Joining the MVP Team!

On 25 July 2007, I officially started my new job as a Senior MVP Lead!! While I enjoyed my time as a Program Manager on the Windows SDK team (where I was responsible for the .NET Framework and Platform SDK Tools, C++ compilers and reference assemblies), I've always had an affinity for community work - whether it be running Web sites, writing books, or speaking at user-groups. In fact, one of my favorite accomplishments was being awarded as a Visual C++ MVP where my MVP Lead (Eric Sassaman) is now a teammate!

I will have two main responsibilities on the team to start with:

• MVP Lead for the Windows SDK and the Windows Server Customer Experience. Due to my knowledge of the Windows SDK and my contacts on the team, Eric (the previous MVP Lead) was gracious enough to give this technology over to me. (Thanks Eric!) The Windows Server Customer Experience is made up of a group of MVPs who are mainly focused on user-group activities surrounding IT Pro needs, which segues perfectly into my second main responsibility.
• Project Manager driving the "Offline MVP Discovery" task. Offline MVPs are those that have a community impact outside of the Internet/Web - such as trainers, authors, public speakers, user-group coordinators, etc. Therefore, my job will be to work with the rest of our MVP Program team to determine the best way to find, reward and enable these MVPs.

In the coming weeks, I look to get back into my blogging and article writing where - among other things - I'll write about the MVP program, my particular responsibilities and whatever cool thing I bump into here at Microsoft that I think others might find interesting.