Nóirín O'Sullivan is an experienced executive leader, she most recently served as United Nations Assistant Secretary General for the United Nations Department of Safety and Security based in New York. Prior to joining the United Nations, Nóirín enjoyed a diverse and successful 36 year career in An Garda Síochana, making history when she became the first woman to lead An Garda Síochana (Ireland’s National Policing and Security Service).

Nóirín now operates as non-executive director, independent advisor and consultant across a number of sectors, including on the Board of Directors of the Irish Aviation Authority and as a Board Member of the National Maternity Hospital. She is a member of the North American Advisory Board of the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. Nóirín is a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Executive Institute (NEI). She holds a Master in Business Studies (MBS) from the Smurfit School of Business, University College Dublin. She is the recipient of numerous recognition and awards, including an Honorary Doctorate of Laws (LLD) from the University of Ulster for Distinguished Public Service.

Ruth is a Chartered Engineer and risk and regulatory professional with 15 years’ experience in Ireland’s public transport and infrastructure sectors. She is currently Chief Risk Officer and Safety Approval Manager at Iarnród Éireann, leading risk governance and safety validation for major national rail projects. She holds an Executive MBA from UCD Smurfit Graduate Business School, awarded with the Business & Finance Scholarship.

John is a Partner and member of the private debt investment committees for private debt primary, secondary and coinvestments.

Since he joined StepStone in 2013, he has assisted in the growth of private debt offerings, with a particular focus on opportunistic credit and credit secondaries. He has acquired and operated several businesses and real estate projects on his own behalf, and was co-head of European technology and communications at BancBoston Capital, a principal private equity investor.

John graduated with first-class honors with a BBs in finance from Trinity College, Dublin.

Carin spent 32 years at J.P. Morgan in a variety of roles, culminating in becoming CEO for the bank in Ireland and Country Head,  leading significant growth across all business lines and shared functions. Carin also led and participated in a number of industry and government sponsored groups such as the IFSC Funds Group (Chair), Irish Funds (Council Member and Chair) and the American Chamber of Commerce (Board Member and President).

Carin now acts as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Mediolanum International Funds,  Chairs Meta’s EU E-Money License firm and is a director of Le Cheile mentoring, a not for profit providing volunteer mentors to young people interacting with the criminal justice system.

Dr. Mark Connor is an Ad Astra Fellow - Assistant Professor at the UCD School of Business. His research focus lies at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Data Science. With a background that spans both industry and academia, he has previously held roles as a Senior Data Scientist at Ernst & Young and as Research and Innovation Lead at STATSports, where he gained extensive experience in integrating advanced technology with real-world applications. Dr. Connor's current work focuses on uncovering new ways to harness AI and analytics to drive innovation and improvement in various domains, including business, healthcare, and sports. Through his writing and teaching, he seeks to provide actionable insights for students and executives seeking to navigate an increasingly complex AI and analytics landscape.

Michael Cullen is currently an Independent Non-Executive Director (‘INED’) with Cantor Fitzgerald Ireland Ltd. Prior to becoming an INED Michael was CEO of Investec Ireland and held senior roles in Gandon Capital Markets, Citibank and Woodchester Credit Lyonnais.

In 1987 Michael was a founding director of Gandon Securities which was the first institution to get a licence to operate from the IFSC raising $50mn from institutional investors. A graduate of UCD and of the Smurfit Business School, Michael is a chartered accountant having completed his training in Price Waterhouse. In 2018 Michael was awarded ‘UCD Business Alumni of the Year’.

Niamh Hennessy has more than 20 years of experience in all aspects of media and communications.

She was previously Media Relations Manager for AIB Bank and also worked as a Senior Business Journalist at the Irish Examiner and was Chief Reporter at the Irish Post Newspaper in London. In addition, she previously worked for RTE and the Sunday Business Post. She is currently the General Manager with Healy Communications, based in Cork. She continues to write for the Sunday Times and the Irish Independent.

Niamh has a Degree in Government and Public Policy from University College Cork and Diplomas in Journalism and Public Relations. She was also nominated twice herself for the Smurfit Business School Young Business Journalist of the Year.

Dearbhail McDonald is an award-winning journalist, author and television documentary maker.

A global Eisenhower Fellow, the former Group Business Editor of Independent News and Media has won a series of awards for her contribution to public affairs journalism including the Outstanding Achievement Award from the UCD Smurfit Business School and the Mary Cummins Award for Women of Outstanding Achievement in Media.

President of the Strategy Committee of the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris, Ireland’s cultural flagship in Europe, Dearbhail also serves as Secretary of La Fondation Irlandaise.

The author of Bust: How the Courts Exposed the Rotten Heart of the Irish Economy (Penguin), Dearbhail has used her platforms to consistently highlight a range of diverse issues affecting women and girls, including workplace equality, gender based violence, the socio-economic impacts of declining birth rates (Fertility Shock, RTE, 2019) and the contribution of women religious in Irish Life (The Last Nuns in Ireland, RTE, 2024). 

Dearbhail holds an LL.B (Law) from Trinity College Dublin as well as a Masters Degree in Journalism from Dublin City University.

Emmet Oliver is an editor, lecturer and broadcaster. He started his career at The Irish Times, where he was a business correspondent, media columnist and Assistant Business Editor. He then worked at Bloomberg UK and also spent time as a business editor at the Irish Independent and Sunday Tribune. During the financial crisis, Emmet worked as Director of Communications at IDA Ireland, where he was a member of the management committee.

Emmet returned to journalism in 2019 as editor of the Sunday Business Post and currently broadcasts on business and economic topics at NewsTalk 106. He also lectures at UCD Quinn School and hosts the official podcast Business Impact of UCD College of Business.

Emmet holds a PhD from Trinity College in the area of economic and financial history.

Alessia Paccagnini is an Associate Professor and the Academic Director of the MSc in Quantitative Finance at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. She is also a research associate at the Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis (CAMA) and serves as associate editor for the International Journal of Finance and Economics and the European Journal of Finance. Her research lies at the intersection of macroeconometrics, forecasting, monetary policy, and applied macroeconomics, with an additional focus on gender and diversity in economic and financial contexts.

Alessia has held research and teaching positions at several leading institutions, including Bocconi University (where she received her Ph.D.), the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, the University of Pennsylvania, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, the European University Institute, Bicocca University, IMT Lucca, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and the National Bank of Poland.

Her work has received international recognition. She was awarded the Best Paper on Gender, Diversity & Entrepreneurship by the Kauffman Foundation at the 2022 Annual Academy of Management Conference and received the STEM Champion prize at the 2024 Diversity in Tech Awards. She previously served as science communication manager and co-leader of the diversity team for a European COST Action on Fintech and AI.

Professor Federica Pazzaglia is the Director of UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School and Associate Dean of UCD College of Business. She is also the Head of the Management Subject Area and has research interests in social cognition, identity and image, corporate governance and institutional entrepreneurship. Her work has been published in numerous prestigious academic journals and has been featured in a number of leading professional and industry publications. She is widely recognised as an expert in her field and has been featured in international media outlets. 

She has received a number of research awards, that includes a Dissertation Fellowship from the University of Alberta, and an Early Career Research Award from UCD. She has also received a 'Best Overall Paper Award' and a 'Carlo Masini Award for Innovative Scholarship' and has been a finalist for the 'Carolyn Dexter Award for Best International Paper' at the Academy of Management Conference. She also received a 'Best Reviewer Award' at Corporate Governance: An International Review and a Teaching Award from the University of Alberta. She is member of the editorial boards of Human Relations, Journal of Management Inquiry, and Corporate Governance: An International Review.

Professor Joe Peppard is the Academic Director of Smurfit Executive Development. Previously, he was a faculty member at MIT Sloan School of Management (US), ESMT Berlin (Germany), and Cranfield School of Management (UK). A leading authority on information, systems, and technology and their business and organizational implications, his research studies contemporary issues and challenges that executives face in an environment of accelerating technological change. While academically rigorous, with his research he strives to steer a pragmatic path. In his writings and teaching, Professor Peppard seeks to help the busy executive to be successful. In 2021, The Wall Street Journal cited his research on digital transformation as one of “10 tech events that will shape the future.

Anton Savage has presented TV and Radio Shows including Ireland AM, The Seven O’Clock Show, The Apprentice, You’re Fired! The Sunday Business Show, Savage Sunday and The Anton Savage Show (for which he won the PPI Award for Best Magazine Show in the show’s inaugural year).

Anton has written for publications including the Irish Independent, The Examiner, The Mail and Mail on Sunday and he has been a columnist for both The Sunday Independent and Herald. His first book Spin and Win – how Irish politicians get elected was published in 2007 to positive reviews. And almost no sales. (He tries to focus on the reviews…)

Anton is a founding Director of The Communications Clinic, one of Ireland’s leading communications training and advisory companies. He served in a number of senior management roles prior to that.

Anton is a regular MC at AGM’s, award ceremonies and Conferences, including the European People’s Party European Convention (which was addressed by the heads of dozens of EU Member States including the German Chancellor, Spanish Prime Minister and President of the European Council) and has hosted ‘Audiences With’ a range of guests, from Sir John Sawyers (former head of MI6) to Jeremy Paxman, to IKEA Global Chairman Lars-Johan Jarnheimer.