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Chris Andrew

Chris is the General Manager of the Azure Strategic Growth & Global Datacenter Optimization (DCO) Center of Excellence (CoE) team within the Global Channel Partner Sales organization. The DCO CoE team is charged with helping accelerate the profitable transformation of the Hybrid Cloud Partner (HCP) channel by unlocking new capabilities and opportunities empowered by Microsoft Azure, the Microsoft adaptive cloud strategy, and AI transformation at scale through the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) initiative. Chris has over 25 years of global experience focused on emerging technologies within the hosting and cloud services, software, and telecommunications industries. Chris joined Microsoft in March 1999 and has been directly focused on cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS), and managed services providers.

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Andrew Cook

Andrew is a Director of Azure Strategic Growth, leading strategic initiatives to empower HCPs to modernize their datacenter practices and scale their Azure business. As part of the DCO Center of Excellence, Andrew works closely with partners to accelerate cloud migrations through the CSP initiative, with a focus on simplifying cloud economics and unlocking profitability. He brings over two decades of experience in engineering leadership and cloud strategy, including 12 years at CenturyLink (formerly Savvis), where he served as Director of Engineering for Managed Services. Andrew holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science with an emphasis on information management from Webster University. He lives in St. Louis, MO, with his wife and three children.

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Fernando Peoples

Fernando is Technical Partner Development Manager on the Strategic Growth DCO team. His team empowers partners to drive scale migrations to Azure through the CSP initiative. Fernando joined Microsoft in April 2021 as a Partner Development Manager. Prior to Microsoft, he spent nine years at First National Technology Solutions, where he served in various roles from sales engineer to cloud engineer. Originally from Lexington, NC, Fernando and his wife now live in Omaha, NE, with their four children.

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Fien Keijzer

Fien is a Senior Partner Development Manager on the Global DCO team for EMEA. She brings over 18 years of experience across the HCP ecosystem, combining deep expertise in Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA) licensing and the CSP initiative with a strong track record of guiding partners in growing and scaling their Azure business. Thanks to this experience, Fien has a pragmatic understanding of what it takes for partners to modernize and grow, supporting HCPs as they translate the DCO motion into real, scalable impact. Originally from Belgium and now based in France near the Luxembourg border, Fien is happy to connect in French, English, or Dutch.

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Herman Keijzer

Herman Keijzer is a Senior Partner Development Manager based in the Netherlands. He focuses on empowering hosting providers, software development companies, and managed services partners to accelerate their cloud and datacenter transformation on Microsoft Azure. With deep expertise in DCO, hybrid, and sovereign cloud architectures, as well as Microsoft commercial initiatives (including SPLA, CSP, and Azure), Herman works closely with partners across EMEA to modernize infrastructure, drive Azure consumed revenue, and build sustainable, cloud-first business models. Herman has more than 20 years of hosting experience with Microsoft and with partners.

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Karsten Hartlieb

Karsten is a Senior Partner Development Manager with a strong focus on strategic partner enablement and cloud transformation. He brings a unique blend of technical and business expertise, holding a degree in Telecommunication Technology (FH) and an MBA in International Management. With extensive experience in partner marketing, sales, and strategy, Karsten supports the Microsoft partner ecosystem in driving Azure adoption and delivering scalable, customer-centric solutions. Before joining Microsoft in 2011, he spent 10 years at T-Systems International working across different roles on SAP hosting and outsourcing. Karsten lives near Munich, Germany, with his wife and two children.

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Mike Hartmann

Mike is a Senior Partner Development Manager on the Global DCO team. Mike brings over 30 years of partner go-to-market, offer creation, sales, and business development experience to the Microsoft HCP ecosystem. Mike works with HCPs to accelerate their profitable transformation by unlocking new capabilities and opportunities empowered by Microsoft Azure, the Microsoft adaptive cloud strategy, and AI transformation. In addition, Mike helps drive the Microsoft DCO community, field enablement, and HCP events. Mike is located in Seattle, WA.

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Microsoft Azure fundamentals

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T.R. Sloan

T.R. is a Director of Strategic Growth on the Datacenter Optimization team within the Global Partner Solutions, Americas organization. The DCO team empowers strategic partners to accelerate Azure growth and drive digital transformation across joint customers through the CSP initiative. T.R. has 19 years of enterprise and cloud experience focused on increasing business value with technology. T.R. joined Microsoft in January 2006 and has held a variety of roles including Architect, Solution Specialist, and Account Executive. T.R. resides in Carmel, IN, with his wife and two kids.

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Microsoft Azure fundamentals

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Vijay Borkar

Vijay is a Senior Partner Development Manager focused on the DCO ecosystem across Asia. He works with cloud and hosting partners to accelerate Azure adoption by empowering them to modernize their datacenter and hybrid cloud offerings using Microsoft Azure and the CSP initiative. With over a decade of experience in digital transformation and cloud technologies, Vijay enables partners to scale Azure-based services, drive consumption growth, and unlock new revenue opportunities. He collaborates closely with partners across the region on initiatives ranging from onboarding and business case development to compliance alignment and Azure workload migration, including solutions such as Azure Arc, Azure Virtual Desktop, and SQL-enabled workloads. Vijay is passionate about empowering partners to build scalable, secure, and innovative solutions on Microsoft Azure while contributing to the broader Microsoft partner ecosystem.

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Vincent Texcier

Vincent is a Senior Manager on the DCO team. He is responsible for driving hybrid cloud transformation across Europe and Asia, working closely with Microsoft partners and the field, especially those with SPLA backgrounds, to modernize their datacenter practices using Microsoft solutions. He supports partners as they transition to HCPs, empowering them to implement scalable architectures and optimize operations through FinOps and data-driven insights. He brings over 15 years of experience in IT and cloud strategy. Prior to his current role, Vincent held positions in technical sales, partner enablement, and infrastructure modernization across various sectors including finance and public services. He is based in France and collaborates globally as part of the DCO Center of Excellence.

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