BELLEVUE, Wash.—April 15, 2008—Ascentium Corporation, a leading interactive marketing and technology consultancy, today announced that Aaron Elder received the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for the third year in a row for his continued commitment to the Microsoft Dynamics CRM community. Receipt of the award is confirmation of Elder’s professional leadership in the customer relationship management (CRM) arena and of Ascentium’s commitment to supporting its CRM thought leaders.

"Elder’s MVP accomplishment is one of the reasons the Ascentium National CRM Practice has influenced the sale of more Microsoft Dynamics CRM licenses than any other Microsoft partner,” said David Kohar, Ascentium partner in the National CRM Practice. “The depth of technical expertise we offer is unparalleled. People like Elder ensure that their expertise directly benefits the CRM community and the customers we serve."

The Microsoft MVP Award annually recognizes exceptional technology community leaders worldwide who actively share their high-quality, real-world expertise with users and Microsoft. Microsoft MVPs represent a highly select group of experts. Worldwide, there are over 100 million participants in technical communities; of these participants, there are fewer than 4,000 active Microsoft MVPs and less than 25 of those are Microsoft Dynamics CRM experts. MVPs share a deep commitment to community, a willingness to help others and a passion for technology.
 
This year, Elder’s contributions included providing Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 technical training for worldwide partners and ISVs. He also led the Ascentium team that delivered a custom application that provides a suite of tools to make demonstrating the power of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 easier for all partners worldwide. Elder is a passionate advocate of using Microsoft CRM as a platform for building line of business applications. This strategy is the key to five Ascentium clients receiving Customer Excellence Awards from Microsoft for their solutions built on Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Despite his strong contribution to the worldwide community, Elder still has time to mentor developers in Ascentium’s National CRM Practice, making it an attractive incubator for upcoming talent in CRM development. “Aaron was definitely the reason I took this job,” said Ascentium CRM developer Brandon Clausing. “He makes Ascentium the best place to learn how to develop on top of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.”

Previously a Microsoft employee who served on the Microsoft CRM product development team, Elder contributed significantly to Microsoft’s initial CRM application. His contributions to the application have continued while Director of Software Development at Invoke Systems and now as Chief CRM Architect at Ascentium. Ascentium maintains an active CRM Development blog (http://www.ascentium.com/blog/crm/) to which Elder is a frequent contributor.

About Ascentium Corporation
Ascentium Corporation (www.ascentium.com) is an interactive marketing and technology consultancy that delivers award-winning experiences, products, and information-driven business solutions to achieve its clients’ strategic objectives. Making Inc. magazine’s list of the fastest growing private companies in the U.S. for the past three years, Ascentium continues to see substantial growth in customer relationship management, digital marketing, Web initiatives, enterprise content management, systems integration, custom development, customer relationship management and strategic business engagements. The company’s clients include Amazon, Boeing, Dell, Expedia, InfoSpace, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, Nike, Nintendo and Providence Health Systems. Ascentium is headquartered in Bellevue, with offices in London; Los Angeles; Baltimore; Spokane, Wash; Portland, Ore; and Austin, Texas.

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Contact:
John Irwin
Phone: 425-679-0849
E-mail: john.irwin@ascentium.com