The Microsoft Alumni Foundation is recognizing a select group of alumni giving of themselves to help others at home and around the world. Last week, the Foundation announced the six finalists for the 2011 Integral Fellows Awards.Among the finalists is our very own Oliver Hurst-Hiller, CTO and EVP Product. Oliver joined the DonorsChoose.org team five years ago, after managing product engineering projects for Microsoft's new Internet search engine, now called Bing. He also helped start Microsoft Live Labs, an applied research laboratory for Internet technologies. Oliver joined Microsoft when the Windows division acquired EQuill, a venture-backed startup that he co-founded and led for three years as CEO.Oliver benefited from some amazing New York City public school teachers during his formative years, and with his brother teaching at public schools in high-need communities in Massachusetts, he has always felt strongly about the importance of empowering great teachers in our highest-need communities.This year’s panel of distinguished judges will review achievements that reflect the values of the Microsoft Alumni Foundation, which are: innovation; entrepreneurship; effectiveness; collaboration and integrity. Additional criteria in selecting the winners include: the ability to create something extraordinary out of limited resources; selflessness; passion; smarts; need; and, scalability. The panel of judges includes:Microsoft Alumni Foundation award winners will be recognized by Bill and Melinda Gates at the Microsoft Alumni Foundation Celebration on November 16, 2011 in Seattle at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.Known anyone who might want to work with Oliver on the technology that powers DonorsChoose.org? Check out these openings on our Technology & User Experience team.
