Speak Biographies

Gary Rowntree
25 years of coding, starting as a hacker with every home computer and finally being let loose on business machines. I thought I'd struck lucky, my first job after Uni in '90 saw me surrounded at my desk by 6 monitors and a lot of kit. People were paying me to write software!! Since then I've held posts from software engineer, IT manager, eBusiness Consultant to my current role as Web Architect. I’ve worked in areas from realtime 3d graphics, education, telemetry and control, multimedia, web design and business applications, accounting, financial services and now health care.

Today I’m obsessed with large scale web applications; I still like to hack little electronics and software projects at home. I'm a gadget freak and measure peoples worth by how many LCD screens and GB of memory they carry in their pockets !

Mike Taulty
Mike has been in the team since 2003 and is currently looking at technologies such as Windows Vista and the .NET Framework Version 3.0.

Before joining the Community Team, Mike worked in Microsoft's Services group as a developer consultant focused on helping ISV's and Enterprises develop their applications.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Mike spent the previous 9 years working as a software developer for a number of different software houses, end-users and consultancies making use of various operating systems, databases and what used to be called "middleware".

Read Mike’s blog http://mtaulty.com/blog

Phil Winstanley
Phil is a highly experienced web developer who is internationally acclaimed and possesses a burning passion for Internet technologies & solution building, specialising in Database driven Web applications using ASP.NET, C#, SQL Server and XHTML. Phil worked on the Wrox title 'Professional ADO.NET 2: Programming with SQL Server 2005, Oracle, and MySQL'. and been awarded Microsoft MVP status for the past six years and is a member of the ASP Insiders, a group of industry experts who advise the Web Platforms team at Microsoft. He also helps to run the MsWebDev online community and is the VBUG coordinator for the Manchester region.

Guy Smith – Ferrier
Guy is the author of ".NET Internationalization" published by Addison-Wesley (http://www.dotneti18n.com). He is a Microsoft Certified Professional developer, author, trainer and speaker, has spoken at many European and US conferences and been twice voted best speaker. He is the author of C#/.NET courseware and much of the official Borland courseware including courses on COM and ADO. He has written over 50 articles for numerous magazines, has co-authored an application development book and is the author of the ADO chapter of "Mastering Delphi 6". You can read his blog at http://www.guysmithferrier.com.

Rob Macdonald
Rob Macdonald is an independent software consultant, writer and trainer, with twenty years' experience in software development and three years' experience in .NET. Rob teaches .NET systems architecture and design around the world to Microsoft engineers and consultants, and also runs his own training business (which provided content for this training package) offering a range of training services to the .NET developer community. He can be contacted at robm@salterton.com.

Steve Harris
Steve Harris has over 20 years experience in the IT industry, with experience as an independent software developer, consultant and trainer. Steve is currently Technical Director for DriveTech UK plc, one of the UK’s foremost providers of “Driving at Work” risk management and training solutions.

Steve has provided solutions and advice to a wide variety of organisations and industries and has authored and co-authored more than a dozen textbooks on IT-related topics. Steve regularly speaks at major IT conferences and seminars in the UK and overseas, is an accredited MCT and MCSD and is recognised as one of the UK's premier authorities on ASP.NET application development.

In 2002 Steve co-authored "Moving to ASP.NET" with Rob Macdonald (published by Apress) which has received critical acclaim from professional reviewers and independent readers alike.

Tony Rogerson
Tony has over 20 years industrial experience gained through his work within the IT industry. He is a highly respected and leading figure in the UK SQL Server Community recognised through his work as founder and chairman of the highly successful UK SQL Server User Group and for participation as an Expert at Microsoft events (Ask The Experts and presentation) and finally as part of his contribution as a SQL Server MVP for which he has been awarded yearly since 1998. Tony started his IT career in 1986, for the first 7 years he developed using an assortment of mainframe languages such as PL/1, CICS, DB2, Application System, System W. He served an apprenticeship as a Production Systems Analyst. 1993 saw Tony move into Client/Server development with Visual Basic and Microsoft SQL Server version 4.2, since then he has used many langauges and technologies that have always focused around Microsoft SQL Server. Tony went freelance in 1998.

Since going freelance Tony concentrated more on SQL Server, but still does a fair degree of ASP.NET coding for a number of clients using C# and VB.NET.

He has an active blog at http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/tonyrogerson where he frequently posts technical information on SQL Server and developing against it.

Mark Johnston - Microsoft
Mark Johnston is your stereotypical Northern Irish guy – got a weird sense of humour, a strange accent and talks too fast! A perfect combination to talk to developers and designers about the wonders of the Microsoft platform with a focus on the existing web technologies such as ASP.NET, and the next generation web technologies like Atlas, WPF and WPF/E. Prior to joining the Community team Mark has worked in the Academic team helping the next generation of IT Pros and Developers get savvy with .NET and enter the workplace with valuable skills in a number of Microsoft technologies. Read Mark’s blog http://blogs.msdn.com/markjo

Richard Costall
Richard Costall (MVP, MCSD.NET) has over 19 years development experience and works for 1st Software, a Microsoft Gold Partner, and the UK's leading software solution for Financial Adviser and Intermediaries, designing and implementing IFA applications in the financial services sector. Previously specializing in VB, XML/XSLT, COM, ASP and MSMQ, Richard now lives and breathes the awesome world of .Net and in particular ASP.NET (including 2.0) Richard spent 5 1/2 years as the Midlands regional coordinator for VBUG (Visual Basic User Group) before co-founding NxtGenUG, the innovative UK user group for Microsoft Technologies.
Richard has written articles for publications such as ASP.NET Pro and International Developer Magazines and also co-authered the Apress title Professional MSMQ. He speaks a local user groups, Microsoft Conferences/Product launches and the hugely successful DeveloperDeveloperDeveloper Events.
When not in .Net land, Richard enjoys relaxing at home with his wife and two sons, playing on the XBOX 360 or ultimately jetting off to Walt Disney World, Florida, for a trip on the Tower of Terror.

Dave McMahon
Dave McMahon (MVP, MCDBA, MCAD) has been involved with computers since college days back in 1977, and kept his hand in during University and through 11 years in the Royal Air Force and another 4 years in the Retail industry until entering the IT industry full time in 1997. He has worked with Access 2.0 VBA through to Access 97 VBA, VB5, VB6 and all versions of VB.NET from the original Beta1. More so now, he works with SQL Server. Having started with version 7.0 he worked with SQL 2000, Oracle 9i, Oracle 10g he is now working with SQL Server 2005. Dave is a Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA) and Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD) and has a passion for any IT but specifically for the new technologies being launched at present by Microsoft.
“Some people seem fightened by the amount of new stuff Microsoft is bringing out, they wonder how they are going to keep up with it. Personally, I think is is one of the most exciting times I’ve ever experienced in the IT industry indeed in any of the industries I’ve worked in. I’m like a kid in a sweet shop who’s just been given a £20 note, not sure which way to look, but everything looks great! One of the reasons we’ve started the NxtGenUG is to provide an outlet for ourselves and our friends and anyone who wants to join us to explore all of this great technology. There is too much for one person to ever know, but as a group we can all learn and share knowledge and that way we can all raise our knowledge levels quicker. ”
Dave works as Chief Architect for .NET Development at Ridgian Limited, a privately owned software house based in Central Birmingham. Ridgian are a Microsoft Certified Partner and specialise in Business Intelligence Solutions and Custom Software Solutions. He is very active in the Microsoft community speaking at DeveloperDeveloperDeveloper2, and at numerous Visual Basic User Group (VBUG) and Access User Group (AUG) meetings around the country. He has recently published his first article on SQL Server 2005 Security in International Developer Magazine.
Dave has been married to Sandra ‘the perfect partner’ for 15 years and has two crazy youngsters Chris (11) and John (7). When not working with IT (which doesn’t happen often …), Dave plays guitar and every now and then takes to walking and scrambling in the mountains of Scotland.

Santosh Benjamin
Santosh is a Solutions Architect with Agilisys (http://www.agilisys.co.uk). Santosh works primarily with the Microsoft stack especially in the area of systems integration and is currently working on an Local Govt integration project.

Barry Dorran
Barry Dorrans (http://idunno.org/) has spent 15 years cutting code, starting with mainframes, through DOS, Visual C and MFC before finally ending up on the .net platform. His experience has ranged from developing banking systems to building Europe's largest streaming network. He now mentors developers through .net migrations with Charteris plc. (http://www.charteris.com)

Martin Lixenfeld
After many years in music and education, Martin Lixenfeld (MBCS, MCSD.Net) took a degree in Systems Analysis to change careers and has worked in the IT industry since 1996. He held various jobs from C, Java and VB programmer to Business Analyst and has been involved with .Net technology for the last few years. He currently works as Senior Developer for Atos Origin on a large .Net Mobile system. He presents regularly at developer events on .Net mobile technology and others and has a particular interest in Systems Architecture. When not working or writing, he is still trying to write that million-selling single. Email: martin.lixenfeld@atosorigin.com.

Alex Pratt
Alex is a Senior Technical Consultant working for Sybase since 1999. He is an expert in a number of technologies, from development and design tools to data management servers. For the past 2 years Alex has been focusing on .NET framework and how Sybase software can help Sybase employees and IT professionals in general become more productive.
Alex Pratt has a BA(Hons) in Business Information Systems and Strategic Management. He can be reached at apratt@sybase.com

Helen Emerson
Helen Emerson is a Developer Champion at Infragistics Europe. She has been smitten with web development since writing her first personal webpage in 1997 and has been lucky enough to have been working with the technology that she loves so much for the past four years. Helen has spent the last eighteen month at Infragistics Europe working with the Infragistics controls and learning about the finer points of the ASP.NET control architecture.

Gary Yeoman
Gary has been instrumental in delivering several content managed websites using a variety of platforms as well as MCMS 2002. He has trained, consulted, developed and project managed solutions in .NET technologies such as SharePoint and BizTalk.