The Diversified Semantic Layer Network

The Regulars

Greg Myers

Greg has worked in the BI Industry for the past fourteen years, specializing in SAP Business Objects tools for ten years. Greg is focused on the operational side of BI, working with BI architecture, performance, and administration, and is a BusinessObjects Certified Professional. Greg is an SAP Mentor, and an active volunteer with America's SAP User Group (ASUG). Greg has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business and Information Systems, and a Master of Business Administration. Greg currently lives and works in the suburban Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania where he specializes in SAP BusinessObjects on UNIX in large distributed global deployments. Greg and Eric also recently authored and published "SAP BusinessObjects System Administration"; the first official Admin book for the BI4 platform from SAP Press.

Jamie Oswald

Jamie Oswald started working in business intelligence over 10 years ago and hasn't been able to break away since. Largely due to a lack of oversight in the selection process Jamie has been chosen as an SAP Mentor and ASUG BusinessObjects Ambassador. When not working at Arch Coal, Inc. or for the Diversified Semantic Layer podcast (available on iTunes!), Jamie spends his time adoring his wife, alternately being amazed and flummoxed by his children, and torturing himself as a fan of Cleveland sports.

Eric Vallo

Eric Vallo is an SAP certified professional that has been working in business intelligence for almost 14 years, with other emphasis on web technologies and enterprise architecture. He has had a career which has spanned Fortune 50 and 500 companies, as well as small businesses, working in telecommunications, finance, health care, and government. After a number of years as an application developer, he moved into architecture and leadership roles, which has afforded the opportunity to work with many different teams at different levels, creating business intelligence solutions for tens of thousands of users. Most recently, Eric has formed a new company, EV Technologies, Inc., with a focus on Business Objects SDK integrated products and business intelligence consulting. Recent accomplishments include the release of EV Technologies second major release of Sherlock, SAP certification of Sherlock, and the recent partnership announcement with SAP. While not hanging out on the bleeding edge, Eric spends his time with his wife and two children and enjoys cycling (whenever everybody will let him get away).

Our World News Correspondents

Joshua Fletcher

Joshua Fletcher has worked with Business Intelligence applications for over eleven years, focusing on both the SAP BusinessObjects toolset at a deep technical level, as well as broader BI solutions from a strategy and roadmap perspective. He started with Crystal Reports v8 at the beginning of his career, and is now fully certified in SAP BusinessObjects, as a Certified Professional in Enterprise XI 3.x, Data Integrator XI 3.x, Web Intelligence XI 3.x and Crystal Reports 2008. He also has extensive experience in business analysis, data governance, business intelligence strategy and solution architecture, as well as a passion for data warehouse and ETL design and development. Joshua is currently employed as the National SAP BI Practice Manager for ASG Group, a leading Australian SAP Solutions Provider, and was also chosen as an SAP Mentor in April 2012. When not working, he loves spending as much time as possible with his wife and son, and keeping active with Crossfit.

Dallas Marks

Dallas Marks has devoted the last decade of his career working to business analytics and business intelligence as a consultant, trainer, blogger and author. He holds a master’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and has implemented SAP BusinessObjects solutions in a number of industries, including energy, health care, and manufacturing. Dallas prefers piano keyboards to computer keyboards and lives near Cincinnati, Ohio with his wife and three children. Dallas is a co-author of SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence, 2nd edition from SAP Press and blogs about various business intelligence topics at dallasmarks.org and is a regular contributor over at evtechnologies.com.

Clint Vosloo

Clint Vosloo, Founder and Director of BI in the Box, is Africa’s first ever SAP Mentor. Having been in the DWH/BI space since 1997, Clint has a wealth of knowledge & experience using SAP Sybase IQ and Business Objects. His love for BIG data and his passion for bringing the “intelligence” part of BI to the fore-front, is evident in his ability to assist businesses to make better decisions by designing the correct solutions up front. In my spare time, between the hours of 2-6am, I like to do any-thing linked to the Ocean. Surfing, Stand-up-Paddle boarding, kiting ... you name it. As per nobel peace prize winner Derek Zoolander and his quest for the perfect bone structure and chiselled abs I, like Josh, try and train at the local CrossFit gym as often as I can. Father of 3, husband of 1 (the tribal thing of many wives is not that big in this part of Africa) here for a good time and not necessarily a long time ! Life long dream has been and always will be to grow old... or older living on a beach surfing with my kids !