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Mass High Tech: The Journal of New England Technology - by Brendan Lynch Mass High Tech
The Massachusetts Defense Technology Initiative (MassDTI) has hired a new executive director: retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Donald Quenneville, the commanding officer of Otis Air Force Base during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
South Hadley native Quenneville arrived in Hyannis in 1978 and didn't leave Otis for 24 years, he said. When the 9/11 attacks happened, he was walking past a TV when the second plane hit the World Trade Center in New York . He said he sprang into action, though he knew planes from Otis -- the first responders to the attacks -- were already in the air.
"Throughout the course of the day I was amazed at how people performed, to go from peacetime to fully configured for war in 12 hours," he said.
In between Otis and now, Quenneville was stationed at the Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Region in Winnipeg, , responsible for Air Force units assigned to , and for detecting airborne attacks on North America .
Quenneville, who started last week, said one of his first tasks will be to continue MassDTI's efforts to get an R&D center from the newly commissioned Air Force Cyber Command for the Bay State .
"( Massachusetts ) certainly ought to be right at the top of that list," he said.
Quenneville also said he'd like to ramp up membership in MassDTI.
"If we offer them a good product, they'll be beating down the door to join," he said. "The more the merrier."
Massachusetts High Technology Council and MassDTI president Christopher Anderson called Quenneville the "perfect candidate" for the position.
Quenneville replaces former MassDTI executive director Alan Macdonald, who left to become director of public policy at the South Shore Hospital in December 2007. Macdonald had been with MassDTI since its inception five years ago, when it evolved out of the MHTC in anticipation of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission report.
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