The Kimball Group was a focused team of consultants specializing in the design of effective data warehouses to deliver enhanced business intelligence.
Averaging over 30 years of experience in the field, our vendor-independent team had the know-how to relate to a broad range of client situations, and the insight to react to the elements that make each distinct. Plus the aptitude and attitude to look out for our clients’ best interests at all times. We wrote the best-selling books on dimensional modeling and DW/BI methodology. And every day, we surrounded our clients with more ways to make smarter decisions.
The Kimball Group closed its doors on December 31, 2015. Thanks to all the data warehouse and business intelligence professionals who crossed our paths during the last 30+ years. We appreciated your support!
Margy continues to offer DW/BI classes and consulting through DecisionWorks. Joy is traveling, but still teaches classes occasionally. Ralph, Julie and Bob are enjoying retirement.
Ralph Kimball founded the Kimball Group. Since the mid-1980s, he was the DW/BI industry’s thought leader on the dimensional approach and trained more than 20,000 students. He co-authored all the books in the Toolkit series. Ralph co-taught Kimball University’s dimensional modeling classes with Margy and ETL architecture classes with Bob. Prior to working at Metaphor and founding Red Brick Systems, Ralph co-invented the first commercially-available workstation with a graphical user interface at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Ralph has his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.
Margy Ross was President of the Kimball Group. She focused exclusively on DW/BI since 1982 with an emphasis on business requirements and dimensional modeling. She co-authored The Data Warehouse Toolkit (2nd and 3rd editions), The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit, and the Kimball Group Reader. She co-taught Kimball University’s dimensional modeling classes with Ralph and DW/BI lifecycle classes with Warren (and then Joy), as well as being the primary instructor for onsite dimensional modeling education. Margy graduated with a BS in Industrial Engineering from Northwestern University.
Bob Becker helped clients across a variety of industries with their DW/BI challenges and solutions since 1991. He co-authored the second edition of The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit. Bob co-taught Kimball University’s ETL architecture class with Ralph, as well as onsite dimensional modeling classes. Bob has a BSB in Marketing from the University of Minnesota’s School of Business.
Julie Kimball focused on the Kimball Group’s business affairs. Julie has a BA in Spanish from Stanford and an MA in Speech and Language Pathology from San Jose State.
Joy Mundy concentrated on DW/BI systems since 1992. She co-authored The Microsoft Data Warehouse Toolkit and the second edition of The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit. Joy co-taught Kimball University’s Microsoft DW/BI classes with Warren, as well as DW/BI lifecycle classes with Margy for two years after Warren became ill. Prior to joining the Kimball Group, she managed the BI best practices team for Microsoft’s SQL Server BI product development organization. Joy graduated from Tufts University with a BA in Economics and from Stanford with a MS in Engineering Economic Systems.
Nancy Rinn was the Kimball Group’s Communication Coordinator, managing blog posts, LinkedIn alumni group, website/social media, and mailings. Her data warehouse roots date back to the 1980s. Nancy has BAs in both History and Social Sciences from the University of Minnesota.
Warren Thornthwaite (1957-2014) began his DW/BI career in 1980 with stints at Metaphor, Stanford, and Microsoft’s WebTV before joining the Kimball Group. He co-authored The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit and The Microsoft Data Warehouse Toolkit. Warren co-taught Kimball University’s Microsoft DW/BI class with Joy and the DW/BI lifecycle class with Margy until 2013. He received a BA in Communications Studies from the University of Michigan and an MBA in Decision Sciences from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Sadly, Warren passed away on May 9, 2014.