Originally posted by: TonyPearson
 | Tony Pearson
IBM Master Inventor, Senior IT Architect, and Event Content Manager |
Well, it's Tuesday again, and you know what that means? IBM Announcements!
It has been 71 days since my last post, and people were beginning to worry. Did Tony with the lottery? Was Tony hit by a bus? Did Tony get abducted by aliens from another planet? No, none of these things happened.
I got a new job! I am still working with IBM Systems, but now am one of the Event Content Managers for the [IBM Systems Technical University] events, or TechU for short. For those who have attended these events, I have taken over for Glenn Anderson, who retired December 31, 2018.
Last year, the IBM TechU team asked me to present eight topics at an event in Johannesburg, South Africa, as a last-minute replacement for other speakers. While there, Glenn Anderson mentioned to me that he was planning to retire. "Do you know anyone interested in taking over for me?" he asked.
I jumped at the chance to apply for the job! There was stiff competition, but after three rounds of interviews and background checks, I was offered the position! This all happened after the zTechU event in Hollywood, Florida last October, so if this is the first you have heard of it, you are not alone.
For those wondering "What about the IBM Tucson Client Experience Center?" you have good reason to ask. I had worked at the center for the past 12 years, the last six as the chief subject matter expert (SME) for all things IBM System Storage. Who is going to replace me? The job posting is still open, and the new manager, John Zupetz, has been reviewing resumes.
As time permits, I will continue to do storage briefings to help out during this transition, both here in Tucson, Arizona, as well as outbound to various client and IBM locations. I have also offered to help train whomever gets hired for the job.
In my new role, I will be managing TechU events, selecting topics, accepting speakers, scheduling sessions, and even presenting sessions at the events themselves. I will be focused on IBM Z and LinuxONE mainframe servers and related Storage solutions, but will also manage sessions on soft skills for IT Leadership and Professional Development.
We plan to have about 18 events this year, spanning countries across six continents! I just finished smaller 3-day events in Istanbul, Turkey and Cairo, Egypt, and am now working on larger events to be held in Dubai, Atlanta, and Berlin!
Shameless plug! Registration is open for these TechU events. I plan to be at all three, if you want to meet me in person!
In the meantime, I have decided to take on two extra co-authors for this blog. Let me introduce them to you:
- Christopher Vollmar
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Christopher Vollmar, or Chris for short, is a Storage Architect supporting customers in Canada and the Caribbean. He is a Certified Consulting IT Specialist and a Design Thinking practitioner.
Chris and I have worked together for many years. Most recently, we were in Zurich Switzerland as contributing authors to write two IBM Redpapers: [IBM Private, Public, and Hybrid Cloud Storage Solutions] and the [IBM Software-Defined Storage Guide].
You can follow Chris on twitter @vollmar_chris and LinkedIn Chris Vollmar.
- Lloyd Dean
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Lloyd Dean is an IBM Senior Certified Executive IT Architect in Infrastructure Architecture. Lloyd has held numerous senior technical roles at IBM during his 19-plus years at IBM. Lloyd most recently has been leading efforts across the Communication/CSI Market as a senior Storage Solution Architect/CTS covering the Kansas City territory.
I also have known Lloyd for years. In prior roles, Lloyd supported the industry accounts as a Storage Solution architect and prior to that as a Storage Software Solutions specialist during his time in the Advanced Technical Skills (ATS) organization.
Lloyd currently supports North America storage sales teams in his Storage Software Solution Architecture SME role in the Washington Systems Center team. His current focus is with IBM Cloud Private and he will be delivering and supporting sessions at Think2019, and Storage Technical University on the Value of IBM storage in this high value IBM solution a part of the IBM Cloud strategy. Lloyd maintains a Subject Matter Expert status across the IBM Spectrum Storage Software solutions. You can follow Lloyd on Twitter @ldean0558 and LinkedIn Lloyd Dean.
I have spent the last 10 weeks working with the IBM developerWorks team converting from a single-author blog to a multi-author blog. I had no idea it would be so complicated to re-work the HTML templates, acquire all the legal and managerial approvals, and then authorize additional contributors!
I look forward to working with my new co-authors!
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