Our Team
Founder and CEO Canaan Heard
Canaan Heard, founder and CEO of PROTAC, began his professional career designing training programs for military members, law enforcement officers and college athletes. Since starting Protac in his garage, Canaan has used his military experience to expanded Protac into security services and consulting.
Prior to starting Protac, Canaan served as a machine gunner in the United States Marine Corps Reserve for 10 years. In 2007, he was deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom with Weapons Company 3/23. Canaan also participated in Marine Corps training program African Lion. During his time overseas, Canaan trained soldiers in Morocco and Iraq, as well as Iraqi police.
With a vast knowledge of training and exercise physiology, Canaan worked at Marine Corps Headquarters under various commands from 2011 to 2013, designing resiliency programs for the Marine Corps. Now, Canaan shares his expertise with all branches of the US military, local law enforcement and corporate America through specialized training programs and security assessments.
Canaan has trained U.S. Marines, Louisiana National Guardsmen, Mississippi National Guardsmen, and U.S. Navy, as well as local law enforcement personnel and athletes. He has been a presenter at Association of Military Surgeons of the United States (2014 Annual Conference); and a guest lecturer at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the War Related Injury and Illness Study Center in East Orange, New Jersey, and the Center for Advanced Operational Culture and Learning with Marine Corps University. He has evaluated combat conditioning programs and injury prevention for the U.S. Marine Corps. His work has been published in the Journal of Military Medicine, Journal of Military Medicine and Veteran’s Health, National Strength and Conditioning Association’s Tactical Strength and Conditioning Report and the Marine Corps Gazette. His research focuses on human performance and post-deployment health.
Canaan graduated from Tulane University School of Medicine with a master’s degree in physiology in May 2016. He earned his Bachelor of Science in biology in May 2011 and his Bachelor of Arts in sociology in December 2005 from Louisiana State University. Currently, Canaan is an MBA student at Tulane Business School and works full time running Protac.