Philippe Blanchard

About Philippe Blanchard

Business-centric IT Professional with 20+ years of experience as vCIO, IT Enterprise Architecture Design, Team Management, Strategy Consulting and Systems Administration.As a Certified Systems Administrator, specialist in the delivery of large-scale projects in multi-location structures, I have developed and established technology infrastructures and solutions that have driven the sustainable growth and improved performance of companies of all sizes. My areas of expertise include Operational Strategy and Process Development, as well as Account Management, Pre-Sales engineering and Post-sales Project Management for enterprise-grade IT, Connectivity, Data Transport, Datacenter, Private Cloud, LAN, WAN, Security, Consulting, Auditing, Training and Support.I possess a proven ability to translate business needs into technology requirements that support the company’s or customer’s business objectives, and to successfully manage all phases of IT projects from needs analysis and requirements definition to vendor selection, implementation and training.I also possess outstanding team leadership, as well as a strong commitment to achieving client\'s goals, internally or in a Customer facing capacity. I have managed teams of up to forty full-time employees, from Projects Managers, to Systems Administrators, and all levels IT technicians.Dual-citizen (Canada & USA).Specialties: Large, complex, multi-sites projects

Experience

1. Director of Information Technology Infrastructure

   West Coast Dental Services

   Dec 2021 — Present · Los Angeles, CA, US

   Manage the IT Team of this large healthcare services company (8 engineers and project managers)- Manage the network configuration, architecture, planning, and Fortinet SD-WAN deployment for 50 locations- In charge of the management of 1,300 PCs, 900 users, 80 servers- In charge of the IT Project Management, helpdesk, and IT procurement teams- Overseeing 20 x corporate-grade IT vendors with an annual budget above $1.5M- Migration from traditional colocation to a Hybrid Cloud model (mix of private and multiple public clouds)- Planning and deployment of SOCaaS / SIEM / MDR / EDR solution (following 6-months due diligence reviews of most prominent vendors using MITRE data, and others)- Drafting of HIPAA-compliance policy documents- Contract drafting and negotiations for the following vendors: ISP/Internet, Telephony/UCaaS, Call Center/CCaaS, Copiers lease, SOC, Datacenter, Private Cloud, Hardware and licensing, etc.

Education

• Garneau College

  Associate's degree, Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities

  1988 — 1990

• Limoilou College

  DEC (Diploma of Collegiate Studies), Electronics

  1986 — 1988

• Polyvalente de Charlesbourg

  High School Diploma

  1981 — 1986

• Lee Strasberg Theater & Film Institute - New York

  Certificate, Professional Acting

  1998 — 2003

• UQAM | Université du Québec à Montréal

  Master of Arts (MA) - École Supérieure de Théâtre, Semiotics & translation across cultures

  2015 — 2020

• Université Laval

  Undergraduate, Political Sciences

  1990 — 1993

Skills

• Windows Server
• Hardware
• Solution Selling
• Servers
• Telecommunications
• Firewalls
• Strategy
• Microsoft Exchange
• E-Commerce
• Cloud Computing
• Professional Services
• Disaster Recovery
• Cisco Technologies
• Security
• Leadership
• Wan
• Vendor Management
• Voip
• Data Center
• Vpn
• IT Service Management
• Account Management
• System Administration
• Management
• Team Leadership
• Virtualization
• Sharepoint
• Networking
• Managed Services
• Integration
• Project Management
• Network Administration
• Storage
• Consulting
• Unified Communications
• Routing
• Saas
• Network Architecture
• Wireless