Another year, another set of elections. It’s that time where those who care about their industry and the future of the community we work within take to the PASS website to see who has put themselves forward and weigh up who they think should be on the PASS Board of Directors.
This year, as with every year it is a tough choice. The nominees are:
This field is really hard to pick just two especially as I know all of these people. I actually feel bad that I can’t vote for all of them! Part of me thinks that maybe I shouldn’t vote at all because it wouldn’t be fair, but that just leads to apathy and we need a strong leadership in the community.
So who am I going to vote for?
To be honest at this point I have only picked one person, that person is Ryan. This is why I think Ryan should also have your vote:
The first time I met Ryan was at the PASS Summit in Charlotte a few years back. I had just been through the whole PASS board of Elections process myself (you may remember the whole duplicate votes scandal saga data issue). That year Ryan was serving on the Nominations Committee and said some very kind words to me about my application and ideas that I had brought to the table. We had a very good conversation about how we felt things should change and I was very impressed with his ideas and his passion for the community.
Serving on the Nominations Committee hasn’t been Ryan’s only contribution, he has served at practically every level which in my eyes makes him a very very valuable addition to the team. At a local level Ryan has been heavily involved in growing the membership of his local chapter for many years. At a regional level he has helped organise SQL Saturday’s, SQLRally (remember those?) and has been a regional mentor too. At the international level Ryan has been involved in not just the Nominations Committee, but also the Programs Committee for the PASS Summit. If that wasn’t enough he is also the President of the Performance Virtual Chapter and who doesn’t love making stuff go faster!
There’s a very good reason why I am rehashing some of Ryan’s accomplishment over the last few years. That is his breadth of knowledge. This knowledge of the community will enable him to effectively run a number of different portfolios as he already knows them well. What’s more because he has knowledge of more than one he can help drive decisions in his portfolio that would benefit other portfolios too.
In fairness to the other candidates and also in an attempt to make a decision about my other vote I’d like to say a few words about them too.
Argenis – I love this guy. He’s seriously smart (his MCM proves that) and a great guy to hang out with. Going on SQLCruise with him there was a lot of fun. he loves the community and has a can do attitude. The first time we met, which again was at the Charlotte Summit he was the room moderator for the lightening talk room where I was going to be speaking, he ran up to me wearing a Jedi cloak and gave me a man hug. Quite a first impression. Argenis won’t be afraid to stand up for what he believes in.
Tim – I’ve co-presented a couple of webcasts with Tim when I worked at Dell, again a great guy who really knows his stuff. He runs SQLCruise, if you have never been on one you seriously have to go. He is also an incumbent board member so has a lot of experience.
Jen – I’ve known Jen a number of years and because we live in a small island we’re constantly bumping into each other at events. Jen is extremely dedicated to the SQL Server community and growing the analytic’s community. She is also an incumbent board member. In fact Jen and Tim were both elected the time I ran.
Voting
According to the timeline voting starts today, so I got this one in just under the wire. If you are eligible to vote you will receive an email, hopefully just one email 
Happy voting and may the best people win
