Archive for the ‘MVP Global Summit’ tag
Meet Ugo Lattanzi – ASP.NET MVP from Italy
Tell us who you are?
My name is Ugo Lattanzi and I’m MVP on ASP.NET. I’m living in Milan but I’m from Grottammare, a little city located in the middle of Italy east coast near the sea. I started working with web application since 1993 when internet was really slow and the connections were rare. Obviously I’m started to work with the principal web technologies like HTML, Javascript, ASP, ASP.NET, MVC, WCF, Azure, etc.
Currently I’m working as Senior Software Architect in Gaia Srl and I’m working for a web application based on Microsoft Technologies for important customers. Moreover I’m writer, teacher and speaker for important conferences.
Tell us about your MVP history, when were you first awarded?
My MVP history is really short, I was awarded for the first time in the October 2009 and for me it’s a huge honor to be an MVP.
What do you do in order to keep up with latest tools and technologies?
For my job it’s really important to stay up to date with the latest technologies; fortunately my it match with my passion and my company support me in this “Mission”.
Meet Marius Bancila – Visual C++ MVP from Romania
Tell us who you are?
My name is Marius Bancila, I live and work in Timisoara, Romania. I work as a software developer for Visma Software and my primary competencies are VC++ and .NET.
Tell us about your MVP history, when were you first awarded?
I am a Visual C++ MVP for five years; I was first awarded in April 2006.
What do you do in order to keep up with latest tools and technologies?
I keep up with the latest tools and technologies in various ways. I read articles and blogs, but also printed books, watch online webcasts and recordings, participate in offline group meetings and sometimes trainings.
What does being an MVP mean to you?
Being part of the MVP program is a great opportunity to meet other people that share common interests and are top professionals in their areas. It is also a satisfaction to know that your efforts in the community are recognized and valued.
Meet Valdis Iljuconoks – Visual C# MVP from Latvia
Tell us who you are?
My name is Valdis Iljuconoks. I come from Latvia – small but promising country in Easter Europe besides Baltic Sea. I’m almost 30 years old and working in software development company – Nexum Insurance Technologies – which is providing software and services for insurance and financial market.
Tell us about your MVP history, when were you first awarded?
Currently it’s second time I’m rewarded as a MVP. First nomination was at 2009 January.
What do you do in order to keep up with latest tools and technologies?
I’m actively reading blogs and searching for latest information on IT industry. I do take participation of some internal mailing lists and do have some regular chat with local industry experts as well.
What does being an MVP mean to you?
It’s an honor to me to be an MVP. One thing is that being an MVP it means to access some internals of Microsoft and to be able to get some news and take some participation in stuff that other is going to use after some time. However it also means kind of some status within community and people I talk to.
Meet Valy Greavu – SharePoint Server MVP from Romania
Tell us who you are?
Hi, I’m Valy Greavu, known as Valy Greavu on the community, I am a lecturer professor at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iasi, and also consultant for few companies from Romania, working in complex projects, based on SharePoint Technologies and associated: Active Directory, Security, Office Suite and others. Also I’m technical expert for implementing ISO 27001 standard in SharePoint environment. Since 2005 I was involved in Imagine Cup competition, former competitor, and finalist (2005, 2006) and now co-captain for IT Challenge section.
Tell us about your MVP history, when were you first awarded?
I awarded as a SharePoint MVP for 2009 and re-awarded for 2010.
What do you do in order to keep up with latest tools and technologies?
Most important for me is direct contact with technology, so I keep me on the last editions of the product, read blogs constantly and other product teams MVP, and most articles that appear on SharePoint. I also consider very important are issues of community users. They help me I create a basis for models of problems and their solving methods.
Meet Mumin CICEK – Exchange Server MVP from Turkey
Tell us who you are?
Mumin CICEK, I was born in Bulgaria in 17.12.1979 but I am living in Turkey, I was graduated from the department of Information Technologies in Mugla University. Moreover, I was graduated from the department of Business Enterprise in Anadolu University. I began my professional business life in 1996. From that date forward, I have been worked as a System & Network expert- as an instructor- as a Project head- as Project coordinator in the companies.
Presently, I am working actively as an IT Manager for Marigold Thermal Hotel and SPA in Bursa / Turkey. And also Project Coordinator and authorized instructor (MCT) in Bursa Akademinet CPLS Company. Besides, I am also serving in the managing part of the CozumPark Portal; and I essays about the Microsoft products are published at the same portal.
Tell us about your MVP history, when were you first awarded?
I have been an MVP since 2009 . My MVP scope is Exchange Server. During my MVP history I produced a lot of technical articles, webcasts,podcasts and seminars for a CozumPark ITPro community.
Meet Majid Ardforoushan – SharePoint MVP from United Arab Emirates
Tell us who you are?
Hi, I’m Majid Ardforoushan, known as Neo on the community, I am a SharePoint Consultant, providing solutions based on SharePoint since 2001, founder of SharePoint Solutions Persia, a Certified Microsoft Partner. I provided Persian language for SharePoint 2001, 2003, 2007 and now I’m working 247 to support this language for SharePoint 2010, I had many many requests from Middle East, UK and US for this language and I did tons of efforts encouraging Microsoft for supporting this language, but since it’s not possible yet, I started for supporting Farsi by a local community in the Gulf region.
Tell us about your MVP history, when were you first awarded?
I awarded as a SharePoint MVP for 2009 and re-awarded for 2010.
What do you do in order to keep up with latest tools and technologies?
Being part of community, also I initiated a community for Persian speaking SharePoint experts worldwide, for writing about their experiences or sharing resources, this way we all work together to be on top of this technology.
Meet Luka Manojlovic – Management Infrastructure MVP from Slovenia
Tell us who you are?
My name is Luka Manojlovic and I am an MVP for third year now (renominated 1st of January 2010). I am an technology enthusiast and so I like to help community to get out of problems or better to help the community to make things better / safer.
I am 28 years old and I am actively working in IT field since I was a student so for about 10 years. I am mainly focused on server and networking infrastructure.
Tell us about your MVP history, when were you first awarded? My MVP history begins on 1st of January 2008 when I was first time nominated as an MVP as I was in 2006 and 2007 involved in community work in my country – Slovenia (http://www.slovenia.info/ ). I was speaking on our local Windows users group events I was running my blog with hints tips and tricks for administrators and some video tutorials. I have started a new blog on 1. January 2008 because the old one was not user-friendly enough so I have started a new blog (http://luka.manojlovic.net/) also with new articles and new organization on the day when I have become an MVP. From that day visits on my blog grow from day to day, from month to month…
What do you do in order to keep up with latest tools and technologies? As a speaker I have presentations of new products and tools so I need to keep myself informed about latest technologies. I am spending a lot of time in search and reading information about new stuff that is coming out. I also have a small lab in which I test and then present new technologies. My sessions are very “hands-on” oriented as I have a lot of demos to show my audience the “real thing” I show them solutions that they can later implement in their environments so my sessions are always “jujcy” 
Meet Dhafer Hammami – Exchange MVP from Tunisia
Tell us who you are?
I’m Dhafer HAMMAMI from Tunisia; I hold a master degree in Computer Science ; I have been working in the professional IT sector for 10+ years for ADVANCIA , Microsoft Gold Partner and businesses throughout Tunisia and France. On a professional level, I’ have the following certificates:
- Microsoft Certified Database Administrator SQL 2008
- Microsoft Certified Database Administrator SQL 2005
- MCIP SQL 2005
- MCTS Windows Server 2008 Networking Infrastructure Configuration
- MCTS Windows Server 2008 Application Platform Configuration
- MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Configuration
- Microsoft Certified System Engineer Windows 2000/2003/2007 + Messaging
- Microsoft Certified System Administrator + Messaging
- Microsoft Certified System Engineer Windows Server 2003
- Microsoft Certified System Administrator Windows Server 2003
- Microsoft Certified Database Administrator
- Microsoft Certified System Engineer Windows 2000
- Microsoft Certified System Administrator Windows 2000
- Microsoft Certified System Engineer Windows NT 4.0
- Microsoft Certified Professional
- Certification A+ Hardware
- Certification A+ Software
- Symantec Product Specialist
I am currently employed as a Project Manager and Senior Consultant for ADVANCIA my role is:
- Project Management (IT Projects (Messaging, Hosting, Infrastructure, etc.), Managing engineers to project delivery and insure client satisfaction.
- Senior Consultant (Write technical documents, such as IT propositions and architectures) for of banks, private groups as well as telecom operators and ISP.
- The technical management of many Tunisian accounts among of them banks, private groups as well as telecom operators and ISP.
- The transfer of expertise’s and skills of their teams on complex enterprise solutions such as setting up messaging solutions, database solutions, data warehouses, and securing their system information.
- The technical trainings on Microsoft products (system, messaging, databases, security, etc…) and Symantec products (Firewall, Antivirus, IDS, Anti-Spam, VPN, etc…)
Meet Kostas Pantos – ASP.NET MVP from Greece
Tell us who you are?
My name is Kostas Pantos and I’m a software Architect currently starting my own software company in Greece www.techaholics.gr. Over the past years I’ve worked for a number of large companies in Greece and was involved in developing cutting-edge software always using the latest technology (ASP.NET, AJAX, Silverlight, WPF, Linq, EF and so on) in order to build wow experiences. I really enjoy speaking about technology and have talked in a number of Microsoft and community related events. Finally I’m an active member of the Greek developers’ community and enjoy helping fellow developers solve their technical issues.
Tell us about your MVP history, when were you first awarded?
I was first awarded on April of 2007 and have managed to keep the award since then till today and hope that I’ll be able to keep it for the next couple of year as well
What do you do in order to keep up with latest tools and technologies?
I take advantage of all available resources, webcasts, tutorials, blog posts, books, magazines, conversations, technical samples and hands-on offered from various developer communities as well as interact and participate at various software development events and conferences.
Meet Robert MacLean – Team System MVP from South Africa
Tell us who you are?
My name is Robert MacLean and I live and work in Johannesburg, South Africa. I like to introduce myself like this: Take one part geek, add a pinch of Scottish accent, mix in two cups of South African pride, chop and add too many interests and finally cook until cyclist tan appears. Serve with whiskey 
It does leave out my additional work as a VSTS Ranger which is something I am very proud of as it is a very special opportunity to build items that may become part of the product one day.
Tell us about your MVP history, when were you first awarded?
I have been just been awarded a Team System MVP this year in January for the first time.
What do you do in order to keep up with latest tools and technologies?
As most people, I spend a considerable time reading blogs and watching videos off of the internet but I find I get a lot of information from my team mates. As I work in a research and guidance team our focus is to keep up to date and share knowledge so the team itself is a great place to learn.
What does being an MVP mean to you?
Being a MVP is an honour to me and I hope it will open more doors for me to speak to and help other developers.
Meet Wilson Kutegeka – Visual Basic MVP from Uganda
Tell us who you are?
Well, despite the fact that I was already a physics graduate, I didn’t know how to switch on a computer until 2000; the same year I wrote my first program in C. C-language made me learn DOS before windows. However, I could not produce a window in C and that’s when I jumped onto VB 6/MS Access and did lots of work out of self-drive and self-training. I didn’t know about VB .NET/C# until I got my first IT related job late 2002, and when our supply of Visual Studio brought us Visual Studio .NET (we had ordered for Visual Studio 6.0 though). I went for VB .NET/MS SQL Server, and learned it all ranging from being a functions writer in VB 6 to an OOP applications developer. In 2008 I became the first Microsoft MVP from Uganda.
Tell us about your MVP history, when were you first awarded?
I received the MVP awarded in 2008, 2009 and 2010
What do you do in order to keep up with latest tools and technologies?
I do work for a Healthcare provider, where I have mainly developed applications that facilitate research in HIV/AIDs vaccine and treatment with ClinicMaster Software being my major application in this regard. However, I also work with a variety of industries when I am contracted to develop software outside my current employment and mostly I develop re-usable components notably, data access layer or data access in general, automatic code generation and custom controls.
What does being an MVP mean to you?
It greatly encourages and tells me that it’s important to pick a particular technology, master it well to deliver high quality business solutions. It also means getting an opportunity to interact with development team and other technically gifted people so that you can have an opportunity to share with them on what’s next?
Meet Evren Ayan – Sharepoint Services MVP from Turkey
Tell us who you are?
My name is Evren Ayan, I am an active blogger and Regional Evangelist of ISPA (International Sharepoint Professionals Association) since 2008. I’m currently working as Solution Architect for Ceviz Information Technologies. My areas of expertise include portal and collaboration solutions, architectural solutions and related technologies.
Tell us about your MVP history, whenwere you first awarded?
I have been awarded MVP title in 2005. Until 2006 my MVP technical expertise was XML Web Services. In 2007 I was awarded the MVP title for Connected System Developer until the end of 2008. In 2009 my MVP technical expertise was Windows Sharepoint Services:Architecture which I still hold. During my MVP history I have written a lot of articles and presented seminars for well-known local software communities like
Meet Tomislav Bronzin – SQL Server MVP and Microsoft Regional Director from Croatia
Tell us who you are?
My name is Tomislav Bronzin, I am Solution Architect, Consultant and founder of CITUS Internet Development Company, based in Zagreb, Croatia. Besides being an MVP, title, I am also a Microsoft Regional Director for 8 years and Microsoft Certified Trainer. I have more than 18 years of real-life experience with Microsoft technologies with current interest in development of distributed applications specialized in Unified Communication Application Development, .NET Smart Client and Mobile Solutions technology, resulting in having 2 patents in those areas.
Tell us about your MVP history, when were you first awarded?
I was first MVP in the Croatia, renewing my status in past 8 years. The reason for that is my Community work, as well because I am regular speaker at Microsoft conferences in the region (including Microsoft TechEd Europe from 2004-2009, WinDays, DevDays, CodeCamps, KulenDayz, Vizija, Sinergija, NT Konferenca, etc.), as well as at several academic conferences. My colleagues MVP’s Andrej Radinger, Zeljka Knezovic and Dobrisa Adamec and me are organizing and speaking at annual Mobility Day Regional Conference.
What do you do in order to keep up with latest tools and technologies?
I am participating at Live Meetings/Chats/Conferences and I am learning from available on-line resources, as well as from Train-the-Trainer workshops.
Meet Mina Nagy – Unified Communications MVP from Egypt
Tell us who you are?
I am proud to be one of the few Egyptian Microsoft MVPs. I am a believer that “Nothing is Impossible” and that the “Sky is the limit”, and that with the right attitude, knowledge and tools/ technology, anything is achievable. I have been working at LINK Development since 2001 where I started as a PC Support Engineer was promoted to System Engineer then Internal Infrastructure Lead and finally, I am now the Unified Communications Technical Team Lead for our Professional Services division, Handling all external projects and implementations.
My main area of expertise is Unified Communications, a domain I have been focusing on for the past 3 years. I love my Country as well as Soccer very much and that makes me proud of our Egyptian team who won the African cup for the last 3 times and totally for 7 times. We now rank among the top 10 in the World ranking right after England
Tell us about your MVP history, when were you first awarded?
I earned the 2009 Microsoft MVP Award in Unified Communications domain and i am also the 2009 Award Winner of Microsoft Virtual TSP (Technology Solution Professional) Program, a program to prepare Tiger trained partners to deliver same level of quality as a Microsoft HQ TSP.
What do you do in order to keep up with latest tools and technologies?
I always have my lab with me on the notebook on Hyper-v. Since I am also the technical team lead at LINK Development, I try to make sure that my team and I are always updated with the latest in Unified Communications. As part of the TAP program “Technical Adaptation Program “, we get “hands on experience” on the latest Microsoft software in beta release
Meet Tarek Ghazali – SQL Server MVP from Lebanon
Tell us who you are?
I’m Tarek Ghazali from Lebanon; I hold a master degree in Computer Science ; I have been working in the professional IT sector for 14+ years for various companies and businesses throughout the Middle East. On a professional level, I have the following certificates:
- ITIL V3.0 Foundation
- CobiT 4.1 Foundation
- Microsoft MCTS in SQL server 2005
- Microsoft MCP in web development
I have been to UAE-Abu Dhabi since 2 years and I am currently employed as a Senior Systems Analyst for Abu Dhabi Retirement Pensions and Benefits Fund, my role is managing and implementing a service oriented architecture (SOA), enterprise architecture frameworks (such as TOGAF), IT governance and process control (CobiT) and information technology best practices and governance.
Tell us about your MVP history, when were you first awarded?
I joined as board member the first .NET community in Lebanon (lebdev) by end of 2004 and I got awarded on Jun 2005 as SQL Server MVP , I have been SQL Server MVP for 5 years (2005 until now)
What do you do in order to keep up with latest tools and technologies?
I read a lot of articles and blogs, Join online events and webcasts. In addition, I attend Microsoft events and participating Microsoft communities and forums.
