Engineer and entrepreneur Dr Edmond Harty was inaugurated as the 131st president of Engineers Ireland at its AGM, held on Thursday 1 June.

Previously, Dr Harty was the CEO and largest shareholder of Dairymaster, a dairy innovation and technology company that he built and led over a 22-year period.

Throughout his time at Dairymaster, he built products using the internet of things, cloud computing, machine learning and AI that were all geared toward agriculture.

Millions of animals benefit worldwide from these advancements, which are now widely utilised on farms.

Success

He is also the founder of Innovalogix, an investment and consultancy firm focusing on strategy, product development, engineering and customer success.

Considering his upcoming presidency, Dr Harty hopes to make the work they do more visible: “I hope to be a role model for others in my capacity as president.”

Dr Harty made the point that he would like “to highlight the importance of engineering in our daily lives to the general public and to broaden the reach of our professional membership to cover both urban and rural communities”.

Director general of Engineers Ireland Damien Owens said: “Dr Harty’s commitment to creating value in the marketplace and fostering a spirit of innovation remains steadfast.”

Managing director of Wirtgen Ireland Ltd John Jordan was inaugurated to the role of vice-president at the AGM.

He is joined by director general of the Environmental Protection Agency Laura Burke as vice-president of the professional membership body.