In April 2008, Alan Dowdell was appointed to the role of President, Corning Greater China Telecom (Corning GCT). In this role, Alan is responsible for overall business, organizational and financial management for Greater China Telecom operations and employees in wholly owned and equity venture entities in the region. His responsibility includes the optical fiber, optical cable and the hardware and equipment businesses in the public networks, private networks, and OEM markets. Prior to this assignment, Alan was President of Corning Cable Systems Greater China.
In January 2006, Dowdell accepted the position as director of business development and strategy for Greater China. As part of Corning Greater China, Dowdell led a team responsible for Corning Specialty Materials, Corning Life Sciences and Cormetech sales, research and development strategies, and business development in China.
Dowdell joined Corning in 1996 at the Wilmington, N.C. optical fiber manufacturing facility. After joining the Corning Optical Fiber marketing team in 1998, he relocated to the United Kingdom as market development manager, Europe. Upon his return to the U.S. in 2000, Dowdell served in leadership roles in product line management and new fiber products.
In 2002, Dowdell was accepted to MIT’s Sloan Fellows Program and graduated with an M.B.A. in 2003. In that year, he became manager, business partnerships in Corning’s Strategic Growth organization. As part of the new business development team, Dowdell developed processes to take new and emerging technologies to market via partnerships and alliances.
Dowdell holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Louisiana Tech University and served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy Submarine Force from 1988 to 1996. He and his wife Tara and their two sons, Tristan and Riley, live in Shanghai.