Event topic overview:  

This will be an engaging hour with Sid Tobias, who has served our country and the public interest throughout his incredible career. Based on life-changing circumstances, Sid will share his thoughts on what a “red team” looks like and why internal auditing needs to plan for complexity and for time when things do go wrong.

“Hey folks, I am Sid Tobias.  Here is an old picture of me receiving a Meritorious Service Medal from the Governor General on HMCS OTTAWA in 2015.  Normally this ceremony is at Rideau Hall, but since I had to twice turn down the invitation to attend, his Excellency G.G. David Johnston he came out and awarded it to me on board off Hawaii. 

In 2002, I was aboard the same ship. In the aftermath of 9/11, I had just established an area-wide tactical network when I witnessed a blue‑on‑blue incident where an American F16 dropped a 500 lb bomb on Canadian Troops during a night live fire exercise. I could see the position of both the F16 and the Canadian Troops…they could not identify each other.  I later received the advanced Southwest Asia Medal for Afghanistan with a Command Commendation at the same time the medal was being awarded to the families of those who were killed in the live exercise. I sat beside a 19 year-old pregnant wife and that changed my life. I could no longer accept ‘good enough’, or ‘this is standard operating procedure’.  I was mad that we let assumptions and wallpaper dogma remain unchallenged and untested that night. 

I did my Master’s Degree mostly at 30,00 feet flying back and forth to Brussels as a NATO Working Group Chairman. I also completed advanced Joint Interface Control Officer Training in 2 years (typically a 10-year journey) as one of the first non-US personnel to receive the qualification. 

It’s been a long mission of mine to convert NATO, NORAD and Canada’s way of thinking about digital transformation, data driven decision making and agile software development. I’m proud that I’ve seen results and would be happy to share more with you during the presentation."