Lieutenant-Colonel Miguel A. Ortiz-Sosa, CD

Lieutenant-Colonel Ortiz-Sosa was born in San Salvador, El Salvador in 1974, and immigrated to Canada in 1990 after having lived through the end of a military dictatorship and 10 years of civil war. He joined the Canadian Armed Forces in February 1996 as a Private Recruit with the 7 Toronto Regiment RCA. In 2002, after having been promoted to Master Bombardier, Lieutenant-Colonel Ortiz-Sosa was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant.

In 2015 Then Captain Ortiz-Sosa received a Unit Commendation in recognition of “outstanding leadership and professionalism in his many roles...” Lieutenant-Colonel Ortiz-Sosa served as Battery Commander of 9 and 130 Batteries in Toronto from 2012 to 2016 and again from 2018 to 2020.

Lieutenant-Colonel Ortiz-Sosa served as the Second-In-Command of the 56 Field Regiment RCA from 2016 to 2018. As Cadet Liaison Coordinator for the regiment, he was keen to work with all three batteries in Brantford, Simcoe and St Catharines, and with the affiliated Cadet Units in Brantford, Simcoe, Fort Erie and Niagara Falls.

Lieutenant-Colonel Ortiz-Sosa served as the Deputy Commanding Officer of the 32 CBG Battle School from 2018 to 2020 while working again with the 7 Toronto Regiment RCA.

Lieutenant-Colonel Ortiz-Sosa is serving as Commanding Officer of the 11Field Regiment RCA, with Batteries in Guelph and Hamilton since 2020. He is very proud to have served and to continue to serve with all three Artillery Units in South Western Ontario.

In civilian life, Lieutenant-Colonel Ortiz-Sosa continues a career in public service with the Ontario Government that started in 1998. He is currently employed by the Children, Youth and Social Services I&IT Cluster in the maintenance and development of computer applications used to deliver social services to Ontarians. Lieutenant-Colonel Ortiz-Sosa graduated from Glendon College, York University with a Combined Honours BA in Political Science and History and from Ryerson University with a Certificate of Economic Analysis.

Lieutenant-Colonel Ortiz-Sosa is the father of 4 children, Miguel Andres, Lauren, Chantal and Mateo. He was also a foster parent to over 20 children through the Halton and Hamilton Children’s Aid Societies from 2006 to 2015.

Chief Warrant Officer Ryan Kenny

Chief Warrant Officer Ryan Kenny was raised outside of Guelph Ontario. He joined the 11th Field Artillery Regiment, RCA in Guelph in January 1999 and completed his QL-3 at the Land Force Central Area Training Centre Meaford that same year. CWO Kenny has held various positions within 11th Field Regiment RCA, including: Command Post Technician, Forward Observation Officer’s Technician, Gun Detachment Commander, Observation Post Detachment Commander, Fire Support Coordination Centre Warrant Officer as well as Battery Sergeant-Major of 29 and 16 Batteries.

CWO Kenny deployed to Afghanistan in 2006 as Second-in Command of an M777 Gun Detachment as part of Task Force 3-06 where the Battle Group was awarded the Commander-in-Chief Unit Commendation for its actions.

CWO Kenny was appointed as Regimental Sergeant-Major of 11th Field Regiment RCA on 07 October 2021.

CWO Kenny is a high school teacher in Mississauga Ontario. He is married to Heather, a Warrant Officer in 11th Field Artillery Regiment, RCA and together they have seven children.

Honorary Colonel Linda L.M. Bossi

Major (Retd) Linda L.M. Bossi was appointed as Honorary Colonel of the 11th Field Artillery Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery on 14 Nov 22, following a two-year appointment as Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel.

HCol Bossi was born on 13 August 1960 to immigrant parents of German and Dutch origin. She was raised in Guelph, actively pursuing her interests in sports and music (choral and instrumental) and graduated from Centennial C.V.I. in 1978 with Honours.

She joined the 11th Field Regiment (RCA) in February of 1977 as a Private administrative clerk but was also an active member of the regimental band. She attained the rank of Sergeant in 1982 while completing her post-secondary education at the University of Guelph. She graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Science in Human Kinetics in 1983.

HCol Bossi joined the Regular Forces in August of 1984 as a Lieutenant, direct entry Bioscience Specialist Officer, and was posted to the Canadian Forces Environmental Medicine Establishment (CFEME), co-located with Defence R&D Canada – Toronto Research Centre (DRDC-TRC) where she spent most of her regular force career as an applied research scientist (promoted to Captain in 1985, Major in 1991, Acting Lieutenant-Colonel from 2002 to 2005 as the Senior Bioscience Officer and Occupation Advisor, reverting to substantive Major from 2005 to 2010). She conceived and led many projects and teams to enhance the protection, capabilities, performance and operational effectiveness of Canadian Armed Forces personnel (particularly aircrew and dismounted soldier systems).

HCol Bossi completed a military-sponsored Master of Science degree in Ergonomics from Loughborough University of Technology (UK) in 1993, graduating with distinction. In 2010 she began at a civilian defence scientist manager position as Section Head of DRDC-TRC Human Systems Integration Section, thus ending her 33 year career in the CAF. Her civilian defence science career continues as a bench scientist; in addition to project leadership responsibilities, she continues her own scientific work within the soldier systems domain focusing on the survivability tradespace (specifically the impact of load and kit design on mobility, lethality and susceptibility to enemy action).

HCol Bossi’s honours and awards include: Chief of Defence Commendation for her leadership and contributions to the operational readiness of Canada’s naval task force deployed to the Persian Gulf (1993); Canadian Decoration 2nd clasp; Special Service Medal (Canada 125); Queens Diamond Jubilee medal; The UK Ergonomics Society Ulf Aberg Award for best graduate thesis project (1995); The US Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Best Ergonomics in Design Paper Award (2005); two NATO Scientific Achievement Awards (2009 & 2019), a Distinguished Service award (2021) from The Technical Cooperation Program (TTCP - an international (5 Eyes) defence S&T collaborative program), professional certification (CCPE) from the Association of Canadian Ergonomics (2021), plus numerous unit awards for her scientific and technical contributions over 3 decades in and out of uniform.

HCol Bossi has returned to reside in her hometown of Guelph along with her partner John Haines, an IT Solutions Architect, and part of their blended family: adult children Andrew, Alexandra, MacKenzie and 2 pets.

Past Commanding Officers

For a complete history of previous command teams please reference The Senate Book of Biographies.