Senior database reliability engineer with nearly 30 years of experience architecting and tuning SQL Server and ensuring high availability at scale. I have a proven track record improving performance, leading initiatives, mentoring teams, and helping the SQL Server community.
Staff Database Reliability Engineer
Stack Overflow Nov 2021 - current
Stack Overflow Nov 2021 - current
- Help ensure consistent, sub-second page load performance of one of the world's most popular websites
- Interface with the broader community to discuss platform issues and improvements
- Planned and led zero-downtime upgrades to SQL Server 2022 and SQL Server 2025
- Collaborated with other teams to migrate SQL Server to cloud VMs (Azure and GCP)
- Reduced failover time of the 8TB Stack Overflow database from 30 minutes to 12 seconds
Most Valuable Professional
Microsoft MVP 1997 - current
Microsoft MVP 1997 - current
- Recognized by Microsoft as an outstanding contributor to the technical community since 1997
- A prolific blogger throughout most of my career
- Spoken at dozens of conferences, user groups, and SQL Saturdays around the world
Database Reliability Engineer (L4)
Wayfair Nov 2019 - Nov 2021
Wayfair Nov 2019 - Nov 2021
- Helped deliver high availability and performance of SQL Server databases behind this leading retailer's web properties
- Established best practices, failover and latency runbooks, and query tuning methodologies
- Optimized and standardized configuration of dozens of database servers handling massive swings in customer volume
Technical Product Manager
SentryOne Oct 2010 - Oct 2019
SentryOne Oct 2010 - Oct 2019
- Managed technical changes, backlog, and release schedule for Plan Explorer, one of the most popular free tools for SQL Server
- Contributed in many ways to SQL Sentry, including benchmark studies, tutorials, and directly helping customers get the most out of the solution
- Served as editor-in-chief of the SQLPerformance blog, managing authors, their contracts, and all content
Senior Data Architect
Bluestreak Apr 1997 - Oct 2010
Bluestreak Apr 1997 - Oct 2010
- Built schema, highly available databases, and a prototype world-class ad server from the ground up
- Built web application for ad campaign management using classic Active Server Pages
- Led upgrades to SQL Server 2000, 2005, and 2008
Bachelor of Business Administration
Nipissing University Sep 1993 - Apr 1997
Nipissing University Sep 1993 - Apr 1997
- Between classes, ran a desktop publishing business, creating web sites and marketing materials for various clients locally and abroad, including the university library, Harley-Davidson of Toronto, Laurasia Resources, MerleFest, and Brushy Mountain Bee Farm