Dawn Fitzgerald ‘87

Dawn Fitzgerald ‘87, P'18, P'22
  • M.B.A. Sloan School of Management, MIT
  • M.S. Electrical Engineering 1994, MIT
  • B.S. Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering 1987, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Ms. Fitzgerald, CTO of SharkNinja is leading the advanced technology development for Shark and Ninja product lines. Areas of focus include embedded systems, digital solution platform development, IoT and AI/ML .

Over the course of her career, Ms. Fitzgerald has served in leadership positions at AmericanFamily, Schneider-Electric Data Center Operations, IBM, Motorola and at numerous high-tech startups.  A Spring Board Women Entrepreneur startup funding recipient, Ms. Fitzgerald co-founded and was vice president of engineering for a chip company where she designed digital signal processors for image processing. Ms. Fitzgerald has served in executive roles at multiple angel and VC-backed startup companies in various industries including: medical devices; software applications; sustainable products; robotics; and consumer devices.

Ms. Fitzgerald’s areas of expertise include product development, operations, IT, information security, and digital transformation strategy. She is a recipient of The Boston Business Journal’s “Women to Watch in Science and Technology” award. In addition to her science and technology career, Ms. Fitzgerald and her husband are in the hospitality business, as owners of historic boutique inns from the 1800s.

In addition to her BS in electrical, computer, and systems engineering from RPI, she holds a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from MIT in 1994, and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Since her graduation from MIT, Ms. Fitzgerald has served as a mentor for MIT’s Venture Mentor Services and MIT Start Six Entrepreneurship, and is currently a mentor for the MIT Operations Lab.  Ms. Fitzgerald is a member of the Rensselaer School of Engineering Leadership Council and the Rensselaer New England Network Executive Council.  She is also the founding chairperson for the MIT Machine Intelligence for Manufacturing and Operations and has been a columnist for AI Trends.  Ms Fitzgerald  is the proud mother of six sons, one of whom is an alumnus of the Class of 2018, and a second who is currently enrolled at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the Class of 2022.

Back to top