Colonel Robert Testa enrolled in the Canadian Forces in August 1972. He attended Collège Militaire Royale (Saint-Jean, QC) and Royal Military College (Kingston, ON) graduating with a Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical (Nuclear)) degree in May 1977.
Upon completion of his military engineering training in December 1977, he was posted to 5e Regiment de Genie du Combat in Valcartier, QC, where he was employed as a Field Troop Commander and Squadron 2 i/c.
In May 1980, he was promoted Captain and in July, posted to CFB Lahr, Germany in the Construction Engineering Section as the Special Projects officer and Production Officer for two years. He was heavily involved with both National & NATO Tactical Evaluations, and subsequently worked as SO2 Works at Canadian Forces Europe HQ.
Upon returning to Canada in July 1983, Colonel Testa was posted to the Canadian Forces School of Military Engineering in Chilliwack, BC where he taught both tactics, and military leadership and management for two years.
He subsequently attended the Long Survey Course at the Royal School of Military Survey in Hermitage, England until July 1986 when he was posted to the Mapping and Charting Establishment (MCE) in Ottawa. He commanded two of the three Squadrons before being posted to Director Military Geomatics as SO2 Topographic Ops and subsequently became Assistant Director.
In 1991, a nine-month tour at Mobile Command HQ in Saint Hubert, QC as SO2 Engineer Operations and Training, was followed by Belgian Command & Staff College in Brussels. He returned to Land Forces Command HQ (LFCHQ) in Saint Hubert as SO2 Land Forces Support and Infrastructure Adjustment dealing with base reductions and closures during the 1994 and 95 Federal Budget reductions. He was promoted Lieutenant Colonel and spent one year as G3 Ops and Plans at LFCHQ before being posted as Commanding Officer MCE in July 1996 to July 1999.
Post command, Colonel Testa was selected as the Executive Assistant to Chief of the Land Staff, during which he completed his MBA degree at the University of Ottawa after six years of part time study. In July 2001, he was posted to Director General Strategic Planning as a Section Head and later, the Acting Director Defence Management as the DND and CF team leader for Performance Measurement and Management. He and his team were awarded the Deputy Minister's Commendation for their efforts towards improving Strategic Performance Management in the CF and DND.
Promoted to Colonel in May 2004, he served as Director J2 Geospatial Intelligence at National Defence HQ in Ottawa until 2007. He returned to the VCDS staff as Director Defence Strategy Management where he led a diverse and multi-skilled corporate strategic staff responsible for the management of governance issues, corporate strategic alignment, organizational performance measurement and management, as well as reports to government.
Colonel Testa was then posted as Director General Military Engineering and appointed Chief Military Engineer for the Canadian Forces, responsible for over 1500 Military Engineer personnel and over 500 civilians.
Colonel Testa transferred to the Reserve Force in Oct 2009 and continued to serve as Chief of Staff for the Defence Force Structure Review, where he assisted in leading the development and implementation of a “state of the art” whole of department analysis capability to improve senior management strategic decision-making and operational performance of the CF and DND.
He was then appointed as the first Project Director for the National Defence Headquarters Transformation where he led and coordinated the development and implementation of the initial planning effort for what was billed as the largest corporate move in North America, the move of NDHQ to the Carling Campus.
Colonel Testa retired from the Canadian Forces in early 2012.
He was awarded the Deputy Minister of National Defence Commendation in 2004 and was inducted as an Officer of the Order of Military Merit by the Governor General of Canada in 2005. Colonel Testa was also awarded the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s highest honour, the Award for Excellence, in 2007.
Colonel Testa is married to Vivian Weisman of St-Bruno, Qc, and they have a son, David and a daughter Valerie.
Updated 18 Feb 24