Sierra Environmental Studies Foundation

George Rebane, Executive Director and Director of Research

After visiting Nevada County regularly for over ten years, George Rebane and his wife Jo Ann moved here in 2002 and now live just north of Nevada City. George is a systems engineer with degrees from UCLA in physics (BS), control & estimation systems (MSE), and computer science and complex dynamic systems (PhD). He is also a Registered Professional Engineer in the state of California.

During the early part of his career, after active duty in the Army, George was a combat systems developer for a big aerospace firm. From there he joined a small think tank company, doing classified research for the Pentagon, and ultimately became its president. In the later part of his career he was CEO of two other high-tech companies one of which manufactured educational electronics systems and the other, which he founded, became a leading developer of interactive multi-media technologies.

George has also taught courses and lectured at UCLA, USC, and Cal State Northridge, and was on the formation committee for the Cal State Monterey Bay campus. He was active in the early growth of Simi Valley, California where he served as a planning commissioner and was an author of the city’s first general plan. When he moved here George was appointed to the Nevada County Planning Commission where he served while he lived in District #3. He remains active in the community with service through the ERC and the Nevada City Rotary Club.

He now is a private investor and consults in institutional planning, risk modeling and assessment, and financial engineering. George holds patents in portfolio design theory, securities performance modeling, and e-commerce financial performance optimization. His interests include sports, teaching, philosophy, philanthropy, and the future of our Republic.

George is a native Estonian and a naturalized citizen arriving here in 1949. He spent his earliest years subjected to the wrong end of WW2 and was interred with his parents in a post-war refugee camp in Germany. George and Jo Ann have two daughters and six grandchildren.