Poole Staff Spotlight: Meet Blake Woolard

By Caroline Barnhill

Blake Woolard is one of Poole College of Management’s newest staff members – joining the Office of Business Services, Information Technology team as an IT analyst in March 2022. While he’s held various IT support roles for organizations such as Microsoft, Xerox, Siemens and Duke University, Woolard began his career in the U.S. Marine Corps.

From help desk requests to audio-visual support to working with vendors and ordering equipment, Woolard supports the college by ensuring things run smoothly behind the scenes to enable faculty, students and researchers to do their best work.

Q&A with Blake Woolard

What is a project in your current role that you are particularly proud of? 

Since I’m still relatively new to Poole, I can share a project I’m looking forward to launching. We’re in the process of enabling the college to begin using Microsoft Intune, which is a new endpoint management tool that allows individuals to use their personal devices and applications while still protecting the university’s data. NC State’s Office of Information Technology is interested in seeing how it could work on campus, so Poole will be one of the first colleges to pilot the program.  

What’s the most memorable Poole College event you have attended?

I really enjoyed the all-faculty and staff meeting. It was great seeing the community and hearing about the college’s goals and priorities – and how they align. Plus the food trucks at the end were pretty good, too! 

Why do you love being a part of Poole?

I love how the college is focused on delivering quality instruction. It’s one of the first things I noticed when I started, and I think that’s really noble and important. It makes me feel like what I’m doing matters.

I love how the college is focused on delivering quality instruction. It’s one of the first things I noticed when I started, and I think that’s really noble and important.

Tell us more about your life outside of Poole College.

I’m from rural Illinois and enlisted in the Marine Corps right out of high school. I was an air support operations operator, which is sort of a cross between a 911 operator and an air traffic controller. I learned a lot about aviation during my four and a half years of service. I was stationed in Cherry Point at the coast, which brought me to North Carolina. I met my wife here, and we live in Durham with our dog. As for hobbies, I’m a big sports fan – love all the Chicago teams – and MMA fighting.

My Poole colleagues might not know…

For half of my enlistment, I was stationed in Okinawa, Japan. While I didn’t love it then, I can now reflect on the experience fondly. What I do remember is how much better their food was than ours! American sushi is an insult to sushi once you’ve had it in Japan. 

This post was originally published in Poole College of Management News.