiast.
Charles Sterling
Charles Sterling is Senior Program Manager in Power BI Team based in Redmond. He came to Microsoft from being a marine biologist working for United States National Marine Fisheries doing marine mammal research on the Bering Sea. He started out at Microsoft supporting Excel and moved through a couple of support teams to being an escalation engineer for Microsoft SQL Server. Taking his love for customers (and diving), Chuck moved to Australia as a product manager and developer evangelist for the .NET Framework. In 2008 he moved back to Redmond as the Visual Studio community program manager and just recently moved to the Power BI team to continue his community passion and looking after the Power BI influencers and MVPs.
Zaki Semar
Zaki is a seasoned Solution Architect based in Auckland with extensive experience in Office 365, SharePoint and delivering modern workplace solutions. He is a MCSE (Productivity) working for Intergen and has delivered several productivity, collaboration and document management solutions including several intranets. He is passionate about crafting solutions using the three Microsoft Clouds (O365, Azure and D365) and his pragmatic outlook underscores the solutions he delivers ensuring that they are fit for purpose and delivering tangible value to clients.
Victor Isakov
Victor Isakov (MCA, MCM, MCSM, MCT, MVP) is a Microsoft Certified Architect and trainer who provides consulting and training services to various organizations in the public, private, and NGO sectors globally. He specialises in performance tuning, upgrades, licensing optimization and helping organisations architect their Data Platform strategy. Victor regularly speaks at international conferences such as Microsoft TechEd/Ignite, PASS Summit, IT/Dev Connections, and SQLSaturdays. He has written a number of books on SQL Server and has worked with Microsoft to develop the SQL Server exams and certification. In 2017 he authored ""Exam Ref 70-764 Administering a SQL Database Infrastructure (1st Edition)"". Victor is one of only three non-Microsoft, Microsoft Certified Architects in the world.
Jian Sun
A passionate technologist with 12 years’ experience in pre-sales and delivering business solutions with Microsoft Dynamics 365. The very first Microsoft business applications MVP in New Zealand awarded in 2010. Jian has led complex enterprise solutions across multiple industry verticals, working at Microsoft partners, enterprise customers and Microsoft. He strives for a trusted advisor role with customers and thrives on driving business impact and delivering business values with keen focuses on ROI and TCO. Currently, Jian is the Technology Specialist in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement at Microsoft New Zealand.
Sudhir Rawat
Sudhir recently joined Microsoft, NZ as DEV-PMM. He spent 14 years (around 13 years in Microsoft) in industry and involved in various activities like development, consulting, troubleshooting and speaking. He works extensively on Data and AI platform. He delivered talk in various conferences on various topics like BI, Big Data, IOT and AI. He delivered talk on Hadoop performance in SQL PASS 2015, Seattle. He also delivered sessions on another platform like Microsoft Tech-ed INDIA, Microsoft Azure Conference, Great INDIA Developer Summit, SQL Server Annual Summit, Reboot (MVP) etc. His certification includes Azure Data Scientist Associate, Azure AI Engineer Associate, Azure Data Engineer Associate, MCITP, MCTS, MCT, MCPS and MS. He author a book on "Operationalizing Big Data and Advance Analytics Solution using ADF". You can find him at http://aka.ms/connectsudhir, http://aka.ms/followsudhir, http://aka.ms/gitsudhir
Zaki Semar
Zaki is a seasoned Solution Architect based in Auckland with extensive experience in Office 365, SharePoint and delivering modern workplace solutions. He is a MCSE (Productivity) working for Intergen and has delivered several productivity, collaboration and document management solutions including several intranets. He is passionate about crafting solutions using the three Microsoft Clouds (O365, Azure and D365) and his pragmatic outlook underscores the solutions he delivers ensuring that they are fit for purpose and delivering tangible value to clients.
Rami Mounla
Rami is a Solution Architect specialized in Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform. Coming from Wellington his experience is mainly around implementing cloud services for the public sector. Rami is author of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Extensions Cookbook and leader of the Dynamics community in Wellington.
Steve Knutson
Steve is the Managing Director and co-founder Stratos Technology Partners, a Software Development and Technology Consulting firm based in Christchurch, New Zealand. Steve works as a consultant on Digital Workplaces and Technology projects for a wide range of clients and has extensive practical experience implementing solutions big and small. Steve is a Microsoft MVP for Office Services and Apps, organiser of IT community events and regular presenter at IT industry and community events.
Jonathan Southee
Jonathan is the Director of Digital Delivery at New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. A global organisation responsible for growing NZ companies internationally. He has a long history of CRM and Data delivery across a variety of industries (FMCG, Banking, Government) as well as multiple technology stacks.
Robert Blaas
I have over 20 years of experience in the architecture, design and delivery of Business Intelligence solutions with a focus on the data structures required to effectively deliver business information. Over this time I have consulted with large multi nationals, local government and private companies in New Zealand and overseas. I have designed and developed enterprise data warehouses and large corporate data stores ensuring high quality data and information to business users. I enjoy working with people across a business to understand their requirements and translates these into sound technical structures. Having worked within multi-cultural environments, I am able to easily facilitate, mentor and coach business teams in meeting their information requirements.
Suzanne George
Suzanne George, Microsoft Regional Director and MCTS has developed, administered, and architected online applications since 1995 and has worked in various environments - small, medium, and very large companies. With a focus on Digital Transformation using Office 365 and O365 integration with applications; she has often been asked to speak at conferences around the country. She is an expert in designing, developing, deploying, managing and troubleshooting complex architectures and solutions on the Microsoft platform – with a focus on Collaboration Tools and application integration. Currently, Suzanne is a Chief Architect for Collaboration Services at Cognizant and has worked closely with Microsoft for years. She also was a contributing author for several books including the SharePoint 2010 Administrators companion.
Chimene Bonhomme
Chimene is the trusted technical advisor in the Microsoft Customer Success Unit for Azure Data Platform. My focus is big data, custom ML, AI, IoT, OSS, customer success and business strategy. Prior to joining Microsoft, Chimene worked as a Data Specialist Consultant and successfully delivered projects for cross industries and companies in the US, Australia and New Zealand. Chimene is also a regular speaker in various forums such as the Data Insight and Power BI User Group, Difinity, Global AI Nights, Azure Summit, SQL Saturdays, HINZ, and other Microsoft events.
Heidi Hasting
Heidi is a Business Intelligence Developer, Database Administrator, Cloud Administrator and so much more. With over 7 years experience in Microsoft products. Heidi is an ALM/DLM enthusiast and Azure DevOps fan. Co-founder and Organiser of Adelaide Power BI User Group and active attendee at tech events (Azure Bootcamps, DevOps days, SQL Saturdays, Difinity and PASS Summit).
Mihail Mateev
I am Senior Solution Architect at EPAM Systems, and also a Microsoft Regional Director currently living in Sofia, Bulgaria. My interests range from technology to entrepreneurship. I am also interested in programming, web development, and education. Technical Consultant, Community enthusiast, PASS Regional Mentor for Central Eastern Europe, chapter lead, Microsoft MVP - Microsoft Azure, Data Platform. Organizer of SQLSaturday, Azure Bootcamp, IoT and JavaScript conferences. My experience is in various areas related to Microsoft technologies, including Windows Platform, ASP.Net MVC, MS SQL Server and Microsoft Azure. I have a PhD in cloud computing and am a university lecturer on Smart Homes and Smart Energy IoT Solutions
Martin Catherall
Martin has over 15 years of experience working with data- driven applications built on SQL Server and the Microsoft Data Platform technology. He has substantial experience as a developer, database administrator and consultant. Martin founded the Christchurch SQL Server User Group and ran several SQL Saturdays in that city before relocating to Melbourne in early 2016. He currently volunteers as a Regional Mentor for PASS and maintains strong involvement in the Australian and New Zealand Data Platform communities. Martin's current interests are around database NoSQL, PaaS and data modernisation
Hamish Watson
Hamish is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and VMware Expert with a passion for efficient database & application deployment using DevOps methodologies. He has 20+ years IT experience in managing and deploying large scale databases on SQL Server technologies. Hamish runs a DevOps consultancy business Morph iT which is based in Christchurch, New Zealand. His company helps clients optimise their SQL Server instances as well as embrace using the Azure platform for both application and databases. Bringing DevOps efficiencies to databases is both a passion for Hamish as well as a key driver for his company. He has been managing SQL Server since SQL Server 2000 and pragmatic approaches to delivering business value to clients is his career passion. He speaks at many conferences & user groups and his topics range from Agile techniques for DBAs to tuning tempDB which mean that his sessions are informative, relevant and entertaining. Educating and helping others learn is a driver for Hamish and he is a PASS Chapter Leader, International speaker and a repeat guest lecturer at a local university.
Jonathan Stewart
Jonathan Stewart is a Business Intelligence consultant specializing in data visualization, data warehousing, and data management technologies. An advocate for educating others, he is a public speaker, teacher and blogger, continually teaching people about the Microsoft BI Stack. Since 2000, he has been working in the database field with industry leaders in healthcare, manufacturing, financial, insurance and federal, state and local governments. Jonathan is very active in the community. He has presented on SQL Server, SSIS, Reporting Services, Power BI and Business Intelligence at numerous SQLSaturday events, local user groups, and conferences throughout the United States and around the world. He participates in webcasts, podcasts, and online presentation events. He is also an active board member for his Columbus, Ohio PASS Local Group. Jonathan maintains a blog at https://sqllocks.net/. In his free time, Jonathan works with the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning commission to help improve central Ohio and enhance the quality of life of its residents.
William Durkin
William Durkin is a Data Architect for Data Masterminds. He uses his decade of experience with SQL Server to help multinational corporations achieve their data management goals. Born in the UK and now based in Germany, William has worked as a Database Developer and DBA on projects ranging from single server installations, up to environments spanning 5 continents using a range of high availability solutions. William is a regular speaker at conferences around the globe and is the organizer of the popular DataGrillen event.
Daniel Marsh-Patrick
During his 17-year career across the UK and New Zealand, Daniel has been helping drive enterprise-wide solutions through process and software engineering; predominantly through Business Intelligence (BI), data visualisation and software integration. He is extremely passionate about the Microsoft BI stack, specifically Power BI, and has been delivering Power BI solutions since 2014. He regularly presents and blogs on a variety of Power BI subjects and is a contributor of custom visuals to the Power BI Marketplace. Daniel aims to empower people with the knowledge and tools to make their workdays easier by using software and/or common sense to eliminate the tedious bits. He enjoys sharing the knowledge he has gained with anyone that has the inspiration and desire to learn these skills for themselves.
Anupama Natarajan
Anu is a Data, Analytics and AI Consultant with 20+ years of experience working in design and development of Data Warehouse, Business Intelligence, AI enabled applications and SaaS integrated solutions. She is a Microsoft MVP in Artificial Intelligence, Microsoft Certified Trainer and really passionate in sharing knowledge. She enjoys solving complex business problems with innovative solutions using Microsoft technologies and use that experience in her training. Anu is a speaker at various conferences including PASS Summit, SQL Saturdays, Data Platform Summit, Difinity, Webinars and organise local user group meetups and SQLSaturday Organiser in Wellington, New Zealand.
Ben Watt
Ben is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and Managing Director of Datalineo, a Dublin-based consulting business. Ben is a long-time Power BI user and has a long background in SQL Server, data warehousing and data visualisation.
Martin Cairney
Martin has 20 years experience in SQL Server technologies. His experience spans both the Database Engine and infrastructure requirements, and Data Warehousing and BI implementations. He has worked across many industry sectors including London's global financial institutions and both State and Federal Government Departments. He is a Data Platform MVP, MCT and an experienced conference presenter, having presented at PASS Summit, SQLBits, and SQL Saturday events and User Groups round the world"
Abhishek Narain
Abhishek works as a Product Manager in the Azure data group, leading the product efforts on Azure Data Factory - a hybrid, cloud-scale, managed ETL service on Azure. His primary focus is to enable hybrid and enterprise-grade security features in Azure Data Factory. Abhishek was a Microsoft MVP earlier before joining Microsoft and continues to be part of the technical community and recently co-authored a book on 'Operationalizing Big Data and Advanced Analytics Solutions'.
Craig Bryden
Craig has been working with SQL Server for over 20 years and currently holds several SQL Server based certifications. He has also previously held an MCT certification. Craig's contribution to the SQL Server community was recognised in 2018 and 2019 with a Microsoft MVP award. He was involved with Microsoft Learning to set some of the current SQL server Exams. Craig is the Chief Data Strategist at BiTQ. Craig is an organiser of the QLD Power BI User Group
Yana Berkovich
Yana is a program manager in Microsoft, Power Platform team. Creating instructor led content for Power Platform products based in Bellevue WA. A former data platform MVP and consultant, moved from Russia to Israel to Canada and currently based in Seattle. Worked with Microsoft enabling the best data solutions using Microsoft products for customers across industries and countries. Community speaker and PowerBI enthusiast
David Alzamendi
Data Architect at WARDY IT Solutions. Delivering Business Intelligence and Data Analytics Solutions with On-Premises and Cloud technologies since 2011, David Alzamendi is a Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert and event speaker who solves problems with best practice procedures and the latest technology. David is passionate about the positive impact data can have on our lives, businesses, economy and the environment. He prides himself on using his creativity and optimism to solve what others thought impossible.
Ben Weissman
Ben has been working with SQL Server since SQL Server 6.5, mainly in the BI/Datawarehousing field. He is a Data Platform MVP, MCSE Data Management and Analytics, MPP Big Data, MPP AI, MPP Data Science and MPP Data Analytics. He is also the first BimlHero Certified Expert in Germany, a co-author of The Biml Book and a Certified Data Vault Data Modeler. Ben has been involved in about 150 BI Projects and is always looking for ways to become more productive and make SQL Server even more fun! Together with his team at Solisyon, Ben provides training, implementation and consultancy for SQL/BI developers and data analysts in (upper-) mid-market companies around the globe.
Michelle Burke
Michelle has been working in data longer than she'd care to admit. Her current favourite dataset is her Untappd check-ins (if you're going to invest that much in craft beer, you should get something out of it, right?) She’s worked for tiny companies and large multinationals and everything in between. She is passionate about data quality, data security, appropriate uses of information, solving business problems, and building welcoming and diverse teams
Manohar Punna
Manohar Punna is a Microsoft Data Platform Consultant and a Data Platform MVP. In his day to day job he works on building database and BI systems, automation, building monitoring systems, helping customers to make value from their data & explore and learn. By passion Manohar is a blogger, speaker and Vice President of DataPlatformGeeks. He is a community enthusiast and believes strongly in the concept of giving back to the community. Manohar is a speaker at various Data Platform events from SQL Server Day, various user groups, SQLSaturdays, PASS Summit, SQLBits, MS Ignite, SSGAS & DPS. His One DMV a Day series is the longest one day series on any topic related to SQL Server available so far.
John Liu
John is a trainer, consultant based in Sydney and founder of Flow Studio App In the last twenty years he specializes and blogs ( johnliu.net ) frequently on client-side scripting, custom development, Flows and PowerApps. Originally from a technical background in .NET, he is fluent with both creating custom software from scratch as well as extending out of box capabilities. John is a frequent speaker at Office 365 conferences and events around Sydney and Australia. He helps with organizing Sydney's SharePoint user group and Sydney PowerApps & Flow usergroups. He is a dual Microsoft MVP in Office apps and services and Business Applications (Flow and PowerApps). In 2018 he created Flow Studio app to help Microsoft Flow makers take their Flows to the next level.
Indira Bandari
Indira is a Business Intelligence Consultant and an aspiring Data Scientist with over 15 years of experience in designing and developing data warehouses and analytical solutions. She has been awarded is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP in New Zealand. She has a Masters degree in Statistics and is passionate about data, analytics and learning data science. Volunteering and sharing her knowledge are her passions. In her pastime, she teaches game development for primary school children. She also teaches database concepts and data visualizations to 10-15-year-olds. She is a co-organiser for NZ Power BI User Group, Auckland AI Meetup Group and SQL Saturday Auckland. She is a speaker at various User Groups, Virtual Webinars, PASS Marathon, 24 Hours of PASS and SQL Saturdays in New Zealand and the Power Platform Summit in Australia.
Dave Dustin
Based in Wellington, New Zealand, Dave has been working in the IT industry, specialising in data-platforms, for more than 35 years. A Microsoft MVP for 10 years, he has been heavily involved in the community, including presenting at a large number of conferences and events around the world. He is currently a Principal Engineer at Xero.
Regan Murphy
Regan is a Sales Engineer for Snowflake - the Data warehouse built for the cloud. Regan has been working with data for over 20 years and spent the last few years, before joining Snowflake, as part of a global customer engineering team at Microsoft, working with some of the largest companies in the world and on the bleeding edge of technology and data.
Owen Auger
Owen Auger specialises in data analytics with Power BI with a focus on financial applications. He is currently a Data Analytics Manager at Fonterra in Auckland, and has previously worked in Corporate Finance at Contact Energy. He was a finalist at the 2014 Financial Modelling World Championships in New York City. He has a particular interest in using Power BI and related tools to improve efficiency of reporting and analysis among finance business users. Owen is a CFA Charterholder and has a Master of Operations Research and BA/BSc degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Auckland.
Phil Seamark
Phil is a Senior Program Manager in Power BI CAT team. He is an experienced database and business intelligence (BI) professional with a deep knowledge of the Microsoft B.I. stack along with extensive knowledge of data warehouse (DW) methodologies and enterprise data modelling. He has 25+ years experience in this field and an active member of Power BI community Phil is passionate about all Microsoft BI technologies including Power BI. He is an active member, and always in the top list of authors in Power BI community. If you have a question, you might find Phil answering you there.
David Lyth
David is a senior field engineer with Microsoft New Zealand, helping customers in New Zealand and Australia, with both formal training workshops and custom "how can we make this better" work, across a variety of products both on-premises and in the cloud, including SQL Server, Azure SQL database, Azure SQL Datawarehouse, Power BI, data factory and databricks. Happy to reminisce about OpenVMS as well.
Sandy Winarko
Sandy is a seasoned Product Manager with extensive experience in the US, Europe, and Asia, combining commercial/technical responsibilities in principal/senior roles at various TMT (Technology, Media, and Telecommunications) companies, such as Microsoft/Skype/Nokia, BSkyB (British Sky Broadcasting), and C&W (Cable & Wireless). At Microsoft, he is currently driving the efforts to modernize SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services) on premises and in the cloud as part of ADF (Azure Data Factory).
Leila Etaati
Leila is the First Microsoft AI MVP in New Zealand and Australia. She has a PhD in Information System from the University Of Auckland. She is the Co-director and data scientist in RADACAD Company with more than 100 clients in around the world. She is the co-organizer of Microsoft Business Intelligence and Power BI Use group (meetup) in Auckland with more than 1200 members. Leila is also the co-organizer of three main conferences in Auckland: SQL Saturday Auckland (2015 till now), Difinity (2017 till now) and Global AI Bootcamp 2-18. She is a Data Scientist, BI Consultant, Trainer and Speaker. Leila is a well-known International Speakers to many conferences such as Microsoft ignite, SQL pass, Data Platform Summit, SQL Saturday, Power BI world Tour and so forth in Europe, USA, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. She has over ten years’ experience working with databases and software systems. She was involved in many large-scale projects for big-sized companies. She also AI and Data Platform Microsoft MVP. Leila is an active Technical Microsoft AI blogger for RADACAD.
Reza Rad
Reza Rad is author, speaker, trainer and consultant. He is the world well-known name in the Microsoft BI field. Reza Rad is invited speaker in world’s best and biggest SQL Server and BI conferences such as PASS Summits, PASS Rallys, SQLBits, TechEds, Ignites, Microsoft Data Insight Summit, and so on. He is author of books on this topic, and he has more than 15 years’ experience in the Microsoft BI technologies. 10 years of his experience focused on training and consulting to the largest BI teams in the world. He is also Microsoft Certified Trainer for years. He is Microsoft SQL Server MVP (Most Valuable Professional) focused on BI and Data Analysis, He has been awarded MVP from Microsoft because of his dedication and expertise in Microsoft BI technologies. He is author of Power BI online book; from Rookie to Rock Star; http://radacad.com/online-book-power-bi-from-rookie-to-rockstar
Andy Leonard
Andy Leonard is founder and Chief Data Engineer at Enterprise Data & Analytics, creator of the DILM (Data Integration Lifecycle Management) Suite, an SSIS Trainer, Consultant, and developer, a Business Intelligence Markup Language (Biml) developer and BimlHero, SQL Server database and data warehouse developer, community mentor, engineer, and farmer. He is a co-author of The Biml Book and SQL Server Integration Services Design Patterns and author of Managing Geeks - A Journey of Leading by Doing, Data Integration Lifecycle Management with SSIS, Building Custom Tasks for SSIS, and the Stairway to Integration Services. Andy blogs at andyleonard.blog where you can learn more on the About Andy page. .
Gilbert Quevauvilliers
Microsoft MVP - Power BI Consultant using Microsoft Power BI to provide solutions for business challenges by sitting with the users within the business to build Power BI models which enable the business to gain insights. My goal is for the business to see their data on their terms by delivering Microsoft Power BI Solutions in weeks or less, thereby enabling them to move forward to leverage their data. I have assisted with the implementation and completion of Power BI which includes Power BI Desktop development, assistance with Power BI Gateway, Power BI Service, Power BI Internal Training, Power BI Best Practice & Power BI User Group sessions. Power BI training provided to Businesses based on their requirements. Participate and present at the Brisbane Power BI User Group Leader, SQL Saturday Presenter, Brisbane Power BI User Group, Power BI Community and publish blog posts to the Power BI Community Blogs. Past working experience in Business Intelligence (BI), working on large, complex end to end BI solutions for customers.
Ken Puls
Ken Puls, FCPA, FCMA, is a Chartered Professional Accountant, blogger, author and trainer with over 20 years of business and financial modelling experience. His passion lies in exploring tools to turn data into information, and teaching others how to benefit from them. Ken has held the Microsoft MVP distinction since 2006 in both the Excel and Data Platform categories. He is also one of about 4% of CPAs to be recognized as a Fellow of his accounting body. Learn more about Ken at https://ca.linkedin.com/in/kenpuls.
Matt Allington
Matt Allington is a career data professional that has spent more than 30 years leveraging data to drive success. In 2014 Matt left the corporate world to start his own company (Excelerator BI) and now works full time to help others to use Microsoft BI products (Power BI, Power Pivot for Excel, Power Query for Excel). Matt is Microsoft MVP based in Sydney Australia, however has a global reach through his blog at http://xbi.com.au/blog
Stefano Tempesta
Stefano Tempesta is a Microsoft RD (Regional Director), MVP on AI and Business Applications, and member of the Blockchain Council. A regular speaker at international IT conferences, including Microsoft Ignite and Tech Summit, Stefano's interests extend to blockchain and AI-related technologies. He created Blogchain Space (blogchain.space), a blog about blockchain technologies, writes for MSDN Magazine and MS Dynamics World, and publishes Machine Learning experiments on the Azure AI Gallery (gallery.azure.ai). "
Ginger Grant
Ginger is a consultant who shares what she has learned while working with data technology at clients by providing training to people around the world. As a Microsoft MVP in Data Platform and a Microsoft Certified Trainer, she is proficient in creating solutions using the entire Microsoft Data Stack, which includes SQL Server, T-SQL, SSIS, SSAS, Power BI and Azure Data Cloud components including Databricks, Data Factory, Data Lakes, Data Analytics, IOT, Event Hubs, Machine Learning. In addition to blogging at http://www.desertislesql.com, Ginger has authored 70-774 Perform Cloud Data Science with Azure Machine Learning. When not working, she maintains her blog and spends time on twitter @desertislesql.
Dejan Sarka
Dejan Sarka, MCT and Data Platform MVP, is an independent trainer and consultant that focuses on development of database and business intelligence applications. Besides projects, he spends about half of the time on training and mentoring. He is the founder of the Slovenian SQL Server and .NET Users Group. Dejan Sarka is the main author or co-author of eighteen books about databases and SQL Server. Dejan Sarka has also developed many courses and seminars for Microsoft, SolidQ, and Pluralsight.
Sergei Gundorov
The presenter, Sergei Gundorov, currently works as a Program Manager on the Power BI team at Microsoft. He has Master’s Degree in Business Administration. Sergei published numerous articles over the course of the last 26 years through multiple channels on various subjects that range from accounting and economics to in depth technical articles on MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network). Sergei’s most recent contribution was to the Security Whitepaper for Power BI published in May of 2017. He presented his most valuable technological advancements to worldwide developer audiences at TechEd, TechReady, and Office/SharePoint Developer conferences. He participated and contributed to numerous webcasts that focused on various technologies that he is considered to be an expert on. He is an inventor and filed several patent applications. Sergei runs popular technical “XLGeek’s Space” blog where his work is praised very highly by the readers and his apps users.
Uwe Ricken
Uwe Ricken has been working with IT systems since the 90s. He found the way to the technology of Microsoft SQL Server with the assignment for the development of membership administration software for the American Chamber of Commerce in Germany. After the development the software has been distributed to five additional European countries. The primary passion for developments with Microsoft SQL Server expanded in 2007 with his engagement as a DBA for the Deutsche Bank AG in Frankfurt am Main. After 6 years of operational experiences as a DBA and over 14 years as a developer of complex database models he earned in May 2013 the Microsoft Certified Master SQL Server 2008 certification which the highest technical certification by Microsoft. The successful year 2013 has been finalized with the first MVP award for his outstanding support to the Microsoft SQL Server community in Germany and Europe. Uwe Ricken was the first MCM + MVP in Germany! To provide his deep knowledge about Microsoft SQL Server to the interested community Uwe Ricken is blogging since 2010 at http://www.sqlmaster.de about his daily experiences with Microsoft SQL Server. His blog posts are in German language only to provide the German speaking SQL community enthusiasts deep inside views into the technology of Microsoft SQL Server. Uwe Ricken is a speaker on many international conferences and events and preferred topics for Database Internals Indexing and Development.