John Power, president of Engineers Ireland. Image: Orla Murray
Power has been vice-president of Engineers Ireland since June 2020. He will be replaced in that role by Laura Burke, director general for the Environmental Protection Agency.
Kerryman John Power was inaugurated as president at the Engineers Ireland AGM last week (2 June). He will serve in the role for one year.
He succeeds outgoing president Prof Orla Feely, who is vice-president of research, innovation and impact at University College Dublin (UCD).
Power first became a fellow of Engineers Ireland in 1985. He was appointed vice-president of the Irish professional and statutory body for engineers in June 2020.
He is also a former director general of Engineers Ireland, fulfilling the role from 2007 to 2015. During his tenure, he advocated strongly for registered professional titles.
Power promoted the title of chartered engineer and advocated for the requirement of a master’s degree or equivalent for it. He also worked to raise the reputation of Irish engineering qualifications internationally.
Commenting on his inauguration, he said he was “deeply honoured” to represent its community of more than 25,000 member-engineers.
“I look forward to working with and for our engineering community who are critical to developing creative and sustainable solutions to benefit society and to support economic growth and development,” he said.
Like his predecessor Feely, Power also has strong links to UCD, having graduated from the university with an engineering degree. He then completed a master’s degree in industrial engineering and an MBA. He is also a past president of the UCD Engineering Graduates Association.
Following his graduation, Power worked as a technical adviser with General Electric in the US and South America. He later joined ESB, where he held roles in engineering management, marketing and corporate change. He also served as executive director in ESB International and head of ESB corporate affairs.
Nowadays, Power works as an executive coach having returned to UCD to complete a course in executive coaching in 2016. He is an accredited senior executive coach with the European Mentoring and Coaching Council.
Laura Burke will replace Power in the role of vice-president of Engineers Ireland.
Burke has been the director general of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) since 2011. She has been a director within Engineers Ireland since 2004.
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