IEEE Leadership

Kathleen A. Kramer

Kathleen A. Kramer is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of San Diego in California, USA. She worked to develop new engineering programs as a founding member of the faculty and eventually became the chair of electrical engineering, then serving as Director of Engineering (2004–2013), providing academic leadership for all of the university’s engineering programs. Her teaching interests are in the areas of signal processing, mechatronics and robotics, and communication systems.
 

She has also been a member of technical staff at several companies, including Viasat, Hewlett Packard, and Bell Communications Research. She is a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society (AESS) and is a past vice president of the Society. She is a fellow of ABET and a leader in the development of criteria for cyber security, mechatronics and robotics, and graduate programs.

Kathleen served on the IEEE Board of Directors as IEEE Secretary and chair of Governance and IEEE Region 6 (Western USA) Director. She was also chair of the 2023 IEEE Ad Hoc Committee on Innovating Funding Models.

She received a B.S. degree in electrical engineering magna cum laude with a second major in physics from Loyola Marymount University, CA, USA, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the California Institute of Technology.

Thomas Coughlin

Tom Coughlin, President, Coughlin Associates, is a digital storage analyst and business and technology consultant. He has more than 40 years in the data storage industry with engineering and senior management positions at several companies.

An IEEE Life Fellow, Dr. Coughlin has many publications and six patents. He is also the author of "Digital Storage in Consumer Electronics: The Essential Guide," which is now in its second edition with Springer. Tom is a regular storage and memory contributor for forbes.com and media and entertainment organizations. Coughlin Associates consults and publishes books and market and technology reports, including The Media and Entertainment Storage Report and an Emerging Memory Report, and puts on digital storage-oriented events.

Tom has served in numerous IEEE volunteer leadership roles, including President of IEEE-USA, Director of IEEE Region 6, Vice President and Board member of the IEEE Consumer Technology Society, Chair of the Santa Clara Valley IEEE Section, and Chair of the Consultants Network of Silicon Valley. He is also active with the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) and the Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers (SMPTE).

Mary Ellen Randall

Mary Ellen Randall is an IEEE Fellow and member of the IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu honor society.

She held technical and management positions in IBM, including an international assignment, hardware and software development, digital video chips, client/server services, network management, operating systems, and test design automation. She routinely managed projects on an international scale.

She served on the IEEE Board of Directors as IEEE Treasurer, IEEE Vice President of MGA, and Region 3 Director, and has served as IEEE WIE Committee Chair among other leadership positions.

She created and developed the IEEE MOVE International Community Outreach Program for Disaster Relief and STEM education. She received awards for this work, including the IEEE Haraden Pratt Award.

Randall is founder/CEO of Ascot Technologies, Inc., an award-winning software company that develops enterprise applications utilizing mobile delivery technologies.  As a result, she was named a top “Woman in Business” in the Research Triangle North Carolina area and made Business Leader Magazine’s “Impact 100” List.

She holds a M.S. in Computer Science and a B.A. Mathematics from Binghamton University, NY, USA. 

Sophia Muirhead

Sophia (“Sophie”) Muirhead became IEEE’s Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer (COO) in January 2023. She manages a US$500 million+ business enterprise with a worldwide staff of more than 1,000 employees.

Prior to becoming the Executive Director and COO, Sophie was IEEE’s General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for four years, where she served as a trusted business and legal advisor to the organization’s Presidents and CEOs, Boards of Directors, senior volunteer leaders, and global staff.

Before joining IEEE in 2019, Sophie spent two decades at The Conference Board (TCB), a global business membership organization founded in 1917, with a mission to help its members anticipate what’s ahead, improve their performance, and better serve society. There she served as TCB’s first-ever Chief Legal Officer, building a legal team and internal legal function from scratch. She also had various operations roles, including leading TCB’s Marketing and Communications Center.

Sophie is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, the New York State Bar Association, and the Association of Corporate Counsel. She also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Hunter College Foundation and is a Trustee of the United Engineering Foundation.

Sophie graduated from Harvard Law School, where she was an editor and a contributor to the Harvard International Law Journal. Born and raised on the island of Jamaica, she received a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Hunter College, graduating magna cum laude, and also studied at the University of London and Boston University.