25@25 25 @ 25 Speakers

Kerry Anthony

Kerry has worked in the third sector for over 25 years, 15 of those as a Chief Executive Officer. An expert in organisational governance, structure and strategy, Kerry has led on transformation projects in a number of large, complex organisations both nationally and internationally. As a values led leader Kerry believes that positive relationships and communication make organisations thrive.

Kerry is currently the Chief Executive of Inspire, an all-island charity and social enterprise working with people living with mental ill health, addictions and intellectual disability. She joined the organisation in August 2019 following 14 years with the Depaul an all island and international charity supporting people experiencing homelessness. She is a qualified social worker, and holds a Masters in Voluntary Sector Management.

Kerry has been the recipient of a number of awards, receiving an MBE in 2010 in recognition of her services to Housing and Homelessness. She was delighted to be awarded Third Sector Leader by the Institute of Directors in December 2021.

Samantha Barry

Samantha Barry is Glamour’s Americas Editorial Director and Irish native.

Based in New York, Samantha previously worked as a reporter for RTÉ, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the BBC and CNN, where she was an executive producer for CNN Worldwide.

Led by Barry, CNN’s 2016 presidential election coverage received the first ever Edward R. Murrow Award for excellence in social media.

Dr Tommy Bowe

Dr Tommy Bowe is an Irish television presenter, entrepreneur and former rugby union player. A trustee of The British & Irish Lions Charitable Trust, he represented the British and Irish Lions on the 2009 and 2013 tours to South Africa and Australia respectively. He enjoyed a lengthy and hugely successful international career with Ireland and played his club rugby with Ulster and Ospreys.

A graduate and honorary graduate of Ulster University, Tommy has a degree in Construction Engineering and a post graduate diploma in Business Management from the University of London.

Towards the end of his rugby career Tommy developed a shoe collection with Monaghan business Lloyd & Pryce and has since gone on to develop a clothing brand, XV Kings. Tommy has established a successful career as a television presenter and is a host of morning television show, Ireland AM.

Dr Jayne Brady

An engineer at heart with extensive, board experience and a track record of success that transcends blue-chip corporations, start-ups and funding ecosystems. She has over twenty year’s leadership experience and a diverse skillset including venture capital, due diligence, corporate governance, setting strategy, leading teams, technical ownership and finance across complex organisational structures internationally.

Recent roles include Digital Innovation Commissioner, Partner in Venture Capital firm with £100Mn+ funds under management and co-founder of an Artificial Intelligence start-up. She was also a member of the UK Government’s Innovation Expert Group and an Entrepeneurial Expert for the Said Business School at Oxford University.

She is deeply committed to delivering economic and social development through harnessing innovation and was recently recognised for services to the economy with both an MBE and honorary doctorate. Jayne has a strong, established professional network and is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors, the Institution of Engineering and Technology and the Irish Academy of Engineers.

Sarah Friar

As the CEO of Nextdoor, I am proud to lead a team that is revolutionizing the way people connect and build community. Our platform is empowering millions of neighbors, small businesses, and organizations to come together, share information, and build meaningful relationships in their local neighborhoods. The need for this grass roots connection has never been greater.

With a background in technology and a passion for creating social impact, I have spent my career focused on using technology to improve people’s lives. I am driven by the belief that technology can be a force for good, and I am committed to building products that bring people closer together.

In addition to my role at Nextdoor, I’m a proud co-launcher of Ladies Who Launch, board member at Walmart, ConsenSys, and Operation HOPE, Nextdoor Kind Foundation donor, Advisor to the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford and the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, part of the Stanford Institute for HumanCentered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) and an Aspen Fellow. Most importantly, I am a mother of two, and a proud N. Irish native now living in the U.S.

In my free time you can find me at a book club, hiking with a friend or mentoring someone on the move, or listening to my favorite podcasts.

Candice Mama

Candice Mama’s story has been listened to by the Dalai Lama.

She is one of Vogue Magazine’s top 33 most inspiring women in the world alongside: Nicole Kidman, Michelle Obama, Malala.

She was named in the Top 20 African Women by the African Union and United Nations celebrating women who have contributed in building peace in Africa presented by UN Secretary General António Guterresand Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg.

In 2020 as the United Nations celebrated 75 years they chose 75 people to celebrate and honour and Candice was chosen as one of the #UN75 People; 75 Stories.

She is currently serving as the Co-CEO for AIME mentoring in Australia, which operates in 52 countries across the world.

Deepa Mann-Kler

Ulster University; Executive Producer for Virtual Production at Aura Studios; Artist and member of BAFTA Connect.

Neon harnesses the power of immersive technologies to create authentic augmented and virtual reality narrative driven experiences. As Director and Producer, Neon has won multiple awards most lately with Discover ME. Neon launched The Metaverse & Me AR, AR Peace Wall and AR Street Art apps freely available on iOS and Play Store. A TEDx speaker “Being Human” and thought leader Deepa regularly keynotes on the intersection of storytelling, digital transformation, technical innovation, leadership, inclusion, ethics, bias, data, AI, design and creativity.

Lisa McGee

Lisa McGee, an award-winning screenwriter and playwright from Derry, is the creator, writer and executive producer of the acclaimed Derry Girls.

She co-created, co-wrote and was executive producer on THE DECEIVED with her husband Tobias Beer and was creative director, executive producer and wrote an episode of the BBC monologues on poverty Skint. Her other TV credits include London Irish, Raw, Being Human, The White Queen and Indian Summers.

Michael McBride

Prof. Sir Michael McBride was appointed to the post of Chief Medical Officer for the Department of Health, in September 2006. He was a Consultant in the Health Service since 1994 when he was appointed Consultant Physician in HIV medicine at the Royal Group of Hospitals. Prior to joining the department he had been Medical Director at the Royal Group of Hospitals from August 2002.

Prof. Sir Michael McBride took up the post of Chief Medical Officer during a time of significant change for Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland with responsibilities for Policy and Strategy in relation to Public Health, Quality and Safety and Research and Development. He also provides strategic advice to Minister and other Government departments on health related matters. He has been closely involved in the development of the new Health and Social Care structures, post Review of Public Administration, including the establishment of the Public Health Agency. Prof. Sir Michael McBride currently leads in the work to transform health and social services in Northern Ireland in line with Health and Wellbeing 2026 – Delivering Together.

Prof. Sir Michael McBride was knighted in Her Majesty’s 2021Birthday Honours for services to public health in Northern Ireland. He was awarded a Professorship in Public Health Practice from Queens University Belfast in 2021 for services to Public Health.

Lynn McKeown

Lynn is the COO of Power of Choice, Founder of LMK Leadership Consultancy, a NLP Master Practitioner, and an International multi-award winner in ‘Business’ and for her ‘Extraordinary Contribution During a Global Pandemic’. Lynn helps senior leaders and teams in private and public sectors, focusing on their strategy, leadership and culture and is passionate about people and creating great places to work, developing coaching, wellbeing and resilience initiatives.

Through her experience in businesses including Aviation, Veterinary, Optometry, Recruitment, Lynn has explored and dissected the health of the business, working on business strategy, operational efficiencies, improving profitability, creating purpose and values, setting outcomes and getting under the team’s skin in life and work, to help them perform at their best.

Lynn is a professional member of the Association of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (ANLP) and the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD), an Associate Lecturer at Ulster University; an Associate Consultant and Partner for The Chief Executive’s Forum & DMS Ireland (Accredited CIPD Centre) and has worked for world leading brands such as Aer Lingus and Pfizer/Zoetis.

Monica McWilliams

Monica McWilliams is Emeritus Professor at Ulster University and author of ‘Bringing It Out in The Open’ which led to the first government policy on domestic violence.

She co-founded the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition and was a delegate to the multi- party peace negotiations leading to the 1998 peace agreement and was subsequently elected to the first Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly. Monica was Chief Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission where she drafted the advice on a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland.

She is a Commissioner on the Independent Reporting Commission to end paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland and recently published her memoir ‘Stand Up, Speak Out’ charting her activism over the decades, including her work in tackling domestic violence.

Maeve Monaghan

Maeve was appointed to NOW Group in 2001 and has been responsible for the development of the organisation over the past 21 years. She has been Chief Executive for the past 13 years and believes passionately in the rights of people with disabilities to have equal access to high quality training and employment.

Maeve has an Advanced Diploma in Management Practices and a Masters in Executive Leadership from the University of Ulster. She was named Outstanding Leadership and Management Leader 2018 Women in Business. Maeve was Chair of the Community Foundation Northern Ireland for six years and was Chair of Give Inc, Ireland’s first Giving Circle, for four years.

Maeve was awarded an MBE in March 2022 for services to people with learning difficulties and was included in the 2018, 2019 and 2020 WISE100 UK (Women in Social Enterprise Top 100) and highly commended in Nat West’s WISE100 2022 Social Business Leader of the Year.

Brendan Mooney

Brendan is former Chief Executive Officer of Kainos, a digital technology firm that provides digital technology services and platforms for public and private organization across the world.

After studying Computer Science at the Ulster University, Brendan joined Kainos in 1989 as a trainee software engineer, before moving into a number of technical and commercial roles. Brendan was appointed CEO of Kainos in 2001. In addition to his role at Kainos, Brendan has been a Non-Executive Director at a number of technology companies and has previously been appointed to the Board of the Probation Service for Northern Ireland and has served in the Northern Ireland Courts Service as a Lay Magistrate.

Brendan holds honorary Doctorates (DSc) from Ulster University for services to business development and from Queen’s University Belfast for services to business and commerce. Brendan was awarded the EY Entrepreneur of the Year for Ireland in 2016 and participated in the World Entrepreneur programme the following year.

Jonathon Porritt

Jonathon Porritt is an eminent writer and campaigner on sustainable development.

For the last 30 years, Jonathon has provided strategic advice to leading UK and international companies to deepen their understanding of today’s converging environmental and climate crises. He is also focused on intergenerational justice, supporting young people in their activities around sustainable development issues as they face a future defined by the twin crises of the Climate Emergency and Biodiversity Emergency. He is President of The Conservation Volunteers and is involved in the work of many other NGOs and groups.

In 1996, he co-founded Forum for the Future, a leading international sustainable development charity, working with business and civil society to accelerate the shift toward a sustainable future. Jonathon was formerly Co-Chair of the Green Party (1980-83) and Director of Friends of the Earth (1984-90). He stood down as Chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission in 2009, after nine years providing high-level advice to Government Ministers, and served a ten-year term as Chancellor of Keele University (2012-2022).

Jonathon was awarded a CBE in January 2000 for services to environmental protection. His latest book, Hope in Hell (Simon & Schuster, 2020, revised 2021) is a powerful ‘call to action’ on the Climate Emergency.