An Irish Roundtable in the Valley

Andrea Haughian is Head of Invest Northern Ireland in the Americas. Andrea has extensive experience in the Financial Services sector and specializes in assisting US companies establish successful near shore operations in Northern Ireland.

Prior to joining Invest Northern Ireland’s New York office, Andrea worked in the Financial Services sector in Belfast with BDO Northern Ireland, the award winning member firm of BDO, the fifth largest accountancy network in the world. Prior to that, Andrea worked for many years in international trade, marketing and business development in Europe, the US and Asia.

Andrea is a graduate of Queen’s University, Belfast, has undertaken post-graduate programs in both San Francisco and Chicago and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Fellow of Young Enterprise and Member of the Institute of Directors. Andrea was listed as a Top 40 Under 40 honouree by the Irish Echo in 2010 and in 2009, 2010 and 2011 Andrea was named as one of Irish America’s Most Influential Women.

Anna is an accomplished leader in the field of artificial intelligence, is a serial entrepreneur, and has a long history at Google. Prior to starting Gradient Ventures, Google’s AI seed fund, Anna was Google’s Vice President of Engineering in AI – integrating AI into products across Google. She also served on the Board of Directors at Square Inc.

Anna received her PhD in Computer Science from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana then became a Research Scientist at Stanford University in Artificial Intelligence, where she worked with one of the founders of AI, John McCarthy, and his wife Carolyn Talcott.

Alison is a clinical research psychologist and health tech designer who has reimagined how psychotherapy can be delivered for the way we live today. Her deep clinical expertise, pioneering mindset, and passion for accessible design are grounded in a 25 year track record studying and developing solutions that engage people in a therapeutic process. Alison’s training at University College Dublin (UCD), Stanford School of Medicine, and with the American Psychiatric Association, along with her experience leading AI pioneer Andrew Ng’s Health Innovation Lab, helped her advance the shift from conventional face-to-face therapy to complementary AI-powered interventions. In 2017 she introduced the first scientifically-informed mental health chatbot, Woebot, to make high quality therapy radically accessible. Alison is a vocal advocate for the safe and effective use of AI in healthcare. She also established the practices for Woebot studies and trials that have helped push the entire field forward, and made Woebot Health the single most mentioned digital therapeutics company in the peer-reviewed scientific literature today. Named to the inaugural TIME100 AI List recognizing the 100 most influential individuals advancing AI, and the recipient of the 2023 UCD Alumni Award in Social Sciences, Alison is also an Adjunct Faculty member in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Department of Stanford’s School of Medicine.

Award: Equality Diaspora Ambassador Award 2023

Betty Yee stepped down as Controller of the State of California in January 2023, after eight years in post.

She will be a Gubernatorial candidate in California in 2026.

Betty has 35 years of experience in state and local finance and tax policy.  She was elected to the California State Board of Equalization in 2006 and re-elected in 2010, representing close to 9 million Californians.  Prior to this, Betty served as the State’s budget director.

As controller, Betty has been on the side of the community— holding government accountable, working to ensure income and retirement security, protecting our environment, and taking on big companies more interested in lining their pockets — to make sure the doors of opportunity continue to stay open so every Californian can fulfill their dreams, raise their families, and thrive.

Dr Caoimhe Archibald MLA was appointed Finance Minister on 3 February 2024.

Caoimhe grew up in Coleraine.  She attended Loreto College, Coleraine and graduated from Queen’s University, Belfast with a BSc in Molecular Biology and a PhD by research with a Department of Agriculture and Rural Development studentship.  She also completed a Postgraduate diploma in Management & Corporate Governance at Ulster University.

Caoimhe was elected as an MLA for East Derry in May 2016 and re-elected in March 2017 and again in May 2022.

She is formerly Chair of the Assembly’s Economy and Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs committees.  

Prior to being elected in May 2016, Caoimhe had worked for almost a decade in applied horticulture and plant pathology research including on collaborative EU funded projects.

Chris Ehrlich is the editor in chief and co-founder of VKTR. He’s an award-winning journalist with over 20 years of experience in journalism and content, covering artificial intelligence (AI), business, B2B technologies, and more. His versatile reporting has appeared in over 20 media outlets, including CMSWire, Reworked, Datamation, Enterprise Storage Forum, Channel Insider, Portland Business Journal, Grand Rapids Business Journal, The Oregonian and San Francisco Chronicle.

He’s been a featured podcast and X chat expert with high-tech executives, guest lecturer and speaker at colleges and digital editor of products that won two medals from the Alliance of Area Business Publishers. Ehrlich is also the author of the poetic short story book “Parts of a Life: 40 Stories on Youth to Adulthood.”

He holds a B.A. in English and political science from Denison University in Ohio. He writes outside of Nashville, Tennessee. Connect with Chris Ehrlich on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram.

Colm Ó Riain coordinates philanthropic strategy and hiring to support the growth plans of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute in Berkeley, CA . After 15 years working in the video game industry at companies including Electronic Arts and Activision, he moved into philanthropy work at Zynga.org and Harmony Project before joining MIRI in 2016. He has a master’s degree in AI from the University of Rochester and a joint honours bachelor’s in Mathematics and Computer Science. The Machine Intelligence Research Institute carrys out foundational mathematical research to ensure smarter-than-human artificial intelligence has a positive impact.

Colm is also a professional violinist and composer and ws hailed as a “genius fiddler” by Mike Scott of The Waterboys,

In the USA, which he currently calls home, he has enthralled audiences on stages as diverse as CBGB’s in New York to Fillmore West and Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco.  

Colm thrives when creating bridges not just between musics but also to other art forms and has composed music for both film and modern dance.   

David graduated from Queen’s University, Belfast in 1991 with an MEng in Electrical & Electronic Engineering. Until June 2021, he was a Partner in PwC with 30 years’ experience in helping clients across sectors solve problems and make step changes in performance through technology and people, while helping to lead very significant growth of the PwC business in the NI region.

David is now the Chief Executive of Strategic Innovation Centres at Queen’s University, Belfast. The purpose of these Centres (which are part of the Belfast Region City Deal) is to deliver positive economic and societal impact for NI and beyond by solving complex local problems that have a global resonance. This is achieved through flexible collaboration with industry, the community, other stakeholders and international partners. It is powered by excellent translation of multi-disciplinary research and deep tech expertise, helping to accelerate ideas and products through the Technology Readiness Levels (TRL’s) for the cyber security, advanced manufacturing, net zero, digital health, clinical trial, agri-food, fintech, and space & defence sectors.

David is passionate about growing the economy of Northern Ireland and improving the lives of its people and those of people across the world through international collaboration. David is a Non-Executive Director of Qubis Ltd (an arms-length company of Queen’s University focused on enterprise and growing spin-out’s and spin-in’s) and a Board Member of Radius Housing (a large social housing organisation in NI). 

Senior-level nonprofit professional specializing in leading teams, departments, and organizations to advance institutional missions and goals while honoring culture and tradition. Collaborative leader with high emotional intelligence who is committed to building effective relationships based in trust, inclusivity, and mutual respect; leveraging a diverse range of contacts and connections; and approaching life with creative curiosity.

Erik is the Director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, a Professor at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Brynjolfsson is among the most cited researchers in information and economics and his work has been recognized with Ten Best Paper awards and five patents.

Gareth Keane is a Partner with Promus Ventures, based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Promus Ventures invests in early-stage deep-technology software and hardware companies that are run by visionary and tenacious founding teams. Promus Ventures funds companies shaping the future in areas like space, robotics, AI/ML, and synthetic biology. 

Gareth’s career to date has stretched from engineering roles to venture capital investment.  Prior to joining Promus Ventures he worked at Qualcomm Ventures, the venture capital investment arm of Qualcomm Inc, a leading US technology corporation. 

Before Qualcomm Ventures, Gareth worked for two years in the corporate development teams at National Semiconductor and Texas Instruments, focused on strategic investment, corporate M&A and corporate strategy. Previously he worked for PMC-Sierra and a number of other technology firms in engineering and engineering management roles across the hardware and software domains, in both Europe and North America.

Gareth has an MBA from The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania, with a major in Finance and Entrepreneurial Management. He holds a PhD in Electronic Engineering from The Queen’s University of Belfast (UK) and a BE in Electronic Engineering from the National University of Ireland, Galway. Gareth is also a Kauffman Fellow, where he was a member of Class 15 under the mentorship of Bart Schachter, who was VP of Corporate Development at National Semiconductor.

As President and CEO of Unosquare Giancarlo Di Vece believes software engineering is not only a science, it’s also an art. This refreshing viewpoint, along with his leadership and passion for technology, globalization, and IT recruitment talent, has led to thousands of business projects successfully completing their digital transformation initiatives with Unosquare in creative and pioneering ways.

Giancarlo focuses his organization’s efforts on the financial services and life sciences space, as he trusts that these are the organizations that impact the way people live and interact with one another every day. Under Giancarlo’s direction, he and his team actively seek the best talent and then places them into processes and practices for distributed agile augmentation. His goal? To make today better than the past, and help companies move their projects towards the future.

Always looking for a challenge, Giancarlo started gainfully buying and growing businesses at a young age. At the age of 21, he purchased a small craft company dedicated to the North American market and transformed it into a 100-person operation selling to some of the largest retailers in the US. In 2013, with a background in industrial engineering, he decided to move into the technology industry by joining Unosquare and quickly embraced his role of transforming the organization to align with client needs.

By helping organizations understand their projects, manage their talent, and realize their process, Unosquare has been named one of the 100 fastest-growing private businesses in Oregon for four years in a row and one of the fastest-growing US companies on the Inc. 5000 list for three years in a row. Giancarlo’s enthusiasm and contributions have been sought out as inspiration for others, and he is often invited to write and speak on the topics that influence the industry.

Harley began her career at CME Group’s Belfast hub working in analytics before moving to Options in 2019 where she has since worked with global financial clients in Belfast, Singapore, Dublin, London, and New York. As an integral member of the Options M&A team throughout several acquisitions Harley spearheaded the market data synergies integration globally. As Director of Data Solutions Harley has made her career from pushing the boundaries to optimize and innovate the Options product offering and processes in a quest ensure their clients’ stay ahead of the curve with efficient and cutting-edge solutions.

Ivan Houlihan is Senior Vice President for IDA Ireland and Head of the West Coast of the United States based in California. Ivan leads the West Coast team who work closely with existing and potential clients in Technology, Services, Financial Services, Life Sciences and Engineering throughout the Western US and Mexico. The team are responsible for advising clients in these sectors on investment into Ireland.

Jean Cohen is the Executive Officer of the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council, which represents over 100 labor unions and 100,000 workers in Santa Clara and San Benito Counties. Born and raised in San Jose, Jean’s professional career spans three decades working for local government, the labor movement, and the nonprofit sector to build social and economic justice through public policy and organizing. Jean worked for many years on housing, land use, and transportation policy for then State Senator Jim Beall and San Jose City Councilman Raul Peralez.  She served on staff at Sacred Heart Community Service as the Director of Development and Communications, developing tools for economic self-sufficiency for the working poor and homeless of Santa Clara County.

During her tenure at SEIU-UHW, NUHW, and as the Political Director of the Alameda Labor Council, she directed the organizing and legislative programs for over 120 affiliated labor unions in Alameda and Santa Clara Counties, engaging over 100,000 unionists through multiple election cycles. With a focus on affiliate and member mobilization, she has organized successful electoral field programs and contract campaigns utilizing direct action, strategic coalition building, and investments in leadership and policy development. From 2016 to 2020, Jean was the Political and Communications Director for UA Local Union 393 and served as the 1^st Vice President of the South Bay Labor Council. 

Jean is currently an Executive Board Member for both Team San Jose and Working Partnerships USA,  and she also serves on the NOVAworks Workforce Board. In 2023, Jean was elected for a third term as Vice Chair of the Santa Clara County Democratic Party. She is an American Leadership Forum Senior Fellow and a graduate of Saint Mary’s College with an M.A. in 21st Century Leadership.

James R. Doty, MD has been on the faculty of the Stanford University School of Medicine since 1997 in the Neurosurgery Department as a professor and more recently as an adjunct professor. He is also the founder and director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford, of which His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the founding benefactor. Most recently, his academic focus is on meditation, compassion, and self-compassion for which he has lectured throughout the world.

Dr. Doty attended U.C. Irvine as an undergraduate, received his medical degree from Tulane University and completed neurosurgery residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Dr. Doty served 9 years on active duty in the U.S Army attaining the rank of major. He completed fellowships in pediatric neurosurgery and electroneurophysiology.

He is an inventor, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He holds multiple patents and is the former CEO of Accuray (ARAY:NASDAQ). Dr. Doty has given support to a number of charitable organizations supporting peace initiatives and providing healthcare throughout the world. Additionally, he has supported research, provided scholarships and endowed chairs at multiple universities.

He is a consultant to medical device companies and is an operating partner and advisor to venture capital firms. Dr. Doty serves on the Board of a number of non-profits and is the vice-chair of the Charter for Compassion International and the former chair of the Dalai Lama Foundation. He is on the Senior Advisory Board of the Council for the Parliament of the World’s Religions. Dr. Doty serves on the Board of Governors of Tulane University School of Medicine and the President’s Council at Tulane University.

He is the New York Times bestselling author of Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discovery the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart now translated into 40 languages. Dr. Doty is also the senior editor of the Oxford Handbook of Compassion Science.

As the Chief Strategy Officer and Chairman of the Board at Phoenix Managed Networks, I lead the strategic direction and execution of a global FinTech company that provides point-of-sale access, gateway, and managed security services to retailers and transaction processors. With over 25 years of experience in the FinTech, Commerce, and SaaS industries, I have successfully guided companies from early stage to IPOs and exits, leveraging my expertise in corporate development, strategy, and business development.

Throughout my career, I have built and managed teams that drive global product distribution and high-growth revenue through strategic partnerships, alliances, and M&A. I have also raised capital and expanded international operations for various companies, including Uphold, Bitnet, Visa, and Transaction Network Services. As a licensed attorney, I have the ability to handle all aspects of complex deal negotiations, from legal to financial to operational. My mission is to enable the best teams to execute on compelling opportunities and create value for customers, stakeholders, and society.

Mike has spent 25 years as an entrepreneur and “intraprenuer”, building, managing, and scaling products, teams, and businesses for global organizations including CyberSource (NASDAQ: CYBS) and Visa (NYSE: V). Over the course of his career, Mike has been fortunate enough to have lived and worked with incredible teams in the US, Europe and Asia. During his career, Mike has worked through merger and acquisitions, lead venture fund raising efforts and participated in liquidity events totaling more than $2.2B. He’s a passionate life-long learner and a proud global citizen.

“I am inspired by opportunities to bring passion, vision, and innovation to create value and purpose. As an industry, Fintech is undergoing a secular change through decentralization and the impact of next generation technologies, including generative AI and advances in machine learning. At the nexus of this transformation is a complete re-compiling and reimaging of the design, distribution, and utilization of traditional financial technologies; everything from B2B payments, B2C payments, commercial finance and banking will transform how we conduct business, pay, and get paid.”

Julie Lind is a fourth-generation union member and is proudly in her fifteenth year with the San Mateo Labor Council. Julie began her career over 20 years ago working as a legislative staffer, first with Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, then Assemblywoman Rebecca Cohn and finally with Senator Ellen Corbett. Julie came to the San Mateo Labor Council in 2010 as the Political Director and took over as the head of the organization in the Fall of 2016. The San Mateo Labor Council represents 100 affiliate unions and nearly 85,000 members and their families countywide. 

Julie currently serves as a member of the State Federation/Central Labor Council Advisory Committee to the AFL-CIO, Chair of the Board of the San Mateo County Union Community Alliance, is a Vice President of the California Labor Federation, a member of the UC Berkeley Labor Center Advisory Board, the UC Berkeley Labor Occupational Health Project Advisory Board, the Trades Introduction Program Advisory Committee and was part of the San Mateo County Charter Review Commission in 2018. Julie has a BA in English and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from San Jose State University, is a 2008 graduate of Emerge California, a 2020 Graduate of Chamber SMC’s Leadership Program, serves on the NOVAworks Board and the Board of Chamber SMC, is Vice Chair of the County’s Measure W Citizens Oversight Committee, has proudly served as a Co-Chair of the San Mateo County Progress Seminar since 2021 and was honored to be selected as Chamber San Mateo County’s 2023 Woman of the Year. Outside of work Julie volunteers weekly in her 6-year-old daughter’s classroom and is an active member of the school PTA.   

In depth experience in Product Management, Information Architecture, data visualization and user workflow as well as UX and user testing. Extensive experience of application development life cycle and requirements gathering. Ability to balance technical requirements with design. Highly skilled at bringing new enterprise products to market quickly and redirecting product requirements based on fast feedback and new market opportunities. 

Specialties: 
Product Management, Identity Management, UX, Usability Testing, Data Visualization, Specifications, Developer Documentation, Test Cases, Project Management, API design, Managing a team, startups.

Ken Nim serves as the Director of CityBuild within the Office of Economic and Workforce Development’s Workforce Development Division. He’s the Interim Workforce Director. Born to Vietnamese refugee parents in Hong Kong and later immigrating to San Francisco, Ken’s journey embodies resilience and community empowerment.

Ken’s career trajectory reflects his commitment to social entrepreneurship and workforce development. Starting as an environmental business manager at Goodwill Industries, he championed sustainable practices while empowering marginalized communities through employment opportunities. Transitioning to the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development, Ken honed his expertise in compliance programs over 14 years, fostering inclusive economic growth.

Driven by a passion for continuous learning, Ken earned a Master’s degree in Organization Development from the University of San Francisco and completed certificates in Agile Project Management and other specialized programs. His dedication extends beyond professional development; he co-founded the San Francisco Chapter of Off-Chain, fostering connections within the blockchain community and now the AI community.

In 2019, Ken’s impact expanded as he was appointed as Director of CityBuild, becoming the program’s first Asian American Pacific Islander leader. In this role, he spearheads initiatives to provide underserved residents with pathways to careers in the building and construction trades, embodying Mayor Breed’s vision of equitable economic opportunity for all San Franciscans.

Ken’s personal journey from public housing to leadership positions underscores his deep-rooted commitment to uplifting communities and creating pathways to prosperity for all.

Khaula Bhutta, a recent law graduate from Queen’s University Belfast, is passionate about human rights and social justice. Her start-up ‘Inclusive Law’ endeavours to connect legal professionals with vulnerable and marginalized communities, with the aim of humanizing and simplifying the process of accessing legal support. With a decade of experience working in the field of human rights, Khaula brings a wealth of knowledge and deep-rooted passion for addressing systemic issues. She has a LL.M in International Human Rights Law and Practice from the University of York and a B.A in Economics, Politics and Law from Dublin City University. Her passion for justice comes from her own lived experiences and academic journey. Khaula’s work has allowed her to gain insights into the vulnerabilities experienced by clients as well as the challenges faced by legal professionals, emphasizing the need for holistic legal services. Inclusive Law aims to bring about the transformative change needed within the legal industry.

I am honoured to participate and present Inclusive Law at the ‘Irish Roundtable in the Valley’. I am looking forward to sharing my story about my legal tech start-up. The opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations with industry experts, entrepreneurs and tech pioneers is exciting. Inclusive law is more than just legal expertise, it’s about trust, empathy and shared lived experience. AI will be used to simplify the legal process and to help improve access to justice. I am looking forward to making valuable connections, exchanging ideas, gaining best practise strategies and most of all, learning how to use AI to innovate, grow and shape the future of the legal industry.

Laura Hilgart is an effective advocate with experience serving a wide range of clients on both coasts. Before joining New Deal, she worked as a lobbyist for SF Platinum Advisors and at O’Neill and Associates – a public affairs, government relations, and crisis communications firm in Boston. 

Previously, Laura worked at the French Consulate in Boston, Senator Kerry’s Office in Washington D.C., and the Associacion de Igualdad y Justicia in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is currently a member of the Urban Land Institute, the SF Bike Coalition, SPUR, Leadership San Francisco, the Alliance Francaise de San Francisco, and the Associate Board of Generation Citizen. Laura graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in International Relations.

Laurence Moroney is an award-winning researcher and best-selling author known for his expertise in Artificial Intelligence. He leads AI Advocacy for Google, is a fellow of the AI Fund, and is a globally recognized keynote speaker. When not doing AI, he’s also the author of the popular ‘Fourth World’ series of Young Adult Fiction, a produced screenwriter, and working on an upcoming Hollywood movie about AI. Originating from Drogheda, Co Louth, Laurence is currently based in Seattle.

Co-Founder and Managing Director at Thayer Ventures, an early-stage technology investment firm focused on the travel and mobility sectors. Former lawyer, investment banker and most recently served as the 44th Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco.

Assemblymember Matt Haney proudly represents California’s 17th Assembly District encompassing the eastern side of San Francisco.

Prior to his election to the State Assembly in April 2022, Assemblymember Haney served on the San Francisco on the Board of Supervisors where he built a reputation as a hardworking, creative, collaborative problem solver with an unmatched record tackling San Francisco’s toughest challenges from homelessness and housing to public safety and corruption.

During his tenure in City Hall, Matt championed some of San Francisco’s most popular and bold initiatives. He helped spearhead the effort to transform San Francisco’s mental health system with Mental Health SF, an initiative guaranteeing mental health care for all San Franciscans. He implemented common sense policies like 24-hour bathrooms and universal tenant protections, facilitated over 5,000 units of new housing in his district, and oversaw record investments in housing, public safety and economic recovery as Budget Chair. As Supervisor, Matt helped ensure more housing and more affordable housing was built in his district than any other.

When the pandemic hit, Matt worked tirelessly to support his constituents, from small business owners to essential workers. He authored legislation to house over 2,000 people experiencing homelessness in hotels and spent time working on the frontlines as a disaster service worker at one of our community COVID shelter hotels when there weren’t enough staff. He launched relief programs to keep restaurants and music venues afloat during the shutdown, led the fight to open mass-vaccination sites, and authored laws to ensure workers had masks, gloves and adequate sick pay.

Micheál Smith, from County Armagh, is Ireland’s Consul General in the Western United States. 

Prior to moving to San Francisco, Micheál was Director of Global Ireland in the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

He led Ireland’s Embassy/Consulate expansion, Ireland’s presence at Expo 2020, the development of ireland.ie, and campaigns to increase Irish citizen engagement with Ireland’s global role, among other initiatives

He started his career as an Economic Analyst in the Department of Communications and Energy based in Dublin before taking up a First Secretary role in the Embassy of Ireland in Singapore. Micheál went on to establish IDA Ireland’s first ASEAN office, which he led for 3 years.

Micheál then moved to help drive IDA Ireland’s efforts in the US, focusing on the US Mid-West, South and South-East.

Micheál holds a BSC in Management (Business & Economics) from Queen’s University Belfast and a MSC in Economic Policy Studies from Trinity College Dublin. He is married to Claire and they have four children – Sophie, Senan, Conan and Oisín.

Prof. Michael Madden is the Established Professor Computer Science in University of Galway, and Head of the Machine Learning Research Group that he set up there in 2001. He is also an investigator in Insight, Ireland’s national research centre in data analytics and AI. 

Michael’s research focuses on new theoretical advances in machine learning and deep learning, motivated by addressing important data-driven applications in medicine, engineering, and the physical sciences. His work has led to over 120 publications, 9 publication awards, 4 patents and a spin-out company. He has spent time as a Visiting Research Scientist in University of Helsinki, University of California Irvine, and UC Berkeley. 

As the Head of School of Computer Science in University of Galway from 2019 to 2024, Michael has grown academic faculty numbers by 40%, has enabled the growth of PhD students and research outputs, and has been centrally involved the development of highly competitive Masters programmes in Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Adaptive Cybersecurity, AI for Professionals, and Intelligent Robotics. He has been lecturing on AI and Machine Learning for over a decade and continues to teach courses on Deep Learning. 

He has extensive experience of public communications and public engagements with people in Ireland and internationally of all ages, whether adults (interviews and articles in national and international media); teenagers (computing and AI summer camps) or children (he established CoderDojo Athenry, a free coding club for kids, over 10 years ago, and has mentored there on Saturdays ever since).

Michael is passionate about supporting and driving the ongoing developing and reinvention of the tech ecosystem of the West of Ireland, engaging with companies and state agencies to promote the West and to anticipate skills needs. He is a member of the board of ITAG.ie (the industry representative body for the tech sector in the West Ireland), the founding chair of ITAG’s AI Forum, and on the organising committee of the AtlanTec Conference in Galway.

Rich Moran is the Principle at Haystack VC. Watch this space for upcoming announcements!

He is a noted San Francisco based business leader, workplace pundit, bestselling author, consultant and venture capitalist. He is best known for his series of humorous business books beginning with bestselling, Never Confuse a Memo with Reality that started the genre of “Business Bullet Books.”​

Moran previously served as President of Menlo College, CEO and Vice Chairman at Accretive Solution, as a Partner at Venrock, Chairman of the Board at Portal Software, and as a Partner at Accenture. Moran has served on the Boards of Glu Mobile Games, Winery Exchange, and Mechanics Bank among others. He currently serves on the boards of AxoProtego, LBA Logistics, New Day Investing, World Wide Women and others.

Moran is active also in the technology ecosystem in Ireland and is a member of the Global Irish Network, a network launched in 2010 and that is comprised of 350 of the most senior Irish and Irish connected business people from over 40 countries.

In the public or not-for-profit sector he serves on The Council of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is the Chair of the Audit Committee at the Noyce Foundation, the National Board of Visitors at the Indiana University School of Education. Previously he served as a Regent at Saint Ignatius College Prep and Chair of Project Open Hand. Moran also serves on the Accountability Structures Expert Panel for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

Moran is a radio personality featured on KCBS Radio in San Francisco. He is The host of “​In the Workplace”, a program that discusses workplace issues and airs weekly to over a million listeners. He is also a frequent contributor as an Influencer on LinkedIn.

Experience in hi-tech business creation and growth with a particular focus on the Financial Services sector.

Specialties: Strategic planning and direction, business development, operations and large scale delivery.

Specialties: Mobile Apps, IVR, Speech Recognition, Web Content Management, RDBMS, Enterprise Architecture, SaaS, Cloud Integration, Healthcare IT, Big Data, Internet of Things, Technology Foresight, Technology Strategy, Technology Education/TechEd, Innovation Management, Content Curation for Technology Conferences, Immersive Tech, Artificial Intelligence

A member of the MIT Technology Review Global Panel, a community of business professionals.

Tomás Ó Síocháin is Príomhfheidhmeannach | CEO of Údarás na Gaeltachta [udaras.ie], the state agency that supports and develops Irish as the spoken language in the Gaeltacht region across seven counties of Ireland. Údarás supports communities and enterprise to sustain the region, language and its unique global heritage.

Tomás was, until 2022, CEO of the Western Development Commission, an Irish state agency supporting the development of Ireland’s Western Region along the Atlantic coast. Prior to that he held a number of senior roles in Ollscoil na hÉireann | University of Galway and was a broadcast journalist, producer and editor with Irish national broadcasters RTÉ and TG4 between 1998 and 2013. A law graduate, he holds an MBA, a Higher Diploma in Applied Communications and is a non-executive director of GrowRemote and Future Mobility Campus Ireland.

He is Chair of the Advisory Board for the University of Galway Cairnes School of Business and Economics, a member of the National Hubs Network Steering Group and the National Remote Work Strategy Implementation Group. Formerly, he was the inaugural Chair of the Regional Skills Forum West, Chair of the WDC Whitaker Institute Remote Work Expert Group and an External Assessor for the Broadcast Authority of Ireland’s Sound and Vision Fund.