This website uses cookies Read More Ok
Leader in Integrated ICT Hardware & Systems

Board Members

Board Members

Board Members

 

Mr. Eoin O’Driscoll  - Chairman, Tyndall National Institute

After over 25 years working in the ICT Industry in Ireland and the US where he held senior positions at Nortel, Wang Laboratories, Stratus and Lucent Technologies, Eoin’s focus over the past decade has been on Irish firms and on Ireland’s enterprise and science policy. 
He has served on a number of national bodies including as Chairman of Forfas, Ireland’s national policy and advisory board for enterprise, trade, science, technology and innovation; as a board member of Science Foundation Ireland; as President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland; as a Board member of the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience; as Chairman of the Governance Committee of Lero, the Irish Software Engineering  Research Centre.

In 2004 Eoin chaired the Enterprise Strategy Review Group at the request of the Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment. In July 2004 the group published a strategic plan for enterprise in Ireland entitled -  ‘Ahead of the Curve –Ireland’s place in the global economy’.

In addition to being on the board of a number of early stage start ups, Eoin has served as Chairman of the SWS Group, Chairman of e|net and Chairman of Shenick Network Systems.

Eoin is currently a Governor of the Irish Times Trust, a Director of the Irish Times Ltd,  a Director ofBarclay’s Bank Ireland PLC and Chairman of the Investment Committee of Development Capital Ltd.

Eoin is a graduate of UCC and holds a Bachelors and a Masters Degree in Engineering. He is a fellow of Engineers Ireland and a fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineers.

Ms. Lisa Amini - IBM Research Centre 

Dr. Lisa Amini is a Distinguished Engineer, and Director of Cognitive Knowledge andInformationSystems at the IBM TJ Watson Research Center in New York.

Lisa leads IBM’s Cognitive Computing research in algorithms and systems for knowledge and information discovery, extraction, representation, reasoning, machine learning, semantic analysis, and management, for structured and semi-structured data, and unstructured multimedia, image, and vision data.

Lisa was the founding Director of IBM Research Ireland (2010-2013), and the first woman Lab Director of any IBM Research Global (i.e., non-US) Lab. In this role she developed the strategy and led researchers in advancing science and technology for intelligent urban and environmental systems (Smarter Cities), with a focus on creating analytics, optimizations, and systems for sustainable energy, constrained resources (e.g., urban water management), transportation, and the linked open data systems that assimilate and share data and models for these domains.

Previously, Lisa was Senior Manager of the Exploratory Stream Processing Research Group at the IBM TJ Watson Research Center, where she worked for 14 years. She was the founding Chief Architect for IBM's InfoSphere Streams product. The Streams product is the result of a Research technology, System S, for which Lisa was also architectural lead from inception. Streams is a software platform for continuous, high throughput, and low latency mining of intelligence from massive amounts of sensor and other machine generated data. She also led her team in formative Smarter Planet/Cities pilots analyzing real-time data for cyber security, manufacturing, telecom, market data analysis, radio astronomy, environmental (water) monitoring, and transportation.

Lisa has served on program committees, hosted panels, and presented keynotes and papers in numerous IEEE, ACM and other conferences and workshops. She has worked at IBM the areas of Smarter Cities, stream processing systems and algorithms, distributed and high performance systems, content distribution, multimedia, and networking for over 22 years. She received her PhD degree in Computer Science from Columbia University.

Mr. Martin Cronin - Appian Asset Management

Martin Cronin is a fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering and of Engineers Ireland, Martin was chief executive of Forfás, the state body responsible for supporting and promoting national competitiveness, from 2002 to 2009. Prior to his appointment at Forfás, Martin was director of operations at IDA Ireland. Martin is Chairman of InterTradeIreland and a board member at Appian Asset Management and at the Irish Academy of Engineering. He also chairs the Steering Group of the Connacht Ulster Alliance (IT Sligo, GMIT and LYIT).

Mr. Kevin Fielding - Alta Berkeley

Kevin Fielding is a partner in AltaBerkeley, a European early-stage venture capitalprovider. AltaBerkeley focuses on technology companies in communications, semiconductors and information technology. Since its formation in 1982 the firm has backed over 100 companies and has over 40 successful exit transactions to-date, completed through either IPO or acquisition.

Prior to becoming a VC, Fielding, together with founder Brian Long, turned Parthus Technologies from a semiconductor design-services provider into one of the fastest growing semiconductor IP companies in the industry. As President of Parthus, Fielding drove the completion of a successful public listing of its shares in May 2000, with a dual listing on the London Stock Exchange and on Nasdaq. Upon completion of the merger of Parthus and Ceva in November 2002, Fielding became CEO and President of the newly formed company.

Prior to joining Parthus, he was involved in founding the StrongARM business in Palo Alto, which was acquired by Intel in 1998. He also worked on the original Alpha micro-processor in Hudson, MA for Digital Equipment. Before moving to the US in 1989 Fielding worked on high-speed processor design for Philips in Eindhoven and in Dublin.  He also spent four years working in the research labs at the National Microelectronics Research Centre (NMRC) attached to University College Cork, (now part of the Tyndall National Institute)

Career: Partner, AltaBerkeley (Technology Venture Capital); President and CEO, ParthusCeva (Nasdaq: CEVA); President, Parthus Technologies plc (IPO 2000); founder and MD, the StrongARM microprocessor business (acquired by Intel 1998); DEC (Product-line Manager, Alpha micro-processor);  Philips BV (high-speed processor design); National Microelectronics Research Centre, Cork.

Academic achievements: MBA, Northeastern University, Boston; Masters and BE degrees in Electrical Engineering, University of Ireland, Cork.

Core expertise: He has had a 30 year career working for companies in the semiconductor and IT industries, both in Europe and in the US.

Prof. Anita Maguire - University College Cork

Anita undertook undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Chemistry at UCC (B.Sc. 1985, Ph.D.1989). Following postdoctoral research first at Namur, Belgium then at the University of Exeter, UK she returned to the Department of Chemistry in UCC in 1991, initially as a College Lecturer, then Associate Professor in Organic Chemistry in 2002, and was appointed in 2004 to the newly-established Chair of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, jointly in the Department of Chemistry and the School of Pharmacy, playing a leading role in development of the School of Pharmacy in recent years. Since her appointment at UCC she has played a strategic role in the development of teaching and learning, including the introduction of Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry at undergraduate level for the first time.

Over the past twenty three years at UCC she has led an active research team focusing on synthetic organic and pharmaceutical chemistry, which interacts extensively with the pharmaceutical sector in Ireland and internationally. She is very committed to postgraduate education, ensuring the research students gain the skills required to underpin their future careers; 37 PhD and 6 MSc students have graduated from her research team since 1997, most of whom have developed careers within the pharmaceutical industry both in Ireland and internationally.

She is Director of the interdisciplinary research centre, the Analytical and Biological Chemistry Research Facility established under PRTLI3, and has served as Head of the Department of Chemistry (2005-7) and Head of the School of Pharmacy (2009-10). She was elected to the Governing Body of University College Cork in December 2003 and served two terms until December 2011. She was appointed as Vice President for Research and Innovation in January 2011. She was elected a Member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2014.

She is actively engaged nationally in strategic policy development in relation to research, STI policy, the academic industry interface and strategic development of the pharmaceutical industry, including as a member of the Advisory Science Council and the Irish Research Council. She chaired the Irish Research Council for Science Engineering and Technology (IRCSET) in recent years.  For example, she chaired the Advisory Science Council Task Force on The Role of PhDs in the Smart Economy which reported in December 2009.

She is a member of the Boards of Tyndall National Institute, Molecular Medicine Ireland, Insight, APC, Infant, IPIC, Amber, MaREI, and ICHEC.

Mr. John Mullins – Amarenco

John Mullins, 46, is Chief Executive Officer of Amarenco, a company which is focused on solar assetdevelopment, financing and ownership in Europe and particularly in the South of France.

Previous to these roles, John Mullins was Chief Executive of Bord Gáis from December 2007 until the end of 2012. During this time, BGE established a significant electricity business, renewable and conventional generation assets.

He has held senior management positions with ESB, ESB International, PricewaterhouseCoopers(UK) and NTR plc. Group.   He is a Fellow of Engineers Ireland and the Irish Academy of Engineering and is a member of the UCC Governing Body. He is also Chairman of the Port of Cork Company and a Director of Wisetek Limited and Climote.

John has served as Chairman of the Bord Gais Pension Fund and now serves as Chairman of the Port of Cork Pension Fund.

He holds a Bachelor and Masters degree in Electrical Engineering and an MBA from the Smurfit Business School in UCD, Dublin.

Mr. Ian Quinn - Creganna Medical

Ian Quinn is founder and director of Creganna Medical. Established in 1980 by Mr. Quinn, he served asCEO of the company until 2005. With over 2,000 staff world-wide Creganna Medical is ranked among the top  global providers of outsourced design, development and manufacturing solutions to medical device companies and is Ireland’s largest indigenous medical device company. Mr. Quinn is also Chairman of Intermed Limited in Oxfordshire, a leading manufacturer of anesthesia equipment. He is on the board of the Tyndall National Institute in Cork.  Mr. Quinn is a UCD engineering graduate.

Steven A. Ringel- The Ohio State University

Steven A. Ringel is the Neal Smith Endowed Chair Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Distinguished Scholar at The Ohio State University.  He is also the Founding and Executive Director of The Ohio State University Institute for Materials Research (IMR) and leads the multi-college Ohio State Discovery Theme Initiative on Materials and Manufacturing for Sustainability.   Professor Ringel is internationally recognized for seminal contributions and leadership in the field of electronic materials and devices, particularly for his pioneering efforts in photovoltaics, defect characterization techniques, wide bandgap semiconductors, and III-V semiconductor integration with silicon.

Professor Ringel has authored and co-authored more than 300 technical papers, given more than 120 invited talks and co-authored (edited) several books.  He has produced more than 70 PhD and MS students and currently leads a group of 18 students, postdocs and research scientists focused on photovoltaics, optoelectronics, GaN power devices and device reliability.  His recognitions include the 1994 NSF National Young Investigator Award, the Ohio State Distinguished Scholar Award, the Ohio State Scott Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement in Engineering, the OSU Harrison Award for Excellence in Engineering, seven best paper awards from international conferences and societies, AAAS Fellow, AIAA Associate Fellow, former editor of the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, and founding editor of the IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics. He sits on several advisory boards and he is a co-founder of 4Power LLC, a start up company focused on high-performance photovoltaics. Professor Ringel received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech in 1991, and his M.S. and B.S. degrees from Penn State in 1986 and 1984, respectively.

Ann Kelleher - Intel Corporation

Ann B. Kelleher is vice president of the Technology and Manufacturing Group and general manager ofFab/Sort Manufacturing at Intel Corporation.

Previously, Kelleher was site and plant manager for Fab 11X in Rio Rancho, NM where she was responsible for all aspects of the operation, i.e. safety, people and operational metrics for 45nm high-volume manufacturing and 32nm ramp.

Kelleher has also been the plant manager for Fab 12 in Chandler, Arizona, prior to which she was the factory manager of Fab 24 in Leixlip, Ireland.   Kelleher joined Intel in 1996 as a process engineer, going on to manage technology transfers and ramps in a variety of positions spanning 200mm and 300mm technologies.Previously, Kelleher was site and plant manager for Fab 11X in Rio Rancho, NM where she was responsible for all aspects of the operation, i.e. safety, people and operational metrics for 45nm high-volume manufacturing and 32nm ramp.Ann B. Kelleher is vice president of the Technology and Manufacturing Group and general manager of Fab/Sort Manufacturing at Intel Corporation.

Prof. Willy Sansen - KU Leuven

Willy Sansen has received the MSc degree in Electrical Engineering from the Katholieke UniversiteitLeuven in 1967 and the PhD degree in Electronics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1972.

In 1969 he received a Fellowship of the Belgian American Education Foundation to study in the USA. In 1972 he was appointed by the National Fund of Scientific Research (Belgium) at the ESAT laboratory of the K.U.Leuven, where he has been a full professor since 1980. During the period 1984-1990 he was the head of the Electrical Engineering Department. Between 1984 and 2008 he has headed the ESAT-MICAS laboratory on analog design, which counts about sixty members and which is mainly active in research projects with industry. He was involved in spinoffs such as Ansem, ICSense, Kimotion, Zenso, ..and is a member of several boards of directors. In 1984 he was involved in the creation of IMEC, in which he was consultant up to 2008.

In 1978 he was a visiting professor at Stanford University, in 1981 at the EPFL Lausanne, in 1985 at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, in 1994 at the T.H. Ulm, in 2004 at Infineon, Villach and in 2012 at the Techn. Univ. Munchen.

Prof. Sansen is a member of several editorial and program committees of journals and conferences. He is cofounder and organizer of the workshops on Advances in Analog Circuit Design in Europe. He was a member of the executive and program committees of the IEEE ISSCC conference from 1995 to 2009. He was program chair of the ISSCC-2002 conference and President of the Solid-State Circuits Society in 2008-2009. He is recipient of the SSCS Donald Pederson Award in 2011. He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE

He has been involved in design automation and in numerous analogue integrated circuit designs for telecommunications, consumer electronics, medical applications and sensors. He has been supervisor of over sixty-five PhD theses in these fields. He has authored and coauthored more than 650 papers in international journals and conference proceedings and sixteen books among which the slide based book “Analog Design Essentials” (Springer 2006).

Ms Patricia Reilly- Member of the Cabinet of Commissioner Tibor Navracsics, EuropeanCommissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport.

Patricia Reilly qualified as a veterinary surgeon from UCD, and after 6 years in general practice, joinedthe Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine as a veterinary inspector at the National Disease Control Centre at headquarters in 2001.

In 2004, Patricia was seconded to the Department of Foreign Affairs, and was Ireland's first Agricultural Attaché to Poland from 2004 – 2008. On return to the Department of Agriculture as a Superintending Veterinary Inspector, Patricia worked on contingency planning for OIE List A diseases and was responsible for import controls at Ireland's Border Inspection Posts.

In 2010, Patricia joined the Cabinet of Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, where she had responsibility for the Joint Research Centre (JRC) as well as Health, Consumer Affairs and Bioeconomy research policy and gender in research; she was part of the team that secured the current €80 billion budget for Horizon 2020.

With the advent of a new European Commission in 2014, Patricia was asked to join the Cabinet of Commissioner Tibor Navracsics, the Commissioner responsible for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, and has portfolio responsibility for the JRC (transferred from the R&I portfolio), as well as the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, Higher Education and innovation in education. She also follows all files related to Research, Innovation and Science; the Environment; Maritime Affairs and Fisheries; Climate Action; Agriculture and Rural Development and Health and Food Safety.

Mr Marcus Breathnach - Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Marcus Breathnach is Principal in the Office of Science, Technology and Innovation in the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation where he has policy and budget responsibility for the research and innovation programmes of Enterprise Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland and where he manages the Department's engagement in a number of other national and international research programmes and organisations.  

Marcus has worked previously in roles relating to enterprise development, economic development and employment creation policy in the Department of the Taoiseach and in Forfás, the policy advisory board for enterprise, trade, science, technology and innovation in Ireland.

His qualifications include MSc (Econ) in Policy Studies (University of Dublin), MBS (UCD) and Bachelor of Business Studies (DCU).