My current focus is leading a volunteer project to create standards for “AgeTech,” technologies designed to meet the needs of aging adults. The goal is to ensure AgeTech products and services are easy to use, interoperable, safe and secure for older users.
I launched the AgeTech project in IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for humanity. IEEE is home for the engineering and technology community worldwide, with over 400,000 members in 160 countries. It is also a leading developer of technology standards used throughout industry, spanning computers, software, electronics, power systems, medical devices, robotics, intelligent transportation, and many other fields.
My half-century career in industry, government, and standards setting organizations has given me the opportunity to develop leadership skills in projects spanning many areas of technology. At AT&T and Lucent Technologies (now Nokia) Bell Laboratories, I led projects to automate operations and develop data networks used in the telecom industry, developed digital communication systems for businesses, developed software systems to automate manufacturing operations and optimize airline scheduling, and directed involvement in global industry standards-setting and intellectual property management.
Moving into government, as a senior executive at the U.S. Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology, I led a public-private partnership to develop industry-wide standards for modernization of the electric grid (the “Smart Grid”) and coordinated involvement in industry standards-setting bodies across the federal government.
Following my government service, I ran a software start-up that grew out of research at MIT to dynamically schedule manufacturing and robotic operations.
In the nonprofit sector, I served as Chairman of the Board of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), Vice President at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and President of the IEEE Standards Association.
I was honored to be named an IEEE Fellow, recognizing my work at Bell Laboratories and NIST for “leadership in architecture and protocols for the electric grid and telecommunications network.”
My doctorate, from Columbia University, is in electrical engineering and computer science. I am active in alumni activities and currently serve on the Board of Managers of the Columbia Engineering Alumni Association.
I enjoy the creative process of developing software and hardware for robotics and other applications. While it is a hobby for me these days, it keeps my technical knowledge and skills up to date. I am most passionate, however, about collaborating with and encouraging colleagues from different disciplines to solve challenging technology problems to benefit humanity, producing results that none of us can achieve on our own.