Charles Darwin University ITMS staff member Ben Hoffman received a rare honour from the world’s largest software provider this month when he was awarded Microsoft’s Most Valued Professional (MVP) award.
The Microsoft award is presented to specially selected IT professionals for their contribution to the Microsoft IT community and for the individual’s technical knowledge and expertise in their particular Microsoft area.
Hoffman joins a very select group of just 75 Australian IT professionals to ever win the coveted award and an even smaller group of just three people to win in his chosen field of Microsoft Exchange Server.
The talented 30-year-old is also founder of the Darwin Microsoft IT Pro User Group which was created as a forum for Darwin’s IT server and infrastructure community to share knowledge and encourage networking among IT professionals with similar interests.
Just before embarking on a five-week holiday to Vietnam, Hoffman said he was ‘absolutely thrilled’ to have been told he had been awarded the Microsoft MVP.
“It really is an honour to receive this award, especially being the first person in the Northern Territory to be named a Microsoft MVP recipient,” he said.
“I’m just absolutely thrilled.”
Apart from a Microsoft gift certificate, IT magazine subscriptions, an impressive MVP Award certificate, Hoffman will also receive an invitation to attend the Microsoft MVP Global Summit to be held later this year at the company’s Seattle, Washington State, headquarters.