Major-General (retd) Nicolas Matern
MGen Nicolas Matern, completed his military service in the Canadian Armed Forces as Commander of Canadian Defence Liaison Staff (Washington) and Canadian Defence Attaché to the United States of America.
The highlights of MGen Matern’s career include numerous deployments from Bosnia to Afghanistan, in addition to multiple postings overseas (Germany, UK and the USA) accumulating more than 12 years of out of country service. He has commanded mechanized, light infantry and Special Operations forces, and spent three years as Deputy Commanding General of the US Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps, deploying to Iraq and Haiti.
From 2010-2012 MGen Matern served as the Deputy Commander of the Canadian Expeditionary Force Command Headquarters (CEFCOM HQ) in Ottawa.
MGen Matern is a graduate of the Canadian Land Force Command and Staff College, the UK Army War College and the Royal Military College of Science at Shrivenham (now part of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom), where he earned a Master of Arts Degree in Defence Studies granted by Cranfield University.He also completed the National Security Studies course at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto in 2006 and the PINNACLE (Capstone) course in Suffolk, Virginia, in 2011. He is a Commander of the Order of Military Merit and a recipient of the US Legion of Merit (2nd Oak Leaf Cluster).
A native of Montréal, MGen Matern is married to Sonia Thibault and they have three adult children. He retired from the Canadian Armed Forces on 31 August 2015 after 38 years of memorable service and calls Ottawa home.