Edit: Some links no longer work. Still proud to be a champion.
Originally posted February 28, 2017 on AIXchange
In case you missed me mentioning it on Twitter (@robmcnelly), I was recently selected as part of the 2017 class of IBM Power Champions.
Along with 13 others, I was first honored as an IBM Power Champion in 2011. When the Power Champions program relaunched last year, I was recognized again.
For 2017, there are a total of 41 Champions, 27 of whom are returning Champions. Read more here:
“After reviewing and evaluating the contributions of our applicants, IBM is happy to announce the 2017 IBM Champions for Power!
The IBM Champion program recognizes innovative thought leaders in the technical community—and rewards these contributors by amplifying their voice and increasing their sphere of influence. An IBM Champion is an IT professional, business leader, developer, or educator who influences and mentors others to help them make best use of IBM software, solutions, and services.
These individuals evangelize IBM solutions, share their knowledge and help grow the community of professionals who are focused on IBM Power. IBM Champions spend a considerable amount of their own time, energy and resources on community efforts—organizing and leading user group events, answering questions in forums, contributing wiki articles and applications, publishing podcasts, sharing instructional videos, and more.”
My employer, Meridian IT, also made mention of it here.
Here’s the complete list of 2017 IBM Power Champions:
Babatunde Akanni
Liam Allan
Torbjorn Appehl
Aaron Bartell
Shawn Bodily
Jim Buck
Lionel Clavien
Benoît Créau
Shrirang “Ranga” Deshpande
Anthony English
Cynthia Fortlage
Alan Fulton
Susan Gantner
Cosimo Gianfreda
Ron Gordon
Midori Hosomi
Tom Huntington
Jay Kruemcke
Hal Kussler
Andy Lin
Jaqui Lynch
Alan Marblestone
Christian Massé
Pete Massiello
Rob McNelly
Brett Murphy
Richie Palma
Jon Paris
Michael Pavlak
Trevor Perry
Jerry Petru
Steve Pitcher
Kody Robinson
Randall Ross
Anthony Skjellum
Shawn Stephens
John Stone
Paul Tuohy
Jeroen Van Lommel
Dave Waddell
Keith Zblewski
Even though I don’t do it for the accolades, being recognized along with so many other accomplished people never gets old. Hopefully I’ll continue to merit being included in this prestigious group. In any event, as POWER9 gets ready to launch, and with POWER10 in the planning stages, I look forward to many more years of evangelizing IBM Power Systems running AIX, Linux and IBM i.