ThinkOn recently announced the appointment of Paul West as Director, Global Public Sector. ThinkOn is a 100% Canadian-owned company providing cloud solutions with a global date centre footprint. They offer advanced data and cloud services and software to municipal, provincial, federal, and Indigenous government public sector entities in Canada—from healthcare and education to defence and policing.
Mr. West has been an integral member of ThinkOn since 2019 and his new role is part of ThinkOn’s commitment to make data thrive for government and public service organizations. With three decades of cyber-security and technology innovation in the public services sector, Paul West will now lead a team responsible for delivering ThinkOn’s Canadian Sovereign Cloud, Digital Public Safety Network as well as highly secure solutions that guarantee data supply chain sovereignty for government data.
West said, “I’m excited about my new role at ThinkOn. This is an opportunity to continue my life’s work to encourage tech innovation and secure public sector data governance for Canadians. A digitally empowered government has a lot to offer its citizens, and Canadians have the right to remain safe while they enjoy the benefits.”
West’s career encompasses a wide degree of technology and business development experience for government agencies and private sector organizations such as the Department of National Defence, the Ontario Police Technology Information Co-operative (OPTIC) Police Network, Bell Canada, and Motorola. West is dedicated to public service and advancing Canadian business and technology in all that he does. This includes sitting as a board member for Innovate Cities, a not-for-profit Canadian tech and data governance organization that helps nurture Canadian technology innovators and experts to ensure cyber security for municipalities.
West had also been instrumental in working with educational institutions and Indigenous groups, including The First Peoples’ Circle on Education, This is a not-for-profit organization that supports and empowers Indigenous people to independently deliver services and address socio-economic conditions in their communities.
“We’re excited to have a dedicated lead of Paul’s vast experience in cyber security to focus on protecting and empowering our government and public services clients,” expressed Greg Chappell, Vice President of Global Sales and Partner Success, ThinkOn. “Paul is an excellent resource for any government modernization projects. He has a way of demystifying complex initiatives and getting down to the root of what is required.”
Protecting sensitive Canadian data from cyber breach will be a key focus for West and his ThinkOn team. Ensuring that data sovereignty, traceability, and supply chain management are in full compliance with Canadian regulations and safe from foreign control is exactly what ThinkOn’s Canadian Sovereign Cloud does. This is critical for government or public sector organization that work with sensitive or Protected-B data.
Cybercrime is the number one cyber threat activity affecting Canadiansi, according to the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security. Additionally, Canadian data needs to be protected from foreign bad actors who are not subject to Canadian data security laws. The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians issued a report in 2022 that states, “…any player with malicious intent and sophisticated capabilities puts the government’s data and the integrity of its electronic infrastructure at risk.”ii
ThinkOn is trusted partner of the Government of Canada and the only CSP capable of offering sovereign cloud. ThinkOn fully understands public sector needs and the critical nature of data supply chain protection for Canada’s future.
“Data is part of our critical infrastructure, and whoever governs the cloud where it’s stored controls that data,” explains West. “Many Canadian organizations mistakenly believe that their trusted cloud provider will protect them from data leaks, but in reality, non-Canadian providers are not subject to Canadian data protection laws, potentially putting their data at risk.”
ThinkOn Canadian Sovereign Cloud ensures that data residency remains in Canada, making it subject to stringent Canadian security laws.
“I feel strongly about helping our government clients understand some of the common pitfalls of modernization,” says West. “All the major hyperscale clouds rely on foreign resources for some tasks—even when the data remains at a domestic location. So, their claims of sovereignty are misleading.”
Sensitive Canadian data is at risk of being divulged to another government without the knowledge or approval of the Canadian owner if there is a lack of full data sovereignty. West and his team are dedicated to helping Canadian data thrive under the safest conditions possible by offering Canadian-made data solutions, designed for Canadian public sector organizations.