The Digital Productivity Virtual Summit 2021 will bring together developmental thinking from industry and business to openly discuss the challenges and benefits of Digital Transformation!
Our keynote speakers will share their experiences of utilising cloud computing, app development and agile thinking to improve collaboration and productivity by automating infrastructure, automating workflows and continuously monitoring application performance.
Keynote Speakers:
Alex McDonnell - Master Practitioner: Lean Enterprise/Operational Excellence - Expertivity Technologies
Alex is a master practitioner in the 3 core technologies that combine to achieve high performance in modern, complex organisations: Management Technology, Systems/Process Technology and Digital Technology.
As a practicing senior manager (CEO, COO, CFO) and a practitioner consultant for more than 35 years, Alex has been helping manufacturers and service/knowledge-work organisations achieve and sustain dramatically higher performance.
Alex has a BA in Management (IMI), an MBA and an MSc in Lean Six Sigma (certified MBB) from UL, a Diploma in Business/System Dynamics from MIT and, despite Covid, is trying hard to complete a professional doctorate (PD-Eng.) in Lean Enterprise Excellence at UL.
Experience:
- 1972 - 1929: Telecoms hardware and software engineer (in a pre-CPU and pre-IC world) learned how to build and program computers at component and microcode levels.
- 1979 - 1982: One of 5 founding members of Telecoms Software R&D Centre, now one of Irelands largest such centres.
- 1982 -1984: European Technical Support Manager for US Computer Disc Manufacturer.
- 1984 - 1994: CEO & founder of successful “software kitting” BPO business where he deployed an early MRP system. Raised VC investment and successfully sold it to an Irish Plc.
- 1994 – 1997: GM Europe and later CEO of international software localisation business, designed and deployed first “MRP for Services” work management solutions based on Lotus Notes. As CEO, acquired 4 competitors and sold business to a large US NYSE Plc.
- 1997 – 1998: GM of greenfield European Software Support Centre for a US multinational.
- 1998 – 1999: GM of greenfield Software R&D centre for an Israeli software company to develop an Object Orientated Operating Systsem for the telecoms sector.
- 1999 - 2000: GM EMEA, US computer manufacturer, grew BU revenues by over 3,000% by design and deployment of one of first intranet applications that became the backbone of Reverse Logistics service. Oversaw deployment of Factory Outlet & Auction Website, an industry first at the time.
- 2000 – 2002: GM IT Service Delivery at national Telco utility, servicing over 10,000 desktops, 260 servers and 2 data centres.
- 2002 – 2003: Director of Business Excellence at national Telco utility.
- 2003 – present: CEO and co-founder with Paula Lawton of Expertivity Technologies (originally called McLaw). Working with service and knowledge-work organisations for nearly 20 years to dramatically improve performance by leveraging the 3 core technologies above.
Presentation Title/Synopses:
Digital Productivity in Complex Organisations: ABEC - A Framework for Identifying and Measuring Performance & Productivity Gaps…… Using Real World Case Examples.
Andrew O Reilly - Commercial lead @ Gi3 - Deloitte Ireland
Head of commercial at Deloitte's market leading global grants and incentives team in Ireland, Gi3. Andrew is in his 10th year specifically dealing with innovation funding. He assists client companies of all sizes and sectors in understanding the intricacies of the funding landscape in Ireland including the R&D tax credit. Andrew makes the business case for significantly improving the value companies derive from their RD&I funding through better funding identification, more efficient processes, systems and controls.
Deirdre Hynes – Operational Excellence Trainer, Consultant and Mentor – Grianan Consulting Ltd
Deirdre Hynes is a highly skilled Operational Excellence professional with over 20 years’ experience in transforming business performance, through the development and deployment of various Lean Six Sigma capabilities in a fast moving, complex manufacturing organization.
Deirdre is a Lean Six Sigma Master Blackbelt and played a key role in Molex’s Operational Excellence journey for 20 years. She is familiar with all aspects of the business through leadership of a variety of global projects, including Product Transfers, COPQ reduction and introduction of Value Stream management. From her tenure as site Quality Manager, she also has firsthand operational experience along with a knowledge of system requirements, including Medical & Automotive. She was part of Molex’s Global Operational Excellence team where she led in the Value Stream Transformation program, supporting the training, coaching, and deployments across multiple divisions.
Deirdre has recently set up her own Operational Excellence training and consultancy company, and is looking forward to sharing her knowledge and passion of Lean Six Sigma tools and techniques with others on their journey to Operational Excellence.
Denis Kelly - President - DK Strategic Solutions
Denis has built a customer-centric culture within the organization that is focused on reducing customers’ effort, transforming the support model and building the workforce of the future. Under his leadership, the Consumer support organization won over 69 prestigious industry awards in a variety of fields ranging from innovation, customer centricity, team engagement and social impact.
Executive Leader of Dell Technologies Limerick Site
In 2015, Denis Kelly relocated to the Dell Limerick Campus in additional to his role as global Senior Vice President for Consumer Support he assumed the role of leading the Limerick Campus. He created a strategic plan for the Limerick Campus which has enabled the transformation of the campus becoming a global showcase for Dell Technologies. This has led to a comprehensive plan of workforce transformation through upskilling of the team, a world class customer centric ethos through all team members understanding their contribution to the value add of the company and the customers. This transformation has been recognized by Dell Technologies Customers as seen by the increase in Customers visiting the Limerick Campus working with the Limerick Customer Solution Centre, and the increase of conversion of these Customer business challenges to successful Customer outcomes. Another measure of the success of the strategy can be viewed through the employee engagement which has seen the Limerick Campus becoming one of the top performing locations for Dell globally as measured by Employee Satisfaction.
Externally to Dell the IDA acknowledged the transformation of the Limerick Campus through the awarding of the inaugural “Invest in Ireland” Award for workforce transformational in 2018.
Derval Kennedy - Managing Director - StratAdept
Derval is a strategy and transformation advisor to leaders and managers of public and private, scaling to global organisations. She has held senior commercial roles in financial services and technology. She works with leaders and teams to co-create strategies and solutions for business change and, in recent years, digital transformation. She helps clients to challenge and redesign business models, probing management and encouraging people to think both strategically and innovatively.
She has considerable experience in sectors with global reach: financial services, IT, life sciences and outsourcing. She advises clients on the design of business and operating models, that allow for strong cross-functional relationships. For the last ten years, She has been a strategy and transformation advisor to a variety of scaling, high-growth clients of Enterprise Ireland.
Derval established StratAdept in 2015. Recent engagements are - design and implementation of a data analytics business within a global medtech, new business model for a global underwriter, development of a consulting unit for an outsourcer, design of a business model for the R&D unit for a post-merger pharma.
Derval holds an MSc. in Strategy and Organisation Behaviour from Trinity College, Dublin. She is also Adjunct Teaching Fellow with Trinity College, designing and delivering corporate programs and masterclasses in digital transformation, strategy by design and innovation culture development.
Eamonn Murphy - Managing Director - ICBE
Eamonn in Professor Emeritus at the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Limerick. He was instrumental in establishing ICBE 25 year ago. As a director of ICBE, Eamonn played a key role in securing in excess 6 million in funding for ICBE over the last 4 years.
He is a non-executive director of IMR The centre for Advanced Manufacturing Research in Ireland. He is Chairman of Innovate Limerick a wholly moved subsidiary if Limerick City and County Councils. Eamonn is also Chairman of Research, Development and Innovation Board at Limerick Institute of Technology. He was instrumental in establishing ASK a Spinout company for University of Limerick that specialists in Tacit Knowledge support for large and small organisations.
Gerry Jacob - IT Executive - General Motors
Senior IT professional with significant experience in Global Leadership positions for Motorola, Dell, Johnson & Johnson, Hewlett Packard and General Motors. Expertise in application development, data management, Network engineering, Global IT operations, business intelligence, IT Security, Infrastructure and systems engineering. Industry experience in manufacturing, insurance, and Enterprise IT services and support.
Jerry Shanahan - Doctoral Researcher - University College Cork
Jerry is a proven leader with over 35 years of cross-industry experience. Jerry has held a variety of senior roles across the electronics and medical device industry, including Vice President of International Operations for DePuy, Johnson & Johnson, Chief Operating Officer for Enterasys Networks, Managing Director at Cabletron Systems and Engineering Manager at Intel, Ireland.
For the past 10 years, Jerry has had the opportunity to work with Global organisations across many industry sectors in his role as Partner at Oliver Wight consulting. In December 2020 Jerry retired from his role as a Senior Business Consultant and is now focusing on some extensive research in the area of Executive Decision making in the tactical and strategic horizons, including the role that the Digital Transformation will have to play in this space.
Kevin Robinson - Managing Director - Opex Performance Solutions Ltd
Kevin Robinson has three decades of hands on leadership experience in manufacturing operations within Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK. Having enjoyed a diverse career working in all key functions before stepping into a general management position. Responsible for delivering on all performance measures he led power train manufacturing operations in the UK through a period of significant challenge, securing a 30% manufacturing capacity improvement with zero capital investment and becoming a benchmark for Toyota global best practice. With a deep knowledge of the Toyota Production System (TPS) and the Toyota Way, Kevin understands the key leadership behaviours, practical methodologies and skills that are essential for delivering operational excellence into any organisation.
As the founding senior manager for the Toyota Lean Management Centre (TLMC) he developed a programme of educational materials and onsite coaching support for sharing Toyota best practice to external clients across a diverse range of sectors, including Government economic development initiatives in Wales and the Republic of Ireland.
Kevin’s passion lies in creating the right environment to engage all employees, allowing them to contribute positively, grow as individuals and deliver on the key metrics that really matter.
As Managing Director of Opex Performance Solutions he continues to support organisations in their pursuit of operational excellence, providing both executive coaching and mentoring services. Additionally, he continues to share his knowledge as an adjunct lecturer with Trinity College, Dublin and as a Non-executive director with the Irish Centre for Business Excellence (ICBE).
Laurent-Pierre Baculard - Partner - Bain & Company
Laurent-Pierre Baculard is a Partner and Director in Paris Office of Bain & Company. He has over 25 years’ experience in the communications industries and is a one of the senior leaders of the worldwide telecom, media and technology practice (TMT). He has led several hundreds of strategy & management projects and transformation programs. He has worked across 50 telecom operators worldwide, and he had executive line management role at Orange/France Telecom for four years at GSM launch.
Laurent-Pierre joined Bain in 2002 and have since managed over 300 major projects. Former member of the worldwide Board of Directors of Bain and Regional Practice Leader for EMEA Telecom Media Technologies industries.
Laurent-Pierre has been leading Bain Digital Transformations Practice in EMEA, across industries and capabilities domains and he heads
Bain Innovation Exchange which addresses innovation corporate agenda (open models, immersive treks with start-ups and VCs, innovation systems and strategies, launch of "Engines 2")
Laurent-Pierre’s experience in TMT industries covers a continuum of issues from CEO level to line management for telecom players (fix, mobiles and internet communications operators), media and content actors (TV broadcast channels, magazines & newspapers groups) and technology groups enabling the communications and media space (telecom and IP equipment, hardware devices and CPEs, software). He has been supporting several CEO transitions and major turnarounds in Tech and Telecom global players.
He has also a field of intervention in Aerospace/Defense and Security technologies, involving air-sea-ground and space environments.
Laurent-Pierre's experience in Digital domain covers strategic transformation roadmaps development, digital customer experience, digital disruption strategies, ops improvement, data AI analytics, technologies and people transformations, for clients in Consumer Goods, Industrials, Telecoms, Hospitality & Travel, Services & Utilities, Private Equity, Commerce, Financial Services, Insurance.
Bain & Company is a global management and strategy consulting firm dedicated to creating high-impact, data-driven results and large scale transformations for clients across all industries.
Mark Gallagher - Managing Director - Formula 1/Performance Insights
Mark Gallagher is a renowned keynote speaker on a range of business topics relating to his experiences gained while working in senior leadership roles within Formula One motor racing over the last 30 years. Since 1998 he has spoken for many hundreds of organisations, ranging from national SME’s up to large, global corporations.
Today he runs Performance Insights, providing deep-dive insights into Formula One, and working
alongside some of the sport’s greatest stars. He regularly features in the media, working with
organisations including the BBC, Sky Sports and ESPN, and consults for a range of companies
involved directly in Formula One today.
Mark’s management career in Formula One included more than a decade on the management board of the highly successful, race winning Jordan Grand Prix team, running the world famous Cosworth engine business and establishing the commercial arm of Red Bull Racing which went on to become 4-times World Champions. During his career he has worked with many of the sport’s leading drivers, including former World Champions Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button. Today he works closely with a number of the sport’s major stars including David Coulthard, Mika Hakkinen and Jacques Villeneuve.
Mark’s career in Formula One started in 1983, spending seven years working in the media and as a consultant to Philip Morris International before joining Eddie Jordan’s fledgling Grand Prix team in 1990. He was a member of the team’s management board, having full responsibility for the team’s day-to-day marketing and commercial activities. He became part of the newly created Red Bull Racing management team in 2004, and was invited to lead Cosworth’s return to Formula One as an engine and
technology supplier in 2010, overseeing its supply of onethird of the teams on the starting grid.
Richard Fitzgerald - Global Senior Director of Social Media Support - Dell EMC
Global Senior Director for Social Media support for DELLEMC support & deployment services. Leading a global operational team supporting 16 languages globally. Creating a comprehensive service and support organization that can manage the evolving lifecycle support needs for our customers (end to end engagement / support through social media platforms).
Responsibility expands to owning and delivering the social media support strategy (technology enhancements and operational design); looking at current state design with a customer lens to design for future state. Engaging with external organizations to both benchmark and engage in defining future capabilities in meeting customer needs.
Richard Seroter - Director - Google Cloud
Richard is Director of Outbound Product Management at Google Cloud, with a master’s degree in Engineering from the University of Colorado. He is also an instructor at Pluralsight, the lead InfoQ.com editor for cloud computing, a frequent public speaker, the author of multiple books on software design and development, and a former 12-time Microsoft MVP for cloud. As Director of Outbound Product Management at Google Cloud, Richard leads a team focused on products and customer success for app modernization (e.g. Anthos). Richard maintains a regularly updated blog on topics of architecture and solution design and can be found on Twitter as @rseroter.
Taran Lent - VP Product Development - Transact
Taran has been building and operating payment technology companies his entire professional career. He is an accomplished entrepreneurial leader with experience in start-up, growth and public organizations. Taran’s specialty is forming and motivating high-performance teams to focus and execute on major new product ideas.
Over the years, Taran has installed thousands of payment terminals, built systems that have processed hundreds of millions of transactions and gotten stuck in mouse tape under point-of-sale counters too many times to count. He is a frequent guest lecturer at Babson College Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship, sharing pragmatic lessons from the trenches.
Taran co-founded his first payment and loyalty startup in 1994 which was sold to Boston-based Student Advantage in 1999 prior to its initial public offering. Taran served as Sr. Director of Product Management and developed new commerce products that scaled to hundreds of Universities and thousands of merchants.
In 2003, Taran co-founded and architected CardSmith, the first “cloud-based” campus card payments platform for higher education. Under Taran’s product and operational leadership, CardSmith grew to over three hundred clients processing twenty million transactions annually before being sold in 2014 to Transact. At Transact, Taran leads product innovation including the redesign of the tuition payments platform which processes billions of dollars annually. Most recently Taran directed Transact’s mobile credential program which enables Apple watches and iPhones to open doors and make payments everywhere around campus.
Raised in Denver, Taran was captain of nationally ranked back-to-back State Championship football teams and named an All-Colorado player. He went on to be Captain of the football team at Dartmouth College where he graduated with high honors in engineering sciences and earned 1st Team Academic All-Ivy distinction. After graduation in 1996, Taran provided color commentary for Dartmouth Football on WFRD radio for four years and won a Golden Mic award for best college sports broadcast in New England. Taran’s sports experiences greatly influence his business philosophy and approach to teams.
Taran currently lives in The Woodlands, TX with his wife and two sons. He is active with the community, local schools and serves on the Dartmouth Beta board of directors. Taran loves to cook, ski, windsurf and read in his free time.
Tina O'Donnell - Wafer Systems Engineering Manager - Seagate Technology
TINA O’DONNELL is the Wafer Systems Engineering Manager at Seagate Technology in Springtown, Derry, Northern Ireland. She received a BEng in Electronic Engineering and Computing in 2002 and a PhD in Supply Chain Optimisation in 2007 from Ulster University. She is responsible for Global Wafer MES Systems.
She has 12 years experience in developing wip flow logic, automation workflow and simulation/optimisation models.
Her current focus is AI augmented projects specialising around optimisation, scheduling and soft-sensors
Please be aware this information is subject to change, but will be regularly updated.