Leonard Welch
About Leonard Welch
Leonard Welch serves as the Director of Unified Communications at Yale University, where he has worked since 2019. He has a strong background in telecommunications and technology management, having previously held various roles at AT&T and the State of Connecticut.
Work at Yale University
Leonard Welch has served as the Director of Unified Communications at Yale University since 2019. In this role, he has directed engineering and operations teams, overseeing the implementation of various communication technologies. Welch successfully planned and deployed a $2 million Cisco Unified Communications Manager and Packaged Contact Center Enterprise within a five-month timeframe, which included support for remote workers. He also renegotiated a $10 million cloud telephony contract to accommodate user-based licensing, enhancing the university's communication infrastructure.
Education and Expertise
Leonard Welch holds a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Management Information Systems from Central Connecticut State University, where he studied from 1994 to 1998. He furthered his education by obtaining a Master of Science (MS) in Management of Technology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Hartford, completing his studies from 1998 to 2001. His educational background provides a strong foundation for his expertise in unified communications and technology management.
Professional Background
Before his current position at Yale University, Leonard Welch accumulated extensive experience in the telecommunications sector. He worked at AT&T in various roles, including Technical Sales Consultant, Senior Account Manager, and Technical Sales Manager from 1996 to 2014. Additionally, he served as the Director of Unified Communications at the State of Connecticut's Department of Administrative Services from 2014 to 2019, where he led initiatives in enterprise systems and technology.
Achievements in Unified Communications
During his tenure at Yale University, Leonard Welch has made significant contributions to the field of unified communications. He implemented Microsoft Teams Telephony to leverage Office 365 A5 licenses, utilizing a carrier cloud-based Direct Routing solution. Welch has also developed and maintained hardware and monitoring standards for classroom and administrative audio-video networks across Local, Metropolitan, and Wide Area Networks, ensuring effective communication across the university.