SQLHA is happy to announce that Maxwell Myrick has joined as a Partner along with founders Ben DeBow and Allan Hirt. Maxwell comes to SQLHA as a 15-year veteran of Microsoft with experience on the SQL Server development team and Microsoft’s Mission Critical support team. He brings a deep technical knowledge of the Microsoft platform as well as a strong business sense as he has built million dollar businesses within Microsoft.

Prior to his Director of Incubation role, Maxwell held many diverse roles at Microsoft. His work has always been with a customer focus. He started in the field as a TAM supporting customers like Barnes & Noble when they rolled out their eCommerce solution and Harper Collins’ data warehouse effort, both on SQL Server 7.0 prior to its release. This work led to an offer to move to Redmond and join the SQL Server development team. There he designed and ran the Customer Lab for SQL Server which hosted 172 customers and their workloads from all around the world to ensure that they were successful on the platform. Over the next few years, he also had roles ranging including release manager, feature PM for upgrade, supporting Beta and TAP customers, as well as manager of sustained engineering.

After serving on the SQL Server development team for five years covering SQL Server 7.0, 2000, and 2005, Max moved to the newly created Mission Critical Program (MCP). He built and automated all aspects of that team’s lab, and created offerings including MCP Service Monitoring, Proactive Testing, and quarterly Upgrade Roadmaps. As Microsoft’s mission critical business grew, Maxwell chose to focus on developing an offering that ensured his customers achieved high levels of availability by providing customized recommendations which told them to apply only what updates they actually needed. To give them these recommendations, Maxwell reviewed all changes to the shipped products in the entire Microsoft stack each month and compared it against the code they actually used. His customers included banks, governments, tax authorities, stock exchanges, and transportation systems across the world. In addition, he moved onto Microsoft’s Premier Support headquarters as a Director of Incubation responsible for designing, implementing, and launching new support offerings.

“We feel that Max is a perfect fit for SQLHA,” says Allan Hirt. “With his business acumen and technical knowledge, along with a strong commitment to ensuring customers are always available, he will help SQLHA get to the next level. We’re excited to have him on board and between the three of us, we feel the sky is the limit.”

Ben DeBow concurs. “Max is a gem in the Microsoft rough and we could not pass up the opportunity to bring him onboard. Couple that with his knowledge and expertise in supporting the largest systems in the world and you have a great mix.”

“I’m excited to be joining the great team at SQLHA which shares a passion for customers and commitment to quality,” says Maxwell.

Maxwell Myrick’s first official duties with SQLHA will be in the Consultant’s Corner booth at PASS Summit from October 16 – 18, 2013.