On March 30, 2026, the Parking Hall of Fame inducted 12 distinguished leaders who helped shape the parking industry in North America and beyond during a special Awards dinner and ceremony.

The Canadian Parking Association is proud to have one of its own founders named to the inaugural class of 2026, Mr. George MacKay, Founder and Former President of J.J. MacKay Canada Ltd.

George MacKay’s path to the parking industry began not by choice, but by loss. When his father passed suddenly, George stepped up as the eldest son to lead the family’s meter distributorship in Atlantic Canada.

But George wasn’t content to simply distribute someone else’s product. He believed he could build something better. So, he sold everything he owned and spent a year in Switzerland, apprenticing with some of the world’s finest clockmakers — bringing their tools, their dies, and their standards back to Nova Scotia to manufacture the first MacKay Meter.

It was an immediate success. And George was just getting started.

In the early 1990s, he did it again — relocating to Taiwan for a year to master electronics and circuit board manufacturing. The result was MacKay’s first electronic parking meter, and with it, a transformation of the industry itself. For the first time, cities had real audit trails, measurable revenue accountability, and genuine oversight of their parking systems.

With George at the helm, MacKay sold approximately one million meters in more than forty countries worldwide. Known for his quiet intensity, inventive mind, and unwavering commitment to quality, George built more than a successful company—he built a standard.

Congratulations to George and MacKay Meters, and the 2026 inaugural class of outstanding inductees:

• Gill Barnett, Founder of Parking Concepts, Inc.
• Ruth Beaman, Founder of IntegraPark and Women in Parking
• Monroe Carell Jr. (Posthumously), Founder of Central Parking Corporation
• Barbara Chance, Ph.D., Director, Philadelphia Parking Authority, and CEO of CHANCE Management Advisors, Inc.
• James Hunnicutt (Posthumously) Founding member of IPMI, Managing Director of Hunnicutt & Associates
• Alan Lazowski, Founder and CEO of LAZ Parking
• George MacKay, Founder and CEO of MacKay Meters
• Carl Magee (Posthumously), Founder and CEO of Magee-Hale Park-O-Meter Company
• Terry McGann (Posthumously), Founder of McGann Software Systems
• Kelvin Reynolds, MBE, Executive Consultant & Company Secretary, British Parking Association
• Donald Shoup, Ph.D. (Posthumously), UCLA Professor and Author of The High Cost of Free Parking
• Mary Smith, Senior Vice President, Walker Consultants and Author of Parking Structures and Shared Parking

There are many deserving leaders in our community deserving of the prestigious award.  To learn more about this program and to submit nominations for the next class of Hall of Famers visit www.parkinghalloffame.org/nominate.