New appointments to the Thales Canada Executive Committee

Mark Halinaty, Chief Executive Officer of Thales Canada, has made the following appointments to the Thales Canada Executive Committee:

Dave Spagnolo has been appointed Vice President, Sales and Marketing for Thales Canada.

Siegfried Usal has been appointed Vice President, Strategy and Communications for Thales Canada.

Jerry McLean has been appointed Vice President & Managing Director, Thales Canada, Defence & Security.

These appointments are effective from the end of January 2015.

Biographies

• Dave Spagnolo is a Professional Engineer (PEng) who graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Royal Military College of Canada. He began his career with Thales Canada in 1996. In 2001 he was appointed Vice President and General Manager of the Defence & Security operations of Thales Canada. In 2012 Mr. Spagnolo was appointed Vice President Operations for Thales Canada. In this role, he oversaw the country-wide operations in Transport, Defence and Aerospace, as well as transverse issues like competitiveness, procurement, IT/IS, cyber security and shared services. Mr. Spagnolo has held the position of Chief Operating Officer and Deputy to the VP & Managing Director for Thales Canada Transportation Solutions since 2014.

• Siegfried Usal is a graduate of the Canadian Forces College in 2004 and the French Air Force Academy in 1992, and has served in the French Air Force for 24 years and also in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a CF-18 exchange pilot. From 2007 to 2010, he held the position of the Aide de camp to the French President, a unique experience that tremendously strengthened his knowledge and skill set in International Relations, Politics and Diplomacy, which he leveraged as Defence Attaché to the French Embassy in Canada from 2010 to 2013 to re-invigorate long lasting bilateral defence relationships between France and Canada. He has held the position of Vice President External Relations for Thales Canada since 2013.

• Jerry McLean is a graduate of the Canadian Forces College in 1997 and College Militaire Royal in 1985.  Mr. McLean has served in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) for 28 years as a Combat Systems Engineer (CSE). Upon his retirement from the RCN in 2007, Mr. McLean joined Thales as a Naval Capture Leader and was responsible for the development and capture of all maritime programs. In 2009, Mr. McLean assumed the responsibilities of Director, Marketing, Sales and Strategy for Thales Canada, Defence & Security, where he led the business development team in the successful pursuit of key programs. He has held the position of Vice-president Marketing and Sales for Thales Canada since 2013.