RCN Digital Leadership: CPO2 Jennifer Hunter

In this series, we showcase digital leadership across the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) to illustrate how our enterprise solutions are successfully leveraged for the benefit of our teams.

Elizabeth Wolfe, Business Analyst/Technical Advisor, Naval Personnel and Training Group — Chief Petty Officer Second Class (CPO2) Jennifer Hunter, a Victoria resident of 30 years, is HMCS Vancouver’s Operations Chief. She joined the RCN at 19, released in 2000, but rejoined in 2004, regretting never being on an overseas deployment and finding she missed the people.

CPO2 Hunter is a Naval Combat Information Operator (NCIOP) and is a genuinely homegrown technologist; she has never had any technical training outside of her Canadian Armed Forces service. She first used a computer in the Navy, learning the basics at the Naval fleet school. As a hesitant user, she slowly became proficient. During her initial trades course, she was part of the first cohort trained on the new combat system for the Halifax-class ships and, to her surprise, became a Subject Matter Expert for her supervisors. Since then, she’s moved with technology as it has evolved, relying strongly on the underlying military principle of adaptability.

As an Operations Chief, one of her primary duties is tracking ship-wide training and helping departments ensure the right qualifications are in the right seats. Monitor Mass (MM) is one of the most instrumental tools for looking after the entire ship, especially since every member is at a different point in their career and training. MM helps her collect the data and create unique products such as weekly reports provided to Command.

In mid-August, HMCS Vancouver will deploy for four months, relying on a core crew of 176 members. This crew will stay for the duration of the entire deployment and, therefore, will need to be turned into the A-Team via Intermediate Multi-Ship Readiness Training exercises. Technology will be vital in managing so many people and confirming their personal and professional readiness to operate in a theatre environment.

Aside from training the core crew, the goal is to fill every bunk (up to 243 sailors), partly by liaising with Personnel Coordination Centers via MM to integrate replacement personnel during the deployment.

For those seeking to improve their technical proficiency within the RCN, CPO2 Hunter recommends:

• Be continuously curious;
• Dig into the available technical resources;
• Ask the ‘why’ regarding system functionality and specific features;
• Don’t be afraid of trial and error;
• Try new methods and techniques; and
• Be adaptable.

She encourages you to network with those around you to learn about specific technologies, perhaps even the wonders of ChatGPT!