Microsoft MVP, Granite Award, Acquisition and More!




2020 is turning out to be a whirlwind of a year! 

COVID, Civil Unrest, and a roller coaster economy! For myself, it has been my own version of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. 

We started the acquisition process back in the fall of 2019. I was under NDA until everything was finalized and was diligently working on due diligence, building up the Microsoft practice and also working on getting all my requirements in for my MVP nomination. On March 15, our Microsoft practice was finally acquired and we are now officially MorganFranklin Consulting. MorganFranklin has been in the consulting business for over 20+ years focusing on advisory services, technical accounting, digital transformation and strategy and ERP selections and implementations. Our team was a much needed piece of the missing puzzle when it came to ERP selections and implementations. 

A little history, MorganFranklin had also just come out of acquisition and was acquired by our now parent company and current client, Vaco in 2019 as well. Vaco, a leading talent and solutions firm specializing in executive search, consulting, placement, and strategic staffing based in Nashville, Tenn., ranked #4 on Forbes’ 2018 list of America’s Best Professional Recruiting Firms.

The day of our orientation was the day that all travel was banned and offices closed for our organizations due to COVID. My team has been diligently working from home with teams all across the country that we have never met in person. 

In the meanwhile, I got notification from another GPUG team member that I had won the graphite award from Dynamics Communities. I had no idea I was even nominated and was pleasantly surprised and overwhelmed. The Granite Award recognizes the most active Partner Members in the User Group community. I am so thankful and humbled to receive this award. 

Back at the Directions NA conference last year, I received a message from current MVP Steve Endow who wanted to meet up with myself and a couple other amazing consultants and teachers in this space to nominate our team for Microsoft MVP. Steve was honest and told us the process would not be easy. Luckily, we were already very involved in the user community, but this would take more. We would need to blog, we would need to tweet, we would need to be active in the community and volunteer. Already being strapped for free time, it seemed overwhelming and stressful but Steve was a great mentor. 

By early fall, I had all my submission ready to submit to Microsoft. We had been anxiously awaiting since then. Monday this week, I got an email, that literally blew me away! I was officially an MVP of Business Applications. I am so thankful and honored. I am excited to participate, to learn, to mentor, and to lead in this community that I love so much. 20 years of supporting Microsoft Products and I love them now more than ever. 

Thanks to Microsoft for giving me this chance to give back and to grow and thanks to Steve for seeing and believing! 



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