2021 Awardees

Ann O’Dea is CEO and co-founder of Silicon Republic, the science and technology news website. She is founder of Inspirefest (now Future Human) and was the first woman inducted into the Irish Internet Association’s Hall of Fame. Ann is on the advisory board of TeenTurn, which provides teenage girls with experience in STEM.

Caitríona Palmer is a journalist, author and advocate who has worked in human rights, specialising in war-related missing persons cases. Her memoir, An Affair With My Mother, was widely acclaimed. She was the co-author, with former President Mary Robinson, of Climate Justice.

Dr Mike Ryan is the Executive Director of the World Health Organisation’s Health Emergencies programme. For 25 years, he has worked in conflict affected countries and led responses to high impact epidemics. Dr Ryan is a founding member of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), which has aided the response to hundreds of disease outbreaks around the world.

Fiona McEntee is the Founder and Managing Attorney of the Chicago-based McEntee Law Group. She counsels her clients - who include individuals and families as well as world-leading musicians and athletes - on the ever-changing immigration policies. Her debut children’s book, Our American Dream, was published in 2020.

Leo Cullen is head coach of Leinster Rugby. He has managed the province to great success, including a European Champions Cup title in 2018, becoming the first man to win the Champions Cup as player and coach. As a player, he made 32 appearances for Ireland, and won the Champions Cup three times with Leinster.

Liam Madden is executive vice president and General Manager of the Wired and Wireless Group at Xilinx, currently specialising in 5G. Based in Silicon Valley, he has spent 35 years in the US semiconductor industry. Liam has extensive experience in incubating novel technologies and is an Adjunct Professor at UCD.

Neil Jordan is one of Ireland’s most revered film-makers. He wrote and directed the Oscar-winning film, The Crying Game, and his award-winning movies include Michael Collins and Interview with the Vampire. His fiction has been equally admired and he won early acclaim for his debut story collection, Night in Tunisia.

Olivia Maguire, executive director at JP Morgan, is a Portfolio Manager in the Global Liquidity team in London. She has chaired the Institutional Money Market Funds Association Investment Committee since 2018 and is a current member of the Bank of England Money Market Committee.

Teresa Lambe is Associate Professor at the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford. She co-designed the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been one of the key tools in helping to bring the global COVID-19 pandemic under control. Teresa was awarded an OBE for services to science and public health in 2021.