Gratitude

PASS
I want to take a moment to thank a few people for being amazing. First up, Thomas LaRock is wrapping up his tenure on the PASS Board this year. He has one more in-person meeting at Summit 2017 and then he's basically done. I followed Tom to karaoke during my 2nd PASS Summit and have been following him around ever since. I'm honored to count him as a friend. Tom, you set an impossibly high bar. Thank you for everything you've done for me and for this community. Second, Denise McInerney is also completing her time on the PASS Board this year. Denise has been a fixture in the leadership of PASS ever since I first volunteered. I had no idea just how much guidance and advice and flat out…
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PASS Board: Year-End Wrap-Up

PASS
This month concludes my second full year on the PASS Board of Directors and my first full year on the Executive Committee. This year has been exciting, challenging, educational, and, I truly believe, useful to the organization. We've accomplished a lot. We will do more. Year In Review I have two primary responsibilities as the Executive Vice President – Finance and Governance. Firstly, I am responsible for PASS’ budget.  Secondly, I am responsible to oversee the governance of PASS. Here's how the year went on these two topics. Finance At the beginning of the year, our primary focus is to ensure that the various directors in charge of different portfolios are getting ready for the annual budget. Our fiscal year runs from July to June. A significant amount of work is spent…
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PASS Board Update: Post-Summit 2016

PASS
Monday I got in on Sunday and chose to have a small dinner with a couple of friends, quiet, preparing. Monday was a less hectic day than the others . The Board had the morning off, although Redgate had me go and give a session at an event. Monday afternoon was one of our three in-person board meetings. The minutes will be published soon. I was responsible for running the meeting. I also presented two topics, first, and most importantly, our current financial status. Then I presented the initial set of thoughts towards some SMART goals for Global Growth, which I will share once they are further developed . Monday evening I had two events I had to attend. First, as part of the Executive Committee, I attended the kick off dinner…
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Pre-Summit PASS Board Update

PASS
Busy, busy, busy. A lot of the work around PASS currently is getting ready for Summit. I'm prepping my part in the keynotes. I'm involved in lots of community discussions including SQLSaturday, Chapters and Regional Mentors. We're setting up the Community Zone for all sorts of activities throughout the week. We're also going to have one of our few in-person board meetings at Summit. Putting on the single largest gathering of data professionals around the Microsoft Data Platform is actually labor-intensive. The majority of the work is done by the amazing individuals at Christianson & Company, but the board is involved in the necessary decisions and, being the guy who handles finance, I'm in on a lot of those decisions. Personally, I think we're putting together, say it with me, THE BEST SUMMIT EVER.…
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PASS Board Update

PASS
Time for another update. The minutes for the June in-person meeting have been approved and are now ready for your information. We accomplished a lot in the two days and you can read what we did there. I'm pleased about two things. First, while it took until the July meeting to get the vote in, we have defined how the PASS board will deal with PASS-branded and PASS-sponsored events when it comes to payment to members of the Board. Thank you so very much for your feedback to my blog post on this topic. That feedback helped us to come to the conclusion that, for PASS-branded events (these are events that PASS doesn't run, like a SQLSaturday, but that are operating under the PASS brand) a board member can receive payment, say…
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Run For the PASS Board

PASS
When the word comes around for elections to the PASS Board, are you one of those people who, even in passing, considers running? If you are, my advice is to well, do it. By the way, here's that word. In order to make this a stronger, even more vibrant organization that continues to provide support to its members, we need more good leadership. A healthy set of choices, meaning lots of people, is necessary. That means we need you to run. There is no commitment required immediately. We've just started the process. What I'm asking you to do now, is start thinking about running, and thinking about it in a positive fashion. Track down a board member, or former board member, and find out what they think of the experience. You can…
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PASS Board 2016: Update #3

PASS
I didn't post an update last month, but I did do something more important: I elicited your feedback on a question the Board needs to act on. Here's what I've been up to. First, based on your feedback (thanks) and conversations that I've had with members of the Board, I'm putting together recommendations for how we deal with payment and PASS-branded (but not PASS run, that's already covered in the By-Laws) events. I'll be presenting that in June at the in-person Board meeting. Speaking of the Board meeting, I've also been soliciting topics (although really, my priceless partner at PASS HQ, Vicki, is doing all the real work). We're also preparing the budget for FY 2017 (again, the real work is being led by an equally priceless Sandy at HQ). Beyond a series of…
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Payment and the Board

PASS
If you read the March PASS Board meeting minutes, you saw that there was a discussion around board members and payments related to SQLSaturday precons. The question is simple, for a PASS branded event, should a member of the PASS board receive payment? There are a couple of relevant facts. In the by-laws it says: “…provided that nothing herein contained shall be construed to preclude any Director from serving PASS in an educational or speaking capacity and receiving compensation upon approval by a majority vote from the Board of Directors.” That's very clear. If a member of the Board wishes to receive payment from PASS to put on a precon, they have to get approval of the Board. Next fact, PASS branded events, such as SQLSaturday, are not, because of…
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PASS Board 2016: Update #2

PASS
Time flies. I didn't notice that I hadn't posted an update in February. There’s been a lot going on since I last posted! I've attended the executive committee meetings. I've also hosted my first board meetings and I took part in my first Town Hall. I've been working with PASS HQ to set the agenda for upcoming meetings and we're starting the budgeting process for FY2017. I've got a couple of blog posts I've put together on the Board Elections (for my blog) and on the goals and plans for the EVP (on the PASS blog) that are going through an editing process. I should be able to share those with you soon. Today, I'm going to discuss a couple of things that I've been mulling over. They're things that…
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PASS Board 2016: Update #1

PASS
Hello everyone. Just because I've moved on to the executive committee doesn't mean I'm walking away from these reports. I will continue to communicate all that I can about my role as EVP throughout the year. One of our commitments this year is providing greater insight into each of the portfolio roles, including the Executive. You’ll start to see more communications in the coming weeks of each of our roles. The last month has largely been about learning my new role. As EVP, my primary responsibilities include working closely with PASS HQ on finances and governance. Some of these responsibilities may seem tedious and mundane, but they are an essential part of ensuring that PASS delivers on its mission to provide our global community with the best professional development and networking…
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