Michael Blumenthal is an expert SharePoint Architect with Magenic, a Microsoft National Systems Integrator and Microsoft Partner with Gold competencies in Portals and Collaboration and as well as other areas. He has been working with SharePoint 2010 since its beta (pre-release) version in the summer of 2009, and also has extensive experience with MOSS 2007. He has over 8 years of SharePoint experience. Michael focuses on producing the maximum business value from SharePoint by designing solutions that leverage built in functionality as much as possible in order to minimize the cost of custom development. Michael uses Microsoft best-practices and community tools to extend SharePoint further. Michael also enjoys giving back to the SharePoint community by helping run the Chicago SharePoint User Group, and speaking at SharePoint conferences. These include SharePoint Connections and Microsoft Virtual Tech Days as well as local events including SharePoint Saturday Chicago. Michael maintains a blog at http://blumenthalit.net and Tweets about SharePoint topics as @MichaelBL. He has also been recognized as an INETA Community Champion in 2010 and 2011. He has earned numerous premier certifications: Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA), Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD), Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist (MCTS), and Microsoft Certified IT Professional for SharePoint 2010. He has also earned the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) credential from the Project Management Institute. Michael holds a Bachelors of Science degree from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Computer Science.