About
Backer is a privately-held Canadian corporation, incorporated in 2008, headquartered in South Edmonton, Alberta. The firm's mandate in 2026 is to coordinate Canadian-made defence manufacturing for the Canadian supply chain and for NATO allied nations — bringing 18 years of design, fabrication, and project delivery discipline to a sector that increasingly needs both.
01 / Establishment
Backer's history is the foundation of its present. The firm has been a privately-held Canadian corporation since 2008, through three economic cycles and a deliberate strategic expansion in 2026 into the defence sector as a Canadian manufacturing partner.
2008
Incorporated
Founded as a privately-held Canadian corporation in Edmonton, Alberta.
2008–2025
Operating
Continuous Canadian operations through three economic cycles. Established design, fabrication, and project delivery discipline.
2026
Defence partnership model
Formal extension into the Canadian defence supply chain and NATO allied procurement as a defence manufacturing partner — coordinating production through Canadian manufacturers.
2027 →
Qualification roadmap
CGP registration completion at firm level. ISO 9001 alignment. Broadening of the partner network and federal program participation.
02 / Leadership
Backer's day-to-day operations, client engagement, project delivery, and financial oversight are led by Ashley Brennan as the firm's full-time operational executive. Kelso Brennan is a principal and owner providing strategic, governance, and partnership counsel — his full-time professional commitments lie with an adjacent Canadian manufacturer, which is also Backer's principal manufacturing partner.
Ashley Brennan
BCom · CPA candidate
President · Operational Executive
Ashley Brennan leads Backer's daily operations end-to-end — client relationships, project scoping and delivery, financial controls, partner coordination, and the firm's commercial commitments. With a professional background in commercial finance, accounting, and corporate transactions, Ashley grounds Backer's project delivery in the financial discipline that defence-sector engagement requires.
Ashley holds a Bachelor of Commerce with a double major in Finance and Accounting and is a CPA candidate. Her professional experience includes time at Deloitte in Mergers and Acquisitions, and at Ross & Sylvestre LLP across the firm's Cold Lake and Bonnyville offices.
That foundation — Big Four M&A discipline combined with regional accounting practice in a community built around 4 Wing Cold Lake — gives Ashley an unusual combination of strengths for a manufacturing-partner principal: rigorous financial controls, transaction-grade documentation discipline, and direct familiarity with the operational rhythm of the Cold Lake region.
Known for thoughtful leadership and high attention to detail, Ashley is the principal accountable for every Backer commitment from first conversation through final delivery.
Kelso Brennan
MBA · PMP · ICD.D
Principal & Strategic Advisor
Kelso Brennan is a principal and owner of Backer Inc. and provides strategic, governance, and partnership counsel to the firm. His full-time professional commitments lie with an adjacent Canadian manufacturer, which is also Backer's principal manufacturing partner. Day-to-day operational responsibility at Backer sits with Ashley Brennan, the firm's full-time operational executive. The arrangement is disclosed plainly because defence-sector procurement values clear lines of authority.
Kelso's involvement is consultative and governance-focused — board-level direction, partnership development, capital structure, and strategic counsel on positioning Backer for prime contractor and federal engagement.
Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Kelso grew up in Bonnyville and Cold Lake — thirty years in the region shaped by 4 Wing Cold Lake and the surrounding military training infrastructure. Through prior project work, Kelso completed Cold Lake Air Weapons Range (CLAWR) orientation and held authorized range access, and has also completed the Canadian Firearms Safety Course (CFSC).
Kelso served on the Board of Directors of Servus Credit Union and Alberta Central, where he participated directly in the strategic merger between Servus Credit Union and connectFirst Credit Union.
Kelso holds an Executive MBA from the University of Alberta, the Project Management Professional (PMP) and ICD.D designations — recognized as Valedictorian of his graduating class — and is currently completing his Master of Laws through Osgoode Hall Law School.
Backer is structured as a defence manufacturing partner, not a standalone producer. The firm's delivery model is to scope work with the client, design and document the solution, coordinate production through a network of qualified Canadian manufacturers, manage the relationship end-to-end, and stand behind the deliverable on its own corporate authority. This is disclosed plainly because defence procurement values clear lines of authority and accountability.
Backer's principal manufacturing partner is an adjacent Edmonton-based Canadian manufacturer with which Backer's principals have a direct working relationship and a formal access arrangement. That partner brings approximately 55,000 sq. ft. of integrated design and fabrication capability — including production-rate stamping (110-ton mechanical press), CNC routing and shearing, laser engraving and cutting, structural fabrication, two industrial paint booths (40 × 18 × 18 ft and 10 × 20 × 7 ft), material handling, and on-site delivery fleet. Additional Canadian manufacturing partners contribute specialized capability where a project's requirements warrant.
Each manufacturing partner maintains its own qualification, certification, and security posture appropriate to the work it performs. Where a contract has specific security or qualification requirements, Backer scopes the work to a partner whose posture meets those requirements, and the partner's qualifications apply to that portion of the work. Backer does not claim or advertise any partner's organizational clearances on its own behalf. Where partner qualification posture is relevant to a specific opportunity, Backer is prepared to introduce procurement officers and prime contractors directly to the appropriate partner under suitable confidentiality.
Backer Inc. is a privately-held Canadian corporation, separate in legal personality, governance, and contracting authority from each of its manufacturing partners. All Backer commitments — bids, contracts, warranties, deliverables — are made by Backer Inc. on its own corporate authority.
04 / Mandate
Backer's expansion into defence is not a pivot. It is a deliberate extension of an established Canadian firm's mandate, into a sector where the firm's design discipline, project management capability, and Canadian-owned operating posture are increasingly needed — for Canada and for its NATO allies.
Production happens through Canadian manufacturers under Canadian principal accountability. 100% Canadian Content Value on every commitment.
Backer's coordination model is available to Canadian defence procurement and to allied nations within the NATO framework — scoped in Canada, produced through Canadian manufacturers.
Rapid prototyping through mid-rate production runs up to 100,000 units — the volume range where Canada's structural supply gap actually sits.
PMP-disciplined project management, audit-grade documentation, transparent partner disclosure, and honest scope. The four commitments that earn second contracts.
"We expanded into defence because the work matters and because we have the capability to coordinate it well. Both of those have to be true."
Ashley Brennan · President & Operational Executive
A partnership conversation with Backer is a 30-minute call with Ashley Brennan, our operational executive. Kelso joins for governance, strategic, or partnership-structure conversations where his counsel is relevant. We'd welcome the chance to understand what you're working on, share where Backer fits, and tell you honestly if we don't.
Schedule a partnership conversation