Why I Am Running for the NomCom

Vote!Ok, so if you haven’t heard I’m running for the SQL PASS Nomination Committee (NomCom) for 2012.  This committee is made up of 3 individuals from the community at large and 2 Board members, one being the Immediate Past President Rushabh Mehta and another member from the board, Thomas LaRock. Any individual who was a member of PASS as of June 1st, 2012 in good standing will be eligible to vote.

The purpose of this committee is to put together the election slate for the 2012 Board of Directors election, which will occur in late September/early October.  You can see the timeline of the elections here. Those that wish to apply to be on the board will be vetted out by the NomCom committee.  This committee is a very important part of the election process and could have a huge impact on the direction of SQL PASS simply by selecting those that will run for the board of Directors.

There are 12 of us running, all being very worthy of the 3 available slots.

So, this begs the questions of who I am and why I’m running.

About Me

In a nutshell, I grew up an Air Force “brat” and settled in Omaha, Nebraska after my father retired from the military. I’ve been in Nebraska ever since.  I live in a small town just south of Omaha with my wife and son.  I work for Farm Credit Services of America as a Database Developer in West Omaha and really enjoy what I do. I currently work with just about every facet of SQL Server except for Analysis Services.

In 2007 I helped to start the Omaha SQL/BI User group and we’ve been going strong for almost 5 years now.  I’ve helped to organize a SQL Saturday here in Omaha and have been helping our neighbor Lincoln group plan their upcoming event just from a “lessons learned” perspective.  We are also in the midst of planning our next event for some time Spring 2013.   I’ve worked with SQL Server since about 2004 and made it my primary focus in late 2006.

I also spent over 8+  years as a volunteer fire fighter/EMT for my community. This was a very unique experience and one that I’ll never forget.

Why I’m Running

I really enjoy volunteering my time for things that I’m passionate about, both technical and non-technical.  Serving my community is in my blood and I’m looking for ways to expand that.  Spending the past couple of years as a Chapter Leader and now as a community speaker, I’m looking to step up to the responsibility that this committee will require.

In the past couple of years, I’ve seen several discussions about some ongoing issues with the Board of Directors elections and the general direction of PASS.  While I can’t admit to fully understand all of the issues & processes, I do believe that in order to help fix those issues, you must be apart of the process. So, here I am running for the nomination committee to better understand the process while at the same time trying to help introduce some level of change.

So that’s me in a nutshell.  You are welcome to email me questions or comments at john at jmorehouse dot com or find me on Twitter.  You are also welcome to leave me a comment on this post or any others.

Vote 

If nothing else, VOTE!

Plain and simple folks.  Vote.  Vote for who you think will do the best job given what you know.  Ask questions and seek answers.  Do I want you to vote for me? Absolutely!  More importantly though, I want you to have faith in the process and vote.  If you look at the 11 other candidates, they are all very strong members of our SQL Family and I’d be honored to serve with any of them.

Get your voice heard.  Go vote.

 

 

© 2012, John Morehouse. All rights reserved.

2 Replies to “Why I Am Running for the NomCom”

  1. I submitted a question to all the candidates on the NomCom site. Would you be willing to reply? Thanks, Rick B.

Hey you! Leave me a comment and start a discussion!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.