Across Canada’s defence and security sector, significant effort has been made to support veterans as they transition from military service into civilian careers.
Organizations have invested in recruitment initiatives, onboarding programs, and internal development pathways designed to help veterans succeed once they are hired.
Yet an important question has remained largely unexplored:
What happens next?
This spring, ADGA Group is convening a select group of industry partners to examine that question through A Leadership Lab for Impact and Executive Sponsorship (ALLIES). With veterans forming the pilot cohort, the initiative focuses on how military leadership experience is understood, translated, and advanced within civilian defence organizations.
Participating organizations include CAE, Thales, Lockheed Martin, Calian, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Leonardo, and SEA Canada, reflecting a broad cross-section of the defence ecosystem.
Building on Strong Foundations
Each of the organizations participating in ALLIES has made meaningful investments in supporting veterans, from recruitment and transition initiatives to internal development programs that enable continued growth within their teams.
These efforts have strengthened the defence and security workforce and reflect a shared commitment across the sector to recognizing the value of military experience.
ALLIES builds on this foundation by creating space to examine how that experience is interpreted across organizations and how it shapes long-term career progression.
Participating organizations include CAE, Thales, Lockheed Martin, Calian, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Leonardo, and SEA Canada, reflecting a broad cross-section of the defence ecosystem.
Moving Beyond Established Models
Many existing approaches are designed within the context of a single organization, shaped by its structures, priorities, and definitions of leadership.
ALLIES expands the lens.
By bringing together veterans from multiple companies, the initiative enables a broader view of how leadership developed through military service is interpreted across the sector. It creates an environment to explore shared patterns, common challenges, and the factors that influence progression into senior roles.
The focus is on generating insight at a systems level, where differences in organizational context, role expectations, and visibility can significantly shape how leadership is recognized and advanced.
Unlocking a Critical Leadership Advantage
Veterans bring deep experience in leading teams, operating in complex environments, and making decisions under pressure, capabilities that align directly with the demands of Canada’s defence industry.
Translating that experience into civilian leadership pathways, however, is not always straightforward.
“ALLIES creates an opportunity to better align around the value veterans bring and to ensure that experience is fully leveraged across the sector.”
“In our industry, we collaborate extensively on technology and capability, but we rarely step back to examine how leadership itself is understood across organizations,” said LGen Jean-Marc Lanthier (Ret’d), Chief Executive Officer and President of ADGA Group. “ALLIES creates an opportunity to better align around the value veterans bring and to ensure that experience is fully leveraged across the sector.”
Differences in how leadership is interpreted, particularly in areas such as business development, executive readiness, and cross-functional roles, can influence how veterans progress over time. Greater alignment across organizations has the potential to unlock more consistent and impactful leadership pathways.
A Collective View of Progression
At the core of ALLIES is a shift in perspective, from individual experience to collective understanding.
By convening participants across organizations, the initiative enables a level of comparison and insight that is not visible within a single company. It allows for a deeper exploration of how leadership pathways evolve, where friction points emerge, and what conditions support progression.
“ALLIES was designed to create visibility where it doesn’t currently exist,” said Erika Coghill, Director, Marketing & Communications at ADGA and architect of the initiative. “We’ve made meaningful progress in supporting veterans into the workforce. This is about understanding how their leadership experience continues to translate once they are in, and what influences how far they go.”
Strengthening the Ecosystem
The collaborative nature of ALLIES reflects a broader recognition that leadership development extends beyond organizational boundaries.
As veterans move across roles, functions, and companies throughout their careers, their experience becomes part of a wider ecosystem. Understanding how that experience is interpreted at different points along that journey is essential to realizing its full value.
Bringing organizations together to explore these dynamics marks a step toward a more aligned and intentional approach to leadership across Canada’s defence sector.
Looking Ahead
As the pilot cohort progresses, ALLIES will identify key themes and insights that can be shared more broadly across the defence and security ecosystem.
Engagement with organizations such as the Ottawa Veterans Task Force will help extend the reach of these insights, contributing to ongoing efforts that support veterans across the sector.
Insights from the cohort are also expected to inform the development of leadership-focused initiatives within Invest Ottawa’s Defence Innovation Hub, strengthening the connection between talent, leadership, and innovation.
At its core, ALLIES is about ensuring that the leadership developed through military service is fully understood, recognized, and positioned to shape the future of Canada’s defence and security community.