About Robotics Center Defense

Charles joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1990 while at McGill University. He served in Hong Kong, Bosnia, and Israel before joining Chief of Defence Intelligence where he ran Canada’s national level intelligence team for Afghanistan. Following that, Charles was seconded to the Integrated Threat Assessment Centre at CSIS and then participated in the UN’s investigation into a series of high-profile murders in Beirut.  He co-founded Robotics Centre in 2009.

Khaled El-Sayed is an entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience. He is a creative thinker, problem solver and a dynamic decision maker who effectively balances the needs of his clients and the strategic vision of Robotics Centre.

Capitalizing on his strong networking abilities, Khaled has managed to project the Robotics Centre into the toughest global markets.

Steve is a lifelong entrepreneur, he was previously Head of Business Strategy for Stryten Energy, a manufacturer of advanced battery systems (>$1B). Steve joined Stryten through their acquisition of Galvion Power Systems Inc. a military focused company. Steve was also the Head of Innovation for Revision Military which was sold to Asgard Partners in late 2019. Steve has a history of award winning business and technology achievements with companies like Blackberry where he was the director of intellectual property and Panacis where he was the founder and CEO prior to acquisition in 2014. Steve was also instrumental in organizing the acquisition of companies like Lux Aerospace (Tuscon, AZ) and Protonex Power Systems (Boston, NH).

James is a distinguished and highly decorated Canadian Armed Forces veteran with over 18 years of Special Operations experience. James has led teams that employed both unmanned and counter-drone systems on missions of national strategic importance. With certifications across multiple platforms and vast experience in business and training development, James will collaborate with your team to provide end to end robotics systems that are optimised to meet your needs.

Samir Shandal is a CPA with over 16 years of experience across accounting, finance, audit, and advisory. He provides oversight of the accounting and finance function and works closely with the executive team to support strategic decision-making, reporting, forecasting, and compliance as the company scales.

Bill brings to the team 28 years of product development experience in a variety of markets, including defence, aerospace, medical, and optical telecom.  Bill was president and co-founder of Tungsten Collaborative, a highly successful engineering services company, that was acquired by Robotics Centre in 2025.