Leadership skills, technical prowess power this cybersecurity expert

Learn more about the Master of Arts in Leadership.

Curtis Blais didn’t end up going to medical school as planned, but he still has a prescription for businesses and other organizations to keep their computer networks and data safe.

“Prevention is way better than the cure,” says Blais, a cybersecurity expert and  graduate of Royal Roads University’s Master of Arts in Leadership (MAL) program.

He should know.

A virtual chief information security officer who often speaks about cybersecurity — and recently wrote a book on the topic, CyberDynamX: The Art and Science of Building a Simplified Digital Security Program — the lifelong Edmonton resident has been creating computer applications and designing and building networks his entire professional life.

His interest and expertise around network security grew out of that work.

“It’s kind of a natural progression, really… Around the time I was building networks, cybersecurity becoming more prominent. It was kind of the stars aligning,” Blais says. “My background positioned me very well to serve in this space.”

His educational background might have suggested otherwise. 

Blais’ love of computers didn’t translate into a passing grade in his high school computing science class. Medical school was out of reach because he didn’t have the marks. Undeterred, and with a passion for technology, Blais studied computing at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and achieved additional certifications while working for several organizations. Around 2008, he started his own consulting business.

While technology has evolved, Blais says attitudes among business leaders haven’t always kept up.

“I think if there is one thing I would love to change, it's sort of that executive mindset of ‘We’re good enough. It's OK, don't worry about it. It won't happen to us.’ It simply will. It's only a matter of when.”

That’s where his RRU education —he calls it “formative” — comes into play. Blais says he has always had an interest in leadership and recognized he needed those skills, as much as his technical prowess, to lead organizations to treat cybersecurity seriously.

For all the letters after his name on his resume — the list of acronyms representing technical certifications includes CCNA, CCNP, GCIA, GCFW, WCSP, CISSP, CRISC and CCSK — he has found it’s the MAL that makes the difference.

“It brought credibility,” he says, adding that the leadership skills he gained at RRU allow him to “have greater influence across an organization.”

His time in the MAL program also brought him into contact with a cohort that supported him through a cancer diagnosis and treatment, and even as he sent his thesis from his hospital bed while recovering from surgery.

To this day, Blais says he’s regularly in touch with a large number of his cohort, a “super group of people.”

And if the organizations they lead need cybersecurity support, they know who to call.

Learn more about the Master of Arts in Leadership.