Prof. Joe Peppard

Professor Joe Peppard is Academic Director of Smurfit Executive Development. Previously, he was Principal Research Scientist at MIT Sloan School of Management’s Center for Information Systems Research (CISR), a Full Professor at ESMT Berlin, Germany (2013–2017) and held the Chair in Information Systems at Cranfield School of Management, United Kingdom, where he was Director of the Information Systems Research Centre and led the IT Directors Forum (2005–2013). He has also held or holds academic appointments at Loughborough University (United Kingdom), Durham University Business School (UK), Trinity College, Dublin (Ireland), Groningen University (the Netherlands), IEDC Bled School of Management (Slovenia), Politecnico di Milano (Italy), University of Sydney (Australia), and University of South Australia. In 2011 and 2017 he was Dean’s Distinguished Scholar at the University of Southern Queensland (Australia).

A leading authority on data, systems and technology and their business and organizational implications, he researches, teaches and consults in the domains of IT leadership, digital strategy and innovation, the execution of digital transformation programs, IT value, and architecting an organization for digital. 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 and board member to be successful. He recognizes that executives want frameworks and models to help them understand their own predicaments, insights to figure out options and consequences, and clear actionable advice and guidance. In 2021, The Wall Street Journal cited his research on digital transformation as one of “10 tech events that will shape the future.”

Findings from his studies have been published in leading journals including European Journal of Information Systems, California Management Review, MIS Quarterly Executive, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, International Journal of Production and Operations Management, European Management Journal, Journal of Information Technology, Journal of Service Research, Long Range Planning, MIT Sloan Management Review, Harvard Business Review, European Journal of Marketing, International Journal of Information Management and Information Systems Journal. In 2009 The Operational Research Society awarded him the prestigious Stafford Beer Medal for his research while he received Best Paper Awards at the 2012 American Marketing Association’s International Service Research Conference and the 2014 International Data and Information Management Conference. He is currently ranked in the top 100 information systems (IS) scholars of all time.

His most recent book (with Tony Gerth) Taking the Reins as CIO: A Blueprint for Leadership Transitions was published in 2020 by Palgrave Macmillan, while the 4th Edition of The Strategic Management of Information Systems: Building a Digital Strategy (Wiley) appeared in 2016. His book The Essence of Business Process Re-engineering (Prentice-Hall), originally published in the mid-1990s, has been translated into Chinese, Spanish and Polish. He is currently working on two books, From Function to Fabric: The Metamorphosis of the IT Department (with R.M. Bastien) and Digital Leadership for Boards (with J. Thorp and S. de Haes). He is Associate Editor of Communications of the ACM, an Editorial Board Member of Journal of Strategic Information Systems and MIS Quarterly Executive, and was previously European Editor of the Journal of Information Technology and an Editorial Board Member of European Management Journal.

In his consulting, Dr. Peppard works closely with senior executives and Board members of large complex organizations in both public and private sectors. He also advises a number of technology companies, helping them with their strategy, market positioning and growth. A former Irish international athlete, he is a Director of IT Alliance Group, an outsourcing and managed service provider; a Director of Vitro Software, a provider of electronic medical records software; board advisor to Effixis, a Swiss start-up supporting organizations in their data and AI innovation projects through state-of-the-art solutions; sits on the Irish Government’s eHealth Committee; and previously served as Chairman of Fineos Corporation (ASX:FCL), a leading provider of core systems for life, accident and health insurers, and one of Europe’s few Fintech unicorns.

Prof. Karan Sonpar, Full Professor of Organisational Behaviour School of Business

Position

Karan is a senior lecturer in management and Academic Director of the MBA Programme at UCD Smurfit School of Business.

Business Experience and Impact

Karan regularly consults and delivers executive development to public and private sector clients such as Allianz, Agilent,  Alltech, Bord Bia, Credit Union Management Association, Dawn Foods, Ericsson, GAA, ICON, PwC, Microsoft, and Teagasc, the Department of Taoiseach, Department of Jobs Enterprise and Innovation (DJEI), Enterprise Ireland, CIE, An Garda Siochana, Bord Bia, Teagasc. His work has been frequently covered by the media, including in BBC, Financial  Post, Irish Director, Irish Times, Irish Independent, RTE, and Newstalk. He held a fulltime faculty position at Instituto de Empresa Business School (Spain) between 2008 and 2009. This is a private business school and is ranked in the top 10 business schools of the world. He has published in MIT Sloan  Management Review (2013) on the topic of talent management.

Between 2006 and 2008, he was as Assistant Professor of Management at University of Manitoba (a public university). Between 1993 and 2001 he was a commissioned officer in the Indian military  (last rank: Captain) and he served in the infantry and logistics branches. He has served as the staff officer to the Director General of Logistics (rank: Lieutenant General), held appointments in hostile conditions such as on the Indo-Chinese border, and achieved an instructor rating for excellence in service subjects.

Academic and Research Achievements

His research and teaching interests are in the areas of talent management, leadership, strategic planning, stakeholder management, and managing organisaational change. He earned his PhD from the University of Alberta, Canada. He is a winner of an early  career research award at UCD (Ireland), a Professor of the year teaching award at University of Manitoba (Canada), and a teaching award at University of Alberta Canada). His work has been published in leading international journals such as the Journal of Management, Human Resource Management, Journal of International Business Studies, British Journal of Management, Human Relations, Organizational Research Methods, and Journal of Business Ethics. He has presented his work at several international conferences and won several awards at the Academy of Management Conference.

Dr Gearóid Hardy

Gearóid is a management and leadership development Consultant with over 40 years’ experience of implementing real change. He has gained extensive experience and knowledge working in healthcare, financial services, technology, manufacturing, policing and higher education.  His career has both an Irish and an international context, having worked across Europe, Middle East, Asia and the US.  Gearóid is a highly sought-after management consultant and executive coach who has 30 years lecturing experience in leadership and enterprise management on MBA and Masters programmes in many Universities across the world, including Ireland, Hong Kong, US, Sri Lanka, Bahrain & Jordan.  In Ireland he lectures in several 3rd level institutions including the Michael Smurfit Business School, and the Institute of Leadership at the RCSI.

In his consulting business Gearóid works with both public and private sector organisations to help them to realign their processes and ways of working to maximise the return on their efforts.  He achieves this through several different interventions including the implementation of Lean and Scrum.  After obtaining his Computer Science degree from Trinity College Dublin, he went on to study Leadership at the Kennedy School of Government in Harvard, received his MBA from UCD.

Kathleen Halligan

Position

Kathleen is adjunct faculty at UCD Smurfit Executive Development and is a Chartered Work and Organisation Psychologist

Business Experience and Impact

Founder of Kathleen Halligan Consulting – Kathleen has over 25 years experience specialising in organisation effectiveness and design, leadership and talent development, change management and business and executive coaching.

As Global Head of People Development at ICON plc from 2014-2018 Kathleen was responsible for:

»    Leading and supporting the design and implementation of a range of Organisation Design& Effectiveness programmes including working with the senior executive on the culture review and with all levels within the organisation on the design and embedding of the new Values; Championing the practice Performance Management & Personal Development Planning; Leading the design and integration of Global Competency Framework;

»    Leading the Design and Facilitation of the global  people and talent development strategy, including the design and implementation of a suite of leadership development programmes from frontline to senior executive; implementation of the global  and talent development and succession planning programme.

»    Partnering with Smurfit Executive Business School on the design and delivery of our senior and executive leadership programmes.

»    Business and Executive coaching supporting internal development programmes and individual  development needs.

Academic Qualifications

Kathleen holds an MSc in Work & Organisation Psychology from the University of Limerick, a  National Certificate in Training & Education from Maynooth University; a National Diploma in Personnel Management, from the National College of Ireland and a BSc (hons) Psychology from University College Dublin.

Dr. Colm Murphy

Dr Colm Murphy founded Dynamic Leadership Development in 2008, after over ten years global experience in leadership and executive development within the I.T. and Professional Services sectors.

As a coach and trainer, Colm is passionate about assisting leaders and their teams to achieve meaningful behaviour changes that drive business results through focused and engaging coaching and training interventions.

Colm is a strong advocate of focusing on people’s strengths and passions in order to help them be truly distinctive and impactful in all aspects of their lives. He uses recognized psychological frameworks in helping clients obtain long lasting changes.

He is former Head of Coaching Programmes for UCD Smurfit Graduate Business School and is a faculty member on their Executive Development and MBA programmes.  He is also a senior faculty member of the Global Team Coaching Institute.

Colm has a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from the University of Portsmouth with research entitled 'The contribution of team coaching to team effectiveness: an Action Research study’. He holds Postgraduate Diplomas in Executive Coaching, Systemic Team Coaching and Coaching Psychology as well as in Training & Development. He is a certified Myers Briggs, Birkman Method and NLP facilitator. 

He also has a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a Masters in Accounting and was a qualified chartered accountant for a number of years.

Colm is a Master Accredited Coach with the European Mentoring and Coaching Council and adheres to their code of practice (www.emccouncil.org).  He is also a member of the International Coach Federation.

James Burke

James started his food and retail career working part-time in Supervalu Bantry. He subsequently studied Retailed Management in DIT and joined Superquinn in 1984. He spent over 20 years in Superquinn, the last 10 of which were at Board Room Level. His Superquinn executive roles included Business Development Manager, Group Purchasing Manager and Trading Manager.

In addition James served on the advisory board of AMS €1 billion European buying group and was a director of the Irish Purchasing Company Aontas. He holds a degree in retailing and wholesaling from Stirling University in Scotland.

Prof. John Cotter