Thomas J. "Tom" Burke is the Global Strategic Advisor for CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA), a high-speed, high-performance industrial network organization that supports IIoT and IT/OT convergence. His background includes being the former OPC Foundation President & Executive Director and pioneered the OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) as the foundation of information integration and interoperability. Tom has a bachelor’s degree in theoretical mathematics from John Carroll University (Cleveland, Ohio), and a master’s degree in computer engineering from the Ohio-based University of Dayton.