Originally from Belgium, Ingrid has been in Ireland since 1996. She is one of Europe’s leading supply chain, procurement and sustainability thinkers and expert practitioner. In her previous company, Ingrid built a leading strategic practice helping customers “Buy Better”; achieve cost savings while building better relationships with suppliers and the planet. A sought-after speaker, and lecturer in three of Ireland’s universities, Ingrid is passionate about supporting business and supply chain teams to drive sustainable change to positively impact the profit, social and environmental bottom line of the business. Ingrid is also the founder of the Procurement Transformation Institute (PTI), a non-profit organisation that elevates the Procurement Profession.

Ossian Smyth was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with responsibility for Public Procurement and eGovernment, in July 2020. He was given responsibility for Communications, Circular Economy, and Cyber Security at the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, in May 2021.

Ossian served as a County Councillor on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council from 2014 to 2020. He served as Cathaoirleach of that Council between 2018 and 2019. During his time on the Council, he introduced a new levy on vacant shops; new insulation and ventilation rules for future planning developments; banned the use of chemical weedkiller; and introduced an electric vehicle policy for council vehicles.

Prior to his election as TD he worked as a Technical Project Manager in Saint Vincent’s Hospital.

Conor Murphy MLA was appointed Economy Minister on 3 February 2024.

Having first been elected to the Assembly in 1998, Mr Murphy served as Finance Minister between 2020 and 2022 and Minister for Regional Development between 2007 and 2011. He has also been a member of the Enterprise, Trade and Investment Committee and the Public Accounts Committee.

Mr Murphy was MP for Newry and Armagh between 2005 and 2015.

The Office of Government Procurement (OGP) plays a key role in helping the State to save money when buying goods and services, and are responsible for sourcing common goods and services for the public sector, saving our clients both time and money. Their experts are available to support with all aspects of the public procurement process, and they also work closely with the business community to promote procurement opportunities for SMEs. The OGP operates as a Division of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER).

John Swords is the National Director of Procurement in the Health Service Executive (HSE). The HSE provides all of Ireland's public health services in hospitals and communities across the country and is the largest purchaser of goods and services in the State. In this capacity, John leads procurement with a firm focus to enable a better service, with improved outcomes for patients and service users in a challenging environment.

John has been instrumental in progressing the strategic procurement journey across the organisation. With a keen interest on driving transformation through collaboration and innovation, John has led on developing and improving the Procurement Sourcing Plan, Compliance Improvement, development and roll out of the National Logistics Service along with supporting the National Finance Reform and Stabilisation Programmes.

Linda O’Hare is Assistant Director – Procurement, at Business Services Organisation (BSO), Procurement and Logistics Service (PaLS), in Northern Ireland (NI). PaLS is the sole provider of professional procurement and logistics services to all Health and Social Care (HSC) organisations in NI. BSO PaLS manages £1.3bn of expenditure per annum, has circa 420 staff, with procurement offices and warehouses situated across NI. BSO PaLS manages procurements and contracts across all categories of goods and services - clinical, non-clinical, social care and ICT. Linda has 23 years Public Procurement experience, in the Health Services in both Ireland and NI. Prior to this she headed up the purchasing department in the 5-star Merrion Hotel in Dublin, and in her early career held a number of management roles in the hospitality industry. In her spare time, Linda takes long walks in the countryside, spends time with family and friends and likes to travel extensively.

Philip has a successful track record of achievement as a leader and senior manager in the public and private sector. In 2013 he was appointed to the OGP executive as head of sourcing education with responsibility for implementing and operating the centralised procurement model within the new DES sector sourcing hub, EPS.

Within the Education Sector, Philip is responsible for sourcing a procurement spend of approximately €900m annually. In his role as director of EPS, he has established and developed a business model and change management strategy to on-board the model and has delivered savings of over €13m to date.