Role and remit
Mark Cooper leads NAV CANADA as President and CEO, responsible for civil ATC services across one of aviation's most complex operational environments:
- National airspace — IFR services across Canada's vast domestic airspace, including high-density corridors between major cities and low-density remote operations in northern and Arctic regions
- Oceanic services — NAV CANADA manages the Gander Oceanic FIR, one of the world's busiest oceanic airspace blocks, shared with NATS (Shanwick) for North Atlantic traffic management
- Technology leadership — Cooper led NAV CANADA's technology evolution as VP and Chief Technology and Information Officer before becoming CEO, making digital transformation central to his strategic agenda
- Commercial and regulatory relationships — NAV CANADA operates as a cost-recovery, not-for-profit entity regulated by the Canadian Transportation Agency
Cooper joined NAV CANADA in 2019 as VP and Chief Technology and Information Officer, where he laid the groundwork for the organisation's modernisation programme before taking the chief executive role. He brings over 25 years of aviation industry experience.
ASW 2026 sessions
About NAV CANADA
NAV CANADA is a private, non-share-capital corporation established in 1996 as the world's first non-governmental ANSP to own and operate a national air navigation system. It provides ATC services for approximately 1.7 million IFR flights annually across 18 million square kilometres — second only to the FAA by geographic area. NAV CANADA is widely regarded as a model for commercialised ANSP governance, and its ownership structure (bonds rather than shares, not-for-profit mandate) is studied as an alternative to both full privatisation and government-agency models.