Ambassador Programme

BIOPAX LTD is an innovative packaging and label company which aims to disrupt how we package and present products with the environment and carbon output at the heart of everything we do. Our aim is to render quality and creative printing services to Foodservice/QSR, retail food & FMCG end-users to support their journey to a more environmentally-conscious operation. Our primary goal is to supply sustainable, polyethylene-free and biodegradable packaging that accommodates bespoke requirements across a widely-scoped customer base.

Hinch Distillery is a multi-faceted spirit business. It produces a selection of premium whiskeys and its own Ninth Wave Gin from a new £25m distillery located outside Ballynahinch in County Down.

This aesthetically charming distillery is more than a functional part of the business. It was created to play a role in NI’s hospitality and tourism sector by offering tours, a new vibrant space for private events including weddings, as well as providing a food element from its Brasserie restaurant.

The business, which is the creative realisation of Dr Terry Cross OBE, has a 10 strong portfolio of whiskeys, from 18-year-old single malt in a Château De La Ligne finish (a Bordeaux wine also owned by Dr Cross), through to peated single malt, small batch bourbon cask variety and a partnership with local craft beer breweries to produce a limited Hinch Craft & Casks selection.

Ninth Wave Gin has been labelled officially as the world’s most awarded gin brand in 2020 by leading awarding bodies including the World Gin Awards, China Wine & Spirits Awards, Alberta Beverage Awards, International Spirits Challenge and competitions managed by Australian International Spirits and International Wine & Spirits.

Hinch Irish Whiskey has become a firm favourite locally and internationally. The team also offer a number of cask programmes. An Chead Dún cask release contains their first ever distillation of Irish Single Malt spirit, and the An Dara Dún cask release programme is a celebration of time and a fitting tribute to the incredible story of Irish Whiskey.

www.hinchdistillery.com

Three is Ireland’s largest mobile telecommunications provider with 41.6% market share and 3.4 million customers.

Our network is built for data; with 99% 4G coverage, and we carry over half of all mobile data on our network. Three’s 5G network is available to customers in every county.

Three has over 1300 employees throughout Ireland, with our head office in Dublin, our award-winning contact centre in Limerick where our 450-strong team manages 1.4 million calls every year, and 60 retail stores nationwide.

At Three we strive to provide our customers with a better-connected life through meaningful products, best in class service and a connected network experience.

Through our corporate responsibility programmes we aim to demonstrate a strong and visible commitment to the communities in which we work across Ireland – maximising the benefits that we as a mobile operator can bring.

Mason Hayes & Curran LLP is a business law firm with 105 partners and offices in Dublin, London, New York and San Francisco. They understand the challenges domestic and international organisations face in business. They assist clients in meeting their ongoing legal and commercial imperatives through every business life cycle.

ROSTRO is a fintech company focused on capital markets and digital assets. The Group operates multi-regulated brokerage houses that provide execution and clearing of both listed securities, as well as OTC Derivatives. In addition, ROSTRO offers Banking, Alternative Finance, and Digital Asset storage with both on and off ramp solutions.

J.P. Morgan’s Corporate & Investment Bank is a global leader across banking, markets and securities services. The world’s most important corporations, governments and institutions entrust us with their business in more than 100 countries. With $32 trillion of assets under custody and $709 billion in deposits, the Corporate & Investment Bank provides strategic advice, raises capital, manages risk and extends liquidity in markets around the world. J.P. Morgan Ireland was established in 1968 and delivers to our clients today banking, securities services and merchant service solutions.

Joe was a co-founder of Ion Equity and has played a leading role in most of its investments and exits. He has filled several Non-Executive and Executive positions on portfolio companies.

Joe has been involved in developing integration strategies, business models reviews, and portfolio exits in the energy and services sectors and more recently in the film studio space. He is involved with Shelbourne Football Club and in a significant bog remediation/rewetting project as well as forestry services and a telecom outsourced services start up in Kosovo.

Prior to co-founding Ion Equity, Joe was a Director at Ernst & Young where his clients included some of Ireland’s leading companies. He has experience advising growing companies on how to achieve their business objectives. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants as well as an Associate of the Institute of Taxation.

Glenveagh Homes listed on Euronext Dublin and the London Stock Exchange, is one of Ireland’s largest homebuilders.

Driven by innovation and a commitment to opening up access to sustainable high-quality homes, Glenveagh is on track to complete 1,400 new homes this year. The company has a longer-term target of delivering over 3,000 units a year from 2024 to communities across Ireland. 

We believe that everyone should have access to high quality homes in flourishing communities across Ireland. It is only by putting our customers at the centre of how we plan, design, build and market can we create homes that will have lasting value. 

We are committed to investing in the communities we build in through sustainable place making, supporting local employment, education and businesses where we build.

We are a family owned and family run company. We started small and have grown to become one of Ireland’s largest privately owned agri-businesses with multi-disciplined food manufacturing facilities located throughout Ireland, the United Kingdom and around the globe. We value the people that work for us and believe that we have become the company we are because of the loyalty and support we have received from those around us.

Avvio provides booking technology to the hotel industry backed up by digital and design services. We have partnerships with over 600 hotels, serviced apartments and other accommodation providers globally. Avvio is a trusted partner and works closely with each customer to ensure that they’re at the front of the pack in a busy digital world. In October 2017, Avvio launched the world’s first and only booking engine powered by AI. Allora.ai is capable of improving its own behaviour and providing the best possible tailored experience for the hotel website visitor.  Allora.ai delivers the right message, to the right customer at the right time. Avvio strives to ensure that the hotel direct channel should be able to compete effectively with OTAs in an ever-evolving technology space, and the booking engine should evolve from a passive traditional approach, to a truly engaging sales channel as part of the hotel website.

At PwC Ireland, helping you achieve your goals is at the heart of what we do. By listening to you and understanding your vision, we can help you overcome the challenges you face. Whether you are a large global organisation, a government body or a family owned private business, we have the experience and expertise to help you. By tapping into our global network, we can connect you with the right people at the right time. So, wherever you or your customers are in the world, we are too!

As the largest professional services firm in Ireland, we offer a broad range of services across audit, tax and advisory. So whether you are looking to keep track of the numbers, make tax simple or need help adapting to changing operating environments, we have the knowledge and capabilities to help you. Imagine what you could achieve with the expertise of more than 236,000 people from around the world across 158 countries, all of whom are committed to delivering quality and creating value for you.

PwC is a diverse organisation and one of the largest employers in the world. We know that to create the best value for clients, we must constantly attract and nurture the best talent. We have motivated and energetic people from a variety of backgrounds—arts, business, engineering, finance and law—who ensure you receive the depth and breadth of insight and perspective required to negotiate an increasingly complex global environment.

The Eithne and Paddy Memorial Fund, was set up by the well-known hotelier John Fitzpatrick in 1994, in memory of his late parents, Eithne and Paddy. The Memorial Fund works to raise funds in support of a diverse group of worthy organizations across the island of Ireland that focus on a range of much needed initiatives including expanding educational opportunities, helping families and children affected by serious illnesses, delivering social services to the elderly and fostering peace and reconciliation between people across the whole of Ireland.  To date, the Memorial Fund has raised over $4.5 million.

Carson McDowell is NI’s largest independent law firm. They have a huge amount of heritage yet they’re passionate about building a modern law firm with leading edge technology and stellar client service at the forefront of their offering.

They are recognised as market leaders and are currently ranked top across more areas of expertise than any other law firm locally. With over 100 solicitors working across a vast number of specialist practice areas, their rich mixture of people, culture, heritage and reputation makes them who they are.

Many of Northern Ireland’s Top 100 companies choose Carson McDowell as their legal advisors. The firm is proud to serve the needs of some of Northern Ireland’s largest companies while also advising many SMEs and local start-ups particularly across the technology, food and drink, energy and renewables, retail, construction, healthcare and transport sectors.

At Deloitte, we make an impact that matters for our clients, our people, our profession, and in the wider society by delivering the solutions and insights they need to address their most complex business challenges.

As the largest global professional services and consulting network, with approximately 286,000 people in more than 150 countries, we bring world-class capabilities and high-quality services to our clients. In Ireland, Deloitte has nearly 3,000 people providing Audit & Assurance, Tax, Consulting, Risk and Financial Advisory services to public and private clients spanning multiple industries. In addition, Deloitte in Northern Ireland currently employs over 1000 staff across a range of disciplines.

Our approach combines insight and innovation from multiple disciplines, with business and industry knowledge, to help our clients excel anywhere in the world. Our people have the leadership capabilities, experience and insight to collaborate with clients so they can move forward with confidence.

Energia Group is a modern customer-centric utility focusing on renewable technologies. Delivering optimal customer solutions is everything to us. As a result, we are committed to our customers and trusted by over 800,000 homes and businesses throughout Ireland to meet their needs in an evolving energy environment.

Innovation is critically important to us. To date we have invested over €1 billion in the energy market across the island of Ireland. Focusing on our core segments: Renewables, Flexible Generation and Customer Solutions, has further reinforced our position as a key player within the energy industry powering the energy transition.  Through the Group’s €3bn Positive Energy investment programme, we are committed to making a substantial contribution to climate action on the island and to the achievement of government targets.  

Today we operate from offices in Dublin, Belfast, Antrim and Omagh and are one of only 40 companies to have achieved the Responsible Business Mark from Business in the Community.

Michael Peirce graduated in Engineering at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1964.

After a period of working at Imperial Chemicals in the U.K. , he returned to Ireland in 1970 to lecture in Manufacturing Engineering.   He received his PhD for his research into Computer Integrated Manufacturing in 1976.

In 1978 he founded Mentec International, an engineering oriented IT company, and became CEO and later Chairman until 2006. In that period he was a founder Director and  Chairman of Parthus, Vedia, Mentor Capital, Amiba and Chairman of Isle of Arran Distillers in Scotland.  More recently he became a founder Director and Chairman of Powerscourt Distillery In Ireland.

He is a Member of the Provost’s Council  at Trinity College and maintains a keen interest in Third level education, music, English Literature and Rugby.

KPMG in Ireland is a leading professional services firm with over 3,300 people working in 4 locations – Dublin, Belfast, Cork and Galway.  We are an ambitious firm – ambitious for our clients and our people to be successful. 

We provide Audit, Tax, Deal Advisory and Consulting services to leading multinationals, privately owned businesses, entrepreneurs and locally owned start-ups.  Our clients are based right across the island of Ireland, the UK and further afield.

We are fully committed to providing our people with the technical training and skills they need to maximise their potential and provide our clients with the service and expertise they require.  This starts from the ground up – from our Summer Internship programme which gives university students a taste of working life in KPMG, to our awarding-winning Graduate Trainee programme and an ever evolving range of professional development opportunities offered through the KPMG Business School.  We also encourage our people to give something back by getting involved in our Corporate Citizenship programme and Inclusion & Diversity initiatives.

Richard Leventhal is the Chairman, CEO and sole proprietor of Fedway Associates, a premier wholesaler of Wines and Spirits in the United States. In the 43 years that he has owned Fedway, sales have increased steadily from just under $80 million in 1978 to over $1.0 billion in 2020. Richard Leventhal is also the sole proprietor of Inter Metro Trucking and Heavy Weight Transportation, a logistics and trucking company with operations and offices in New Jersey, Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, California, and Texas. The Leventhal group is also active in real estate development with ongoing projects in both New Jersey and Georgia. In addition, Richard manages a Private Equity Portfolio and miscellaneous investments for his family office.

Richard and his wife Kathy have endowed scholarships at both the University of Chicago and the University of Southern California, as well as a research fellowship at Yale University and most recently have endowed the Richard and Kathy Leventhal Professor in the Department of Chemistry, at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, and the James Franck Institute at the University of Chicago Center for Theoretical Chemistry.

Richard is a past treasurer of the Jewish Home for the Aged at Rockleigh, New Jersey, a member of the honorary board of directors of the Make a Wish Foundation of New Jersey, a past member of the regional advisory board for JP Morgan Chase, and a member of the board of directors of the Wine and Spirit Wholesalers.

Norbrook Laboratories Ltd is a leading global provider of veterinary pharmaceuticals enhancing the health of farm and companion animals. It is one of the largest privately owned veterinary pharmaceutical companies in the world, and celebrated 50 years in business in 2019. The company’s headquarters are in Newry, Co Down, where the majority of the products are manufactured and tested. The company also have a facility in Co. Monaghan and in Kenya, with Sales & Marketing teams in every continent around the world. A multi-year, multi-million pound capital investment programme has delivered state-of-the-art laboratories, enhanced manufacturing facilities and improved the IT infrastructure, supporting the continued success of the Company globally. A large portfolio of products with new products launched annually has helped maintain the Company’s global presence in a buoyant sector. The Company is a major employer in Northern Ireland and a major contributor to the economy in Ireland. Norbrook has strong partnerships in the local community and its employees are actively involved in giving back to the community through a variety of initiatives.

JOHN HEALY OBE – Vice President & Managing Director, Allstate NI

John joined Allstate NI in January 2016 as Managing Director responsible for over 2,400 employees based in Belfast, Derry and Strabane.  He was promoted to Vice President in July 2016.

John is the Executive Sponsor for the Women in Technology at Allstate (WITA) and the Embrace (LGBT) network.  External to Allstate NI he is a Women in Business Diversity Champion and in June 2019 he was announced as the Northern Ireland ambassador for Business in the Community. John is a member of the Queen’s University Employers’ Forum, is a school governor and is Chair of the ICT Panel of the NI Government’s Technology Foresight Group MATRIX. He was also the past President of the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce,

PAUL CASSIDY – Learning & Development Senior Manager, Allstate NI

Paul joined Allstate NI in June 2020 to lead the Learning & Development team and drive the L&D strategy across a wide range of learning programs.  He has 25 years in HR and L&D, working across a range of transformative projects, establishing strategy and building HR/L&D teams to effectively support business goals.    Paul started his career as an HR Graduate with Moy Park.   Over a 13-year period Paul has had many roles within HR mainly focused on L&D, supporting and introducing projects such as; company onboarding, leadership curriculum and standardizing practices.   

Sean has spent the past 40 years in the technology and consulting industries working for many of the leading global firms. He is currently non-executive Chairman of Activeops; the world leading software for operations performance management as well as non-executive Chairman at Avvio; the world’s first AI hotel booking engine. He is a founder-investor in Scaleup group assisting digital firms achieve rapid growth and is also managing partner in a firm providing CEO and CSO coaching.

Previous roles include; Chairman of Southbank Sinfonia – a charity for young musicians, Board member for Capsticks law firm, and Chair of the trade association for UK IT Telecom and Electronics companies (now TechUK). 

During his corporate career, Sean was primarily involved with international technology outsourcing. Key roles included GM&VP Strategic Outsourcing Europe for IBM, UK MD commercial for Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Chairman and CEO of EDS UK and Global Vice President for CRM as well as Board Chair of Memorex Telex and Board of Eisys a Financial services business process provider. Sean began his career as a technology trainee at AC Delco and was a programmer, analyst, project leader and data centre manager before beginning his career in management. 

Holder of two masters degrees (MBA, MSc organisational behaviour) Sean is also a qualified Master practitioner and  executive coach. He lives outside London with his family.

Breakthru Beverage Group is a family-owned and operated beverage alcohol wholesaler.   Breakthru operates in 16 states in the US and also operates throughout Canada.  Breakthru proudly employs over 7,000 associates.  Breakthru is proud of their multigenerational legacy of service, innovation, and expertise and focus on three key differentiators that drive it’s business forward: people, portfolio, and platform. www.breakthrubev.com

Bloomberg, the global business and financial information and news leader, gives influential decision makers a critical edge by connecting them to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas. The company’s strength – delivering data, news and analytics through innovative technology, quickly and accurately – is at the core of the Bloomberg Terminal. Bloomberg’s enterprise solutions build on the company’s core strength: leveraging technology to allow customers to access, integrate, distribute and manage data and information across organizations more efficiently and effectively.

ABP is one of Europe’s leading privately owned agribusiness companies. It is the largest beef processor in the UK and Ireland. The company also operates substantial renewables (Olleco), pet food (C&D) and protein divisions. ABP employs over 11,000 people and has 47 manufacturing plants in the Ireland, UK, Denmark, Poland, Austria, Holland, France and Spain. www.abpfoodgroup.com.

In Northern Ireland, the company specialises in the processing of beef and lamb and has production facilities located in Newry and Lurgan. It employs 750 people and works with over 5000 farm families and  supplies its products to many of Britain’s leading retailers and food service providers.

Sean entered the financial services industry in 2000 after graduating from the University of Scranton. He joined Merrill Lynch Wealth Management in 2008, where he leads The Gaffey Mellody Savoie Group. Within the group, Sean crafts customized portfolios with a focus on impact investing and uncovering unique opportunities to support each client’s specific goals.

Outside of work, Sean serves as a Board member for three non-profit organizations, Co-operation Ireland, which focuses on peace and reconciliation on the island of Ireland; the Children’s Medical Research Foundation (CMRF), which seeks to improve the quality of children’s healthcare and research to transform the lives of sick children, young people and their families in Ireland and the United States and the Rockville Centre Lacrosse Club.  Sean previously served on the Board of the Irish International Business Network-NY (IIBN), which fosters the global connectivity of Irish entrepreneurs. In addition, Sean has been named to the Irish American Business 100 on several occasions.

Sean resides in Rockville Centre, NY with his wife Allison and their two sons, Aiden and Liam.

Over 120 years ago, John Henderson set up a stall selling locally produced and churned butter, locally laid eggs and local cheese. John Henderson was a well-known figure and frequently was a judge of cheese and butter at the annual Balmoral Show. From this, a successful wholesale business followed, primarily selling out of St George’s Market, which of course has its own impressive heritage and is still thriving in 2018. Some years later, in 1923, the business was incorporated as a limited company.

In 1929, William Agnew married John Henderson’s daughter, and in 1940 William joined the company as a salesman, taking a controlling interest when John Henderson retired three years later. A few years later in 1947 John Henderson, founder of the company died at the age of 82.

William expanded the business and the range of products it sold. The business grew and required a further expansion of the premises at St Georges Market and a few years later Henderson’s took on an additional warehouse at Dawson Street, off the Antrim Road.

A key development however, was the acquisition of Andrew Millar & Company in 1956. They occupied a 50,000 sq ft warehouse at Ravenhill Avenue, Belfast. Andrew Millar was a very old established jam manufacturing business formed in 1873, Millar jam had been a market leading product in the Province. Mass produced jam post war from the big companies meant that it was difficult to compete with the national companies and the jam production was ended after two or three years.

William Agnew had a son John and two daughters Margaret and Dorothy. John Agnew would join the firm in 1957 after he had been sent to South Wales as part of his management training from 1955 to 1957 at Capper & Co (Newport) Ltd. William Agnew continued to run the company, with his son, John Agnew joining in 1957. John Agnew has since handed over control of the company to his sons, Geoffrey and Martin who continue as co-chairmen.

Heron Bros is a family owned business formed by six brothers in 1956 in Draperstown Northern Ireland.  The company grew and diversified to reflect their keen interests in construction, land & property development, specialist joinery manufacture, quarrying and building supplies.  Between 1983 and 1985, Heron Bros grew to become the largest private landlord of industrial land in Northern Ireland.  The company continues to grow and under the current leadership of Group Managing Director Damian Heron has expanded its construction, land & property and manufacturing operations across the UK, Ireland and Europe.

ANGELA CANNY studied Hotel Business Management in Birmingham, and subsequently trained with Marriott Hotels in Miami, Florida. On relocating to the UK, Angela worked for a number of global hotel brands including Le Meridien and Radisson, moving on to tourist attractions including Granada Studios, Manchester, eventually returning to Ireland to work at the Guinness Storehouse, Dublin. In 2010, she started working in the area of asset management and led several commercial teams for companies such as Windward Management and BDL Ireland restructuring hotel & venue assets across UK, Germany & Belgium. With a number of post grads, most recently from MIT in the area of Artificial Intelligence in Business Strategy, Angela has spent the last three years working in the tech space area focusing on sales & advertising solutions into the hospitality space. Angela’s latest project is leading a startup in the chatbot space. 

Over his 40-year career, Jim Clerkin has worked for many prominent companies in the wine and spirits industry. In his current role, as President of Strategic Development and Advisor to the CEO, Jim is an Executive member of the Moët Hennessy Operational Committee, carries responsibility for key areas of global strategic development and participates in defining and executing the global Mergers & Acquisition strategy. Furthermore, Jim leads the Woodinville Board of Directors.  Jim joined Moët Hennessy in 2008, and prior to his current role, he held the roles of Executive Vice President and COO at Moët Hennessy USA and most recently of President and CEO of Moët Hennessy North America.

Jim began his career in Ireland, where he rose through the ranks at Guinness, to ultimately become an executive member of the Board of Directors. In 1994, Grand Metropolitan recruited him to head its Irish wines and spirits division. Following his tenure at Grand Metropolitan, Diageo appointed him as EVP and President, assuming responsibility for Diageo’s wine and spirits division in the Western region of the United States, and consecutively, he joined Allied Domecq in 2003 as President for North America and Canada.

Jim has been an Independent Non-Executive Director of C&C Group plc since April 1, 2017. He currently resides in New York City, and is committed to supporting various philanthropic causes.  Jim is the Chairman of Co-operation Ireland in the U.S., which is a nonprofit that promotes peace and sustainable reconciliation in his home country of Ireland.

We partner with leading organisations to transform their frontline communication, culture and operations from a worker-centric perspective. Collaborating with IT, Comms, HR and Ops teams, we address the pain point of employees who feel disconnected and unengaged. Accessible through a mobile app on employees’ personal devices, Blink is ‘pane of glass’ over existing enterprise data, tools and systems. We connect frontline workers to the wider business; equip them with the information they need; and empower them with the recognition they deserve. www.joinblink.com

Born in Belfast 1945.  Founded Oasis Retail Services Ltd in 1968 which, from small beginnings is now a significant operation, with the main emphasis of business development being in Northern Ireland employing circa 140 people.  Former National Chairman (Adult Gaming Centres Division) of BACTA (The British National Trade Association).  Current Chairman of NIACTA (The Northern Ireland Amusement Trade Association).  Past President of BCTC and Former Director of BCCM.  Former Chairman of the Northern Ireland Private Sector Funding Group IEF.  Current Deputy Chair of Belfast Jewish Community.  Current President of NIFI (Northern Ireland Friends of Israel).

Garvan O’Doherty Group is an established, successful and dynamic organisation involved in hospitality (both on and off trade) and property sectors in Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom.  It is also involved in a range of development projects which will be at the forefront of tourism and cultural developments in Northern Ireland.

Ian McLernon is the President and CEO of Remy Cointreau America’s, and Julia McLernon is an Executive Director in Global Technology at JP Morgan.  Ian and Julia have travelled extensively having lived and worked in London, Hong Kong, Singapore and now New York, where they live in Manhattan with their two sons.  Both are originally from Northern Ireland, Ian from Ballymoney and Julia from Drumahoe.  

Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits is the world’s pre-eminent distributor of beverage alcohol, and proud to be a multi-generational, family-owned company. The Company has operations in 44 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Canada. Southern Glazer’s urges all retail customers and adult consumers to market, sell, serve, and enjoy its products responsibly. For more information visit www.southernglazers.com. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @sgwinespirits and on Facebook at Facebook.com/SouthernGlazers.

Retired Senior Executive and active Independent Non-Executive Director. Board Chair at Glanbia Plc, Hazelwood Demesne Ltd (Lough Gill Distillery). Formerly CEO Intl Beam Inc , CFO Diagram Spirits and Wine Group, Partner PwC New York and Chair Supervisory Board Maximum BV.