John graduated from the Royal Military College in 1965 with a Chemical Engineering Degree. A coveted Rhodes Scholarship took John to Oxford University until 1967. A career as a Military Engineer with the Canadian Forces then began in Canadian Forces Base Chilliwack with 3 Field Engineer Squadron, a unit that he would later command in 1974.
A 35 year career with the Canadian Forces concluded with John retiring as the Senior Serving Military Engineer in 1995. After a three stint as an Assistant Deputy Minister with the Department of National Defence John moved to become the Commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard in the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
John went back to the Department of National Defence as an Associate Deputy Minister and Chief of the Communications Security Establishment. He was there from 2005 until his appointment as the Skelton – Clark Fellow at Queen’s University on the first of February this year.
