Alan Kelly has over twenty years lecturing in higher education in areas such as ICT, Digital Marketing and Digital Customer Experience.

He recently led the development team for a new post graduate course in Digital Business and is currently in the final year of a DBA researching the influence of technology on Customer Experience.

Liam Tinney has invested in digital transformation to become a successful ecommerce merchant as well as running a bricks and mortar store.

Tinneys Toys offer a stellar in-store experience and have taken strategic and innovative time and effort to create their online experience; increasing the scale of their business and navigating the opportunities (and challenges!) that come with digital transformation.

John Logue is CEO of Social Enterprise Republic of Ireland (SERI), a representative body for the social enterprise sector in Ireland.

Prior to joining SERI, he served as CEO of Suas, an award-winning international social enterprise, as CEO of USI, one of Ireland's largest representative bodies, and as a Non-Executive Director of the HEA and QQI. He has advised over 50 social enterprises across Ireland on how to enhance their impact and financial sustainability.

Johnny is a Chartered Physiotherapist with over 15 years’ experience.  He is the Founder and CEO of The No Barriers Foundation, an award-winning charity that aims to bridge the gap between public and private healthcare for people with physical disabilities, intellectual disabilities and mental health conditions.

Johnny has worked with a vast range of clients from those with disabilities to International and Olympic athletes in a range of sports for organisations such as Athletics Ireland, Cycling Ireland, the FAI, Finn Harps, Donegal GAA and Paralympics Ireland.

Johnny successfully built and managed multiple private Physiotherapy businesses before deciding to focus his energy on making positive changes in society in a not for profit manner.

After working as Physiotherapist for the Irish Paralympic team in Rio 2016, Johnny was inspired to create a unique social enterprise that enables access to world-class staff and equipment at affordable rates for those who need it most. The one of a kind facility delivers its specialist services in a community gym environment to create inclusion and equality.

The Foundation currently operate from a facility in the Mountain Top in Letterkenny, where they help clients to use various therapies, exercise and physical activity to improve their quality of life.

Laura is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Ulster University Business School and Programme Director for the UK Help to Grow programme.

Her research interests include SMEs and inclusive entrepreneurship and in particular social entrepreneurship. She is currently involved in a number of Shared Island funded projects focusing on both female and social entrepreneurship.

Dr. Isobel Cunningham is a Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Atlantic Technological University. Her research interests include SME formation development, social and inclusive entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship education.

She is currently involved in a number of Shared Island projects in the area of social and female entrepreneurship.

Dr. Elizabeth McKenzie is a Culinary Arts Lecturer at the Atlantic Technological University, Faculty of Business, Killybegs. Her research interests include; food innovation; market-oriented new product development, strategic food marketing, new food product development, food product development in SMEs.

She received her PhD in 2019 from University College Cork entitled “Developing market-oriented and value-added products for Irish seafood SMEs” under the supervision of Dr Joe Bogue of (University College Cork) and Dr Robert Hamlin (University of Otago). She received her Bachelor of Business and Culinary Arts from Letterkenny Institute of Technology in 2008 and Bachelor of Business Studies (Hons) in Event, Hospitality and Tourism Management from Dundalk Institute of Technology in 2010.

Her postgraduate qualifications include a Masters of Business with Marketing and Entrepreneurship Dundalk Institute of Technology in 2011 and a Post graduate diploma in Learning and Teaching from Letterkenny Institute of Technology in 2022.

Jacinta Dalton is Head of Department for Culinary Arts & Service Industries at The Atlantic Technological University, Galway, Ireland and is a member of the Irish Food Champion Assembly. She is an advocate for food education, innovation and community engagement for knowledge exchange and sustainability, consulting with food producers, and assisting with a number of food events and festivals in a voluntary capacity.

Jacinta is currently undertaking a Doctorate at the Basque Culinary Centre, where she is researching the impacts of public food procurement on sustainable education and is working on an Erasmus project with European partners on the development of digital and sustainability skills for Tourism SME’s. Jacinta is a board member at the Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts & Tourism (IGCAT).

Shines Seafood is a family business based in Killybegs, Co.Donegal. We sell Irelands only Irish Tuna, Irish Sardines & Mackerel to both the retail & food services sectors and are the experts in all things Tuna.

We only supply the highest quality Irish seafood to our customers.It is our aim to make the best quality Irish Seafood in the world more affordable and available to the nation. Having been involved in the fishing industry for a combined 50 years we are passionate about the consumption of seafood and the overall sustainability of the industry.

Eugene Gallen established “Bon Appetit” in 2021 in County Donegal after having worked for over 30 years as a chef and restaurateur. After having trained as a chef at the age of 14, he worked his way up through the ranks with hard work and dedication to Sous Chef and Head Chef in many businesses. He then opened his own business named “Dudies Street Food” after gaining enough knowledge and experience to do so. Dudies Street Food was a street food van where he sold street food such as tacos and restaurant style take away food.

Soon into this business he spotted a gap in the market for the ready meal business, especially in the Northwest and took his takeaway style food to the ready meal business. Bon Appetit Meals mimic that of the traditional chippy/chinese takeaway but are convenient, instant and taste fantastic for only a fraction of the calories and price.

As of December 2023, we at Bon Appetit have moved into to a new, larger premise in Letterkenny after outgrowing our previous site in Killygordan where we were based for 2 years. We are consistently growing and are only getting bigger and better as we expand our product range and gain customers all over Ireland.

Padraic leads the Masters in UX Design & Applied Innovation at ATU. He teaches on modules in UX Design, Emerging Technologies and User Interface Design. He believes that industry should inform academia and vice versa.

As a practicing designer he works closely with new and existing businesses on innovative processes for new product and service development. He has recently studied Design Thinking at MIT and is currently experimenting and facilitating innovation teams in the Metaverse. If you need to find him, he will most likely be coaching Newbridge U15s, playing 5 a side DanderBall with the lads or trying (still) to improve his snooker game!

Joe Dunleavy is an Innovation, Software Delivery, FinTech, Design and Business lead experienced executive currently working in the role of VP, Global Head of Innovation at Endava. Before the sale of Pramerica to TCS (Dec 2020), Joe worked for Prudential Financial Inc. / Pramerica for 16 years based in both Letterkenny, Ireland and in the US on a 3-year international rotation. Joe has held several leadership roles including Innovation Head, Interim CI and Software Development Lead.

Before Pramerica Joe worked in an IT start-up company called Nooked in Sligo and Microsoft in Dublin. Joe holds an MA in UX & Applied Innovation, an MBS in Innovation & Leadership and a BSc in Computer Science, all from ATU. Joe is passionate about fitness, technology, innovation, design, volunteering, food, coaching, startup mentoring and sport.