PASS Board of Directors – Who I’m Voting For

I was inspired by fellow blogger and all around good guy Nic Cain (Twitter, blog) to write about the PASS BoD election, ending 12/20.  Here is Nic’s take on the subject. So, who am I voting for?

I’m not telling you.

It’s not that I don’t support the people I’m voting for – I really and truly do. It’s not that I don’t want them to be on the BoD – I also really and truly do. The “problem” - if you can call it that – is that I believe that all six of the candidates up for the three board positions would do a wonderful job.  My vote came down to picking the people who represented the most important issues to me. But given the qualifications of the candidates, I actually don’t want to use my (ahem, smirk) considerable community clout (ooh, nice alliteration, me!) to try to sway votes one way or another.

Sorry, candidates-that-I-voted-for.  You deserve both my vote, and my public support….but you’re all just so awesome! #TeamEveryone

Here are a few nice things I have to say about each candidate, in alphabetical order. I’ve also included links to Andy Leonard’s interviews with each candidate:

Rob Farley is an engaging and well known speaker and SQL Server MVP who has contributed mightily to the SQL community. He’s currently serving as International Advisor to the PASS Board of Directors. He has the potential to really push PASS to grow more in the international space. (That’s a good thing.) From my observations of Rob, I expect that his ideas and outgoing personality would let him thrive at that kind of branching out.

Here’s Andy Leonard’s interview with Rob

Geoff Hiten is a friendly, well known speaker and MVP who has already served one year on the PASS BoD. He’s focusing on growing the PASS emphasis on career planning and development. (Also a good thing.)  I see and talk to Geoff at most of the SQL events I attend; he holds strong opinions, and just the right balance of patience/impatience to do very well on the board.

Here’s Andy Leonard’s interview with Geoff

Adam Jorgensen is an involved MVP and PASS regional mentor who brings strong leadership skills to the table. (Another good thing!) I agree that this is the kind of thing that greatly benefits a volunteer-run organization like PASS. I had firsthand experience with his community involvement at the SQLRally 2011 WIT luncheon, where he was a panelist.

Here’s Andy Leonard’s interview with Adam.

Denise McInerney is PASS leadership, defined. She has served 4 years on the PASS Program Committee, 5 years as chair and co-chair of the Women in Technology group (she “led the founding” of the WIT chapter), and is a PASSion award recipient.  Denise’s emphasis is on PASS’s long term strategy, and student outreach. (More good things!)  She has been a constant presence at WIT meetings and conferences for as long as I’ve been involved in PASS.

Here’s Andy Leonard’s interview with Denise.

Sri Sridharan is a model of community dedication. He’s served 6 years on the North Texas SQL Server User Group board, and is the current president.  Sri has presided over and planned multiple SQL Server events with an absolutely fierce attention to detail and quality, and campaigned heavily to get SQLRally 2012 at Dallas. He is focused on reshaping PASS to have better two-way involvement and communication with the local groups. (Good!)

Here’s Andy Leonard’s interview with Sri.

Kendal Van Dyke is a SQL Server speaker, MVP, user group founder/leader, and ground-floor planner of SQL Rally 2011. He’s looking to foster PASS transparency, spread the goodness that is PASS, and finish the Speaker Bureau project. (Good-good!) Kendal strikes me somehow as the dark horse of the elections – he’s out there and reasonably well known, but his quiet demeanor (and end-of-the-alphabet name) can make him easy to overlook.  Don’t overlook him!

 Here’s Andy Leonard’s interview with Kendal.

Good luck to the candidates. And good news for us: No matter who wins, we all win.

-Jen
MidnightDBA.com/Jen