His role
Senior Program Manager, on site at Microsoft

His project
Developing internal business intelligence applications and enabling business owners making smarter business decisions

His specialty
Agile/Scrum program management methodology, and rescuing project that have "gone south"

Secret to success
Using Scrum methodology “with my own spin;” being transparent, flexible, having a sense of humor

Education
B.S. in computer science from Pacific University; M.S. in computer science from City University, Seattle

Hometown
Teheran, Iran

How long in the U.S.
Since 1994

Child prodigy
Built his first video game at age 7, first computer program at age 9 ("Dad helped!")

Favorite pastime
Riding his motorcycle, a Ducati 1098

Little-known talent
Plays trance music on the keyboard

His role
Director Agile Management Practices, ScrumMaster, Certified Scrum Trainer

Education
MBA in international business from the Moore School of the University of South Carolina

Accomplishment
Led the largest-ever Scrum implementation (at the time) after only reading about it

Expertise
Coaching individuals and teams, building successful Agile practices, undertaking performance improvement initiatives, leading organizational change

Why SolutionsIQ
"SolutionsIQ is interested not just in selling a product, but in helping companies improve their performance, which in turn improves people’s lives."

Family
Married, four children

Interesting fact
Lived in Latin America for three years, fluent in Spanish

Hobbies
Family, cycling, disk golf, fishing, woodworking, cooking, travel, white water rafting

Hometown
Twin Falls, Idaho

Motivation
"If I can help someone realize a breakthrough in their work, something that truly makes a difference, the effect of that change trickles down to so many aspects of their life. Coaching individuals through the adoption of Agile allows me to participate again and again in that kind of a breakthrough."

His role
Principal Consultant, ScrumMaster, Certified Scrum Trainer

What he does
Training, coaching, coding

History
More than 13 years experience in software development and consulting

Accomplishments
Founder of the International Association of Software Architects (IASA) Puget Sound Chapter; speaker at multiple conferences

Goal for this year
Write a book on the architecture of an Agile organization

Computer of choice
Mac

Tribal history
Native American from the Okanagan and Shuswap tribes

Childhood ambition
Basketball player

Proud father
His five-year-old daughter speaks (to varying degrees) English, Hindi, Mandarin Chinese, and ASL

Secret talent
Rapping and writing poetry

His role
Senior Program Manager, onsite at Microsoft

Education
BA in Accounting; MBA with concentration in Management Information Systems (both degrees from University of Washington)

Prior to joining SolutionsIQ
Worked for Nordstrom, Internap Network Services, UW Medicine

His expertise
Generating business value; solving problems; holding "Benton Games" as morale events

Example of Benton Games
Treasure hunt with clues left around Microsoft campus (offices, fountains, etc.), leading players to team party at Microsoft Museum

Motivation
"Working with people who enjoy what they do, pull them together into a team, and accomplish something that people said was impossible."

Hometown
Edmonds, Washington

Family
Married since 1985, two children in high school and college

Favorite pastime
Spending time with family; collecting fossils

Best fossil finds
Fish that are three to four feet long; alligator tooth

His role
Engagement Manager

Current focus
Business Development, Project Delivery, and Thought Leadership

Experience
Over 25 years of Project Management and Consulting experience in a wide variety of industries; received MBA 1983; Principal in own firm for 12 years

Why SolutionsIQ
"I almost left the profession in early 2000 because of poor results using traditional methodologies. Now I'm proud to deliver value frequently and delight my customers."

Hometown
Jefferson City, Missouri

Family
Married for 22 years to Lisa, and has two children, Luke (18) and Noah (14)

Hobbies
Scoutmaster and Boy Scouts leadership activities, fishing and hunting (bow and rifle), hiking and camping

Favorite pastimes
Reading and listening to music (jazz, rock, classic, folk)

Favorite vacation spot
Maui

Little known fact
Did a photography and hunting safari in South Africa

His role
Agile Coach, Analyst, Scrum Practitioner, Scrum Trainer

At SolutionsIQ
Trained and coached 30 Scrum project teams during enterprise rollouts, including midsized to Fortune 10 product companies

Previous experience
Background in development, business and functional analysis, organizational change, project management, and business intelligence

Motivation
"I hope to bring out the best in the people that I'm coaching"

Hometown
Tarapur, India

Education
Bachelor of Engineering, Mumbai University, India

Family
Dhaval and wife Lincy became first-time parents on August 13, 2008

Childhood ambition
Professional soccer player; now plays minor-league soccer in Seattle area

Favorite Author
Arthur C Clark

His role
Senior Technical Recruiter

Experience
Has worked in recruiting for 15 years

How long at SolutionsIQ
12 years

Expertise
Communication, listening to the candidates and clients and understanding their needs

What he loves about his job
Working with people and finding the right positions for them

Hometown
Chicago

Favorite pastime
Spectator sports ("All of them!")

Who he roots for
Local teams and Chicago, but "it's about the sport, not the team"

Favorite music
Classic rock, jazz

Most strenuous thing he's ever done
Helping people move

His role
Senior Business Systems Analyst, on site at T-Mobile

What he does
Financial systems analysis projects

Experience
IT consultant in the telecom industry, specializing in business intelligence, data warehousing, e-commerce, billing, and IT development. Loves using Agile methodology.

Education
B.S. in systems management, DePaul University; MBA in finance, Roosevelt University (Chicago)

What he loves to do
Solve problems!

Hometown
Chicago, IL

Best places he ever lived
Seattle, WA; Chicago, IL; Denver, CO; and Toronto, ON

After work
Writes electronica music for his band Chain of Chaos (available on iTunes)

Foreign language
German

Other favorite pastimes
Oil painting, hiking, biking

His role
Delivery Manager, ScrumMaster

Current project
Working at client site as ScrumMaster, demonstrating Agile

Motivation
"Delivering things is my favorite thing, and Agile is the way software gets to the customer the quickest."

Previous experience
28 years as project/ program/ product manager for various software and online service companies

First job
Working in an ice cream shop

Hometown
Marblehead, MA

Favorite pastime
Sailing

Favorite vacation spot
Desolation Sound (Pacific Northwest)

Volunteer work
Trains volunteers for the Humane Society

Why SolutionsIQ
"I came here to learn from SolutionsIQ experts and to practice Agile."

His role
Senior Software Development Engineer

Current project
.NET gaming project

Recent accomplishment
Spoke at SD West 2008 on Domain
Specific Testing Languages and Agile Usability

Education
BA in psychology, MS in computer science

Expertise
Narrative testing, test-driven development, automated testing, Scrum, Agile software development practices, troubleshooting/ debugging

Hometown
Poughkeepsie, NY

Favorite vacation spot
Maui, Hawaii

Childhood ambition
Astronaut

Why that didn't happen
Exceeds the height limit (he's 6'7")

Why SolutionsIQ
"Of all the companies I've ever worked for, SolutionsIQ has the highest quality of employees both professionally and personally."

Her role
Engagement Manager, ScrumMaster, Agile Coach

Motivation
Helping teams succeed and increase performance and efficiency

Expertise
Architectural design, Java, database design in Agile, test-driven development

Training
Certified in Extreme Programming in 2000; ScrumMaster since 2004

Previous experience
Over 16 years experience in software development, data modeling, and architecture

Recent accomplishment
Created an internal SolutionsIQ community for team leads

Secret ambition
Provide natural energy healing to people and the earth

First came to U.S.
As a high school exchange student in Ohio

Free time
Volunteers for the American Red Cross

Family history
Grandfather was an accomplished Chinese painter

Her role
Sr. Account Executive

Current Focus
Business Development for Professional Services Team

Experience
15 years in this industry with experience as account manager, sales executive and recruiter

Why SolutionsIQ
"Ability to collaborate and succeed as a team." I love working with all these "smart" people.

First job
Working at a Saltwater Cactus fast food restaurant in high school, making "outlandish burritos"

Hometown
Longview, WA

Family
Married 28 years to her best friend, Paul; two sons, Keegan (21) and Mac (18); Yorkie named "Jeter"

Hobbies
Flower and vegetable gardening, snow shoeing, biking, cooking without recipes and singing with her jazz guitarist husband

Favorite pastime
Watching my guys play baseball at Redmond High and Bellevue Community College, which includes attending up to seven baseball games a week during baseball season

Favorite vacation spot
Hawaii or any tropical setting with turquoise waters

Her role
Senior Quality Assurance Engineer, on site at Safeco Insurance

How long at SolutionsIQ
Two years

Experience
Has worked as test engineer at Microsoft, working with Web and Windows applications

Education
B.A. in engineering from National Chen Kung University, Taiwan

Achievement
Developed automation framework for Windows application at Safeco

Home town
Taipei, Taiwan

Her Taiwanese name
Shuyi (pronounced Shoo-ee)

Recent accomplishment
Finished Seattle-to-Portland bicycle ride (200 miles)

Favorite food
Taiwanese snacks sold by street vendors

Little-known talent
Plays the pipa (Chinese lute)

Her role
Talent Acquisition Consultant

How long at SolutionsIQ
13 years

Motivation
Helping people find a job that matches their skills and interests, and making a significant difference in their lives

Previous Experience
Graduated from West Point with degree in engineering; stationed as army officer in Germany for three years

Why SolutionsIQ
Great team, great people, supportive management

Home town
New York City, NY

Family
Married, sons Declan (3), and Rory (born in October 2008)

Favorite vacation spot
Ireland, home of her mother’s family

Favorite pastime
Skiing, hiking, “anything outdoors”

Talent
Plays the piano

His role
Development Lead for an Agile Development Team

Current Focus
Evolutionary architecture, software entropy reduction, and coaching Agile engineering practices

Experience
Over ten years of professional experience in development, consulting and program management; wrote his first software program in 4th grade on a portable PC that weighed 50 lbs

Why SolutionsIQ
"I love the opportunity to do Agile development, training, and consulting in a single place."

Hometown
Kernen, Germany; a 1,000 year old town with a population of 15,000

Family
Married; his wife grew up in China and they met in college in Germany

Hobbies
Working out, playing tennis (finished 7th place in Seattle Men's 3.5 Tennis League in 2008), and reading (economics, politics, software engineering, and some fiction)

Favorite pastimes
Going snorkeling with his wife, and attending pro tennis tournaments ("obviously as a spectator")

Favorite vacation spot
Any place with great snorkeling and scuba diving spots

Little known fact
Used to skydive

His role
Application developer

Current focus
Telecom project as development lead and coaching for remote client team – Agile development and Scrum practices, Continuous Integration, and technology such as Spring and Hibernate.

Experience
Developer in product companies doing Telecom and voice/speech products

Why SolutionsIQ
"I like to see folks using my applications and getting code into their hands faster."

Hometown
Kinnelon, New Jersey

If I won the lottery
Travel to Turkey, paint and go back to school to study higher math

Hobbies
Oil painting of landscapes

Favorite pastimes
Playing guitar and working on open source projects

Favorite vacation spot
Romania because of all the medieval towns in the valleys of Transylvania

Little known fact
Spent the first year of college studying art history, painting, classics and Greek at a small college in eastern California; went back to school to get a Computer Science degree.

His role
Sourcing Operations Manager

What he does
Manages online candidate search efforts, pre-qualifying job seekers for recruiting team evaluation; refine process efficiency and accuracy

Experience
Three years in recruiting, including onsite coordination engagements at Walt Disney Internet Group and Attenex

Why SolutionsIQ
"The corporate culture is very open and inviting, and individuals are encouraged to pursue their own career path"

Secret to success
Aptitude for the industry, and demonstrating technical expertise above and beyond what is required

Home town
Bothell, WA

Favorite pastime
Snowboarding

Best place ever traveled
London

Car
Subaru Impreza Wagon (cool gray)

What he wanted to be when he grew up
Lego engineer, or Lego block architect