The IJC’s Great Lakes Regional Office (GLRO) didn’t miss a beat when Mark Burrows took the helm as acting director in June. A 14-year IJC veteran with a wealth of maritime and water policy expertise, Burrows has slipped comfortably into his new role while we search for a director to fill a four-year term.
It’s a good fit for Burrows. He’s been with the IJC since 2000 and GLRO’s deputy director since 2012, and has a deep and broad working knowledge of our Great Lakes work in the GLRO office in Windsor, Ontario.
Visitors to the office get a wry smile from Burrows, a steady gaze from behind thick eyeglasses; and a detailed, thoughtful response to any inquiry. Burrows’ experience at IJC runs the gamut from serving as secretary to the Council of Great Lakes Research Managers and working with numerous advisory panels to serving as a member of the board of directors of the Great Lakes Observing System.
“It’s an honor to work with the commissioners and staff of the IJC, and the experts on the Great Lakes advisory boards,” said Burrows. “There are so many impressive people all pulling together to protect and restore the Great Lakes.”
He eagerly rattles off the details of Great Lakes freighters as they chug past the windows of the director’s office, which overlooks the Detroit River.
Before joining IJC, Burrows spent 22 years with the U.S. Coast Guard, working in marine safety --- inspecting ships, investigating accidents, responding to oil spills, managing naval architects and engineers, and developing regulatory policies for ship and offshore drilling rig safety.
His enthusiasm over, for example, the passing of “an integrated tug and barge unit with a well- designed cargo manifold” is hard to miss. His colleagues enjoy the narration.
Still, his new office seems unsettlingly … empty. That may be because he has not transferred the eclectic collection of office baubles and trinkets from his old deputy director’s office to new digs down the hall. That may be in deference to the “acting” title. But it also may be because it would take a backhoe and a couple weekdays to unearth the treasures that live in Burrows’ old office.
Some highlights of the Burrows Collection:
--- More slide rules than you can count. At least a dozen. Displayed with a yellowing news article titled “When Slide Rules Ruled”
--- A brass compass (to prove that Detroit is north of Windsor)
--- A collection of University of Michigan football ticket stubs
--- A 1960s Soma puzzle cube
--- A promotional flyer for a beer called “Burning River Beer,” brewed in Cleveland.
--- A folded, pink, paper origami Asian carp
--- A Simpson’s cartoon addressing invasive species
--- Thermometers that consist of floating balls in tubes of liquid.
--- A jar filled with hundreds of aluminum pop-top tabs from can lids (He donates them to a charity that redeems them for wheelchairs).
So while the baubles are staying put, Burrows’ strong analytical skills and repository of institutional knowledge were transferred intact from his old office, much to the satisfaction of GLRO staff.
“Mark is a tremendous resource and an even better person to share a workplace with,” said Matthew Child, scientist and now deputy director of the Great Lakes office. “We’re pleased to have him at the helm.”
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