Meet Your Competition Captains
Each Imagine Cup competition is managed by a Captain who is chosen by Microsoft from industry
experts. Captains are here to help you get the information you need to compete in the Imagine Cup.
They monitor the forums, select helpful links and downloads, and work closely with the judges to
ensure the judging criteria is clear and fair.
You can meet your Captain by posting in the forums. Some Captains are former Imagine Cup champions, some are Microsoft employees, and some work for other technology companies or
in the government. Want to learn more about your Captains and what inspires them about technology?
Check out their biographies below:
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Dennis Anderson
Dennis Anderson, Ph.D. is a Captain of the Software Design competition. Dr. Anderson is Professor of Information Systems at Pace University, New York, NY. He has served as Associate Dean from 1999 to 2007. He also served as Director of the University's Center for Advanced Media. Dr. Anderson has been in computer information technology industry for many years as an expert and adviser to many global organizations including the United Nations. He has served as a Final Judge at the Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals in Korea and in France. Dr. Anderson received his Ph.D. and M.Phil. from Columbia University. He also received an Ed.M. in Instructional Technology and Media from Columbia University. In addition, Dr. Anderson holds an M.S. in Computer Science from New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and his B.A. in Computer Science from Fordham University. Learn more about Dr. Anderson, by connecting to his blog.
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Rob Miles
Rob Miles is a Captain of the Software Design competition. Rob is a Lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Hull in the United Kingdom where he delivers courses in programming, software engineering and embedded systems. Rob has been writing software since computers filled entire rooms and were programmed using punched cards. He has developed code for a huge number of systems over the years, although now he likes to work with XNA, Windows Mobile and the .NET Micro Framework, on which subjects he has written MSDN articles and books for Microsoft Press. He is also an experienced presenter and has given breakout sessions at numerous Microsoft conferences, including TechEd. Rob has been a Microsoft MVP for the past five years and has been involved in the Imagine Cup since its inception, initially as a team mentor but more recently as a judge. In his spare time he likes to take photographs and has also been known to dash off the odd verse of poetry – his lectures given entirely in rhyme have passed into legend at Hull. He is also an avid blogger and you can find out more at his blog.
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Scott Davis
Scott Davis is Captain of the Embedded Development competition. He has been with Microsoft for the past 5 years and has led the Imagine Cup Embedded Development competition for the past 3 years. Scott currently leads the Microsoft Academic and Community programs for Windows Embedded. He is responsible for creating the hobbyist focused “SPARK Your Imagination” program as well as a variety of global academic initiatives. In addition to his work with Windows Embedded, Scott helped launch Vista, Office, SQL and Visual Studio. Scott is deeply involved in on10.net, Mix and Microsoft Film Studios. In 2007, Scott was awarded an Emmy for his work on the Windows Vista multi-media promotion. Scott received his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida and his MBA from the University of Washington. He braves the rain in Seattle with his son and extended family.
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John Nordlinger
John Nordlinger is Captain of the Game Development competition. John is currently a Program Manager at Microsoft Research. John started with computers to earn money for his Philosophy degree at Northeastern University. After college, John worked at Digital Equipment Corporation as a Principal engineer, Oracle as Technical Director and then landed at Microsoft to lead the SQL Server enterprise effort. Since joining Microsoft Research, John has started working with academic institutions in the Northeast and India and opened a research lab in Bangalore. John has served as founder and co-chair for the annual GDCSE game cruise and the related Call for Papers. John's current focus is on New Media. Recently, he has written, directed and produced his first film "Allegory of the Game" which was selected for Chicago’s Short Film Festival. John is also collaborating with Luke Cuddy on “World of Warcraft and Philosophy”, an upcoming Opencourt publication.
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Marc Mercuri
Marc Mercuri is a Captain for the Robotics & Algorithm competition. Marc is a principal architect on the Platform Architecture Team at Microsoft. His recent projects include the public-facing Web sites Tafiti.com and RoboChamps.com. Marc has been in the industry for 15 years, the last five spanning roles across Microsoft in consulting, incubation, and evangelism. Marc joined Microsoft to serve as a Principal Consultant with Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS). While in MCS, he drove multiple large-scale, award-winning solutions that encompassed the majority of the Microsoft platform and also included many key third-party technologies. Marc has spoken at numerous conferences and has written articles focused on services and mobile application development. He is the author of Beginning Information Cards and CardSpace: From Novice to Professional and is a co-author of Windows Communication Foundation Unleashed! and Windows Communication Foundation: Hands On! For more information, connect to Marc’s blog.
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Chris Amaris
Chris Amaris is co-Captain of the IT Challenge competition. Chris is the Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Convergent Computing and he has over 20 years experience consulting for Fortune 500 companies, leading companies in the technology selection, design, planning, and implementation of complex Information Technology projects. He specializes in database management, security, performance tuning, systems management, migration and messaging. A Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) with an Information System Security Architecture Professional (ISSAP) concentration, Certified Homeland Security (CHS III), Windows 2003 MCSE, Novell CNE, Banyan CBE, and a Certified Project Manager, Chris is an author, writer and technical editor for a number of IT books, including Network Security for Government and Corporate Executives, Windows 2000 Performance Tuning & Optimization, Maximum Windows 2000 Security, Windows Server 2008 Unleashed, and Exchange Server 2007 Unleashed. Chris Amaris presents on Operations Management, Messaging, Security, and Information Technology topics worldwide. Chris is also a member of the Computer Security Institute (CSI).
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Rand Morimoto
Rand Morimoto, Ph.D., MVP, CISSP is a co-Captain of the IT Challenge. A former Imagine Cup champion in the IT Challenge, he has served as the Head Judge at the Worldwide Finals for the past 5 years. Dr. Morimoto has been in the computer industry for over 30 years and is the lead author for Sams Publishing's "Unleashed" series of books that include worldwide bestselling titles on Microsoft technologies spanning products including Windows 2008, Exchange 2007, SharePoint 2007, ISA 2006, Hyper-V, and SQL 2008. Dr. Morimoto is the President of Convergent Computing, a San Francisco based IT consulting firm that provides technology consulting to some of the largest businesses and government agencies in the world. In his free time, Dr. Morimoto is a Regent on the Board at St. Mary's College of California, volunteers on the Board of Directors for the Chabot Space and Science Center astronomical museum and planetarium, and directly sponsors and supports organizations involved in climate change, international education, and global peace building.
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Rogerio Panigassi
Rogerio Panigassi is the Captain of the MashUp competition. Rogerio has a Masters in Electric Engineering, from the Polytechnic School of the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil in the field of Digital Systems. He started his career working in the electronic industry at Philips Lighting in Brazil, moved to the oil industry, and eventually joined the Information Technology and Communication industry which together with education was always his passion. Rogerio tried his own internet entrepreneurial endeavour in 1999. The short experience was terminated when he joined Microsoft Brazil in 2000 as a Technical Expert Consultant at the financial vertical of Microsoft Consulting Services Department. After two and a half years, he secured a new opportunity inside the Evangelism group at Microsoft. Rogerio managed the academic initiatives in Brazil from 2003 until 2007. Two years ago, he moved to Microsoft's corporate headquarters in Redmond to run and manage the engine behind the Imagine Cup competitions.
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Leandro Doeyo
Leandro Doeyo is Captain of the Photography competition. Leandro is a 15 years veteran at Microsoft, currently a Program Manager on the Academic Team. His first job at Microsoft was as a programmer. He joined Microsoft in 1993 for the Windows NT Advanced Server launch. Since then he has covered many positions in the Argentinean subsidiary, at the Latin America regional headquarters, and in Redmond, he launched Channel 8 and now manages Microsoft Student Partners and Student Tech Clubs programs. In his free time he’s a very passionate photographer, he attended workshops in Chiapas, Mexico with Cisco Dietz, Nikon School, and in the NYIP among others. You can see some of the portfolios in his Windows Live Photo Gallery. Leandro enjoys the northwest life with his family, and in his spare time… he takes pictures.
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Michael Johnstone
Michael Johnstone is the Short Film competition captain. Michael joined Paramount Pictures’ Digital Entertainment division as the Director of their New Business Group in April of 2008. He is currently oversees all new business initiatives and prospective technologies relative to Paramount’s short form content and is responsible for the development, deployment and management of all online products. Prior to his current position, Michael was the owner/operator of WalkSoftly Productions, a digital media encoding, distribution and marketing company working with software, games and video publishers, music labels, digital distributors, online gaming and web developers. Before owning his own company, Michael worked for 3 years at Brilliant Digital Entertainment – Altnet, Inc. He last served as their Director of Production and Business Development being responsible for all their content integration, production and distribution as well as creating and maintaining all partner relationships with Altnet’s gaming, video content and music label partners. Michael splits his time between his home-office in Seattle and Los Angeles.
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Surya Vanka
Surya Vanka is Captain of the Design competition. A 9 year veteran of Microsoft, Surya is Manager of User Experience Excellence, and oversees best practices and engineering standards to create high-quality user experiences for Microsoft's customers. Surya's mission is put the users rather than technology at the center of the development process for all of Microsoft's products. Surya was professor of design at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and was a Fellow at the prestigious Center for Advanced Study. He is the author of two books on design, has lectured on design in over 20 countries, and is published widely. His work has appeared in numerous publications including Form, ID Magazine, WIRED, Interactions, BBC Radio, National Public Radio, and Channel 15 Television. He is the recipient of several awards including best practice awards at Microsoft, an accessibility achievement award, Sloan Foundation Award and an IDSA best paper award.
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Helpful Links
Dennis Anderson:
Rob Miles:
Scott Davis:
John Nordlinger:
Marc Mercuri:
Chris Amaris:
Rand Morimoto:
Leandro Doeyo:
Michael Johnstone:
Surya Vanka:
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