Speakers

Meagan Longoriao

Meagan Longoria is a business intelligence consultant with Denny Cherry & Associates who lives in Denver, Colorado. She is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP. Meagan spends a lot of time thinking about how to use data integration, data modeling, and data visualization techniques to make data useful for people. She enjoys sharing her knowledge and experiences at conferences and user group meetings, as well as through her blog (DataSavvy.me).

Erin Stellato

Erin Stellato is a Data Platform MVP and lives outside Cleveland, OH. She has almost 20 years of technology experience and has worked with SQL Server since 2003. Her areas of interest include performance tuning, Query Store, Extended Events, and helping accidental/involuntary DBAs understand how SQL Server works. Erin is an active member of the SQL Server community, has volunteered for PASS at the local and national level, and is a regular speaker at conferences including the PASS Summit, SQLIntersection, and SQLBits. Outside of time with family and friends, she enjoys running, spinning, movies, and all things chocolate.

Twitter: @erinstellato
Blog: https://www.sqlskills.com/blogs/erin

Louis Davidson

Louis Davidson has worked in the IT industry for over 20 years as a corporate database developer and architect. He has been a Microsoft SQL Server MVP for 15 years and has written six books on database design and other SQL Server topics. He has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. You can read more about Louis at drsql.org.

Anthony Nocentino

Anthony is the Founder and President of Centino Systems as well as a Pluralsight Author and a Microsoft Data Platform MVP. Linux Expert and Corporate Problem Solver. Anthony designs solutions, deploys the technology, and provides expertise on business system performance, architecture, and security. Anthony has a Bachelors and Masters in Computer Science with research publications in high performance/low latency data access algorithms and spatial database systems.

Angela Henry

Angela is a Solution Architect, living in High Point, NC and loves what she does. She’s worked with all versions of SQL Server & worn all the hats that come with dealing with SQL Server throughout the years: developer, administrator, data architect and BI developer. She has her MSCE in Data and Analytics (f.k.a., Business Intelligence), is a Data Platform MVP, and a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT). She is the former chapter leader for the PASS Triad SQL User Group in Greensboro, NC. In her spare time you can probably find her in or at the pool, she’s an avid US Masters Swimmer, Coach and Instructor.

Kevin Feasel

Kevin Feasel is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and CTO at Envizage, where he specializes in data analytics with T-SQL and R, forcing Spark clusters to do his bidding, fighting with Kafka, and pulling rabbits out of hats on demand. He is the lead contributor to Curated SQL ( https://curatedsql.com), president of the Triangle Area SQL Server Users Group ( https://www.meetup.com/tripass), and author of PolyBase Revealed ( https://www.apress.com/us/book/9781484254608). A resident of Durham, North Carolina, he can be found cycling the trails along the triangle whenever the weather’s nice enough.

Frank La Vigne

Frank La Vigne is a Data & AI Architect at the Microsoft Technology Center in Reston, VA. In his role, he helps organizations transform into data driven businesses. He writes the Artificially Intelligent column in MSDN Magazine and is the co-host of the podcast Data Driven, which explores the emerging field of Data Science and AI. He blogs regularly at FranksWorld.com and occasionally posts videos to FranksWorld.tv.

Denny Cherry

With dozens of rare expertise certifications from Microsoft and virtualization software leaders, as well as the published author of the leading book on data security, Denny Cherry is recognized as one of the most deft and knowledgeable cross-platform IT consultants in the world. His technical expertise today includes system architecture, performance tuning, security, replication and troubleshooting.

Denny has an impressive set of credentials. He’s been a Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) Award winner since 2008 and has held the highest level certification available for each version of SQL Server since 2000, including but not limited to:

Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) Data Platform SQL Server 2014 & 2012
Microsoft Certified Solutions Master (MCSM) Data Platform SQL Server 2012
MCITP Database Administation/Data Development 2008
MCM SQL Server 2008
Denny also holds the VMware vExpert award and the EMC Elect award.

Denny has published dozens of articles on a variety of topics including SQL Server, VMware and Enterprise Storage and how these various technologies work together in SQL Server Magazine, Microsoft’s TechNet magazine, SearchSQLServer.com and more. He is also the published author of multiple books.

Mohammad Darab

Mohammad Darab is a Microsoft data professional, speaker and blogger with over 20 years of IT professional experience, 10+ years of that working with SQL Server. Some areas of his focus are the database engine, HA/DR, and security. He is currently an MCITP, MCP, as well as an IDERA ACE Class of 2019

Bryan Hundley

Bryan is a Senior Consultant and Team Lead with Marathon Consulting, LLC in Virginia Beach, VA. He is a 20 year veteran in the IT industry, specializing in the Data Platform space for the past 10 years, and is an active member of the local SQL Server and Power BI user groups. Recently, he has focused on designing data warehouses and business intelligence processes for multiple clients.

Greg Moore

I am an RPI graduate who has worked in IT for over 20 years. For the first 8 years or so I did straight consulting in the upstate NY area with some trips to other parts of the country for my clients.

In 1997 I started working for a local start-up company just as the first dot-com bubble was getting started. While there I worked with some great people and some great teams to build one of the best service providers for newspapers in the country. I honed my skills on working with SQL Server using replication, log-shipping and clustering to deliver the up-time demands of our customers.

From there I moved on to a 4.5 year stint for another start-up called Traffiq. While based in NYC, I worked in the Virginia office and commuted most weeks from upstate NY down to the NYC office and the Virginia office. Again, I had the pleasure of working with some great people.

Since August of 2011, I have been working on several new projects of my own, including QuiCR.

When I’m not busy in front of the computer, you may find me watching spending time with my family, watching NCIS, hiking or crawling through a hole in the ground. Yes, I’m a caver (please, caver, not spelunker). I work with the NCRC (National Cave Rescue Commission) as an instructor and as the database coordinator. One of my projects in the last year was making our training database available online to authorized personnel.

In addition to caving and computing, I like to muse on various topics such as how people think about problems, face certain dangers and react in various situations. Please feel free to comment and give me feedback or even point me to various topics you think might interest me. I’m always up for a good read.

Rie Irish

Rie Irish has been working with SQL Server since 1999, starting as a data analyst for a non-profit. She’s worked in many industries over the years including pharmaceutical, e-commerce, legal, financial, education and both federal & state government. Most recently, she was director of database management, Integrated Payments for WorldPay, Inc. She is currently Senior Program Manager, MVP, Community & Data engineering with Microsoft. She is based out of Redmond, but works remotely from her home in Atlanta.

Over the years, Rie has done extensive work with the SQL Community. She’s been an MVP in the Data Platform for three years, speaking frequently at conferences across the US and moderating webinars, WIT panels and career panels. Next month, she’ll be delivering the keynote for Atlanta Code Camp on Coding for Diversity & Inclusion and in December, she’s presenting “How to Build a Disaster Recovery Plan” for the DBA Fundamentals Virtual Group. She’s served on the program committee for PASS Summit, volunteered in various roles at the conference and host a Women in Tech Happy Hour leading up the conference. For the last three years, Rie served as Executive Director of SQL Saturday Atlanta & helps run the Atlanta SQL Saturday User Group. She is also co-leader of the PASS Women in Technology Virtual Group which highlights & showcases the great things women are doing in the data platform.

Justin Randall

Justin Randall is a Senior Consultant at SQL Sentry, LLC. He has over 30 years of data management experience in a variety of roles from Enterprise Data Modeler to DBA, supporting development in DB2, Sybase, and SQL Server. Justin frequently speaks at SQL Server User Group meetings and SQL Saturdays, and has presented at several SQLintersection conferences. His current professional interests are SQL Server performance monitoring and tuning, and career development.

Matt Gordon

Matt is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and has worked with SQL Server versions from 2000 up to and including SQL Server 2019. He is the leader of the Lexington, KY chapter of PASS, a frequent SQL Saturday and user group speaker, and speaker at PASS Summit 2017 and 2018. He’s also been named an IDERA ACE and 2019 Friend of Redgate. His original data professional role was as a database developer, but that quickly evolved into query tuning work which further evolved into being a full-fledged DBA in the healthcare realm. He has supported critical systems utilizing SQL Server across multiple data centers and managed dozens of 24/7/365 SQL Server implementations. He currently utilizes those years of real world experience as a national Microsoft data platform consultant helping clients design deployment solutions that meet their ever-changing business needs.

Anders Pedersen

20+ years of experience with SQL Server, from version 6.0 to 2014. Funnily enough, the only certification I have is on SQL 2012, the one version I have never used.Mostly worked at medium sized companies, by choice. Was a consultant for 6+ years, working on anything from facility security systems, background checks, retail PoS systems, to major financial systems.Passion for performance, and teaching people easy ways to better SQL performance.

Andrew Kelly

Andrew J. Kelly is a Senior Technical Subject Matter Expert with B3 Group Inc. and a Data Platform MVP with over 20 years’ experience with relational databases and application development specializing in Performance, Scalability and Maintainability of large scale SQL Servers. He is a regular speaker each year at multiple conferences.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/gunneyk

MVP Profile: http://mvp.microsoft.com/en-us/mvp/Andrew%20J.%20Kelly-5438

Jim Donahoe

Jim is a Cloud Solutions Architect with RDX. He lives in Pittsburgh in a small suburb. He loves working with all things Azure(ARM templates, DBaaS, SQL on IaaS). He is an avid collector of retro video games! He is a member of the Idera ACE program for 2018.

Tracy Boggiano

Tracy is a Database Superhero. She has spent over 20 years in IT and has used SQL Server since 1999. She is also the owner of Database Superheroes LLC, a company that specializes in all aspects of administration and deals heavily with performance tuning, high availability and disaster recovery. Tracy is a also co-organizer of a Special Interest Group (SIG) dedicated to advanced DBA topics in our local user group TriPass. In addition, she is also the founder of http://WeSpeakLinux.com. Before she worked full-time as a DBA, she was formally a developer and network administrator. She also tinkered with databases in middle/high school to keep her sports card collection organized. Her blog can be found at Database Superhero

Tracy has volunteered through the NC Guardian ad Litem program since 2003 advocating for abused and neglected foster children in court. This is her life’s passion outside of Database Platforms, her favorite job. More information about this program in North Carolina can be found at http://volunteerforgal.org or the national organization CASA at http://www.casaforchildren.org. To read why I became I Guardian ad Litem visit my LinkedIn Profile, click on more and look under media at the Lemons to Lemonade essay and other media I have set up there.

Wendy Pastrick

Wendy Pastrick is from Chicago, IL, and for the past 15 years has served as a Database Administrator supporting both development and production environments. Her many years of involvement with PASS include WIT Virtual Chapter and the Chicago Suburban User Group, serving as Regional Mentor, and as a PASS Board member since 2013. Wendy has organized several highly successful SQLSaturday events in Chicago.

Grant Fritchey

Grant Fritchey, Microsoft Data Platform MVP, has more than twenty years’ experience in IT. That time was spent in technical support, development and database administration. Grant currently works as a Product Evangelist at Red Gate Software. Grant writes articles for publication at SQL Server Central and Simple-Talk. He has published several books including, “SQL Server Execution Plans” and “SQL Server Query Performance Tuning.” Grant Fritchey currently serves on the Board of Directors of the PASS organization, the leading source of educational content and training on the Microsoft Data Platform, as the President. Grant teaches and presents at events, large and small, all over the world.

Cameron Snapp

Cameron Snapp is a MCSE and PMP certified IT Consultant with over 14 years of database architecture and development experience. He has worked on dozens of Microsoft SQL Server OLTP, Data Warehouse, and Business Intelligence projects. He holds a Computer Science degree from the University of Richmond and a Master’s degree in IT Management from the University of Virginia. Cameron specializes in IT Projects related to data strategy, modeling, integration and reporting.

Rodney Landrum

Rodney Landrum has been architecting solutions for SQL Server for over 15 years. He has worked with and written about many SQL Server technologies, including DTS, Integration Services, Analysis Services, and Reporting Services. He has co-authored 4 books on Reporting Services. He has been a regular contributor to SQL Server magazine, sqlservercentral.com and Simple-talk.com. Rodney was also a Microsoft Data Platform MVP from 2008 through 2016.

Azhagappan (Az) Arunachalam

Azhagappan (Az) Arunachalam has been working with SQL Server since v4.21/SQLNT. He started his career with troubleshooting at chip level, worked as a network engineer managing Novell NetWare networks, graduated into managing Windows NT, moved onto development, administered databases, and is currently working as an application database architect. He’s excited about all the cloud offerings that Microsoft and others have made possible, and in sharing his findings with aspiring data enthusiasts.

John Morehouse

John Morehouse is currently a Consultant with Denny Cherry & Associates living in Louisville, Kentucky. With over 2 decades of technical experience in various industries, John now focuses on the Microsoft Data platform and specializes in Microsoft SQL Server. He is honored to be a Microsoft Data Platform MVP, 2016 Idera Ace, Friend of Red Gate, Sentry One PAC member & Community Ambassador. John has a passion around speaking, teaching technical topics and giving back to the technical community as much as possible. He is a user group leader, SQL Saturday organizer, and former PASS regional mentor. He is also a blogger, avid tweeter, and a frequent speaker at SQL Saturday’s as well as other conferences. If you want to find John, you can find him on Twitter (@sqlrus) or on his blog, https://sqlrus.com.

Kevin E. Kline

Kevin is a renowned database expert, software industry veteran, Microsoft SQL Server MVP, Google Author, and long-time blogger at sqlblog.com and at kevinekline.com. As a noted leader in the IT industry, Kevin’s blog covers Microsoft SQL Server features and best practices, third-party software, trends in the IT industry, and professional development for IT professionals. His extended Bio can be found here.

Tom Norman

In 1998, Tom changed his career focus to begin working with Sql Server. He has worked in all aspects of Sql Server including Administration, Database Development, BI and Reporting Services. He has worked in the Finance and Compliance industry. His experience has included International deployments. Tom is the Leader of the PASS Virtualization chapter and the past President of the Denver Sql Server User Group.

Andy Mallon

Andy is a SQL Server DBA that has managed databases in the healthcare, finance, e-commerce, and non-profit sectors. He has over 12 years of experience supporting high-volume, highly-available OLTP environments with demanding performance needs. As co-organizer of SQL Saturday Boston, and speaker at many SQL Server user groups & SQL Saturdays, Andy loves sharing his knowledge & experience with others.

He’s lazy: Andy loves scripting and automating repetitive tasks, and hates doing the same thing over and over.

He’s impatient: Andy loves looking at processes and figuring out a faster, more efficient way to accomplish the same goal. Sometimes this is performance-tuning a query, and sometimes it’s looking for fundamentally different ways to accomplish the same goal.

Devin Jaiswal

I have been working with Microsoft for approximately 10 years now, I have held a variety of roles in Microsoft Services and Sales organization. My primary focus has been Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Analytics Platform System (aka. PDW) and the Microsoft Healthcare integration solution, which is now part of the Microsoft / GE joint venture called Caradigm.

My current role is Data Technical Solution Professional (TSP) in Mid-Atlantic region, A TSP is a critical part of the virtual team that works closely with the Microsoft Account Team, Specialist Unit and partners as a Subject Matter Expert and Consultant.

David Stokes

David has been working as a SQL Server database administrator for the past 17 years. He has worked extensively with all versions of SQL Server from 2000 to 2016. He spent the first 13 years working as a Department of Defense contractor with Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin. He worked on various contracts for US Joint Forces Command and the Department of the Army. He is currently employed by Ferguson Enterprises (the nation’s largest supplier of plumbing and HVAC equipment) in Newport News. His primary focus has been on making the Relational engine “go faster” when the end users complain that “the database is slow.” David has been an active member of PASS since 2005 and help revive the Hampton Roads SQL Server Users Group (HRSSUG) as a member of the leadership team in 2014. He regularly attends SQL Saturdays and any other SQL Server training events whenever possible. In his off time David enjoys drawing, golf and reading science fiction.

Tim Radney

SQLskills.com
Principal Consultant

Tim is a SQL Server MVP. He has presented at PASS, SQL Saturdays, user groups and numerous webinars. In addition Tim runs the Columbus GA SQL Users Group, is a PASS Regional Mentor and was named a PASS Outstanding Volunteer in 2012. He’s married with three children and has a passion for electronics. He also farms chickens (for eggs) and tilapias in his spare time.

Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.SQLskills.com
Full Bio: http://www.sqlskills.com/about/tim-radney/
Blog: http://www.SQLskills.com/blogs/tim
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TRadney
Microsoft MVP since 2014

James Donahoe

Jim is a Cloud DBA/Data Architect with TeleTracking Technologies. He provides DBA/Integration/BI assistance to over 900 clients. He specializes in Administration of SQL Server and has worked with SQL 2000 and up. He loves to educate people and give them a glimpse of the life of a DBA(Does Bout Anything).

Melissa Coates

Melissa Coates is a Solution Architect with BlueGranite. Based in Charlotte, NC, she specializes in delivering Analytics, Data Warehousing, and Business Intelligence solutions using on-premises, cloud, and hybrid technologies. Formerly a CPA, Melissa is ridiculously proud to be an IT geek and downright giddy to be a Microsoft Data Platform MVP. When Melissa steps away from the keyboard, you can probably find her hanging out with her border collie, paddle boarding, playing in the garden, or with her nose in a book. Melissa blogs at sqlchick.com.

Kenneth Jensen

Kenneth Jensen has been programming for 37 years and has been using SQL Server since 6.5. He has written full management suites for the Emergency Medical Services and enterprise contact centers. He is a Senior Systems Engineer with a large health care provider.

When he is not managing enterprise IT security web filters and proxies, Kenneth focuses on automation, system integrations and ETL/ELT using AWS, SQL Server, mySQL, SSIS, T-SQL, Python and PowerShell for different lines of business within his organization.

When he is not working at his full time job and not caring for his family, Kenneth is a co-organizer for the Hampton Roads 757 Python User Group, where he often presents. He is also a long term member of the Hampton Roads SQL Server User Group. Kenneth was an advocate for cyrpto-currency, a Bitcoin full node operator on AWS and did Bitcoin blockchain forensics before working part-time as a systems engineer at a one of North America largest Crypto-Currency mining facility.

Louis Davidson

Louis has over 19 years as a corporate database developer and architect. Currently he is the Data Architect for the Christian Broadcasting Network out of Nashville, Tennessee. Nearly all of Louis’ professional experience has been with Microsoft SQL Server from the early days to whatever is the latest version currently in beta. Louis has been the principal author on several books, including one on DMVs and five editions of a book on database design, including one for SQL Server 2012. Louis’ primary areas of interest are database architecture and coding in T-SQL, with experience designing many databases and writing thousands of stored procedures and triggers through the years.

Andy Leonard

Andy Leonard is founder and Chief Data Engineer at Enterprise Data & Analytics, Microsoft Data Platform MVP, creator of the DILM (Data Integration Lifecycle Management) Suite, an SSIS trainer, consultant, developer, 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.

Mike Sullivan

Mike Sullivan is a Sr. Premier Field Engineer with Microsoft who has been working in IT since 1982 and has worked with SQL Server since version 4.21. He lives in central Virginia with his two daughters and his wife of 33 years. When he’s not presenting, helping customers or otherwise geeking out, he enjoys outdoor activities like camping, cycling and sailing.

Jason Brimhall

Principal Consultant, SQL Solutions Group

Jason Brimhall has more than 10 years of experience and has worked with SQL Server 6.5 through SQL 2014. He has experience in performance tuning, high transaction environments, and large environments. He is currently a consultant specializing in performance tuning, server analysis, and problem resolution. Jason is a Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) MVP for SQL Server.

Rob Colie

One of the founding engineers behind Power Pivot during his 14-year career at Microsoft, and creator of the world’s first cloud Power Pivot service, Rob is one of the foremost authorities on self-service business intelligence and next-generation spreadsheet technology.
In 2009, Rob started to see that Power Pivot was not “just another technology,” and that its power resided not in the software itself, but in the unique way it empowershuman beings. He left Microsoft in 2010 to make that empowerment his full-time mission, and has seen the same theme repeat itself hundreds of times since: this tool doesn’t just increase efficiency. It doesn’t just reduce costs. It doesn’t just lead to dramatically smarter decisions and same-day agility. It also makes people – and organizations – happier. Rob wants to help you experience that for yourself.
When he’s not training, consulting, speaking, or writing, Rob can be found in his laboratory, devising new tools and techniques for the Power BI community. He is the author of two books, including the world’s #1-selling Power BI book (DAX Formulas for Power Pivot), has penned over 600 articles and whitepapers, and also occasionally sleeps.

Glenn Berry

Principal Consultant for SQLSkills. Glenn is a Microsoft SQL Server MVP. He has worked as a SQL Server professional for many years in a variety of roles, including stints with NewsGator and Avalara. His expertise includes DMVs, high availability, hardware selection and configuration, and performance tuning. He is also an Adjunct Faculty member at University College – University of Denver, where has been teaching since 2000. Glenn is heavily involved in the SQL Server community, and is a frequent speaker at user groups, SQL Saturdays, SQLintersection, and the PASS Community Summit. He is the author of the book SQL Server Hardware, and he wrote chapters for SQL Server MVP Deep Dives and SQL Server MVP Deep Dives Volume 2 books.

Monica Rathbun

Monica lives in Virginia, is a Microsoft MVP for Data Platform and Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert. She has nearly two decades of experience working with a wide variety of database platforms with a focus on SQL Server and the Microsoft Data Platform. She is a frequent speaker at IT industry conferences on topics including performance tuning and configuration management. She is the Leader of the Hampton Roads SQL Server User Group and a Mid‐Atlantic PASS Regional Mentor. She is passionate about SQL Server and the SQL Server community, doing anything she can to give back. Monica can always be found on Twitter (@sqlespresso) handing out helpful tips.You can find Monica blogging at sqlespresso.com

Carlos Chacon

Carlos Chacon is the managing partner of SQL Data Partners LLC and co-host of the popular SQL Data Partners Podcast. He also organizes the premier Virgina event SQL Trail each October. He enjoys traveling and has been to four continents, speaks Spanish and can eat his weight in raspberries (not yet proven). He and his family live in Richmond, Virginia.

Dale Burnett

Dale Burnett is a database engineer at ChannelAdvisor specializing in SQL Server. He has been working with databases since 1998 and exclusively with SQL Server since 2008. His previous experiences provided exposure to many industries including financial services, retail, insurance, and customer service. His primary SQL Server interests are architecture and optimization.

Jamie Wick

Jamie Wick is the Systems & Database Engineer for The College of William & Mary and has been working with databases for the past 10+ years. His background includes working for several years as a SQL SysAdmin for the University of Queensland (Australia), a Master’s degree in Computer Information Systems from Boston University, and assorted Microsoft SQL certifications. He is a volunteer & speaker at regional SQL events (User Groups/SQLSaturdays), helps run the Richmond SQL Server Users Group and SQLSaturday RVA events, and is an avid photographer.

Jessica Moss

Jessica M. Moss is a well-known architect, speaker, author, and Microsoft MVP of SQL Server business intelligence. Jessica’s expertise includes data warehouse modeling, Integration Services ETLs, Analysis Services semantic modeling, Reporting Services report design, and helping customers across industries successfully implement and enhance their business intelligence solutions. Jessica enjoys sharing her knowledge with the central Virginia community, speaks regularly at user groups, code camps, and conferences, and has co-authored six technical books. You can read more on her website, jessicammoss.com.