Microsoft MVP Year 5

I received an email this morning letting me know that I have been renewed as a Microsoft MVP in Directory Services for the fifth year.

I get excited every time I receive the award and I'm so humbled to be in such great company.  The five year mark is an important mark.  I'm glad that I have been able to make a contribution to the community which has helped me much more than I've helped it.

I previously thanked a lot of people.   I won't go through the list again but the same things I said before still apply.

I would like to thank a few new folks this year.  DeLise and everyone at the Microsoft Reston and Chevy Chase Offices.  This is the first year that I started speaking and it is something that I've come to enjoy.  I'm glad to be part of the events.   Shameless plug for TechGate 2013

I've also been a part of several book projects and want to thank the folks at Packt Publishing and O'Reilly Publishing for letting me be a part of them.

Lastly all the people on Twitter working with Active Directory.  I really like the interaction on Twitter and I've met some great and passionate people over there.

Active Directory is starting to make a shift to the cloud (slow shift; it won't happen tomorrow). I'm hoping to turn and pivot as the product evolves (hint everyone learn ADFS).  There are some very smart people in Redmond working on AD and lots of great PFEs in the field.  Active Directory is not going anywhere so stay tuned for more ADISFUN.

Active Directory MVPs on Twitter

I've become a big fan of twitter over the last few years; it is one of the best sources for information and news in my opinion.  I still like RSS feeds for checking blogs and new entries but I'm using twitter more these days.  It is also much easier to interact using twitter.   With the impending closure of Google Reader I'll probably be a bigger twitter user.  

I've started compiling a list of Active Directory/Directory Services MVPs on twitter.   Tweet frequency ranges from multiple daily tweets to rarely.  I will try and keep this list up to date.  I'm sure there are folks that I missed.  Please send me an email or leave a comment if any entry needs updating.   I don't want to leave anyone out.

I'll try to update and go through this list every quarter (MVPs are selected every quarter Jan/April/July/October)

Microsoft MVPs - Directory Services	Twitter Name and Profile
Mesut Aladag	@mesutaladag
Zubair Alexander	@ZubairAlexander
Jimmy Andersson
Brian Arkills	@barkills
Hank Arnold
Alexandre  Augagneur
Edoardo Benussi	@ebenussi
Paul  Bergson	@pbbergs
Sander Berkouwer	@SanderBerkouwer
Xiaolong Cai
Paul  Clement
Ragael Correa
Eugene Delprato
Brian Desmond	@brdesmond
Olivier Detilleux	@olivierdx
Sean Deuby	@shorinsean
Freddy Elmaleh
Marius Ene
Salman Farizy
Ace Fekay	@AceFekay
Liang Feng
Lee Flight
Tamas Gai
Ermanno Goletto	@ermannog
Guido Grillenmeier
Chunlong Han
LiGang Han
Junxian Huang
Nils Kaczenski	@Kaczenski
Joe  Kaplan
Sainath KEV
Gil  Kirkpatrick	@gkirkpatrick
Jyrki Kivimaki	@jykivima
Mike Kline	@mekline
Michinari Kobuna
Suguru Kunii
Roberto Di Lello	@RaDiansBlog
Guangji Liang
Qiang Liu
Fernando Lopez
Thiago Cardosa Luiz	@t_cardoso
Ahmed  Malek
Tadayoshi Manabe
Mark  Minasi	@mminasi
Richard Mueller
Tony Murray	@MrTweetTastic
Gary  Olsen
Niyi Omotoyinbo
Mark  Parris	@markparris
Suttipan Passorn	@passorn
Jorge de Almeida Pinto
Pawel Plawiak
John Policelli	@JohnPolicelli
Marcin Policht
Leonardo  Ponti	@PontiLeo
Bobby  Primasta
Yuwei Qi
Shengrong Qu
Slamet Raharjo
Leone Randazzo	@LeoneRandazzo
Joe  Richards	@joewaredotnet
Llya Rud
Marc Salvador
Mario Serra	@Marioserra72
Morgan Simonsen	@msimonsen
Ulf Simon-Weidner	@DSGeek
Santhosh Sivarajan	@Santhosh_Sivara
Chris Spanougakis	@spanougakis
Jacek Swiatowiak
Yanyang Tian
Hakan Uzuner	@hakanuzuner
Awinish Vishwakarma	@Awinish
Gabrizio Volpe	@fabriziovlp
Meinolf  Weber	@mei_web
Ralf Wigand	@ralfwigand
Haidong Wu
Chenggang Xiang
Haji Yakub
Shuyong Yan
Bobby  Zulkarnain	@bobbyiz

Honorary MVP

Laura Hunter                                                    @adfskitteh
**Laura was a long time MVP and now a blue badger.  Microsoft employees can't be MVPs.

Gil dasdfsadf

MVP Award - Year Four

I woke up yesterday to great news that I've been awarded the MVP award in Directory Services for the fourth year.  I have previously written blogs with long thank you lists so I won't do that again.  Just a continued huge thanks to everyone I mentioned in those two blog entries.  I've learned from a lot of people and glad to help others.

My favorite part about being an MVP is the MVP summit and I'm really looking forward to going to Seattle again in the late winter.

This is an exciting time for Active Directory.  Windows 2012 is being released later this year.  Windows Azure Active Directory is coming online.  We will have a lot to learn but that is the fun part for me.

THANK YOU AGAIN - MVP Award

I found out yesterday that I was awarded the MVP for Active Directory/Directory Services again.

I thanked the world last year so I won't do that again but just read that post and I'll say "ditto".

The first year of being and MVP was really great with the highlight definitely being the MVP summit and I'm looking forward to that again in early 2011.

Thanks to everyone on the TechNet Forums and the Experts Exchange forums that helps and contributes to this great community. I try my best to help but I also learn a ton which is great for me.

Also again thanks to all the smart people within Microsoft and the MVP community that inspire me. People like joe, Laura, Brian D., Jorge, Sander, Mark P, Paul, Marcin, Chris D, Meinolf, Brandon, Dean, Florian, Darren, Eric J, Crandall brothers, Mark H, Rick S, etc....the list goes on and on and on.

Thanks to everyone again and see you all here on the blog or on one of the forums.

I'm a Microsoft MVP now -- Thank You

I received an email earlier today telling me that I was awarded the MVP for directory services.

This is a really great honor and something I'm very proud of. I really enjoy working in the community and more importantly I enjoy learning from others too. I obviously didn't get to this point alone so I want to take some time to thank some key people that have helped me throughout my career.

Starting back in my Army days I can't say enough and thank those that serve. One of the best things I took away from my time in the Army was some of the good friends I made. So to Daryl, Will, and Todd thank you all. You all were like brothers during my time in and I'm proud to call you friends. Additonal thanks to Todd and all those currently serving during this time of war. Hoooaaaahhh!!

I had a few internships that got me in the door but my first real job was supporting a medium size agency in DoD. I really cut my teeth there and have to single out some folks there too.

First and foremost Kevin Buckman for being a great government manager. No way I'd be where I am today without Kevin's support during those early days. Thank you Kevin!! Honorable mention to Terri C. and Jim R.

Richard Guidorizzi -- thank you Richard for the second half of my DoD career at that agency. You really helped me more than you know and always believed in me and I'll never forget what you did. Honorable mention to Leslie Butler, a great senior manager and owner of the company I worked for.


Mark, David R., Garret, and Richard(again) - the discussions that we still have to this day are really great and I learn from each and every one of you. Definitely all friends for life


A great list of admins and engineers that I worked with at DoD:

Mark, David, Garret, Larry, Greg, Lili, Cesar, Kyle, Louis, Brian T, Stuart, Steve Mc, Alex, Guy, Todd, Steve B, Matt, Jeff H, Kevin D. and last but not least Rusty. I know I missed a lot of people but thanks to everyone there. We made it through a lot there including 9/11. I can still vividly remember watching the Pentagon burn. We will always be bonded by that experience.

Thanks to Keith, TJ, Ryan, Ditter, and John at my next agency. Not the most high speed job but at least I made some good friends. Did we pause the DEN yet haha

At my current job at Unisys there are a few key people that I definitely need to thank. Mark and Eric Jansen are on the top of that list. Really enjoyed the projects I worked on with them. It is so great to work with others that are good and know their stuff. We learned from each other and I think we made a solid and real impact for the agency we supported.

Thanks to the "geek network" Florian, Eric, Mark, Rich, Dave, Brian, and Troy B. We have some good discussions and I've learned a lot from all of you guys.

Thanks to everyone at Experts-Exchange. I hang out in the Active Directory section there and I've learned a lot and hopefully helped a lot of people too. Have to give thanks to some of the other top people over there. Chris Dent, Americom, bluntTony, TigerMatt, Laura Hunter, Brandon Shell, and Brian Desmond.

Thanks to other MVPs that I have learned from for years and years. Top of that list is definitely Joe Richards. Joe is just cool as hell and knowledgeable beyond belief. His tools are a huge part of what I do. I remember the first time I emailed Joe offline and he responded with a very long and thoughtful answer. He didn't blow me off or treat me like I was a pee-on. Thank you Joe for all your work in the community. I really look forward to meeting you at the MVP summit next year.

Other great MVPs that I'd like to thank. I've met some of you in person. Others I only know via email but Thanks to: Joe, Brian Desmond, Laura Hunter, Florian F., Jorge, Mark Minasi, and Darren Mar-Elia.

Thanks to the Directory Services team at Microsoft. Ned, Rob, and everyone else that writes for the AskDS blog. Really great blogs and thanks for what you all do for the community.

Last but not least my brother Andy...thanks Andy I would not be here without you man.

I know I probably forgot people but again I didn't get here alone and I'll continue with help and support from great people.

Ok now this blog entry is starting to sound like one of those rambling Oscar speeches. The red light came on 5 minutes ago and now I'm getting the hook...I've overstayed my welcome :)


Thanks

Mike