Bobby Kerr is the CEO of Insonmia. Since becoming CEO and shareholder of Insomnia in 2003 he has led it's

expansion from 17 to 50 shops and increased turnover from 5 million euro to 13 million euro.

Bobby has had long and varied career which began working as chef on the North Sea Oil rigs for two years. In 1984 he transferred to ARA sister company, Versa Food Services. He worked in Canada as an Assistant Catering Manager in CNE Stadium Toronto, Ottawa Civiv Centre, Cyystal Beach Amusement Park and African Lion Safari and co-ordinated catering for 1m people for the Pope's Canadian visit in 1985.

He returned to Ireland in 1986 to an Assistant Manager position in Jury's Hotel. He then became Catering Manager for Campbell Catering in UCC and from there moved into the role of Area Manager.

In 1992 he was appointed Managing Director Bewleys's Oriental Cafe and by 1997 he was the Director of Business Development for the Campbell Bewley Group.

Bobby opend Perk coffee shops in 1999 and by 2003 he had bought the company that had 50% interest in Perk coffee shops. This enabled him to buy into Insomnia, one of the biggest coffee outlets in Ireland and the UK.

Dónal Clancy joined BUPA in 1996 at the start up phase and held various positions in both Ireland and the UK. With the high profile take over by the QUINN group in 2007, Dónal currently holds the position of Director and General Manager of QUINN-healthcare.

Located in Little Island in Cork, QUINN-healthcare employs over 320 people. Dónal is a strong believer of the importance of teamwork and in the value proposition for our customers.

His aim is to ensure QUINN-healthcare provides excellent customer service to our 509,000 members and to provide comprehensive benefits at a competitive price. Listening to our customers is key to growing the market share of the company. This month QUINN-healthcare became the first health insurance provider to achieved the ISO 9001 accreditation. 

Marc Coleman is one of Ireland’s foremost economists.

As well as being the Economics Editor of Newstalk 106 and he is also Economics & Politics Columnist with Sunday Independent and Economics Lecturer on MBA programme of Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. He is former Economics Editor of The Irish Times. He previously held positions with the European Central Bank and the Department of Finance.

Marc is author of the recently published book ‘The Best is Yet to Come’ offering an alternative view on the future of the Irish economy.

He is a frequent speaker at conferences, corporate events, executive briefings and strategy sessions.

Serial Entrepreneur and Owner-Manager of Islandbridge Brand Development “Your customer is spoiled for choice… So why choose you?”

Gerard’s early choices of career were a far cry from the cut and thrust of the marketplace. By any stretch of the imagination, studying for the priesthood in Dublin or keeping law and order on the streets of Hong Kong make unlikely starting points for a call to the world of branding.

But it was in Hong Kong that Gerard was first hit with the entrepreneurial bug, and in moonlighting as an impresario that he began to sense the ruling importance of getting the exchange between buyer and seller just right.

Since then, he’s set up businesses as diverse as LKF The Gallery, The World Stage Series, The Smile Conference, Set Out Your Stall and Islandbridge and worked with companies of all shapes and sizes – from global to start-up - in Ireland, Hong Kong and in many other parts of the world.

He’s seen some of those ventures succeed and others come tumbling down, and he’s learned the lessons that both hitting and missing the mark can teach us.

Gerard’s high-profile clients include Hong Kong Bank, Cathay Pacific, Capital One Financial Services, Miller Brewing, Topaz Energy, Lisney, IDA, Carlsberg and Maldron Hotels, but he also counts many niche businesses amongst his clients.

In addition to directing Islandbridge, Gerard acts as Resident Expert on Branding at DCU’s Invent, speaks regularly at the Smurfit School of Business at UCD and is a Mentor with Enterprise Ireland.

He also blogs regularly at http://openheartbranding.blogspot.com/
You can find out more about his work at www.Islandbridge.com

David McKernan is the founder of Java Republic Roasting Company: a vibrant, young coffee business packing punch and gaining huge ground in the Irish and International Coffee Industry with its innovation, expertise, unusual communicative style and in-your-face branding – and of course, excellent coffee.

As Sales & Marketing Manager of Bewley’s, David had overseen the creation and launch of the Caffe La Scala brand.  Always one for a challenge and passionate about quality, he began looking at roasting techniques and believed that the traditional high-volume roasting techniques being used by the industry were damaging the quality and flavour of espresso-based drinks.  He believed that it was possible to create a roasting process that would retain the character and flavour of quality beans.  This belief led to research that resulted in the development of a completely unique and patented handroasting process, a new company and an ethical approach to the purchase of quality beans.

In nine years, David has started, grown, developed and guided his vision to a successful and prosperous business; all the while maintaining an openness in communication and ethics that is unheard of in the coffee industry.  He has undoubtedly ruffled feathers, yet at the same time challenged other coffee companies to rethink their marketing even if it is a flattering form of plagiarism.  

Ever-pushing the boundaries and in a continuing quest for quality, uniqueness, authenticity and commitment to do the best for the people who grow coffee, Java Republic continually develops new coffees to support origin countries.  We are developing a range of Nicaraguan coffees which will increase trade with Nicaragua and support our organisation of choice: Coffee Kids, and of course satisfy the taste of coffee lovers.

 Hugh O Donovan is a work psychologist by training with an MSc in Occupational Psychology from Leicester University. Also, as the holder of an honours degree in Psychology from the Open University, he is interested in applying the best practice lessons and insights of Psychology in order to enhance the life experience, work performance and well-being of individuals, groups and organizations.

He is a member of the Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI), the British Psychological Society (BPS) and the Special Group in Coaching Psychology. (BPS)   He is also a Certified (BPS) Occupational Testing Practitioner (Level A & B).

Having spent twenty three years in the Irish Defense Forces serving in senior command, operational and administrative appointments both at home and abroad (Middle East and Former Yugoslavia) with the United Nations and European Community, he retired to set up and run his own business. 

He engages with his clients in a solution focused manner to facilitate change and development and to enhance overall balance.  The approach is individualized (No one size fits all), solution focused and stretching.

In his spare time he likes to go to remote places and has lead high altitude trekking expeditions to the Peruvian Andes, the Nepali Himalaya, Kilimanjaro, and the Caucuses.  His next trip is to Patagonia.

Pat Lynch is a qualified accountant and has served in senior management roles within multinational companies prior to starting his own laundry business in 1998. He holds an MBA from the Open University. Since then he has spent a significant amount of tiime learning to invest in the Stock Market and being a successful investor.

Building, growing and selling businesses can be very profitable but can be risky. Pat started a specialised laundry in Cork in 1998 after he was made redundant as result of the closure of Seagate in Clonmel. He subsequently sold the laundry in 2001. He then invested some of the proceeds into high potential start up companiesrequiring seed funding. "I usually look st the individual as well as the businesses they are in. It is important that we can work together". I usually take a seat on the board and provide some management advice.

Pat uses the stock market to make enough to secure a deposit for a rental property. "It is important that the rental income covers the mortgage on the property. This means that when the mortgage is eventually cleared the property is mine"

Finally Pat believes that everyone should have written goals which are achievable, realistic and measurable. If your wealth today is the same as it was 5 years ago, there is a good chance that it will also be similar in 5 years time.

A good way to learn how to create wealth is to read 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad - Retire Rich Retire Young'. Join a share club with some friends or colleagues and learn how to trade the stock market in a safe environment. Pat gives talks to schools, colleges and MBA students on how to Create Wealth.

"Are you ready to be inspired to create an image which will drive you to

succeed to your fullest potential?"

When it comes to running a business, image is essential.  Image is more than just fashion, it's how your business is perceived and your success depends on it.  Maureen O Halloran has been involved in the Image and Corporate Styling industry for 25 years, working all over Ireland and Europe.  Having studied  social science and psychology and being a designer of exclusive wear for all occasions,  her honest approach to  each client's needs  and requirements, has brought her national and international fame, featuring on many of today's TV programmes and local and national radio.   Recently Maureen has launched Shopin.ie.  She first came up with the concept when she was running her own business and saw there was little or no practical support  to grow local businesses and encourage people to shop in their own town.  Maureen runs her own Image Consultancy in Galway, anuimageconsultants.ie

Maureen is a firm believer in that people make up their mind to deal with you within moments of your first meeting, if you  fail to capture their attention, that that moment is lost. 

Maureen's refreshing approach to life and business and her enthusiasm for driving local industry is the corner stone in her newly launched motivational keynote addresses.

Maureen will add a unique insight to doing business and her own particular route to success.

Breffny Morgan is best known as an Irish media personality after he shot to stardom on TV3’s The Apprentice, vying for an executive job with motor magnate Bill Cullen. Although rough around the edges in the boss’ boardroom, he showcased notable business intuition on the various team tasks, and his witticisms made for memorable viewing.

 The budding Cork businessman graduated from Harvard University in 2008, where he majored in biology and competed on the varsity rowing team. On his return to Ireland he began preparations to row across the Atlantic ocean, in a time trial with the intention of breaking the world record of 33 days. Breffny and his teammates were inside world record pace on day ten of the voyage, when the rudder broke from the boat and the crew had to abandon ship. All fourteen were rescued safely.

 On his return to Ireland, Breffny established UseNow.ie, a small business in Cork city, trading overstocked short-dated consumables. After three months in operation, Breffny suspended business to compete for an executive title on the televised interview process that is the award winning Apprentice TV series.

 Breffny speaks about his experiences working with the successful individuals and teams that he has encountered in his short but varied career, from the standout students of Harvard to the crème de la crème of Irish business. Breffny shares the lessons he has learnt and habits he has copied from working amongst highly motivated people.

Helen Fahy is the managing director and founder of Hospitality Training Solutions. She has over thirteen years experience in the hospitality industry, working in human resources and training for four- and five-star properties in Ireland. She is a member of both the Irish Hospitality Institute, Irish Institute of Training and Development and also The Institute of Leadership & Management.

Much more than a skilled and experienced trainer, Helen is also a trained Coach and Facilitator. She understands that every business is different, and carefully tailors her facilitation to address the specific needs and challenges of each company. She co-founded Confidence in Action because of the need to instill confidence in business in these challenging times.

Caroline is a HR expert with 10 year’s professional experience, during which she held a Management position with Bank of Scotland (Ireland), with responsibility for performance management, talent management and succession planning prior to establishing Hughes Consulting in 2006. 

At the heart of Caroline’s success is her ability to diagnose the real problems in an organisation and to apply HR solutions in a way that impact on the bottom line.  The key to this is in her understanding of business people and how organisations work.  To this she brings her expertise - whether designing and implementing HR strategy, performance management solutions, change management or training solutions.

She has particular passion about the difference HR can make when working with organisations during and after major organisational change such as redundancies and restructures.  Caroline has provided key solutions to organisations where employee engagement has suffered as a result of organisational change.  Caroline also lectures in Human Resources in one of Ireland’s leading Colleges in Dublin.  Caroline recently spoke at the Irish Funds Industry HR Conference on “Employee Engagement – Motivating the Survivors” and is a frequent contributor and speaker at Legal Island events.

Hughes Consulting provides outsourcing HR solutions and the provision of HR advices on the establishment of HR departments, devising policies and procedures, advising on best practice in relation to redundancy, training, and performance management. 

Mary Jennings was born missing her left forearm. This gives her the strength and resilience that underlies everything she does and has led to her passion for instilling/building confidence in both individuals and businesses.
Mary had a remarkable career in corporate business where she managed teams of people and worked as part of a HR division of a large Irish Bank.
Today Mary works as a registered Business and Personal Coach and focuses on Business Consulting and Business Coaching. Mary leads our team of professionals in helping you reach your business goals.
Mary's vision is to help you to gain the confidence and recognise that you have the ability to go for your dream, to live the life you want to live, and do what you absolutely love to do.