Tom Ireland

RECENT CONTRIBUTION: My newest book “Program Management: The Path To Leadership” is about the leadership skills that program managers are exposed to more than almost any other career field. It is about what these professionals are and do. It is not about the profession itself. See http://tinyurl.com/konlw5l .

CAPABILITIES AND OBJECTIVES: More than forty years in the Information Technology business has taught me a surprising number of things that I never conceived I would learn when I first started. I wish I had discovered and absorbed them much earlier in my career. I can boil this knowledge down to two things: Leadership and Strategic Vision. I have worked for some great leaders during challenging situations. My goal has long been, and still is, to pass that unexpected skill, knowledge and experience I gained in my Information Technology career to others.

Before leaving the business world I worked to achieve that professional experience transfer to others through my actions and experience as a manager and then executive. Now that I can work independently I am able to do that best through my books and discussions.

PROFESSIONAL DETAILS: Expert in Leading Technology Organizations, Disaster Recovery Planning and Technology Planning, Computer Operations, Data Center Design, Data Center Operations, Business Process Reengineering, Continuity Planning, Infrastructure Planning. Featured in a cover article in “Wireless for the Corporate User”; published in "Telecommunications Magazine" and "Community Media Re-view"; co-author of AT&T Labs paper presented in Munich; Bell Labs liaison for the Mead Corporation; personally highlighted in an AT&T annual report as an example of collaborative customer innovation.

PERSONAL DETAILS: Tom Ireland was an "Air Force Brat" bouncing around military installations in the U.S. and Far East. He often says that growing up in the military was a great adventure. It was during this adventure that he spent three of his high school years in Japan.

Tom received his BS in Electronics Engineering and a minor in mathematics from Oklahoma State University. While there, he published his first paper in "The Oklahoma State Engineer". That paper won first place in a Big Eight Universities competition.

Tom accepted a commission in the United States Air Force. While an Air Force Officer, and later as a Department of Defense civilian, he managed technology program management teams responsible for communications and electronics installations in the Middle East, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio and other military installations in the Ohio region. His Plans and Programs duties included disaster preparedness; survival, recovery, reconstitution and war planning.

After leaving the Air Force, Tom went to work for a technology division of the Mead Corporation responsible for designing and operating their networks in support of what was at that time the world's largest on-line, full-text search and retrieval data base. He eventually moved to Mead Corporate Staff where he successfully integrated their network operations and directed the modernization of the corporation's client computing services systems. He participated in a Vision Team which successfully established a long term IT Vision for the corporation.

Tom later went to work for CompuServe/UUNet. Over three years he integrated the operations of their Class A web hosting data centers while the operation was expanding from three to twenty data centers across North America.

Most recently, Tom contributed his experience to his local community as the Chief Technology Officer for a team supporting several cities in southwestern Ohio. In this role he provided technology support to the regional Tactical Crime Suppression Unit and the Organized Crime Task Force.

Tom is married with four children and a growing number of grandchildren. These days he is indulging a life-long desire to share his experiences by writing on a number of subjects reflecting his broad range of interests.