Simon Summers

Background

About Simon Summers

I have served in the Royal Canadian Navy for 25 years. In that time, I have been privileged to work in a broad range of roles including at-sea management and leadership of plant operations and management; subject matter expert/systems technical management ashore; concept ship design; management of the service delivery output of a large ship/submarine maintenance facility; and serving as the head of the navy’s coastal technical regulatory organization on Canada’s west coast. Through these roles, I have honed skills in various contexts, including in leadership; program management; risk management from the level of individual technical defects through to multi-year strategic risk; business planning; development of strategic analysis and options; budget and contract management; policy generation, interpretation and implementation; regulatory oversight; labour relations; and briefing significant issues and recommendations through governance bodies. This has given me a unique opportunity to see and understand the organizational ‘big picture’, allowing for a nuanced approach that avoids a narrow view based only on current responsibilities. I also stood up a Culture, Diversity and Inclusion Program that I continue to lead, which aims to increase diversity and inclusive culture in the Fleet Maintenance Facility CAPE BRETON, a considerable challenge given the size and composition of the unit, and important given the current military context in Canada. I received the Commander Royal Canadian Navy Commendation in 2021 for, during the early COVID period, quickly pivoting the Fleet Maintenance Facility CAPE BRETON and the wider enterprise to ensure delivery of critical requirements. This ultimately resulted in two frigates being kept at sea COVID-free through the early pandemic months, then allowed the re-start of the maintenance program in earnest but safely in summer 2020. I also received a Commander Maritime Forces Atlantic ‘Bravo Zulu’ Award in 2014 in recognition of my leadership at sea as Head of Department managing an aging steam propulsion plant to deliver naval capability on counter-narcotics operations, which resulted in a significant drug seizure