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Board of Directors

The PASS Board of Directors is comprised of a four-member Executive Committee, elected Directors-at-Large, four founding partner representatives, and appointed international advisors. The Board engages SQL Server professionals worldwide and Microsoft product teams, developers, technical fellows and MVPs to help PASS develop programs, educational content, and speakers and to provide a conduit of user feedback to Microsoft on product feature sets. Microsoft and CA, as PASS founding partner members, each contributes one or two senior marketing managers to the PASS Board of Directors.

PASS Bylaws

The PASS Board of Directors acts in accordance with the PASS Bylaws. To view the complete copy of PASS Bylaws, click here.

2012/2013 Executive Committee

Bill Graziano President: Bill Graziano 
An active member of PASS since 2001, PASS President Bill Graziano previously served as PASS Executive Vice President-Finance and Vice President of Marketing. He also served as the Program Director and the Kansas City Chapter Leader. Bill co-founded SQLTeam.com, a web site for SQL Server developers and database administrators. In addition to managing the site, he writes articles and helps users with their most vexing problems. An involved participant in the SQL Server community for eleven years, Bill was recognized as a SQL Server MVP in 2004 and still holds that designation. He has 16 years' experience as a database developer and DBA and has worked directly with SQL Server for the past eleven years. Bill is a partner in scaleSQL Consulting, which specializes in SQL Server database administration and application development. In his little remaining time, he enjoys sailing, hiking, and photography in flat, land-locked Kansas.
Douglas Mcdowell

Executive Vice President, Finance: Douglas McDowell 
Douglas McDowell is the CEO, North America, for SolidQ. He is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for SQL Server and has served as a PASS volunteer (Chapter Leader, Regional Mentor, Board Member) since 2001 . He is a long-standing member of Microsoft's Partner Advisory Council for Business Intelligence (BIPAC) and a contributing editor for SQL Server Magazine. Douglas completed his MBA at Penn State's Smeal College of Business and also holds a Masters of Information Technology and a degree in Culinary Arts.
Thomas LaRock Vice President, Marketing: Thomas LaRock
Thomas LaRock is a seasoned IT professional with over a decade of technical and management experience. Currently serving as a Senior DBA for Confio Software, Thomas has progressed through several roles in his career, including programmer, analyst, and DBA. He joined the Board of Directors for PASS in 2009 and is a SQL Server MVP. Thomas holds a MS degree in Mathematics from Washington State University and is a member of the Usability Professional’s Association. He can be found blogging at http://thomaslarock.com and is the author of DBA Survivor: Become a Rock Star DBA (http://dbasurvivor.com).
Rushabh Mehta

Immediate Past President: Rushabh Mehta
Rushabh Mehta is a Business Intelligence Mentor with Solid Quality Mentors and the Managing Director for Solid Quality India Pvt. Ltd. Rushabh served as PASS President for the 2010/2011 term. He has worked with Microsoft SQL Server since 1998 and has designed and developed BI systems on the Microsoft platform since 2001, including a predictive analysis system, a health-care analysis solution, and a multi-terabyte financial decision support system. He has been the lead architect for many large-scale and complex BI solutions for clients such as Publix, Raymond James Financials, Jackson Hewitt, US Dept. of Defense, MyWebGrocer and Microsoft. Through his work experience, Rushabh has been instrumental in creating multiple best practices in the implementation of BI technologies. Rushabh is also a SQL Server MVP and a frequent speaker at large conferences and PASS Chapters around the world. As Immediate Past President, Rushabh continues to support the PASS organization and the SQL Server community and is currently spearheading PASS' global growth initiative.

2012 Directors-At-Large

Director: Adam Jorgensen
Joining the PASS Board in 2012, Adam Jorgensen is a SQL Server MVP, SSAS expert, and the President of Pragmatic Works consulting. He has been delivering innovative SQL Server and Business Intelligence solutions for over a decade, and his passion is finding new and innovative avenues for clients and the community to embrace BI and lower barriers to implementation. Adam's specialty is in working with large, multi-terabyte environments and with customers to quickly understand their business models and identify their needs to efficiently deliver value. He has been a  managing and contributing author on a variety of books on SQL Server and SharePoint and was a PASS Regional Mentor, a member of the Regional Mentor Committee, and co-chair of the PASS BI Virtual Chapter. You can read Adam's blog at adamjorgensen.com.
Director: Allen Kinsel
Allen Kinsel has been volunteering with PASS since 2004 and has held multiple positions on various committees, including leadership of the SIGs (Virtual Chapters), the Volunteer Committee, and the Nominations Committee. The majority of his volunteer experience with PASS has been with the Program Committee, which he has been actively involved with for the past 5 years - the last 3 as an instrumental part of its leadership. Allen's dedication and exceptional efforts were recognized in 2009 with the PASSion award. Ten years ago, Allen started working for American National Insurance Company in Texas, where he is now the leader of a small group of DBAs responsible for all of the company’s data on SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, and DB2(LUW) databases.
Douglas Mcdowell Director: Denise McInerney
Denise McInerney, a DBA at Intuit and winner of the 2007 PASSion Award, was elected to the PASS Board in 2012 after years as an active PASS Volunteer. She served on the PASS Program Committee for 4 years, including 1 year as Committee Manager, and was chair or co-chair of the Women in Technology (WIT) Virtual Chapter for 5 years. She's also a frequent speaker at Chapter meetings, PASS SQLSaturdays, and PASS Summit. Denise began as a SQL Server DBA in 1998, working at several startups and as an independent consultant before joining Intuit in 2004. She specializes in design and performance tuning of OLTP databases and is an MCDBA and MCTS. She graduated from Boston University with a BA in Political Science. You can find Denise blogging at select*from denisemc.views.
 

Director: James Rowland-Jones
James Rowland-Jones, who joined the PASS Board as a non-voting member in 2011, is a SQL Server Consultant and Microsoft MVP for The Big Bang Data Company. His focus and passion is to architect and deliver highly scalable database systems that are creative, simple and elegant in their design. He has worked for some of the world's largest institutions and been responsible for project delivery across EMEA. James has worked on both OLTP and BI/data warehouse engagements and latterly has been spending a lot of time working on SQL Server reference architectures and appliances including Fast Track and PDW. James is a keen advocate for the SQL Server community both internationally and in the UK. He is a member of the SQLBits Organising Committee and co-founder of SQLSocial.com. James can be found on twitter @jrowlandjones or linkedin.com.

 

Director: Kendal Van Dyke
Kendal Van Dyke joined the PASS Board as a mid-term replacement for a one year term. He graduated with a degree in Computer Science from Florida State University in 1999. Starting his career as a VB 6 developer, Kendal was first exposed to SQL Server 7.0. It didn't take long before he shifted from writing VB to writing T-SQL. A recognized speaker, Kendal has spoken at a variety of events including SQLSaturday #1 and PASS Summit. In addition to his speaking schedule, Kendal runs a PASS Chapter, MagicPASS, and was a member of the planning team for the inaugural PASS SQLRally. In 2011, in addition to joining the PASS Board, Kendal was recognized as a Microsoft SQL Server MVP. You can read his blog at KendalVanDyke.com.
   Director: Rob Farley
Rob Farley, who joined the PASS Board as an international advisor in early 2011 and was then elected as a Director at the end of the year, is the owner and principal consultant of LobsterPot Solutions Pty Ltd. Consulting in database technologies since completing a Computer Science degree with first-class honors in 1997, he lives in Adelaide, Australia, but has also worked in consultancies in Melbourne and London. He is a regular conference presenter, heads up the Adelaide SQL Server User Group, and holds several Microsoft certifications including MCSD, MCDBA, MCTS, MCPD, and MCITP. Rob is also a Microsoft Certified Trainer, has received the Microsoft MVP Award for SQL Server since 2006, and is a past Branch Executive Committee member of the Australian Computer Society. He wrote two chapters in SQL Server MVP Deep Dives and one in SQL Server MVP Deep Dives 2.

Board of Directors, Founding Partners

Rick Bolesta

CA: Richard (Rick) Bolesta
Richard Bolesta is Vice President, Software Engineering for CA technologies’ Technology Development Group.  He has extensive experience in relational database technologies and is an author and speaker on management, database and performance topics.  He currently serves on the board of directors PASS and served as a senior board advisor to the International DB2 User Group (IDUG).  Richard earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Northern Illinois University and his MBA from the University of Illinois.

 
Neil Buchwalter

CA: Neil Buchwalter
Neil Buchwalter is the Product Manager for CA's ERwin® Modeling products. He has been involved with databases for more than 20 years and currently is responsible for defining product strategy, direction, and messaging for CA ERwin® Modeling. Neil’s interest in modeling began during the early days of hand-drawn models and solidified while at James Martin Associates, where he co-authored the Construction Handbook of the Information Engineering Methodology™. Shortly after joining Logic Works in 1996, he began to focus on data model construction and database related consulting projects. More recently, he served as the technical and modeling editor for Data Modeling Made Simple with CA ERwin® Data Modeler r8 (published by Technics Publications, 2011).

Microsoft, General Manager Microsoft SQL Server: Mark A. Souza
Mark Souza is a General Manager in the Microsoft Business Platform Division. He is responsible for all Customer/Partner interaction, Content and Community for the business platform products at Microsoft: Middleware, Database and Cloud. Using Customer Experiences he ensures the BPD division is building and shipping products that customers need to build enterprise class solutions. He is responsible for building the best, most vibrant technical community in the world. He also ensures that the Business Platform community has the highest quality content at their fingertips at the time they need it. Mr. Souza's twenty eight+ years in the Information Technology business has consisted of database administration, end-user tool management, systems engineering database specialist/lead, client/server architect, Microsoft regional data technology specialist, SQL Server development customer advisory team and most recently general manager of customer, content and community.

Mr. Souza has a Masters Degree in MIS from Marist College and an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from SUNY Potsdam. He enjoys spending quality time with his wife Lisa of 26 years and three beautiful children (Andrew 18, Megan 16 and Jennifer 14). He also enjoys reading, running, sports and attending broadway shows in his spare time.
Microsoft, SQL Server Community & Readiness Manager: Jennifer Moser
Jennifer Moser is a 15-year Microsoft veteran with time spent in marketing, program management, and technical support consulting roles in the US and Germany. Jennifer joins the PASS Board of Directors as the Microsoft SQL Server marketing liaison and looks forward to continuing the successful relationship between Microsoft Corporation and PASS. In her role as SQL Server Community & Readiness manager, Jennifer is responsible for Microsoft’s participation in the PASS Summit conference, creating technical training for PASS members and the community at large, and managing SQL Server certification programs. She sees a great future in expanding the network of Microsoft Certified Masters within PASS and is excited to share her international perspective to grow the SQL Server community worldwide.

 Board Advisors

  Raoul Illyés
Raoul Illyés, who joined the PASS Board as a non-voting member in 2011, is a leading voice in the Nordic SQL Server community and a recognized lecturer and teacher known for both his passion and abilities regarding SQL Server. He is a founding partner of the PASS SQLRally Nordic event, a frequent blogger, and a presenter at conferences and user groups.
   
   
   

The Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) is an independent, not-for-profit association, dedicated to supporting, educating, and promoting the Microsoft SQL Server community. From local user groups and special interest groups (SIGs) to webcasts and the annual PASS Community Summit � the largest gathering of SQL Server professionals in the world � PASS enables knowledge sharing, in-depth learning, access to the Microsoft SQL Server team, and the ability to influence the direction of SQL Server technologies. PASS was founded in 1999 by Microsoft and CA and continues to enjoy executive level endorsement from both organizations. As the number one user community for Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft looks to the PASS community for valued feedback, input, and inspiration. PASS Mission Empower the global Microsoft SQL Server community to connect, share, learn and be inspired through networking, knowledge sharing, peer-based learning, and the ability to influence the direction of Microsoft SQL Server products and services.