Brian Gerstmar

As President and Chief Executive Officer, Brian leads with a strong vision, bringing an exceptional blend of strategic foresight, design excellence, and operational governance that creates long-term value for clients across 12 market sectors. Over the course of 40 years, he has guided NORR to become a global architecture and engineering firm ranked on the world stage and remains a driving force behind our continued success. His leadership is defined by a collaborative, business-first mindset, powered by digital innovation.

Under Brian’s management, our 750 professionals are unified by shared values and a commitment to high-performance design. The firm’s ongoing digital transformation—reflecting broader shifts across the industry—has enabled alignment of the firm’s global best practices with local needs and opens new avenues for cross-regional innovation and creativity in Canada, the US and UK. Brian champions forward-looking initiatives in AI, automation, and business process re-engineering to accelerate NORR’s progress in project performance, helping employees, clients and partners to navigate the standards and the increasing complexities of the built environment.

As the executive sponsor of the firm’s Corporate Social Responsibility Program, NORRForward, Brian has overall accountability for sustainable design practices to reduce energy and carbon, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion to embrace all voices in the workforce, and Community Impact initiatives to strengthen local communities where we operate. Participation in industry sustainability programs at the global and regional level has resulted in measurable carbon-reductions both in project work and our operational footprint.

Brian’s artistic side plays out in his love of music. A life-long musician and creative thinker, his compositions reflect the same principles that guide his leadership and design philosophy—balance, harmony, and the thoughtful integration of complexity into clear, purposeful expression.