
GT Ireland: GT Ireland Leadership
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.
Joseph Dalton
Dr. Dalton is a principal research engineer with GTI. He previously worked at the Intel IT Innovation Centre in Leixlip where he was responsible for usage model development and information technology solutions for health care and pharmaceutical supply chains. Before this, he was a research associate at the University of Wales, Cardiff. As a psychologist, Dr. Dalton is particularly interested in technology and human interaction. Dr. Dalton holds a Ph.D. in electronic engineering from the University of Wales, United Kingdom. His interest areas include RFID systems, mesh sensor networks and models of applied research.
Robert Funk
Dr. Funk is a senior research engineer with the Georgia Tech Research Institute, where he has worked since 1995. He is currently assigned to the Georgia Tech Ireland office. He has research experience in multiple areas including the IT field, where in addition to the current focus on digital media, he has been involved in development of information systems for intelligent transportation programs. He has also been involved in research programs encompassing acoustics, aerodynamics, flow control and aero-optics. He holds a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering 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.
