Leadership

André Sincennes is President of RHEA Inc. He has over 30 years’ experience working in executive positions in Europe and Canada, and has played a strategic role developing economic business relationship between Belgium and Canada. In recognition of his significant contribution to Belgium’s global reputation and influence, he was made Commander of the Order of the Crown in November 2022.

During his career in business management, André has overseen multiple company mergers and acquisitions, and fostered relations with government administrations, international agencies and leading organizations across two continents. André’s legal acumen and diplomacy expertise have facilitated innovative partnerships and demonstrated an ability to rally industry by harnessing commitment from its partners. 

André became leader of RHEA Group in 2009, providing strategic vision, identifying and exploiting new business opportunities, and fostering impressive sustained growth during a period of global economic instability. RHEA Group is now one of the largest international space engineering and cybersecurity companies in Europe. 

André graduated from the University of Ottawa Law Faculty in 1981. In 2012, André was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.  

Marcel Lachance joined RHEA Inc. in 2022 as Vice-President Operations and Service Delivery and promoted to Vice-President Canada in July 2023. In this role he oversees RHEA Canada’s client services delivery and overall operations focused on cyber and physical security, systems integration solutions, open source intelligence, cyber-range solutions and professional engineering services.

Marcel also leads RHEA’s Alliance Programme aligned to vendor partnerships, go-to-market planning and tactical relationships. He is responsible for planning strategies and leading teams that deliver all RHEA solutions, professional services and system deployments.

Over the last 30 years, Marcel has worked in Canada, the USA and Europe, and has gained all-round experience in consulting services delivery, product and programme management, business development, corporate operations and business strategy. He has held executive positions in the commercial sector, in organizations ranging from start-ups to large multinational institutions.

Marcel holds Master’s degrees in Mathematics and Business Administration, and a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Sciences.

Douglas Wiemer joined RHEA Group in 2013 and is now Chief Technology Officer – Cyber (CTO-Cyber). He is responsible for the management, development and delivery of cybersecurity-related services to governments, agencies and industry.

Doug started his career as a communications officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He went on to gain experience in a wide range of ICT-related disciplines, particularly in the area of cybersecurity, including security threat and risk assessment theory and practice, network and application security requirements analysis, cybersecurity architecture and design, cybersecurity technology research and development, vulnerability management and cyber defence.

Doug has led and contributed to several patents and is a well-respected contributor to cybersecurity-related publications and speaker at conferences and events. He has served as chair of NATO Research Task Groups related to cybersecurity, information assurance and cyber defence.

Doug has a Master’s degree in Engineering from the Royal Military College of Canada.

General Robert Mazzolin joined RHEA Group as Chief Technology Strategist in October 2018 to establish our cybersecurity portfolio and direction. In his current role as Chief Defence, Security and Technology Strategist, he works with clients to evolve their programmes and capabilities, working with an increasingly diverse and expanding institutional community within the space and cyber disciplines.

General Mazzolin has served in a variety of strategic command and staff roles at all ranks. During his military service, his notable appointments included: responsibility for all Canadian Armed Forces and Department of National Defence Strategic Network; signals intelligence; electronic warfare and cyber operations; strategic cyber policy development; and the engineering and programme management of the Canadian Army C4ISR system. Prior to his retirement from service, he also served at United States Cyber Command as the Vice Director for Strategic Policy, Plans, Force Development and Training – the first foreign flag officer to do so.

Throughout his career, he has chaired and participated in many multinational engineering, security, interoperability and standardization programmes within NATO, AUSCANNZUKUS and related military, government and commercial forums.

General Mazzolin holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering, Master of Science with specialization in Electronics and Guided Weapon Systems, Master of Arts in Security and Defence Management and Policy, and a PhD in Engineering Management. He is a licensed Professional Engineer and Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He is an Officer of the Canadian Order of Military Merit, with other awards including the US Legion of Merit, US Meritorious Service Medal, Canadian Chief of Defence Staff Commendation and the Italian Army Chief of General Staff Commendation ‘Encomio Solenne’ in recognition of professionalism and courage for combat actions in Somalia with the ‘Folgore’ Parachute Brigade.

Angelo Iellina joined RHEA Inc. in 2022 as Vice-President, Business Development and Sales. In this role, his primary focus is leading teams of sales professionals to achieve company objectives and goals, including establishing partnerships with clients and partners to ensure both groups have the solutions they require to be successful.

Angelo has over 20 years of experience in business development and sales in technology and services companies, having worked with many Canadian federal and provincial government clients. He has led the development and delivery of new business, and grown market share while always driving the message of ‘customer first’ and focussing on client relationships as the key to success. Angelo has previously built a successful sales organization in the area of professional services in the IT and security domains, delivering over CA$30 million in sales annually.

Angelo studied Materials Management at Algonquin College and has a diploma in Network Administration from CDI College. He speaks English, French and Italian.

Brian Frei joined RHEA in 2023 and is the Director, Security Services, Solutions & Consulting.  He is responsible for new services and solutions innovation and planning along with industry partnerships. He also leads the delivery of RHEA services to Federal and Provincial Houses of Legislature.

Brian is a police, security and emergency management professional with over 29 years of experience. He has worked with all levels of Government and police and security agencies both domestically and internationally. Highlights of his career include assignments as the Security Advisor for Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt as the Police and Security Advisor to the Royal Canadian Navy, and as the senior Security and Force Protection Advisor to the Canadian Armed Forces.

A strategic leader with a focus on ensuring excellence in service delivery, Brian has worked closely with clients to identify and mitigate risks, reduce vulnerabilities, and increase resilience.  He has also provided security advice to infrastructure projects, including the refurbishment of existing high security buildings and new construction projects with special security requirements.

A graduate of the Canadian Forces College National Security Programme, he spent a year studying the challenges of the contemporary global security environment and supported the International Association of Chiefs of Police through his contributions to two separate committees.

Stuart Benson is Senior Director, Service Delivery, having joined RHEA in 2021 following RHEA’s acquisition of the Canadian security consultancy Security Through Safe Design. He has over 20 years of experience in the security field and has gained a detailed understanding and knowledge of a wide breadth of security measures including security operations, personnel and event security, emergency management and preparedness, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) and project management.

Prior to joining Security Through Safe Design, Stuart served as a police officer in one of the UK’s largest police services and then as the Manager of Corporate Security for one of Canada’s major municipalities.

During his career, Stuart has been recognized for his commitment to the security industry and received several awards such as Crime Prevention Ottawa – Community Safety Award, Security Director News – Top 20 under 40, and the City Managers Award for Excellence.

Stuart has an Executive Diploma in Municipal Management and is certified in Emergency Management to IMS Level 300 and Crime Prevention Through Environment Design, Level 2. Stuart is an active member of ASIS International, and is the past Vice-Chairperson of ASIS International, Chapter 140 – Ottawa.

John Sheridan is Senior Advisor, Security. 

John has worked in the security industry for over 30 years, leading product development teams, devising and executing global channel strategies and managing diverse development, sales and operations organizations on four continents.  

In 2008, John founded TSI Security (now RHEA Inc. Security Management and Design Services), which provides high quality, proven security management consultancy and design services. Prior to this, he was Director, Security Solutions, at Nortel where he was responsible for the development and growth of its physical and information security services organization. Earlier roles included General Manager of GE Security Canada’s Distribution, VAR and Integration Services groups, leading more than 150 people across Canada.