Dawn Dougherty Fitzgerald

Dawn Fitzgerald (MIT LGO ’94) is a Co-Lecturer for the MIT Operations Lab and has served as a course mentor since 2018. She also serves as Chair of the MIT Machine Intelligence for Manufacturing & Operations advisory board. In addition to her work with MIT, she does fractional CTO work for a variety of companies and writes a column for AI Trends.

Fitzgerald has previously held several senior leadership roles, including CTO of SharkNinja, vp of engineering and technical operations at Homesite for American Family Insurance, and head of innovation at Schneider Electric. Her work focuses on integrating Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, SaaS, and Cloud technologies into enterprise operations and product development, with a particular emphasis on piloting Generative AI applications within engineering workflows. She has led digital transformation programs and large-scale technology initiatives, including global efforts in information security, process optimization, mergers and acquisitions, and scalable product and platform delivery.

She is a recognized leader in digital innovation and AI adoption, named to the 2025 “60 Women CTOs to Watch” by Girl Geek and selected for the 2024 “Top 50 Women CTOs We Admire.” She was also a finalist for the 2023 ISG Women in Digital Awards (Digital Innovator category).

Fitzgerald is a frequent speaker on AI adoption across industry and academic forums, including Reuters C-suite events and MIT programs, and writes as a columnist for AI Trends. She serves on the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Executive Leadership Council for the Dean of Engineering and is a member of the RPI New England Network Council. She holds a BS in electrical engineering from RPI and an MS in electrical engineering and an MBA , both from MIT.