Shay Garvey, Chair
Shay Garvey is a founding partner of Frontline Ventures and one of the most experienced early-stage technology investors in Europe. He has had a wide and varied career - covering corporates, startups and venture capital. Throughout his career in venture, he has been part of teams that have raised $600 million in nine funds through 3 different economic cycles. Shay has engineering degrees from University College Dublin and University of New Brunswick Canada. He also has an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He has long been interested in the convergence of startup culture and society, as well the internationalisation of companies and ideas. He is Chair of Genio and Board member of the Irish Times DAC.

[email protected] 

Madeleine Clarke is founder of Genio, a nonprofit organisation managing philanthropic and public funding and providing capacity-building for scaling successful, citizen-centred innovations for social and environmental impact. Genio works at national and EU levels and is a trusted partner of government agencies, EU institutions and international foundations. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the ESF Social innovation + Initiative; chairs the Steering Group for the establishment of a National Centre for Social Innovation in Ireland; and is on the Steering Committee for the King Baudouin Foundation’s European Programme. Madeleine has been Chairperson of the European Venture Philanthropy Association, Board Director of Social Venture Partners International, and was the Inaugural Chairperson of the Children’s Rights Alliance in Ireland.   Previously Madeleine held a number of leadership roles as a professional psychologist, manager, and consultant to philanthropic, government and social service providing organisations. She holds an M.A. Psychology, and M.Sc. [Econ.].

Dr. Donal de Buitléir is a member of the Policing Authority and a Board Member of the RCSI Hospital Group. Donal was a member of the Board of the Health Service Executive from 2005 to 2009. Previously he worked in AIB Group and in the Irish public service.  He was a member of a number of Government reviews in the areas of local government reform, integration of tax and welfare, business regulation, health funding and higher education. He is an Eisenhower Fellow.

Nick Ashmore is Director of the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) a sovereign development fund with a mandate to invest on a commercial basis to support economic activity and employment in Ireland. Prior to taking up this role he served as Chief Executive of the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI). He also served as Project Director during the setup of the SBCI. He joined the NTMA as part of the team managing the National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF) in 2006, where he served as Head of Private Equity and Infrastructure before becoming Deputy Director in 2011. Before joining the NTMA Nick was an Investment Manager with Greenaap Consultants Limited, a private family office. He trained as a Chartered Accountant with Grant Thornton in Glasgow and Edinburgh and is a graduate of the University of Aberdeen in Accountancy and UCC with an MSc in Management Practice and is also a member of the Scottish Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Jane Feighery is the Director of Client Services at Beachhut PR, a boutique PR agency specialising in supporting tech scale-ups to bring their stories and impact of their technology to the world.

Prior to entering the realm of tech PR & Communications, Jane provided consultancy and coaching services to entrepreneurs in the development of business strategies suited to their own unique ambitions, life goals, and values. She brings a blend of purpose and profit–driven expertise to her work, drawing on her experience with a diverse array of companies, sectors and markets during her time working with LinkedIn, Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, Books at One, and Bord Bia.

A graduate of Smurfit Executive Business School’s Diploma in Corporate Governance, Jane also holds a BA in Modern Languages and a Post-graduate Diploma in International Business Development from The University of Manchester and DIT respectively. She is a certified Story Coach, and holds an Advanced Practitioner Diploma in Coaching with Neuroscience.

Thanks to having a younger brother with Down Syndrome, Jane takes a keen interest in the value to society of those of different abilities, and in November 2021 self-published ‘A Special Sibling- Life Lessons from my brother with Down Syndrome’.

An experienced CEO, Board member and senior leader for large (NYSE publicly listed) and private (SMEs and venture backed) companies, Conor Hanley is currently CEO of FIRE1, a connected medical device solutions company dedicated to improving outcomes for people suffering from chronic diseases. He previously worked with ResMed where he held a number of senior management positions including leading up Chronic Disease management solutions globally, running the global Cardiology business unit and leading the Ventures and Initiatives global business unit. Prior to ResMed, Conor was CEO and co-founder of BiancaMed, a venture capital backed connected medical device company. BiancaMed was acquired by ResMed in 2011. Conor was awarded a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, an MBA from INSEAD, and a B.E. from University College Dublin (UCD). He has been appointed an adjunct associate professor at UCD. Conor has completed the Leadership4Growth program at Stanford University and is a qualified Chartered Director from the Institute of Directors, UK. Conor’s board experience includes APC Ltd, HealthBeacon and chair of the Irish MedTech association.

Michael Fembek has initiated and developed the Zero Project since its early beginnings in 2009 and is now its director. As the programme manager of the Essl Foundation, he is personally in charge of the whole organizing process from research to the Zero Project Conference. Michael Fembek also works directly with the social innovations to support persons with disabilities and employment models (Discovering Hands, Specialisterne, Innovia, see above). He has a master degree in economics, and is also active in developing the Austrian Philanthropic community.