Years ago, serving in the roles of a Marine Systems Engineering and Naval Architect with the Royal Canadian Navy, Darcy Byrtus was “fortunate” to work in the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project, the New Shipborne Aircraft Project, as well as, Ship Systems Manager in the Canadian Patrol Frigate project for the construction of the first 10 of the CPFs. After leaving the CPF project, he attended Defence College in Washington and did a posting in the ADM(Policy) organization. “After 22 years in the Navy, I joined General Dynamics Canada where I spent 16 years working on several projects including Project Manager of the Hydra Underwater Warfare System Project, Acquisition Project Manager for the Maritime Helicopter Project and then took on responsibility for Business Development for Naval Programs,” said Byrtus. Darcy Byrtus, President, Defence and Security, Canada, BMT In 2014, he took on the role of President at BMT Canada, where he joined a global organization that supports large naval programs both in Canada and with their sister BMT companies around the world. Darcy Byrtus was selected as a Game Changer for the October/November 2019 issue of Vanguard. What is your role at your organization today? It has been an incredible few years leading the BMT organization in Canada. I have come to appreciate what a small team of great people can do to make a difference in some of Canada’s most important and challenging programs. A big part of my role is to continue to make BMT a great place to work and unlock the potential of all those great people to find new and creative ways to help make customer projects successful. A big part of that role is also to continue to find new and interesting work for our team here and around the world.   What was your most challenging moment? One of the most challenging moments was having to provide difficult advice to one of our customers that was having a hard time accepting the reality of a serious situation impacting the future of the program. The challenge was to have enough patience to be able to convey the importance of the issue without getting frustrated. Fortunately, there was an environment of trust between us and we were able to step back and agree on the best way ahead. What was your “aha” moment or epiphany that you think will resonate most with our readers? Tell us that story. Designing, building and supporting warships and submarines is one of the most complex enterprises in the world. I’ve had a number of “aha” moments in the last 30 years in this industry, but I think a key realization for me was that the greatest satisfaction and success comes from embracing the “why”, that is, remembering why we do what we do, supporting organizations like the Royal Canadian Navy in executing their mandate to enable our Forces to do their jobs safely and effectively around the world. What is the one thing that has you most fired up today? It is a great time to be associated with the recapitalization of the Royal Canadian Navy. After not building warships ships for almost 20 years there is a renewed energy and buzz around the industry with the first of the AOPS being delivered. Very shortly, Canadian sailors will be sailing around in new Canadian built ships that will again be as world-class as the CPFs were – and Canadian industry will be working to find new and creative ways of supporting them and keeping them operationally viable for decades. BMT has been involved in all the naval ship projects in the NSS program. It is hard not to get...