The EME Colonel Commandant

Brigadier-General Holt was born on 28 July 1949 into an Army family in Kingston, Ontario. He completed his primary and secondary education at DND schools in Kingston, Petawawa, and Soest, Germany, and joined the Canadian Army (Regular) in 1966.

After graduating from Collège Militaire Royal de Saint-Jean and the Royal Military College (RMC) of Canada with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering, he served in a number of appointments with 2 Service Battalion in Petawawa, 1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment (1 RCR) in London and 4 Service Battalion in Lahr, Germany. He also served with 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group HQ in Lahr, and was then assigned to HQ Canadian Forces Europe to organize the project to move the Royal Canadian Dragoons Armoured Regiment from Centurion to Leopard 1 tanks. His work on the Leopard tank Project earned him the annual Director General Land Engineering and Maintenance (DGLEM) Award in May 1977.

On his return to Canada, BGen Holt first instructed at the Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (EME) Officer Training Company in CFB Borden, Ontario, followed by promotion to the rank of Major and post graduate studies at RMC Kingston. Completing a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1981, he was posted to DGLEM in Ottawa. After attending the Canadian Forces Command and Staff Course in Toronto, where he won the prestigious Commonwealth Armies essay competition, he was appointed Base Maintenance Officer in Winnipeg. Promoted Lieutenant-Colonel in 1986, he served at Air Command HQ as Senior Staff Officer Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (SSO EME). In July 1989, he returned once again to Lahr, Germany, to command the Base Technical Services Branch, then went to RMC in 1992, as the Director of Administration.

BGen Holt was promoted Colonel in July 1994 and served the next four years in National Defence Headquarters as a Director in the Military Human Resources (HR Mil) Group. In August 1998, he moved to the Materiel Group as Project Manager of the Light Armoured Vehicle (LAV) Project and Director of Armoured Vehicles Program Management. Subsequently, he was appointed Director Land Equipment Resources Management and EME Branch Advisor in August 2001. He was inducted into the Order of Military Merit in the grade of Officer in May 2002. In June 2002 he was promoted to Brigadier-General and appointed Director General Land Equipment Program Management (DGLEPM). As DGLEPM, BGen Holt was responsible for the acquisition, management and disposal of all land equipment of the Canadian Forces, with a budget of over $ 1 B annually and a workforce of 1100 personnel, military and civilian, located in Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec.

BGen Holt and his wife Shirley have two daughters, Carol and Norah, and a son, Robert. BGen Holt enjoys canoeing, camping and has completed the 160 km, four day Nijmegen Marches in Holland 16 times, eight of them as Canadian Contingent Commander. He retired from the Regular Force in July 2005, and has since joined a Montreal-based consulting engineering and construction company, Dessau Inc. He is also president of the Board of a local charitable organization, the Community Information Centre of Ottawa (CICO), as well as being active in his church, with the EME Association locally and nationally, and as a Scouter with the 8th Orleans Scout Group