speaker biographies
Catherine Martin, TD, Minister for Tourism
Originally from Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan, Catherine is the Green Party's Deputy Leader and T.D. for the constituency of Dublin Rathdown since February 2016. After founding the Oireachtas Women's Parliamentary Caucus, she was elected as its inaugural Chair in November 2017.
A graduate from NUI Maynooth and a classical singer, Catherine taught English and Music in St Tiernan's Community School in Dundrum, Dublin, for 16 years prior to being elected to the Dáil. She was a Councillor on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council from 2014 to 2016, and she served on the boards of the Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education Training Board, Dundrum and Stillorgan Colleges of Further Education and St. Tiernan's Community School.
She lives in Dublin with her husband and three children.
Denyse Campbell, President, Irish Hotels Federation
Denyse Campbell is the 39th President of the Irish Hotels Federation. A native of Strokestown, Co Roscommon, she began her career as a hotelier with the Hilton Group in the United States after graduating from the College of Catering in Cathal Brugha Street. Following a period with Jurys in the UK, she returned to Ireland where she worked for several independent hotels and groups. In 2015, she joined Dalata Hotel Group, spending several years at the Clayton Ballsbridge before assuming her current role as General Manager of the Maldron Hotel Dublin Airport.
Denyse has been an active member of the IHF since 2006 and has served as Secretary and Chair of the Dublin branch, National Vice President on two separate occasions and as a member of the National Council and Management Committee. As Chair of the IHF’s Marketing Group she oversaw the launch of the immensely successful ‘Go Anywhere Gift Card’, the official gift card of the Irish Hotels Federation.
Throughout her presidency, Denyse has emphasised the importance of prioritising and recognising the people who work in the hotel sector. With people at the heart of her presidency, she has highlighted hospitality as a career of choice in schools, championed the Employee of the Year Awards locally and nationally, and been instrumental in delivering the Shaping Brighter Futures Conferences over the past two years. She is passionate about lifelong learning and is a keen supporter of the IHF Skillnet.
Richard Curran, Journalist, Broadcaster and Author
Richard Curran is a journalist, broadcaster and author. He is the presenter of The Business radio show on RTE Radio One and a columnist with the Irish Independent and Sunday Independent. He has worked in business journalism through TV, radio, print and online for 29 years. He is a former business editor of the Irish Independent and former deputy editor of The Sunday Business Post. He has co-written two books, one on Irish entrepreneurs and the other on the multi-billion euro collapse of Irish Nationwide Building Society. He has also made several television documentaries for RTE.
Kieran McCorry, National Technology Officer, Microsoft
Kieran McCorry is the National Technology Officer for Microsoft in Ireland responsible for digital transformation, AI, and cybersecurity and has worked in the technology industry for over 30 years. He is a frequent speaker at worldwide conferences, is the author of four books, has presented multiple papers and articles, and holds several patents.
He has a variety of degrees and post-graduate qualifications in computer science, law, corporate governance, digital policy, innovation and enterprise development, and data protection law. He sits on several industry boards and Government forums, focused on technology skills development and strategic planning and is a Fellow of the Irish Computer Society.
Mark Abraham, Founder of Shackle
Mark Abraham is the founder of Shackle, a stellar hotel app that is digitising the guest journey for hotels. Shackle has a distinguished lineup of board members, including Gerald Lawless, the founding CEO of Jumeirah Group. The company has some of the best investors and advisors in its corner, including founders of billion dollar companies, Checkout.com & Lime as well as CTO’s from Pinterest & UBER.
Mark is a graduate of Shannon College of Hotel Management. His professional journey has seen him work with renowned brands such as Sofitel, Trump Hotels and NH Hotels. Having worked in such hotels and more all over the world, he saw the opportunity to increase engagement with guests while reducing the time they spend in queues. Mark will share the background to his great journey in hospitality, the insights he has gained on technology, innovation and his vision for the future of hotels.
Dr Morgaine Gaye, Food Futurologist
Dr Morgaine Gaye is a Food Futurologist and director of bellwether: Food Trends, the first food trend research compendium. She has her own health-food product range of functional food blends called Dr Gaye, which are sold globally on-line.Gaye looks at food and eating from a social, cultural, economic, trend, branding and geopolitical perspective. Her work involves running ideation sessions, consulting to food companies, developing new products and ideas and doing research on all elements of the eating experience from mouth-feel to olfactory perception. She consults to leading blue chip food companies and manufacturers, delivering bespoke trend briefings and NPD ideation.
She is a guest university lecturer in UK and Sweden and is on the reviewing panel for the International Food Design Conference and yearly academic journal. As part of the EU Commission, Gaye was the chair atthe Brussels Parliament for 2015. She is currently writing a book ‘A Taste of Things to Come’ about food trends and why they matter.
Alice Mansergh, Chief Executive Designate, Tourism Ireland
Alice Mansergh is Chief Executive Designate at Tourism Ireland, with leadership responsibility for marketing the island of Ireland to overseas visitors. Collaborating with industry and government partners, Alice and the Tourism Ireland team are proud to support and grow the contribution overseas tourism makes to economies and communities across the island of Ireland.
Previously, Alice spent 19 years leading large scale commercial organisations at Google. As Managing Director, UK & Ireland Customer Solutions, she helped hundreds of thousands of businesses to digitise and succeed online. During a period based in London, Alice led Google’s own consumer marketing, growing iconic brands like Google Chrome, Maps and Gmail to market leading positions.
Alice is passionate about tourism and has not let a year of her life go by without holidaying around the island of Ireland. From 2018 to 2023, she served on the Board of Fáilte Ireland – the Irish national tourism development authority – with oversight of investments to strengthen tourism offerings and support industry through the Covid period. She is honoured to serve as Chief Executive Designate with Tourism Ireland since September 2023.
Paul Kelly, Chief Executive, Fáilte Ireland
Paul Kelly has been the Chief Executive of Fáilte Ireland since 2017. Paul has led Fáilte Ireland, the National Tourism Development Authority, through the deepest crisis ever for our country’s tourism industry. His work now is focused on driving the sustained and sustainable recovery of the industry to ensure tourism contributes even more to the economic, social, cultural and environmental future of Ireland. This future will build on Fáilte Ireland's previous successes including the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland’s Ancient East, Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands, the Dublin brand refresh and The Gathering.
Paul’s leadership has led Fáilte Ireland to be listed in the top 20 best large organisations to work in for three consecutive years and listed in the top 5 most trusted organisations in the country. In 2020 Paul was named as Ireland's Most Trusted Leader by Great Places to Work. Before his appointment as CEO of Fáilte Ireland, Paul held several management and marketing leadership roles. Raised in a small retail family business, he began his career with Procter & Gamble UK. Paul then went on to senior executive positions with Diageo Ireland, Aviva and the UCD Smurfit Business School. Paul Kelly is a native of Co. Wexford and a Commerce graduate from University College Dublin. He is married and has four children.
Conall Mac Coille, Chief Economist, Bank of Ireland
Conall Mac Coille was appointed Chief Economist at Bank of Ireland last year. Prior to that Conall was Chief economist at Davy and has also worked at the Bank of England & Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). Conall is a well-known commentator on Irish economic and financial market developments and is also author of the quarterly MyHome report on the Irish housing market.
Stefan Wissenbach,
Entrepreneur, Author and Thought Leader
He is passionate about the hospitality profession and equipping organisations with the right culture frameworks and mindsets, so they can attract and retain the best talent and fulfil their potential. His unique approach is to simplify the complex and provide simple, proven structures and frameworks that are easy to implement whilst delivering bottom-line business benefits.
His company, Empowered, works with some of the world’s leading hoteliers and brands and is the People and Culture Partner for Preferred. Stefan regularly speaks at hospitality conferences in Europe and the USA, sharing his passion for cultures that create ‘Everyone’s Dream Company’. His latest book, 'Hospitality: It’s a profession not an industry!' will be published shortly.
Stefan is the Founder of The Magic Future Foundation, which is building 100 schools in honour of his late son Oliver Wissenbach.
Johnny Sexton
As Ireland’s all-time record points scorer, Johnny Sexton is one of Rugby’s most decorated personalities.
Johnny began his professional career with Leinster in 2005 and ended it by captaining not only the Boys in Blue from 2018 but also the Ireland National Team from 2019 until 2023.
Arguably the greatest fly-half Ireland has produced to date; Johnny led his team to a historic Grand Slam win in March 2023. He has scored over 1,000 points in his international career.
Besides playing for Leinster and Ireland, he also represented the British & Irish Lions on their 2013 & 2017 tours, as well as playing for Racing from 2013 to 2015.
The former Irish Number 10 is regarded by teammates and coaches as one of the world’s best players and won the title of World Rugby Player of the Year in 2018, having been only the second Irish player in history to have been awarded this recognition.
Following the Rugby World Cup 2023, Johnny hung up his boots in October, and later joined Ardagh Group as their Commercial Manager.