IBM Champion Spotlight: Guillaume Ventre

In this edition of our IBM Champion Spotlight, we are pleased to introduce Guillaume VENTRE, Senior Technical Expert at SBS and a four-time IBM Champion. Guillaume has built his career on stability, reliability, and a strong sense of community—and he continues to inspire others through his thoughtful approach to technology and advocacy. Now in his fourth year as an IBM Champion, Guillaume describes the recognition as both an honor and a privilege. For him, the program is not about titles but about building mutual growth, exchanging knowledge, and contributing to the wider community.

When it comes to IBM technologies, Guillaume gravitates toward z/OS and Db2 for z/OS, which he sees as the calm but powerful force underpinning critical systems. Their reliability and efficiency reflect the values he admires most in technology: solid foundations that support complexity with elegance.

Advocacy, for Guillaume, often takes shape through content creation. A recent example he is particularly proud of is his work on using VS Code for mainframe developers—a topic he approached with the goal of being both accessible and practical. This focus on making technology approachable underlines his broader philosophy that knowledge should circulate freely. That sense of openness and generosity is central to what drives him. In a world that often rewards competition and individualism, Guillaume prefers to foster shared purpose and collective strength. His four consecutive years as an IBM Champion are not just a personal milestone but a reflection of that long-term commitment to the community.

Recently, Guillaume co-presented with IBM France at the CRiP Universities in Paris in a session titled “10 Years of Mainframe Evolution Leading to the AI-Infused z17.” Drawing on a decade of benchmarking banking solutions across five generations of IBM Z systems, the experience was memorable not only for the content but also for the trust placed in him by IBM and Guide Share France. For those beginning their mainframe careers, Guillaume’s advice is straightforward: ask questions. Curiosity and humility, he says, are two underrated superpowers that open doors and build meaningful connections.

Looking ahead to IBM TechXchange, Guillaume is most excited about the human element—meeting people who share similar challenges and having genuine conversations that spark collaboration and new ideas.

Outside of technology, Guillaume is less concerned with job titles and more with living meaningfully. He describes his dream not as a different career but as a life spent simply, learning and sharing without the constraints of roles or labels.

Lightning round: