Last year I did a post of the top 25 people that I look forward to seeing at VMworld and I thought I would update it for this year (and expand it to 30) with the top people that I look forward to seeing there as a well. First off, this is no reflection on anyone not on the list, this is purely personal preference based on relationships that I have built up over the years. So if you are not on this list please don’t get offended, I look forwarding to meeting all old friends at VMworld and making new ones and I’m sure there are names I just plain forgot. VMworld serves as that one special time of the year were the virtual community gets physical which is one of the best parts of VMworld. So without further ado and really in no particular order:
- David Marshall – Close friend I met back in the early days of Hyper9, always a pleasure to catch-up with David at VMworld.
- Duncan Epping – Who wouldn’t want to run into Duncan, always a pleasure chatting with him at VMworld.
- Cormac Hogan – The legendary Mr. Storage at VMware from across the pond.
- Jason Boche – A old dear friend back from the early VMTN and blogging days.
- Pete Flecha – My VVol brother from another mother.
- Rick Vanover – It’s the Rickatron, a Veeam legend.
- John Troyer – The inventor of VMware social media, VMTN, vExperts, etc, a dear friend who I always look forward to catching up with.
- Scott Lowe – Another OG blogger, we live 30 min from each other in CO but only see each other at distant events.
- Chris Wahl – Chris is an all around fun person to know and hang with.
- Mike Foley – I’ve known Mike for a long time and fondly remember hanging and drinking beer together at past VMworlds.
- Tony Dunn – One of the original VMware social guys, Tony was always behind the scenes but is a big part of VMware’s social media success.
- Andy Banta – A new friend, we share a common passion for storage and VVols.
- Howard Marks – Hard to not love Howard, he’s like the big storage teddy bear of the VMware and storage community.
- Jane Rimmer – Long time community supporter and truly a wonderful and fun person.
- Marc Farley – Industry storage vet that has gone full circle and is back at HPE.
- Simon Seagrave – Dear friend and one of the nicest person’s you would ever meet, he’s finally moving stateside so hopefully I’ll see him more often.
- David Davis – Ditto with David, have known him from back in his TrainSignal days.
- Patrick Redknap – Patrick’s a party in a vBox and a lot of fun, always an adventure hanging out with him .
- Rawlinson Rivera – Former captain in the VSAN army and the life of every party.
- Chad Sakac – Very approachable and all-round nice guy, always fun to hang out and have a drink with.
- Todd Scalzott – My cigar smoking buddy and longtime community member.
- William Lam – Very humble and nice guy and a prolific blogger, always a pleasure to chat with him.
- Pat Gelsinger – It’s Pat, who wouldn’t want to meet him, Pat and I have a long history of meeting at VMworld and I can honestly say he is one of the most humble and down to earth CEO’s I have ever met.
- Keith Norbie – Always enjoy hanging out and talking with Keith.
- Eric Wright – The public face of the big green Turbonomic machine.
- Bob Plankers – We go way back, always from drinking with Plankers and sharing tales from the vTrenches.
- Stephen Beaver – My brother from the original VMTN forum mod squad, we go way back.
- Kong L. Yang – Former Dell person, current SolarWinds Geek and always a good buddy.
- Brian Knudtson – Known Brian since his VAR days and now I work with him.
- Jase McCarty – Another OG VMTN community guy, always entertaining with Jase around.
Look forward to seeing you all at VMworld! (Calvin you’re not on the list as I see you all the time)
