Leonard Ray Barton, BSc, MBA, PhD, SMIEEE

Honorary Member of the Order of Honour, 2025 | Ottawa Chapter

Through his 13 years contributing to the PEO Ottawa Chapter, Ray Barton has been a cornerstone of the local engineering community.

Ray started his involvement with the chapter in 2011, with the Government Liaison Program. Over the years, he visited many Ottawa-area MPPs, attending their events and informing them on issues of concern to engineers. In 2014, he helped organize an Engineering Infrastructure Forum at Carleton University featuring Ontario Minister of Infrastructure Bob Chiarelli presenting the government’s 10-year infrastructure plan followed by a moderated discussion. Additionally, Ray organized three provincial election debates with local candidates invited to speak on engineering concerns.

As founder and vice-chair of Ottawa chapter’s Innovation and Entrepreneurial Committee, Ray helped organize five annual Entrepreneurial and Innovation Challenges, with participation from Ottawa, Carleton and Queens Universities together with the Kingston and Thousand Islands PEO chapters. 

Ray is also known for his work as a guide and mentor. As CEO of Vitesse ReSkilling, a non-profit, he organized programs to help both Canadian and internationally trained engineers obtain the skills and work experience required to integrate into the Canadian workplace. In 2014, he oversaw an environmental program that acquainted internationally-educated engineers with Canadian environmental law and regulation. Additionally, he mentors immigrants and helped engineering students through the licensing process. 

He is also active with both the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Canada. With OSPE, Ray delivered ethics training in Ottawa for four years, and was a member of the society’s task force investigating engineering employment and underemployment.

In 2023, Enercom Canada, a company Ray cofounded, received recognition in the ‘CIO Review’  for being one of the top twenty most promising Information technology companies and in the ‘Energy Business Review’ as one of the top ten Oil and Gas service providers in Canada.