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.
