One of the top 100 Irish American business executives in the U.S., Mr. John Hartnett, has joined the board of Wavebob Ltd. as a non-executive director.  A native of Limerick, Mr. Hartnett is based in Silicon Valley, California.  He is CEO of G24 Innovations and Chairman of the Irish Technology Leaders Group.

His appointment brings a wealth of high-tech experience and considerable international profile to Maynooth-based company Wavebob Ltd.  His career in high-tech to date boasts some of the industry’s leading companies such as Palm Inc, Handspring, Metacreations, Claris, AT&T, Digital Equipment and Wang.  He has over 20 years of senior management experience across sales, marketing and operations in the U.S. and Ireland.

With his appointment, Mr. Hartnett is facilitating the opening of an office in Silicon Valley for Wavebob, as part of the Irish Innovation Center in downtown San Jose.

Referring to Mr. Hartnett’s appointment to the board of Wavebob Ltd, Chairman, Christopher Bielenberg, said “we are pleased to welcome John to the Wavebob team. His experience and drive will be of considerable value to Wavebob as we continue to meet the growing commercial opportunities facing us.”

John Hartnett said that he is “delighted to be joining the board of such an exciting, dynamic company.  The global commercial potential for alternative forms of energy are growing by the day and Wavebob is exceptionally well positioned to capitalize on this immense opportunity.”

Wavebob Ltd. also announced today that they have just closed an interim funding round totaling €3 million with support from Sustainable Energy Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, BVP Investments and a number of private investors, including Mr. Hartnett.  The funding includes €1.5 million in Government grants and €1.5 million in new equity.  According to Wavebob Ltd. CEO, Andrew Parish, this funding represents a positive achievement in the current economic climate.