John Case - Keynote Speaker Auckland & Wellington
General Manager, Developer and User Experience Platforms and Tools, Microsoft Corporation

John Case, a nine year veteran of Microsoft, is the General Manager of Microsoft’s Developer and User Experience Platforms and Tools marketing group. In this role, John oversees product management, sales, and marketing worldwide for developer and designer products. John has been with the Developer and User Experience group since 2000, and has been involved in the development and roll-out of several groundbreaking technologies, including the .NET Framework, Microsoft Expression and Microsoft Silverlight.

He has been instrumental in launching multiple versions of Visual Studio and has helped guide Microsoft’s entry into the Application Lifecycle Management market with Visual Studio Team System. Prior to his current role, John worked in the Windows Server product management team and was part of the team that launched Windows 2000.

Before joining Microsoft, John worked at Monitor Company, a leading strategy consulting firm. He is a graduate of Williams College, where he completed a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, and Dartmouth College where he completed his MBA.

Karen Carter - Keynote Speaker Christchurch
Director of Marketing, Windows Server, Microsoft Corporation

As Director of Marketing for Windows Server, Karen Carter is responsible for worldwide marketing programs for the global launch of Windows Server 2008. In her capacity as launch lead, she created the overall launch strategy and worked closely with subsidiaries around the world to ensure they are able to successfully launch the product in local markets.

Prior to joining the Windows Server team, Karen held a variety of roles in the technology space starting as far back as 1991 when she joined consulting firm Janet Church & Associates working on various programs to better enable Developers and IT Pro’s to learn more about the products of her clients.

Joining Microsoft in 2000, Karen worked for several years on Windows CE and Windows XP Embedded managing a variety of programs related to technical training, support and developer evangelism. During this time she also managed the first ever shared source program at Microsoft. She then spent 3.5 years in the mobile space, driving communications strategy for Microsoft’s Mobile technologies.

Nathan Mercer
IT Pro Advisor

Nathan has been working with Microsoft-based networks since the "good ol' days" of Windows NT 3.x, and has been with Microsoft New Zealand since 2000 as a Systems Engineer, Technology Specialist and now as an IT Pro Technology Advisor. He is responsible for making sure New Zealand’s IT Pro’s are fully briefed on infrastructure-related Microsoft software, including Active Directory, security, systems management, Windows Vista and Windows Server codename "Longhorn". A long-time and well-known contributor to the NZ.comp IT community newsgroup, Nathan’s previous jobs have included consulting for the finance sector in Wellington, focusing on systems management, and being a *nix administrator for an ISP. He was a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) for Clustering, and currently holds both an MCSE and the CISSP security qualification.

Mike Zeff
Development Advisor – ISV

Mike is a Development Advisor working with Independent Software Vendors to help them adopt Microsoft’s latest technologies in their own products and services. In his 17 years in the IT industry, Mike has worked with a range of technologies including various flavours of Unix, Mac OS/X and Windows since version 3.1 as well as a wide range of development languages and tools.

Ben Hunter
Consultant, Microsoft NZ

Ben Hunter is a consultant working for Microsoft Consulting Services in New Zealand and has a passion for helping customers make best use of Microsoft Technology. Ben has been with Microsoft for 2 years and is focused on infrastructure deployment management and operations.

Ben works closely with other consultants and Redmond based teams to develop deployment best practices. Ben speaks frequently at both TechEd and deployment related events as well as internal Microsoft training events.

Stu Fox
Technology Specialist, Microsoft NZ

Stu is a Technology Specialist working with Enterprise customers, focussing on the Microsoft management platform. He has recently joined Microsoft from a partner, where he was responsible for architecture, design & implementation of Windows based solutions across a wide variety of customers. Working for a partner has given him a good exposure to the New Zealand IT world, and has allowed him to work in a wide variety of environments. Stu has been an MCSE since 1996, and is still proud of the fact that he holds certs in Windows 3.11 & Windows NT 3.5.

Nigel Parker
Web Development Advisor, Microsoft NZ

Nigel Parker is a Web Development Advisor for Microsoft New Zealand in Auckland. Nigel has an entrepreneurial background and has numerous successful “start-ups” under his belt.

Nigel leverages his experience to spend time working with developers, web agencies and on high profile websites in New Zealand aiding them with the early adoption of Microsoft Technologies.

Darryl Burling
Development Advisor, Microsoft NZ

Darryl has been a Developer Advisor for Microsoft New Zealand for three years, and is based in the company’s Wellington office, where he works with both ISV (independent software vendors) and the community.

His experience includes development of infrastructure management solutions, websites and mobile applications in addition to infrastructure architecture, consulting, design, implementation and support in a wide range of technologies.

Jeremy Boyd
Solutions Architect, Microsoft NZ

Jeremy (JB) is an experienced solutions architect, developer and consultant with over 8 years experience in the New Zealand market.

Since 2003, he has played a key role within the New Zealand Microsoft development community, helping develop and grow the role of community reach, and later taking on the role of Microsoft Regional Director for New Zealand. Additionally he has been recognised for his work with SQL Server and has been awarded as a SQL Server MVP in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Jeremy believes in taking a direct and focused approach to software development, aiming for the critical path and seeing technology as a key enabler towards better efficiency in business. A geek since a young age, Jeremy has a keen eye for opportunities to solve real world problems using software - a skill he has continually applied within the IT field itself, building a number of end user products which help solve specialist problems for technical professionals.

Chris Auld
Director, Intergen

Chris is one of Intergen's four directors, leading the Strategy and Innovation team. Chris joined Intergen when Intergen acquired his .NET consultancy, Kognition, in February 2007. Chris was the Managing Director and Chief Software Architect. Chris has over 10 years' experience in architecting large scale enterprise systems and mobile applications for a broad variety of vertical sectors, from healthcare to manufacturing.

He is a Microsoft Regional Director and works closely with various product teams at Microsoft, building sample applications and training materials. He also acts in an advisory capacity for Microsoft in determining future technologies, and speaks regularly at industry events around the world.

Chris and his teams have been responsible for a large amount of sample and training collateral for Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation, a key pillar of the Longhorn technology wave