After more than 25 years of loyal and dedicated service to the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Military Engineers, LCol Kerri-Ann Iwanonkiw, CD, will retire on 21 August 2023. Anecdotes and retirement wishes may be sent to LCol M.M. Lake at Melanie.Lake@international.gc.ca.
LCol Kerri-Ann Iwanonkiw joined the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in 1998 and graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada with a bachelor’s degree of chemical engineering in 2002.
She was posted to 1 Combat Engineer Regiment (1 CER) in 2003, serving as Heavy Equipment Troop Commander and deploying to Kandahar as the Engineer Operations Officer on Op ARCHER with the Provincial Reconstruction Team.
In 2006, she was posted to 8 FER, as the Regular Support Staff Officer and in 2008 returned to 1 CER, deploying to Kandahar in 2009 as the Counter Improvised Explosive Device (CIED) Squadron 2IC. Upon promotion to Major, she was posted to the Canadian Expeditionary Force Command in Ottawa and in 2011, was posted to 4 Engineer Support Regiment as the Officer Commanding 43 CIED Squadron.
In July 2013 she became the Senior Instructor Tactics at the Canadian Forces School of Military Engineering (CFSME) until posted to Shrivenham, UK in 2015 for one year to complete the Advanced Command and Staff Course.
In 2016, she was posted to Directorate of Combat Support Equipment Management (DCSEM) as Section Head DCSEM3 and upon promotion to her current rank of LCol in 2017 was subsequently posted to Directorate of Land Requirements (DLR) as Section Head DLR7. In 2019, LCol Iwanonkiw took command of the Canadian Forces School of Military Engineering and was the Deputy Director of the Royal Canadian Engineer Corps. In 2021, she was posted to CA HQ as Director CAF Joint Counter Explosive Threats (JCET).
LCol Iwanonkiw holds a Master of Chemical Engineering from the University of New Brunswick and a Master of Arts in Defence Studies from King’s College London. She and her husband, Blaine, have two wonderful children. Upon retirement, LCol Iwanonkiw will transition to public service within ADM(Mat).
She would like to thank all the amazing people with whom she has had the opportunity to work alongside and be mentored by throughout her career. It has been an honour and privilege.