Kitchener, Ontario, Octover 5, 2023 – Mike Kropp, the Co-founder, President, and CEO of PEER Group®, will be inducted into the University of Toronto’s Engineering Alumni Network (EAN) Hall of Distinction during an official ceremony on November 2, 2023.
Located in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering’s Sandford Fleming Building, the Hall of Distinction honors extraordinary U of T Engineering alumni in recognition of their lifelong accomplishments and whose careers ultimately define what is most exemplary about the engineering profession.
“The EAN Awards Adjudications Committee is pleased to select Mike Kropp as a recipient for the EAN Hall of Distinction Award,” says committee member Caprice Boisvert. “It is evident that Mike has incredible vision and drive. He is an engineer who excels in leadership, mentorship, and entrepreneurship and has an innate ability to look to the future. He has built PEER Group into a successful company while at the same time making a huge impact on the semiconductor industry.”
As an Electrical Engineering undergrad, Kropp walked through the Hall of Distinction daily on the way to and from classes. “As I read the biographies of the members, I grew impressed with their contributions to the practice of engineering and the communities and markets they served,” recalls Kropp.
Following his graduation in 1986, Kropp held professional stints as a systems engineer at American Cimflex Corporation and a systems integrator at ATS. During his time at ATS, he met fellow U of T grad, Bob Harris. Kropp and Harris eventually established PEER Group in 1992. Over the next three decades, the Kitchener-based company grew from a two-person operation to a 250-person organization developing industry-leading factory automation software for the semiconductor industry.
Through it all, Kropp has leveraged his early learnings as an engineering student, developing and executing a business model and strategy firmly based on the engineering principles of curiosity, problem solving, discipline, and process.
He has also applied the lessons he gleaned reading the biographies of the early Hall of Distinction inductees: “When PEER Group was starting out, those members served as an inspiration for me to build a better company that contributes to our local community with a global impact,” shares Kropp. “I am thrilled to join their ranks and provide an inspiration for future generations of engineers.”
About PEER Group
PEER Group® is the largest supplier of innovative factory automation software products for the semiconductor industry. Since 1992, our solutions have helped the world’s most advanced OEMs and factories reduce time to market and lower costs by solving their equipment automation, data management, and process control problems. An award-winning company, PEER Group’s commitment to quality has been recognized by Intel’s EPIC Supplier Program, naming PEER Group a Distinguished Supplier in 2023 and an Outstanding Supplier in 2022. Follow PEER Group on LinkedIn.