COMRIE - Key Persons
George Comrie is a graduate of the University of Toronto's Industrial Engineering program, where he received his Bachelor of Applied Science and Master of Engineering degrees. Following his graduation, he held the position of Lecturer in the Department of Industrial Engineering for several years.
He received his licence as a professional engineer (P.Eng.) in 1973, and was certified as a management consultant (CMC) by the Institute of Certified Management Consultants of Ontario in 1975.
He subsequently joined the firm of RMC Resources Management Consultants Limited, first as Associate and later as Principal, where over a period of fifteen years he completed consulting assignments in information technology, metric conversion, manufacturing productivity improvement, and facilities planning. During this time, he spent over five years on contract to the Government of Ontario to establish the Ontario Police Information Centre.
George's strong interest in high-availability, fault-tolerant computing led him to leave the practice of consulting in 1989 to found and manage Data Design Systems, Inc. - a software products company with products and services in the areas of software configuration management and heterogeneous networking. His company was a business partner of Tandem Computers Incorporated (now HP), and during this time he served as a founding Director of the Canadian Tandem User's Group and a Director of the International Tandem Users' Group.
After selling his interest in Data Design Systems in 2002, George joined Wardrop Engineering Inc. as Manager of Software Engineering. There, he managed a small group that developed real-time control systems for railways and transit authorities, nuclear power generation, and other mission / safety critical applications. His technical interests remain in the areas of mission-critical / safety-critical systems and cyber security.
He left Wardrop Engineering in 2006 to return to independent practice as a systems engineer and management consultant.
First elected to its governing council in 2001, George served as President of Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) - the regulatory and licensing body for Ontario's engineering profession - in 2004-2005, and again in 2016-2017. He also served two terms as a Director of Engineers Canada (the national association of professional engineering regulators across Canada) and of the Ontario Professional Engineers Foundation of Education (which grants scholarships to engineering students in Ontario universities).
With a keen interest in public politics, George has been active in political campaigns at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels. He has advocated widely for sound public policy in the areas of education, energy, transportation, and infrastructure renewal. He believes that maintaining constructive relationships with politicians at the provincial and federal levels - which fund many programs of benefit to municipalities - is key to the success of Whitestone.