Last year around this time, I shared my thoughts about the Phoenix Connected Systems User Group as we went into our fourth year of operation.
As I shared last year, I am proud of everything that we have accomplished over the last four years, but one of the biggest goals of co-founding and running the group was to build a new community, enrich the lives of developers and inspire new generations of leadership.
It’s hard to believe another year has flown by and as we start our 5th year, I am thrilled to announce that today is my last day as pcsug.org President.
Effective immediately, Brendon Birdoes assumes the role of President with Chris Myers as Vice-President.
I’ve had the privilege of knowing Brendon for 7 years having worked with him at DriveTime Sales and Finance Company and Neudesic. Brendon’s experience and command of the Microsoft integration stack and many contributions to the community including speaking events for Microsoft, user groups and code camps as well as numerous articles on distributed technologies make him immensely qualified to lead this group:
Brendon is a Microsoft Certified Professional with over eleven years experience delivering web, smart client and service oriented applications. With a range of experience in the Microsoft technology stack, Brendon focuses on integration and service oriented technologies such as Microsoft BizTalk Server, Windows Server AppFabric, WCF and WF 4.0. One of his more notable projects was leading the BizTalk development effort for the ESB Toolkit 2.0 for Microsoft BizTalk Server 2009. He is an active speaker in the Microsoft community, delivering sessions for regional Microsoft events, desert code camp and user groups. Brendon is currently the Phoenix Practice Director for Connected Systems at Neudesic.
In addition, Chris Myers has been a part of the leadership team for over a year now. In addition to managing our Yahoo Group which serves as a key channel for keeping the group informed on upcoming events and meetings, Chris is always willing to help out wherever needed. These contributions along with his experience working with Microsoft technologies like BizTalk Server, WCF, WF and Azure make Chris a very valuable member of the leadership team and even more so now as VP:
Chris Myers brings over 7 years of experience building robust middle-tier and front-end solutions. Previously a development lead at Cable One, Chris’s expertise spans a number of Microsoft and Java technologies and frameworks, with his main focus on the integration stack within Microsoft’s application integration capabilities including Windows Workflow Foundation (WF), Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), and BizTalk Server.
Chris is very passionate about Microsoft technology and, outside of work, it is very common to either find him at home blogging (http://www.bloggedbychris.com) or presenting at local user groups and code camps.
As for me, I will always have a vested interest in the group but will be falling back into a advisory role and plan to attend as many meetings as I can.
Needless to say, I am very excited to see where Brendon and Chris take the group and leave you in their very capable hands.
Brendon and Chris already have some great speakers lined up and be sure to follow pcsug.org, Brendon and Chris and join our Yahoo Group to stay up to date on the latest news and updates.
Please join me in welcoming Brendon and Chris as your new group leaders!