The Argylls Leadership Teams

LCol Juneja grew up in Hamilton, Ontario. He and his younger brother joined the Argylls in May 1997, initially attracted by the opportunity to earn an income that would be needed to assist with university tuition. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 2001 and subsequently held unit appointments, from senior subaltern to adjutant to rifle company commander. On 24 September 2023, LCol Juneja assumed command of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada.

He deployed to Ukraine on Operation UNIFIER, from September 2017 to March 2018, as an assessments officer in the US-led Joint Multinational Training Group, where he developed mechanisms to evaluate the effectiveness of the Allied teams training Ukrainian military units at the Combat Training Centre. He was instrumental in writing military doctrine and qualification standards to better align the Ukrainian Armed Forces with NATO, American, and Canadian forces.

In 2019, LCol Juneja was detached to 31 Combat Engineer Regiment, St Thomas, where he served as its Deputy Commanding Officer. He is a graduate of the Joint Command and Staff Programme (Year 1 & 2) at the Canadian Forces College, Toronto. In 2024, he was appointed Senior Staff Officer Infantry, 4 Canadian Division HQ.

In 1975, MWO Scott Balinson followed his father, the late RSM Morley Balinson, CD, into the Argylls as a boy piper. His unbroken service in the Pipes & Drums culminated in being appointed Pipe Major in 2010, a position held until stepping down just over 14 years later. He was appointed A/RSM in October 2025.
During his career, MWO Balinson has trained across North America and deployed on 11 ceremonial taskings, including three Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoos and the Canadian Contingent to the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the Argylls’ late colonel-in-chief.

In 2023, he deployed to Kuwait and Iraq on Op IMPACT, Canada’s international mission in support of the multinational Op INHERENT RESOLVE, where he worked closely with sergeant-majors from ten allied nations in transport, communications security, VIP, moral and welfare, and engineering.

He credits his father’s service during the Second World War and Korean War, and in the peacetime Reserves, for inspiring him to join the Regiment, and he is deeply honoured to be the second generation of his family to serve in the Argylls and as its RSM. He enjoys the support of his mother, Joan, a respected member of the Regiment’s Senate and of the executive committee of the Regimental Association.

Glenn De Caire completed a career in law enforcement that spanned over 35 years in the communities of Toronto and Hamilton. He served as Chief of Police for the Hamilton Police Service, retiring in January 2016. Afterwards, he completed eight years with McMaster University Security & Parking Services.

A proud graduate of York University and the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, Glenn now serves the community through volunteer efforts for local charities, and has actively supported Liberty for Youth, CityKidz, Eva Rothwell Centre, Catholic Youth Organization Camp Marydale, Camp Brébeuf, and Good Shepherd.

Glenn is the proud recipient of the Queen’s Diamond and Platinum Jubilee Medals as well as the Police Exemplary Long Service Medal, and is an Officer in the Order of Merit of Police Forces. Glenn serves the Argylls as a member of the Senate, the Foundation (Chair), and the Regimental Association, and is the current Honorary Colonel, having been appointed in May 2023.

A lifelong Hamiltonian, Shendal Yalchin serves as the General Manager and Chief Operating Officer of the Hamilton Club, one of Canada’s most historic private clubs. In this role, she leads with a commitment to excellence, tradition, and meaningful community engagement.

Shendal serves as the Honorary Lieutenant Colonel of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise’s), the first woman to hold this distinguished position. She is Vice-Chair of the Argyll Regimental Foundation and a member of the Senate. In these volunteer roles, she is deeply dedicated to strengthening the Regiment’s connection with the community and preserving its proud legacy of service and sacrifice.

A strong advocate of community leadership, Shendal has contributed her time and expertise to numerous local organizations. She has served on the boards of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation, Theatre Aquarius, the Hamilton Community Foundation, Hamilton Food Share, and the Art Gallery of Hamilton, among others. She also served as President of the Club Managers Association of Canada (Ontario Branch).

Shendal’s work reflects a lifelong commitment to leadership, service, and the city she proudly calls home.

Tom Compton has served in uniform for over 40 years, from Private to Lieutenant Colonel. He enrolled in 1975 and finally retired in 2017. While he’s served in numerous units and headquarters, he considers the Argylls his home. Experiences include: overseeing domestic operations during wildfires in the B.C. interior; commanding the Argylls (2003 to 2006); and serving as a staff officer in Canadian Army Headquarters and as part of the Vice Chief of Defence Staff in Force Development. Tom also served on Roto 3-08 to Afghanistan (2008–2009). There, he was the mentor to the Senior Staff Officer for Operations of the Afghan National Army Brigade in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.

Tom is privileged to work with the dedicated and talented Museum and Archives team as the Director and with the quartermaster team for ceremonial kit. Tom has been working closely with members of the Regiment to re-tool the Regimental website, and on the Museum and Archives’ digital outreach to the public, sponsored by the Argyll Regimental Foundation.

Robert Fraser’s ancestors emigrated from the Highlands of Scotland in 1855, at the end of a long period of social, economic, cultural, and political transformation known as the Highland Clearances. Someone once noted, wryly one presumes, that it says something of a family that after 800 years in a Highland glen, it left and came to Hamilton, where it spent the next 160 years! Educated locally, Robert attended McMaster University for his BA (there was no other choice), Ottawa’s Carleton University for his MA, and the University of Toronto for his PhD. Trained as a historian – he acquired his love of the past from the stories of his Fraser grandparents – in 1976, he joined the Dictionary of Canadian Biography (www.biographi.ca) at the University of Toronto, where he has worked ever since. He has been the Manager of this long-running historical research project since 1994. He taught Canadian history at U of T’s Woodsworth College as well as at McMaster.

Robert has been associated with the Argylls since 1980 and has served in numerous capacities: chairman of the Regimental Historical Committee, Regimental Historian, President of the Officers’ Mess, a member of the Senate, a director of the Regimental Foundation, and a member of the Senate’s Executive Committee. He is the author of Black Yesterdays: the Argylls’ War. He has also served on other boards and with other organizations over the years.

Geordie Elms joined the 48th Highlanders of Canada as a piper in 1967. Commissioned in 1973 under the Reserve Officers University Training Plan, he transferred to the Regular Force in 1975. He served for 36 years with The Royal Canadian Regiment in Petawawa, Germany, Winnipeg, and Gagetown, and during operational tours in Cyprus, Lebanon, Israel, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bosnia.

LCol Elms commanded The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada from 2000 to 2003. He had the privilege of commanding when Her Majesty, the late Queen Elizabeth II, presented new Colours to the Regiment in 2002. He later served as Canadian Defence Attaché in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Israel before retiring in 2010. He has been awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for service in Southwest Asia (2008) and Chief of Defence Staff Commendations for meritorious service in Beirut (1985) and during the Pakistan earthquake (2005).

In retirement, Colonel Elms actively supports the three regiments in which he has served and volunteers in activities that support modern veterans. He served as Honorary Colonel of the 48th Highlanders (2011–2017), Senior Advisor to the Mayor of Hamilton, and Chair of the Hamilton Police Service Board (retired 2025). He is Chair of Hamilton Division Canadian Corps of Commissionaires. He and his wife, Shirley, live in Ancaster and enjoy time at their family cottage in Haliburton as well as travelling.

Ron Foxcroft is a former Honorary Colonel of the Regiment. He is a member of its Senate and of the Argyll Regimental Foundation. It is no fluke that Colonel Fox, as he is called within the Regiment, is a well-known figure locally. A local boy (always a good start in this life), he now resides in Burlington with his wife, Marie. They have three sons: Steve, Dave, and Ronnie. A successful businessman, he is the CEO of Fluke Transport and the founder and CEO of Fox 40 International Inc.

Always hesitant to blow his own whistle (except as a referee), Ron is a retired professional basketball referee who officiated NCAA basketball and the 1976 Olympic Gold Medal game, and has served 24 seasons with the NBA. He is listed as one of the 52 most influential persons in North American officiating history. Ron was named one of Canada’s top 10 entrepreneurs by Profit magazine and inducted into Burlington’s Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. A man of considerable charm, boundless energy, and ceaseless good cheer, he is devoted to the local region and is a significant civic leader. A past president of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce and a long-time chair (21 years) of Hamilton’s John C. Munro Airport, Ron has been inducted into the Hamilton Gallery of Distinction and the Burlington Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. He has been honoured as Hamilton’s and Burlington’s Distinguished Citizen of the Year, and has received an honorary Doctor of Laws from McMaster University. One of the highlights of his life was an audience with Her Majesty, the late Queen Elizabeth II, at Buckingham Palace when he was an Honorary Colonel. In 2019, he was named a Member of the Order of Canada.

Glenn Gibson began his journey of continuous learning as a corporal with The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada in 1969 – a path that ultimately led him to become a global chief executive officer in the claims and risk management sector. His executive career expanded to include leadership within the Hamilton Tiger-Cats organization, where he served as President, Vice-Chairman, and now as Chair of its foundation.

Throughout his professional journey, Glenn earned seven designations, authored numerous articles, and delivered more than 500 lectures. His commitment to service extended well beyond business into community leadership; he has volunteered on several boards, including the Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation, Bay Area Health Trust, Hamilton Sports Group Foundation, and the Property and Casualty Compensation Corporation. He is a director of the Argyll Regimental Foundation and a member of the Senate of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada.

These diverse and meaningful experiences culminated in his impactful tenure as Honorary Colonel of the Argylls, where his lifelong dedication to leadership and service continues to inspire others.

The Argylls were a family way of life for Rick Kennedy, who joined the Argyll cadet corps at age 14. Educated at McMaster University, he possesses a degree in geography; he is, for example, able to explain the difference, should one wonder, between an esker and a drumlin, and for most of his life, he has navigated his way from home to work successfully. A planner by instinct and temperament, Rick was a wealth management adviser for most of his adult life, retiring in 2025 after 44 years.

Soldiering, the profession of arms, is his other calling and one that he has fully enjoyed. The life of an officer in the Army Reserve is demanding – a full-time professional commitment done on a part-time basis. Col Kennedy is one of the few officers in the history of the Argylls to have commanded the Regiment twice. He later served as Honorary Colonel. He is a director of the Argyll Regimental Foundation and a member of Senate.

Since handing over command, Rick has been one of a handful of primary movers in every Regimental initiative from the 1980s to the present; he carries out each appointed task as fast as his little feet will carry him. His commitment to a task is unparalleled; his loyalty to the Regiment, the Army, and his community is beyond reproach.

Murray Souter has led several large organizations over his career, including Diamond Estates Wines & Spirits, Black’s Photography, Sprint Canada, Bell-Aliant Telecommunications, Bauer Hockey, and Reebok. A respected executive, Murray is known for his ability to refocus companies on their customers to achieve success. He is also sought after for his work with corporate boards, particularly in the areas of board governance and board recruitment.

In addition, Murray has worked extensively with various charitable, not-for-profit, and industry-related organizations. These include the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, Wine Growers Canada, Photo Marketing Association, Junior Achievement, Symphony Nova Scotia, AUAA, and The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada, where he is a member of the Regiment’s Senate and a director of the Argyll Regimental Foundation.

Murray is the son of an Argyll officer and spent his youth exploring the labyrinth within the walls of the Regiment’s John Foote Armouries with the children of other Argyll officers. His family has been associated with the Regiment for five generations.

Paul is a former army cadet and reservist who served over 38 years in the Canadian Armed Forces. A graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada, he undertook a number of senior roles including Commander of Canadian Forces Intelligence Command, Commander of the Canadian Army, and Vice Chief of the Defence Staff.

After retiring from the Canadian Armed Forces in 2019, Paul joined the Alberta Public Service, serving successively as the Deputy Minister of Municipal Affairs, Health, and Intergovernmental Relations. He retired, for a second time, in 2025 as the Acting Secretary to Cabinet and Head of the Public Service. He is currently the Registrar and CEO of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA), and was appointed Colonel Commandant of the Canadian Military Engineers in April of 2025.

Paul is passionate about the importance of the Reserves and proud of his association with the Argylls.

Glenn De Caire completed a career in law enforcement that spanned over 35 years in the communities of Toronto and Hamilton. He served as Chief of Police for the Hamilton Police Service, retiring in January 2016. Afterwards, he completed eight years with McMaster University Security & Parking Services.

A proud graduate of York University and the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, Glenn now serves the community through volunteer efforts for local charities, and has actively supported Liberty for Youth, CityKidz, Eva Rothwell Centre, Catholic Youth Organization Camp Marydale, Camp Brébeuf, and Good Shepherd.

Glenn is the proud recipient of the Queen’s Diamond and Platinum Jubilee Medals as well as the Police Exemplary Long Service Medal, and is an Officer in the Order of Merit of Police Forces. Glenn serves the Argylls as a member of the Senate, the Foundation (Chair), and the Regimental Association, and is the current Honorary Colonel, having been appointed in May 2023.

A lifelong Hamiltonian, Shendal Yalchin serves as the General Manager and Chief Operating Officer of the Hamilton Club, one of Canada’s most historic private clubs. In this role, she leads with a commitment to excellence, tradition, and meaningful community engagement.

Shendal serves as the Honorary Lieutenant Colonel of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise’s), the first woman to hold this distinguished position. She is Vice-Chair of the Argyll Regimental Foundation and a member of the Senate. In these volunteer roles, she is deeply dedicated to strengthening the Regiment’s connection with the community and preserving its proud legacy of service and sacrifice.

A strong advocate of community leadership, Shendal has contributed her time and expertise to numerous local organizations. She has served on the boards of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation, Theatre Aquarius, the Hamilton Community Foundation, Hamilton Food Share, and the Art Gallery of Hamilton, among others. She also served as President of the Club Managers Association of Canada (Ontario Branch).

Shendal’s work reflects a lifelong commitment to leadership, service, and the city she proudly calls home.

After a brief five years with Revenue Canada after graduating from university, Gary Sexton became an independent financial adviser with FundEX Investments (now Investia Financial Services Inc.) in 1996. He holds the Certified Financial Planner designation and operates his practice in Grimsby under the name Financial Focus, advising families on how to make better holistic financial decisions for themselves.

Gary joined The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada in 1983 as a private soldier and was later promoted to master corporal. He was commissioned in 1988 and subsequently held appointments from platoon commander to operations officer, with most of his service as the unit’s rifle company commander. He was Commanding Officer from 2009 to 2012 and spent a year at 31 CBG HQ as Assistant Chief of Staff before going to the Canadian Army Command and Staff College in Kingston. He worked two years as Directing Staff Member on the Primary Reserve Army Operations Course before retiring from the Reserves in 2016.

He is a director of the Argyll Regimental Foundation and a member of the Senate of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada.

Robert Fraser’s ancestors emigrated from the Highlands of Scotland in 1855, at the end of a long period of social, economic, cultural, and political transformation known as the Highland Clearances. Someone once noted, wryly one presumes, that it says something of a family that after 800 years in a Highland glen, it left and came to Hamilton, where it spent the next 160 years! Educated locally, Robert attended McMaster University for his BA (there was no other choice), Ottawa’s Carleton University for his MA, and the University of Toronto for his PhD. Trained as a historian – he acquired his love of the past from the stories of his Fraser grandparents – in 1976, he joined the Dictionary of Canadian Biography (www.biographi.ca) at the University of Toronto, where he has worked ever since. He has been the Manager of this long-running historical research project since 1994. He taught Canadian history at U of T’s Woodsworth College as well as at McMaster.

Robert has been associated with the Argylls since 1980 and has served in numerous capacities: chairman of the Regimental Historical Committee, Regimental Historian, President of the Officers’ Mess, a member of the Senate, a director of the Regimental Foundation, and a member of the Senate’s Executive Committee. He is the author of Black Yesterdays: the Argylls’ War. He has also served on other boards and with other organizations over the years.

Ron Foxcroft is a former Honorary Colonel of the Regiment. He is a member of its Senate and of the Argyll Regimental Foundation. It is no fluke that Colonel Fox, as he is called within the Regiment, is a well-known figure locally. A local boy (always a good start in this life), he now resides in Burlington with his wife, Marie. They have three sons: Steve, Dave, and Ronnie. A successful businessman, he is the CEO of Fluke Transport and the founder and CEO of Fox 40 International Inc.

Always hesitant to blow his own whistle (except as a referee), Ron is a retired professional basketball referee who officiated NCAA basketball and the 1976 Olympic Gold Medal game, and has served 24 seasons with the NBA. He is listed as one of the 52 most influential persons in North American officiating history. Ron was named one of Canada’s top 10 entrepreneurs by Profit magazine and inducted into Burlington’s Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. A man of considerable charm, boundless energy, and ceaseless good cheer, he is devoted to the local region and is a significant civic leader. A past president of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce and a long-time chair (21 years) of Hamilton’s John C. Munro Airport, Ron has been inducted into the Hamilton Gallery of Distinction and the Burlington Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. He has been honoured as Hamilton’s and Burlington’s Distinguished Citizen of the Year, and has received an honorary Doctor of Laws from McMaster University. One of the highlights of his life was an audience with Her Majesty, the late Queen Elizabeth II, at Buckingham Palace when he was an Honorary Colonel. In 2019, he was named a Member of the Order of Canada.

Glenn Gibson began his journey of continuous learning as a corporal with The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada in 1969 – a path that ultimately led him to become a global chief executive officer in the claims and risk management sector. His executive career expanded to include leadership within the Hamilton Tiger-Cats organization, where he served as President, Vice-Chairman, and now as Chair of its foundation.

Throughout his professional journey, Glenn earned seven designations, authored numerous articles, and delivered more than 500 lectures. His commitment to service extended well beyond business into community leadership; he has volunteered on several boards, including the Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation, Bay Area Health Trust, Hamilton Sports Group Foundation, and the Property and Casualty Compensation Corporation. He is a director of the Argyll Regimental Foundation and a member of the Senate of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada.

These diverse and meaningful experiences culminated in his impactful tenure as Honorary Colonel of the Argylls, where his lifelong dedication to leadership and service continues to inspire others.

Mark Hamelin was born in Penetanguishene, Ont., one of the ten children of Mark (Mick) and Joyce Hamelin. He attended Fanshawe College in London, Ont., where he obtained his Motive Power Technician diploma. Mark has had a successful career as an entrepreneur, with over 40 years of experience in the food, beverage, and lumber-processing industries. He currently owns and operates RF Kiln Tech Limited, which builds radio frequency vacuum kilns for the lumber industry. He is also COO for New Protein International, a start-up in the alternative protein space.

Mark joined the Argyll Regimental Foundation in 2018, having been nominated by fellow Argyll Senator Doug Hunter. Accepting the nomination was, in part, a nod to his late father, Acting Cpl Mick Hamelin, who fought with the Argylls during the Second World War and was wounded twice.

In 2010, Mark began to trace his ancestry, discovering that he had Indigenous roots on his mother’s side dating back to the 1600s. His great-great-grandfather was a member of Garden River First Nation located near Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. Mark became a member of Garden River in 2011, which has allowed him to work alongside Indigenous groups in the development of several key projects. In 2019, RF Kiln Tech Limited received the Business Merit Award from Waubetek Business Development Corporation, an organization that delivers economic development services to First Nations.

Mark is a 45-year member of the Royal Canadian Legion. He lives in Wasaga Beach with his wife, Donna.

The Argylls were a family way of life for Rick Kennedy, who joined the Argyll cadet corps at age 14. Educated at McMaster University, he possesses a degree in geography; he is, for example, able to explain the difference, should one wonder, between an esker and a drumlin, and for most of his life, he has navigated his way from home to work successfully. A planner by instinct and temperament, Rick was a wealth management adviser for most of his adult life, retiring in 2025 after 44 years.

Soldiering, the profession of arms, is his other calling and one that he has fully enjoyed. The life of an officer in the Army Reserve is demanding – a full-time professional commitment done on a part-time basis. Col Kennedy is one of the few officers in the history of the Argylls to have commanded the Regiment twice. He later served as Honorary Colonel. He is a director of the Argyll Regimental Foundation and a member of Senate.

Since handing over command, Rick has been one of a handful of primary movers in every Regimental initiative from the 1980s to the present; he carries out each appointed task as fast as his little feet will carry him. His commitment to a task is unparalleled; his loyalty to the Regiment, the Army, and his community is beyond reproach.

Murray Souter has led several large organizations over his career, including Diamond Estates Wines & Spirits, Black’s Photography, Sprint Canada, Bell-Aliant Telecommunications, Bauer Hockey, and Reebok. A respected executive, Murray is known for his ability to refocus companies on their customers to achieve success. He is also sought after for his work with corporate boards, particularly in the areas of board governance and board recruitment.

In addition, Murray has worked extensively with various charitable, not-for-profit, and industry-related organizations. These include the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, Wine Growers Canada, Photo Marketing Association, Junior Achievement, Symphony Nova Scotia, AUAA, and The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada, where he is a member of the Regiment’s Senate and a director of the Argyll Regimental Foundation.

Murray is the son of an Argyll officer and spent his youth exploring the labyrinth within the walls of the Regiment’s John Foote Armouries with the children of other Argyll officers. His family has been associated with the Regiment for five generations.