James Petrosky, the program manager for the SharePoint Master and MCA programs, notified me that his blog post went live on the Master blog. 

You might be asking what is a Microsoft Certified SharePoint Master?  Here’s how I see it: a candidate spends 3 weeks at Microsoft to be educated, challenged, tested and then at the very end – if they pass all the labs and written exams, then they receive the Master certification.  I know the trainers and many of the candidates from both classes and I can tell you that they are some of the best SharePoint experts in the world even before the start of the program.  After the program, they are truly SharePoint Masters!

I recommend reading James’ post to understand the make up of the program:  http://blogs.technet.com/themasterblog/archive/2009/04/29/introducing-the-sharepoint-mcm-program-and-the-first-microsoft-certified-sharepoint-masters.aspx

(DRUM ROLL) The SharePoint product team would like to CONGRATULATE the SharePoint Masters:

· Aku Heikkerö: Aku is the Lead IW Architect for Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS) in Europe and is based in Helsinki, Finland.

· Ali Mazaheri: Ali is a Senior Consultant with MCS and is based in the West region of North America.

· Bill Baer: Bill is a Technology Architect with Microsoft Online and is based in Redmond, Washington.

· Brett Geoffroy: Brett Geoffroy is a Principal Consultant for Microsoft Consulting Services in the Netherlands. He originally hails from the US – most recently the San Francisco Bay Area - and currently resides in Amsterdam.

· Ingeborg Struijk: Ingeborg is a member of Microsoft Services in the Netherlands and works as Information Worker Consultant.

· Kimmo Forss: Kimmo Forss is an Architect in the Microsoft Online Services Group, with particular focus on SharePoint. Previously, Kimmo served as a Lead Architect for Microsoft Enterprise Services and is based in Helsinki, Finland.

· Maurice Prather: Maurice is an enterprise architect, SharePoint MVP, and serves as the Lead Architect for ShareSquared, Inc. (http://www.sharesquared.com).

· Mitch Prince: Mitch is a Principal Consultant and Delivery Architect with Microsoft Consulting Services based out of New York City.

· Nakul Joshi: Nakul is a Consultant with Microsoft Consulting Services and is based in India.

· Peter Williams: Peter is a Senior Consultant for Microsoft based in Sweden.

· Scott Jamison: Scott is a Director of Enterprise Architecture with the Enterprise Product Group at Microsoft.

· Spencer Harbar: Spencer is an independent SharePoint consultant, trainer, and SharePoint MVP based in Edinburgh, Scotland.

· Todd Carter: Todd is a Principal Premier Field Engineer with Microsoft and is based in Las Colinas, Texas.

· Vesa Juvonen: Vesa is a Senior Consultant for Microsoft Consulting Services and is based in Helsinki, Finland.

And of course, I left the best for last – I know many in the SharePoint community and team want to thank Michal Gideoni who as the SharePoint technical product manager makes readiness programs like this work!

Dave Pae
SharePoint TPM