Colonel (Retired) Donald F. Pruner, Omm, Cd

COLONEL (RETIRED) DONALD F. PRUNER, OMM, CD

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Colonel Don Pruner was born in Toronto in 1925. He lives in Kanata, Ontario, with Joan, his wife of 64 years. He has two sons and three grandchildren. Chris and Karl. Chris is deceased. Karl is an executive in the Toronto Chapter of ACTRA.

Colonel Pruner served in World War II as an infantry soldier in NW Europe in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise’s). He also attended the No. 2 Canadian Army University Course at the University of Toronto (2CAUC) and Khaki College in London, England.

After the war, he graduated from the University of Toronto with an Honours degree in the Communications and Electricity option of Engineering Physics.

During his fourth year of engineering at university, he re-enlisted in the Canadian Army Regular in the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals. He served in the war in Korea in 1952. During thirty-four years of military service in the Canadian Armed Forces, he was employed in progressively more responsible positions in operations, management, training and administration, primarily, but not exclusively, in the field of communications electronics. In his final appointment, he was the Canadian Forces Attache in Israel with a secondary accreditation to Cyprus. He attained the rank of Colonel and he was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Military Merit.

Some of his key appointments in the Canadian Forces included:

• Staff Officer Communications Security, Signals Division, HQ Northern Army Group, Germany (NATO);
• Commanding Officer, 2 Signals Squadron, No. 2 Canadian Infantry Brigade Group, Petawawa, Ontario;
• Staff Officer Planning, Signals Division, HQ Mobile Command, Montreal;
• Chairman Canadian Forces Communications Electronics Staff, Washington, DC;
• Acting Commandant Canadian Forces School of Communications Electronics Engineering, Kingston, Ontario;
• Director General Communications Electronics Operations, NDHQ, Ottawa;
• Canadian Forces Attaché Israel & Cyprus;

Following his retirement from the Canadian Forces in 1979, Colonel Pruner was employed on a contract basis primarily by Bell Canada affiliated companies with responsibilities in the areas of marketing, sales support, contract administration, and the development of alliance agreements.

Some of his civilian positions of employment included:

• Bell Canada International Inc. (BCI) - Marketing Department with responsibilities for proposal preparation and project / contract administration;

• Bell Sygma Inc. - Preparation and administration of Alliance Agreements;

• Bell Canada - Preparation and administration of Alliance Agreements.

• Telesystem International Wireless Services Inc. (TIW) - Member of a team preparing a proposal by TIW, BCI, Citibank and several Brazilian partners bidding for the acquisition of cellular telecommunications licenses in Brazil.

• Stentor Canadian Network Management - Preparation and presentation of a workshop on Proposal Preparation

• BCI - Member of a team preparing a proposal by BCI, and Canadian and Italian partners bidding for the acquisition of a cellular telecommunications license in Italy.

• BCI – Member of a team conducting an Operational Due Diligence study for a potential investment in a Korean cellular telecommunications company.