BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Chair: Brigadier-General James Cox, OMM, CD, Ph.D. (Retired)
Jim enjoyed a military career spanning more than 35 years in operational command and staff appointments across Canada and abroad. He served as the deputy of the NATO strategic military intelligence staff in Mons, Belgium. After military service, Jim was a lead parliamentary analyst for Senate and House of Commons security and defence committees for seven years. He also served as the Vice-President Academic Affairs with the Canadian Military Intelligence Association, and has taught graduate level intelligence courses at Carleton University and Wilfrid Laurier University.
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Lisa Ducharme
Lisa Ducharme is an Associate with the University of Ottawa’s Telfer Executive Programs. She also teaches
intelligence tradecraft through uOttawa’s Professional Development Institute and provides consultation services for national security and intelligence professionals through Human Potential Consultants, Inc. Previously, Lisa spent nearly 37 years with the federal government in a variety of senior management
and executive roles at the Communications Security Establishment, the Department of National Defence, Public Safety Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Privy Council Office.
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Dr. Hugh Henry is the Outreach and Communications Lead at the Intelligence Analyst Community of Practice (IACOP), hosted at the Privy Council Office (PCO), Government of Canada since February 2023. As such, he is responsible for building a network of Canadian and Allied intelligence organizations practitioners, experts and academics across the public and private sectors. Since 2002, he has held various intelligence-related analytical, advisory, supervisory and instructor positions at the Intelligence Assessment Secretariat at PCO, at the Canadian Academy of Intelligence Analysis (CAIA), formerly the Intelligence Analyst Learning Program), and the Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Prior to joining the Public Service of Canada, Hugh was an Adjunct Associate Professor in the War Studies and Continuing Studies departments of Royal Military College of Canada, and served in the Canadian Armed Forces for four years. Dr. Henry holds a PhD in History, from the University of Cambridge, and Masters and Bachelor degrees from the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
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Jennifer Irish
Jennifer Irish is the Director of the Information Integrity Lab at the University of Ottawa and concurrently an Associate at University of Ottawa, Telfer Executive Programs, as Program Director for its Executive Security and Intelligence Leadership Certificate. She is a former Canadian diplomat and international and national security executive with experience in the Government of Canada and its intelligence community in foreign, strategic and national security policy and threats and trends analysis. Jennifer is a career diplomat experience with postings abroad in foreign affairs and leadership in international security, climate change, humanitarian crises and refugee affairs, and countering transnational organized crime and terrorism. She has served as at Director General-level experience leading teams, partnerships, strategic policy and programs, and briefing and strategic communications.
Jennifer is Principal Consultant (and Founder) of Rio Polaris Strategies, providing strategic advisory and professional training services for a wide range of public and private sector clients -- including on leadership development, effective briefings, alliance building and stakeholder relations, risk communications, geostrategic trend and threat analysis, and leading and communicating through and in crises situations..
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Lieutenant-Colonel Ian MacVicar, Ph.D. (Retired)
Dr. Ian MacVicar is the Director and Principal Analyst of Ian MacVicar Universal Security Intelligence Cognitive Solutions (I-MUSICS) Consulting, Inc. His military career spanned 42 years, including command of the Disaster Assistance Response Team Company in Honduras and the Joint Nuclear Biological Chemical Defence Company. Ian is a Research Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute Nova Scotia, specializing in intelligence and veterans health issues. He is a member of the International Association For Intelligence Education (IAFIE), and Director of Academic Outreach for the Halifax Chapter of the Canadian Military Intelligence Association (CMIA).
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Carl Marchand is a competitive intelligence (CI) educator and lecturer at the Université de Sherbrooke (UofS), and Director of Market Intelligence with Réseau Mentorat. He is also conducting research in intelligence analysis performance in the private sector. Prior to UofS, Carl was the head consultant and analyst in a team of five consultants in strategic and competitive intelligence in the private sector, helping both Canadian and French companies identify new market opportunities and threats on foreign territory. Although trained in the American School of competitive intelligence thought, Carl adheres and practices a more holistic view of CI, resembling French Economic Warfare doctrine.
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Rob Mendoza is Co-Chair, Canadian Association of Professional Intelligence Analysts and Head of Bilateral Relations with the Government of Mexico at the Canada Border Services Agency. He formerly served on a Special Advisory group on national security to the Chief of Defence Staff and to the Deputy Minister of National Defence; as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard; as Senior Policy Advisor to the Director General of National Strategies at the Canadian Coast Guard; as Intelligence Policy Advisor at Public Safety Canada; and Legal Officer at the Office of the Assistant Deputy Attorney General of Canada. Rob is also a former Federal Investigator.
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Gustav Otto Ph.D.
Dr. Gus Otto has over 30 years of distinguished experience in national security, intelligence, and operations, and executive leadership that bridges defence, diplomacy, and global strategy. During his public service career, he fortified and expanded Canada-US and FVEY national security and defence partnerships, influencing Canada’s defence acquisitions and National Security Council. As a founder, board member, and special advisor across regulatory bodies, nonprofits, and global advisory councils, he has guided organizations through transformation, governance, and sustainable change. From advancing defence innovation to championing youth empowerment, he leverage hard-earned subject-matter expertise and a relentless focus on ethical, people-first leadership to deliver significant impact in both public and private sectors. Gus is the Founder of Dagger Owl LLC
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John Pyrik
John Pyrik’s 27-year career in government began as an intelligence officer for CSIS where he conducted investigations into terrorism and proliferation. At the BC Securities Commission he investigated market fraud, broker misconduct, and insider trading. He also set up a Surveillance and Intelligence Unit to better detect and deter financial crimes. He worked some of the first money laundering cases at FINTRAC, later developing a process that identified $1.2 million in terrorism financing. Mid-career, while at Carleton University, he became interested in improving the tradecraft of analysis. The following year PCO chose him to create and manage a new Intelligence Analyst Learning Program. Five years later, he became the first ever “analytic methodologist” at CSIS, then, two years later, their first chief of analytic training. He left government in 2017, but continues to write, teach, and consult on matters related to intelligence analysis.
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Chris Shapardanov
Chris Shapardanov served for 35 years as a career foreign service officer, executive and Ambassador having
worked on foreign and defence policy issues as well as security and intelligence matters. As Executive Director of Threat Assessment and Intelligence Services at Global Affairs Canada, he worked closely with CSE, CSIS and the RCMP and with Five Eyes partners. He served as Acting Director of Policy to the Foreign Minister in 2016 and provided strategic advice on defence procurement and other issues. As Executive Director for Circumpolar Affairs during Canada’s Arctic Council Chairmanship from 2013-2015, he worked closely with our indigenous Permanent Participants, with territorial government representatives and several partner departments to implement the Canadian agenda and to deliver the Iqaluit Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting.
After serving as Director of the Office of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, he was appointed Ambassador to Finland from 2009 to 2013. As a Director in the Global Partnership Program, he managed a budget of $75 million devoted to nuclear submarine dismantlement, chemical weapons destruction and nuclear material security in Russia. At the Canadian Embassy in Washington from 2000 to 2004, he served on
the Permanent Joint Board on Defence (PJBD) which was focussing military deployments to Afghanistan and ballistic missile defence. At NATO Headquarters, he worked on relations with Russia and Ukraine. During the NATO air campaign of 1999, he was assigned to the KFOR command staff as a NATO Liaison Officer in Skopje, North Macedonia.
Yvonne Stys
YVONNE STYS is the Director of Intelligence at Correctional Services Canada (CSC). With over 20 years of experience in national security, public safety, corrections, and stakeholder engagement with the Government of Canada, she oversees intelligence operations across federal institutions, provides strategic advice to senior officials, and represents CSC on key national security forums. Previously, Yvonne held leadership roles at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the Department of Justice Canada, specializing in
intelligence gap analysis, risk assessment, knowledge translation, and policy development on a dynamic range of topics germane to public safety and national security. Yvonne holds an MA in Forensic Psychology from Carleton University and an Honours BA in Psychology (concentration in Criminology) from the University of Ottawa.
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Colonel Paul deB Taillon OMM, CD, Ph.D.,FRCGS, FSS (Retired)
During his 30 service in the Canadian intelligence community, Paul conducted intelligence and counter-terrorism/counter-intelligence operations. He as an army reserve Colonel, and from 2006-2014, he was the strategic and counter-insurgency advisor to the Commander Canadian Army. He has operational experience with American, Canadian, British forces in the latter case serving with The Parachute Regiment and the Special Air Service Regiment. He served in Oman, Bosnia, Kosovo, Ukraine and Afghanistan. He conducted 22 foreign Military Training Team (MTTs) missions under the auspices of US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). He was the first CSIS officer assigned to JTF 2 and subsequently deployed in a military capacity with them to Afghanistan. Paul holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a Master of Arts in War Studies (Royal Military College of Canada), a Master of Arts in International Affairs (NPSIA Carleton University) and a Master of Arts in Strategic Studies from the (US Army War College). He is an Adjunct Fellow at Joint Special Operations University in Tampa, Florida, and taught at Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, California. He was on staff at the NATO Special Operations School in Chievres, Belgium, Directing Staff (DS) at CF Command and Staff College, Toronto, DS at the USMC Command and Staff College, Quantico Virginia, instructor at the National Defence University in Kiev, Adjunct Professor Royal Military College of Canada and is currently the Academic Advisor to Samuel Associates in Ottawa. He has published over 120 books and articles on terrorism, insurgencies, strategy, military operations, geostrategic issues, national security and military history.
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