Ayman S. Ashour, Board of Directors, Hirsch  (Photo by Hirsh)

The board’s expansion is a direct response to the continuing growth in Hirsch’s business, noted Hirsch president Larry Midland.  “The additional board members will help Hirsch to capitalize on the tremendous growth opportunities we see both domestically and internationally for access control, for identity management products such as biometrics and smart cards, and for our integrated security management platform, Velocity,” commented Mr. Midland.  “I’m excited to work with both Ayman and Doug as Hirsch builds upon its worldwide reputation as the security industry’s most trusted supplier of highly-secure and highly-reliable products.”

Ayman S. Ashour brings to the board a twenty-five year track record of success in the security industry including decades of strategic and practical operational experience on a global scale.  Mr. Ashour is founder & principal of Newton International Management, LLC, a business consulting company delivering market growth & strategy formulation, market/channel/product development, and technology assessments to end users and suppliers in the identification & security industry.  Mr. Ashours prior experience includes serving as COO and later CEO of the ASSA ABLOY Identification Technology Group (ITG) where he led the creation of one of the worlds leading RFID groups.  Previously, Mr. Ashour held executive positions with Williams Asia encompassing the Asian businesses of Chubb, Kidde & Yale; Guardforce International & Chubb Physical Security; and Kidde Fenwal, Kidde Fire Fighting, and Kidde International. 

Mr. Ashour graduated from the University of Manchester where he received a Bachelors degree in Electronics and Electrical Engineering.  He served as an Adjunct Professor at the MBA program of Suffolk University in Boston.  Mr. Ashour’s opinion and insight are often quoted in the industry press. 

Douglas J. Morgan brings to the Hirsch board over thirty years experience in a range of business and executive leadership roles.  Mr. Morgan co-founded and served as CEO of Unified Technologies, Inc., a hardware/software development company, which assisted Hirsch Electronics with its design of the original ScramblePad digital keypad and controllers in the early 1980’s.  Mr. Morgan subsequently joined Hirsch and served as its VP of engineering and development before leaving to found Stratos Scientific Corp.  His other business experience includes founding and serving as President of DynaMicro, Inc., chairman of Visual Technologies, Inc., and positions with Computer Sciences Corporation, NCR, and Hewlett Packard.  Mr. Morgan is currently the CEO and chairman of Performance Strategies, Inc, providing consulting services in the areas of strategic planning, corporate communications, business development, and technology and Internet utilization.

Mr. Morgan is a magna cum laude graduate from both Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, and Stanford University with a Masters Degree in Engineering.  He was also a National Science Foundation Fellow.  Mr. Morgan has served on the Board of Directors or advisory boards of several companies and as an expert witness in intellectual property cases.  He holds five U.S. patents.