Irish Internet Association - About Us - Board of Directors

Maeve Kneafsey, MD, Elucidate, strategic online communications & marketing firm. Former CEO Hoson Publications (Golden Spiders). Web strategist and online communications expert with leading government & large private sector organisations since 2001. Founder of Irish eGovernment Awards and Centres of Excellence. Irish representative at eGovernment.

Eoin Kennedy is an account director in Slattery Communications and has over 10 years experience working in the technology Public Relations arena. Eoin has considerable knowledge of the Irish Internet Association and industry having previously handled the public relations post for the association.
Eoin is also a member of the communications committee of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce. Some of the companies Eoin has represented include Compaq, Hush, eircom net, Apple, and Sun Microsystems.

Maurice Mortell was appointed Chief Executive of Data Electronics in 2001. Maurice is responsible for developing the company’s extended IT service capabilities, as well as expanding the company’s activities through strategic acquisition. He plays a significant role in the evolution of company policy, strategy and products.

Maurice Mortell joined Data Electronics in 1991. Appointed Chief Executive in 2001, Maurice is responsible for developing the company’s extended IT service capabilities, as well as expanding the company’s activities through strategic acquisition. He plays a significant role in the evolution of company policy, strategy and products.

A graduate of the College of Commerce in Dublin, Maurice has 12 years experience in the telecoms and internet sectors in Ireland. Prior to joining Data Electronics Maurice worked within the chartered accountancy field.

He also spent a number of years with Guinness Ireland. Maurice’s career in Data Electronics has seen him occupy a number of senior management positions, Financial Controller, Business Development Manager and now CEO.

A member of the Telecommunications Information Federation Committee (TIF), Maurice is a regular speaker on the Web hosting and colocation markets in Ireland. He also chairs the “Outsourced Services Group” within IBEC, as well as sitting on the Governing Board of ICT Ireland.

Gary Conroy is the Chief Operating Officer of Realex Payments, having been with the company since 2005.

Gary has over ten years experience in International Financial Services. Prior to joining Realex Payments, Gary managed Commodity Operations with London-based investment banking giants Goldman Sachs International, and delivered Banking Software Implementation projects around the globe for MISYS / Kindle Banking Systems.

In his work with Realex Payments, Gary helps Irish Internet businesses to optimise their online revenue potential.  To this effect, Gary has authored White Papers on the area of Online Payments Strategy.

As the Chief Operating Officer of a Software as a Service (SaaS) organisation, Gary is ideally placed to facilitate sharing and developing best practice for Cloud Computing and SaaS organisations.

Yvonne Cunnane is a senior associate of the Information Technology Law Group within the leading Irish corporate law firm - Matheson Ormsby Prentice. She specialises in advising Irish and international clients on information technology related issues including systems/services procurement and implementation, intellectual property, e-commerce, data protection and privacy law. Yvonne lectures at the European Rechts Acadamie (Germany) and European Institute of Public Administrators (Luxemburg) and is a frequent speaker at conferences. She has been published in legal and business journals in Ireland.

Keith Bohanna is an experienced internet consultant and trainer and has been working in the internet and technology sector since 2000. He previously served as an IIA board member in 2000 and 2001.

He is also the co-founder of dbTwang, a new web based service for guitar players, collectors and enthusiasts.

He project manages a small number of medium term projects on behalf of client organisations including the National Centre for Creativity. He is on the Tech Check panels of 10 City and County Enterprise Boards where he delivers independent technology audits for their clients.

Keith is a strong advocate for community lead technology initiatives and is involved in the development of both blogging and Barcamps in Ireland. He was co-organiser of the successful Barcamp SouthEast.

He originally qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in 1988 and then gained experience at senior management level with a number of SME's before returning to Ireland in 1994. Keith then worked for 5 years with both the South East Business and Innovation Centre and Kilkenny County Enterprise Board before setting up his own businesses.

Peter Callan is managing director of DigitalworX limited, the digital division of The Irish Times Ltd which runs Ireland.com, MyHome.ie, irishracing.com and its interest in entertainment.ie and Electric Media.

Peter joined The Irish Times in 2004 and previously held the role of group financial controller.

He qualified as a chartered accountant with BDO before spending four years with the Techrete group as financial controller. He also held a number of senior roles over a five-year period at electro mechanical group APW, including vice-president of finance for Europe Asia and South America, and general manager and finance director of its Dublin operation.

Clare Dillon joined Microsoft in 2003 and currently heads up Microsoft Ireland’s Developer and Platform Group. The Developer and Platform Group works with Microsoft’s customers, partners, local software companies and particularly the broad developer community to help them get the most out of Microsoft's latest technologies.

Before joining Microsoft, Clare was product manager with Havok, the market-leading games software provider and prior to that worked as a product manager for five years with IONA technologies. Clare holds an honours degree in Pure Mathematics and a Higher Diploma in Education, both from Trinity College Dublin.

Gareth Dunlop is the Managing Director of Tibus, an all island internet agency, with offices in Belfast and Dublin. Tibus specialises in web development (and related disciplines) and network services (primarily hosting and broadband) for businesses, throughout Ireland and the UK. Tibus' internet software specialisms include systems integration, content management and usable interface design. On the networks side, the focus is on providing business-grade broadband and hosting, along with personalised support services, for businesses of all sizes.

Gareth writes and lectures extensively on internet related matters, authors a regular monthly column for Business Eye magazine in Northern Ireland, and has previously occupied a regular column for Business Plus magazine in the Republic of Ireland.

Prior to joining Tibus in 1997, Gareth worked as a programmer in AIB Bank, Dublin, where he was part of the software team which launched Ireland's first online personal banking project, 24hour-online.ie. Gareth has a BSc in Computer Science from Queen's University, Belfast.

Shenda Loughnane is Managing Director of ICAN, Ireland's leading interactive advertising agency. Shenda has over 15 year experience in both traditional and Interactive advertising. She began her career as a media planner buyer at Zenithmedia and Euro RSCG in London before heading to Eastern Europe, where she was responsible for setting up Zenithmedia in the Czech and Slovak Republics. She returned to Dublin in 1997 to run the media department of CDP Advertising, before joining ICAN in 1998.

Donal Mc Guinness is Business Development Director of Zapa Technology.  A former winner of the Mobile Internet Net Visionary Award, Donal was a co-founder of Itsmobile back in 1999.

Itsmobile developed and and sold award winning mobile payment and eCommerce products and services on a global basis.  Payzone acquired Itsmobile in 2004 and Donal¹s attention turned to offering online payment processing and fraud management solutions in Ireland, Sweden, Belgium and Germany.

Donal currently sits on the board of a film distribution company, Dublin Film Distributors, and is resposbile for their new content acquisition.

Donal is particularly interested in joining the Board of the IIA to help champion the area of Content 360; essentially enabling businesses to reap the benefits of using content across all media; internet, mobile & TV.