Chris Horn graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 1978, and subsequently completed a PhD. In 1991 he co-founded and became CEO of IONA Technologies which went public in 1997 in what was then the 5th largest IPO in the history of Nasdaq . Chris served as chair of various technology companies and Irish national policy groups and was the founding chair of the Ireland China Association and China Crest, a Beijing based consultancy business. He also chaired various charities and institutes such as , UNICEF Ireland , the Irish Brain Research Foundation, the Irish Management Institute, the Community Foundation of Ireland; the Dublin Chamber of Commerce e-City working group; and founding chair of the Government’s Expert Group on Future Skills. He has also served on the IBEC national council and on its ICT Ireland; the advisory board of the DCENR (Dept. of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources) for the nationwide provision of “open access” metropolitan area networks in towns and smaller cities; the board of Trinity College Dublin and, separately, its Foundation Board; the board of Science Foundation Ireland; and the business advisory board of Georgia Tech. Ireland. He was President of Engineers Ireland, and a member of the Innovation Taskforce, an advisory group established by the Taoiseach which reported to Government in February 2010 and was a member of the consequent Implementation Group to oversee execution of the Taskforce recommendations.
He is currently involved with various companies and initiatives: and is chair of Cloudsmith, Gridstore, SophiaSearch, the Science Gallery, chair of CTVR, and a board director and advisor to the World Irish project, an exciting initiative by John McColgan (of Riverdance fame) to link those interested in things Irish worldwide.
He is an occasional opinion writer for the Irish Times newspaper.