Speakers
Anton Savage:
Anton Savage is the Managing Director of The Communications Clinic, which provides communications training, consultancy and public relations services. Set up in 2007, the company has grown steadily through the economic crisis, with its consultants now delivering service in Ireland, the UK, Frankfurt, New York, Los Angeles, Dar Es Salaam, and Sydney. The company works for some of the biggest companies in Ireland as well as Government Departments, NGO’s, Semistates, charities and private individuals.
On his weekends, Anton presents the Sunday Business Show on TodayFM and – in Autumn – hosts the Apprentice; You’re Fired! on TV3. He also stands-in for Matt Cooper on The Last Word and Ray D’Arcy on the Ray D’arcy Show and – before being contracted to TodayFM – was the stand-in for Ryan Tubridy on The Tubridy Show.
Anton writes regularly for Associated Newspapers (Irish Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday) and the Independent Group (Irish Independent and Sunday Independent). He published his first book ‘Spin and Win; how Irish politicians get elected in 2007.
Bobby Kerr:
Bobby Kerr is an Irish entrepreneur and businessman. He presents ‘Down to Business’ a Sunday Business Breakfast show on Newstalk and is a ‘Dragon’ on RTE’s Dragons’ Den. He is the Chairman of Insomnia Coffee and one of the owners of Bang Restaurant. He has a variety of business interests in food & hospitality, technology, manufacturing and retail. Bobby is also a popular public speaker and business mentor.
Larry Farrell:
Larry Farrell is the Founding Chairman of The Farrell Company, the world’s leading firm for researching and teaching entrepreneurship. He founded the firm in 1983 to research the high-growth business practices of the world’s great entrepreneurs – and distil them into a set of practices that could be taught to others. That challenging goal has been achieved. Over the past quarter century, Larry has met and interviewed several thousand entrepreneurs and has personally taught entrepreneurship to more individuals, organizations, and governments than any person in the world.
His latest book — The New Entrepreneurial Age (2011) — is a timely revision of his three earlier books and his Conference Board Review columns – combined with an up-to-the-minute accounting of everything his company has learned about helping people, companies, and governments around the world apply the economic power of entrepreneurship.
Larry is a welcome visitor to both Ireland and IT Sligo as this is his third year to present at IT Sligo’s Enterprise & Innovation Week. Each year Larry’s master classes and workshops for entrepreneurs attract a loyal following.
Larry has served on the Boards of The Economic Development Society in the US and The Journal Of Strategic Change in London. Currently he is a Contributing Editor for The Conference Board Review in New York, a columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine in India, and an Advisory Board member to Cambridge University’s Enterprise Solutions to Poverty project in the UK.
Andy Rogers:
Ballymote-born Andy Rogers is a former senior executive of the Bank of Ireland and founder of the Sligo Business Network London.
A strong advocate of strengthening our links with the Irish diaspora in order to create opportunities and markets for businesses at home, Andy is coming to IT Sligo for the launch of RE:CONNECT, the Western Regional Business Network.
The principal of Rogers Associates Ltd, a consultancy which provides both strategic advice and mentoring support at board level to many European companies, he is a non-Executive Director of many companies including VGC Group Ltd; Global Shares PLC; Premium Golf Bands Ltd.
Andy worked with Bank of Ireland for over 38 years, in Ireland and London. He was the first Irish person to become a member of the Foundation Board of IMD in Lausanne.
His dynamism has been as effective in the voluntary sector. Andy is a Board member of the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland, Council member of the Ireland Fund of Great Britain, Patron of SafeStart, Trustee of More than Gold; a member of the London 2012 Forum and Chair of the Irish Community Group at LOCOG (the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
He was Knighted in Nov 2011 for services to education and charities, becoming a Knight of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St George.
Joe Queenan:
Joe Queenan is Managing Director of Foxford Woolen Mills, Co. Mayo, a traditional brand which has managed to keep pace with contemporary trends without losing its classic image.
Joe transformed the future prospects of the Woolen Mill when he took it over in 1990. He made a significant investment which helped to modernise the Mill and re-invent the brand.
Joe will give his audience the benefits of his vast experience and talk about entrepreneurship, business growth and brand development in a changing business environment.
Joe obtained his ACCA qualification following his studies in IT Sligo.
Stuart Coulson:
Stuart Coulson is an Irish adjunct lecturer at Stanford on the “Extreme” program and a proven entrepreneur. His latest VC investment is in the electronic car company WENG Motors.
Stuart is currently involved in a number of for-profit and for-benefit business angel and early stage non-executive investment projects in Ireland and the US. He is a lecturer at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University, and owns and operates a small, critically acclaimed old-vine Zinfandel vineyard in California’s Russian River Valley.
Previously, Stuart specialised in travel technology and data communications, holding various technical and managerial positions in Ireland, the US and the UK.
Stuart holds a B.A. (Mod.) in Computer Science from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, an MBA from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and an Executive MBA from Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business, Pittsburgh, USA.
Rubin Cortez:
Ruben Cortez has spent his 16 year in-industry career specialsing in online video gaming. In 1997, he helped build and run the infrastructure for the world’s first globally distributed “MMO”, Ultima Online, for developer Origin Systems, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts Inc. In 1999, he joined the EA Operations team in California where he continued to run UO while building the EA.com online network as the Chief Network Architect for EA. During his tenure with EA he worked to launch several MMO’s, many other Online Games and websites, and ultimately was responsible for EA’s global online and corporate network and internet presence which spanned 40 countries and 6 continents.
In 2006, Ruben joined Bioware and has responsibility for Bioware Ireland as Senior Director of European Operations where he has fiscal and management responsibility for the company. He is also responsible for the Global Online Infrastructure and Operations group for Star Wars The Old Republic, the largest and most ambitious MMO launch in gaming history.
Christine Barrett:
Christine Barrett joined Microsoft in 1998 with 10 years international sales & marketing experience. During her tenure with Microsoft she performed operations Program Manager roles for strategic marketing programs like Microsoft Developer Network and TechNet; since 2005 she has worked in the Microsoft Business Solutions department. Today she is Operations Director for MBS in Europe Middle East and Africa, managing the strategic, business and operational services to Independent Solution Vendors, Distributors, Partners and internal stakeholders across 62 subsidiaries.
Christine is an active member of the EOC Commercial Leadership Team, Area Engagement Deputy to France and the Gender Diversity Lead for Microsoft Ireland. Prior to Microsoft, she worked for Penn Racquet Sports, where she held various sales and marketing
Mark Cunningham:
Mark Cunningham is Bank of Ireland’s Director of Business Banking across Ireland and the UK.
He comes to Enterprise & Innovation Week with good news about the Bank of Ireland Accelerator programme which will fast track funding for companies which have graduated from IT Sligo’s Innovation Centre.
Previously Mark was Managing Director of Bank of Ireland Private Banking, Ireland’s largest private bank, a Director of BIAM and Managing Director of the Bank’s Trust and Custody Operations. He is a law graduate of TCD and holds an FCCA qualification.
Paul McBride:
Paul McBride is Vice President and General Manager of the Enterprise Crowdsourcing Business Unit at Lionbridge. As a member of the Corporate Leadership Team and one of five Business Unit General Managers in the company, Paul with his team is responsible for setting strategy and delivering overall business performance from revenue to net income.
Prior to heading up the Enterprise Crowdsourcing Business Unit at Lionbridge, Paul set up the software localization practice at RR Donnelley’s Global Software Services (Dublin) division in 1994, which was subsequently integrated into Lionbridge as part of the company’s formation in 1996. He relocated to Mayo in 1998 to set up and lead the company’s first subsidiary start-up that is now the centre of a global business unit. Prior to joining Lionbridge, Paul worked for four years as a software engineer on the Windows Development Team at Microsoft.
Paul holds a Masters in International Business from Trinity College and is a Computer Science graduate of the Dublin Institute of Technology. He has also attended the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, Babson College Boston, IMD and the Dublin Institute of Technology School of Business where he holds a post graduate Diploma in International Selling. Paul is currently completing a Doctorate in Business Administration at Dublin City University.
Professor Patrick Gunnigle:
Patrick Gunnigle is Professor of Business Studies and former Head, Department of Personnel and Employment Relations. A graduate of University College Dublin (B.Comm, 1977; MBS, 1978) and Cranfield School of Management (PhD, 1995), he has authored or co-authored 17 books and over one 100 refereed journal papers and book chapters. A former Fulbright Scholar and current Marie Curie Research Scholar, Paddy is also a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (FCIPD). He is former co-editor of the Irish Journal of Management, and current member of the Editorial Boards of the Industrial Relations Journal, the Human Resource Management Journal and Employee Relations: The International Journal.
He holds Visiting Professor appointments at University of Paris II and the University of Cadiz. He is currently external examiner at Queens University Belfast, University of Bath, University College Cork and the University of Ulster. He has examined doctoral theses at a number of universities, most recently at Trinity College, Dublin, Queens University, Belfast, University of Warwick and National University of Ireland, Galway. In 2009 bestowed with the award of inaugural Fellow of the Irish Academy of Management in acknowledgement of his distinguished contribution to academia and the study of business and management in Ireland.
His main research interests are in the areas of multinational corporations and human resource management (HRM), trade union membership and recognition, management strategies in industrial relations, and the role of HRM specialists.
He previously worked as a senior executive in the Semi-State sector in Ireland and taught for some years in Zambia, but hails from North Sligo.
Johnny Gogan:
Johnny Gogan is currently in postproduction with Black Ice, a feature film co-written with Brian Leyden. He is writer director of fifteen shorts, documentaries and fictions, including the award-winning feature films The Last Bus Home and Mapmaker. He runs his own company Bandit Films which he set up in Dublin in 1989 before moving to Leitrim in 1997. He is the founding editor for Film Base of Film Ireland magazine now celebrating 25 years. More recent innovations in which he has taken a hand with other North- West based film-makers include Cinema North West the World Cinema exhibitor, Studio North West, the film-makers forum and Adaptation Film Festival, the Dromahair based festival of Cinema and Literature. Active in regional politics on behalf of the Green Party for the past decade, he initiated the current debate on Fracking in May 2011 through a number of high-profile screenings of the U.S. film Gasland.
Amy Neale:
Amy Neale is Communications and Programme Manager at the National Digital Research Centre (NDR). Her presentation will focus on the work of the NDRC, as she explains its investment programmes and how it collaborate with researchers and companies. Amy has 10 years experience in the area of research and technology commercialisation. She has specialised in technology and investment marketing, and has vast experience of working with researchers, technologists and start-up founders.
In her role as Communications and Programme Manager at NDRC, Amy is responsible for NDRC’s communications and brand management, as well as the development of the organisation’s investment programmes.
Before arriving in Ireland in 2008, Amy led the business development team at Queen Mary, University of London. Amy has a research background, and completed her PhD in Linguistics at Cardiff University in 2002.
Ian Brannigan:
Ian Brannigan acting CEO of the Western Development Commission, has spearheaded a number of innovative initiatives in the organisation in the areas of renewable energy, the creative economy, regional promotion, diaspora development, niche tourism and innovation development.
He played a key role in securing c4.3 M in EU funding for a range of practical job growth initiatives targeted at the west of Ireland and similar regions in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Sweden and Finland. These initiatives have the potential to create hundreds of jobs in such diverse areas as renewable bioenergy and the creative economy.
Ian has also been closely involved in the development of the unique regional promotional platform www.lookwest.ie which has attracted over a million visits to its website, while marketing the western region as a location of choice to live, work and do business.
With a background is in engineering and management within the international Technology sector, Ian spent almost 15 years working abroad in Japan, USA, France and the UK, in a variety of technical and management positions within the HI Tech sector. He has also worked in the area of strategic business development, for regions across the UK and Ireland. Professional qualifications include an Applied Physics degree from Dublin City University, and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA).
Damian Devaney:
A former Chairman of The Marketing Institute of Ireland, Damian Devaney believes that cooperation between interested parties is a key to selling the region.
Along with other interested parties, he established Team Sligo Tourism, a collaborative network focused on tourism development in County Sligo, in a bid to put the destination on the map for domestic and overseas visitors
Team Sligo’s objective is to substantially increase visitor numbers by increasing the awareness and appeal of the county through public/private collaborative action. Damian will join Paul Keyes to give a brief outline of how Team Sligo Tourism was created, an overview of the work to date and its future plans.
Damien currently runs a strategic marketing and business improvement consultancy and is a non-executive board member at Cybercom Digital Marketing Agency and The Irish Marketing Institute.
He is also the Professional Games Board at Connacht Rugby and is the outgoing chairman of the Sligo Live festival. He began his career with the Irish Trade Board’s Marketplace program in 1992 after completing a Hons BA and a Grad Dip in Business Admin at UL.
He has since held marketing positions in Bank of Ireland, James Rivers, Gilbeys of Ireland, Eircom, Diageo, and Coca Cola Ireland and most recently was the marketing director of O2.
Joanne Grehan:
Joanne Grehan, Regional Development Executive at the Western Development Commission (WDC) comes to Enterprise & Innovation Week with good news about how friends abroad are boosting business opportunities in the west of Ireland.
Joanne was in London in January when Taoiseach Enda Kenny launched RE:CONNECT the Western Regional Business Network, which aims to promote and develop links between businesses in the western region and businesses in the UK which are owned or managed by people from the region.
Now Joanne comes to the Irish launch of RE:CONNECT, to explain how companies and individuals can get involved in this joint initiative which was spearheaded by the WDC and local authorities in the Western region.
Joanne has form in creating opportunities in the region. She led the WDC’s award winning LookWest.ie initiative which promotes the attractions of Ireland’s Western Region to a global audience. Indeed she has been central to several regional development initiatives involving the creative industries, tourism, and air access.
Prior to joining the WDC she worked with Stena Line as Product Manager, and she also worked with Holiday Ireland, promoting that brand. A former lecturer in Tourism and Marketing at Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), she also worked at the Michael Smurfit Business School in UCD where she managed a European Union-funded programme to support enterprise development in Ireland and in Wales.
Paul Keyes:
Paul Keyes is Head of Corporate Services at the Western Development Commission, a Government Agency charged with promoting the economic and social development of the West of Ireland region. He is also a founder member of Team Sligo Tourism which aims through collaboration with the relevant agencies and stakeholders to significantly increase visitor numbers to the region.
Paul will speak about Team Sligo’s aims and how it believes in increasing the awareness and appeal of the county through public/private collaborative action.
Paul previously was a Commandant in the Irish Defence Forces. He holds an MA, Leadership, Management, Defence Studies from NUI Maynooth and a BA, Economics, Social and Political Science from NUI, Galway.
Aoife Porter:
Aoife Porter believes in big ideas and customercentric digital marketing. Aoife founded Bua Marketing in IT Sligo’s Innovation Centre in 2009 after spending a number of years in sales and marketing roles with large blue-chip companies including Microsoft Ireland and Thirdforce Plc. An award winning digital marketing agency based in Sligo, Bua Marketing delivers digital marketing advice and services to a wide variety of clients including the Western Development Commission, IT Sligo, The Model arts centre, Good4U Health Foods and Fastcom Telecom.
Bua Marketing won the Irish Internet Association Net Visionary Award for ‘Best in Digital Marketing’ in 2011.
As part of an integrated marketing strategy, online marketing enables you to engage with your customers in more direct, cost-effective and exciting ways than ever previously existed. So what?
Most organisations are overwhelmed, by the sheer scale of channels that exist; the speed at which the market is evolving; and ultimately how to quantify whether digital marketing is having any impact on their bottom line.
This session will explore how to choose the right digital marketing activities for your customer-base, how to really engage your customers and most importantly how to measure the success of your investment in digital marketing.
Declan Drohan:
Declan Drohan is a graduate of the Gaiety School Of Acting, the Adult and Community Education Department at NUI Maynooth, and the Masters in Theater Studies at St Pat’s, Drumcondra.
A former course leader of the BA in Acting program at The Conservatory of Music and Drama, DIT, Rathmines, Declan has been an active freelance director and consultant for over twenty years.
Since the early 1990’s, he has been an innovator in the emerging arts and disability sector in Ireland, serving as Artistic Director of both Quick Bright Things Theatre Company, Dublin, and Touch The Sky Performance Group, Sligo. He directed the documentary film ‘Crossing The Line’ which premiered at The Model, Sligo, in 2010.
Dr. Harry Ho-Jen Tseng:
Dr. Harry Ho-Jen Tseng is the official Taiwanese Representative to Ireland, a position he has held since September 2010.
Dr. Tseng is one of a number of high profile guests who will bring a unique perspective to Prior to his appointment to Ireland, Dr. Tseng spent a successful stint in the United States where he served as Director General of the Department of North American Affairs for two years. Before that, he also headed up the Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in the USA.
Prior to his appointment to Ireland, Dr. Tseng spent a successful stint in the United States where he served as Director General of the Department of North American Affairs for two years. Before that, he also headed up the Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in the USA.
Dr Tseng received his Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Taiwan and subsequently went on to pursue further studies in the United States. He graduated from Princeton University with a MPA before going on to undertake a doctorate at the University of Virginia.
He also served for a short period as an Adjunct Professor at National Taiwan Normal University.
Lisa Keating:
Dr Lisa Keating is a Programme Manager with Enterprise Ireland, the state agency responsible for the development of indigenous Irish business. Lisa will give a presentation on Enterprise Irelands recently launched programme New Frontiers.
Lisa has worked with EI for five years on a number of initiatives enhancing collaboration between companies and 3rd level institutes, and research commercialisation. In her prior career she worked as the academic liaison between the Department of Trade & Industry and the Research Councils in the UK. She is a graduate of UCD and holds a doctorate in microbial physiology.
New Frontiers is Ireland’s national entrepreneur development programme that is delivered at a local level by IT Sligo in collaboration with LYIT. If you have an innovative business idea and are planning to establish and run your own company the New Frontiers Entrepreneur Development Programme can provide you with a package of supports to help accelerate your business development and to equip you with the skills and contacts that you need to successfully
Shaun Purcell:
Shaun Purcell is CEO of County Sligo VEC which provides education to young people and adults throughout Sligo in a variety of schools and centres. Co. Sligo VEC through the delivery of its programmes and initiatives promotes Innovation, Creativity, and ICT. He also chairs the Economic Sub-Committee of the County Development Board.
Shaun has a background in the Arts, and formerly wrote and produced musicals in Dublin and London. Coming from this background encouraged him to become involved in the Creative Sligo Initiative, sitting on the steering group.
Mary McAuliffe:
Mary McAuliffe is an employee of Sligo County Council and is currently assigned as Project Coordinator of the 4CNW Business Innovation Support Programme; one of 8 projects represented on the European Creative Industries Alliance (ECIA) recently established by the EC DG Industry & Enterprise.
Mary has over twenty years experience working in the public sector in roles that range from education to urban regeneration to cultural planning and economic development. Professional qualifications include MA European Cultural Planning, De Montfort University, Leicester UK and BA Rel. SC Mater Dei Institute, Dublin. Mar y represents the Council on various Boards and specialist committees.
Evelyn Smith:
Evelyn Smith comes to Enterprise & Innovation Week with an insight into how public sector contracts can help companies survive in this challenging environment.
Evelyn is a Senior Market Adviser in Enterprise Ireland’s Public Procurement team. Her current responsibilities include working with Irish companies to connect them to the procurement opportunities in the Irish public sector and targeted Tier 1 system integrators.
Before joining the Public Procurement team, Evelyn held roles in Corporate Marketing, Internationally Traded Services and the High Potential Start-up divisions in Enterprise Ireland.
Prior to joining Enterprise Ireland, she worked in the private sector in a number of marketing roles, including six years with a South African fruit co-operative based in London.
Evelyn has a Bachelors’ degree in Business Studies (Dublin Business School), a diploma in general management and a post-grad in Strategic Marketing Management (IMI).
Dr. Tom Bannon
Dr. Tom Bannon’s specialty is linking innovative companies with specialists in Irish Higher Education Institutions. Research is the key to the partnerships he develops.
Dr Bannon joined Enterprise Ireland in 2008 to manage the Innovation Partnership Programme. The main focus of his work is linking Irish-based companies who wish to develop innovative products, processes or services with specialists in Irish Higher Education Institutions. He does this by encouraging the creation of collaborative research projects involving both companies and colleges. More than 200 such research partnerships have received over €30 million in funding from the Innovation Partnership Programme team in the last four years.
Dr Bannon spent ten years working in various R&D and Product & Process Development engineering roles in the Semiconductor and Nuclear Power Industries. Throughout this period he worked in Ireland, Canada and the USA.
Lorraine McDonnell
Lorraine McDonnell is the Enterprise Europe Network Project Manager with Sligo Chamber. The Enterprise Europe Network helps small business to make the most of the European marketplace.
Lorraine has worked at the EEN offices since 2007. Responsibilities include managing and developing the affairs of the Enterprise Europe Network centre and providing information, advice and assistance to SMEs on matters relating to international trade and the EU. She has a degree in Business Management.
P.J. O’Reilly is here to talk about business opportunities in European and international markets. He is Enterprise Europe Network’s Regional Manager. Based in Athlone, he is responsible for the entire country. The Enterprise Europe Network helps small business to make the most of the European marketplace.
P J’s responsibilities include developing the ethos of technology transfer and research and development in Irish industry.
The Enterprise Europe Network give companies access to technology profiles on a European scale, with the opportunity to license these technologies, as well as exporting technology where the cost of exporting the finished product may be prohibitive.
His talk will be of special interest to those anxious to grow their business and to know how Enterprise Europe Network can help Irish SMEs. He will also have words of advice about how to access funding.
Stephen Walsh:
The title of Stephen’s presentation is: ‘Supports & Services of Sligo County Enterprise Board’
Stephen Walsh is the Business Executive of Sligo County Enterprise Board. He is responsible for the provision of Business advice, the organisation of Sligo County Enterprise Boards Business Skills Training Programmes, and the promotion of enterprise in second-level Schools via the National Student Enterprise Awards.
Team Hermes:
Team HERMES is the first Irish team to win the overall title at Microsoft Imagine cup 2011 take took place in New York.
Team HERMES is an interdisciplinary venture from IT Sligo. Its project brought together ideas from the schools of Engineering, Business, and Humanities to recognise the road and human conditions associated with accidents, and to identify ‘at risk’ drivers in real time.
In researching the statistics on road safety the team found that data was lacking real time analysis. The students then developed an in-car device that sends data to a mobile phone. This information is then uploaded to the cloud, where it can be used as an early warning system identifying erratic driving behaviours.
Kieran Tobin:
Kieran Tobin has a primary qualification in mechanical engineering which was supplemented in later years with a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) qualification. Before joining IT Sligo he worked extensively in the Medical Device, Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical industries in Ireland and abroad in Engineering, Operations Management and Product Development roles.
At IT Sligo he has lectured in Biomedical Science, Pharmaceutical Science and Medical Biotechnology and his main area of ongoing interest is in Biopharmaceutical Processing. He maintains close links with the Biopharmaceutical industry and has been a main contact person between IT Sligo and NIBRT (National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training) for the past number of years.
Kieran’s primary focus in the new Centre for Online Learning (COL) is in the areas of Business Processing and Business Development.
Brian Mulligan:
Brian Mulligan is a Civil Engineer with a Masters in Engineering Design. His original work was mostly in mathematical modeling and simulation and the application of information technology within engineering and has lectured in IT Sligo since 1984.
He has been instrumental in the rapid growth in online learning in IT Sligo since 2002 and significantly involved in the growth of e-learning in Ireland since 1999, organising the EdTech series of conferences from 2000 to 2006 and as a founding member of the Irish Learning Technology Association in 2002.
His main areas of expertise are now in web-casting, webinar management, synchronous online training, instructor led online training, lecture capture and the rapid development of online training.
As Programme Manager with the Centre for Online Learning Brian is jointly responsible for growing the number of programmes delivered online, staff development and best practice in online pedagogy.
Gavin Clinch:
After graduating from the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London Gavin Clinch practiced as an architect in the UK and Germany for 15 years. Since joining IT Sligo in 2001 he has lectured in Interior Architecture and is the Course Coordinator of the online Construction Management programme. He was centrally involved in the development and professional accreditation of a number of Level 8 and 9 programmes.
Gavin is currently completing an MA in Learning and Teaching. His dissertation topic is Communities of Practice.
As Programme Manager with the Centre for Online Learning, Gavin is responsible for growing the number of programmes delivered online, staff development and best practice in online pedagogy.
John Nugent:
John Nugent has worked in IDA for over 9 years, joining IDA from its sister agency Enterprise Ireland in 2002. His IDA career started in Sligo where he worked in IDA’s Engineering Division. From 2006 to 2009 he was based in the US working in IDA’s Silicon Valley Office. During this period he worked as part of a team that secured investments into Ireland from many leading-edge multinational technology and social media companies such as Facebook, PayPal and LinkedIn. Since his return from Silicon Valley and prior to his appointment John has been part of IDA’s Clean Technologies Division focusing specifically on the US and Chinese markets.
John studied Chemistry at IT Sligo and Queens University graduating with an honours degree in 1992. He began his career with Enterprise Ireland (then EOLAS) in 1992 initially working as an industrial chemist providing a range of services to Irish based industry, laterally working in a business advisory role with Enterprise Ireland in the North West region based in Sligo. While working John has returned to study twice completing a Masters Degree in Environmental Protection in 1999 and a Diploma in Business Strategy at the Irish Management Institute in 2003.
PJ O’Reilly:
P.J. O’Reilly is here to talk about business opportunities in European and international markets. He is Enterprise Europe Network’s Regional Manager. Based in Athlone, he is responsible for the entire country.
The Enterprise Europe Network helps small business to make the most of the European marketplace.
P J’s responsibilities include developing the ethos of technology transfer and research and development in Irish industry. The Enterprise Europe Network give companies access to technology profiles on a European scale, with the opportunity to license these technologies, as well as exporting technology where the cost of exporting the finished product may be prohibitive.
His talk will be of special interest to those anxious to grow their business and to know how Enterprise Europe Network can help Irish SMEs. He will also have words of advice