Laird is the founder / owner of RSi Communications, a company specializing in medical communication and education for physicians. Founded in 1976, RSi was the producer of the first commercially supported program using what became the internet (1977) and the inventor of the digitally controlled audience response system (1982). The company specializes today in the use of quizzing as an editorial feature for medical websites.Laird’s father’s side emigrated from Liscannor in Clare in the 1870s.  His mother’s family came to America to fight for the colonists in the Revolution, earning land grants they used to settle in the territory that became Tennessee.  Laird received a B.S. in journalism from Northwestern University and a certificate from the Owner / Presidents Management course at the Harvard Business School. He is CEO of a non-profit, Uptown Paddling, which gives underprivileged kids a chance to kayak on the Hudson.  Born in Topeka, Laird is working on a book entitled “Greetings from Liberal Kansas,” about the 100-year period when Kansas was a seedbed for liberal, progressive, and socialist thought.