- - UPDATED: Monday, April 3, 12:00 PM ET: WINNER ANNOUNCED
This year’s #SilverliningsMadness is a wrap. We officially have one cloudfluencer left standing!
Voting in the final round began Thursday, March 30, and closed Sunday, April 2, at midnight EST with just under 1,900 votes.
Let’s cut to the chase — your 2023 #SilverliningsMadness Most Influential Person in Cloud is…Drum roll, please…
Partha Seetala, President, Cloud, Rakuten Symphony
Partha Seetala of Rakuten Symphony is our 2023 Most Influential Person in Cloud, scoring 58% of the final vote.
Parth Seetala of Rakuten Symphony is the President of the Unified Cloud Business Unit and has conceived, designed and built products in the Scale Out Storage, File systems, Networking, Distributed Systems, Big Data and Information Analytics space.
Partha will be featured in a profile interview in the near future. Plus, we wouldn’t hold it against him if he wanted to add this snazzy title to his LinkedIn profile.
Congratulations, Partha! We are handing bragging rights off to you.
Congratulations to our runner-up, Khalid Raza of Graphiant, who received amazing support week after week from his voters. It was a close race.
Many kudos to all who participated in #SilverliningsMadness this year. Thanks to you, our team had a blast cheering from the sidelines for all 32 cloudfluencers who battled it out over the past few weeks.
Same time, next year? We’ll see you soon, Silverliners.
- - UPDATED: Thursday, March 30, 3:00 PM ET: The FINALISTS
We are days away from crowning the #SilverliningsMadness Most Influential Person in Cloud. This week you voted for your top 2. Now it's time to pick a winner.
Voting in Round 4 for our cloud-y March Madness began Monday, March 27, and closed Wednesday, March 29, at midnight EST with over 1,700 votes.
A quick crash course — we started with 32 contenders, and now, Silverliners, we’re at the final countdown for naming the Most Influential Person in Cloud.
We won’t keep you waiting; here are the finalists. Check out the updated bracket or see the list below (in alphabetic order by last name).
#SilverliningsMadness FINALISTS
- Khalid Raza, CEO and Founder, Graphiant
- Partha Seetala, President, Cloud, Rakuten Symphony
It's time to vote for the Most Influential Person in Cloud winner. Who will it be?
Vote here until the poll closes on Sunday, April 2, at 11:59 PM EST.
We will announce the winner Monday, April 3rd at 12 PM EST.
Silverlinings will feature the winner in a profile interview and shower them with all sorts of digital kudos. Plus, bragging rights are a given.
Final Four Results
Khalid Raza of Graphiant pulled 26% of the total vote to catch a spot in the final round. Partha Seetala of Rakuten Symphony maintained his lead.
If you participated in the Final Four round of #SilverliningsMadness, you can view the results here.
Reminder: Any remote robo-voting will be noted, and we will continue to discard any repeat votes. Please play fair.
Check back here Monday, April 3, at 12 PM EST to find out who’s crowned Most Influential Person in Cloud.
Again, you can vote for the winner here.
- - UPDATED: Monday, March 27, 3:00 PM ET: The FINAL FOUR
#SilverliningsMadness is down to the semi-final round of the Most Influential Person in Cloud contest.
Voting in Round 3 for our cloud-y March Madness began Thursday, March 23, and closed Sunday, March 26, at midnight EST with over to 1,600 votes.
In case you are new to the game, we started with 32 contenders and have made our way down to the Final Four.
Without further adieu, here’s who made it to the semi-finals. Peek at the updated bracket, or see the list below (in alphabetic order by last name).
Silverlinings FINAL FOUR
- Mark Bunn, VP of Cloud and Network Services, Nokia
- Dr. Jeongho Park, VP and Head of Technology Strategy Group, Networks Business, Samsung Electronics
- Khalid Raza, CEO and Founder, Graphiant
- Partha Seetala, President, Cloud, Rakuten Symphony
Now is the time to vote for who you think should make it to the final round.
Vote here until the poll closes on Weds., March 29, at 11:59 PM EST.
Mark your calendars with these important dates:
- Round 4// Final Four - opens today; closes Wednesday, March 29 at 11:59 pm EST
- Final Championship Round - opens Thursday, March 30 at 3pm EST; closes Sunday, April 2 at 11:59 pm EST.
We will announce the winner Monday, April 3rd at 12 pm EST.
Silverlinings will feature the winner in a profile interview and shower them with all sorts of digital kudos.
Round 3 Results
This round saw Partha Seetala of Rakuten Symphony pull into the lead with 35% of the vote. Be sure to continue voting for your favorite.
If you participated in Round 3 of #SilverliningsMadness, you can view the results here.
Reminder: Any remote robo-voting will be noted, and we will continue to discard any repeat votes. Please play fair.
Check back here Thursday, March 30, at 3:00 PM EST to find out which of these outstanding Final Four will go through to the semi-final round. See you soon!
Again, you can vote here.
- - UPDATED: Thursday, March 23, 3:00 PM ET
#SilverliningsMadness is heating up as we head into our Final 4 round of the Most Influential Person in Cloud contest.
Voting in Round 2 for our cloud-y March Madness began Monday, March 20, and closed Wednesday, March 22, at midnight EST with close to 2,000 votes.
In case you are new to the game, we started with 32 contenders and have shimmied our way down to a respectful list of Elite 8 cloud-fluencers.
Without further adieu, here’s who made sweeps! Peek at the updated bracket, or see the list below (in alphabetic order by last name).
Silverlinings Elite 8
- The Aviatrix Certified Engineer (ACE) Program Founders
- Mark Bunn, VP of Cloud and Network Services, Nokia
- Steve Mullaney, President and CEO, Aviatrix
- Sonakshi Pandey, Data Analytics, Google Cloud
- Dr. Jeongho Park, VP and Head of Technology Strategy Group, Networks Business, Samsung Electronics
- Khalid Raza, CEO and Founder, Graphiant
- Leandro Rzezak, CEO, Intraway
- Partha Seetala, President, Cloud, Rakuten Symphony
Now is the time to vote for the Final 4 here until the poll closes on Sunday, March 26, at 11:59 PM EST.
Silverlinings will feature the winner in a profile interview and shower them with all sorts of digital kudos.
Round 2 Results
If you participated in Round 2 of #SilverliningsMadness, you can view the results here.
We had new leaders this round giving us a run for our money — Khalid Raza of Graphiant and Partha Seetala of Rakuten Symphony collectively took home almost 42% of votes in the round — so, be sure to continue voting for your favorite!
Reminder: Any remote robo-voting will be noted, and we will continue to discard any repeat votes. Please play fair.
Check back here Monday, March 27, at 3:00 PM EST to find out which Final 4 will go through to the next round. See you soon!
Again, you can vote for the Final 4 here.
-- UPDATED: Monday, March 20, 3:00 PM ET
Last week, we rounded up 32 contenders for our cloud-y March Madness: The Most Influential Person in Cloud contest — nominated by our readers and selected by the Silverlinings editors.
Voting in Round 1 kicked off Thursday, March 16, and closed Sunday, March 19, at midnight EST.
After some weekend R&R, we are thrilled to unveil our Sweet 16 in #SilverliningsMadness. Check out the updated bracket on the right to see who made it to the next round - or see the list below (in alphabetical order by last name).
Silverlinings Sweet 16
- The Aviatrix Certified Engineer (ACE) Program Founders
- Mark Bunn, Nokia
- Thomas Kurian, Google Cloud
- Dave Mayo, Dish Network
- Steve Mullaney, Aviatrix
- Satya Nadella, Microsoft
- Sid Nag, Gartner
- Sonakshi Pandey, Google Cloud
- Dr. Jeongho Park, Samsung Electronics
- David Ranch, Juniper Networks
- Khalid Raza, Graphiant
- Danielle Royston, TelcoDR
- Leandro Rzezak, Intraway
- Partha Seetala, Rakuten Symphony
- Raj Yavatkar, Juniper Networks
- Michelle Zatlyn, Cloudflare
Now is the time to vote for the Elite 8 here until the poll closes on Wednesday, March 22 at 11:59 PM EST.
Round 1 Results
We hit close to 3,000 votes this round and we're already spotting some contenders leading the pack.
Our top three cloud-fluencers so far have taken up a third (33.18%) of the total votes — Partha Seetala of Rakuten Symphony, Michelle Zatlyn of Cloudflare, and Raj Yavatkar of Juniper Networks.
If you participated in Round 1, you can view the results here.
With a handful of rounds left to go, #SilverliningMadness is just getting started!
Reminder: Any remote robo-voting will be noted, and we will continue to discard any repeat votes. Please play fair.
Check back here Thursday at 3:00 PM EST to find out which Elite 8 will go through to the next round. See you soon!
Again, you can vote for the Elite 8 here.
-- Thursday, March 16, 2023, 7:00 AM ET
We have rounded up 32 submissions of the most influential people in the cloud — nominated by our readers and selected by the Silverlinings editors.
Whittling down to 32 was a challenge, but now it’s up to you, Silverliners, to deliberate and vote down to the final winner.
So how should you determine who is the “most influential” person in the cloud? That’s up to you. You can vote based on the innovations they’ve brought to market, or programs they may have founded, or how actively they contribute to the cloud community. Maybe it’s just someone you admire. Fate is in your hands!
Go to our poll here and vote for 16 contestants in the first round.
Voting for Round 1 will close Sunday, March 19 at 11:59 pm EST.
Root for your favorites on social media, and don’t forget to encourage your colleagues, friends and families to vote, too.
Ready to play? Here’s how:
Check out the bracket below or go to our list of 32 contenders here.
Go to our poll here and vote for 16 contestants in the first round.
Voting for Round 1 will close Sunday, March 19 at 11:59 pm EST.
Don’t forget to vote on each round’s poll, and follow the full Silverlinings Madness schedule below. Good luck to everyone.
Important dates to remember:
- Round 1 - open Thursday, March 16th at 8 am EST; close Sunday, March 19 at 11:59 pm EST
- Round 2//Sweet 16 - open Monday, March 20th at 3 pm EST; close Wednesday, March 22 at 11:59 pm EST
- Round 3//Elite 8 - open Thursday, March 23 at 3 pm EST; close Sunday, March 26 at 11:59 pm EST
- Round 4// Final Four - open Monday, March 27 at 3 pm EST; close Wednesday, March 29 at 11:59 pm EST
- Final Championship Round - open Thursday, March 30 at 3pm EST; close Sunday, April 2 at 11:59 pm EST.
We will announce the winner Monday, April 3rd at 12 pm EST.
Ed. Note: Any remote robo-voting will be noted, and those votes will be discarded. Please play fair.