RAIN Alliance names new president and CEO

Ryan will lead the 160 corporate member, global industry association focused on growing and promoting adoption of RAIN RFID technology. RAIN is the brand name for passive Ultra High Frequency (UHF) RFID wireless technology which businesses use every day to identify, manage and engage with trillions of items simply and inexpensively. As a result, supply chains, inventories and day-to-day operations in various industries are more transparent than ever before.

‘Aileen is a highly experienced leader of technology companies and industry associations with an outstanding track record of scaling and transforming organizations to deliver superior results,’ said Juho Partanen, chairperson of RAIN Alliance and director of business development at Voyantic. ‘Since its founding eight years ago, the RAIN Alliance has been the catalyst for collaboration within the RAIN eco-system. Under Aileen’s leadership, we believe the RAIN Alliance is well-positioned to support the accelerating adoption of RAIN within and beyond the markets that our membership serves today. As an example, the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors are highly regulated. That forces the RAIN vendor community to pull strings together, similar to efforts Aileen mastered during her time at TM Forum.’

Ryan’s executive career spans software and hardware engineering, strategy and commercial operations with a variety of technology firms and industry associations including Siemens, TM Forum, Huawei and Motorola. 

Ryan joined the RAIN Alliance from a senior position at Siemens, having played a pivotal role in the strategic acquisition of UltraSoC Technologies where she held the dual role of chief strategy and chief operating officer. She also spent a decade at the TM Forum, a global industry association, in various roles including chief operating officer where she was responsible for 100 staff and led the growth and transformation of the organization including restructuring, re-skilling, and re-designing its portfolio of services.

‘The fundamental shifts in how we work, rest and play, and the critical global response needed to mitigate climate change offer unprecedented opportunities for RAIN RFID technologies. I look forward to working with the board and members of the RAIN Alliance to build on previous successes and ensure this technology continues to deliver as a key enabler of a smarter, sustainable world,’ said Ryan.

Ryan is widely recognized as a leader in the global communications industry and was named by Silicon Republic as one of the top 25 Irish leaders in the Sci-Tech world, and by IT Security Guru and KPMG as one of the most inspiring women in cyber security in 2021. She continues to be active within the start-up community in the UK, serves as a mentor on the Cambridge Judge Business School MBA program, and as an advisor for Cambridge Deep Tech Labs and a number of UKRI programs.