IIA Debate & 10th Birthday Celebration

Mr Niall Kitson (Editor)

PC Live!

Niall Kitson is a blogger, critic and current editor of PC Live! magazine. His personal blog, ball*istic, ran for just over a year and made the longlist for the 2007 Irish Blog Awards.

A graduate in Film Studies from UCD he fell into the world of technology journalism after years of writing on media and cultural studies.  Niall’s writing credits include ComputerScope, Smart Company, The Sunday Business Post, Mongrel, Redeye and Film Ireland where he remains a regular contributor. He was appointed editor of PC Live! in April 2007 and, on top of his regular duties at the helm of Ireland’s biggest-selling technology title, he manages the magazine’s blog, social networking presence and monthly podcast, produced in association with Digital Audio Productions.

His current interests include machinimas, webebrities and the debilitating effects of Facebook.

Mr Gareth Dunlop (Founder & Owner)

Fathom

Gareth Dunlop, is the founder and owner of Fathom, a consultancy which seeks to help organisations get the most from the web.

Prior to that he was the Managing Director of Ion, a leading digital strategy and marketing company, headquartered in Belfast and with major clients in 15 countries.  Prior to Ion he was the the Managing Director of Tibus, the largest and most successful web development agency in Ireland, from 2002 to 2009.  Involved in the internet since 1996, he has gained massive commercial experience advising blue chip clients in Ireland, UK and Europe on internet strategy and best practice.

Chairman of WeddingsOnline.ie and a past Board Member of the IIA, Gareth writes & lectures extensively on internet related matters. He occupies regular columns in SiliconRepublic.com and the Irish Independent in the Republic of Ireland, and Business Eye magazine in Northern Ireland.

Mr Keith Bohanna (Internet and Business Consultant)

LifeTimeValue, Delivering Successful Web Projects

Keith Bohanna is an experienced internet consultant and trainer and has been working in the internet and technology sector since 2000. He has worked with Enterprise Ireland, The Heritage Council, Crafts Council of Ireland, National City and County Enterprise Boards and Failte Ireland as well as many small and large businesses.

One of the core areas in which he advices clients (everyone from small businesses to large organisations) is the process of delivering either a new website or a rebuild or extension of an existing one. He is currently working on 3 separate projects of this kind.

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. He is a board member of the IIA and also served in 1999 to 2001.

Peter Lawless (Director)

3R Sales & Marketing

With over 20 years in industry, most of it spent in senior sales management positions, sales success is no stranger to Peter Lawless, founder of 3R Sales and Marketing. Peter spent 12 years in multiple senior management positions within IBM. Having run divisions in Software, Services and Finance, his last role was to manage Sales and Marketing on an EMEA wide basis for IBM's CRM Software and Solutions. After leaving IBM, Peter successfully managed the Sales and Marketing Divisions of two Start-up companies, by generating significant revenue in the UK, Europe and Asia. Hundreds of owners of small and medium businesses have benefited from Peter’s advice and expertise, to grow their companies. Serving as a mentor of Enterprise Ireland and an external examiner for DIT Kevin Street, Peter is also on the boards of a number of other companies.

Alastair McDermott (MD)

Website Doctor

Alastair is the founder and Managing Director of WebSiteDoctor.com. Alastair loves generating ideas. He is the left-brain of the company, with a love of problem solving, programming and data analysis, which he is now applying to business. Alastair has a BSc Hons in Software Development from GMIT and worked most recently in Sun Microsystems. In Sun he spent 6 years working in fascinating areas such as Solaris Kerberos Development, Solaris Pre-Integration-Test, and was part of the multiple award winning Make-A-Cappuccino-in-90-Seconds team. He speaks some conversational French and, after a beer or 2, believes he’s fluent. Alastair has also worked in Dell, Software AG Ireland, and Eurologic in various engineering and technical roles and has been developing websites since 1995.