Kirk Kirkpatrick
| Kirk Kirkpatrick | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
December 30, 1960 U.S. |
| Occupation | CEO, MDS America |
| Spouse(s) | Zhe Kirkpatrick |
Harold W. "Kirk" Kirkpatrick (born December 30, 1960) is the founder and CEO of MDS America Inc. Corporation, a telecommunications services company that designs, manufactures, installs, and maintains proprietary Digital Wireless Broadcasting systems for telecommunications operators worldwide. He is also a member of the Triple Nine Society.[1]
Information systems
Kirkpatrick started in the Information Systems Division of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty where he programmed client–server systems and built networks spanning Europe and countries of Central Asia and the Ex-Soviet Union, connecting them into the newly expanding Internet. At this time he also programmed one of the first AppleEvent aware programs, MacConference, in 1994.[2]
Mr. Kirkpatrick's first iPhone App, iCalcLC, was approved for the Apple App Store on April 28, 2011.[3]
Internet
In 1994 he took the first position of Manager of Information Systems for the Public Data Network (PDN) of Kuwait,[4] bringing the Internet to Kuwait and gaining a reputation as an Internet expert in the Persian Gulf countries. Mr. Kirkpatrick has spoken on Internet related topics in the United States,[5] Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates.
United States and MDS America
In 2000, he founded MDS America with Peter Blond with backing from His Excellency Shiekh Ali Al-Khalifa Al-Sabah (Former Minister of Finance and Former Minister of Petroleum for the State of Kuwait),[6] targeting rural customers for high speed broadband.[7]
As the head of MDSA, he successfully lobbied the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) (Docket 98-206) and the United States Congress to allow the auction of the MVDDS band of Radio Frequency spectrum. He led MDS Operations through two FCC Spectrum auctions purchasing the licenses for MVDDS at a lower cost per household than any other major bidder in the auction.[8][9]
Kirkpatrick is a named inventor for United States Patent no. 8,571,499, issued on Oct. 29. "Wireless terrestrial communications systems using a line-of-sight frequency for inbound data and a non-line-of-sight frequency for outbound data" was invented by Harold Kirkpatrick, et al.[10]
Kirkpatrick is originally from Blue Ridge, Georgia but has lived in Belgium, Germany, Kuwait, Egypt, Israel, and the United States. He speaks English and German fluently, and French, Dutch, Arabic, and Chinese (Putonghua) at varying levels. He is married to the former Feng Zhe (Amy) of Shanghai, China. He also has three children, Douglas, Sophia, and Ang (Thomas) Kirkpatrick.
Mr. Kirkpatrick is a current member of both Mensa International and the Triple Nine Society.;[11] He is included in Marquis Publications' Who's Who in America (2008–16), Who's Who in Finance & Business (2009–16), Who's Who in Science & Engineering (2010–16), & Who's Who in the World (2010–16).[12]