Gene Irisari

Head of Semiconductor Policy

Samsung Electronics America

Gene Irisari is Head of Semiconductor Policy for Samsung Electronics America, a U.S. subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co. headquartered in South Korea. Based in Washington, D.C., Gene is responsible for all policy work affecting Samsung’s computer chip business, one of the largest companies in the world leading this industry. Gene is also active in the Texas State Society, including serving as its President.

Most recently, Gene served as Director of Government Relations for Texas Instruments where he led the company’s advocacy efforts for their innovation policy portfolio for 9 years. Basic research, education, high skilled immigration, intellectual property protection, patent law and energy technology were amongst his core portfolio of issue areas.

Gene served as the Corporate Chair for the Task Force on American Innovation. The Task Force is a coalition of industry, trade associations, university groups and professional science societies all advocating for stable and robust funding for key research agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Department of Energy Office of Science and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Mr. Irisari has more than a decade of experience on Capitol Hill. Gene served as Deputy Chief of Staff and Legislative Director for House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) for more than five years, helping start the Chairman’s office when he was a newly elected Freshman. Gene man- aged the Chairman’s DC office as well as his legislative team, where he was the Congressman’s lead staffer on technology policy as well as homeland security issues. He also served as the Congressman’s lead staffer for the Congressional High Technology Caucus, a bipartisan group of around forty Members of Congress with a strong interest in tech industry issues.

During his service with Chairman McCaul, Gene worked on legislation that was signed into law which would prohibit federal dollars from being spent to fund projects named after a current sitting Member of Congress in P.L. 110-329. He also worked on language which became law in P.L. 109-295 that reformed the FEMA Emergency Benefits program to help curtail waste, fraud and abuse in the system

Before that, Gene served as Legislative Counsel for senior House Ways and Means Committee member Kevin Brady (R-TX) for more than five years and was respon- sible for energy, environment, judiciary and transportation policy issues for the Congressman.

Mr. Irisari is a graduate of Vanderbilt University with a Bachelors Degree in English Literature and European History. He is also a graduate of the West Virginia University College of Law where he was Vice President of the Student Bar Association and a member of the Clinical Law Program. He lives in Virginia with his wife, Catherine, and three children.