Presented By
Deputy Commander, Canadian Joint Operations Command
President, Institute for Infrastructure and Interoperable Data in Learning (I2IDL) and CEO, Yet Analytics
Chief Executive Officer & President, ADGA Group
Chief Technology Officer, Larus Technologies Corporation
Editor in Chief, Vanguard Media
Head of Capability Development, CogSim Technologies Inc.
President, Defence & Space, Calian
Director, Strategy and Innovation, CAE Defense & Security Canada
Associate, CFN Consultants
OMM, MSM, CD Commander, Canadian Army Doctrine and Training Centre
Chief Executive Officer, H2 Analytics Inc.
Operations Room Officer Course Officer, Naval Fleet School Pacific
Section Head – Naval Training Requirements, Director Naval Training and Infrastructure Requirements
President SSCL
Head of the Royal Canadian Air Force Modelling and Simulation Coordination Office
Head of Flying Training, Directorate of Flying Training, No. 22 Group, Royal Air Force
G5, Army Training Authority, Canadian Army Doctrine and Training Centre, Canadian Army
Chief Training Officer at 436 (T) Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force
Co-Founder and CEO, Bloomsco
Copyright ©2026 Vanguard Canada Media
Terri Pavelic
Editor in Chief, Vanguard Media
Jean-Marc Lanthier
Chief Executive Officer & President, ADGA Group
Jean-Marc Lanthier is Chief Executive Officer and President of ADGA Group, where he provides strategic leadership across the company’s operations and long-term growth in defence, security, and technology. A retired Lieutenant-General with more than 30 years of service in the Canadian Armed Forces, he culminated his military career as Vice Chief of the Defence Staff following his command of the Canadian Army. Drawing on extensive operational experience and a background in defence capability development and technology-enabled readiness, he brings a senior leader’s perspective on the role of simulation and training in preparing forces for today’s complex operational environments.
Colonel Richard (Rick) Fawcett (Ret’d)
Rick Fawcett is a retired colonel who spent 34 years in the Canadian Armed Forces serving in a variety of command, operational staff and force development roles, having served in Canada and internationally with both NATO and the UN. Since retirement, Rick has worked in the defence C4ISR industry in a variety of senior and executive roles. He is a graduate of the Royal Military College with a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering and a Master Degree in Public Administration.
Rick’s favorite pastimes include hockey, golf, scuba diving, building stuff and spending as much time as possible at his cottage.
Scott Arbuthnot
Head of Capability Development, CogSim Technologies Inc.
Scott Arbuthnot serves as Head of Capability Development at CogSim Technologies Inc., where he leads the development of advanced distributed simulation, tactical data link, and Live Virtual Constructive (LVC/LSB) training capabilities. Mr. Arbuthnot and CogSim have played a critical role in the implementation of the Royal Air Force distributed simulation program (GLADIATOR) as well as many other NATO countries and international customers.
Mr. Arbuthnot holds a Bachelor of Mathematics degree from McMaster University after which he served 20 years as a military aviator. His operational experience includes service as a tactical flight officer, as well as roles as a qualified flight instructor, standards officer, and instrument check pilot. He also served on international operational deployments before retiring as a Major.
Chris Pogue
President, Defence & Space, Calian
Chris Pogue, President, Defence & Space, Calian, brings over 20 years of senior executive experience. He most recently served as President and CEO of Thales Canada, where he expanded naval support services, re-established land-forces capabilities, and guided key AI and digital transformation initiatives. Prior to Thales, he led MDA Government’s Defence Space portfolio and held leadership roles at General Dynamics Mission Systems Canada and CAE Professional Services. Throughout his career, Pogue has championed the development of innovation ecosystems by connecting Canadian small- and medium-sized businesses to national defence and space priorities. Chris is a retired Royal Canadian Air Force officer with more than 3,500 flight hours on the C-130 Hercules.
Jeff Tasseron
Director, Strategy and Innovation, CAE Defense & Security Canada
Jeff Tasseron is Director of Strategy and Innovation at CAE Defence & Security Canada, where he leads business and technology strategy, drives transformative innovation, and advises on procurement and policy. A retired RCAF Colonel and former Naval Aviator, he commanded 423 Maritime Helicopter Squadron and served as Special Advisor to Canada's Chief of Defence Staff. His staff roles included Director Canadian Forces Transformation and Director Joint C4ISR. He is a CGAI Fellow and holds a Master's in War Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada.
Major-General Colin Keiver (Ret’d)
Associate, CFN Consultants
Major-General (Ret’d) Colin Keiver, MSM, CD, joined CFN Consultants following a distinguished 34-year career in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) culminating in his appointment as the Deputy Commander (Dcomd) of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).
A pilot by trade, Colin has commanded at the squadron and wing level in Canada and spent a year as the commander of Joint Task Force Impact in the Middle East, Canada’s largest overseas mission at the time. He has an extensive project background in the Department of National Defence (DND) including serving as Director Air Simulation and Training where he stood up the Future Aircrew Training (FAcT) Project, Director Defence Program Coordination in the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff Group of DND and as Director General Air and Space Force Development in the RCAF. Through these appointments, Colin was heavily involved in the implementation of Strong, Secure and Engaged and was a principal architect of NORAD Modernization; the RCAF Strategy; RCAF Digitalization, and he contributed significantly to CAF efforts in developing multi-domain capabilities.
Colin has a broad background across the defence and security portfolio that includes working closely with allies, partners, and industry at home and abroad. This includes a three-year exchange tour with the United States Marine Corps and delivering the RCAF Global Engagement program as the DComd RCAF.
Colin holds a BA in Political Science and History from the University of Manitoba and a Masters in Defence Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada. Colin is a graduate of the Royal College of Defence Studies in London, UK, as well as being a graduate of the General/Flag Officer and Ambassador Course at the NATO Defence College in Rome, Italy.
Colin very much looks forward to contributing to the betterment of Canadian defence and security in his role with CFN Consultants.
Rami Abielmona
Chief Technology Officer, Larus Technologies Corporation
Dr. Rami Abielmona is the CTO at Larus Technologies Corporation. He joined Larus in 2007 to lead the integration of software engineering corporate knowledge with research in AI/ML, resulting in many products including the patented Larus Total::Insight™ Decision Support System (DSS). Rami also directs, manages and oversees the internal technology pipelines and innovation cycles as well as the technical demonstrations given to Larus’ strategic partners. He received his B.A.Sc., M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer and Electrical Engineering, from the University of Ottawa, where he currently serves as an Assistant Professor. He was a CMC Success Story in 2005 for his Ph.D. research. He was a recipient of the NSERC Synergy Award for Innovation in 2016 and the IEEE Ottawa Section Outstanding Engineer Award in 2020. He also became a licensed Professional Engineer in Ontario in 2008, as well as a Senior Member of the IEEE in 2011. He recently served as a Distinguished Visitor for the IEEE Computer Society (2021-2023).
Major-General J.W. (John) Errington
OMM, MSM, CD Commander, Canadian Army Doctrine and Training Centre
Major-General Errington joined the Canadian Forces in 1990 from Courtenay, British Columbia, and was commissioned into the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. He has commanded at every level, from rifle and airborne platoons through sub-unit command in the Canadian Army and CANSOFCOM, to Commanding Officer of 3 PPCLI and a Special Operations Task Force in Afghanistan. At the formation level, he commanded the Combat Training Centre and served as Commandant of the Canadian Forces College.
His staff career spans operations and plans roles from captain to brigadier-general, including two tours at the Strategic Joint Staff. Overseas deployments include Croatia, Bosnia, and Afghanistan; domestic operations include the Vancouver Winter Olympics and multiple flood and fire responses.
Beyond his command and staff record, his career includes several notable honours: serving in the Queen's Guard at Buckingham Palace, leading 3 PPCLI through the regiment's 100th Anniversary Commemorations, and nearly four years as Director of the Royal Canadian Infantry Corps.
He currently commands the Canadian Army Doctrine and Training Centre. He and his partner Anita have four children.
Hugo Hodgett
Chief Executive Officer, H2 Analytics Inc.
Hugo Hodgett is the CEO and founder of H2 Analytics. A former member of CANSOFCOM, he led intelligence operations in high-risk environments and collaborated extensively with Five Eyes partners. For his distinguished service and contributions to the Canadian Armed Forces, he was awarded the Chief of the Defence Staff Commendation.
Under his direction, H2 Analytics has achieved rapid growth, earning spots on Deloitte Canada’s Technology Fast 50™ Companies-to-Watch and the Ottawa Business Journal’s Fastest Growing Companies list for 2025. He is a key leader and contributor to Canada’s defence tech ecosystem, fostering innovation to benefit the defence and intelligence community.
Major-General Timothy Arsenault
Deputy Commander, Canadian Joint Operations Command
MGen Arsenault enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces in 1992 as a reservist, joining the 2nd Battalion, Irish Regiment of Canada in Sudbury, Ontario. He transferred to the regular force in 1993 and was first posted to the Royal 22e Régiment in 1998. Over the course of his career, he has commanded at platoon, company, battalion, brigade and task force levels.
Operationally, MGen Arsenault has served on a range of domestic and expeditionary missions. Domestically, he contributed to the CAF’s support to provincial authorities in Montreal during the COVID-19 pandemic. Abroad, he deployed to Bosnia, Afghanistan, Ukraine and to the Middle East.
His key staff experiences include service in the Minister of National Defence’s Office, in the Strategic Joint Staff, in the Canadian Joint Operations Command and in the Vice Chief of Defence Staff’s Office.
MGen Arsenault is a graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada, of the Joint Command and Staff Program, and of the National Security Program. He holds a Bachelor of Military and Strategic Studies and a Master’s degree in Defence Studies. MGen Arsenault is currently serving as Deputy Commander of the Canadian Joint Operations Command.
Shelly Blake-Plock
President, Institute for Infrastructure and Interoperable Data in Learning (I2IDL) and CEO, Yet Analytics
Shelly Blake-Plock is President of the Institute for Infrastructure and Interoperable Data in Learning (I2IDL) and CEO of Yet Analytics, where he works at the intersection of learning infrastructure, data standards, and artificial intelligence. A longtime officer of the IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee, he has played a key role in shaping global standards for learning data and interoperability as well as ethical considerations for the use of artificial intelligence in learning, training, and human performance. He is a principal investigator on cutting-edge applied research in learning analytics and synthetic data, and his work focuses on advancing next-generation learning ecosystems through open technologies, applied research, and scalable data architectures.
Lieutenant-Commander Nicholas Culhane
Operations Room Officer Course Officer, Naval Fleet School Pacific
LCdr Nicholas Culhane joined the Royal Canadian Navy as a Naval Warfare Officer in 2009. After graduating from HMCS Venture in October 2010, he was posted to HMCS Preserver to commence Naval Officer Professional Qualification training. In May 2011 he was posted to HMCS Charlottetown where he deployed for Op Mobile off the coast of Libya. On return from deployment he successfully challenged his qualification board and was loaded on the Underwater Warfare Director Course. On graduating he was posted to West Coast to complete his Director tour onboard HMCS Calgary in 2015. After a few years ashore working at Maritime Pacific Headquarters he returned to sea as the Executive Officer of HMCS Edmonton in 2018. He completed the Operations Room Officer course in late 2019 and was posted back to HMCS Calgary as the Weapons Officer in 2021. On completion of his ORO tour LCdr Culhane was promoted to current rank and deployed as Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 staff embarked in HMCS Halifax from January – July 2021. Since then he has been posted to Sea Training Pacific and Canadian Fleet Pacific staff, and served as RCN LNO in Yokosuka Japan to Destroyer Squadron 15 and in Busan, Korea to United States Forces Korea. He is currently posted to Naval Fleet School Pacific as the Operations Room Officer Course Officer.
Commander Byron Ross
Section Head – Naval Training Requirements, Director Naval Training and Infrastructure Requirements
Commander Byron Ross is a senior Royal Canadian Naval Engineering officer with over 23 years of experience in naval operational engineering, intelligence, force development, and training modernization. Currently serving as the Section Head for Naval Training Requirements, he leads the development of technical systems supporting future naval training capabilities working across the CAF, with Allies, industry, and academia to address training challenges. Cdr Ross has previously held national-level roles in Naval Force Development, Canadian Forces Intelligence Command and Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, providing leadership, analytical and technical expertise on complex systems, modelling and simulation, and capability development.
Colonel Andre Dupuis (Ret'd)
President SSCL
Col (Ret) Andre Dupuis has over 35 years of experience in the CAF in Air Defence and Space operations, strategic planning and more than 10 years in private industry. Throughout his career, he has been selected to lead numerous highly visible command and transformational initiatives. Of note for this symposium, as the Officer Commanding the RCAF’s Aerospace Warfare Center, Shirleys Bay detachment, he led a team that set up the Air Force’s Distributed Mission Operations Center. His last job in the Department of National Defence was as the Acting /Director General Space and the Director of Space Requirements, where he was responsible for all aspects of the delivery of space capabilities to the Forces. Upon his retirement he founded SSCL / Raven Security and Defence, providing research and advise across the entire spectrum of Force Development activities. Over the past few years SSCL/Raven has completed over 75 projects directly supporting CAF modernization.
Air Commodore Rob Caine
Head of Flying Training, Directorate of Flying Training, No. 22 Group, Royal Air Force
Rob joined the RAF in 1994 and became a CR pilot and instructor on the Tornado conducting several operational tours tours of duty. In 2005, he became a Tactics and Weapons Instructor and an Aircrew Instructor Coach at 19 Sqn on Hawk T1 and subsequently became a Qualified Weapons Instructor (QWI). He became an A2 (Advanced) Qualified Flying Instructor and the Chief Weapons Instructor at RAF Valley. In command roles he became the OC IV(AC) Sqn where he was an A2 QFI and was responsible for all live and synthetic staff training and standards from first fast jet flight to beyond visual range, swing role missions.
On Ops he has served as an A3 Operational specialist and National Approval Authority in the Command Air Operations Centre in Al Udeid, and 83 Expeditionary Air Group, and as Director of Ops in 11 Group, responsible for the integration of AIR effects across RAF Operations.
He has now been appointed as the Head of UK Military Flying Training and is passionate about ensuring we train our future war fighters to fly, fight and win.
He now has over 2500 fast jet hours and is CFS accredited. He was awarded an MBE in 2015 for his services to Military Flying Training in the New Year’s Honours List and was awarded the 2019 Master’s Medal from the Guild of Air Pilots for innovation. He is a graduate of the Joint Services Higher Command and Staff Course and has an MA from Kings College London.
Lieutenant-Colonel Dan Shaver
G5, Army Training Authority, Canadian Army Doctrine and Training Centre, Canadian Army
Lieutenant-Colonel Dan Shaver is a Combat Engineer with extensive operational experience and currently serves with the Army Training Authority staff as a Senior Director, overseeing 12 programs. His portfolio includes Army simulation requirements, policy, strategy, and governance, as well as leading Range and Training Area management and development. He represents Canada in NATO as the lead for the Distributed Synthetic Training High Visibility Project, the NATO Simulation Training Operations Group (Land) and co-chairs several multi-national committees on Simulation. He is currently leading a number of initiatives, including updates to Army simulation and training area strategies to optimize historical investments.
Major John Nicol
Head of the Royal Canadian Air Force Modelling and Simulation Coordination Office
Major John Nicol is the head of the Royal Canadian Air Force Modelling and Simulation Coordination Office (MSCO) and leads initiatives to develop and coordinate M&S capabilities across the RCAF enterprise. After serving 20 years with the New Zealand Army, he came to Canada and was a defence contractor for 20 years before joining the RCAF. He also serves as Chair of the NATO M&S Group, Military Operational Requirements Subgroup (MORS), contributing to multinational collaboration on standards, experimentation, and advanced analytical capabilities. Major Nicol is the author of various books and papers on M&S and Artificial Intelligence applications in defence.
Hugh McGuire
Co-Founder and CEO, Bloomsco
Hugh McGuire is a pioneer in education technology and digital publishing. Over the past two decades, Hugh has helped advance open, web-native learning and publishing as the founder of Pressbooks, a platform used by higher-education institutions across North America. He is the co-founder and CEO of Bloomsco, building a data-driven, AI-powered platform to accelerate military training development.
Vice-Admiral Ron Lloyd (Ret'd)
Vice-Admiral (Ret’d) Ron Lloyd served as the 35th Commander of the RCN, while also being double‑hatted as Acting Vice Chief of the Defence Staff and the inaugural Chief Data Officer for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces.
Since retiring in 2019, Ron advises globally recognized industry leaders and writes articles providing recommendations for government to advance their digital and defence strategies. https://www.cgai.ca/2025_th_digitalizing_for_defence_series
Major Jake Balfe
Chief Training Officer at 436 (T) Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force
Major Balfe completed the CC 130J Operational Training Course in July 2020 and has since served with 436 (T) Squadron, deploying extensively in support of Canadian and coalition operations. During this period, he has deployed on Operation IMPACT, PRESENCE,
SAVANNE, ARMANA, and multiple rotations of Operation REASSURANCE. Major Balfe has also served as a Detachment Commander on several key international and multinational activities, including Exercise JOINT VIKING, Operation HORIZON in support of Exercise TALISMAN SABRE, and Operation CHRISTMAS DROP.
He is currently employed as the Chief Training Officer at 436 (T) Squadron, where he is responsible for overseeing aircrew training and operational readiness within the CC 130J community.