In 1969, he received his MBA from the University of Rochester as part of an Executive Development Program.
[1] In the early 1950s, Blanchard started working at U.S. Air Force, where he became electronics maintenance officer.
In 1970, he was appointed Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech, where he served until his retirement in 1997.
[3] At Virginia Tech Blanchard has been Assistant Dean of the College of Engineering, and he has been Visiting Professor at the University of Exeter.
His service, as a team member with Dr. Wolt Fabrycky, allowed them to articulate the principles and objectives of Systems Engineering in a manner that conveys the tremendous potential and value added by this discipline.".