Senior management team

The Pearson Peacekeeping Centre has a team of qualified people with a diverse background of knowledge, expertise and hands-on experience that contribute to the Centre’s international reputation of excellence. Below, you will find short bios of our Senior Management Team.

Please click on a name for biographical details:

  • Sue M. Armstrong, CHRP, RPR, Director, Human Resources
  • Sue Armstrong joined the PPC in September 1997. Working in consultation with senior management and staff supervisors, Ms. Armstrong is striving to make the PPC a ‘best place to work.’ Sue holds a Bachelor of Journalism (Hons) from the University of King’s College, Halifax, is a Certified Human Resource Professional (CHRP) and Registered Professional Recruiter (RPR) with a HR Management Certificate from Algonquin College. Ms. Armstrong is also a member of the Human Resource Association of Nova Scotia and the Human Resources Professionals Association of Ontario.
  • Colonel Michael Cessford, Ph.D., Senior Military Advisor
  • Colonel Michael Cessford joined the Canadian Forces as a Reserve Infantryman in 1970. Over the course of his career, he has commanded at the Troop and Squadron level, and has extensive service as an operational staff officer, serving on exchange as a G3 Plans officer with the US Army's 24th Mechanized Infantry Division, in Bosnia as a plans officer within Multi-National Division (South-West) and as the first J3 of the HQ, Joint Task Force - South West Asia during Operation APOLLO.  Promoted to his current rank in 2002, Colonel Cessford was posted to Ottawa as the Director, Defence Analysis. In July 2005, he was appointed to the CDS Transformation Team. Colonel Cessford holds a Bachelor's degree in History from the University of Western Ontario, a Master's Degree in History from the University of New Brunswick and a Doctorate in History from Carleton University.
  • Paul Chapin, Vice-President, Programs
  • Paul Chapin joined the PPC in September 2006 on an interchange with the Department of Foreign Affairs, where he has had extensive experience both in senior-level headquarters assignments and in postings abroad. He recently completed three years as Director General of the International Security Bureau during which he was heavily involved with the Department of National Defense, RCMP and the Canadian International Development Agency in decisions related to Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan, Haiti and Sudan.
  • Malcolm Coyne, BEngSc, Director of Information Management
  • Malcolm Coyne has extensive management and project management experience, in addition to e-business development and the management of intellectual property. With 20 years experience at Nortel Networks, Malcolm brings a broad base of experience to the PPC, including mobility solutions, end user support and help desk management, IT security, website development, as well as experience in building and maintaining network, hardware and applications architectures.  Many of the solutions he has introduced have focused on connectivity among staff as well as with key business partners and clients, across geographically disbursed worksites. Malcolm manages the PPC’s IT department and is currently engaged in developing an information management strategy.
  • Mark Croft, B.A., B.Comm., CGA, Director of Finance
  • Mark Croft is a senior finance professional with a keen eye for contributing creative and innovative strategies that enhance the efficiency of business practices, with an emphasis in cost management, systems integration and corporate strategy.  With roots in revenue and cost analysis, his areas of expertise include profit and loss management, team building and leadership, and corporate vision fulfillment.  Mark joined the PPC in 2007, following 11 years as part of the senior management teams of both public (Nova Scotia) and private (Ontario) industry.  Mark has managed multi-million dollar budgets in the government, airline and progressive securities brokerage industries, and brings financial vision and leadership to the PPC.
  • Peter Dnistrianskyj, B.A., Deputy Director, Africa Programs
  • Mr. Dnistrianskyj is a law-enforcement professional with over 35 years experience and is knowledgeable in all facets of police training and operations.  He has gained a wealth of experience during his 23 year term with the RCMP and his subsequent assignments with the United Nations (UN) and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Europe and Africa.  He joined the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre in Oct. 2007 after his assignments with the ICRC, where he was the training advisor.  In his ICRC capacity, he was responsible for disseminating training in professional policing concepts to police and security forces in Africa, based on International Human Rights Law (HR) and International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Mr. Dnistrianskyj currently holds the position of Deputy Director for Africa Programs where personal and institutional policing capacity building are the focus of these programs.
  • Wendy Grimshaw, B.A. (Hons), MBA, Vice President, Corporate
  • Ms. Grimshaw has extensive experience in corporate services management, including restructuring various business management functions of large organizations.  Her most recent role was as the inaugural Executive Director of one the first Ontario Family Health Teams established to deliver primary health care. A creative problem-solver and critical thinker, Wendy has been the Director of Strategy and Governance for a national not-for-profit association, an instructor at Algonquin College, and a senior manager with Deloitte Consulting.  She enjoys the complexity and unique challenges inherent in managing not-for-profit organizations and is looking forward to working with PPC staff and stakeholders. 
  • Tetsuo Theodore (Ted) Itani, Humanitarian Advisor
  • Mr. Itani was commissioned into the Canadian Army (Militia) in 1957 and transferred to the Regular Force in 1959.  He served with NATO in Europe on three separate assignments and held various command, general staff, joint staff and instructional posts during his 37-year career.  He is a graduate of the Canadian Army Staff College and NATO Defense College, Rome, Italy.
  • Insp. Vic Josey, Police Advisor
  • Vic Josey worked for 32 years as a regular member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in senior management, operations and administration roles. He is currently posted to the International Peace Operations Branch and seconded to the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre. Inspector Josey is a veteran of three United Nations missions having served as a police officer in a  peacekeeping role UNPROFOR - Former Yugoslavia (Dec. 1993 to Jun. 1994), UNMIBH - Bosnia and Herzegovina  (Apr. 1998 to Jan. 1999) and East Timor - UNTAET/UNMISET (March 2002 to March 2003).  While in mission, Inspector Josey performed a variety of duties including Human Rights Investigator, Human Rights Coordinator in Bosnia Herezgovina, Chief of Strategic Planning and Chief of Operations in an executive policing mission in East Timor.
    Inspector Josey has had a diverse and varied career that has included a tour of duty as a member of the RCMP (Anti-Terrorist) Special Emergency Response, several years as an instructor specializing in Emergency Response Team and Officer Survival training.  He has also worked in the International Training and Peacekeeping Branch responsible for operational support to Canadian Civilian Police in peacekeeping missions, seconded to the Department of Foreign Affairs, Regional Security and Peacekeeping Division responsible for Civilian Policing matters.
  • Colonel (ret'd) Peter J. Kramers, CD, Director of Exercises
  • Col. Peter Kramers graduated from le Collège Militaire Royal de Saint Jean with a BA in Administration. After a distinguished military career, he retired from the Canadian Army in 1998 at the rank of Colonel. He subsequently served as the Senior Mission Planning Coordinator, Chemical Weapons with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague until April 2001, when he joined the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations. As a member of the external faculty of the PPC, Mr. Kramers helped design and conduct of major several major NATO command post exercises in the United States, Latvia and Romania. As the Exercise Department Senior Project Manager he was responsible for a series of NATO and EU exercises in Germany, Turkey and The Netherlands. He is currently the Director of the Exercise Department.
  • Lucie Laurion, B.Comm., Director of Communications
  • Lucie Laurion is a communications professional with over 25 years of experience in marketing, communications and media relations. Before joining the PPC, Ms. Laurion worked for eight years at the City of Ottawa, where she lead the Public Health Communications and Resource Management Team and held various other communication positions. She has planned and implemented several city-wide awareness campaigns on health, environmental and municipal issues. In addition, she directed the communications component of the Smoke-Free Ottawa campaign that led to the smoke-free by-laws for all public places and workplaces in Ottawa. Prior to joining the City of Ottawa, Ms. Laurion spent several years as a freelance communications and marketing specialist, during which time she wrote and adapted direct marketing packages, ads and promotional material for the francophone population. She also gained invaluable direct marketing experience working for Readers’ Digest, both in Canada and overseas. She has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University, with a specialization in marketing.
  • Ann Livingstone, Ph.D., Vice President, Research and Education
  • A graduate of Anderson University, Indiana, Dr. Livingstone earned her Masters at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She did post-graduate studies at Oxford University (UK) and was awarded her Ph.D. from University of Keele (UK). With a strong interest in the role that middle power States have played in peace operations, Dr. Livingstone has been drawn to work in an environment where the concepts of peace and conflict are approached from a constructivist perspective. At the PPC, she has the opportunity to research and work with the civilian, military, and police personnel who play a critical role in the field of peace operations.
  • Peter Miller, (Ass. Comm. – Ret.) Director, West Africa Police Project
  • Mr. Miller has over 30 years experience with the RCMP, and joined the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre after United Nations Missions to Haiti, Western Sahara and East Timor. His field experience in peace operations have given him both passion and reverence for the complexity and risks involved in modern peace operations. He is a strong believer that only individuals properly trained and equipped should be sent on peace operations. Mr. Miller is the former prime ministerial body guard to the Right Honourable Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
  • Suzanne Monaghan, B.A., President
  • Suzanne Monaghan has over 30 years of diverse and progressive experience in the federal public service. Some of her posts have included: Chief Learning Officer for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Director General of Training and Learning at the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency and Deputy Registrar of Canadian Citizenship. Throughout her career, she has worked in partnership with other levels of government, with NGOs and with the private sector.