GT Ireland leadership

Left to Right: Krish Ahuja -Director and General Manager, Declan Drislane - Director, Tom Malone - Board Chair, Steve Cross- Executive Director, Eamonn Ryan - Director, John McGowan – Director

Stephen E. Cross, Executive Director, Georgia Tech Ireland

Dr. Cross is executive director of Georgia Tech Ireland. He is a vice president of the Georgia Institute of Technology and the director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute. He also holds faculty appointments as a professor in Georgia Tech's School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and in its College of Computing. Before joining Georgia Tech in 2003, he was the director and CEO of the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Cross has a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an M.S.E.E. from the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), and a B.S.E.E. from the University of Cincinnati. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Krishan K. Ahuja, Director & General Manager, Georgia Tech Ireland

Dr. Ahuja, Regents' Professor in the School of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech, is the director and general manager of GTI. He also holds the title of Regents' Researcher at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. Prior to moving to Ireland, he was head of the Aerospace and Acoustics Technologies Division of GTRI's Aerospace, Transportation and Advanced Systems Laboratory. He is an expert in the field of acoustics and flow control. His industrial experience includes six years at the Rolls Royce aero-engine division in the United Kingdom and 13 years at Lockheed Georgia, USA. He received the prestigious international Award in Aeroacoustics in 1993 from the American Institute of Aeronautics, which also named him Engineer of the Year in 2000. He was made a Fellow of the same society in 2002. He has extensive industrial consulting experience, holds numerous patents, and has authored more than 200 publications. He holds a B.Sc. I Mechanical Engineering and M. Phil. In Aeronautical Engineering from University of London and a Ph.D. From Syracuse University.

Finbar (Barry) Dolan

Dr. Dolan is associate director of GTI and leads its health care and life science programs. He has more than 15 years of experience in technical, product and strategic research and development with Medtronic Vascular in Galway and Dow Chemical Company. Dr. Dolan chairs a commercialization subgroup of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland and is a member of the Engineers Ireland Council. He is also active in several other industry organizations and is a former chair of the Irish Medical Device Industry Association's R&D group. A chartered engineer, Dr. Dolan holds graduate and postgraduate degrees from Athlone Institute of Technology, Trinity College Dublin, and the National University of Ireland, Galway.

Joe Dowling

Joe Dowling is a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Wireless Specialist at Georgia Tech Ireland. Prior to joining GTI, Joe worked as a consultant for a number of wireless/telecoms companies, both startups and large multi-nationals. He also spent over 12 years working for Nokia in their UK and California R&D centers. His field of expertise includes RFID, 3G/WCDMA, HSDPA, WiMax, embedded systems & software, FPGA's, and system engineering. He is a chartered engineer, and is a graduate of Dundalk Institute of Technology and Queens University Belfast.

Shane Owens

Shane Owens is GTI’s Digital Media Research Technical Lead. Prior to joining GTI, Shane worked ten years with GTRI where his research focus was on technology insertion and system integration for the U.S. Department of Defense. During that time, Shane successfully served as project manager for an extremely time-sensitive military project and performed the function of configuration manager for his department—focusing on process control using the Carnegie Melon Capability Maturity Model. In addition, Shane worked with the Information Technology Department during his first five years at GTRI. His current fields of interest include Internet protocol television (IPTV), converged “3-screen” applications, and digital media applications Specific applications of interest are those relating to eLearning, social networking, and entertainment. He holds a BSEE and an MBA from Georgia Tech.

Jeff Smart

Jeff Smart is a GTRI senior research engineer. Prior to joining GTRI, he was a product manager with ARRIS, a Georgia-based global company specializing in the design and engineering of broadband networks. His current fields of interest include Internet protocol television (IPTV) and digital media applications, condition-based maintenance (CBM), IT software applications ranging from logistics to e-commerce and e-learning, and radar and instrumentation systems. He holds B.E.E. and M.S. degrees from Georgia Tech.

Joan Mahon

Joan Mahon is GTI's office manager and executive assistant to the director. A native of Banagher, Co. Offaly, she lived in Australia for several years where she worked for two of the largest engineering and environmental consultancy firms in Australasia and also a recruitment firm. After returning to Ireland in 2004, she worked at Covidien (formerly Tyco Healthcare) as PA to the General Manager, before joining GTI in January 2007.

Directors

Thomas J. Malone, chairman

Mr. Malone is retired executive vice-chairman of Milliken & Co., a global company based in West Point, Georgia. Mr. Malone earned his B.S. and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Georgia Tech, where he later established the Dr. Thomas Joseph Malone Scholarship Fund. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He has served on a number of national organizations in the U.S., including the Council on Competitiveness and the Presidents' Circle of the National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine. He is also chairman of the Georgia Tech Research Corp.

Eamonn Ryan

Mr. Ryan was appointed chairman of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) in March 2007. Prior to this appointment, he was executive director of IDA Ireland, where he played a pivotal role in shaping and implementing strategy for the phenomenal growth of the Irish economy.

Declan Drislane

Mr. Drislane is a solicitor and partner in Arthur Cox, one of Ireland's leading international law firms, based in Dublin. He has wide commercial experience with a focus on inward investment, advising overseas clients on establishing a business in Ireland and in their negotiations with IDA Ireland, where he previously served as in-house counsel. Mr. Drislane also advises on all aspects of pension law.

John McGowan

Mr. McGowan is managing director of Michael McNamara & Co., a leading Irish construction company. He was previously vice president and director, corporate services, of Intel Corp. He served as president of Engineers Ireland for 2006-2007. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland and a member of the Institute of Directors. In 2000 he was named Engineer of the Year by the Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland.

Members of the Board

John C. Bacon

Mr. Bacon, a Georgia Tech alumnus, is CEO of Intellectual Property Partners, LLC (IP2), a company focused on commercializing promising intellectual property. Mr. Bacon was a software entrepreneur for more than 15 years. Prior to that, he was an executive with Scientific Atlanta, where he was managing director of the company's United Kingdom operations.

Howard J. Morrison, Jr.

Mr. Morrison is a former banker whose career spanned nearly 30 years as a senior executive with C&S Bank, subsequently NationsBank. Mr. Morrison has vigorously promoted high technology in Georgia and is active in numerous civic organizations as well as Georgia Tech. He also chairs the Innovation and Technology Committee of the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD).

Robert K. Thompson

Mr. Thompson is Georgia Tech's former senior vice president for administration and finance. In July 2007, he received the Distinguished Business Officer Award for "outstanding achievement in the field of business and financial management in higher education," the highest honor given by the National Association of College and University BusinessOfficers.

William J. Todd

Mr. Todd, a Georgia Tech alumnus, is president and CEO of the Georgia Cancer Coalition. He was previously executive director of Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue's Commission for a New Georgia. Mr. Todd was the founder of Encina Technology Ventures, an early-stage technology venture capital fund, and the first president of the Georgia Research Alliance, a strategic partnership of the six research universities in Georgia, the business community and state government. Prior to that, he was an executive at Emory University's Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center. In 2000 he received an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland.