NATO C2COE C2 Conference 2024

Retired US Marine Corps Four-Star General; has led professional military educational programmes, including as Director, Marine Infantry Officer Program and Commanding Officer, Marine Corps Basic School; twice served at the United States Naval Academy, first as Military Instructor and later as Commandant of Midshipmen. Served in command and staff positions in the Marine Corps and the Joint Force, including: Principal Director of Asia-Pacific policy, Office of the Secretary of Defense; commanding 150,000 US and NATO forces in Afghanistan from July 2011 to February 2013; former Commander, NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and US Forces in Afghanistan. Fifteen months as Senior Adviser to the US Secretary of Defense on Middle East Security; then Special Presidential Envoy to the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL.

Born in Loretteville, Quebec, Major-General Simon Bernard began his military career at the age of 17 at the Royal Military College Saint-Jean (RMCSJ), where he obtained his diploma and Commission in 1993. He served for more than ten years in the 2nd and 3rd Battalion Royal 22e Régiment, namely as Commanding Officer of the 2nd Battalion Royal 22e Régiment and the Citadelle de Québec from 2010 to 2012.

MGen Bernard participated in three United Nations and NATO Operations abroad. In 1995, he served as platoon commander in Croatia; in 2004, as G5/G3 Plans in the Kabul Multinational Brigade in Afghanistan; and more recently, from October 2009 to September 2010, as J5 of Task Force Kandahar. At home, he deployed on three humanitarian operations: following the Red River floods in Manitoba in 1997, the 1998 Ice Storm in Ontario and during the Montérégie floods in the spring of 2011 where he served as Commanding Officer of the Domestic Task Force.

In his postings outside the Regiment, he has cumulated experience in staff positions, namely in the Command Suite of the Commander Land Force Central Area (LFCA) in Toronto and as Executive Assistant to the Commander of the Allied Command Europe Mobile Force (Land), NATO’s Quick Reaction Brigade, in Heidelberg Germany. He also assumed the responsibilities of G3 of 5 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, Executive Assistant to the Chief of Staff Land Strategy at the Army HQ in Ottawa, G3 of 2nd Canadian Division / Joint Task Force (East) and Deputy Director Current Operations at the Strategic Joint Staff. He also commanded the RMCSJ from 2015 to 2017 before being posted as auditor to the 67th Session at the Centre for Advanced Military Studies and the 70th Session at the National Defense Institute of Advanced Studies in Paris, France until June 2018. Upon returning to Canada, he was promoted to Brigadier-General and appointed as CJOC Director General – Plans. In November 2020, he was seconded to the Public Health Agency of Canada as the Chief of Staff, Logistics and Operations within the Vaccine Rollout Task Force, enabling the planning and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines across Canada. In August 2021, he is promoted to his current rank and appointed DirectorGeneral Military Personnel – Strategic. In June 2023, he assumes the role of Chief of Staff of the Canadian Joint Operations Command.

Major-General Bernard holds a bachelor’s degree in Administration, a Masters’ degree in War Studies, an Advanced Military Studies diploma from the French War College. He is a graduate from the Joint Command and Staff Program, the French National Defense Institute of Advanced Studies and has completed the United States Capstone Military Leadership program at the US National Defense University

Roger Lane spent 35 years in the UK Royal Marines and in NATO appointments, from covert counter- terrorism to UK Task Force Commander in Op ENDURING FREEDOM; Commander UK/Netherlands Landing Force; Deputy Commander NRDC-Italy and Deputy Commander Operations in HQ ISAF, where he represented NATO in the Afghan National Security Council and in 3 of the G8 pillars (Disarmament of Illegally Armed Groups; Counter-Narcotics and Afghan National Army Reform) as well as having command of 12000 troops from 37 nations.

He was a NATO Senior Mentor, supporting Operational HQs, for 6 years, as well as deploying as a civilian to Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia on capacity-building projects. In Somalia, he was the President’s Senior Security Advisor, where he co-authored its first National Security and Stabilisation Plan and Counter- IED strategy, as well as developing a new indirect fire policy for AMISOM to reduce civilian casualties. Since 2014, he has supported NATO’s JWC to build an OPFOR capability and advises the Centre on exercise design, development and delivery. In conjunction with Calian Europe, he also provides Battle Staff Training support to SHAPE, the JFC’s and other HQs, as well as developing scenarios to address contemporary and future challenges for NATO.

In the commercial part of his business, he focuses on coaching organisational change and leadership development, where he is an accredited facilitator, including in neuro-scienced based profiling and natural linguistics programming tools. His company is offering simulation support to militaries, civil emergency response training and exercises as well as providing rich Information Environments to align words with deeds.

In 1991, Rejanne Eimers joined the Royal Military Academy and, after four years, became a medical platoon commander in an infantry battalion. She deployed twice to Bosnia, first as a platoon leader with IFOR-1, then as deputy company commander with SFOR-4. From 1999 to 2000, she trained recruits, was promoted to captain, and joined the 400 Medical Battalion. In 2000, she studied sociology at the University of Groningen while working with the Ministry of Defence. After graduating, she became a military researcher, then a staff officer in Army Education, focusing on diversity and training innovation.

In 2009, she moved to Muenster as DACOS G1 for 1GNC, leading HQ reorganization efforts. In 2013, she returned as Chief of Staff at the Education and Training Command and later commanded the 43 Medical Company. In 2017, she deployed to Kabul as a military advisor, then joined the liaison team between Personnel departments. She was promoted to colonel in 2019, becoming chief of the army personnel unit. In 2022, she attended a global strategy program in London, and in 2023, she returned to 1GNC as DCOS C&E, promoted to brigadier general.

Colonel Cédric Aspirault from 5 CMBG is the first commander of the multinational Forward Land Forces Brigade in Latvia. He’s working with our NATO allies to put the Brigade together and has a lot of thoughts on what is needed to complete the job.

Colonel Yannick Michaud joined the Canadian Armed Forces in Lahr, Germany, in 1993. He graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) Kingston in 1998, commissioned Combat Engineer officer. Throughout his career, he occupied several command and staff positions at the tactical, operational and strategic levels in the fields of Combat Engineering, Geospatial Support, Geospatial Intelligence, Counter Improvised Explosive Devices and as a Special Advisor to senior leadership.

He has been posted to 5 Combat Engineer Regiment, 42 Engineer Regiment (British Army), Mapping and Charting Establishment, the Director of Geospatial Intelligence, and Headquarters NATO Rapid Deployable Corps in Istanbul, Turkey, Canadian Forces Intelligence Command, and Chief of Programme under the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff. Particularly, from 2013 to 2015, he was the Commanding Officer of 5 Combat Engineer Regiment. From 2015 to 2017, he was the Senior Military Advisor to the Deputy Minister. Afterwards, he was posted for two years to the US Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies as a student and then instructor at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. From 2019 to 2020, he was Special Advisor to Commander Canadian Joint Operations Command. From 2020 to 2023, he was the Deputy Director General Intelligence Policy & Partnerships and Director Geospatial Intelligence and Human Intelligence Policy at the Canadian Forces Intelligence Command. Finally, he was the Director Strategic Coordination under the Chief of Programme until he took command of the Canadian Joint Warfare Centre in June 2024.

Colonel Michaud has a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical and Materials Engineering from RMC, and three Master’s degrees: Master in Science in Geospatial Information from Cranfield University in the United Kingdom; Master in Defence Studies from RMC; and Master in Arts in Strategic Studies from the US Army Command and General Staff College. He is a graduate of the Canadian Joint Command and Staff Program, the Advanced Strategic Leadership Studies Program  from US Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies, and the US Indo-Pacific Command International Intelligence Fellows Program. 

Colonel (ret) Morkaya is a Subject Matter Expert SME for Operations Assessment (OPSA) since 2014, currently working for the Joint Forces-Land, KLE Role Player for HQ JWC (EX STDA series, as previously known as STJA series). He is the director of International Business Development-CNK Global Consultancy. His expertise includes from Decision Making Process; Joint Planning and Joint Analysis; Joint Operations Assessment and Risk Management; Joint Evaluation; Joint Synchronization; Lessons Learned (LL); Readiness Reporting; Project Management; Capability Development; International Policing; and Exercise Development

Lieutenant colonel Alastair Luft is the Joint Research and Analysis Branch Head at the Canadian Joint Warfare Centre. An officer in the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, he has filled a variety of command and staff positions within both the Canadian Army and Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, to include a number of operational deployments. As a Branch Head, Lieutenant-Colonel Luft’s role is to oversee the employment of critical thinking methodologies such as Alternative Analysis and Wargaming, along with research on Command and Control.

LtCol Larsen is a seasoned military leader with over 30 years of service in the Danish Armed Forces and internationally. Currently serving as Programme Director, ACT Capability Division, Operational C2, he has held key roles including Chief of Staff of the Danish National Air Home Guard and Commander of the Danish Contingency in Afghanistan during the retrograde and redeployment of the Danish contingent. Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 2017, LtCol Larsen has extensive experience in international relations, defence policy, and military strategy, having served in NATO-related positions and led numerous planning and operational efforts. His career began with leadership roles in air force operations and procurement, progressing to senior staff and advisory positions in the Danish Air Force Academy and Defence Command Denmark.

Maj Ralph Dekker is a Dutch air force officer by trade, with an emphasis on organizing and executing tactical level exercises, deployments and training for the air force. After a tour at the royal military academy, he went to Joint Forces Command Brunssum as a J7 training officer, where he organized and executed major NATO excercises like Brilliant Jump, Trident Javelin and Trident Jupiter.

Since 2019 Maj Dekker is working for NATO C2 COE on a variety of topics, including the development of the MDO demonstrator, MDO and C2 development within ACO and he is member of the NATO Science and Technology Organization Research Task group HFM 342, on C2 lifecycle governance.

MAJ Steven Hornstra BEd, MSc is educational researcher at the school of health professions education of Maastricht University, educationalist at the academy for postgraduate medical education of Maastricht University Medical Centre+, civil-military co-operation specialist in the civil-military interaction command of the Royal Netherlands Army, and staff officer military-academic networks at the NATO Command and Control Centre of Excellence. His main research interests are military education, officer education, learning theories and instructional design.

MAJ Stefan Nelwan, Ph.D is a team manager leading the crisis preparation unit at the National Cyber Security Center of the Netherlands. He is a staff officer (reserve) academic networks at the NATO Command and Control Centre of Excellence. His research interests include civilian and military cooperation, exploring human factors, leadership and team performance for resilient and effective crisis response.

Paolo Pezzola is a Principal Sales and Account Manager for International Organizations at Infodas.

Paolo´s originally a Navy Officer, specialized in Mines and Mine Countermeasures. After graduating from the Naval Academy in 2001, he served on board Mine Hunters, Patrol Vessels, Frigates and Destroyers, occupying positions ranging from Principal Warfare Officer to Commanding Officer.

In his career, he served twice in the NATO Mine Countermeasures Standing Groups, as Mine Warfare Officer and as Principal Staff Officer.

From 2020 to 2022 he was posted Seconded National Expert in the European External Action Service, in Bruxelles, as part of the European Military Staff.

In 2022, Paolo, after more than 25 years service in the Navy, during which he had the chance to develop a rich toolbox of soft and hard skills, decided to sail unexplored seas and joined Infodas, were he started as a Senior Project Manager before recently swithcing to the International Sales Department.

Dr Dragos Calitoiu received a B.Eng. degree in Pattern Recognition, Image Processing, and Artificial Intelligence from Polytechnical University of Bucharest, Romania, and a Ph.D. degree in Computer Science with a focus on Brain Modelling from Carleton University, Canada. After completing two postdoctoral fellowships, he joined Bank of America in 2008 as a Senior Modeler, where he worked on mathematical modeling for marketing and risk analysis for 8 years. In 2016, he joined the Department of National Defence as a Defence Scientist, leading the Advanced Analytics team and applying machine learning approaches to HR military data. In 2022, he moved to the Centre for Operational Research and Analysis to support joint targeting and command and control capability development.

Taras Kloba serves as the Senior Partner Solutions Architect, Data & AI at Microsoft. With over 14 years of experience spanning the IT industry, banking, and cybersecurity, he has developed extensive expertise in his field.

In 2019, he was honored as the Best Software Architect in Ukraine by the Ukrainian IT Awards. A certified Microsoft trainer, he also holds multiple professional certifications from Google, Amazon, and SEI. Taras actively shares his knowledge at both international and local conferences and events, fostering the growth of the IT community.

He is the founder of the PostgreSQL Ukraine community, established to bring together professionals and enthusiasts of this technology across the country.

Taras led the teams that achieved victory in the TIDE NATO Hackathon 2023 and the National Defense Hackathon 2022, events organized by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

Beyond his professional activities, Taras is deeply involved in volunteering and provides consulting for military personnel on IT projects.

Aletta Eikelboom has worked with the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) since 2004. She mainly works for the Ministry of Defence, especially the Royal Netherlands Army. With a background in artificial intelligence and cognitive psychology, her work as a scientist and senior consultant is focused on the topics cognitive warfare, command & control, decision making, intelligence and future operations. She is currently the lead of a research program that focusses on operations in the information domain; e.g. to improve insight of the information environment and to support military planners with the development of interventions. Aletta developed a rich international network around C2 related research. She contributed to multiple SAS and HFM research groups. She has led the Multinational Capability Development Campaign (MCDC) project (Information age C2) and is chair of the NATO RTG SAS-IST 171. This cross panel activity aims to bridge the gap between C2 concepts and technical solutions in the context of MDO.

Next to her work for TNO, she is also a reserve officer in the rank of major. As a reserve officer she is permitted to work as operational analyst within a staff on taskforce level or higher, where she works as a direct advisor to the command team. As operational analyst she has been deployed to Uruzgan two times. Aletta supported the Taskforce Uruzgan from November 2007 to April 2008 and from February to July 2009.

Pauline works as a senior legal advisor at the Netherlands National Centre for Cybersecurity (NCSC-NL), where she provides advice on matters related to tasks of NCSC-NL in the field of cybersecurity. Before joining NCSC-NL, Pauline worked at the Clingendael Institute for International Relations, where she provided trainings in the field of international law and security, and as a military legal advisor at the Royal Netherlands Air Force, where she advised on international missions and operations on various levels. Since she has started her career conducting research in the field of female reproductive rights being based in Ghana, Bangladesh, and the occupied Palestinian Territories, Pauline remains keen on the importance of keeping an open mind, understanding various contexts, and building strong relations.

Pauline holds an LL.M. in Public International Law from Leiden University, where she has also studied English Language and Culture. She speaks Polish, English, Dutch, German, French and Russian.

Ben Crampton was appointed Director for European Government Affairs in Microsoft in November 2021, following a 20-year career as a diplomat, including periods working for the UK Foreign Office, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the United Nations.

For the majority of his diplomatic career Ben worked for the European Union in the Western Balkans, the Caucasus and East Africa. From 2009 to 2013 he was head of the EU office in Belgrade responsible for managing the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, and from 2014 – 2021 he was Chief of Staff to the EU Special Representative for the Horn of Africa.

Originally from Surrey, British Columbia, and a graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada, Lieutenant-Colonel Anthony Robb has served in the Canadian Army for 23 years as a Combat Engineer. He deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 2006-2007 and 2010-2011. He has held a variety of command and staff positions at 2 CER, 2 CMBG, 32 CER, 32 CBG, RMC, 1 Cdn Div HQ, and 4 Cdn Div. He is currently working as Wargame consultant for the Canadian Department of National Defence

Nathan Pearce, originally from Brisbane, Australia and now based in Utrecht, Netherlands, leads dynamic development strategies to maximize the potential of technology. Combining his expertise, effective engagement, and creativity, he tackles complex challenges with a focus on delivering sustainable solutions across enterprise, government, and beyond. As the Chief Operating Officer in Europe for S2IX, the leading federated information management platform, Nathan is driving efforts to optimise operations. His work is centered on revolutionising how European organisations and NATO partners interact with their data.