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Speaker Bios
 

Hanu Kommalapati
Hanu Kommalapati is a Chief Technology Evangelist for cloud computing at Microsoft DPE. He is responsible for the technology aspects of Windows Azure evangelism business in U.S. Hanu spoke at conferences like TechEd and Interop and published technology articles on MSDN Magazine, InfoQ and ESJ. He has 20 years of software engineering experience through various large scale software implementations at large enterprises and ISVs.
Session: Keynote Presentation

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John Weston
@technetguy
John Weston is a Cloud IT Pro Evangelist for Microsoft. During the last 10 years he has spoken to thousands of IT Professionals across the country. Before joining Microsoft full time, he spent six years as an MCT, training people at a local college and getting new Microsoft hires up to speed. John holds more certifications than he can remember, but the list definitely includes MCITP, MCSE, MCDBA, MCT, and CCNA. Before becoming and MCT John co-owned a software development and consulting firm that was a Microsoft Partner based in Dallas. His primary blog includes http://blogs.technet.com/b/jweston.
Sessions: Preparing for the Hybrid Cloud (Preparing for the Cloud), Office 365 Overview (Office 365), Private Cloud Overview (Private Cloud)

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Mike Rouleau
@twtelecom
Michael A. Rouleau serves as Senior Vice President – Business Development and Strategy and has been with tw telecom since November 1999. His extensive experience in the telecom and data communications industries resulted in the successful implementation and delivery of many advanced and innovative products. In his current position, Mr. Rouleau is responsible for developing
tw telecom’s strategic direction and integrating new services and technologies over the next several years. Prior to joining the company, he spent 15 years with US WEST where he was responsible for the development, deployment and management of data, Internet, and DSL businesses.
Session: Intelligent Networking for Cloud Computing (Overview and Roadmaps)

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Apollo Gonzalez
Frederick "Apollo" Gonzalez has served as an Emerging Technologist and Enterprise Solution Architect for service based organizations since Dec 2001.  Apollo has helped envision and architect over 30 successful enterprise solutions to numerous Fortune 1000 companies.  The projects have varied in size from multi-month to multi-year large team projects.  Apollo’s successful track record, skillful execution, and respect amongst his peers led to his recognition by Microsoft as a Virtual Technical Specialist for the Windows Azure Platform. 

As the Director of Emerging Technologies, Apollo is instrumental in bringing innovation and thought leadership in the areas of cloud computing, enterprise application modernization and strategic planning.
Session:  How to Leverage the Power of the Windows Azure Platform (Azure Development)

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Jon Shale
Jon Shale joined Smartbridge in 2011 and currently leads the firm’s enterprise mobility and cloud services group.  Jon is leading Smartbridge’s drive into cloud services, helping clients leverage the scalability, reliability, agility and performance of the cloud.  With almost twenty years of experience, Jon has lead and managed many technology projects for a variety of organizations.  Before Smartbridge, Jon was a CTO at a risk management and consulting firm, where he managed a risk management software product for the Oil and Gas industry.  Jon has also held positions at AIG and JPMorgan Chase.
Session: Benefits, Risks, Architectures and Roadmap for Migration to Office365 (Office 365)

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Deepthi Raju

Deepthi joined Smartbridge in 2005 and has over twenty years of technology consulting experience in energy and retail industries.  Deepthi currently leads the product development of SmartMPM which is a state-of-the-art marketing performance measurement tool used by marketers across variety of industries.  She recently led the migration of Smartbridge products from private cloud to public hosted cloud environments and is an expert in technology architectures developed for cloud applications. Prior to Smartbridge, Deepthi was an architect and senior developer at Schlumberger responsible for the development of drilling log analysis technologies.
Session: Azure Development (Azure Development)

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David Pallman

David Pallmann is the GM of Custom Application Development for Neudesic. He is a Windows Azure author and a Microsoft MVP. Prior to joining Neudesic he worked at Microsoft on the WCF product team. He has often served in a CTO capacity at a number of public and private companies. His twin passions are cloud computing and the modern web (HTML5, mobility), especially when used together.
Session: When Worlds Collide: HTML5 Meets the Cloud (Special Topics)

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Chander Dhall
@csdhall
Chander Dhall is a Microsoft MVP, author, trainer, mentor, professional software architect/lead developer, INETA speaker, open source contributor, community leader and organizer with years of experience in enterprise Software Development. He works in a goal oriented, technologically driven, fast paced AGILE (SCRUM) environment. He is the founder of Dallas day of dot net. He has a Master’s Degree in computer science with specialization in algorithms, principles and patterns and is focused on building high performing modular software. Chander is the founder of Dallas day of dot net and leads a .NET user group in Dallas. Chander recently got recognized as "One of the top organizers by Eventbrite. Chander has been a featured speaker in numerous conferences and code camps all over the world. You may follow him on twitter @csdhall or email him at csdhall@chanderdhall.com. 
Session: Azure Table Storage, Best Practices (Azure Development)

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Ravi Gangadharan
@sameer_ravi
Passionate Technologist with over 14 years of experience in various Software engineering and consulting roles for Fortune 500 customers and ISVs. Heady mix of hands-on experience in strategizing, architecting, designing and implementing application development solutions for a variety of business cases. Proven ability in articulating value proposition of services and products in customer facing roles. Highly experienced in managing customer relationships, people management and providing end to end development solutions. Impeccable collaboration skills and seamless ability to integrate with Sales, Operations and other teams in pursuing common goals.
Session: What IT Services and Data Assets to Migrate and When (Preparing for the Cloud)

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Jason Keller
@kellerpoint
Jason Keller is the president of TekDog Inc., of Columbus, Ohio. Jason has over 14 years of experience in IT and has been working with Microsoft SharePoint technologies since 2001. Jason’s SharePoint experience includes roles as a Technical Instructor, Business Analyst, SharePoint Consultant, Project Manager and Solutions Architect. Jason also specializes in Business Process Automation and works on a daily basis with clients to understand their business needs to architect SharePoint and Workflow solutions that resolve business inefficiencies and bottlenecks. Jason has a deep passion for SharePoint technologies and for sharing the knowledge of how SharePoint can help businesses run more effectively and efficiently.
Session: Building Out of the Box Business Solutions (SharePoint Online)

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Rich Bruklis
@cloudreplica
Rich Bruklis is the VP of Marketing at CloudReplica and a board member of the Association of Contingency Planners, South Texas Chapter. Rich worked many years in HP's storage division and is credited with introducing and managing their first fibre channel backup products, their MSA1000 storage array, and their Storage Mirroring software product line. He now focuses on Business Continuity for small-to-medium companies.
Session: Planning, Justifying, and Practicing Proper Disaster Recovery (Special Topics)

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Corey Roth
@coreyroth
Corey Roth is an applications architect at Infusion specializing in SharePoint solutions for the Oil & Gas Industry. Corey has always focused on rapid adoption of new Microsoft technologies including SharePoint 2010, Visual Studio 2010, .NET Framework 4.0, LINQ, and Silverlight. When it comes to SharePoint, he specializes in ECM, Enterprise Search, and Business Connectivity Services. As an active member of the SharePoint community, he often speaks at user groups and conferences. Corey is a member of the .NET Mafia (www.dotnetmafia.com) where he blogs about the latest technology and SharePoint.
Session: SharePoint Online for Extranets (SharePoint Online)

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Christoph Schittko
Christoph Schittko is the Director of Cloud Strategy Microsoft’s South Central District working with customers to develop cloud strategies spanning Microsoft’s broad range of cloud offerings. Since joining Microsoft in 2005 as an Architect Evangelist, Christoph has been working with customers in building innovative solutions on emerging Microsoft technologies.   Prior to joining Microsoft, Christoph worked with several start-ups in Austin building Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions and assisted companies with adopting service orientation. He’s has been in the industry for almost 20 years developing and architecting software solutions in a wide variety of industries. He writes and speaks on everything Web services and XML at various conferences. His book “SOA with .NET & Azure” was published in 2010 by Pearson. Christoph holds an advanced degree in Electrical Engineering from the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg.
Session: Planning for the Cloud – Strategy and Architecture (Preparing for the Cloud)

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Michael Van Chau
Michael Van Chau is the Vice President of Cyber Strategy & Development for MEI Technologies (MEIT) headquartered in Houston, TX. Mike is a senior strategic and program management executive with strong business development, technical and IT operations management experience. Mike is skilled in delivering consultative advice to C-level executives, communicating with senior technical and operations staff, and translating technical solutions into compelling investment opportunities. He has over 20 years of experience in management, engineering, information technology, training, consulting, and business development.
Mike provides the overall functional leadership for IT across MEIT’s geographic operations and contracts. He is responsible for identifying, promoting and developing innovations, standards, and common practices across IT operations including IT governance and enterprise architecture, IT security and information assurance, data center operations and cloud computing, telecommunications, software development, and mobile computing for the public and commercial sectors. Mike has worked on national and international initiatives for the Federal Government (NASA, DOD and DHS), Fortune 100 and Inc 500 companies.
He has developed and analyzed numerous technical, financial and operational concepts, models, designs, and proposals for new business initiatives, products, and managed services. Mike has provided guidance to C-level executives on major engineering and IT programs including data center construction projects, agency-wide IT services, software development, and global communications networks.
Session:  Innovation and Transformation Through Hybrid Clouds (Overview & Roadmaps)

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Ryan Duclos

@rduclos
Ryan Duclos is a Senior Technical Consultant for Perficient, Inc. (PRFT), where he is passionate about Microsoft development utilizing the .Net Framework, SQL Server, and Windows Azure technologies. He lives and works in LA (Lower Alabama!) and loves spending time with his family, as well as being a Community Influencer for Microsoft.   Ryan is the President of the Lower Alabama .NET User Group. In addition Ryan is a frequent speaker at numerous Code Camps, SQL Saturday, Windows Azure Boot Camps and User Group events.
Session: SQL Azure Reporting (Azure Development)

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Neophytos Christodoulides
@SOA_Collective
Vision and creation of new technologies that solve difficult problems in the software industry. Currently releasing SOAcollective an SOA runtime environment offering for the SOA Microsoft stack that can be adapted anywhere.
SOAcollective has been developed to give a huge lead time and security of investment to corporations by eliminating all of the silent and unknown factors of failure in distributed service development.
WCF is the SOA implementation of Microsoft, it obeys all open standards and beyond. The clouds today offer tremendous value to host services and WCF is the technology used to build those services.
Session:  Expand your SOA Environment Without Writing a Line of Code (Special Topics)

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Bryon Burkhardt

Perficient’s Lead Infrastructure consultant has over 20 years working in the IT industry with a VAST array of Technology Expertise, and has worked in Lead roles for many High Profile Clients from various industries. Throughout his career he has taken on many roles from Technical support to Director of IT. In the Last 10 years he has focused his efforts as a Microsoft Infrastructure consultant specializing in Enterprise Infrastructure Management Projects like System Center Operation manager and Configuration Manager. Bryon is extremely diverse in his experience taking on multiple Migration projects Including Active Directory, Exchange, SharePoint and general Infrastructure consolidations to Implementing SAN’s with Fabric, Telecom Technologies and UNIX based Systems. His across the board experience gives him an advantage of the overall effects that enterprise projects can have on the entire technology infrastructure which is one of the reasons why all of his projects result in success.
Session: Microsoft System Center 2012 - The next step in Cloud Evolution
(Overview & Roadmaps)

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Jacqueline Lawson
Jacqueline Lawson knows her way around a computer. After all, she has combined total of 35 years of experience in information technology, internet marketing, graphic and web design, as well as social media and cloud computing. Jacqueline was contracted by the City of Atlanta for several projects including: Lead DBA for Y2K, Microsoft Office Trainer, Creative Director, Project Lead for website development and, the Atlanta Economic Impact Study Annual Report. She has served as the Chair of the Small Business Development Council for the Chamber of Commerce, provided services for several Fortune 500 companies, and contracted as the Meeting Planner & Marketing Director for the Inaugural Global African International Business Summit held at The Ritz Carlton Hotel. She also worked with President Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
She knows what clicking that button will do! She uses her extensive experience, practical know how and downhome antics to help busy people get more enjoyment and productivity in using computer technology.
Jacqueline Lawson, Managing Editor and Digital Media Director for the Houston Forward Times was recently honored by the Houston League of Business and Professional Women at their 47th Annual Founder's Day Award Luncheon.
Session: Cloud Computing – Money Saver for the Small Business (Overview & Roadmaps)

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Kendal Van Dyke
Kendal Van Dyke is a practiced IT professional with over a decade of experience in SQL Server development and administration. Kendal is currently a Senior Technical Consultant with Insource Technology in Houston, TX, where he helps companies keep their SQL Servers running in high gear. Kendal is also a Microsoft MVP for SQL Server, President of the PASS chapter MagicPASS in Orlando, and serves as a Director at Large on the Professional Association For SQL Server (PASS) Board of Directors.
Session: Keeping Your Data In Sync With The Cloud (Special Topics)

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Liza Yellot
Liza Yellott is a SharePoint enthusiast with deep experience in understanding business processes and translating them into sustainable SharePoint configuration solutions that require little or no programming.  Liza is currently a Senior Business Consultant with Insource Technology in Houston, Texas, where she helps companies of all sizes offer their employees the most creative and collaborative workspaces using SharePoint in the cloud, with Office365, or on-premises.   Liza is an active member of the Houston SharePoint User group and has a passion for teaching others how to make the best use of Technology.
Session: Cloud Solutions that are Down to Earth (SharePoint Online)

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Sharon Hoyd
Sharon Hoyd is a Manager in the Insource Enterprise Solutions practice. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst with a BA in Finance and 25 years of experience as a financial executive in industries as diverse as electric utility, energy trading and construction. Throughout her career Sharon has consistently used the smart design and implementation of technology within organizations to achieve strategic objectives, enhance controls, increase information transparency and reporting relevancy and improve operational efficiency.  Her holistic understanding that technological advancement within an organization needs to be considered not in a vacuum but as an integral part of the corporate strategy is invaluable when designing and implementing solutions to improve business processes. Sharon’s business, implementation, and integration background is far-reaching with a record of documented success. Her client-side business experience coupled with her hands on implementation and support experience provides an invaluable perspective to clients when embarking on ERP and CRM implementations.
Session: Cloud Solutions that are Down to Earth (SharePoint Online)

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Don MacNeil
Cloud services in the form of Software as a Service is making a monumental change in the way organizations acquire information services. , Mr. MacNeil founded Strategic SaaS in 2009 to help organizations make a successful transition to this powerful technology service model.   Mr. MacNeil brings over 20 years of experience in technology transformations and professional services with Deloitte & Touche   In 1999, founded Turnstone Technologies, a data warehouse software and services consultancy which later merged into Smith Hanley. Recently, Don has led the business and partner development for professional services companies specializing in collaborative applications, security and infrastructure implementations.
Session: Overview of Office 365, The Business Case for Office 365, Office 365 – How do I get there from here?  (Office 365)

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John Shaw
John Shaw is Chief Executive Officer and President of Nimbo. He is a serial entrepreneur and technology consultant with over 15 years of enterprise level experience. John’s passion for cloud computing began with spearheading migrations for some of the largest global organizations onto Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite. He has a deep technical and business knowledge of the Cloud and is a published author in this space.

John offers a global perspective as a US citizen, permanent resident of Australia and New Zealand, India business visa holder, and EU Citizen.
Session: Real World Azure: How Microsoft’s Cloud Computing Platform is Transforming Business (Azure Development)