Ruari is a highly decorated Canadian military and senior intelligence community member with nearly three decades of experience directing complex counter-terrorism, national security, and risk operations across Canada, the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. A former Director General with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and a commissioned officer in the Royal Canadian Navy, Ruari has operated at the highest levels of government, representing Canada internationally and advancing national security priorities in some of the world’s most challenging environments.

During his tenure with CSIS, Ruari held multiple senior executive roles, including Deputy Director General of the National Counter-Terrorism Program, where he directed Canadian counter-terrorism operations in the Middle East and South Asia and oversaw teams supporting these missions. He previously led domestic counter-terrorism investigations as Chief of Operations for the Ottawa Region and played a central role in the integrated national security response to the 2014 attack on Parliament Hill. His career includes extensive experience in human intelligence operations, inter-agency coordination, and deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Lebanon.

Ruari is widely recognized for his ability to build and sustain trusted partnerships with allied intelligence services, law enforcement agencies, military commands, and senior government stakeholders. A graduate of Canada’s elite National Security Program (NSP) at the Canadian Forces College – where he was recipient of the Holman medallion – he also completed the Leadership in Counter-Terrorism (LinCT) program, an international executive development initiative co-hosted by the FBI, RCMP, and leading academic institutions. His leadership is defined by strategic judgment, operational discipline, and a strong focus on organizational resilience and innovation.

Following his public-service career, Ruari transitioned into the private sector as a senior risk and compliance executive within the Canadian banking system, overseeing investigative, regulatory, and physical-security risk frameworks across Canada and the United States. This experience provides him with a rare dual perspective on public-sector intelligence operations and private-sector enterprise risk, corporate security, and governance.

Ruari provides strategic leadership across intelligence advisory, inherent risk assessments, complex investigations, executive threat management, and enterprise security strategy. He advises boards, senior executives, and institutional clients on high-consequence risk, geopolitical exposure, hostile-actor threats, and crisis response.