Journey To The Cloud - Last Day Of April

What a busy April it has been for a few thousand MVPs! The Global Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Summit returned to Redmond, Washington, the hybrid event allowed more attendees to join than just those that could set aside the time to travel and there has been another wave of “how to become an MVP” notes and blogs and podcasts and videos!

No One “Becomes” An MVP!

You can work to grow a community, you can speak at several events, you can mentor students, young professionals and blog, reshare, support and be involved with the tech community, and NEVER become an MVP.

It’s an Award, Not a Certification

Hard work alone isn’t enough. Here we will highlight three things we see from MVPs and highlight their public contribution pages from our Journey To The Cloud

Arindam Mitra

Arindam got involved with Journey To The Cloud early on and focused on documenting DevOps, speaking about DevOps, supporting others in their journey and so much more!

He FOCUSED on Dev Ops and Developer technologies because that’s his award category. Dev Ops uses Azure, GitHub, Languages, Code, etc.

Pam DeGraffenreid

Pam is a Senior M365 developer with fifteen years of experience in SharePoint & Microsoft 365 best practices, customization, development, and administration.

Pam is one of several hundred people we met at the MVP Summit in April! She is a new MVP in M365 Apps and Services, has run a user group for years and gives back in collaborating with others (she also has EXCELLENT taste in restaurants - picking a fabulous place called Purple Cafe and Wine Bar!

Her focus is creating efficient, sustainable solutions leveraging Microsoft 365 no-code capabilities.?She’s passionate about helping other developers work smarter by improving their processes and practices.?She has been an active member of the user group community and has been leading the Knoxville M365 user group since 2014.

Steve Knutson

Steve is a Digital Workplace Consultant focused on SharePoint and Power Platform.        

Steve co-founded Stratos Technology Partners, a Digital Workplace and Software Services company based in Christchurch, New Zealand.?

Steve creates and shares community content on his blog and YouTube channel.

Steve Knutson introduced us to Pam DeGraffenreid - Pam knows Daniel Glenn and Steve met Dan Rey when Joy Apple introduced them!

Solomon Jeremiah

Solomon Francis Jeremiah is a motivated technology guru adept at improving business and IT systems availability, reliability, security, and scalability. Experienced in directing talented teams to create and deploy cutting-edge technologies to streamline processes and increase productivity, Operational Support, Service Level Agreements, and Customer Service Management. A Microsoft Certified Trainer, Azure Expert, Teams Expert, and Microsoft 365 Expert.

Matthew Browne

Having been Romanian Born, living in Ireland the Last 28 years and going through the Irish primary secondary and university education system. Matthew Browne C. an Irish Citizen by adoption and growing up in the little town of Ennis Co. Clare Ireland for 18 years of my life with his parents Michael and Teresa and his sister’s Sarah and Erika, having had an education focused childhood his parents always encouraged him to follow his passion for Technology which was then encouraged by his uncle Frank and aunt Mary who really engrained this into his life from a young age from when he did his 1st Ecdl Certification, This and his Secondary school education in Villiers secondary school alongside his QQI in Computer networks and system management which he completed in Limerick college of further education have all contributed to his success. while moving onto and settling in Co. Limerick with his Fiancé and 2 dogs Cleo and Gizmo in the little town of knocklong Co. Limerick we enjoy and live life to the full.?

Matthew’s journey has led him to this, he holds multiple certifications in Microsoft and CompTIA Vendor neutrality certification accredited by the American National Standards Institute, Matthew Completed his QQI in Computer Networks and System Management in Limerick college of further education and he is currently in the process of earning his BSc (Hons) Computer Networks and Cloud Infrastructure in the Atlantic Technological University by night.?

He thoroughly enjoy all things computer related from Azure, Cybersecurity, Windows Server, and OS to name but a few.?

By Night he is a Microsoft Certified Trainer, Azure Solutions Architect, and a Tech enthusiast, Teaching, Helping, Supporting, and Running our journey to the cloud Webinar series, He also spends time with his partner sightseeing.

Becky Bertram

For more than two decades, Becky has helped organizations large and small leverage technology to improve how they do what they do. Microsoft has taken note of her enthusiasm, having awarded her the prestigious “Most Valuable Professional” award every year since 2009. Becky has also been a Microsoft Certified Trainer for over a decade, has written and edited multiple Microsoft professional exams and on-demand training courses, and is a published technical author. She is actively involved in the St. Louis M365 user group and speaks regularly at user groups and conferences around the country. You can follow Becky on Twitter at @beckybertram. Learn more about Becky Bertram on her web site at https://www.savvytechnicalsolutions.com.

Michael Blumenthal

Michael Blumenthal is a Microsoft 365 Apps and Services MVP. Since 2017, he has been responsible for product management and service management of Microsoft 365 inside companies ranging from 1K to 50K+ employees. Prior to that, he spent more than two decades in IT consulting, primarily as a SharePoint architect and Office 365 advisor. He helps teams of businesspeople be more productive and ensures that the organization gets value from its Office 365 investment. As a technical community leader, he co-leads the M365 Chicago online conference as its speaker manager. As a public speaker, he can be found speaking on business technology topics including business productivity, employee experience, collaboration, knowledge and expertise management, communication and content management, cloud adoption, Office 365, SharePoint, and PowerShell.?He has spoken at technology events and user groups globally as well as national conferences such as Microsoft Ignite.?He currently is part of the organizing committee for M365 Chicago.

Michael has deep SharePoint expertise, with over two decades of development, infrastructure, and administration experience. He’s designed, implemented, and supported intranets, extranets, and Internet sites for clients in markets as diverse as Broadcast Media, Financial Services, Energy, Healthcare, Construction, Government, and Transportation, among others. Michael holds numerous Microsoft certifications and previously held the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) from the Project Management Institute.

Microsoft first recognized Michael as an MVP in 2015. He has also been recognized as an INETA Community Champion in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013. He is also an active member of a local Toastmasters Club. He has earned the Competent Communicator, Advanced Communicator Bronze, and Advanced Communicator Silver awards in the legacy Toastmasters educational curriculum and is working on his next Toastmasters education level in the Pathways curriculum.?His Sessionize profile is at https://sessionize.com/michael-blumenthal

Ralph Rivas

Ralph Rivas (MVP MS Biz Apps) is a seasoned professional with nearly two decades of experience delivering quality software and solutions.?He is also Co organizer of the #M365Chicago Community Days virtual conference as well as the co-host of the online (light) blue collar video blog/podcast https://www.cloudtalkshow.com. In addition to that, Ralph helps run the Chicago Microsoft Power Platform User group (@cmppug) in addition to being a speaker for various events.?He is active in the PnP community with some modest contributions to docs.microsoft.com such as the Power Platform Licensing Guide before MS caught up with comprehensive updates as well as to the Power Platform CoE kit and related material.?

Ralph is currently with Sogeti in the corporate Applications and Cloud Technologies group as a National Solutions Architect focused on the Power Platform and M365 ecosystem where he is actively promoting and growing the technologies and features to help customers make the most of their digital modernization journey.?

He has held many varied roles on project teams from programmer to main architect to delivery manager to support to mentor and trainer.?Ralph is at ease and adept at interacting with clients, users, stake holders and business contacts at all levels. He has experience delivering traditional Enterprise applications as well as Cloud enabled 12 Factor solutions with specializations in delivering Portal Collaboration solutions such as the Office 365 family of products.?

His extensive background makes him an ideal resource for wide-ranging roles in many different projects. Additionally, his strengths with Microsoft’s Portal and Collaboration suite and integration with client enterprises are unique in that they cover practically all aspects the various product offerings while also keeping up to date with all the latest program enhancements and updates.

Joy Apple

Joy Apple is a Microsoft MVP and the Director of Partner & Customer Success at Orchestry .?

As a seasoned information technologist, Joy strives to ensure technology is implemented with a purpose-driven, “human-first” approach. Teaching is one of her passions, and Joy finds personal and professional fulfillment volunteering in the Microsoft Community, speaking and educating others on best practices for success with Microsoft 365.?

During her time as a SharePoint/Microsoft 365 consultant and trainer Joy has had the opportunity to work with three of the branches of our Armed Forces, several government agencies, and many Fortune 500 companies.?

When Joy isn’t working with her Orchestry team or speaking and writing as the “Joy of SharePoint,” she can probably be found at a music venue or the newest fun spot in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Daniel Glenn

Senior Director of Hybrid Office and U.S. Delivery at Creospark, a change management, business transformation consulting, and development organization focused on the people behind the technology. Daniel works with his senior leadership, delivery team, and clients throughout North America to better inform organizations and help them understand, adopt and love their technology.

He is passionate about building technical community in Tennessee with his roles as the co-founder and current President of the Nashville Microsoft 365 Users Group and Director of Microsoft 365 Nashville

Dan Rey

Dan Rey spent time in healthcare, insurance and the high tech industries at large corporations, medium Microsoft partners and small companies. He lives in the Chicago suburbs (Dekalb, IL) and is passionate about product and people evangelism. He’s the guy that gets jazzed about Twitter (over 5,000 followers), the tribute app (was supported for the Microsoft TechCommunity #HumansOfIT), Mentor Mesh community (an awesome place for tech industry connections), Microsoft Alumni Network chapter lead and was formally involved with Toastmasters clubs (in it for the networking) and now the Microsoft Speakers Hub !