Principal Engineer & Owner
Soulier Group LLC is owner operated. The work is executed by the same engineer who signs the contract. No bait and switch, no junior bench, no brand name pretense.
Brian D. Soulier: Managing Member
Brian D. Soulier is the sole owner and Managing Member of Soulier Group LLC. He has 18 years of progressive enterprise IT and cybersecurity experience across multi tenant managed service provider portfolios serving regulated commercial clients in healthcare, financial services, legal, manufacturing, multi state law enforcement, and education.
Brian is an enrolled member of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of the Lac du Flambeau Reservation of Wisconsin, a federally recognized tribe. That enrollment establishes the firm's Native American Owned status.
Active Certifications
- CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701): DoD 8140/8570 IAT Level II baseline. Achieved 2026-05-10. Renewal 2029-05-10 (3 year cycle, 50 CEU or retake). CompTIA Credential ID verifiable via CompTIA Certmetrics on request.
Additional credentials earned over the principal's 18 year career (Fortinet NSE 4 / 5 / 7, VMware VCP-DCV, CompTIA Network+, CompTIA A+, Cisco CCENT) are framed as historical experience; recertification status verifiable on request.
Production Experience
The principal holds an Active CompTIA Security+ certification anchored by 18 years of production hands on operations across the underlying platforms. Continuous IT and cybersecurity work across regulated MSP environments includes:
- Microsoft 365 governance: Purview retention and records management, eDiscovery, Communication Compliance, Audit, Compliance Manager, Secure Score
- Identity & access: Microsoft Entra ID, Conditional Access, Privileged Identity Management, Identity Governance (access reviews, entitlement management), Active Directory, Group Policy, hybrid identity federation
- Threat protection: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and Cloud Apps; Defender Advanced Hunting; Tier 3 incident response
- Email security: Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Exchange Online Protection, and SPF / DKIM / DMARC / MTA-STS mail authentication
- Network security: multi vendor: Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS (base policy / NGFW); Cisco (ASA, Firepower FTD, ISR routers, AnyConnect, UCS); Cisco Meraki (MX, MS, MR, Systems Manager); Fortinet (FortiGate, FortiClient, FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer, Security Fabric, FortiSwitch, FortiAP, VDOM administration); SonicWall (TZ, NSa); HPE Aruba switching and wireless with Aruba Central; plus WatchGuard and Ubiquiti at the SMB / remote office tier
- Server and datacenter infrastructure: HPE Synergy composable infrastructure, Cisco UCS, HP / HPE rack servers, Dell servers. Full server builds, rack deployments, and infrastructure refresh leadership across MSP client environments.
- Storage: HPE Nimble Storage, HPE 3PAR, NetApp, Synology, VMware vSAN. Fibre Channel, iSCSI, direct connect SAS connectivity.
- Security awareness: KnowBe4 phishing simulation campaigns and security awareness training.
- Virtualization & datacenter: VMware vSphere / vCenter / vSAN, Microsoft Hyper-V (clustering, live migration), Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (formerly XenApp / XenDesktop), Docker, SAN / RAID storage, Veeam, infrastructure refresh leadership
- Compliance frameworks: HIPAA, PCI DSS, CJIS, FFIEC / GLBA (adjacent), NIST 800-171 / CMMC Level 2 control mapping
See the capability domains for full technical depth.
Career Timeline
Career experience is presented by role, sector, and scope rather than by named employer. Specific client and employer references are available to verified federal contracting officers and prime offerors upon written request, conditional on the principal's written authorization in each case.
Tier 3 Systems Engineering, Multi Tenant Microsoft 365 Portfolio
Tier 3 systems engineering across a multi tenant Microsoft 365 portfolio serving healthcare, finance, legal, and manufacturing clients. Owned production responsibility for Defender for Endpoint deployment, Defender for Cloud Apps tuning, Microsoft Entra ID Conditional Access policy authoring, and Privileged Identity Management implementation. Lead Tier 3 incident responder including security event triage, identity compromise containment, mail flow disruption recovery, and customer facing incident communications. Compliance program support across HIPAA Security Rule and PCI DSS. Multi vendor network security operations (Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS, Cisco ASA / Firepower / Meraki, Fortinet with VDOM, SonicWall, HPE Aruba) across the client portfolio.
Lead Systems Engineering, Regional Multi Tenant MSP
Eleven year tenure leading enterprise Microsoft infrastructure for a regional MSP serving multi state law enforcement, regulated healthcare, and education clients. Owned team deliverables, participated in hiring decisions, and provided technical mentoring across a 4 to 8 person systems engineering team. Built foundational depth in Active Directory architecture, Exchange and Exchange Online migrations, hybrid identity federation via AD Connect / Entra Connect, SharePoint records management implementations, VMware vSphere production operations, and datacenter / SAN refresh leadership. Customer facing technical leadership across regulated client engagements: scoping, architecture review, executive escalation, and audit evidence support, including HIPAA, PCI DSS, and CJIS Security Policy controls for regulated and multi state law enforcement clients.
Tier 1 / 2 Endpoint and Server Support
Tier 1 / 2 endpoint and server support across a regional MSP client base. Foundational Windows Server, Active Directory, and Group Policy administration. Customer service oriented IT operations across SMB and regional commercial clients.
Customer Facing Sales and IT Consulting
Dual role retail sales and IT consulting position at the start of the Principal's career. Customer facing communication and operational discipline foundation that informs current customer engagement work.
Technical Specializations
| Domain | Specializations |
|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Governance | Purview retention and records management, eDiscovery (Standard / Premium), Communication Compliance, Audit, Compliance Manager, Secure Score |
| Identity & Access | Microsoft Entra ID, Conditional Access, Privileged Identity Management, Identity Governance (access reviews, entitlement management), Administrative Units, Active Directory, Group Policy, hybrid identity federation |
| Threat Protection | Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Defender for Cloud Apps, Defender Advanced Hunting, Tier 3 incident response, KnowBe4 phishing simulation and security awareness training |
| Network Security: Multi Vendor | Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS (base policy / NGFW); Cisco (ASA, Firepower FTD, ISR routers, AnyConnect, UCS); Cisco Meraki (MX, MS, MR, Systems Manager MDM); Fortinet (FortiGate, FortiClient, FortiSwitch, FortiAP, Security Fabric, VDOM administration); SonicWall (TZ / NSa series); HPE Aruba switching and wireless with Aruba Central; IPsec / SSL VPN; Zero Trust via Entra Conditional Access (primary); Fortinet ZTNA familiarity; network segmentation |
| Virtualization & Datacenter | VMware vSphere / vCenter / vSAN, Microsoft Hyper-V (clustering, live migration), Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (formerly XenApp / XenDesktop), Docker, post Broadcom VMware migration strategy. Server hardware: HPE Synergy, Cisco UCS, HP / HPE rack servers, Dell. Storage: HPE Nimble Storage, HPE 3PAR, NetApp, Synology, vSAN. Fibre Channel, iSCSI, direct connect SAS connectivity. Veeam based backup and DR, infrastructure refresh leadership. |
| Mail & Collaboration | Exchange Online, hybrid Exchange, SharePoint Online, OneDrive, Teams, mail authentication (SPF / DKIM / DMARC / MTA-STS / DNSSEC), Defender for Office 365, Exchange Online Protection |
| Compliance Frameworks | HIPAA Security Rule, PCI DSS, CJIS Security Policy v6, FFIEC / GLBA (adjacent), NIST 800-53, NIST CSF (familiarity), NIST 800-171 / CMMC Level 2 control mapping; translation to DoDI 5015.02 records management and DoDI 5200.48 CUI safeguarding requirements |
| MSP Operations | Multi tenant administration, per-tenant policy customization, customer facing communication, audit evidence collection, regulated environment incident response |
Public Profile
- LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/bdsoulier
- Email brian@souliergroup.com
- Tribal Affiliation Enrolled member, Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians