Tim Ahern – IRIS DMS Program Manager

When told it was his turn to be the staff-highlight, Tim enthusiastically replied “OK, I guess I have waited as long as I could before I had to do this”. Tim has been with the IRIS DMC before there was an IRIS DMC. He is responsible for the management of the 15 staffers at the DMC in Seattle but luckily they are a smart group that just ignores him. He oversees IRIS DMS sub-awards with six different seismological groups around the world that, combined with the DMC, comprise the IRIS Data Management System. He spends almost as much time at the DMC as he does on United Airlines.

Tim has an undergraduate degree in Physics and a Masters and Ph.D. in Geophysics from the University of British Columbia. As such he can speak nearly-fluent Canadian. How aboot that, eh! He was a Senior Research Scientist with Amoco Production Company, a Research Geophysicist with Entropic Processing Inc, and VP of Engineering with XELO, Inc. before joining IRIS in 1988.

Tim is married to Nancy, a Division Manager with Seattle Public Utilities, and has two active kids named Elisa, age 9, and David, age 6. They share their home with a carnivorous cat disarmingly named Peaches. They enjoy hiking, camping, cycling, water skiing, swimming and all kinds of winter sports. Additionally, Tim enjoys watching first run movies on United Airlines and eating gray chicken surprise!