PASS Board Nominations Application 2015
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APPLICATION FORM
PART ONE: CONTACT INFORMATION
Name: Jennifer Jane Stirrup
[Redacted] Years of experience with Microsoft data platform technologies: 17 years
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PART TWO: EDUCATION
1. List all relevant educational achievements (degrees, diplomas) and include institution name and
location:
Degree Awarding Institution Subject Year of
Graduation M.A.(Hons) Glasgow University, Scotland Psychology 1996
Postgraduate Diploma (Pg. Dip)
Aberdeen University Scotland with Université de Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris VI, Paris, France
Applied Artificial Intelligence
1997
M.Sc Birmingham University, England Cognitive Science 1998
M.Sc Aberdeen University Applied Artificial Intelligence
2000
2. Have you read the current PASS Bylaws?
√ Yes
☐No
3. Have you read the PASS Board meeting minutes from past year?
√ Yes
☐No
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PART THREE: PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
4. Describe your employer’s business:
In 2010, I founded Copper Blue Consulting Ltd as Business Intelligence consultancy, focusing on business as well as technologies such as Microsoft technologies including SQL Server, SharePoint and Excel.
In 2011, I needed to grow the company to meet demand, and to add breadth to Copper Blue offering. At this point, Allan Mitchell (SQL Server MVP) joined me as joint owner. We then took on another SQL Server DBA / Consultant as an employee.
I have steered changes since the start of the company; at the start of 2015, I rebranded Copper Blue Consulting as Data Relish, in order to send out a clearer marketing message about the company’s
offerings. In May 2015, Allan Mitchell left, in order to pursue other technical interests both inside and outside of the Microsoft data platform. I have continued to hold true to my original intent of running a
boutique Business Intelligence and Business Analytics consultancy, focusing on meeting business needs
through Microsoft data platform technologies and partner offerings. I am expanding the company offerings to include more Analytics work, so I am now running an Internet of Things project for a UK-
based company, which focuses on using Azure and Azure ML as the basis for business analytics, as well as SQL Server.
5. Describe your primary job responsibilities:
As the owner of a small company, it means that I wear ‘many different hats’ in order to meet customer
deadlines and project requirements. Here are some highlights:
Financial Ownership: I ‘own’ the accounts for the Company, which means that I am responsible for the
financial minutiae such as expenses, right through to negotiating contracts with vendors and suppliers. I
also ‘own’ the financial reporting for corporate statutory regulations under the laws of England and Wales,
such as tax. I have steered the company through Allan Mitchell’s departure as a Director, and I am
resetting the organisation in terms of asset ownership. My belief in the power of Azure is seen visibly in
the purchasing decisions in business. The time has come to say that I have bought my last physical
server; my servers will be cloud-based from now on.
Partner Management: As a small organisation, Data Relish Ltd are dependent on strategic partner
organisations and associates to help deliver projects successfully, within budget and on time for
customers. At a high level, this can involve strategic decisions whereby we ensure that our selection of
partners is in line with our company direction. On a daily basis, this activity means I need to have
effective communication with partners and customers in order to deliver projects as a blended team. As
part of this process, it is necessary to conduct negotiation with the end client and the partner in order to
ensure that mutual expectations are in order, and the financial aspect of the project is specified.
In the UK, I have a range of formal and informal partnerships which include .Net partnerships, strategic
partnerships, cloud partnerships, and I have a range of company confidential partnerships to help me
deliver the latest IoT solution.
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Technical Delivery: In addition to the strategic and management aspect of my role, I also deliver technical
aspects of projects, usually involving Microsoft data platform solutions such as SQL Server or related data
management systems. As I am an MVP, I often find that I am often parachuted in by customers because
their problems are particularly difficult, or they have not been able to resolve them in-house.
At this point in time, I am working on a range of projects, which range from technical delivery using
Azure ML and R, right through to writing white papers as an industry analyst. I continue to be enthused
by technology, and I enjoy communicating its value to CxO level individuals.
6. To help voters recognize any potential conflicts of interest, please describe all relevant financial
relationships you or your company have with any current companies represented on the PASS
Board of Directors. Current companies are outlined on page 5-6 of the PASS Board Elections
Overview Document.
No conflicts
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PART FOUR: STATEMENT OF INTENTIONS
7. How can PASS better serve the Microsoft data platform community in the next 5 years?
In my previous application in 2013, I wrote PASS can achieve something which Microsoft hasn’t done
well, or easily, so far: be in touch with the nebulous group of Business Analysts, Decision Makers and
Big Data practitioners. Earlier this year, PASS took the brave step of reaching out to the Business Analyst
person ‘on the ground’ who is using data, SQL Server and Office products such as Excel.
The landscape of data solutions has been significantly disrupted in the last several years, on
multiple fronts. New products are emerging, as are entirely new categories of products which aim to help
customers to use and understand their data. One area is the analytics market, and the global market for
analytics market will reach $125 billion in 2015, according to IDC. With millions of users worldwide, R is
one of the most widely used programming languages specifically designed for statistical computing and
predictive analytics, and its popularity has grown as more organizations adopt5 big data analysis and
technologies. Another such disruption is taking place now, with the mainstreaming of in memory
database (IMDB) products.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Revolution Analytics, and adoption of in-memory technologies, means that there
is a whole new skill set for business intelligence and business analytics people to learn.
Decision makers are relying on analyst insights for guidance. They need information faster than ever
before, and often within very tight timelines. Business leaders are looking to improve daily operations and
drive strategic investments, and quality data is required to make these important decisions.
Despite this business need, many analysts are struggling to work with data, and need increased support
to deliver to business timelines. A 2015 study of 200 organisations by Alteryx showed that 13% of
organisations had over 15 sources of data, and only 6% of organizations have all of their data in one
place. In order to meet the needs of the business, analysts will need to be empowered with the skill sets
to keep up, and businesses will need to hire people with the appropriate skill sets.
I believe that PASS can continue to grow to reflect the practical needs of people in the industry, who
need to move fast in order to learn these new technologies. For people moving towards business
analytics, the technological environment and data landscape is often complex, and analysts are faced
with both ad hoc and project-based analytic requirements. I believe that PASS can help to meet business
needs, by supporting the data professionals who are being tasked with increasingly complex demands in
a fast-moving, volatile business environment.
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8. Please state your perception of the PASS organization today.
PASS is in a growth period. According to Andrew Grove, who steered Intel through 30 years of change at
Intel, organizations are affected by six forces, both internal and external:
existing competition complementary businesses customers potential customers possibility of alternative ways of achieving the same end suppliers
If these forces stayed equivalent, that the company will steer a steady course. However, if any of the forces increase or decrease in terms of their pressure, then this change can turn into an inflection point.
The inflection point is where the curvature of a line goes from negative to positive. Translated into business terms, this can be considered as
part of a maturity process, whereby the immature company goes through a turbulent ‘adolescence’, to reach maturity.
PASS is going through a change of external factors in the industry, which is directly impacting their customers and their potential customers. The
disruptive nature of the data landscape has wrought the advent of new
technologies. In order to meet customer needs, PASS needs to grow in order to meet those needs. Basically, organizations are asking new
questions of their data, and, as Dr. Seuss put it, Sometimes the questions are complicated, but the answers are simple. To get
businesses the simple answers that they need, PASS ‘customers’ – regardless of DBA, developer, BI, BA mindsets – are being asked to do more complex things, in faster timeframes, with more intensive skill
sets. PASS needs to expand in order to empower customers, and potential customers, to adapt to the
new environments.
We have seen people struggle with the new cloud technologies, both in terms of the technology, and
perceived risk of the technology. This is one example of the change in pressure on PASS, and PASS has
responded by offering high quality technical education whilst people skill up, or simply explore the technology. The next paradigm shift will be for Business Intelligence professionals, who will be asked to
do more analytics work and they will need support in order to move forward.
The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings. (Eric Hoffer, Reflections On The Human Condition). PASS has done wonderful things for the Microsoft SQL Server community, which is one of the most vibrant technical communities in the world. PASS needs to continue the path of engaging with the existing community as they grow.
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9. If elected to the PASS Board, what goal(s) would you set for PASS? How would you accomplish
those goals? How would this benefit the PASS community?
In my previous application to run for the Board, I wrote:
Goal 1: Form a more cohesive group for the BA community
SQL Server is being re-shaped to include end users, with the advent of technologies such as
Power Pivot and Power View. PASS are well-placed to help the emerging BA community who are
being introduced to this toolset, which is within the broadening remit of SQL Server.
This goal would benefit the PASS community by helping to formulate, support and grow the BA
community in its early, formative stages when it needs particular direction. PASS can be the
enabler of this community, which traditionally has been difficult to reach.
The benefit for the whole PASS community is the sharing of perspectives as BA sits next to DBA,
learns from keynotes, and catches nuggets of information from emails, for example.
I would accomplish that goal by a concerted ‘reach out’ program which would aim to touch the
community in a number of ways:
* Webinars – continued support and promotion of the BA Virtual Chapter
* Free E-Books – ask volunteers to write brief e-books on a particular topic. This could be
branded as the PASS Series throughout, and downloaded from the PASS BA VC community
website for logged-in PASS members only
* Google groups and ‘hang outs’ dedicated to BA topics.
* More local events such as the User Groups, specifically aimed at Business Analysts topics. This
do not have to be particularly formal in nature. In the UK, I was involved with the UK Tableau
User Group and we have had informal ‘Unconferences’ or ‘unplugged’ events whereby people
meet very informally in a pub, and simply connect, share Tableau dashboards and so on. Another
example is from the Big Data community in London, who are organising ‘Big Data lunch in the
park’ whereby registered attendees are invited to turn up, get into groups to discuss topics over a
picnic lunch that they have purchased, and the sponsors buy ice-creams! These informal events
are eye-catching and memorable with a sense of fun, and even if people don’t attend, they are
memorable in themselves, which might help to attract footfall.
* PASS BA Conference – continued support and promotion of the BA Conference. This was a
great success this year, and it would be great to build on this success for next year
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So, how did I do?
Webinars
Initially, I held the PASS Virtual Chapters Portfolio, and I drove that forward to that there is a
subset of BA PASS Virtual Chapters. These are grouped together as follows:
Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing
Business Analytics
Excel BI Virtual Chapter
Data Science
To achieve this consolidation, I took a number of strategic decisions:
- I closed the Master Data Management VC, and folded it into the Business Intelligence and
Data Warehousing VC
- I re-energised the BI VC by adding a third volunteer, and then a fourth. I then stepped down
as the co-leader, in order to give the new volunteers an opportunity to lead the VC.
- I set up the Excel BI VC in order to provide Excel users with a ‘home’ for high quality, online
content
- I set up the Data Science VC in order to provide intensive analytics education for those who
wanted to go in that direction.
- In order to refocus the Virtual Chapters more generally, I re-pointed PASS HQ’s effort towards
bolstering VCs that were not successful in order to give them a fresh life. This included
changing leadership for some VCs, such as the Professional Development VC, Cloud VC and
the Spanish VC.
- I refocused efforts by closing VCs that were unsuccessful, after continued salvage efforts
failed.
- I refocused volunteers by awarding the Leader and co-Leader role to the volunteers who
were doing the majority of the work, and deserved the recognition for their efforts.
- In order to assist the growth of PASS throughout the world, I set up foreign language VCs
such as French and Hebrew.
- I also made training available, and increased efforts to help global language VCs such as
French and Chinese. I changed the Spanish VC leadership to reflect the energy of the
volunteers.
Free e-books
I have broached this idea repeatedly, but I have not been able to find volunteers to assist me. I
had a Twitter conversation in early August, broaching the topic with volunteers such as Argenis
Fernandez, but unfortunately this idea was not popular.
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Google groups and ‘hang outs’ dedicated to BA topics.
The community hasn’t been ready for these informal ways of communicating. To do this, we need
volunteers who are willing to help to monitor the groups whilst they are in progress, to ensure
that there are no problems. This is something which we could do in the future, I hope, as the
community grows.
More local events such as the User Groups, specifically aimed at Business Analysts topics.
I am working with PASS HQ team members to understand how these User Groups would be
shaped in terms of their operation, structure, leadership, and funding. We need to understand
the needs of the community better, and how to engage them to attend in-person groups. I made
various attempts with UK community members to set up User Groups around the UK, but these
were variously thwarted due to external pressures.
PASS BA Conference
The PASS BA Conference continues to be a success with respect to attendee and sponsor
satisfaction. In order to engage the community further, I would continue to make every effort
that the PASS BA Conference has the right ‘pitch’ for the user audience.
S o wha t’s n ex t?
Goal 1: Increased engagement, growth and empowerment of the existing BA community,
focusing on relevant analytical technologies such as Power BI, R, AzureML, Python as well as SQL
Server; the Microsoft data platform community.
Connect with existing BA groups via community sources such as Meetup, to offer support
and PASS Chapter benefits
Grow the volunteer pool by encouraging leadership in the BA space. This will mean
engaging with existing leaders who are not in the PASS ecosystem, and offering practical
support to help them to meet their leadership aspirations.
Continue to support the PASS Virtual Chapters that have BA content by assigning a
dedicated ‘go to’ Microsoft resource to each of the Virtual Chapters. The ‘go to’ resource
can help the VC to get speakers, high quality content and even perhaps present
themselves.
Increase social media conversation by the introduction of ‘tweetjams’ on BA topics. These
would be hosted by a volunteer.
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In my previous application to run for the Board, I wrote:
Goal 2: Form a platform for people to understand cloud and Big Data technologies better
SQL Server is diversifying into cloud and ‘Big Data’ technologies, and this necessarily involves a
huge shift in the required skill set for SQL Server professionals who embrace the change. PASS
are well-placed to support the community of traditional on-premise SQL Server specialists who
need to extend or transition their knowledge to cloud technologies. Further, as PASS have the
opportunities to reach out globally to new cloud and Big Data technologists who interact with SQL
Server but for whom, SQL Server may not be their core skill – the ‘Accidental DBA’
So, how did I do?
As holder of the Virtual Chapter Portfolio, I spearheaded a number of initiatives:
- I rebranded the Azure Virtual Chapter to the Cloud Virtual Chapter, in order to widen its remit
to cover topics such as hybrid architectures.
- I refreshed and expanded the Azure Virtual Chapter leadership to bring in some fresh ideas
and renew efforts to make this Virtual Chapter at the forefront of PASS strategy on cloud and
big data technologies.
- I made efforts to find a sponsor for the Cloud Virtual Chapter.
- I supported the Cloud Virtual Chapter and the Big Data Virtual Chapter by recruiting speakers
- I supported the Big Data Virtual Chapter as they embraced Hortonworks as a key sponsor.
- I set up the Data Science Virtual Chapter, and I held a series of introductory Virtual Chapter
sessions which were focused on R. In doing so, I wanted to start a community conversation
about analytics in the cloud, using big data as a source.
S o wha t’s n ex t?
Goal 2: Strengthen a platform for people to understand cloud and Big Data technologies better,
whilst continuing to engage and grow people who are on the cloud journey.
Increased knowledge to support adoption and evangelising R as a technology and a business
tool. A number of companies have recently extended R for big data use. For example,
Hewlett-Packard created Distributed R, an open source package to run the language across
computer clusters. Microsoft, which recently purchased R distributor Revolution Analytics,
offers the R language as an interface for its Azure ML.
Analytics Learning Pathways to support the analyst who needs to do something with these
large data stores, and the data guardians who need to protect both the underlying data, and
the result sets. With the interest in R, it will also need to be matched by support for the DBAs
– the data ‘guardians’ – who are responsible for storing the data. These Pathways would
provision materials to User Groups, Virtual Chapters and virtual events.
Cloud Learning Pathways for people who are on the cloud journey from on-premise to full
cloud, or hybrid solutions.
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In my previous application to run for the Board, I wrote:
Goal 3: Support the PASS community globally via embracing diversity
PASS can continue the efforts that have taken place in Europe, which have focused on reaching
out to minority groups in technology, mainly Women in Technology. Whilst I am a supporter of
the Women in Technology movement, it would be within the ethos of PASS as an organisation if
this remit would be broadened to include Diversity; thereby being an organisation which is
inclusive to people from different backgrounds, cultures, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation.
I regard this activity as a long-term goal, and it should not interfere with the existing great work
that has taken place for WIT across the globe. Instead, it would be good if we could add a ‘light
touch’ so that the PASS community are aware that WIT is for everybody, not just women. By
extension, visible diversity and WIT programs help to evangelise PASS is for everybody.
Ultimately, leadership members in organisations have to be sensitive to diversity and WIT issues
in their organisation, in order to lead effectively. I see the WIT movement as a good thing in
itself, and I also see it as tied closely to leadership and career development since evidence shows
that diverse teams perform better, troubleshoot faster, and ultimately can affect a company’s
bottom line. Leaders need to be aware of these issues in order to manage their teams effectively,
whilst also ensuring that the team ‘asset’ is mined properly in order to progress the organisation
financially.
So, how did I do?
As holder of the Virtual Chapter Portfolio, I spearheaded a number of initiatives:
I worked with the PASS Marketing team, led by Denise McInerney, to secure Kimberley
Bryant for the WIT keynote at PASS Summit in 2014.
I made efforts to bolster the WIT Virtual Chapter leadership by obtaining new volunteers;
unfortunately I was unsuccessful.
With PASS BAC, I prioritised Professional Development as a key pillar of PASS education.
This pillar can be seen in the ‘Communicate and Lead’ track which is a key part of PASS
Business Analytics Conference in 2015.
I refreshed the leadership for the Professional Development Virtual Chapter, and it has
been particularly rewarding to see it flourish under the leadership of Neil Hambly and
Matan Yungtan.
S o wha t’s n ex t?
Goal 3: Grow data leaders globally via embracing diversity and Professional Development
programs
I’d like to see PASS being ‘in tune’ with that message in order to help people move up the career
ladder in their profession; putting the ‘Professional’ into PASS. I would like to prioritise
Professional Development as a key pillar of PASS education, regardless of people’s background
with data.
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The Professional Development pillar can be seen in the ‘Communicate and Lead’ track which is a
key part of PASS Business Analytics Conference in 2015. It is my intention that this will remain in
2016.
In my previous application to run for the Board, I wrote:
Goal 4: Continued efforts to enable PASS as a whole to deliver Goal 1, 2, 3 and 4.
To achieve Goals 1, 2 and 3, PASS needs to be mindful of key ‘enablers’ that will help to progress
these aims. To summarise, these include a. Social Media Strategy and B. Volunteer support
a. Social Media Strategy
PASS need a better defined social media strategy and presence. For example, it was only recently
that a ‘SQLSaturday’ twitter account was opened.
A higher profile social media presence would act as a great evangelist for the organisation,
attracting new members. The PASS membership may benefit by an increased number or diversity
of new sponsors. Sponsors are often very sensitive to measuring social media presence, and a
successful social media strategy means that PASS are ‘talking the same language’ as the
sponsors, thereby understanding their needs better.
Social media presence is not simply a formula of Facebook + lots of tweets. There are other
routes of meeting the community via social media:
Google groups and ‘hang outs’ which could be set at specific times as an addition to the
online chapter meetings
Twitter ‘surgery’ hours whereby community members can drop in, over Twitter, and use a
hashtagged word in order to contribute to a conversation
Be more forthcoming about offering ‘vouchers’ and special offers from sponsors. For
example, if a book sponsor has money off book sales, then perhaps PASS could pick this
up and put this information on the site, or on an email. This proactive approach might be
appreciated by the sponsors.
Flickr – share your SQLFamily photos on a Flickr group, for example, photos from a
SQLSaturday event.
b. Volunteer support
One key success area for PASS is the dissemination of expert knowledge of SQL Server to the
wider community. However, in order to achieve the goals mentioned as Goals 1, 2, and 3, we
have to take care of our volunteers.
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I’d like to propose a ‘Volunteer Support Program’ that helps new – and existing – volunteers to do
things better and more easily. This would involve webinars on different topics such as ‘how to
drive people to attend your UG’ and ‘how to use the PASS websites to give you traction with
attendees’, just to name a few examples. These could be run on a volunteer-to-volunteer basis,
whereby more experienced volunteers spread their knowledge to new volunteers.
One example of this is the VC and UG websites, which require .Net Nuke skills. I know from
personal experience that this has turned out to be non-intuitive and difficult, and I have not been
successful enough with the website for using it with my own PASS chapter based in Hertfordshire,
which is a pity. The reason for this is that the ramp up to use the website has been difficult, and
the wiki information seems to be out of date. Whilst some of the PASS members and Karla have
kindly offered to take me through this site, this is ad-hoc and it would be good to disseminate
this information and knowledge more formally to volunteers, through webinars for example.
This would also build a sense of community for volunteers, and this is a way of retaining
volunteers once they have been recruited to help. Also, if people don’t use the PASS website, this
may impact your knowledge of actual membership since people may not be registering at the
PASS website. Therefore, this would be a good use of time and effort and might help to drive
registrations. We could also offer little ‘badges’ or ‘points’ like TechEd offer to community
contributors to put on their profiles. This might encourage volunteers to attend the webinars, and
perhaps even offer prizes to attendees, volunteers who have attended > 5 sessions or something
similar.
So, how did I do?
As holder of the Virtual Chapters Portfolio, I created an online Program which taught Virtual
Chapter leaders some very practical skills on running a Virtual Chapter, such as setting up the
website and using .Net Nuke, using GoToWebinar, and social media skills. Brent Ozar very kindly
supported my efforts by publicising it on my blog. https://ozar.me/2014/09/new-sqlpass-virtual-
chapter-webcasts/
I wrote a blog post on the topic here: http://jenstirrup.com/2014/09/28/jens-diary-figuring-it-out-
virtual-chapter-pathways/
I have occasionally held Twitter ‘surgery hours’, with varying degrees of success in terms of
engagement.
I have attempted to grow transparency by blogging my PASS journey on the Board. I have
sought advice from key community members and PASS HQ in order to reach the maximum
audience possible.
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S o wha t’s n ex t?
Goal 4: Continued efforts to enable PASS as a whole to deliver Goal 1, 2, 3 and 4.
I will continue to support renewed interest and energy for the social media strategy.
Set Twitter ‘surgery hours’, with varying degrees of success in terms of engagement
Increase accessibility and transparency by blogging my PASS journey on the Board
The PASS BA Twitter account is seeing some success in engagement; I would like this to
increase for PASS BA and SQLPass Twitter accounts
I would like to use SlideShare to host presentations for PASS BA since this will lead to
increased search hits for PASS material
I would like to see increased use of Twitter ‘papers’ to find material to serve the
community who simply need timely bites of industry information throughout the day.
In line with my emphasis on diversity and Professional Development, I would like to see
more thought leadership pieces from PASS members, and a forum to publish this
information. I would like to propose a PASS Thought Leaders ‘blog’ for guest posts by
community members on the PASS sites for SQLPass.org and the PASS BA sites.
Volunteers would create and review material, and these pieces would feature in the
Connector and BA emails in order to showcase community efforts and industry expertise.
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PART FIVE: LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
10. Please describe your management and leadership background, listing specific examples of team
and/or project work:
In my previous application to run for the Board, I wrote:
As part of my consulting activities, most of my work is project and team work. Here are some
examples from my consulting background
Technical Team Lead for delivering a Data Warehouse for the University of Cambridge
I managed a team of 6 people with varying skill sets in order to deliver a data warehouse for the
University of Cambridge. The project lasted six months. During my time as Technical Team
Lead, unfortunately I ran into an issue whereby two of my team members had continual conflict
due to deeply-felt religious and historical convictions on behalf of both parties. Their discussions
were extremely heated and uncomfortable for other team members. I managed the situation by
speaking jointly to both team members, and resolved it quietly before it was escalated to senior
management by asking for respect and a focus on the end goal – from both parties – whilst
maintaining a neutral ground on the deeply-held convictions on both parties. I also erred on the
side of caution by making sure that their activities were as separate as possible in order to
minimise conflict, and to ultimately deliver the project.
Technical Team Lead for delivering a Data Warehouse for the Ginsters, a snack food firm
I managed a project that involved a small group of people to deliver a data warehouse. I picked
up a failing project with poorly defined requirements, and managed to deliver a solution by an
emphasis on open communication and an emphasis on the end goal.
Women in Technology and Diversity in Technology Event Organisation in Europe
I have organised events in the UK across Europe, which are focused on Women in Technology
within the SQLPass umbrella. For SQLBits, I help the Committee by ‘owning’ DiTBits, which is
‘Diversity in Technology’. For both of these strands of activities, I am dependent on local teams
and resources to help me to put the pieces together to put the event in place. For example, I am
dependent on logistical help to confirm a space for the event. Further, Women in Technology
events in particular can be contentious amongst community members, and I require strong local
support from a local sponsor to garner support to hold the event.
As an example of this, I have worked well with Niko Neugebauer and Oliver Engels who have
been amazingly supportive of the Women in Technology events in Europe. We have a shared
vision of PASS as being a welcoming, diverse community of SQL Server practitioners from any
background, and a passion for growing membership within our local communities in Europe.
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So, what have I done since then?
IoT Project - At present, I am architecting and providing project management support for an Internet of
Things customer based in the UK. This project is currently in flight, and the details remain confidential. In
this project, I have shown business and technical leadership, whilst picking up new technology details
very quickly from the devices right through to the end results. This project has involved dealing with
people from a wide variety of backgrounds, from academia through to business users, and trying to
ensure that communication is shared and that everyone’s voices are ‘heard’. In this role, I advise the CxO
level executives in decision making, architecture, and conducting data analytics whilst passing these skills
onto junior team members.
Comic Relief – Comic Relief are a UK-based charity aimed at supporting communities in the UK and in
Africa. I led a small team and delivered the architecture for a solution which supported their ‘Night of
Television’ fundraising efforts.
Regulatory Body – one of the UK regulatory Government bodies needed an architectural data strategy for
the purposes of meeting their core mission. I worked as part of a team, creating the architecture based
on business requirements and translating these requirements into a technical reality. Here, I was
reporting to the CTO.
11. Are you, or have you been, a member of any board? If so, please describe:
In my previous application to run for the Board, I wrote:
I am one of the current SQLRelay organisers. This is a UK SQL Server event, in which the User Groups try to encourage membership by offering consecutive SQL Server events during the day
in a ‘tag’ manner. The series of events are supported by Microsoft.
My role is responsibility for the sponsors: sponsor recruitment, retention and day-to-day
management before the event, and post-event follow-ups. I am responsible for all aspects of
sponsor involvement for the event from negotiating arrangements with potential sponsors, to
ensuring that SQLRelay are compliant in delivering on the agreements that have been made with
individual sponsors.
So, what have I done since then?
I stepped down from SQLRelay after it was clashing with PASS duties, and I needed to focus my efforts where I would have most impact.
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12. Do you have formal management or leadership training? If so, please provide details of this
training and an example of a time this training was beneficial:
No, unfortunately not. My learning has been shaped by experience in running teams to deliver projects,
plus managing staff, plus running my own business. It is something I would like to do in the future as a self-development opportunity.
13. Have you participated in any strategic decision-making processes? If so, please provide details:
During my time on the PASS Board, I have been part of decision-making processes that include:
Voting in ExecCo elections SQLRally Decisions PASS BA Conference and Community PASS Summit 2019 location FY2016 budget preapprovals to fund Virtual Chapter and Global Chapter comp passes, and the
Chapter incentive Program for 2015 Summit.
14. Please describe your background/experience in dealing with organizational finances, including the
size of the organization and budgets involved:
For the Virtual Chapter and BA portfolios, I have budgeting experience working with the HQ team. Whilst
Virtual Chapter portfolio owner, I put aggressive cuts in place in order to help PASS with budgeting
overall.
Having run my own company for five years, I have managed to grow my small company from starting with nothing but myself and a laptop, to a growing organisation to having an official partnership network
and a customer base.
I have also taken financial ‘risk’ in organising events throughout the UK, such as SQLSaturday Edinburgh and SQLSaturday London BA.
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PART SIX: VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE
15. Please describe your volunteer history with PASS. Who from PASS did you work with? How did
you interact with them to meet your volunteer objectives?
I have been extremely privileged to work with team members at PASS HQ, Microsoft team
members, and volunteers from the community. In the references section, I have robust
references from representatives from these groups. I have worked with most of the Virtual
Chapter volunteers.
I help to lead the Data Science Virtual Chapter, working with Mark Tabladillo. We did well with the
Data Science VC, but I have been diverted by the BAC portfolio. I hope to pick it up again in
order to grow it.
In the UK, I have worked well with MVPS across Product Groups. As PASS grows, we will see
more cross-product group interaction, and I am blazing a path in this area. These include:
Microsoft CRM – Adam Vero
Microsoft Visio – David Parker
Microsoft Excel – Bob Phillips, Roger Govier
Microsoft Azure – Richard Conway, Rik Hepworth
SharePoint community – Peter Baddeley
16. Please give an example of a project you worked on for PASS that you followed through to
completion. Describe how your specific contribution has benefited the PASS organization.
There are many examples of my success: Virtual Chapters, SQLSaturday Edinburgh and London
events, and working with sponsors to ensure that they are comfortable in relating to the BA
audience.
For PASS, I was an active part in the PASS Business Analytics conference for 2015. I was part of
the Program and Planning Committees, and I helped to set direction in terms of content, speaker
and I contributed to the PASS evangelisation via series of blogs.
The end result was a very successful conference, with a high degree of satisfaction from
attendees, speakers and sponsors.
17. Detail your PASS community participation within your region (US/Canada, EMEA, APAC or
LATAM). Be specific about your contribution, the location, the reach (local, regional, national or
international), your volunteer capacity, and goals achieved.
As the Virtual Chapter portfolio owner, I have fortified the EMEA and APAC region by setting up new
global language Virtual Chapters in French and Italian. I have strengthened these Virtual Chapters, as
well as provided leadership support to the Spanish and Virtual Chapters.
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I have supported European events by speaking around Europe as a volunteer. In the last two years, these
events include Paris (France), Munich and Cologne (Germany), Sofia (Bulgaria), SQLRally (Sweden),
SQLServerDays in Antwerp (Belgium), Budapest (Hungary), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Vienna (Austria),
Copenhagen (Denmark) as well as events around the UK, such as SQLSaturday Edinburgh, Cambridge
and Exeter.
Prevoiusly, I’ve held Women in Technology events in Europe for places as far apart as Sweden, Poland,
Portugal, Munich, and the UK at SQLSaturday Exeter. My most recent WiT event was held in Portugal. The
most successful WiT event was held in Paris, where the WiT session ran on for over two hours over
lunchtime because the attendees were extremely passionate, and would not go to other sessions!
I have previously assisted SQLRally Nordic and SQLRally Amsterdam to have Women in Technology
events; the most recent of these was in March 2015, where I organised a WiT event at SQLRally Nordic.
I’d like to thank Grant Fritchey for his attendance and support at the event; it was great to have another
Board member present. I support the events by:
Mentioning WiT as an option for their event – some team leaders had not considered it
before
Helping the local teams to choose topics
Helping the local teams to choose a format e.g. a small informal roundtable, a coffee
corner, a buffet lunch, or a Panel
Publicising the event e.g. social media, helping to try and get news on the WiT Page,
help with setting up and administering a Facebook page or a twitter account. I am an
administrator on the Facebook page for the Polish Women in Technology event, and the
women are very friendly although I must admit I cannot read many of the comments
because they are in Polish!
Facilitating and organising the event on the day
Helping to find speakers and arrange logistics such as a meeting area
18. Tell us about your involvement and accomplishments within any other volunteer organizations.
For the past 18 months, I have been too busy with the PASS Board role to find time to assist any
other volunteer organizations.
For my previous application, I wrote the following:
For SQLBits, I own DiTBits, which is a ‘Diversity in Technology’ event, which is a small group
meeting aimed at discussing ‘people’ issues in technology. Our inaugural meeting was held at the
last SQLBits in Nottingham with a small panel. We managed to get 19 attendees from a range of
backgrounds and ethnicities. It’s a small success that I’d like to build on for further events. Our
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panel included Denise and it was superb to have her experience and data-oriented perspective on
board to help us, particularly since it was the first DiTBits event at SQLBits and there was no
guarantee of success. I was very fortunate to work with Allan Mitchell, Martin Bell and James
Rowland-Jones of the SQLBits Committee, who listened to my ideas and helped me to put them
into action. and I’d like to gratefully acknowledge that the SQLBits Committee, at James’
suggestion, also funded the event as well by provisioning a large room and cheese and wine
nibbles to attract delegates to us. We also had further PASS support because my local Regional
Mentor, Mark Broadbent, stood up to the plate as my male representative on the Panel, and he
was a great Panellist who put a lot of effort into the conversation whilst it was ‘in flight’.
For me, this was an accomplishment because we had never had an event like this at SQLBits
before, and it was a risk because it became clear that not everyone was supportive of the idea. I
am very glad to say that the precedent has been set to have future Diversity events at SQLBits,
and it will be incumbent on people to find reasons not to hold similar events; not resting on me
to find reasons to host another one. Onwards and forwards!
19. What key learnings have you taken away from your volunteer experiences?
In my 2013 application, I wrote:
It can be harder to manage volunteers than paid employees. Volunteers do not need to give you their
time and effort. It is vital to keep them involved and feel that they play a part in achieving the end goal.
For this reason, I would love to see more volunteer support so that they have an identity and are
supported in their efforts; in other words, make their efforts as easy as possible. From my experience
with Women in Technology events both within and outside of PASS, I know that it has been much easier
to deliver under the PASS umbrella than outside of it, due to the support, wisdom and ‘beyond the call of
duty’ attitude of many of the PASS team members such as Karla, Wendy, James and Denise, who have
been extremely supportive in different ways throughout this process.
The enthusiasm of volunteers can sometimes lead to a ‘hero’ culture whereby individuals can sometimes
feel that they are the only one who can deliver a certain item or activity, and go off and do their own
thing. The phrase ‘herding cats’ springs to mind. Situations such as this can be difficult to manage, since
the enthusiastic endeavours of a few can go against the main goal. That said, the ‘personal touch’ is very
important – saying thank you is such a simple thing, but people can forget to do it, and it’s extremely
important.
Since then, although the previous commentary still stands, I have learned more about volunteers:
Leadership is not about power – it is about giving power away. Leadership is about empowering and
enabling other people to follow their passions.
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I think it is important to ‘grow’ leaders. As part of my BA portfolio and the Virtual Chapters portfolio, I
have focused on growing leaders in the community.
As PASS moves forward with Power BI and related business analytics technologies, I am empowering new
community members to lead future events. To reflect this, these events won’t have my name on them as
the organizer.
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PART SEVEN: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
20. Detail your professional certifications:
Establishment
Qualification Name
Description
Microsoft Microsoft Certified
Professional in SQL
Server 2008 and 2012
Business Intelligence
Jennifer demonstrated her end-to-end Business
Intelligence skills by passing the MCP exam in SQL Server
2008 Maintenance and Development of SQL Server 2008.
Aberdeen University
(2001)
M.Sc Applied Artificial
Intelligence
Whilst working full-time, she converted her Pg.Dip to an
M.Sc by completing a project focusing on scheduling
algorithms in the context of project management using
Borland Delphi.
Birmingham University
(1997)
M.Sc Cognitive Science
Jennifer’s focus was on data mining algorithms, and her
Masters’ project involved an artificial intelligence object-
oriented investigation of agent architecture.
Aberdeen University
(1996), Université de Pierre
et Marie Curie Paris VI
Pg.Dip in Applied
Artificial Intelligence
Studying at a prominent university in Paris, focusing on
UNIX and applied artificial intelligence algorithms,
Jennifer also learned to speak French fluently.
Glasgow University (1992) M.A.(Hons) in
Psychology
Jennifer majored in Psychology and obtained exemptions
from first and second year exams in Psychology and
Philosophy due to her excellent performance throughout
the courses.
21. Detail any awards received:
Establishment
Qualification Name
Description
Microsoft
Most Valuable
Professional for five
years
PASS Passion Award 2012
Given to the volunteers in order to recognise them for
outstanding volunteer work.
22. Please provide links to relevant public social media accounts within the PASS community:
Social Media Outlet Link Reach
Twitter http://twitter.com/jenstirrup 7,736 followers
LinkedIn https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jenstirrup 2,538 contacts
Facebook http://facebook.com/jenstirrup 450
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PART EIGHT - REFERENCES AND BACKGROUND CHECK
Reference Information Reference Type
Name: Bob Phillips [Redacted] Statement of Support: I first took note of Jen
when I discovered that she was actively
promoting the importance of visual effects in
presenting information, and she was actively
doing this with Excel, something that I too was
very keen on promoting.
Apart from a few meetings at Microsoft events,
my first interactions with Jen were at the
PASSBAC. I attended the first event and was
somewhat disappointed that it just seemed an
☒Volunteer
☐General
☐Personal
☐Work
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extension of regular PASS, it was extending to real
BA practitioners. When the second conference
came around, I passed these comments to Jen as
I knew she was working with the board, and said I
wouldn’t be attending because of this. Jen
assured me that this was recognized within PASS,
and that they were working to address the
matter. The 3rd conference this year showed great
strides in my view, the presenters and the content
were far more appropriate for a BA audience. I
have seen Jen working hard to realize this
objective, and can only commend her on a job
well done.
I also know that Jen was very active in getting the
PASS Virtual Chapters up and running, again
extending their remit to cover BA.
I worked with Jen on 2014 London BA SQL
Saturday. Jen had asked me to help her with the
organisation, but apart from a bit of promotion I
did very little as Jen took it all upon herself. When
she was struggling to get a full set of appropriate
speakers (Jen was very keen for it to be more of a
user focused event, not a SQL DBA event) I
managed to call in a couple of favours and
persuade two of my colleagues to give
presentations. That we were able to persuade
these two to come over from Germany and the
Netherlands was only possible because they
could see that this was more oriented to their
field and their experiences, and also because they
knew of Jen, and what she does.
I also presented at the 2015 Edinburgh BI SQL
Saturday in June, and again I saw the tremendous
hard work that Jen put in to make this a success.
In my view it was an even better event than
London, testimony that Jen is honing her skills in
this field, and is clear in what she is trying to
achieve. I had to travel nearly 500 miles to attend
this event, I did so because I believe in what Jen is
trying to achieve and I want to support in that
effort.
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Jen is one of the hardest working, most dedicated
individuals I have ever met. I have no idea where
she gets the energy from, but I think she is doing
a great job in showing the world the value of
BA/BI, and how they can use PASS and its many
facilities to realize that value.
Name: Mico Yuk [Redacted] Statement of support: As a fellow BI community
owner, Jen has and continues to be an inspiration
to me and others in the business intelligence
industry. Having met through a few years ago
through our passion for data visualization on
twitter, her dedication and focus on growing the
PASS BA community by engaging the right
thought leaders, led to my direct involvement as a
keynote speaker for the 2015 event in San
Jose. Without her persistence, and clear vision
this would not have happened otherwise. Having
had an opportunity to interact with her before and
during the event in focus groups, what stood out
was the respect that she has from the Microsoft
PASS community and her peers. Even post event,
she continues to keep the broader online space
aware of all global events and news. I find her
inspirational and could not see a better fit of
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passion, dedication and guaranteed success for
PASS as a board member.
Name: Jonathan Woodward [Redacted]
Statement of Support: I have worked with Jen for
the past 18 months driving the Business
Intelligence & Analytics message in the UK, under the banner of #DataCulture. The community is a critical aspect of driving Data Culture and Jen has proved to be one the main driving forces behind landing the broader analytics message in the UK.
Jen has supported the Data Culture events
across the UK reaching a broad audience as part
of the main summits, driving key community events and contributed heavily to other key events such as Future Decoded.
Jen has unflappable enthusiasm, a keen
organised mind and an ability to bring together
the community to support activities. A key
influencer, great speaker and ultimately
incredibly knowledgeable on the subjects of BI
and analytics, she is a key go to person not just
in the UK but worldwide.”
☐Volunteer
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Name: Rodney Kidd [Redacted]
Statement of Support: Having known Jen for some
years I have seen her passion for the SQL
community. Within the UK community Jen has
successfully ran 3 SQL Sat BI Edition in Edinburgh,
one SQL Sat BA in London, and one SQL Relay
event. All of which I have attended and seen first-
hand her commitment to the community. Jen also
nurtures new speakers and local speakers to these,
as well an excellent mix of international speakers.
Jen also speaks at many events, and her sessions
are always well received and very informative. Jen
having been awarded the passion award at the
PASS Summit was very apt.
I know she has taken her last two years on the
board very seriously and I feel still has much
more to offer to the PASS board, and the
community at large. Jen has also been a driving
force behind PASS BAC which has gone from
strength to strength and Jen is in an ideal position
to continue this work, should she be re-elected.
☒Volunteer
☐General
☐Personal
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Name: Mark Wilcock
[Redacted]
Statement of Support: I support Jen’s application
for a further 2 year term on the PASS board so
that she can continue the good work she has
begun. Jen has been a director-at-large for PASS
for the last two years and has steered the
business analytics chapter expertly during that
time. She has broadened the appeal of PASS
business analytics to many professionals working
at all levels in a wide variety of organisations.
These highly skilled people who perhaps do not
define themselves as data professionals but
whether as for example risk managers, scientists
or marketers nevertheless spend a substantial
part of their time analysing and presenting data
and are, I believe are the future area of growth
and inspirational activity in business analytics and
this is the market that PASS Business Analytics
Chapter is now heading in during Jen’s leadership.
In concrete terms, Jen has organised a very
successful events during her term; a BA
Conference in Santa Clara in April 2015, SQL
Saturday (BI Edition) events in Edinburgh in June
2015 and London in November in 2014. I went to
all three events and spoke to many attendees
who were very impressed with the organisation
and content of the events.
Jen is also an accomplished speaker – her talk on
data forensics at Santa Clara PASS event was one
of the highlights for me.
☒Volunteer
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☐Personal ☐Work
Background Check / Time and Travel Commitments
23. Have you ever been convicted of a felony? No, I have never been convicted of a felony.
If yes, please describe the circumstances:
