Gordon Varney
By facilitating thought-filled conversations, sifting through possibilities combined with strategic thinking, Gordon finds alternate ways to proceed, spots relevant patterns and issues, facilitating smart risk options.
A strong software industry leader with broad hands-on experience across a number of disciplines and markets, eagerness aside, Gordon has the ability to move projects ahead positively to seize opportunities.
An Electronics Engineering graduate from Conestoga College, Gordon went on to study business at Wilfred Laurier University acquiring the unique ability to bridge the technology/business gap. Gordon was a Director at the University of Waterloo’s Centre for Professional Writing and maintains a close relationship with the U of W Co-operative Education department.
He is an effective team builder with mentoring being a personal strength. Gordon has managed small and large software teams including off-shore developers, commercialization research and planning, technical writing including translation, and enterprise software implementations.
Working with the Canadian Innovation Centre since 2004 and innovators across Canada, he brings with him with a wealth of experience managing growth and product focus of software companies. With over 25 years of involvement, primarily with Waterloo Region based companies such as Open Text, Descartes Systems Group, Blackberry, and now Coreworx, he is familiar with the early life cycle period of software development companies and their challenges. He has the ability to assess innovation and new technology opportunities to gauge their commercialization risks.
Gordon’s specialty at the CIC is software and electronic technology but with his communications background Gordon also often doubles as the Centre’s spokesperson when it comes to telling CIC’s story.
He is or has been active in the Project Management Institute (PMI), Society for Technical Communications (STC), and the American Society for Quality Control (ASQC) and is both a certified Agile Scrum Master and Product Owner.