In any sport, being called out as Most Valuable Player, or MVP is a big deal. Being awarded the title by a group of one’s peers holds special significance, because colleagues understand the dedication and challenges an individual faces in becoming skilled in a particular line of work. While typically used in sports, the term MVP has come to be used in completely unrelated fields of endeavor such as music and business – as well as the technical community.
According to Microsoft, the MVP award is given to "exceptional, independent community leaders who share their passion, technical expertise, and real-world knowledge of Microsoft products with others.” The awarded are those who "actively share their ... technical expertise with the different technology communities related directly or indirectly to Microsoft". An MVP is awarded for contributions over the previous year. One such person can be found in the offices of Kinetik I.T.: Tom van Stiphout, Microsoft Access MVP.
Tom is the Software Development Manager of Kinetik I.T. Having earned a degree from Amsterdam University, he moved to the United States in 1991. After a few years with C++ and Windows SDK programming, he gradually shifted his focus on database programming. He worked with Microsoft Access from version 1.0, and Microsoft SQL Server from version 4.5, when both products were first released.
In 1997, Kinetik I.T. became one of the 27 Regional Directors in the United States, a title it held for three consecutive years. In this capacity Tom attended several conferences in Redmond and was one of the presenters at the annual Developer Days conference in Phoenix. During the last several years Tom has added .NET programming to his repertoire and he is particularly interested in hybrid applications that combine the best of what various platforms have to offer. Tom has been a frequent contributor to the Access newsgroups for many years, and was recently awarded the title of Access MVP.
To learn more about services and products – including how Microsoft Access can help your business – visit www.Kinetik-IT.com or follow Kinetik on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.