The Winner

Jeff Moden

Jeff is a mostly self-trained "hybrid" DBA with a combined knowledge of SQL Server at the system level and a deep knowledge of T-SQL. Most of his community involvement has been with SQLServerCentral.com where he's been posting answers and articles since 2003 and has been the leading non-employee contributor for several years.

Jeff's forte and passion is teaching advanced high-performance concepts, both on the forums and at work, in a manner where even neophytes to SQL can understand and use them.

Jeff has developed and taught dozens of short computer courses for the various companies he's worked for, not to mention the mentoring he does on a daily basis at work. He also presented at PASS 2010 and a recent SQLSaturday at his own expense. When asked why, his response was "I've been given a great many opportunities and the only way I can return the favor is to 'Pass it Forward'."

Jeff currently works in Michigan (USA) as the Lead Application DBA and Data Architect for New York-based DiscoverReady, a leading provider of business information and professional services to the legal profession in the United States.

Chris Taylor

On finishing his MSc in E-Commerce, all Chris wanted to do was be a Web Developer. Unfortunately, due to having no experience, he didn't stand a chance, and like most people wanting to break into IT Chris started on Helpdesk Support. Soon an opportunity arose for a Systems Developer/DBA with no more than 3 months experience – bingo!

After 4 years in that role Chris decided to specialise as a DBA and took a role at a large financial organisation. Here, he quickly progressed through the ranks until taking charge of the Database/Data Warehousing teams as Database Manager. He has now set up his own consultancy company providing database services all over the UK.

Chris is involved in communities such as SQLBits, SQLServerCentral.com, Twitter's #SQLHelp (@billysassage), and local user groups, and has given many training sessions on various topics for Dev and DBA teams for his clients. He blogs his experiences and generally tries to provide as much help as he can to the SQL Community, including giving real life software reviews of third party products new to the market.

Colin Stasiuk

Colin Stasiuk has worked with SQL Server for the past 15 years and has been (what he considers to be) a DBA for 12 of those years. He graduated from college in 1997 and was asked to start working for that same college immediately. It is here that Colin got his first "real-world" exposure to SQL Server (version 6.5 at the time). Throughout the years Colin has worked exclusively with SQL Server learning and developing his skills as a DBA while always being praised for not only his dedication to the technology but his ability to communicate effectively with his subordinates, peers, and upper management.

In March of 2008 Colin decided to become an independent consultant and accepted his first contract with the Government of Alberta in Edmonton Canada. Through the process of "going indy" Colin stopped being a voyeur of the SQL Community and with the guidance of some key individuals jumped into the community with both feet. Colin started EDMPASS (The Edmonton Chapter of PASS) and his blog to help reach out and start to give back to the SQL community. He has presented at EDMPASS numerous times and was asked to speak at Microsoft Tech-Days in Edmonton. In April of 2010 Colin co-authored his first Apress book: "Pro SQL Server 2008 Policy Based Management". Colin blogs at http://BenchmarkITConsulting.com and tweets at http://Twitter.com/BenchmarkIT.

Scott Shaw

My IT career began in the late '90's when I was given the opportunity to work for a small consulting firm. From there I was swept into the hurricane of IT start-ups where I received my first taste of SQL. I loved working with databases but it took nearly 5 more years working as a server architect, network architect, and Oracle DBA before I finally settled for good as a full-time SQL Server DBA. I am now a SQL Server team lead at Mercy Health located in Saint Louis, MO.

The only thing more exciting than working with SQL Server is getting involved in the community. The community is vibrant, engaging, and helpful. I've had the pleasure of speaking at SQLSaturday #53 ("SQL Server in Healthcare") and at the first SQLRally in Orlando ("The Enterprise SQL Server DBA"). I blog at http://blogofshaw.blogspot.com and Twitter at @shawsql. My upcoming events include VM presentations at St. Louis SQL Server Users Group and the VM PASS Virtual Chapter. I also have the honor of working with Kathi Kellenberger (@auntkathi) to revise her book T-SQL Beginning T-SQL 2008 from Apress Publishing for SQL 2011. I also periodically teach at Washington University's CAIT program.

Tom Hill

Tom has been working with SQL Server for 13 years, and as an IT Professional for just under 20 years. Since becoming a SQL DBA full-time, Tom has worked at two Fortune-200 companies, and he is now Senior Database Administrator for one of the largest theme-park operators in the United States: SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment. In this role, Tom provides Tier 3 support, is involved in multiple projects, and performs SQL upgrades and patching. This year has been exceptionally busy as SeaWorld recently became a new company, which included a full Data Center migration, as well as moving over a hundred SQL server instances to a new Active Directory Domain, all while the theme parks remained open for business!

Tom attends SQL Server User Group meetings as time and travel permits, and is working on forming a local SQL Server Users Group in his new hometown of Orlando. He utilizes SQL Server forums on a daily basis, and participates in webinars. Tom also frequently communicates with the DBAs he has worked with throughout his career, keeping those connections close, as they have proven to be an invaluable resource.