Stephen Allen is a CIM Fellow and chartered marketer.  He is also a CIM Food and Drink Sector Ambassador.  He has over 20 years marketing experience and is presently a self-employed marketing consultant to food and drink companies.  Stephen obtained an Undergraduate Honours Degree in Business Studies before starting his marketing career with Unilever, Campbell Soup Company and P&G.  In 2003 he returned to Northern Ireland and served as Group Marketing Manager for Tayto Group before being appointed as Head of Marketing at Monaghan Mushrooms and Chief Commercial Officer at Bawnbua Foods.

Nicky Jackson is the Deputy Head of Local Campaigns for the Cabinet Office. Currently covering the South West, Wales and Northern Ireland, Nicky leads a team of multi-disciplinary comms specialists working to extend and amplify the reach of priority UK Government campaigns. Before joining the Civil Service Nicky worked for six years in the award-winning communications team at Westminster City Council. She is the proud mother of a very cheeky five year old and lives in Bristol.

Peter Craven has over 20 years global marketing experience across a wide variety of sectors and customer groups. A common thread throughout his career has been the development and execution of marketing strategies developed as part of the senior management team. Peter is founder of BlueSky Video Marketing and is also a CIM Education Ambassador.

Being passionate about storytelling is nothing new to Niamh Sherwin-Barry who came to the Irish Fairy Door company as a qualified and entrepreneurial Montessori Teacher with a mission to help children to use their imagination and “to play like they used to”.  Niamh is the Chief Storyteller for The Irish Fairy Door brand and heads up the social media, customer services and PR teams: “We help fairies relocate into homes and gardens all over the world by producing high quality Irish fairy doors!”. In 2016, Niamh managed to get Kourtney Kardashian to feature her son’s personalised Irish Fairy Door on Snapchat resulting in a surge of visitors to the company’s American site and a huge boost to business. The company exports its colourful and imaginative toys to over 120 different countries across the globe, and has landed key customers including Smyths Toys, Tesco and US toy store chain Joann’s.

Ann McGregor FCIM was appointed as CEO of the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry in June 2008.

Ann was formerly Chief Executive of Enterprise NI and a director with Business in the Community. She commenced her career in the private sector working in production/materials management with Roche Manufacturing, Schering Plough and Bird’s General Foods before moving into local economic development.

Ann is a BA Honours Graduate of Queen’s University, holds a MA Marketing from Ulster University and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM).

In June 2012, Ann received a MBE for services to small business development and enterprise in the Queen’s Jubilee Birthday Honours.

Ann is currently a Trustee of the Grand Opera House and a member of the Senate at Queen’s University, Belfast.

Annmarie Hanlon is an academic and practitioner in in digital marketing strategy and the business development of social media. She is a senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing at the University of Derby where she is completing a PhD in the strategic use of social media. A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, a Member of the Marketing Institute Ireland and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Marketors, Annmarie has worked on digital marketing strategy and planning projects in sectors including legal and financial services, software and IT, communications, advertising, media, health and leisure. 

Eleanor Gilliland, Associate Director at Baker McKenzie leads the Global Marketing and Business Development teams for the firm’s Transactional Practice Group.

Eleanor, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing has over 20 years experience in marketing working with companies in the pharmaceutical and technology sectors.

Maurice Mulvenna is Professor of Computer Science at Ulster University. He has successfully completed many national and international research projects in the research areas of artificial intelligence, digital interventions for health and wellbeing, digital media communication, assistive technologies, innovation and knowledge transfer and is currently principal investigator or co-investigator in several international research projects. He was co-chair of the 32nd British Human-Computer Interaction conference in 2018, and is chair of the 31st European Cognitive Ergonomics conference in September 2019. Maurice has previously won the European €100,000 IST Grand Prize and has commercialised several technologies from research projects. He has served as board member in Ulster University’s venturing company, Innovation Ulster Ltd from 2008 to 2016 and was awarded a Distinguished Enterprise Fellowship by the University in 2009.

Chris is currently Head of Marketing & Communications at Allstate Northern Ireland, the provinces largest IT company with over 2,400 employees in Belfast, L’Derry and Strabane.  In this role Chris leads Allstate’s Corporate Marketing & Communications and Marketing Analytics teams.  The teams support each of Allstate’s business units in the design, management and implementation of their communication plans as well as driving the Allstate external marketing.

Chris has nearly 20 years Corporate Marketing experience, prior to Allstate he held the Global Marketing Manager position with Randox Laboratories and previously worked for Coca-Cola and various organisations in Australia. He graduated from the University of Stirling with a BA Pass in Marketing & Finance and a BA Hons in Marketing.

Bridgene Keeley, Sales and Marketing Director, McKeever Hotels Ltd

For the past 13 years, Bridgene, has been involved in the McKeever Hotel Group with specific responsibility for all sales and marketing activity. Throughout the years this has involved, launching new hotels into the market, rebranding from a franchise brand to an independent, the acquisition of several properties, repositioning of brands and new brand development with the most recent being Dunadry Hotel in Templepatrick. With five hotels within the McKeever Hotel Group, including Corrs Corner Hotel, Dunsilly Hotel, Adair Arms Hotel, Dillons Hotel and Dunadry Hotel; Bridgene’s strengths include driving strategies, developing brand identity and value, relationship management with media, business and tourism influencers as well as digital commerce.

Grainne Kelly, CEO and Founder of Bubblebum

Grainne Kelly is the Inventor, Founder and CEO of BubbleBum UK Ltd, the manufacturer of the world’s first inflatable car booster seat which has revolutionised the child travel industry.

A multi-award winning entrepreneur, Grainne founded BubbleBum in December 2009 and the company now exports to 27 countries globally and the BubbleBum is stocked by major retailers such as Amazon, Halfords, Target, Migros and Boots.

Within months of setting up the business, Grainne, her husband and two sons Fintan and Lorcan left their home in Northern Ireland to live in the US with the aim of breaking into the US market.

Her family immersed themselves in the culture in order to understand the market and get the product ready for certification to US standards testing and certification. Grainne qualified as a National Child Passenger Safety Technician and built the necessary relationships to launch the product into the US market. The product won the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Best Bet Booster 2011, which resulted in major media exposure including the front page of USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. It has continued to win many awards over the years including the latest Family Choice Award, Parent Choice Award, Made for Mums Award and National Parenting Product Award.

Since setting up the business, her husband has become the COO and her two sons have been involved with the design of all BubbleBum products, as well as being part of promotional literature and advertising. Grainne appeared on Dragons Den in 2014 and famously turned down an offer from the dragons.

Grainne left school to study Art and Maths but veered into the construction industry, and then into commercial radio, followed by a long time in the travel industry. She has won several awards including Belfast Telegraph Business Woman of the Year, Ulster Bank All Ireland Business Achievers Award, Wonga Future 50 Disruptors Award, Runner Up Amazon Growing Business Awards as well as a finalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, and the European Business Awards not to mention several other awards including her most recent win in 2018 for British American Business – Woman in Business Award in the Transatlantic Growth Awards.

Grainne’s story demonstrates the role of resilience and perseverance as an entrepreneur, being bold and the importance of honoring your integrity. She looks at how to start and grow a global business and the lessons she has learnt along the way. Grainne tells her story in a passionate manner, whilst hitting home with her key messages. She captures the attention of her audience from the start and leaves them feeling inspired and that anyone can do it with hard work and determination.

Sarah Shimmons, Smirnoff Marketing Manager Europe, Diageo

Sarah is Smirnoff Marketing Manager Europe at Diageo, heading up ATL communications and media, purpose led platforms, annual planning and innovation for Europe’s biggest vodka brand. Before joining Smirnoff, Sarah held marketing roles with Linwoods Health Foods, C&C Group PLC and Coca-Cola HBC Ireland.