Kieran is the CEO of Realta Fusion, an early-stage company developing fusion energy for applications in industrial process heat and power. He has extensive experience in start-ups and venture capital, particularly in the areas of energy, cleantech/climatetech, ag & food and industrial biotech. Kieran spent the first decade of his career with ICI and Johnson Matthey in the chemical industry in a range of technical and commercial roles across the globe – in Argentina, Germany, the UK and the USA. Following that, he moved into start-ups and worked on advanced fuels, bioplastics, waste-to-energy technologies, including the development of the first 100% bio-based Coca-Cola™ bottle.
In 2017, Kieran returned to his native country and launched the $24M Ireland Agtech Fund – a partnership between Finistere Ventures and the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund. In addition to his role with Realta Fusion, he is also a Senior Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kieran served on the board of a number of start-ups and has mentored innovators from academia as they commercialized technology emerging from their research. He has a degree in Chemical Engineering from University College Dublin, Ireland and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.