Atlantic Conference 2012.

John Hennessy, Chairperson, The Higher Education Authority

John Hennessy joined Ericsson in October 1973 as an engineer and has held responsibilities in Technology, Marketing and Business Units, before being appointed Managing Director of Ericsson in Ireland in May 2003. In addition to his role at Ericsson, John also served as a board member of IBEC( Irish Business and Employer Confederation), Swedish/Irish Business Federation and LRC (Labour Relations Commission, Dept of Enterprise Trade and Employment). He retired as Managing Director of Ericsson in Ireland in December 2010 and is now Chairperson of the company in Ireland. He was appointed Chairperson of the Higher Education Authority in January 2011. The Higher Education Authority is the statutory planning and policy development body for higher education and research in Ireland. The HEA has wide advisory powers throughout the whole of the third-level education sector. In addition, it is the funding authority for the universities, institutes of technology and a number of designated higher education institutions. John is passionate about the need for critical thinking and analytical skills that will be required by industry now and in the future.

Professor Fergal O’Brien, Associate Professor, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

Fergal O'Brien currently heads one the largest regenerative medicine research groups in Ireland. He is a graduate in mechanical engineering from Trinity College, Dublin. He subsequently carried out postdoctoral research in orthopaedic tissue engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in collaboration with Harvard Medical School before his appointment, in 2003, as a Lecturer in Anatomy in RCSI. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer (2006) and Associate Professor (2007). His research focuses on bone mechanobiology and osteoporosis and the development of novel scaffolds for tissue engineering. He has a specific interest in the application of stem cell biology and gene therapy to these scaffolds and the biomechanical factors which control stem cell differentiation. He has been awarded a number of scientific honours including a Fulbright Scholarship (2001), New Investigator Recognition Award by the Orthopaedic Research Society (2002), Science Foundation Ireland, President of Ireland Young Researcher Award (2004), Engineers Ireland Chartered Engineer of the Year (2005) and most recently, in 2009, a European Research Council Investigator Award.

Marc Watson, President, Imagine Creative Technology & TEQ Games.

Marc Watson is the President of Imagine Creative Technology LLC, a Universal Studios Florida-based company that seeks to identify and develop business opportunities where the Modeling, Simulation & Training, Film/Television, Immersive and Interactive Entertainment industries converge. TEQ Games is an Imagine Creative Technology LLC company. A graduate of The United States Naval Academy and former Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy, Watson has a diverse experience in development of training and education systems. Following six years of active duty in the Navy, Watson transferred to the Navy Reserve and founded a design-build engineering and project development firm in Florida called Watson Engineering, Inc. In eight years of business, the company was retained for increasingly greater project responsibilities including capital facility programs in excess of $150 million. In 1992, Sverdrup Corporation, one of America’s largest engineering and development firms, acquired the company. Watson has been awarded the Navy Achievement Medal and Navy Commendation Medal, and is a licensed pilot.

Paul Carroll, Business Development Director, CPL

Paul Carroll is Business Development Director of CPL Resources. A graduate in Physics and Maths from NUI Maynooth in 1985, he also holds a Higher Diploma in Education and did his teaching practice in the Sacred Heart in Tullamore. Paul is the driving force behind CPL's continued success. His expertise combines 10 years in HR consulting practice, working for companies such as KPMG, Intel and Aer Rianta International, before joining the senior
management start-up team in Gateway 2000 to establish the HR function. He is 14 years in CPL. CPL Resources plc is listed on both the London and Dublin Stock Exchanges and has 12 offices in the Republic of Ireland, 2 offices in Northern Ireland and 7 in Europe. The company employs 320 people and has over 4,000 people on client sites.

Ward Van Duffel, Managing Director at LEGO® Education Europe Ltd

Ward Van Duffel is the Managing Director of LEGO® Education Europe Ltd. Prior to his position as Managing Director of LEGO® Education Europe, Ward held country management positions in Belgium, Luxembourg and Norway. Joining the Group in 2005 Ward developed and implemented LEGO's® consumer & customer strategies for 5 years, transforming the company in a number of countries. Before joining the LEGO® Group he enjoyed 13 years of management experience with major international brands including Mars and Coca-Cola. Ward has a Masters in Law from Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium and a Masters in Management from Vlekho, Belgium. Ward is working with LEGO® Education to engage 101 million students worldwide by 2020. Ward states “We wish to contribute to the success of educators by offering unique tools that have proven effective at nurturing the creative-thinking, problemsolving and team-working skills of students in an active learning environment, thereby enabling children to develop the skills necessary for them to be able to embrace the challenges of the future in the 21st Century”.

Leena Gade, Chief Race/Test Engineer, Audi Sport.

Britain's Leena Gade became the first female race engineer to win the world famous Le Mans 24 Hours Race in 2011. Gade, aged 35, from South Harrow near London, is a No.1 race engineer for the Audi Sport team. “Her” car, a diesel-engined Audi R18 TDI, driven by Benoît Treluyer (F), Marcel Fässler (CH) and André Lotterer (D) won the 79th running of the legendary race in June 2011. Leena masterminded the German prestige car manufacturer's win from the pit-wall throughout the race, which was one of the most gruelling in the endurance classic's history. An Aerospace Engineering & Materials Science graduate from the University of Manchester, Gade knew from the age of 12 that wanted to work in the sport cars racing industry.

Johnathan McCrea, Future Proof, Newstalk [Panel Discussion Chair]

Jonathan McCrea is an award-winning broadcaster, journalist and photographer from Dublin. He graduated with honours from a degree in Communications in DCU in 1997, studying radio and film. In 2003 he became presenter of the IFTA-nominated Sattitude, a live 2-hour young peoples TV show on RTE 2. In 2005 he started producing Ireland's first movie show for radio, “We Love Movies”. Since February of 2007, Jonathan has been presenting “Spin” the daily talk
and current affairs show on Spin 1038 with co-host Clare McKenna. It is now the most popular daytime talk-show in Dublin and has won a prestigious PPI national radio award for Best Speech Driven Magazine Programme. In 2010 Jonathan created Future Proof, a brand new science show for Newstalk, Ireland's national talk radio station.

Keynote speaker

Carol-Lynn Parente, Senior Vice President and Executive Producer, Sesame
Street

As executive producer of Sesame Street, Carol-Lynn Parente is responsible for overseeing production for Sesame Workshop’s landmark television program and serves as a creative guide to keep the program fresh and exciting. She is the first executive producer to grow up watching the show.
Parente has been with the Workshop for 22 years, starting out as a post-production assistant and rising through the ranks. In her tenure she worked as a production assistant, postproduction coordinator, associate producer commissioning live-action and animated films and producer of the very popular portion of the show, “Elmo’s World.” In addition to her work on the show, she oversees development of home video production, and has produced several home video titles, including Kid’s Favorite Songs 2 and Elmo’s World: Happy Holidays which were Telly Award winners. She was also executive producer of
the award-winning network special Elmo’s Christmas Countdown. In 2011, Parente won her eleventh Emmy for Sesame Street in the Outstanding Pre-School
Children’s Series category and has helped the program achieve the Guinness  World Record for Most Emmys by a Television Series with 138 wins.

Tony Hill, Director, Manchester Museum of Science & Industry [MOSI].

Tony Hill is the Director of the Manchester Museum of Science & Industry. Tony previously worked at senior level in marketing and communications agencies, dealing with the brand development of a number of multinational companies. He also brings a wealth of business development experience from his time at Nike (UK) and the 2002 XVII Commonwealth Games. Tony has worked at MOSI for almost five years, and was Acting Director of the Museum between October 2007 and August 2008. He has led the development of the vision and funding for the
Museum's ambitious redevelopment project, Revolution MOSI, including securing over £6 million for the Main Building development. Tony was also instrumental in negotiating and contracting the two most successful exhibitions MOSI has ever staged, BODY WORLDS 4 and Doctor Who Up-Close, which contributed to the record visitor levels of over 800,000 and made MOSI Manchester's most visited cultural attraction.

David Fahey, Director, Dublin City of Science 2012

David Fahey is the Project director and is responsible for all aspects of the preparation, planning and delivery of Dublin City of Science 2012. Dave has lots of experience of bringing high quality events to Ireland with a background in conference and event design, management and sales to a variety of Public and Private Sector clients. Dave also has over 25 years experience in general and technology management, within the Technology and Services sectors in Ireland. His experience ranges across a number of sectors including clothing, engineering, software, telecommunications, call-centre services, recruitment and business consulting. Dave has B.Tech. from U.L., a Dip in Systems Analysis from U.C.G. and is a graduate of the International Advanced Management Programme in INSEAD. Dublin has been chosen to host Europe’s largest science conference, ESOF 2012 (Euroscience Open Forum), from 11-15 July, 2012.To celebrate this prestigious, international event in Dublin, the City of Science 2012, a programme
of science-related events and activities, will run throughout the year across the island of Ireland.