Conference Co-Chairs:

Don Jones, TechMentor Conference Co-Chair
Founding Partner, Concentrated Technology

With more than fifteen years of IT experience, Don Jones is one of the world's leading experts on the Microsoft business technology platform. He's the author of more than 35 books, including Windows PowerShell: TFM, Windows Administrator's Scripting Toolkit, VBScript WMI and ADSI Unleashed, PHP-Nuke Garage, Special Edition Using Commerce Server 2002, Definitive Guide to SQL Server Performance Optimization, and many more. Don is a top-rated and in-demand speaker and serves on the advisory board for TechMentor. He is an accomplished IT journalist with features and monthly columns in Microsoft TechNet Magazine, Redmond Magazine, and on Web sites such as TechTarget and MCPMag.com. Don is also a multiple-year recipient of Microsoft's prestigious Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award, and is the Editor-in-Chief for Realtime Publishers.

Greg Shields, TechMentor Conference Co-Chair
Partner and Principal Technologist, Concentrated Technology

Greg Shields is a Senior Partner and Principal Technologist with Concentrated Technology. He also serves as a contributing editor and columnist for TechNet Magazine and Redmond Magazine, and is a highly sought-after and top-ranked speaker for live and recorded events. Greg can be found at numerous IT conferences such as Tech Ed, MMS, and VMworld among others, and has served as Conference Chair for 1105 Media's TechMentor Conference since 2005. Greg has been a multiple recipient of both Microsoft "Most Valuable Professional" award as well as VMware's vExpert award.

Advisory Board:

Doug Barney, Vice President, New Product Initiatives and Editor in Chief, Redmond magazine

Doug Barney has been a technology journalist for nearly 20 years, serving as a writer, news editor and editor in chief. Barney is Vice President/Editorial Director of the 1105 Enterprise Computing Group. In the space of 25 months, Barney launched Redmond Magazine, Redmond Channel Partner, and Redmond Developer News. In late 2006 the Redmond Media Group acquired Fawcette Technical Publications, including Visual Studio magazine. Barney was most recently Editor in Chief of Network Computing, bi-weekly publication with over 220,000 subscribers.

Early in his career, Doug worked as Senior Editor, Microcomputing for Computerworld. While not breaking news about PC software makers such as Lotus and Microsoft, Doug managed the Microcomputing section of the newspaper. One career highlight was the debate that ran in print between Doug and Bill Gates over the future of PC operating systems. From there, Doug became editor in chief of AmigaWorld, a 100,000 circulation newsstand-driven publication. Doug snagged art and editorial contributions from such notable readers as Arthur C. Clarke and Todd Rundgren. Later Doug joined InfoWorld and once again covered PC software. There, Doug was the recipient of the Computer Press Association Award for Breaking News.

More recently Doug served as Executive Editor of News for Network World newspaper where he ran both print and on-line news operations. His very first story for the publication revealed that hate groups were using the Internet to recruit new members and to tie disparate groups together. The story also exposed calls for censorship from certain human rights groups. The piece was followed up by NBC, AP, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, and was syndicated nationwide by NBC. Doug has also been a frequent guest on CNN, CNNfn, NECN, and NPR commenting about PC and networking technologies.

Keith Combs, Senior Program Manager, Server and Tools Online, Microsoft

Keith Combs is a Senior Program Manager for the Server and Tools Online organization. When Keith isn't immersed in technology, you can find him roaming the hills on a Harley Davidson, fighting a golf course, or spending time with his family. Keith's vision for life after Microsoft includes driving a golf range tractor and being your favorite moving target. Visit Keith's blog at http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/.

Bruce Hoard, Editor in Chief, Virtualization Review

Bruce Hoard has editor in chief of Virtualization Review for two and a half years, during which time he has been responsible for putting out the print magazine version of the publication while blogging and developing blogs for the publication's extensive website. Prior to working at 1105 Media, he was a successful freelance writer, editor and project manager for 20 years, working on a wide range of custom publications for the IT industry.

Lafe Low, Editor in Chief of TechNet Magazine

Lafe brings 20 years of experience as a writer and editor to the team of TechNet Magazine. Low served in various editorial positions with inCider, PC Games, InfoWorld and Redmond magazines. While working for CIO, he was the 2001 Neal Award winner for best single feature, and served with the 2001 and 2002 ASBPE Magazine of the Year award-winning editorial and design team.

Mitch Ratcliffe, Principal Program Manager, TechNet, Microsoft

Mitch Ratcliffe leads Microsoft EPX's Network Experience Team, which is responsible for the content and features strategy of TechNet and MSDN. His background and experience combine journalism and serial parallel entrepreneurship. He joined Microsoft in 2010 to redesign TechNet for better engagement with the needs of every visitor so that they can focus on realizing their potential with Microsoft as a partner in their success. Previously, Ratcliffe cofounded social metrics company BuzzLogic as chief scientist, and worked as editor-in-chief and chief content officer of the ON24 Financial Network, as well as Editor-in-Chief of Digital Media: A Seybold Report. His first board of directors experience was with Match.com, where he served for three years after leading SoftBank's investment.