Former Edmonton CTO joins Alliance to lead data sharing initiative
Tara Mulrooney, former Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Innovation at Edmonton International Airport, is joining the Airports AI Alliance as Director of Innovation, North America.
Mulrooney brings experience spanning government and critical infrastructure as well as aviation, having also served as CTO at the energy regulator in Alberta from 2011 to 2019.
During her seven years at Edmonton International, she helped lead the Canadian Airport Council‘s work on data sharing, experience she will now bring to the Alliance as it looks to strengthen collaboration across the aviation ecosystem.
“There are siloed agreements between certain airlines and airports, but there isn’t what I’d like to call a minimum data set that is shared to ensure operational efficiency and effectiveness and, where possible, drive additional commercial revenue for all parties,” said Mulrooney.
The AAA Data Sharing Initiative was first discussed at the Alliance’s Summit in Dallas in April. It will bring together a cohort of airports prepared to share data with each other (and with airlines) to drive measurable benefits in operational and commercial performance.
Mulrooney believes this would also provide airports with greater situational awareness by reducing the number of disconnected information sources used across daily operations.
Her role as Director of Innovation at the Airports AI Alliance will also encompass delivering closer collaboration between airports, the private sector and research institutions.
The Alliance is launching an open innovation programme to help airports move beyond exchanging ideas towards delivering practical projects that can be adopted more widely across the sector.
“I’d love to see the Alliance become known as the place where ideas become action,” she said. “Where airports, industry, academia and governments come together to create solutions that can scale globally.”
Mulrooney sees the airport sector as a proving ground for challenges extending well beyond aviation. If airports can demonstrate how AI, trusted data and cross-sector collaboration improve operational performance, she believes those lessons could be applied across cities, transport networks and other critical infrastructure sectors facing similar digital transformation challenges.
“If we’re helping organisations move from experimentation to implementation, and from discussion to measurable outcomes, we’ll know we’re making a difference.”
In terms of AI adoption, Mulrooney believes that AI will fundamentally change how airports are operated by creating increasingly connected and intelligent operating environments.
“We’re looking at machine-to-machine intelligence and almost a virtual layer on top of an airport,” she said. “Can you operate an airport not just at the physical location, but from a virtual environment or a different location?”
She believes those capabilities could improve resilience during cyberattacks and other disruptive events while allowing airports to respond more quickly to changing operational conditions.
Mulrooney began her role on 1st July and will present the Data Sharing Initiative to the network during virtual sessions and at the upcoming North American Leadership Forum in Atlanta in October.