George M. Janes, AICP
Executive Director

Mr. Janes joined the ESC as Executive Director in February 2003. Since that time, Mr. Janes has led several of the ESC's simulation modeling efforts, notably he developed the Land Development Model used by the City of Houston to evaluate the results of forecasts produced by their Metropolitan Planning Organization. Prior to joining the ESC, Mr. Janes managed the development of several of IBM's (formerly PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting) simulation modeling programs including CommunityViz's Policy Simulator component, a land-use forecasting model that allows users to create various development scenarios and see how those scenarios play out over time; and TRANSIMs, the next generation traffic simulation developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory and commercialized by IBM. 

Mr. Janes is an expert in both traditional statistical techniques and advanced micro-simulation techniques used in forecasting demographic, economic and land use change in towns, cities and regions. Prior to joining PwC, Mr. Janes was with the Detroit metropolitan planning organization (SEMCOG) where he developed and supported traditional land use models (DRAM / EMPAL) and implemented iterative links between transportation models and the land use models. While with SEMCOG, Mr. Janes interacted with local government members and successfully defending the results of SEMCOG's regional development forecasts and their population and housing unit estimate program. Mr. Janes holds a Master's degree in Urban Planning from Wayne State University and earned his B.A. from the University of Michigan. Mr. Janes is a member of the American Planning Association and is certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners.