2019 WINNERS
Expand each category below to view the winner detailsAdvocate of the Year
Winner
Coral Movasseli – Girls in Tech Dublin
“The winner of this category has had an impressive impact on getting girls and women in Ireland closer to technology. While holding down a day job she has managed to win countless corporate partners to share in her vision. For her, inclusivity is just as important as diversity and she realises, from her own experiences working in tech, how important the access to career mentors and sponsors is. The Advocate of the Year is Coral Movasseli from Girls in Tech Dublin!”
Dr Michelle Cullen – Accenture in Ireland
Severine Lacaze – Bloomberg
Sinead O Reilly & Barbara Quinn – Ericsson
Laura Fitzgerald – Red Hat
Brenda Romero – Romero Games
Laura Lacarra Arcos – Telefónica
Anne Kiely – Twitter
Gerry Murphy – VMware International Ltd
Tim Hynes – AIB
Business Leader of the Year
Winner
Brid Quigley – Irish Life
“This inspirational leader is a champion of diversity and one of the very few senior female role models in the business at her level. She is a strong advocate of female representation in the tech industry in Ireland. She was the one who established the very first D&I committee at her company three years ago and formalised a D&I strategy for the business. The program that was put in place has turned into a mentorship programme, provides unconscious bias training and reviewed the companies leave policy. The Business Leader of the year is: Brid Quigley from Irish Life Group!”
Vicky Godolphin – Accenture in Ireland
Michelle Boylan – Bank of Ireland
Barbara Hughes – (formerly at Bloomberg PolarLake)
Maebh Costello – McKesson
Laura Farrell – Zurich Technology Hub
Business Role Model of the Year
Winner
Sarah Cunningham – Mastercard
“The Business Role Model of the year has a career of 20 years during which she has mentored and and provided guidance to people who are just starting in the the industry. In her view, nurturing new talent is not a choice but a responsibility, so that many more can follow in her footsteps and. In her work she believes that everyone in the team should be able to ‘bring their whole self to work’ and she leads by example on how you can be ambitious and hardworking and still help other to achieve their own goals. The winner is Sarah Cunningham from Mastercard!”
Medb Corcoran – Accenture in Ireland
Marica Pezzi – Bloomberg PolarLake
Deirdre Giblin – Ericsson
Louise Bernstein – HubSpot
Helen Coughlan – Oracle
Jennifer Cox – Tenable
Tania Lee – Vodafone Ireland
CIO of the Year
Winner
Michelle Kearns – CareDoc
“The winner of this category has the conviction that technology needs to support healthcare services in to the future and her passion for what that is and can look like would convince any skeptic. Her ability to bring internal and external stakeholders along with new projects and innovative thinking is part of her success. Best practice in technology and strategic collaborations are two of the many ways she sets out to achieve her goals. The CIO of the Year is: Michelle Kearns from CareDoc!”
Lorraine McNerney – Ordnance Survey Ireland
Data Leader of the Year
Winner
Hilary Delany – Bank of Ireland
“This year’s Data Leader has an exemplary record of driving a data led culture at their organisation. They have delivered €58m of value in the past 24 months and achieved their targets. While driving this nee type of value realisation through analytics, they are improving the efficiency and the impact their company can have.The award goes to: Hilary Delany from Bank of Ireland!”
Orla Leane – AIB
Róisín Flannery – Bloomberg PolarLake Ltd
Catherine Boothman – Citi Innovation Lab
Grainne Cassidy – LM Ericsson Ireland Ltd.
Dina Medhat – Microsoft
Louise Dillon – Vodafone Ireland
Digital Leader of the Year
Winner
Maria O’Loughlin – Health Service Executive
“The winner of this category contributes to digital business transformation by fostering the development of a digital, data and innovation ready culture across the organisation, enabling a digital workplace and a digital workforce. She believes passionately that its diversity in people and inclusion with others that can make a difference in driving healthcare innovation and reforming technology will only be the enabler of this. The winner is: Maria O’Loughlin from HSE Health Service Executive!”
Cliodhna Nerney – AIB
Marcella Flood – Allianz Partners
Jenny Armstrong – Diageo
Vida Kazlauskaite – K-Star Academy
Jacinta Walker – Qualtrics
Eva Lynch – Vodafone Ireland
Employer of the Year
Winner
Accenture in Ireland
“The winner of this category ranks as one of the most diverse and inclusive companies on the Thomson Reuters Index. D&I is not merrily a tick-boxing exercise but lived in the company from the top down. Their commitment to this is not limited to just the company but they are great advocate of a quality company culture across the country in industrywide events. The Employer of the Year is: Accenture!”
AIB
Bank of America
Bank of Ireland
Ericsson
McKesson
Entrepreneur of the Year
Winner
Fidelma McGuirk – Payslip
“The winning submissions in the category stood out for the consistency the winner has shown in being an innovative leader in the last 20 years. And showed clarity of thought and vision when launching the first global payroll software. Despite this she has dedicated her time to enable other female entrepreneurs to gain investment and funding. The Entrepreneur of the Year Award goes to: Fidelma McGuirk from Payslip!”
Darya Yegorina – CleverBooks
Aileen Carville – SKMMP
E-skills Initiative of the Year
Winner
Vodafone Ireland
“This E-skills Initiative stood out for the wide impact it has had across Ireland and for filling a gap in the national education curriculum, by providing coding lessons in a class room setting. Within that context they also use their courses to educate the participants about unconscious bias, how to build a CV and they get to hear from experts from the technology industry. The award goes to Vodafone Ireland’s Code Like a Girl!”
McKesson
Future CIO of the Year
Winner
Ciara Tobin – Mercer
“This year’s Future CIO has shown great leadership in a global role and has set out to not only improve and find new ways of working, with the team she directly manages, but has also brought on board other departments so the company can standardise their processes. The awards goes to: Ciara Tobin from Mercer!”
Deirdre Scallan – Bank of Ireland
Arlene Ennis – Citi
Ellen Ward – Concern Worldwide
Aisling Hannigan – Pramerica
Regina Barr – Pramerica
Innovator of the Year
Winner
McKesson
“The company who is the Innovator of the Year has gone through vast changes and has had to adapt to the digital world. They have managed to not only position themselves to succeed in this digital world but in the process have been able to expand offer much more services to its clients. Throughout this change they have also taken the opportunity to ensure that the culture at the company is one of inclusivity and fairness. The winners is: McKesson!”
Bank of Ireland
Payslip
Tenable
Rising Star of the Year
Winner
Aine Usher – Ericsson
“For a person so young this year’s Rising Star has already a vast amount of experience and has significantly contributed to successful projects and already has a large number of accomplishments. She is an ambitious and self-motivated person who has a bright future ahead of her. The Rising Star of the Year is: Aine Usher fro Ericsson!”
Qurrat Ul Ain – Accenture’s The Dock
Tracy Keogh – Bank of Ireland and Grow Remote
Dara Casey – Canada Life Europe
Lu Yang – Citi
Roisin Cleary – Pramerica
Brid Mackey – Red Hat
Nicole Lisizki – Salesforce
Security Champion of the Year
Winner
Edel Briody – Vodafone Ireland
“In a traditionally male dominated area of technology this year’s winner has emerged a one of the leading voices. She has focussed on developing and communicating a security culture, made operational improvements and ensure that the principles of D&I are applied. This has led her team going from 100% male to over 60% female over five years. She has shown herself to be an egalitarian leader who not only demands change but strives to bring it about. The Security Champion of the Year Award goes to: Edel Briody from Vodafone Ireland”
Gina Dollard – AIB
Máire Regan – Energia Generation
Nishu Malhotra – Fiserv
Barbara Bogdanescu – Logicalis Ireland
Naomi Hegarty – Pramerica
Hanim Eken – Sun Life Financial
Kelly McKillen – Truata
Emer O’Neill – VMware Inc.
Helen Barron – Zurich Technology Hub
Transformation Leader of the Year
Winner
Ruth Kennedy – Revenue Commissioners
“The winner of this category had an enormous task at hand: Transforming a system which had not been reformed in any significant way since the 1960s. She and her team had tight deadlines to hit but were able to implement all changes and have the system go live. This has had not only an impact on the thousands of employees but also on the 2.6 million people across the country. The cohesive way in which the winner brought together multiple stakeholders (internal and external) and her can-do attitude in the light of an enormous challenge, make her the Transformation Leader of the Year! The award goes to Ruth Kennedy from Revenue!”
Noeleen Butler – AIB
Angela Bergin – Global Payments
Sheila Kelly – ICON plc
Clodagh Moriarty – Oracle
Shahla Sabetnia – RCSI
Nano Gough – Red Hat
Nicole McBrien – Zurich Technology Hub
Woman of the Year
Winner
Barbara McCarthy – Ding
“The winner of this category is a true trailblazer. During her career of more than 20 years she has often been the only woman in the team’s she has worked in and she was earlier this year named CTO of her company and is one of only a handful of women at technology companies who have managed to become a CTO. She is a pioneer in software development and has also spearheaded initiatives for gender parity and more diversity across the industry. She has also been a mentor to young women seeking a career in technology and endeavours to do her bit for the pipeline of STEM talent in Ireland. The 2019 Woman of the Year is: Barbara McCarthy from Ding!”
Paula Neary – Accenture in Ireland
Marcella Flood – Allianz Partners
Andrea McBride – Pramerica
Karen Egan – VMware
Young Leader of the Year
Winner
Caoimhe Kennedy – Citi
“The winner’s drive for innovation and process improvement is reflected in initiatives she has launched or participated in since joining her company as a graduate two years ago. Though relatively young and new within the industry herself, she has already made meaningful contributions to projects, provided guidance to more junior members of her team and proven herself to be a reliable and diligent member. The Young Leader of the Year award goes to: Caoimhe Kennedy from Citi!”
Niamh O’Connell – Treum | ConsenSys
Sowmya Halappa – Ericsson
Julie O’Brien – Global Payments
Nina Levchuk – Google
Paula Corcoran – Vodafone Ireland
Talita Holzer – waytoB Ltd.
Patricia Duchene – Wrike