About the Authors

Brian K. McDonald, MCDBA, MCSD, is a business intelligence and data warehouse geek working for Acosta, the top sales and marketing company in the US. Brian was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio but he currently lives in Jacksonville, Florida with his beautiful wife and his two little ninjas, Bailey and Kylie. As the former owner of Business Enterprise Solution Technologies and an independent consultant, Brian has experiences in architecting data warehouses, data modeling, database administration, SQL Server Reporting Services, Integration Services, Analysis Services, and PowerPivot. He has also worked as an application developer, network administrator, and database administrator throughout his 13 years in the IT industry. A characteristic groomed while serving his country in the United States Marine Corps is the pride Brian takes in all his projects and he diligently works to not only meet expectations, but greatly exceed them. He continually strives to improve his skill-set, both professionally and personally. In addition to having a Business Management and Computer Information Systems, he is a Microsoft Certified Solution developer (MCSD) and a Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA). Brian is an active member in the SQL Server community. He enjoys giving back to the SQL Server community through training, virtual and public speaking engagements, as well as by writing articles and blogs for many industry leading websites like SQLBIGeek, SQLServerCentral, and SQLServerPedia. You may have seen Brian presenting at the inaugural SQL Rally in Orlando, FL, or at one of the many SQL Saturdays, Code Camps, or User Groups that he has been a part of throughout the years. In those moments when he is not giving back to the community or working, Brian enjoys "geeking" out with his wife Sherri and allowing his children to practice their UFC style moves on him.

Shawn McGehee is a DBA and manager for a large insurance company in the US. He has been working with SQL Server in some fashion since 7.0 and has been working in the IT field since 1998. Starting as a developer, he has gradually made the move to a full time administration role, but still enjoys the challenges he can solve using his development background whenever he can. He is active in the SQL Server community and enjoys speaking at user groups, SQL Saturdays and the odd Code Camp. He is currently running the Orlando SQL Server User Group OPASS and has been involved with the SQL Server community for the last few years. You can usually find him roaming about at a SQL Saturday in the SouthEast, wherever it may be.