2015 Hall of Fame
Ann O’Dea and Darren McAuliffe – Founders of Silicon Republic – reporting on technology in Ireland since the start and amongst the greatest champions of Irish Tech success. Founders of InspireFest that attracted 1300 delegates in June 2015, a conference boasting 75% remarkable woman speakers, turning the tables on international tech events.
Brian Caulfield – Entrepreneur and Venture Capitalist Partner at Draper Esprit – a key spokesman for the industry with government on key entrepreneur/investment related issues. He is the founder of a number of successful technology businesses, Exceptis Technologies and Similarity Systems. He sits on a number of boards (Movidius, DataHug) and is currently the Chairman.
Colm Grealy – is CEO of Adforce.com, Ireland’s leading mobile advertising network.
Colm established Ireland On-Line (IOL) in 1994 which was acquired by British Telecom in 1999. Colm was co-founder of Online.ie, Irishabroad.com and Dublin Daily newspaper and advised Telefonica O2 on new business models for the mobile sector. In 2015 Adforce has expanded to the US, now working with 800 newspapers across the state of New York. Colm was awarded Internet industry person of the year for 2 years in a row.
Eamon Leonard – founder, angel investor and community organiser. Winner of the Overall Net Visionary Award in 2012, founder of Orchestra which he subsequently sold to EngineYard. Although now working on his new start-up, Cohort, Eamon continues to support the sector as a community organiser and voice for the industry.
Colm Lyon – founder of Realex Payments – founder of Fire Financial Services. Winner of IIA Overall Net Visionary 2015. Colm is a role model entrepreneur for non-venture backed scaled international businesses, a voice for the industry and outstanding chair of the IIA for many years.
Fergal O’Byrne – former IIA CEO –Fergal transformed a voluntary organisation into a viable, sustainable trade association, grew the membership and created a platform for the industry to have a voice. He was an early investor in Sonru and subsequent CEO. He serves on the board of the IEDR as well as having served on IGOpeope, WINC, giftsdirect.ie and CCD.
Jerry Kennelly – Entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Tweak, revolutionising access to high quality design for SMBs. Winner of Overall Net Visionary Award in 2011, Jerry was previously founder of Stockbyte which he sold to Getty Images. He is also founder of Junior Entrepreneur Programme and Young Entrepreneur Programme for primary and secondary schoolkids, with over 20,000 combined alumni.
Michele Neylon – founder of Blacknight, Ireland’s largest domain registrar and hosting provider. Winner of the 2013 Overall Net Visionary Award for his outstanding contribution to the industry in Ireland but also his international presence as the Chair of the ICANN Registrar Stakeholder Group and the Eurid Registrar Advisor Board.
Pat Phelan – Entrepreneur, winner of Overall Net Visionary in 2008 with Maxroam and ‘One to Watch’ start-up category winner with Trustev in 2013. Pat is a serial entrepreneur and mentor to many, international tech companies. He is a well-known advocate for technology start-ups and a mentor for many national and international start-up programmes.
Ray Nolan – Entrepreneur, Investor, winner of Overall Net Visionary award 2006 with HostelWorld. Following the sale of HostelWorld, Ray has invested in many other Irish tech start-ups including most recently of note, Storyful, as well as continuing to build web-based brands, launching XSellco and Ultimate Rugby.
