Paul Quinn

Chief Procurement Officer, Office of Government Procurement – Department of Public Expenditure & Reform

Paul joined the Civil Service in January 2013 as the Government’s first CPO and is tasked with procurement reform across the Public Service. The State spends approx. €8.5 billion every year, or €23 million every day, on supplies and services. In this role, Paul and his team are changing the structures, processes and systems to deliver improved value for the tax payer, reducing risk for the State and improving public procurement capability. His new office, the Office of Government Procurement or “OGP”, is for the first time bringing together policy, strategy and operations. The OGP commenced operations in mid-2014 and continues to build momentum in delivering framework agreements and contracts for its public sector clients. The OGP is also delivering a significant programme of work in the policy arena, having launched Circular 10/14 to encourage SME participation, the Tender Advisory Services and the first significant revisions to the Public Works Contracts arising from the 2014 review. The OGP is currently leading on the transposition of the new Procurement Directives, the Directive on eInvoicing, and guidance on social clauses/community benefits.

Paul previously worked with the largest Irish telecommunications company, eircom, and in his last role was Supply Chain Director.

He holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Dublin City University, a Degree in Engineering from the Dublin Institute of Technology, and a Diploma in Accounting & Finance from the ACCA. In 2014, he received the Procurement Leader of the Year award at the National Procurement Awards. He is also a member of the Development Board for the New Children’s Hospital at St. James’ Hospital and chairs its finance committee.

Andrew Forde

Head of Rural Strategy and Social Enterprises, Department of Rural & Community Development

Andrew Forde is Head of the Rural Strategy and Social Enterprise Unit at the Department of Rural and Community Development. He led the preparation and adoption of Ireland’s first National Social Enterprise Policy (2019 – 2022) and oversees its implementation. He is the Irish government’s representative on the European Commission Expert Group on Social Economy and Social Enterprises (GECES) 2018-2024. Andrew also monitors the delivery of Ireland’s rural development policy. Andrew’s background is in the field of international human rights law, governance and political affairs.

Paul McMahon

Solicitor, McMahon Legal & Irish Legal Guide

A practising solicitor and tax adviser with over 25 years’ experience (and 12 years’ as a practising English solicitor) and a member of the InterTrade Ireland Brexit advisory panel, Paul has advised Irish and UK businesses in most sectors in relation to the full range of their Brexit issues, including customs, VAT, regulatory matters, services, people, procurement and numerous specific sectoral issues. He has helped businesses to plan strategically to maintain continuity of sales and services in the UK (and vice versa) in the post- Brexit environment.

Paul has published Brexit (An Irish Guide) (brexitlegal.ie) as a free one-stop resource on the risks and opportunities of Brexit for Irish business. The website contains over 400 articles on the full spectrum of Brexit issues written by Paul together with over 1,000 further notes and guidance published by the UK government, the Irish government and the EU Commission.

Paul has also written Irish Legal Guide (legalguide.ie) a comprehensive guide to legal issues for Irish businesses as well as UK Law (an Irish Guide) (uklegal.ie) a guide to UK issues for Irish business. Paul lectures regularly for the Law Society and Accounting bodies on a range Irish and English laws, as well as on Brexit matters. He has undertaken ISME roadshows on Brexit throughout the country.

Lizzie Borelan

BuySocial

Lizzie Borelan has over ten years’ experience of working in the third sector and completed her PhD in Linguistics at Queens’ University Belfast in 2014. Currently, as Buy Social Development Officer at Strategic Investment Board, Lizzie advises and assists public bodies in Northern Ireland to design, implement and monitor social consideration clauses included in public contracts.

David Mangan

Portfolio/Operations Manager, Education Procurement Service

David Mangan is the Education Procurement Service Portfolio Manager and has responsibility for the EPS’ Operation and its’ buying team of twelve personnel. Education Procurement Service (EPS) is the education sector sourcing hub under the national procurement model. EPS have successfully managed the delivery of over 700 compliant sourcing projects valued at over €220mn over the last 4 and a half years.

David has been Portfolio & Operations Manager for the last two years and he previously held roles EPS Category Manager for Laboratory/Research and led the EPS’s Business Transformation Plan as Strategic Programme Manager. David is also Chairperson of the Laboratory and Agriculture & Veterinary Category Councils which meet to discuss strategic needs and solutions for the respective spend categories.

David is also the Education representative on the Social Considerations Action Group, which was established by the OGP as a cross-departmental Group to promote and facilitate the incorporation of social considerations (which include sustainability/environmental considerations) into public procurement projects.

Tony Corrigan

Founder/CEO of Orbidal

Tony Corrigan is Founder/ CEO of Orbidal, whose technology drives cost out of bidding. His published primary research from 3,000 tenders is increasing technology adoption and advancing the professionalism amongst bid managers globally.

Chris M Gordon

CEO and Co-Founder of the Irish Social Enterprise Network

Chris is the CEO of the Irish Social Enterprise Network (Socent.ie), Managing Partner of Collaboration Ireland and Country Partner for BCorp Ireland. Chris is an Adjunct Teaching Fellow of Trinity Business School. Chris also volunteers as Chair of Far and Wild social enterprise and is Vice President of the Irish US Alumni Association. Chris is the former Director of Social Enterprise NI.

Chris’ work focuses on leading and managing European and nationwide projects on Social Enterprise, Social Entrepreneurship, Corporate Responsibility, Social Impact, Startups, Cooperatives, Exporting, SMEs in Ireland and leading a life of passion and purpose.

Chris engages on national discourse and policy development providing sectoral reporting, supports and proposals to government. Chris has featured in the Sunday Times, BBC, Irish Independent, RTÉ, Today FM, Sunday Business Post and other media. He has contributed to national and European policy papers for political parties.

Chris is a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership & Management in the UK, Social Innovation Fellow from StartingBloc in the US, a Constellations Society Fellow from France, Tällberg Pathfinder Fellow from Sweden and a US Department of State awardee on Social Enterprise and Tackling Long Term Unemployment programme. Chris is also a Member of the Institute of Directors Ireland. Chris’ passion is in outdoor facilitation, youth work, social inclusion and community development.

Chris has a degree in Theoretical Physics from Queen’s University Belfast, a Masters in Business from the University of Ulster and has qualifications from the Institute of Banking, LIA and UCD.

David Gigg

Head of Policy Delivery, Crown Commercial Service

David Gigg is Head of Policy Delivery in the Crown Commercial Service, part of the Cabinet Office. He leads a small team responsible for the implementation of all aspects of procurement policy in CCS’s operations and is developing leading-edge government procurement strategies in areas such as social value and modern slavery.

David has over twenty years of experience at a senior level in public sector procurement.

Graham Patterson

Principle Consultant, Gemserv

Graham joined Gemserv in September 2018 as part of the Digital Transformation team. Graham has over 35 years experience working in information technology with a variety of public and private organisations. He has extensive experience of developing Digital Strategies, implementing an Enterprise Architecture approach to Digital Transformation and driving Architecture based delivery for organisations of varying sizes. Graham is a Fellow of bcs, The Chartered Institute for IT.

Nicola Robinson MCIPS Chartered, BSC (Hons)

Group Head of Membership, CIPS

Nicola is an MCIPS Chartered professional and is responsible for CIPS Global Membership and CIPS Volunteers. Prior to joining CIPS, Nicola worked in production, operations, commercial and strategic procurement roles in the public and private sectors.

Nicola is passionate about the opportunity’s procurement professionals have in driving ethics and sustainability, and that CIPS has in driving the profession forward with continual professional learning at the heart of the agenda.