This quarter we profile Kevin Byrne, currently International Vice President with special interest in education and future President Elect (from 1st January 2015). Kevin Byrne has had a long association with the CILT, having joined the then CIT in Ireland in 1992 as a Chartered Member and served on many committees and working groups and the national Council before being elected President for two years, beginning in 2003.
He became a Chartered Fellow in 2002 and an International Vice President in 2010, and currently chairs the International Education Standards Committee.
He retired early from the Irish Air Corps with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 2012, having had a variety of appointments both in Ireland and overseas. For more than twenty years he was on the active air traffic controllers' panel, while his postings included time in the operations and public relations offices, as commander of the Technical Training School, and later the Military Police unit before his final posting as Senior Staff Officer, Logistics.
In the last appointment he had strategic-level control of all materials required in support of military flight operations with particular responsibility for fuel, parts, servicing contracts, training courses, firefighting, travel, financial auditing, emergency planning and occupational health and safety. In addition he compiled and disbursed the annual Defence Estimates in respect of aviation.
His 2006 overseas tour of duty, lasting seven months, was as an EU Logistics Advisor to the African Union Mission in Sudan, based in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababba.
As regards education he holds a BA Degree from University College, Galway, an MSc in Airport Planning and Management from Loughborough University and a post-graduate certificate from the Command and Staff School of the Irish Military College. In 2009 he graduated with the Certificate in Strategic Leadership from National University of Ireland, Maynooth. He holds various ICAO and IATA qualifications in aviation emergency planning.
Since his retirement from military service he has been teaching and administering in the Business School of Dublin City University; in July 2014 he will take up a position as Senior Lecturer in Aviation Management in Coventry University in the UK.
At this year’s International Convention it was announced that Kevin Byrne will succeed Paul Brooks as President. Kevin Byrne becomes President Elect on 1st January 2015 when he will also start to Chair the International Management Committee. Kevin Byrne will takes on presidential office from 1st January 2017. Kevin is looking forward to developing CILT and continuing the presidential legacy Dr Dorothy Chan has developed during her time as CILT International President.
Pic 1. Caption: On the flight deck: Kevin Byrne in the co-pilot's seat of a Boeing E-3 AWACS aircraft of the RAF.
Pic 2. Caption: Out of Africa: Kevin Byrne and Air Corps colleague, Capt. Dave Browne, on the ramp at Monrovia International Airport, Liberia, prior to assisting with embarking Irish peace-keeping troops for the journey home to Ireland