| Susan Irwin is founder and President of Irwin
Communications, Inc., which she founded in 1985. Ms. Irwin began her career in the
satellite industry in 1977 as a consultant to the Appalachian Regional Commission on a
project which demonstrated the use of satellites to broadcast live educational programming
to rural areas. As a telecommunications policy analyst with the National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the U.S. Department of
Commerce, Ms. Irwin implemented the Satellite Applications Program. The goal of this
program was to stimulate the use of the newly launched communications satellites in the
U.S. and in developing countries for delivery of public services. This program provided
the first operational proof of the advantages of satellite communications for
non-entertainment television, such as education, training and teleconferencing.
Subsequent to her career at NTIA, Ms. Irwin was special assistant to the
president of National Information Utilities Corporation., a start-up company which
developed a satellite and FM subcarriers distribution system to broadcast data to schools
and private companies.
From 1983 to 1985, Ms. Irwin was a member of the start-up team of Private
Satellite Network (PSN) and director of its Washington office. PSN pioneered the business
television industry.
Ms. Irwin is widely published and speaks at satellite and telecommunications
conferences throughout the world. She has been named one of the top 100 executives in the
satellite industry by Phillips Publishing's Via Satellite magazine each year since 1989
and is a co-founder and director of the Society of Satellite Professionals International.
In 1992, Ms. Irwin was inducted into the Teleconference Magazine Hall of Fame for her work
in business television. Ms. Irwin holds an M.S. degree from San Francisco State University
in Educational Technology. |
