Director
Brigadier-General (Retired) Gregory Matte is a former CF-18 fighter pilot and a Fighter Weapons Instructor “Top Gun” graduate with extensive operational mission experience. He has been assigned multiple command positions during his career, including as the Task Force Commander for all Canadian flying operations in the Balkans, as well as the Commander of 4 Wing Cold Lake in Alberta. One of his final assignments in the military was Chief of Staff for the co-ordination of the air, land and sea security for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
He was awarded the Governor General's Gold Medal upon graduation from Royal Roads Military College, and later completed a Masters degree through the Military College of Canada. A running enthusiast, he won the Canadian Forces national championship in the marathon in 2003, and subsequently competed for Canada in the World Military Games in Palermo, Sicily that same year. Active in martial arts, he has a 2nd Dan Black Belt in Taekwon Do.
Brigadier-General Matte retired from the Canadian Forces in September 2010 after 29 years of service, and following an assignment in the public service and work in the private sector, was selected as the Executive Director of the Helmets to Hardhats Canada program in May 2012. In addition to these responsibilities, he’s also pursuing part-time PhD studies in Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University.