Andrew Karney
Andrew Karney | |
|---|---|
| Born | Andrew Lumsdaine Karney May 24, 1942 Dovercourt, Essex, UK |
| Status | Married |
| Education | Rugby School, Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Occupation(s) | Chartered Engineer, Businessman |
| Notable credit(s) | Tiri, Chairman |
| Spouse | Beryl Karney |
| Children | 1 |
| Website | http://www.karney.com |
Andrew Karney, FIET, FRSA is a British electrical engineer, businessman and director for technology companies. He is chairman of the board for the international NGO, Tiri.[1]
Career
Karney studied engineering at Trinity College, Cambridge. He started his career working for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency - UNRWA in Lebanon and Gaza in 1964 and 1965. He was honoured by the United Nations Secretary-General, U Thant in 1969.
Karney worked as a development engineer at Standard Telephones and Cables on a team headed by British engineer, Tommy Flowers. He played an important role in the development of the first fully electronic digital telephone exchange, which was developed as an Anglo French collaboration and was installed in Moorgate in the City of London in 1967[2]. He also worked as a senior scientist at the central research laboratories of the UK General Electric Company on the development codecs for high speed (140Mbps) digital transmission systems which were used to test the transmission cababilities od helix wave guides and electronic telephone exchanges. During this time he filed a number of international patents[3][4][5] which were used by developers of digital telephone switching equipment in the US, Europe and Japan.
In 1973 he joined Logica, an international systems company. He was project director of the European project based in Paris to bring the Internet to Europe from 1975 to 1976.[6] the Organisation Européenne pour la Recherche Nucléaire, commonly known as CERN, actively participated in the project and it was there that the World Wide Web was initiated by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. In 1984, Karney became a main board director responsible for the telecommunications and media sectors as well as operations in Italy and Asia. Also in this year, together with others, founded Cable London plc - one of the first Cable TV operations in the UK, which was ubsequently became part of Virgin Media.
On leaving Logica[7] Karney became a director of NASDAQ quoted Integrated Micro Products[8], chairman of Language Line Ltd [9], a language resources company, an independent director of the Guardian Media Group[10], Baronsmead VCT3[11] and a number of high technology companies. He was appointed chairman of the trustees of the international NGO Tiri in 2005 [1], which seeks practical solutions to making integrity work in governments, civil society and business. In 2009 he joined Medical Aid for Palestinians as a trustee[12].
He is a chartered engineer, fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, a Freeman of the City of London, a fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce and a member of Chatham House. He is also an expert on the Middle East.
Personal life
Karney is one of six children. His grandfather was Bishop Arthur Karney, the first bishop of Johannesburg. His great Grandfather was John Wigham Richardson a Victorian shipbuilder and founder of Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson shipbuilders on Tyneside. Karney is married to the former prima ballerina Beryl Goldwyn and they have one son Peter Karney born in 1972.
References
- ^ a b Andrew Karney, Chairman of Tiri
- ^ The first all digital telephone exchange
- ^ Patent Specification GB1155805
- ^ Patent Specification GB1227537
- ^ Patent Specification GB1458526
- ^ Bringing the Internet to Europe
- ^ More directors leave Logica
- ^ Andrew Karney Joins Integrated Micro Products (IMP) Board
- ^ Andrew Karney at Language Line
- ^ Guardian Media Group directors
- ^ Baronsmead directors
- ^ Trustees of Medical Aid for Palestinians