Leadership

Details of this year’s European Insurance Forum (EIF2015) were announced at an event in Dublin, attended by Simon Harris, Minister of State with responsibility for International Financial Services. The two-day international EIF2015 will take place on 14 and 15 May in Croke Park, Dublin and is set to attract more than 200 attendees from around the world, comprising top executives from the political, regulatory and re/insurance sectors. The conference is being organised by the Dublin International Insurance & Management Association (DIMA), the industry representative body for international insurers, reinsurers and captive management companies based in Ireland. The event has a line-up of over 40 speakers, including some of the world’s…

Ex Paddy Power executive Shane Murphy has been appointed as marketing director with responsibility for EMEA at retargeting platform AdRoll in Dublin. Murphy spent over three and a half years in a variety of senior marketing roles at Paddy Power, most recently as its head of online acquisition, and has ten years’ experience in total. Marius Smyth, managing director EMEA at AdRoll, said: “With more than a decade of directly relevant experience during his time in Paddy Power and working in tech marketing in London, Shane is a natural leader with deep knowledge of and experience in marketing and technology across consumer and business markets in Europe.” Murphy sees this…

University College Cork (UCC) is celebrating the bicentenary of forefather of the information age George Boole, who was the college’s first professor of mathematics. Born in Lincoln in England in 1815, Boole was a largely self-taught mathematical genius who is recognised today as being the ‘forefather of the information age’. His creation of Boolean algebra and symbolic logic pioneered a new strand of mathematics, which was employed in the work of scientific and engineering giants such as Claude Shannon and Alan Turing, and many others, in the development of the computer. Boole’s legacy has come full circle back to UCC with the involvement of researchers in the School of Engineering…

BNY Mellon and comedian Brendan O’Carroll have been recognised for their philanthropic efforts at the seventh Philanthropic of the Year awards. Run by The Community Foundation for Ireland, the awards were established to recognise the extraordinary generosity and leadership of philanthropists in the country. BNY Mellon won Corporate Philanthropist of the Year for its work with Acquired Brain Injury Ireland, Wexford while O’Carroll was named National Philanthropist of the Year for his work with St Vincent de Paul. The special Brian Wilson Award is awarded to Jim and Adeline Callery for their contribution to cultural and educational projects in Co Roscommon, including the foundation of the Irish National Famine Museum.…

Ireland has the third highest proportion of innovative enterprises in the EU, new Eurostat figures reveal. According to Eurostat, 48.9pc of enterprises of 10 employees or more in the EU reported innovation activity between 2010 and 2012. In Ireland, the figure rises to 58.7pc, placing it third behind Germany (66.9pc) and Luxembourg (66.1pc). The proportion of innovative enterprises in the EU28 dropped in 2010-2012 compared with both 2006-2008 (51.5pc innovative enterprises) and the peak recorded in 2008-2010 (52.8pc). This pattern was observed in most member states, including Ireland (56.5pc in 2006-2008; 59.5pc in 2008-2010). Innovation activities refer to product and process innovation as well as organizational and marketing innovation. Between…

How effective of a leader do you think you are? Effective enough to handle six adult german shepherds in Boston with being leashed? This is exactly what this man does and he does it to perfection.

Conor Neill, programme director for a new programme from Smurfit Executive Development at the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School on this month entitled ‘Influence and Persuasive Communications’, provides ten tips that differentiate powerful speakers from the rest. Practise beforehand Rehearse out loud. Work to control filler words. Use a clock to check your time, and allow for the unexpected.   Know the set-up Arrive in advance to check out the speaking area, and practice using the microphone and any visual aids.   Know your audience Try to speak to one or two people as they arrive – they will be your allies during the speech.   Start with a…

Future business: disruptive innovationDr Trish Gorman In the first article in Business & Leadership’s new ‘Future Business’ series published in association with Vodafone, Sorcha Corcoran explores the concept of business agility in reacting to changing customer needs. The expression ‘if you snooze, you lose’ has to be resonating more and more with the business community as the world hurtles through a period of unprecedented change and consumers become ever more demanding. The past 10 years have brought us pervasive internet connectivity, cloud-based applications, mobile devices that connect everywhere, remote working and digital innovations that create newly empowered customers. And with rapid technological advancement and high consumer expectations has come an…

Dublin-based music and video app WholeWorldBand (WWB) has won the top prize at the 2014 Eircom Spider Awards as well as winning the awards for best app and innovative use of technology in digital marketing. WWB is a free iPhone and iPad app that allows anyone to easily make music and videos that can be shared and enjoyed worldwide. The app already has users ranging from Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones, Stewart Copeland from The Police and Dave Stewart from Eurythmics to thousands of beginners and up-and-coming musicians collaborating together. Launched at the end of last year, the app is now live in over 100 countries on the Apple…

UCD academic and entrepreneur Prof Barry Smyth named SFI Researcher of the Year 2014Pictured: Minister for Skills, Research and Innovation, Damien English, Prof Barry Smyth and Prof Mark Ferguson UCD’s Prof Barry Smyth has been named the Science Foundation Ireland Researcher of the Year 2014. The award was announced last night by Minister for Skills, Research and Innovation, Damien English at the SFI Science Summit, which was attended by 300 researchers. Prof Smyth is an international expert on personalisation technologies and recommender systems and has been recognised by his peers for his “exceptional research accomplishments and contribution to the Irish scientific community” over the past year. He holds the digital…