CeADAR Announces Bronagh Riordan as New Chair of Industry Steering Board
CeADAR, Ireland’s Centre for Applied AI has announced Bronagh Riordan, Head of Data and Analytics at Primark, as the new chair of its Industry Steering Board. The Industry Steering Board supports CeADAR’s Centre Director in determining the overall vision and strategic direction for the organisation. She has been on CeADAR’s Industry Steering Board for the last three years and will now take over as its chair.
Her appointment makes her the first female chair of any technology centre in Ireland. The Technology Centre programme is a joint initiative between Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland and there are eight technology centres in Ireland.
Bronagh Riordan has 20 years of experience as a data professional delivering excellence through the utilisation of innovative analytics solutions and managing high-performance teams to unlock business value. Her knowledge of business and how companies can drive profitability through data and analytics will be of particular use to CeADAR’s members.
CeADAR, headquartered at NexusUCD, the Industry Partnership Centre, is funded by Enterprise Ireland and the IDA and has more than 90-member companies across a wide span of industries. CeADAR is one of only 30 Digital Innovation Hubs across the EU focused specifically on delivering AI services to industry.
CeADAR’s primary purpose is to bring innovation in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Data Analytics into companies to allow them to use the technology to build new/improved products and services, develop their in-house capacity in AI and to give them sustained competitive advantage.
CeADAR Director Dr Edward McDonnell said, “We are delighted to appoint Bronagh as chair of our Industry Steering Board. Since she joined our board three years ago, she has brought her energy, enthusiasm and practical perspectives to the Board and we look forward to her tenure as CeADAR expands its national profile.”
“CeADAR actively pursues diversity in its workforce, and we are delighted that such a high-calibre individual as Bronagh will chair the Board and be such a positive role model for everyone.”
Bronagh Riordan said, “CeADAR is a fantastic centre which is bringing so much value to the business community and the entire eco system in Ireland and across the EU. Its expertise in terms of big data and AI is unrivalled.”
“I have seen enormous change across industry over the 20 years I have been working in this space, and the speed of this change is only accelerating. With the utilisation of data as a response to the pandemic and the related boom in digital, there is an increasing realisation that Data, Analytics and Artificial Intelligence is at the heart of these changes.”
“CeADAR is perfectly placed to play a pivotal role in this changing world, in terms of supporting enterprises to achieve sustainable competitive advantage through applied AI, machine learning and Data Analytics.”
“I am honoured to be taking up the mantle as Chair of the CeADAR board and my role is to support the team at CeADAR with regards to its overall vision and strategic direction and to provide strong leadership to the board. I want to supercharge the board and leverage the experience of each individual member to help drive the centre’s innovation agenda.
“I am also very proud to be first female chair of any technology centre in Ireland, increasing the visibility and representation of women in critical technical Data & Analytics roles and pushing forward the diversity and inclusion agenda in this space.”
In her current role, Bronagh Riordan leads on delivering Data & Analytics strategy and solutions for Primark, and prior to this she was Director of the Global Analytics Centre of Excellence for Deutsche Bank and Head of Data Science for Car Trawler.
Additionally, she has a strong results-driven consulting background, assisting organisations to drive sales, improve profitability and enhance customer experience through the application of Data & Analytics solutions.
ENDS
8 March 2022
For more information contact Micéal Whelan, Communications and Media Relations Manager, UCD Research and Innovation, e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie or Martha Kearns, Story Lab, e: martha@storylab.ie
Editors Notes
CeADAR, Ireland’s Centre for Applied AI, is headquartered at NexusUCD. Funded by Enterprise Ireland and the IDA, CeADAR has more than 90-member companies across a wide span of industries and is one of the Digital Innovation Hubs across the EU focused on delivering AI services to industry. The primary work of the Centre is on cutting-edge applied research and developing and deploying industry prototypes and solutions to companies. CeADAR is also very active in European research projects, spinouts, industry upskilling and has its own high-performance computing infrastructure. www.ceadar.ie