Becoming Acquainted with the Unfamiliar - Ian Stokes-Rees (BASC 1998, MASC 2000)

From studying Electrical Engineering at the University of Waterloo, to moving to England and rising the ranks at the tech startup company DecisionSoft, to eventually becoming a partner at Boston Consulting Group, Conrad Grebel University alum Ian Stokes-Rees’s journey has been exemplary of how to persevere through difficult circumstances. After growing up in a Western society where “people think their profession is their identity,” Ian’s experiences living all over the world have allowed him and his family to grow both intellectually and spiritually. Through choosing to repeatedly embrace uncomfortable situations, he has learned the importance of meeting life’s uncertainties with an open mind. 

Ian began his journey at the University of Waterloo in 1993, studying Electrical Engineering. “I always loved computers and math from a very young age,” he remarked. “My undergraduate program allowed those two interests to come together in an amazing way.” While living in Grebel, Ian found it challenging to adjust to the nuances of university life. “I went from being a top math student in high school to a below average student at Waterloo,” he said. However, Ian soon settled into the Grebel community by joining several sports teams including ultimate frisbee, basketball, and volleyball. He was also a member of Grebel’s Chapel Committee, a Student Council Environment Representative, a Peace Society member, and the 1998 College Valedictorian. He seized the opportunity to meet other Grebelites and began learning about their different cultural backgrounds. “As a kid who grew up in a suburban neighborhood, I had never met people who grew up living on farms before university. Getting to know more about the environment and social justice work from a Mennonite perspective deeply resonated with me.” 

After finishing an academically intensive undergraduate degree, Ian was deciding if he should enter the workforce. “In 1998, the best thing for a graduating Waterloo Engineer was to get a job in the dot com boom tech industry,” he explained. “My first job offer was very promising, but given the timeline of my wife’s schooling situation, it made sense at the time for me to get my master’s degree in Computer and Electrical Engineering.” During this time, Ian spent his days working with a research professor to help build speech recognition models. “Every day, I would go to the Davis Center and spend between eight to 18 hours trying to build these language models. It was very tough and at many points I thought about dropping out. Toward the end of my degree in the summer of 1999, I even had a nervous breakdown. I felt that I had nothing to show for the last two years of my life. My peers were more successful than me and I hadn’t put proper attention into my marriage.” Ian did finish his master’s degree, and after his wife Emily received an appealing opportunity to study at Oxford University, they moved to England.  

Living in England presented Ian with a series of new challenges. “While the language is the same, I found the culture in England quite different. I was suffering from an identity crisis in a country where my profession wasn’t highly valued.” Despite this obstacle, Ian began working for the tech startup company DecisionSoft – now CoreFiling – and developed high performance data processing systems, making use of the skills he had developed during his master’s degree. He soon became the engineering manager, and then the head of professional services. “My income had increased dramatically, and I was also able bring dozens of other Waterloo engineers over to work with the company, some of whom are still affiliated with them today.” After a number of years, Ian realized that he was becoming unhappy with his work. “I felt like my role had shifted entirely to the business side. I was spending all my time writing emails and in meetings, and I had a deep desire to pursue the technical aspects of engineering once more.” After heavy consideration, Ian left DecisionSoft to pursue a PhD in Computational Physics at the University of Oxford, where he was admitted largely thanks to the skills he built during his master’s degree. The decision resulted in an 80 percent pay cut but a very meaningful four years as a research scientist on a CERN experiment that gave Ian a sense of purpose and direction. 

By the end of his PhD, Ian and Emily's first child had been born and Emily had completed her PhD in Anthropology. While the easy decision would have been to stay in Oxford where there were academic jobs, an established network of friends, and a great church, the longer-term career prospects were limited. So, Ian pursued an opportunity with a world-leading research group at a French research institute outside of Nice, but soon realized the workload was unsustainable. He then moved to Boston, where he joined a research lab at Harvard Medical School working on computational techniques in protein structure discovery. After three years at Harvard as a post-doctoral researcher, Ian felt ready to take the plunge and apply for tenure track faculty positions and got offered a position by Anaconda Inc. With the company in its early-stage startup phase, Ian worked for five years to build the company and product. Eventually, Ian moved with his family to Syracuse, New York, where his wife got a tenure track position in Museum Studies at Syracuse University, and soon after Ian joined the New York office of Boston Consulting Group, where he remains to this day. 

Even after settling down in Syracuse, Ian searched for new ways to experience life. He and his wife moved their family to Tokyo in 2019 to give their children a chance to broaden their cultural perspectives. “We went because we knew we would feel like outsiders and would be at an inherent linguistic disadvantage. Going to Japan, you’re quickly struck with their deep history and culture.” Switching job locations for Ian was still difficult despite having previous experience working abroad. “I was told working in Japan would be difficult, but it was harder than I thought. However, my family and I were still able to grow, and I built relationships with people I’m still close to today." 

Throughout his career, Ian experienced challenges of uncertainty, financial instability, and a lack of identity. He came to value the importance of approaching stressful situations with an open mind. “While my time living in England was admittedly very tough, the experience that Waterloo co-op gave me, helped me build resilience and perseverance.” Ian also commented on his time spent living with Emily in South-Asia while she was conducting field work. “Having that opportunity to observe the people and culture around me really opened my eyes. I came to understand that the world is so much bigger than Waterloo, Syracuse, or Toronto.”  

Despite accomplishing numerous academic and professional feats, Ian values most the interpersonal relationships and expanded cultural understanding he has developed through the years. “I got at least as much, if not more, from my time at Grebel than my actual studies during university. Grebel is where I started to become an adult.” To current Grebel students who find themselves feeling lost or lacking identity, Ian’s success serves as a beacon of comfort. He advises them to take risks and be ready for things to not go as planned, while also not restricting their identities only to a profession. “Let the people at Grebel help shape who you are. In today’s world, there is a great shortage of people forming face-to-face relationships. Learn to benefit from the variety of people at Grebel and actively look to participate in that community.” 

By Jiho Mercer

Photos: top - 1996-97 Student Council, middle - Family day in the 1990s, bottom - Ian speaking at Community Supper in February 2024.

Stokes-Rees is a partner at Boston Consulting Group and previously worked as an Engineering Manager at DecisionSoft, a Research Associate at Harvard Medical School, and a Computational Scientist and Product Manager at Anaconda Inc.. He studied Electrical Engineering at the University of Waterloo, and did his PhD in Computational Physics at the University of Oxford. Through living abroad in England, France, and Tokyo, Ian is an advocate for lifelong learning and is constantly striving to expand his cultural perspective and identity. He has recently taken up amateur radio and enjoys connecting with people around the world, but similarly continues to enjoy the peace and solitude of nature through hiking, canoeing, and cross-country skiing with his wife Emily, a fellow Grebel alum. 

Ian's story is part of Grebel's 60 Stories for 60 Years project. Check out our 60 Stories page for more articles in this series. If you would like to nominate a Grebel alumnus to share about their experiences at Grebel, please submit a nomination form.