Nearly a decade ago, Michael Tremblay left the comfort of Microsoft’s executive suite because he couldn’t resist the chance to lead Invest Ottawa as the city’s main economic development agency moved to a new home and expanded its mandate. Now, the 40-year tech industry veteran is once again stepping away from a high-profile job at […]
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Nearly a decade ago, Michael Tremblay left the comfort of Microsoft’s executive suite because he couldn’t resist the chance to lead Invest Ottawa as the city’s main economic development agency moved to a new home and expanded its mandate.
Now, the 40-year tech industry veteran is once again stepping away from a high-profile job at a private-sector powerhouse to help guide another non-profit industry organization through its next phase of growth.
Tremblay, 63, has been named president and CEO of CANARIE, a federally funded corporation based in Ottawa that works with partners in Canada’s 13 provinces and territories to provide high-speed wireless networks, cybersecurity protection and other critical digital infrastructure for researchers, students and startups in a range of industries.
He replaces former CANARIE chief executive Kathryn Anthonisen, who retired earlier this year. Tremblay begins his new job on Sept. 8.
The move comes less than two years after Tremblay left Invest Ottawa for a senior executive role at Kanata-based Calian Group, where he leads the publicly traded firm’s IT and cyber solutions division.
Tremblay has made his mark at Calian, spearheading changes that included shifting many of the firm’s customers to Microsoft’s AI-powered cybersecurity platform. It’s a job he’s enjoyed, and he said another career change wasn’t on his radar until he saw a posting for the opening at CANARIE.
“I feel the same way about this one as I did when I looked at Invest Ottawa years ago – as a means to do something really positive, in that example for Ottawa, and in this example for Canada,” he told Techopia in an interview on Thursday.
It’s the latest stop in an eclectic career journey for the tech industry lifer, who earned a computer science diploma from Algonquin College and got his start in the business selling semiconductors on March Road in the early 1980s.
Tremblay later held a series of senior executive roles at Digital Equipment Corp., EDS Systemhouse, JDSU, Fujitsu Canada and SAP before spending a decade as a vice-president at Microsoft Canada, where he oversaw the software giant’s public sector accounts in this country.
Then, in 2017, Invest Ottawa came calling. Tremblay jumped into the CEO’s role with gusto, steering the government-funded organization through major changes that included a move to a new headquarters at Bayview Yards, the launch of projects such as Area X.O — a training ground for autonomous vehicles, drones and other emerging smart city technology — and the expansion of IO’s programs aimed at turning local startups into global businesses.
Now, he’s poised to take on a new challenge at another growing non-profit organization with an even more ambitious role in the Canadian economy.
“I just feel like it’s equipped me to come to the table with a variety of skills that are maybe a little bit unique in that respect,” Tremblay said of his wide-ranging career. “I’m very excited to take all of that and build on it and learn and contribute as much as I can with the background that I have.”
'Unique combination of skills'
Citing Tremblay’s leadership experience at organizations such as Invest Ottawa and Calian, Larry Rosia, who chairs CANARIE’s board of directors, said the new CEO brings a “unique combination of skills and expertise” to the job.
“All of that really convinced me and my colleagues on the board selection committee that he was absolutely the right person to lead CANARIE at this exciting moment,” Rosia said.
Funded mainly by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, CANARIE connects hundreds of post-secondary institutions and federal research labs across the country through ultra-high-speed communications networks, providing the “backbone” for experts to share information and conduct cutting-edge research in fields such as health care.
CANARIE also gets financial backing from more than 100 universities and colleges as well as health-care institutions, non-profit industry organizations and private-sector firms such as Bell Canada, Ciena, Microsoft and Nokia that pay an annual $2,500 membership fee.
Founded in 1993, the organization has expanded its services over the years to include cybersecurity platforms and other infrastructure such as cloud resources aimed at helping scientists, academics and private startups develop new technologies.
It’s a mission that hit home with CANARIE’s new boss.
“The scope of what CANARIE does, the impact that it has and the range of coverage really resonated with me in a big way,” Tremblay said.
“Given that the world has changed as much as it has, especially in the last few years, I wanted to do something that would help Canada to economically improve and achieve our full potential and also work with an organization that supports Canadian research to not only help our competitiveness, but also, I think (shows that) Canada can do good in the world, and I think our research community plays a really vital role in that.”
Now at about 70 employees, CANARIE partners with post-secondary-based organizations in each of the 13 provinces and territories to provide its services. Its global partners include Internet2, a U.S.-based not-for-profit computer networking consortium.
Tremblay said his priorities include figuring out how AI and other emerging technologies can make the organization even more effective.
“I know from my experiences within Calian that AI plays a very big role in disrupting markets,” he explained.
As ultra-powerful new quantum computers threaten to make existing network security safeguards obsolete, strengthening CANARIE’s cybersecurity expertise will also be a major item on his agenda. The organization recently launched a series of pilot projects aimed at beefing up its threat detection and response capabilities, work Tremblay is eager to build on.
“The bad guys have access to the same tools the good guys have,” he said. “The difference is they don’t have any constraints in terms of what they do.”
Tremblay believes CANARIE can also play a key role in fuelling new innovations in defence and security as Canada is poised to boost military spending and seeks ways to better protect its possessions in the Arctic.
“I would imagine that we’ll see a lot of research emerging to support sovereignty of the North, but also to support opening up the North from a market perspective,” he said.
“There are a lot of things that will happen in supporting the different needs of different regions and the different disciplines and capabilities that each region has. We’re there to support researchers in every pocket of the country.”
Tremblay, who will remain in his role at Calian until early next month, is looking forward to starting the next chapter of his career.
“I have a lot to learn, and I’m very excited to do so.” 
