Judging Panel

Pat Gaynor

Pat is a former Managing Director at Bank of Ireland, Corporate Banking where he headed up its Irish and UK corporate lending businesses having retired from that position in 2020.

He is a recognised senior leader and influencer in banking and financial services with over 40 years’ experience across retail banking, credit risk, business and corporate banking, both domestically and internationally and across all sectors. Pat has extensive M&A experience, a proven track record in exceeding targets in several business leadership roles and in initiating and implementing strategic actions to deliver step changes in performance.

A Fellow of both the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants and the Institute of Bankers and a 2017 graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Programme, Pat is a Non-Executive Director of Dairygold Co-Operative Society, ESB and a number of Irish private companies and is also a Trustee of the Bank of Ireland Staff Pension Fund.

Bryan Bourke

Bryan is a former Managing Partner of leading law firm William Fry. Bryan is now Chairperson and a non-executive director of AirNav Ireland, the Irish Air Navigation Service Provider.

Bryan was named ‘’European Managing Partner of the Year’’; at The Lawyer European Awards in London in 2018. He served on the National Council of IBEC from 2017 until 2020. He is also a non- executive director of the Irish Youth Foundation.

Bryan is also a CEDR Accredited Mediator.

Cathy Bryce

Cathy was appointed Managing Director of Capital Markets in 2019. She is an experienced leader with a strong background in investment banking and treasury management, having started her career at Morgan Stanley and ABN AMRO. Cathy has held senior roles across international and Irish portfolios and also serves as a Non-Executive Director at Goodbody Stockbrokers UC. She holds a business degree from Trinity College Dublin, an MBA from INSEAD Business School and completed the General Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Caoimhe Nugent

Caoimhe Nugent is a Senior Marketing Strategist at Google, specialising in YouTube and AI-powered advertising solutions across the UK and Ireland. With over eight years’ experience delivering growth for leading brands across the tech, retail and lifestyle sectors, she partners with agencies and senior marketing leaders to translate digital innovation into measurable business impact.

At Google, Caoimhe leads strategic workshops and industry-facing initiatives focused on AI adoption, creative effectiveness and digital transformation. She works at the intersection of data, creativity and commercial strategy, helping organisations navigate an increasingly complex marketing landscape with clarity and confidence.

A First-Class Honours graduate in Business and Management (Marketing) from TU Dublin, Caoimhe sits on the TU Dublin Industry Advisory Board, contributing to the development of future-ready marketing education and strengthening collaboration between industry and academia. She has also previously served as a judge for national industry awards.

Darina Sexton

Darina Sexton joined Microsoft in 2018 and leads internal and external communications for the Irish subsidiary. She has over 20 years’ experience across corporate affairs, having held senior communications and leadership roles spanning technology, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, and retail. At Microsoft, she advises senior leaders on commercial communications, media relations, crisis management, and reputation, and has supported major initiatives across AI, the future of work, and security. She is recognised internally as a spokesperson on AI‑enabled communications and has spoken at Microsoft and industry forums on the impact of AI on modern communications.

Prior to Microsoft, Darina held senior communications roles at Tesco, MSD, and Vodafone, where her work received internal and external recognition across public relations and digital campaigns.

Darina holds a Master of Business Studies from the IMI, a Master of Arts, and an International Bachelor of Arts from UCD, along with diplomas in Digital Marketing, Management and Public Relations. She is an advocate for environmental issues and women in STEM, and previously served for eight years on the board of Le Chéile, a mentoring charity for young offenders.

Fergal O’Connor

Fergal O’Connor is the founder and CEO of Buymedia, a data-driven, AI‑powered advertising platform that helps businesses make smarter decisions to maximise ROI. With 25 years’ experience working in media and technology, Fergal combines commercial insight, along with AI innovation and a clear mission to democratise advertising. He has redefined how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) access, manage, and measure advertising. His vision, strategy and innovation leads growth across international markets with the goal of making advertising smarter, fairer, and more effective for all. Founded in Galway in 2015, Buymedia recently announced its expansion to the UK, launching a head office in Manchester in late 2025. Buymedia has earned numerous accolades, including being ranked as the 4th fastest-growing tech company in Ireland by the Deloitte Fast 50, and 73rd in the Deloitte EMEA Technology Fast 500.

Fergus Sharkey

Fergus Sharkey is Head of Business Supports with SEAI. His team is responsible for working with SMEs and large industry to provide supports for energy efficiency and renewable energy deployment. Supports range from advice and training on energy management, monitoring and reporting, best practice, project development, to grants and other financial support. Prior to joining SEAI, Fergus worked in a range of positions in ESB.

Irene O’Gorman

Irene O’Gorman joined KPMG Ireland as Chief Marketing Officer in March 2024.

A member of the firm’s Executive Markets Leadership Team, her role is to drive the strategic growth of KPMG’s brand and business in Ireland.

She’s previously held the role of CMO with KPMG in the Middle East, based in Dubai for over five years, with a focus on driving commercial growth opportunities across the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

During her year career, she’s held senior marketing and business development roles with firms such as Deloitte, Enterprise Ireland, National College of Ireland and EY, leading major brand development, sponsorship, advertising, digital marketing and revenue growth initiatives. She’s gained extensive international experience, having lived and worked for ten years in South Africa, Australia and the Middle East.

In her current role with KPMG Ireland, leading a team of over fifty people, she has overall responsibility for KPMG’s client relationship development programmes, strategic markets planning and business development. She manages KPMG’s portfolio of leading brand sponsorships across business, sports and the arts – including the KPMG Women’s Irish Open and the annual Business & Finance Awards sponsorship, among many others.

An alumnus of UCD, with a Degree in Psychology and a Masters Degree in Business, (specialising in Marketing), she has completed numerous executive programmes with the London Business School, The IMI and the Chartered Director programme with the IOD.

Irene has served as an independent Non-Executive Director of the Irish Cancer Society since 2020 and an Advisory Council Member of the Gate Theatre, Dublin since 2023.

Jean Maxwell

Jean is Head of Sustainable Business and Internal Communications at Arthur Cox, one of Ireland’s leading law firms. Being a sustainable and responsible business plays an important role in Arthur Cox’s strategy, and while this has been embedded in the fabric of the firm for over a hundred years, Jean and her team endeavour to increase the firm’s impact year on year and continue to progress the various strands of the programme. In September 2024, the firm was proud to receive external recognition of its ongoing commitment when the firm was awarded ‘Outstanding Achievement in Sustainable Business Impact’ award at the Chambers Ireland Sustainable Business Impact Awards.

Prior to joining Arthur Cox, Jean was based in London where she was a Director with Citigate Dewe Rogerson, a leading global strategic communications consultancy. She was involved in the development of corporate communication programmes for many international organisations that included: Deloitte Consulting, Cap Gemini, MasterCard and LogicaCMG.

John Carthy

John is a lecturer and researcher in the Faculty of Business, Atlantic Technological University (ATU). John has worked with tourism, hospitality and event organisations abroad and in Ireland and he regularly conducts research and provides consultancy services to industry. John teaches marketing, public relations, management, policy and ESG on a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in ATU. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Fellow of the Irish Hospitality Institute and a principal investigator at STORY@ATU (the Sustainable Tourism and Visitor Experience Lab @ ATU).

Mark Cunningham

Mark Cunningham is the Business Development Manager for Miconex Ireland, the company responsible for the rollout of Town & City Gift Card programs nationwide. Miconex Ltd., founded by CEO Colin Munro in Perth, Scotland, has over 200+ programs active across the UK, Ireland, Canada, and the USA. The Town & City Gift Card program is a fully supported Mastercard solution that allows organisations such as Chambers of Commerce, County Councils, and Traders Associations to introduce a scalable program that provides a locally branded Mastercard-powered Gift Card, which guarantees to deliver a geographically ringfenced spend in the bricks-and-mortar of local retailers that fall within the specific boundary.

Overall sales of Town & City Gift Cards rose from €1.2M in 2023 to €17.4M in 2025. The €17.4M of sales in 2025 is expected to drive close to 1 million in-store transactions across Ireland in 2026. As a former Director and employee for 20+ years in the well-known family business, EJ Menswear in Sligo, Mark has a deep understanding of the importance of maintaining strong levels of high street footfall to ensure local businesses thrive in challenging times. With Town & City Gift Cards being the only multi-use gift card on the Irish market that guarantees face-to-face engagement between the retailer and consumer, the program has the potential to be transformational in terms of increased footfall to towns and cities across Ireland in the years ahead.

There are currently 16 Town & City Gift Card programs in operation across Ireland, with Udaras Na Gaeltachta and Galway Chamber of Commerce expected to launch programs respectively in the coming months. Cork City, Dublin, Westport, Castlebar, Tullamore, Bantry, Longford, to name a few, are all in the Miconex pipeline.

Michael MacDermott

Michael Macdermott is a highly accomplished Operations Director at Ashville Media Group, bringing over 30 years of expertise in managing complex technical projects and digital transformations. A veteran of the Information Technology and Services industry, Michael possesses a deep mastery of IT Infrastructure, Service Management, and Digital Strategy.

Throughout his career, Michael has been at the forefront of the media and publishing sectors, where he successfully implemented large-scale platforms for national awards programs. His leadership extends to overseeing sophisticated web infrastructures, digital PR campaigns, and social media frameworks designed to enhance brand visibility and operational integrity.

Beyond media, Michael has provided specialized IT project management for private healthcare and high-profile agency clients, consistently ensuring seamless service delivery in high-stakes, regulated environments. His proactive approach to strategy and his comprehensive understanding of the intersection between technology and business operations allow him to evaluate entries with a keen eye for innovation, technical excellence, and scalable impact.

Moira Grassick

As the Chief Operating Officer at Peninsula Ireland, Moira oversees the delivery and development of Peninsula’s extensive HR and health & safety service operations.

With over 25 years of experience in HR and employment law, Moira has held a wide range of management roles in the financial services, retail and food industries, culminating in her current role at Peninsula. She holds a BA in HRM, a Diploma in Employment Law, and is a qualified mediator.

Along with overseeing the delivery of Peninsula’s round-the-clock services to over 7,000 Irish SMEs, Moira regularly features as an industry expert in national press and radio outlets, including Newstalk, RTÉ, and the Irish Independent.

Rachel Ray

Rachel Ray is the Group Strategy Director across Dentsu marketing agencies in Ireland. She specialises in growth strategy, media planning and insight-led brand building across omnichannel marketing. She also builds AI-enabled tools for marketing.

Work past and present includes Enterprise Ireland, IKEA, AIB, Irish Times, Salesforce, Failte Ireland, Vodafone, Jameson, LetsGetChecked, Le Creuset, Kildare Village, BDO, Fexco and KPMG.

In her spare time she writes and volunteers with a number of arts initiatives.

Sue O’Neill

Sue O’Neill is CEO of Shellcove, an Association Management Company (AMC), which she founded in 2004. The company helps associations to stay relevant, grow membership and benefit from innovative technologies to achieve strategic goals. The company acts as a headquarters or provides outsourced services which deliver scalability of staff or services.

Sue is a Chartered Director, CDir(IoD) and is a board member of both the Irish Banking Culture Board and Skillnet Ireland. She is a former Chair of the Small Firms Association and a previous board member of Microfinance Ireland. She holds an MBA from Dublin City University, an IPA Certificate in Governance, a Diploma in both Digital Marketing and Print Management and is a graduate of the IMI Business Development Programme.

Tara Moran

Tara Moran is a senior commercial leader and marketing strategist with a strong track record of delivering award‑winning creative and commercial innovation at Virgin Media Television (VMTV). Recently appointed Commercial Director, she is recognised for her blend of strategic vision, creativity, and commercial acumen. Tara has spearheaded the development of VMTV’s commercial framework and a suite of high-impact innovations that have contributed to multiple industry accolades, including VMTV being named Media Brand of the Year at the 2025 Media Awards.

Before joining Virgin Media Television, Tara spent five years as Head of Brand Partnerships at Maximum Media, where she led strategic partnerships and creative commercial campaigns for major brands.

She holds a Master’s in Marketing Practice from the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School and a Bachelor of Commerce International (Spanish) from NUI Galway. Tara has been named twice in the Business Post “Top 30 Under 30 in Irish Tech.”

Dr Siobhan Killion

Dr Siobhan Killion is the Head of Management in the School of Management, People & Organisations at Technological University Dublin. Siobhan has her PhD in Family Business Research focusing on how family businesses can evolve successfully over time, has extensive teaching experience to management students and has published successfully in a number of Journals.

Siobhan has been a member of the judging panel for the family business awards for a number of years and brings her academic experience and her own family business background to the table for this notable event.