John Nicol has been involved in the Modelling and Simulation industry for over 30 years. A former Major serving with the New Zealand Army, postings included the New Zealand Army Simulation Center and various command and training roles. After leaving the military John has been involved in strategic M&S programs and contracts for the Canadian Forces (CF), including Project Manager with the CF Modelling and Simulation Coordination Office (MSCO), Principal Engineer for Prepar3D at Lockheed Martin, simulation consultation to Microsoft and the United Nations and lead systems engineering roles building various simulators and distributed simulation network environments internationally. John has held various executive management positions, including Vice President, Engineering for a NASDAQ firm and CEO of a start-up that became a Top 40 defense and public safety company in Canada within five years. John currently resides near Ottawa, Canada.