Rich Pleasants

Business Solutions Architect
VMware Accelerate Advisory Services

Rich Pleasants, Business Solutions Architect for VMware Accelerate Advisory Services, works directly with VMware clients to understand their existing challenges and help create solutions that address current needs while preparing for future business requirements. Pleasants designs strategic roadmaps for transformation that lead organizations to their goals of building highly efficient IT-as-a-service environments.

Pleasants brings more than 20 years of industry experience in sales, strategy, organizational change and transformation, architecture and consulting at firms such as Unisys, Accenture and BMC software, where he served as a consulting manager, practice director, and IT strategy consultant. He has a deep background in IT data center operations and IT service management processes. He has led numerous IT enterprise organizational change and process engineering initiatives and their supporting technology implementations. His has experience in industry verticals such as financial services, telecommunications, retail, entertainment and the public sector.

Pleasants joined VMware in 2011 and VMware Accelerate Advisory Services in 2012. Prior to his current role, Pleasants was operations and process architect for the VMware Global Technology Services Center of Excellence, Transformation Services Team. These experiences give him a unique perspective on operations and processes for enterprise cloud solutions and their management.

Pleasants is a veteran of the U.S. Navy, attended college at the University of Maryland, and has owned a number of businesses over the past 22 years. He possesses a strong background in accounting and business management practices and is also a certified ITIL service manager. Pleasants also has extensive experience in renewable energy solutions.