Academic Director's Biography

Dr. James Groen assumed the position of Academic Director of Royal Military College Saint-Jean, effective 30 July 2018. His areas of specialty include international security, foreign and defence policy, arms control, intelligence assessment, teaching and educational development. He joined the public service in 1997.

Dr. Groen has held a number of executive-level positions in the defence, security and intelligence communities. He most recently was Director of Policy Development in the Department of National Defence (DND) where his responsibilities included developing policies for the Arctic and key emerging Defence capabilities. He has also served as the Director of Strategic Analysis at DND where he supported the Global Trends, Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee of Deputy Ministers and was an active participant in the Security and Defence Forum network of universities. Previous to this, he was Acting Director of Arms and Proliferation Control Policy at DND, during which he was Canada’s representative to NATO’s Defence Group on Proliferation and Chairman of Canada’s Arms Control Coordination Working Group.

For a seven-year period, Dr. Groen also served in the Privy Council Office (PCO), including as the Director for Asia Pacific and the Americas, and as the Acting Director of Operations in the Intelligence Assessment Secretariat. Responsibilities for the latter position included oversight of the Intelligence Assessment Learning Program through which PCO offers specialized training to government analysts.

Prior to joining the public service, Dr. Groen taught comparative government and administration for a two-year period in the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Wroclaw, Poland. He was also a researcher in the School of Public Policy at Queen’s University in Kingston for a four-year period, publishing on foreign affairs and intergovernmental relations issues. He spent time in Costa Rica and Mexico during his youth, and has lived in a number of Canadian cities from coast-to-coast.

He holds a Doctorate in Political Studies from Queen’s University (1995) where he was awarded a Samuel McLaughlin fellowship, and a Master’s Degree from Simon Fraser University where he had graduated on the honor roll. He also attended the University of British Colombia during the completion of his Bachelor’s degree.

He and his wife Annette, an educator and artist, have three sons and the family is actively involved in minor league hockey and baseball.