Board of Directors
Tracy Medve, Board Chair
France Hébert, President
Mario Poirier
Marc-Olivier Sabourin
Jesse Bernhardt
Rick Giacomuzzi
Program Team
JD Richard, General Manager
Bill Ryan, Deputy General Manager
Abir Kazan, Capture Manager
Scott Greenough, Director NFTC Program
Peter Fedak, Site Manager CFTS Program
Tracy Medve, Board Chair
Board Chair, SkyAlyne
President, KF Aerospace
Born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Tracy previously served in the Canadian Armed Forces Reserves as she pursued a law degree at the University of Saskatchewan. She started her career in aviation in 1985 as a lawyer.
An accomplished leader in Canadian aviation, Tracy has held various senior airline management positions throughout her career, with over six years in her current role as President of KF Aerospace—Canada’s largest commercial aircraft maintenance and engineering provider, a cargo carrier, an aircraft leasing company and provider of military pilot training to the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Medve has served as a member and chair on the Board of the Air Transportation Association of Canada (the first female Honorary Life Member in the Association’s history), the Northern Air Transport Association and the UBCO External Advisory Board. She is a current member of the Transportation Appeal Tribunal of Canada and was recently appointed as the Chair of the FortisBC Board of Directors.
France Hébert, President
President, SkyAlyne
Vice-President and General Manager Defence & Security, CAE
France Hébert is Vice-President and General Manager, Defence & Security (D&S) for CAE Canada. France leads the Defence & Security business in Canada, shaping the vision and the operational and commercial strategy for the division, which includes 14 sites across the country and a team of over 650 employees, many of whom are embedded with military units across the country. As an influential leader, France is CAE’s representative for D&S Canada with the federal Government and Canadians.
France has over 30 years of experience working in defence and aerospace. Over the course of her career, France has held senior positions in strategy, business development and operations. She brings extensive leadership experience with a proven track record on complex billion-dollar programs. She successfully won business in Canada and abroad, being recognized with numerous awards. Prior to her current role, France was Head of Land C4ISR Business Area for General Dynamics Mission Systems Canada, Ottawa. She was fully accountable for the line of business including all aspects of execution, operations and finance of the Canadian division.
Through her varied career, she was an officer in the Canadian Armed Forces and worked for three companies playing major roles in Canada, namely: Bombardier, Nortel and General Dynamics Mission Systems – Canada (GDMS-C).
France is a Professional Engineer who holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Physics) from the Royal Military College of Canada. She also holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) designation. France has two children in university and lives in Ottawa with her husband. She is a second dan black belt in Tae Kwon Do and enjoys decompressing at Crossfit.
Mario Poirier
Vice-President, Finance, CAE Defense & Security
A Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) since 1992, Mario Poirier was appointed Vice-President, Finance for CAE Defense & Security division in 2011. He started his career at CAE as a Finance Director for the same division in 2006.
Mario is a senior executive with over thirty years of experience in the defence & security, IT consulting and software industries. He came to CAE from Cognicase Inc. – an IT consulting company acquired by CGI in 2002 -where he worked as Vice President and Controller for 6 years. Previously Mr. Poirier was the Controller of a very successful software company called Softimage Inc., which was acquired by Microsoft in 1997. Mr. Poirier started his career with Mallette, Benoit, Boulanger, Rondeau as an auditor.
Marc-Olivier Sabourin
Vice-President, CAE Global Defense & Security
Marc-Olivier Sabourin was appointed CAE’s Vice-President of Global Defence and Security in October 2019. In this role, Marc-Olivier Sabourin has overall Profit & Loss responsibility for all of CAE’s Defence business outside of the USA. Heading a team of more than 1500 employees around the globe, Marc-Olivier Sabourin executes CAE’s Trainings System Integration (TSI) strategy, offering best-in-class training systems to militaries from more than 50 nations.
Prior to his current nomination, Marc-Olivier Sabourin was accountable for the solid and profitable growth of CAE’s Defense & Security business as Vice President and General Manager in the Europe & Africa region. Previously, Marc-Olivier Sabourin was accountable for CAE Operations within the EMEA (Europe, Middle-East and Africa) region in the capacity of Director, Regional Operations. As such, he managed CAE’s production sites in Hungary and the United Kingdom in addition to the German office and all the activities executed in the Canadian headquarters for customers of the EMEA region.
Marc-Olivier Sabourin has an exciting track record to support the growth plans and goals for the European region, having extensive experience in Business Development, Sales, Engineering and Project Management, both globally and domestically as well as developing CAE’s business in the region and in Germany.
In 1996, he began his career within the simulation and training industry with CAE, at the head office in Canada, where he spent over 10 years in project execution covering different roles from software development to project management. In 2006, Marc-Olivier Sabourin was promoted to Director of Engineering for CAE Elektronik GmbH in Germany where he headed the successful completion of the cornerstone initiative NH90 German PFI project.
Marc-Olivier Sabourin has a Bachelor of Engineering degree from McGill University and a Master of Business Administration degree from HEC University. Marc-Olivier Sabourin has received several prizes and recognitions for his work and published articles.
Jesse Bernhardt
General Legal Counsel, KF Aerospace
Jesse Bernhardt leads the legal functions for KF Aerospace’s worldwide operations, shaping the operational and commercial strategy for the KF Aerospace group of companies which includes interests in Ireland, the United States and fixed operating bases in Canada. KF Aerospace’s Canadian operations include the Allied Wings Military Flight Training base that supports the Royal Canadian Air Force through the Contracted Flying and Training Support (CFTS) Program.
Jesse earned a Juris Doctor (Law) from the University of Alberta in 2013 and was called to the Bar in British Columbia in 2014. He has completed both levels I and II of the Certified Financial Analyst examinations. He began his career practicing Corporate, Commercial and Banking Law working for Canadian chartered banks and credit unions across British Columbia. He began his defence and aerospace career in 2017 with KF Aerospace as associate legal counsel and was appointed General Legal Counsel in 2019.
Rick Giacomuzzi
Rick Giacomuzzi, CA, CPA
In February 2020 Rick joined the Advisory Board of KF Aerospace and KF Capital. Rick has consulted on various financial and operating projects for the corporate group.
His career includes over 30 years of experience in aviation and aerospace activities including senior management and board positions with a variety of corporations. In 1996 Rick was a founding shareholder and Chief Financial Officer of Avmax Group in Calgary. Avmax was a vertically integrated commercial aviation business involved in aircraft leasing, maintenance, repair & overhaul (MRO), airline operations, spares management, pilot and technician training, airport development, engineering, and research & development products. Corporate responsibilities included financial reporting, debt and equity financings, domestic and international income and commodity tax management, mergers and acquisitions, contract negotiation, insurance management, and strategic planning. Avmax enjoyed exponential growth from a start-up to over 1,000 employees.
Rick has held vice president positions with two passenger airlines providing services to Air Canada and has provided consulting services to several other airlines. Before his aviation and aerospace activities, Rick was the owner-manager and partner of public accounting firms providing financial reporting, assurance, advisory, and tax services to small to medium-sized businesses in a variety of industries.
Rick obtained his Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Calgary and subsequently earned his designations as Chartered Accountant (CA) and Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA).
He is married and is an avid golfer and traveller.
JD Richard
General Manager, SkyAlyne
JD Richard is the General Manager of SkyAlyne Canada, a business partnership between CAE and KF Aerospace; formed to provide a truly Canadian solution for Canada’s Future Aircrew Training (FAcT) Program.
JD has over 35 years of experience in the aerospace and defence industry. This includes executive-level positions where he led business development, engineering and product sustainment across complex domestic and international acquisition and sustainment programs. Through his varied career, he has worked at several companies playing major roles in aerospace and defence, namely at L3Harris WESCAM Inc., General Dynamics Mission Systems Canada, and IMP Aerospace.
Since 2018, JD was Vice President, Customer Support Group for L3Harris WESCAM Inc. There, he led and grew the Customer Service business while meeting and exceeding customer product sustainment requirements throughout their worldwide customer base; inclusive of 12 service centers in Canada, US, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East.
JD is a long-standing member of the Canadian Association of Professional Engineers. Mr. Richard has a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Brunswick, an MBAm from the McGill University, Executive Institute, and was a Commissioned Officer in the Canadian Armed Forces, Armoured Corps.
Bill Ryan
Deputy General Manager, SkyAlyne
William (Bill) Ryan has over 28 years of experience in military flying, combat operations, training development, and leadership in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), as well as 14 years of experience in the business world.
Born and raised in Nova Scotia, Bill joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) after university and spent 27 years in service, accumulating over 5000 flying hours on a variety of different aircraft. He flew combat missions during the first Gulf War and served two tours during the conflict in Bosnia. Bill also served with the Snowbirds Air Demonstration Team.
Bill has considerable experience in flight training and was involved extensively with the NATO Flying Training in Canada (NFTC) program. His last assignment in the RCAF was in Air Operations and Training, where he was responsible for overseeing the ab-initio pilot training for the RCAF.
After retiring from the Canadian military in 2004, Bill worked with Bombardier Military Aviation Training in several roles in sales, marketing and international training, business development and proposal development. He worked on the UKMFTS program, the Singapore Air Force Basic Wings Course (BWC), and the Air 5428 program in Australia.
Bill is the Manager of Business Development and the Military Liaison for KF Aerospace Defence Programs. He was the Site Manager for the Contracted Flying Training and Support (CFTS) program in Southport, MB, for 5 years. Bill is also the Deputy General Manager of SkyAlyne – KF’s partnership with CAE for the Future Aircrew Training Program (FAcT).
Abir Kazan
Capture Manager, SkyAlyne
Abir Kazan has over 20 years of diverse management experience in the defence and aerospace industry. In April 2018, she was nominated as the Capture Manager for SkyAlyne Canada, on secondment from CAE Inc. Ms. Kazan joined CAE, Defence and Security in 2001 and has gained extensive proposals, program management as well as leadership experience. As part of her professional growth, she has undertaken various skills and training development covering leadership, capture and proposal management, proposal writing, price to win, project management, earned value, relationship contracting, negotiation and “Defi 100 Jours” from “L’effet A”.
Ms. Kazan started her career at CAE as a Proposal Manager. She was then promoted to lead a team of Proposal Managers and Cost Estimators. She has successfully led, managed and produced Canadian and international proposals including the Operational Training System Provider (OTSP) and the CC130J maintenance training provider as well as the UK MFTS Multi-Engine Pilot Training.
In 2016, Ms. Kazan was nominated to become the project manager on the UK MFTS Multi-Engine Pilot Training – for the delivery of the ground-based training suite. In that role, Ms. Kazan has interfaced with the various stakeholders including Lockheed Martin RMS, the independent tester representing the UK MoD interests, Lockheed Martin UK, Babcock, Ascent and Embraer, taking the program on time and on budget ready for training in December 2017. During her assignment on the UK MFTS program, Ms. Kazan has undertaken her PMP training and obtained her certification in December 2016.
Before joining CAE, Ms. Kazan worked in the telecommunication field at Nortel Networks as a Prime Verification Engineer. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from Concordia University in 2000.
Scott Greenough
LCol, Royal Canadian Air Force (Ret.)
Lieutenant-Colonel (Retired) Scott Greenough enrolled in the Canadian Forces in August 1989 under the Officer Cadet Training Plan.
In 1992, he completed his pilot training in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and was posted to Cold Lake, Alberta, to begin his training as a fighter pilot on the CF-5 Freedom Fighter and CF-18 Hornet aircraft. In 1994, he was posted to his first squadron, 416 Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS). His five-year posting to 416 Sqn included a deployment with 2 Canadian Multi-National Brigade Group to Bosnia-Herzegovina as a Forward Air Controller and a tour in Aviano, Italy conducting Peace Support Operations over Bosnia. In 1999, he was selected to attend the Fighter Weapons Instructor Course (FWIC) and graduated with Top Gun honours.
In 1999, Scott was posted to 410 Tactical Fighter (Operational Training) Squadron, where he instructed both basic fighter pilots and FWIC candidates on the CF-18. In 2001, he was posted to the Fighter Standards and Evaluation Team where he acted as a fleet-wide Fighter Force Standards Officer. In 2002, he was promoted to the rank of Major and posted back to 410 TF(OT)S as the Squadron Weapons and Tactics Officer and the Officer Commanding the Fighter Weapons Instructor Course.
In 2003, Scott was posted to 3 Wing Bagotville, Quebec, where he was the Squadron Weapons and Tactics Officer for 433 TFS and Deputy Commanding Officer for 425 TFS. In 2007, he was posted to the newly-established Canadian Forces Aerospace Warfare Center where he worked closely with international partners and allies on the development of new fighter concepts and doctrine development.
Scott was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in December 2010 and assumed command of the 2 Canadian Forces Flying Training School at 15 Wing Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan the following summer. He was subsequently posted to Tyndall AFB, Florida, where he contributed to the NORAD mission as the Deputy Chief of Combat Plans at the 601st Air Operations Center.
Scott retired from the Canadian Armed Forces in March 2015 after more than 25 years of dedicated service. He amassed over 3400 flying hours in CF aircraft, 2400 of which were on the CF-18 Hornet. He holds a Bachelor of Military Arts and Science degree from the Royal Military College of Canada and is a graduate of the Joint Command and Staff Programme at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto, Ontario.
Scott joined the CAE Team in March 2015 and returned to Moose Jaw as a CT-156 Harvard II Simulator Instructor and Flight Training Specialist with the NATO Flying Training in Canada (NFTC) Program. Early in 2016, he was appointed as the CAE Director of NFTC Operations in Moose Jaw and Cold Lake. As of February 2018, he has supported the SkyAlyne training solution working group for the BFT and AFT training stream.
Peter Fedak
LCol, CD, M.A.S, Royal Canadian Air Force (Ret’d)
Peter Fedak has over 29 years in the Defence, Aerospace, and Aviation industries and since February 2018 has been the Co-Lead of Program Solutions for SkyAlyne Canada, on secondment from KF Aerospace.
In 1989, Peter joined the RCAF and over a 25-year period, amassed a vast amount of operational, training, and leadership positions including 4,600 hours of flying time.
Trained as a Rotary Winged Pilot, Peter spent his operational time with 1 Wing supporting the Canadian Army. He deployed to Haiti for peacekeeping, oversaw the training and implementation plan for the CH146 Griffon at 408 Squadron, supported the 1997 Manitoba Floods, and deployed to Afghanistan mentoring the Afghan Army Air Corps. Training experience was gained as a Qualified Flying Instructor at 3 Canadian Forces Flying Training School (3 CFFTS) at Southport, MB, rising to the highest category of A1. Following his time at 3 CFFTS, Peter was promoted to Major and was the Chief Instructor at 403 Operational Training Squadron in Oromocto, NB. After a two-year posting to Fort Rucker, Alabama, with the US Army, Peter was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and transferred to the Air Staff in NDHQ for one year. Peter’s RCAF career culminated as the Commandant of 3 CFFTS from 2012 to 2014.
Peter joined KF Aerospace in 2015 as the Site Manager for the Contracted Flying Training and Support (CFTS) contract in Southport. In this role, he is responsible for the effective and efficient delivery of all services provided to Canada for RCAF flight training under the CFTS contract. The CFTS contract provides a turn-key training operation for the RCAF, including implementation and management of all of the latest training and maintenance technologies.<
Peter has a Master of Aeronautical Science degree from Embry-Riddle and is a graduate of the USAF JCSP and Air War College DL programs.
