Mark Laird

This month brings major change for one of Vivit's best and brightest, Mark Laird. Mark is retiring from Sopra Steri and the IT industry to pursue personal interests and to spend more time with his family.

Mark has been in the IT industry for almost 30 years, and has been promoting, using and deploying Micro Focus (formerly HP(E) Software) for the past 15 years.  He worked as Group Technical Architect for Sopra Steria and was responsible for continuing to develop the HP(E), Cisco and VMware partnerships within Sopra Steria. Sopra Steria, as both an Micro Focus Partner and Customer, has a unique insight into the use of Micro Focus Software in the real world and as such, Mark served as a member of the Micro Focus Customer Advisory Board for Business Service Management, providing feedback and insight into customer requirements for future versions of the suite.

The Vivit community has had the pleasure of working with Mark for the past 8 years while he contributed in various areas.  He served as the co-leader of the Business Service Management (BSM) Special Interest Group (SIG) as well as participated in other virtual SIGs in related areas. He regularly presented within the wider Micro Focus community at conferences, webinars, roundtable events and had promoted Vivit at the HP UK Software Universe (in 2013). Mark also participated regularly in our yearly Board of Directors nominations/elections to help bring outstanding leadership to our community. Vivit proudly named Mark the EMEA Speaker of the Year in 2013 and the Top Virtual Contributor in 2014.  Mark earned these awards for his participation in live webinar events to acquire cross-training on Micro Focus products and services as well as regularly contributed to forums, blogs, and newsletters for solutions to issues or questions about Micro Focus Software product installations.

We extend our sincere thanks and gratitude to our dear friend and leader for all he has done to help grow and develop the Vivit Community.

Congratulations Mark Laird, we will miss you greatly - best of luck to you in your new chapter of life!