Born in Toronto, Canada in 1949, Richard (Rick) Froh graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario in 1972 with a Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering and was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Canadian Military Engineers.
Over the next almost 25 years, Mr. Froh served in various command and staff appointments in Combat and Construction Engineering units, formation and national headquarters in Canada; and with Canada's NATO-assigned forces in Europe. Highlights included: G4 (Administration and Logistics) in the Headquarters of the Special Service Force; and command of the 4th Combat Engineer Regiment in Lahr, Germany. His last appointment was as a Military Assistant to the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee; a position Mr Froh held from 1992 until 1996.
His military education has included many national and international courses, among them the United States Army Command and General Staff Course at Leavenworth Kansas, where he earned the designation of Master Tactician.
On retiring from the Canadian Army in October 1996, Mr Froh assumed the position of Head, Land Armaments Section at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, and on the creation of the Joint Armaments Section in July 2004, he became its Head. In that capacity, Mr. Froh was responsible for supporting the NATO Naval, Army and Air Force Armaments Groups, the Conference of National Armaments Directors, the Ammunition Safety Group, the Alliance Ground Surveillance Capability Steering Committee, the Active Layered Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence Steering Committee and the Missile Defence Project Group. He was also responsible, primarily through the Counter Terrorism Technology Unit, for overseeing the implementation for the CNAD Defence Against Terrorism Programme of Work.
In August 2007 Mr. Froh was appointed NATO's Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Armaments, where in addition to overseeing the Joint Armaments' work listed above, he was also responsible for the staff supporting the NATO Industrial Advisory Group, Life Cycle Management Group, the Group of National Directors on Codification and for the conduct of the NATO Agencies Review. With a major reorganisation in Defence Investment Division in Spring
2011, Mr. Froh became the Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment and Director of Strategy, with particular responsibility for capability delivery. As part of NATO Headquarters staff mobility, during Summer 2011 Mr. Froh moved to Operations Division as Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Operations with responsibilities related to the Alliance's operations in Afghanistan, Lybia, the Balkans, as well as counter-piracy and various training missions.
Between them, Rick and his wife Dominique have six children and six grandchildren. His interests include running, golf, photography and reading.