Command Chief Warrant Officer (VCDS) – Biography

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class Stan Ryan, MMM, CD

Chief Petty Officer 1st Class Stan Ryan enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces in June 1993 as a Naval Communications Technician. After completing Basic training in Cornwallis he was posted to Canadian Forces Naval Engineering School Halifax (Det St John’s) where he completed two years of the newly established Naval Combat System Technician Training Plan (NCSTTP) programme at Memorial University, in Newfoundland. Upon receipt of a Diploma in Electronics Engineering he was posted to his first operational unit, HMCS HURON, in Esquimalt, British Columbia.

During his career as a Communications Technician and Technical Manager, he served with various sea-going units including: HMCS PROVIDER; HMCS HURON; HMCS OTTAWA; HMCS CALGARY; and HMCS ALGONQUIN. In 2002 he deployed on Operation APOLLO as a member of HMCS OTTAWA’s crew, and participated in two Western Pacific deployments to South Asia (1997 and 2011). His shore tours included postings to Fleet Maintenance Facility Engineering in Esquimalt, Maintenance Detachment Matsqui in the lower mainland, and Maritime Pacific Headquarters N37-2 (Ships Readiness). In 2011 he was selected Combat Systems Engineering (CSE) Chief of HMCS OTTAWA, and had the honour of brining to sea one of the inaugural Weapons Engineering trade CSE departments. In 2012 he was posted to Sea Training Group (Pacific) as a Weapons Engineering Technician Chief Petty Officer who was charged with assessing collective training, certification, and maintenance of standards for ships and submarines. It was there that he proudly mentored many great ship’s companies through their Readiness continuum.

In 2014 CPO1 Ryan attained his current rank and was appointed Unit Chief at the Directorate of Naval Strategy, where he worked on RCN Global Engagements and Naval Strategic Doctrine. While there he contributed to the drafting of a revamped RCN Code of Conduct and the new Leadmark 2050, the RCN’s long range vision for the future. He was appointed Coxswain of HMCS MONTREAL, the RCN’s Experimental Ship, in 2016 where, over the next two years, he proved a central figure in advancing Future Fleet crewing concepts, Cyclone Fleet integration and the Canadian Armed Forces’ Joint Targeting Enterprise. In 2018, he received a Senior Appointment as Chief of Force Development (CFD) Chief Warrant Officer and, after spending three years there, he attended a year-long second language training in 2021 in Gatineau, Quebec. Following this, he assumed an overseas appointment as the Command Senior Enlisted Leader for NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum in the Netherlands from 2022 to 2024, where he helped lead a headquarters charged with managing deterrence and defence activities along NATO’s Eastern Front. In 2024 he had the pleasure of being selected to his current position as Vice Chief of Defence Staff Group CWO.

He is married, and together with his wife, enjoys hiking, travelling and the great outdoors.