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Champions in Action: Mainframe to Security, Satellite to AIX

By Libby Ingrassia
Meet these 5 IBM Champions Lella Violet Halloum Lella is 16 and is passionate for bridging the gap between industry and the classroom. She wants to be involved in closing the digital skills gap while seeking to break stereotypes surrounding the industry. She benefits from the support of her strong female mentors and aspires to follow in their footsteps. She enjoys engaging in tech-related events, and is proud to be an IBM Z Global Student Hub Senator, allowing her to bring the ideas of her generation to the table through hosting the #zStudents open discussion series which is entirely for, with and by students. As an IBM Champion, Lella continues leading ...
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Champions in Action: Z to Cognos; AIX to Open Source

By Libby Ingrassia
We'll regularly share bios and updates from IBM Champions here, along with some of what they do for the community and their activity. Meet some IBM Champions and see activity from this month. Meet 5 IBM Champions Rhonda Hackenburg Rhonda is currently the Research & Development Manager for a small organization supporting 7 clients and has been using Informix for more than 30 years. She is currently a member of the International Informix Users Group (IIUG) Board and Vice President of WAIUG. She is honored to have been an IBM Champion since 2013. Rhonda's work on the IIUG board includes managing their mailing list to keep the community informed about ...
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Who are the IBM Champions?

By Libby Ingrassia
Now that we have announced our 2021 IBM Champions , we hope to introduce you to a few of them each week. Many new IBM Champions submitted bios when they nominated themselves. We'll be sharing a few of those here as well as some highlights of the larger group. Where are the IBM Champions? In 2021, we have about 735 IBM Champions from 56 countries around the world. The image below shows you the regions where the IBM Champions can be found. There is also a map on our home page at ibm.com/champion . IBM Champions work in all areas of IBM technology and community, from blockchain to IBM Z, from storage to cloud. Meet 5 New IBM Champions Adnan ...
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Congratulations, 2021 IBM Champions

By Libby Ingrassia
Champions extend through the ecosystem After reviewing 2000 nominations, IBM is proud and happy to announce the 735 members of the 2021 class of IBM Champions. This class represents the largest and most representative class of IBM Champions ever, including bringing the IBM Partner Ecosystem officially into the program for the first time. The IBM Champions program recognizes excellence and expertise in 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, executive, developer, or educator who influences ...
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On the path to IBM Champions status

By Libby Ingrassia
Not an IBM Champion yet, but want to become one? Applied to become an IBM Champion but declined this time? As you know, IBM Champions are the top experts and advocates for IBM offerings, products, and communities. In 2020, we received more than 2000 nominations and many of them were excellent. If you applied this year, or in a previous year, we are very grateful for the contributions you've made, the work you've done, and the fact you applied. We encourage you to continue your community contributions and to consider submitting a nomination in the future. Here are a few ideas: For those looking for opportunities to engage and increase your advocacy work ...
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IBM Champions in Action: Celebrate success & join us for 2021

By Libby Ingrassia
I hope by now you have read about the I BM Champions program and learned about our nominations process to bring new experts and advocates into our program . 2021 IBM Champion Nominations Extended Today, I'm officially extending our nomination period to 30 November 2020 . Many folks have been a little shy and reticent about nominating themselves and others this year, not from a lack of excitement around IBM offerings and this program, but rather from the challenges this year has brought to us all. I'm here to remind you that if you have the enthusiasm and the drive, if you've created content or contributed to the community, please share your success with us ...
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2021 IBM Champion Nominations are Open

By Libby Ingrassia
What Makes an IBM Champion? The best way to understand the IBM Champion program is to know an IBM Champion – and maybe you’re already looking in the mirror at one. Do you think you know a Champion? Here are 7 questions to ask yourself about you or those in your technical community. Do these sound familiar? Do you give advice on IBM tech and products in person, on Twitter, on forums? Do you regularly and consistently blog, write articles, create podcasts, or share code? Do you know everything there is to know about the IBM offering, program, software, hardware, or service in use at your organization, make it all work together, and are always the one answering ...
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What makes you an IBM Champion?

By Subhasish Sarkar
IBM Champions are innovative thought leaders in the technical community. They contribute regularly to the body of knowledge around IBM products and the technical community. Needless to mention, it is very prestigious to be in the elite club of IBM Champions. IBM Champion Watermark The IBM Champion selection nomination process Every year, IBM Champions are selected through a nomination process. Anyone can complete a nomination, although IBM encourages those seeking to become IBM Champions to self-nominate themselves, in addition to any community or IBM nominations they may receive. Individuals can, therefore, either nominate themselves or be ...
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IBM Champions in Action: Tom Huntington

By Prenessa Lowery
Get to know Tom Huntington Hi, I’m Tom Huntington, Executive Vice President of Technical Solutions for HelpSystems. My role is to share technology talks with customers on Power from around the world. I specialize in automation, high availability, security, and development around IBM Power Systems. I have been a proud IBM Power Champion for the last five years. The best part of being an IBM Champion is being part of a network of distinguished experts, building mutually beneficial relationships, discussing technology challenges, and sharing information with customers running on the Power Systems platform. This experience has helped to amplify important research ...
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Congratulations 2020 Lifetime IBM Champions

By Libby Ingrassia
Lifetime IBM Champions The IBM Champion Lifetime Achievement award recognizes IBM Champions who stands above their peers for service to the community. Over multiple years, these IBM Champions consistently excel and positively impact the community. They lead by example, are passionate about sharing knowledge, and provide constructive feedback to IBM. We look particularly for consistency and excellence in a few areas, above and beyond their IBM Champion contributions. Service to the Champion program: in addition to regular IBM Champion contributions, we want to recognize the work some of the IBM Champions do to support the program, for example: by recruiting ...
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IBM Champions in Action: Steve Wolk

By Prenessa Lowery
IBM Champions in Action: Steve Wolk Steve Wolk is an avid IBM i enthusiast. He was first introduced to the System/38 in 1986, and followed its progression through AS/400 and ultimately to IBM i. As his career developed during those 34 years, his appreciation grew for what this platform represents to his company as well as our community. He believes it's the best computing platform for business for many reasons, which is why he does everything he can to promote the platform and the community surrounding it. It's for this reason that he volunteers with many User Groups within the community including COMMON, LUG, and LISUG, along with teaching and mentoring ...
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IBM Champions in Action: Paul Teichmann

By Jennifer Barraclough
Working with the IBM Champions is incredibly fulfilling. Learning about their expertise and how they contribute to the IBM communities around the world is awe-inspiring! With each interaction, I learn something new about their roles and how they commit to improving cybersecurity. Read below and get to know Paul Teichmann, IBM Champion for Security. Paul is a SIEM Engineer at Fiducia & GAD in Germany and actively shares helpful information with other QRadar users and administrators. Meet IBM Champion Paul Teichmann Name: Paul Teichmann Location: Germany Current role: SIEM Engineer Fiducia & GAD IT AG | www.fiduciagad.de Twitter ...
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IBM Champions in Action: Susan Barker

By Appy Ayyagari
IBM Champions in Action: Susan Barker Get to know Susan Barker “Being an IBM Champion has been a lifesaver for me and helped my career.” To say Susan Barker is a fan of IBM® and IBM Cloud® would be an understatement. A nominated 2020 Top 20 IBM Champion, Susan has been working in IT across the globe for more than three decades. As the current Lead Administrator for CDW, she manages all the ESB, B2B and MQ platform servers. On a daily basis, she works with IBM App Connect: Enterprise®, ACE®, Kafka, IBM Integration TM Transformation Extender® and IBM MQ®. As an IBM Champion of 3 years, Susan doesn’t underestimate the value of the products, services and ...
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IBM Champions in Action: Phil Allison

By Theresa Hans
Although we’ve had to find different ways to connect with people lately, I’m so glad to be a part of the IBM Champion community. This group is flexible, loves to share, and we are still able to collaborate on ideas and projects albeit virtually. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know one of our first time IBM Champions for Z, Phil Allison, through Webex, e-mail, and phone calls since the beginning of the year. Not only am I happy to report that he’s a fellow New York Mets fan, but he’s also jumped right in to the Champion community sharing his ideas and presentations on his work as an Enterprise Architect with a focus on System Z and Storage at Black Knight ...
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IBM Champions in Action: What you may have missed in May

By Libby Ingrassia
The #IBMChampion stars are constantly creating amazing content, speaking at events, and sharing their knowledge. Stay tuned at this blog , on our Twitter stream , and at the #IBMChampion hashtag for regular updates. At least once per month, I also like to try to gather some highlights from the past month (or so) and share them. Take the chance to learn about a topic of interest from the content below! Systems Meet the NEW IBM Champions for Power Systems in this article at IBM Systems Magazine. Catch the replay of this webcast where IBM Champion R obin Tatam speaks about All Object Authority in IBM i . OCEAN TechCon20 for IBM i is happening ...
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IBM Champions in Action: Subhasish Sarkar

By Libby Ingrassia
Have you recently been wondering if the IBM Champion program is something you'd find both exciting and valuable? Theresa Hans had the chance to sit down virtually with first time IBM Champion for Z, Subhashish Sarkar , or as many people call him, SS! Subhashish hails from Pune City, India, and is a Senior SQA Engineer for BMC Software. He's active in the mainframe community and loving the IBM Champion life so far. Read on below to hear more from Subhasish himself. What does it mean to you to be an IBM Champion? I am enthralled and excited, to say the least. What better reward than being recognized to be an IBM Z Champion? I feel really humbled. ...
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IBM Champions in Action: The DataView Show

By Libby Ingrassia
Lifetime IBM Champion Scott Hayes produces the DataView Show . The webinar show focuses on AI and IBM Data technologies and often has other IBM Champions as his guests. I was even on one of the first shows to help folks understand the IBM Champion program and encourage nominations. Upcoming Schedule of DataView Shows I've listed a couple of upcoming episodes (featuring IBM Champions) so you can add them to your calendar. Go to the DataView Show's website for more details about each upcoming episode listed here, for a full list of episodes, and more. 14 May - Episode 17 features IBM Champion Tony Andrews speaking about the best features for developers ...
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IBM Champions in Action: Jared Fagel

By Libby Ingrassia
IBM's premier event is digital this year: the Think Digital Event experience . The event takes place May 5-6 and is free for you to register! Today's Champions in Action entry covers some of the IBM Champions who will be speakers at the event. Jared Fagel is a Cyber Security Analyst from Allete. He primarily works with endpoint protection, incident response, and scripting automations to improve cyber security workflows. Jared joins us to explain a bit about his on-demand session at #Think2020 and what else he’s working on. Tell us a little bit about your session(s) for Think digital event this year. This session discusses the importance of automating ...
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IBM Champions in Action: Len Santalucia

By Libby Ingrassia
IBM's premier event is digital this year: the Think Digital Event experience . The event takes place May 5-6 and is free for you to register! Today's Champions in Action entry covers some of the IBM Champions who will be speakers at the event. Len Santalucia has been in technology since 1973 and has been an IBM Champion since #IBMZ joined the program. He is CTO and Business Development Manager at Vicom Infinity, Inc. and Chair of the Linux Foundation Open Mainframe Project. Len joins us to explain a bit about his session at #Think2020 and what else he's working on. Tell us a little bit about your session(s) for Think digital event this year. My session ...
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IBM Champions @ Think Digital Event

By Libby Ingrassia
Think 2020 is now IBM Think Digital. Think Digital is a highly concentrated 2-day collaboration targeted at helping you accelerate essential recovery and transformation while providing the deep technical education you need. Come to IBM Think Digital May 5-6 and connect with IBM Champion-led sessions At a typical Think event, IBM Champions offer roundtable Champion Chats in our lounge, lead sessions, and are active across the event. To maximize their time at the Think Digital event, our IBM Champion Chats will take place after Think Digital itself. Look for an announcement for those sessions, where you can connect in small-group conversations with IBM ...
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