First Irishwoman as Intel vice president

MACROOM native Ann Kelleher has become the first Irishwoman to be appointed as a vice-president of Intel, in a significant endorsement of the contribution of Irish talent to the multinational.

Her appointment brings to three the number of Irish people who hold vice-president positions within the company. Eamonn Sinnott, general manger of Intel Ireland, is vice- president of Intel’s Technology Manufacturing Group and Rory McInerney, based at Intel’s headquarters in Santa Clara, is vice-president of the company’s Architecture Group.

Ms Kelleher, who currently holds the site manager position at one of Intel’s most advanced facilities, has been named vice president, Technology and Manufacturing Group.

She is responsible for all aspects of the Fab 11X plant, which employs more than 3,200 people. Ms Kelleher previously worked at the Phoenix, Arizona facility where she was plant manager for Fab 12. Prior to that, she was the Fab 24 factory manager in Ireland.

Ms Kelleher has moved 13 times in her career, which began as a research scientist for IMEC, a micro and nanoelectronics research centre in Belgium.

She has been with Intel since 1996 and holds a masters in electrical engineering from UCC.

In 1993 she became the first female to receive a PhD from the National Microelectronics Research Centre.