Weblog of Mark Vaughn, and IT professional and vExpert specializing in Enterprise Architecture, virtualization, web architecture and general technology evangelism

Tag: vExpert

Dr. John Rocks

Today, I wanted to step away from a technical post to wish John Troyer a happy birthday. In fact, John is the friend that inspired me to first start blogging. In 2009, I received an email from John Troyer that informed me I had won a vExpert award from VMware. This was a new program that VMware was starting, and John Troyer was at the helm. That year, at VMWorld 2009, John organized some events for us and held a vExpert forum. There, he had Jason Boche and Steve Kaplan speak about their experiences in blogging, and I decided to start my own. That turned in to me writing for Tech Target, and eventually led to me leaving my employer of 12 years to work with Steve Kaplan at INX.

Over the last three years, I have really enjoyed getting to know John better. Not only in the vExpert program, but simply spending time with John at VMware events, communicating on twitter and listening to him host the weekly “VMware Communities Roundtable” podcast. Through each of these efforts, John has led out in supporting VMware and virtual technologies through social media. John’s LinkedIn profile describes him as “Online evangelist and enterprise community builder at VMware”, and that only touches on his talents and work. A little more digging will tell you that John played a role in developing the first internet browser for the Blackberry and holds a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry.

When Christopher Kusek came up with the idea to share a few thoughts about John for his birthday, I was more than glad to join in. John, thank you for all of your work in promoting virtualization and technology, and for creating outlets for us geeks to exchange ideas. Your tireless efforts continue to add value to each of the programs that you work with, and we greatly appreciate what you do.

Here is a quick “Thank You” video:

More videos are also available at: http://www.youtube.com/user/DrJohnRocks

vExpert 2010

First, I am humbled and honored to have been a vExpert in 2009. As the year went on, and I got to know more of my fellow vExperts, I was in awe of the people that I was sharing this title with. In fact, it inspired me to work even harder and to put more effort into be an active member of the virtualization community.

That being said, I am amazed to once again receive the vExpert award for 2010. I look forward to learning from my fellow vExperts, as they are a truly talented group of people. I have yet to meet a vExpert that was not both highly talented and eager to assist. In fact, that is why they are vExperts.

Some of you may be asking, what is a vExpert? VMware describes it like this:

The VMware vExpert Award is given to individuals who have significantly contributed to the community of VMware users over the past year.

The criteria for vExpert selection are value to the community, technical merit, effectiveness, professionalism, reach and effort. The group is full of authors, bloggers, technology leaders and a wide range of highly skilled individuals. Again, I am humbled to have been grouped with these people.

Being a vExpert led me to become more involved in sharing my opinions and contributing to discussions via twitter. I also launched this blog site and began writing for Tech Target. In these pursuits I received a lot of input and advice from fellow vExperts like Steve KaplanDavid Davis and Scott Lowe. Those names stand out, but so many others have contributed to helping me grow. John Troyer, the driving force within VMware that launched the vExperts and a number of other programs, worked very hard to add value to this program last year. John is promising even more from the coming year and I cannot wait to see what that will look like.

To all of my fellow 2009 vExperts, thank you so much for your encouragement and assistance, it was an honor to share that title with you. To my fellow 2010 vExperts, congratulations! I am honored to be in your company and I look forward to getting to know you better as the year goes on.