Rory McDonald is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration in the Technology and Operations Management Unit. He teaches Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise (BSSE) on the MBA program. Professor McDonald’s research focuses on how firms compete and innovate effectively in new technology-enabled markets. His research has won major awards and is consistently featured in top academic outlets, including the Strategic Management Journal. He received a 2014 Kauffman Junior Faculty Fellowship in Entrepreneurship Research, and was a finalist for best dissertation in Business Policy and Strategy by the Academy of Management.

Seán Meehan is the Martin Hilti Professor of Marketing and Change Management at IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland. His research interests encompass the nature and effectiveness of market orientation and customer value creation processes. He has received many awards for his research including the Marketing Science Institute's Alden G. Clayton award, The Academy of Marketing's Houghton Mifflin award, the CEEMAN Research Champion award and scholarships from the Economic & Social Research Council and London Business School. His most recent book is Beyond the Familiar: Long Term Growth Through Customer Focus and Innovation (Jossey Bass, 2011).

John O'Farrell is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz.John was responsible for partnerships, mergers and acquisitions and strategic transactions for Silver Spring Networks. Prior to joining Silver Spring Networks in January 2008, John was Executive Vice President, Business Development, for Opsware Inc. During his tenure at Opsware, John was responsible for four successful acquisitions, major strategic partnerships with EDS and Cisco, and other strategic transactions culminating in the sale of Opsware to HP for $1.65 Billion in September 2007. Prior to Opsware, John was Executive Vice President, International, for Excite@Home, where he founded the international division and grew it to $70M in annual revenues.

Siobhan O'Mahony is Chair of the Strategy and Innovation Department at Boston University. Her research explores how technical and creative projects organize for innovation. She has examined how high technology contractors, open source programmers, artists, music producers, internet startups and product development teams coordinate their efforts in projects, teams and communities. She is interested in how people create organizing structures that promote innovation, creativity and growth without replicating the bureaucratic structures they strive to avoid. A former consultant with Price Waterhouse LLP and Electronic Data Systems, she has consulted to organizations such as IDEO, the Global Business Network, Novell, Cap Gemini, Proquest, Microsoft, McDonald Investments, and the European Union.

Charles O'Reilly is the Frank E. Buck Professor of Management at Stanford Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. Professor O’Reilly’s research interests study the impact of change and innovation on firms. He has authored more than 100 papers and is writing his next book, with Mike Tushman, Ambidextrous Organisations: Resolving the Innovator’s Dilemma which explores how managers can design organisations that can generate streams of innovation and deal with disruptive technological change. He has won teaching awards at Berkeley and Stanford and recently received both a Lifetime Achievement Award and the Distinguished Scholarly Contribution Award from the Academy of Management.

Eoin O'Sullivan is the Director of the Centre for Science, Technology & Innovation Policy (CSTI) at Cambridge University. Eoin's research focuses on the ways science and engineering R&D is translated into new technologies, industries and economic wealth. Eoin's policy-related activities have included studies for the UK Department of Business, Innovation & Skills; the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council; the UK Government Office of Science; the Technology Strategy Board; and the Higher Education Funding Council of England.

Mary O'Sullivan is a Professor of Economic History and director of the Department of Economic History at the University of Geneva. Her research is focused on the history of industries and enterprises, financial history, and the comparative history of economic development. Before joining the University of Geneva, O’Sullivan was an associate professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania from 2005 to 2010 and associate professor of strategy at INSEAD (Fontainebleau, France) from 1996 to 2004. She earned her Ph.D. in business economics at Harvard University, an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Commerce from University College Dublin.

Francis O’Sullivan is Director of Research and Analysis at the MIT Energy Initiative, and a Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His research interests span a range of topics related to energy technologies, policy, and economics. He is an author of the 2011 MIT Future of Natural Gas Study, and a member of the MIT Future of Solar Energy study group. O’Sullivan is also an elected member of the National Academies’ Roundtable on Science and Technology for Sustainability. Prior to joining MIT, O’Sullivan was a consultant with McKinsey & Company.

Prof Markus Perkman, Associate Professor of Technology and Innovation Management, Imperial College London. His research explores how public science generates impact on economy and society. His current projects investigate the engagement of academic scientists with industry and the commercialization of science. He is also interested in hybrid organizations, particularly at the interface between public science, industry and society. He explores how intermediary organizations can help bring together basic science and the pharmaceutical industry to discover new drugs, and how university-industry centres can successfully deal with the conflicting demands of science and business.

Jonathan Ruane founded Eventovate Limited in 2008 and serves as its Managing Director. Prior to Eventovate, Jonathan spent 8 years with Procter & Gamble Europe working across a range of international businesses in both customer development and brand management. Between 2004 and 2007 he managed one of P&G’s largest UK businesses with an annual turnover in excess of €170million. He represented P&G as a finalist in the UK National Business Awards and won Best Equity at the European Annual Brand Building Awards. Jonathan is currently undertaking a Sloan MBA Fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology focusing on Innovation and Global Leadership.

Julie Sinnamon is CEO of Enterprise Ireland, a government agency responsible for the growth of Irish-owned businesses in global markets. In 2015, Julie was appointed to the Investment Committee of the Irish Strategic Investment Fund, part of the National Treasury Management Agency, by the Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan. Julie's driving ambition is for Irish-owned industry to become a powerhouse of job creation in Ireland, resulting in rising prosperity in towns and cities all across Ireland. In pursuit of this objective, Julie is mobilising all Enterprise Ireland resources and harnessing the power of external stakeholders and partners, into a cohesive effort to build more Irish companies of international scale.

Conor is an Associate Professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and a Core Faculty Member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard. He is the founder of the Harvard Biodesign Lab, which brings together researchers from the engineering, industrial design, apparel, clinical and business communities to develop new disruptive technologies and translate them to industrial partners. Conor is a recipient of over a dozen invention, entrepreneurship, and student mentoring awards including the MIT $100K business plan competition, MIT Technology Review Innovator Under 35 Award, National Science Foundation Career Award, Whitaker Health Sciences Fund Fellowship, and the Robotics Business Review Next Generation Game Changer Award.

Mr. Andy Cronin is a founding member of Avolon and has served as the Chief Financial Officer at Avolon Aerospace Leasing Limited since 2010. He has deep expertise in launching and scaling high impacts startups, and played a lead role in raising $7.5bn for Avolon, including $1.4bn of equity from four leading international investors: Cinven, CVC Capital Partners, Oak Hill Capital Partners and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation. He also played a central role floating the company on New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2014. At listing, Avolon was the largest ever listing of an Irish founded company on the NYSE. Prior to joining Avolon, Andy served as Senior Vice President of Investor Markets, having responsibility for the disposal, financing and debt syndication of operating lease and structured debt products to a wide pool of investor and bank communities.

Shay is a founding partner of Frontline Ventures and one of the most active and experienced early stage technology investors in Europe. He was part of the core team of Delta Partners that raised 4 funds and €235m between 1994-2007. He has invested in 25 early stage tech companies and achieved exits over a number of cycles. He has deep networks among investors and the entrepreneurial community in Ireland and USA. Earlier in his career Shay worked in industry with Exxon and Corning before joining McKinsey. Shay then returned to Ireland and spent seven years in the Irish start up scene as a founder/investor in two companies and CEO of a major food exporter before joining the venture capital industry. Shay has served on the boards of the Irish Venture Capital Association, the Trinity College Science Gallery and the Harvard Business School European Leadership Council.

Karen Hennessy is the Chief Executive of the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland (DCCoI) and a Director of Irish Design 2015 (ID2015). The Design & Crafts Council of Ireland (DCCoI) is the national development organisation for the craft and design industry in Ireland. DCCoI is responsible for fostering the growth and commercial strength of the craft and design industry, communicating its unique identity and stimulating quality design, innovation and competitiveness. Karen currently sits on the board of Irish Design 2015, Irish Design 2015 Interdepartmental Steering Group, the Advisory Group for Small Business (AGSB), Chartered Accountants Ireland’s Members in Business Committee, and is a member of the Association of Chief Executives of State Agencies (ACESA).

Dr Conor Hanley has recently been appointed as President, Cardiology, Strategic Business Unit, ResMed Inc. Conor Hanley leads up New Ventures and Initiatives for ResMed. ResMed (NYSE:RMD) is a global leader in the development, manufacturing and marketing of innovative medical products for the treatment and management of respiratory disorders, with a focus on sleep-disordered breathing with annual revenue of $1.4Bn. Prior to ResMed, Conor was a co-founder and CEO of BiancaMed which was spun out of University College Dublin to commercialize a novel, non-contact method to monitor sleep and breathing in the home for consumer and medical applications. ResMed acquired BiancaMed in July 2011. Conor holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, a B.E. from University College Dublin and an MBA from INSEAD.

Ronan is Vice President of Sales & Operations, Google EMEA and Head of Google's operations in Ireland. Ronan joined Google’s EMEA headquarters in Dublin in 2005. Since then he has focused on growing the company’s online advertising sales across EMEA and also launched several other Google products and initiatives in the region. Today Google employs over 5000 people in Ireland.
A graduate in electronic engineering at University College Dublin, Ronan began his career with Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation at their Information Storage Products division in Japan. He went on to spend nine years in Japan working in consulting and technology and returned to Ireland in 2001 to work in private equity before joining Google.

Mr. McGuire is the Chief Executive Office of Infinity Capital which is a private equity firm specializing in technology related investments globally. Prior to this position, he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Trintech Group plc (Nasdaq:TTPA) which was established in 1987 and is a global leader in providing software solutions for the Financial Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (GRC) markets. Trintech was also involved in providing innovative solutions to the secure payment card industry. Prior to co-founding Trintech, he worked as an Investment Manager with the Industrial Credit Corporation plc, a leading Irish financial institution where his responsibilities included the appraisal of IT investment projects from the indigenous corporate sector and foreign multinationals. Cyril is a member of the Board of Directors of a number of Irish software companies and is a member of the Irish Software CEO Forum. He was awarded the Entrepreneur of the Year for Technology in 1999 by Ernst & Young, while Trintech won the Irish Software Association ‘Company of the Year’ Award.

Catherine Moroney is the Head of AIB Business Banking for AIB Bank in Ireland. Her business experience includes 18 years in AIB Corporate Banking, structuring acquisition, buy-out and project finance and 10 years’ heading Business Units responsible for the development of Strategy, Products and Services for Personal & Business Customers.
Prior to her current role, Catherine was the Regional Director for AIB in Dublin, where she was responsible for the Retail Network and for the Personal and SME client base in AIB for the Dublin Region. Catherine is also a Nonexecutive Director for Aviva Health and a Council Member and Nonexecutive Director of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce and is a graduate of UCD Business School.

Julie Sinnamon is CEO of Enterprise Ireland, a government agency responsible for the growth of Irish-owned businesses in global markets. In 2015, Julie was appointed to the Investment Committee of the Irish Strategic Investment Fund, part of the National Treasury Management Agency, by the Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan. Julie's driving ambition is for Irish-owned industry to become a powerhouse of job creation in Ireland, resulting in rising prosperity in towns and cities all across Ireland. In pursuit of this objective, Julie is mobilising all Enterprise Ireland resources and harnessing the power of external stakeholders and partners, into a cohesive effort to build more Irish companies of international scale.

Ms. Deirdre Somers has been Chief Executive Officer of The Irish Stock Exchange Ltd. since June 30, 2007 and also its Director of Listings since February 2007. Ms. Somers is responsible for The Irish Stock Exchange's all public listings including listings by companies, investment funds and specialist securities. She serves as President of Federation of European Securities Exchanges. Ms. Somers served as Vice President at Federation of European Securities Exchanges. Prior to joining the ISE, she practised as an International Tax Consultant of KPMG. Ms. Somers is a Chartered Accountant.