Twice a year the INETA Community Champions Selection Committee has one of the hardest decisions to make. They have to sift through the pile of nominations and select one person to receive this prestigious award. This time it was no different and, with so many outstanding nominations, they could only select one. It is our distinct pleasure to thank Chris Pels for everything he has done and announce him as the recipient of the 2009 INETA Community Champions Excellence Award.

Chris served on the INETA North America Board of Directors as President and Secretary from 2004 to 2009. He was extremely instrumental in growing and sustaining INETA during those years. Chris is also President of the Boston .NET User Group. Chris is an vital member of the team that organized the Birds of a Feather events at the past two Tech·Ed conferences as well as the PDC held last November in Los Angeles. Chris is currently working with the team on the BOF sessions for the upcoming Tech·Ed in New Orleans.

Chris has been influential in the architecture, development, and implementation of a wide variety of business systems and databases as a technology consultant since 1986. He has extensive experience in business analysis, technical specifications, database design, several programming languages including C# and VB.NET, and statistical analysis. He holds a Ph.D. from The University of Michigan and has been a speaker at Microsoft Tech·Ed, Microsoft DevDays, VSLive, and numerous events in New England. Additionally Chris has been recognized by Microsoft as a Most Valuable Professional (MVP) since 2005.

We would like to thank everyone who participated in this process along with all the nominees for doing such a great job in their community and making our job so difficult. We would also like to thank all those who nominated someone from their community. Keep those nominations coming as the least we can do is say "Thank You" after all the great work that these individuals have done. Don't forget that the Q1 2010 award cycle ends on March 31, so get your contributions in at the INETA Community Champs website ASAP.

INETA Community Champions Team
noram.champs@ineta.org