Directors
Prof Frank Gannon, Director General
Prof. Fionn Murtagh, Director, Information, Communications & Emergent Technologies
Dr Stephen Simpson, Director, Life Sciences Directorate
Mr Mattie McCabe, Director of Secretariat & External Relations
Mr Donal Keane, Chief Operations Officer
Biographies
 Prof Frank Gannon
Director General
Email: frank.gannon-at-sfi.ie
Prof Frank Gannon was appointed as SFI Director General by the SFI Board in February 2007 and formally took up position on July 2nd 2007.
Prof Gannon joins SFI from his position as Executive Director of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) and Senior Scientist at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), based in Heidelberg, Germany; where he worked since 1994.
Prior to his appointment at EMBO, Prof Gannon was Director of the National Diagnostic Centre and Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology at University College Galway, Ireland, with particular responsibility for the development of a biotechnology programme.
He obtained a Bachelor of Science from the National University of Ireland, Galway in 1970, a PhD from the University of Leicester, England in 1973, was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Madison Wisconsin, USA from 1973 to 1975, and Chargé de Recherche in INSERM at the University of Strasbourg, France from 1975 to 1981, when he moved back to Galway.
His major research interest is the expression and functional regulation of Estrogen Receptor which plays a major role in breast cancer and osteoporosis. These studies have provided leads to novel treatments or therapeutic approaches to these and other cancers.
Prof Gannon has authored over 200 research articles published in international journals. In addition he contributes a monthly editorial to EMBO reports of which he is founding Senior Editor and also writes extensively on diverse topics related to science policy. Prof Gannon has seven patent applications, four of which are active at present and was the founder of both Bimini Ltd. (1990) and Elara Pharmaceuticals (2006). He was a member of the interim Board of Science Foundation Ireland from 2002 to 2004, was elected as a Member of the Royal Irish Academy in May 2008 and was awarded a Doctor of Medical Science (Honoris Causa) by Queen's University Belfast in June 2008.
He has served on a range of high-level scientific advisory boards at institutes throughout the world and was co-founder of the European Life Sciences Forum (ELSF) and the Initiative for Science Europe (ISE) that played significant roles in the establishment of the European Research Council (ERC).
 Prof Fionn Murtagh
Director
Information, Communications & Emergent Technologies Directorate
Email: fionn.murtagh-at-sfi.ie
Prof Fionn Murtagh joins SFI from Royal Holloway, University of London, where he was Head of the Computer Science Department. Prior to his position at Royal Holloway, he held Chairs in Queen's University Belfast, and the University of Ulster's Magee College. He served with the European Space Agency's Space Science Department for 12 years, on the Hubble Space Telescope project, based at the European Southern Observatory, Garching, Germany.
Prof Murtagh was on the staff of the Department of Computer Science, University College Dublin, in the early 1980s, followed by a posting at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy.
He has been Professeur Associé for 15 years at Strasbourg Observatory, Université Louis Pasteur. He holds degrees in Engineering Science and Mathematics from Trinity College Dublin; an MSc in Computer Science also from TCD; a PhD in Mathematical Statistics from Université P&M Curie, Paris 6; and an Habilitation (HDR) from Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg .
Prof Murtagh is a world-leading authority on clustering, data analysis and data mining. He has been elected President (2008-2009) of the Classification Society of North America. He is also a leading authority on wavelet and other multiresolution methods in image and signal processing. He has published 5 books and edited 16, and has been author of 116 journal papers and c. 150 others.
He is Editor-in-Chief of the Computer Journal (British Computer Society and Oxford University Press), which at 50 years is one of the longest established computer science journals. He is also a member of the editorial boards of Journal of Classification, Neurocomputing, and Artificial Intelligence Review, among others. He is an elected member of UKCRC, the UK Computing Research Council, the leading representative body for computer science in the UK. He has also served on the Learned Societies and Knowledge Services Board of the British Computer Society.
As part of the many funded projects which Prof Murtagh has led, at European and national level, he has collaborated with many industrial partners. He is the founder of MultiResolutions Ltd. which was established to commercialise image and signal processing software, with sales worldwide.
Prof Murtagh was elected a Member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2003 and is a Fellow of the British Computer Society.
 Dr Stephen Simpson
Director
Lifesciences
Email: stephen.simpson-at-sfi.ie
Dr Stephen Simpson joined SFI on 31 July 2008 from the internationally-renowned “Science” journal based in Cambridge, UK, where he held the position of Associate Editor from 2000 to 2005 and Senior Editor since 2005.
Prior to his appointment at Science, Dr Simpson held both postdoctoral and faculty positions at Harvard Medical School, US from 1992 to 1997 and a Research Fellow position at University College Dublin, St. Vincent’s from 1997 to 1998.
He obtained a Bachelor of Science in Zoology at Nottingham University, UK and a PhD in Immunology at the National Institute for Medical Research, London in 1991. He was awarded Young Investigator of the Year by the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America in 1995.
Along with his particular experience in areas of biomedicine, immunology, human genetics, molecular cell biology, cancer and HIV, Dr Simpson comes to SFI with a comprehensive publication record and wide international representation, along with experience of research leadership and collaboration with academia and industry.
 Mr Mattie McCabe
Director of Secretariat & External Relations
Email: mattie.mccabe-at-sfi.ie
Mr McCabe is secretary to the SFI Board and Board Committees and is responsible for the implementation of the internal decision making processes approved by the SFI Board, i.e., through the SFI Executive Committee and Management Committee. He also has responsibility for the implementation of Freedom of Information, Data Protection and Ethics in Public Office Acts in relation to their application to SFI. The SFI public relations and communications functions and the development of substantial interactions between SFI and the wider business and political community are also in his remit.
Prior to joining SFI in 2002 Mr McCabe served for 22 years in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. During this period, he served as private secretary to a Minister of State, and also served in both the commercial regulation and industrial policy divisions in the Department. In 1997 he was assigned to the post of assistant registrar in the Companies Registration Office.
In 1998, Mr McCabe was appointed Principal Officer in the Office of Science and Technology (OST) in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. In the OST he was responsible for developing, promoting, and co-ordinating Ireland’s science, technology, and innovation policy and also Ireland’s policies on international research activities. He was also responsible for the Department’s input into the research technological development and innovation programmes of the National Development Plan 2000-2006. He also served as a key member of the Departmental team responsible for coordinating the Technology Foresight exercise with the Irish Council for Science Technology and Innovation and Forfás and dealing with the Government process that led to the establishment of SFI.
 Mr Donal Keane FCA
Chief Operations Officer
E-mail: donal.keane@sfi.ie
Mr Donal Keane was appointed Chief Operations Officer at SFI with effect from 1 November 2005.
Keane joined SFI from Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology where he held the position of Secretary/Financial Controller from 1997 to 2005 and had responsibility for Finance, HR and Facilities Management in addition to the Secretarial role to the Governing Body.
From 1978 to 1982 Keane served articles with Coopers & Lybrand and qualified as a Chartered Accountant. During his time at C&L he had responsibility for the audit of small to medium sized companies as well as participating in the audit of a number of multi-national clients.
In 1982 Keane joined Wang Finance, a group of 10 captive finance companies established across the world by computer company Wang Laboratories and headquartered in Dublin. Mr Keane initially held the position of Financial Accountant and was promoted to Administration Manager in 1984. In this latter role he had responsibility for the administration of a data base of 10,000 lease contracts valued at $350m.
In April 1989 Keane was transferred to Toronto, Canada to take up the position of General Manager of the local Wang Finance subsidiary with a portfolio of 1000 contracts valued at $35m. In June 1990 the Wang Finance group of companies was sold to GE Capital, a subsidiary of General Electric, and Keane’s final role in Canada was to oversee the orderly transfer of the Canadian portfolio to GE Capital’s existing Canadian subsidiary.
Following his return to Dublin in July 1990 Keane assumed the position of Director of Marketing at GE Capital European Equipment Finance, with specific responsibility for the implementation of pan-European vendor financing programmes in targeted sectors such as computer equipment, construction equipment and medical equipment.
In 1992 Donal Keane joined Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda as Financial Controller. With 367 beds, including a maternity wing, and 1000+ employees, it is the 8th largest acute general hospital in Ireland. Mr Keane played an active role in the transition of the hospital from under the management of the Medical Missionaries of Mary to a lay administration. In 1996 the hospital was sold to the North Eastern Health Board.
Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology was established as an autonomous body on 1 April 1997 and Mr Keane joined as its first Secretary/Financial Controller in November 1997. The Institute is one of the 14 Institutes of Technology in Ireland and in his 8 years there Keane oversaw an increase in full time student numbers from circa 400 to 1450, with a commensurate increase in staffing numbers and buildings on campus.
Donal Keane holds a Batchelor of Commerce degree from University College Dublin and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.
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