About IrelandCon
Friday 1st November, 2019
Second Floor
12105 W. Waterfront Drive
Playa Vista, CA 90094
With the great success of Irelandcon 2018 we are thrilled to confrim that we will be retuning to LMU’s Silicon beach campus for IRELANDCON 2019.
Our major event every year at Irelandweek is our IRELANDCON conference on Friday November 1st 2019, to be held once again at LMU’s Graduate school of Film and TV.
Irelandcon, the one stop shop for doing business with AND in Ireland.
With a key focus on celebrating innovation in tech, trade, entertainment and cultural ties between Ireland and Los Angeles, this year’s flagship conference is returning once more right into the heart of Silicon Beach to LMU’s new Playa Vista campus.
This must not miss conference was a sell out last year, and we expect the same this year.
IrelandCon Agenda
8:30am
Networking Continental Breakfast sponsored by LMU
9:20am
Welcome Address
Speaker: Buzz O’Neill, Co Founder, IrelandWeek
9:25am
LMU Dean Crabtree Welcome Remarks
Speaker: Robbin D. Crabtree, Ph.D., Dean, Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts at LMU
9:30am
LMU Dean Rajski Welcome Remarks
Speaker: Peggy Rajski, Dean, School of Film and Television at LMU
9:35am
Department of Foreign Affairs welcome
Speaker: Orla Keane, Consul General of Ireland to Los Angeles
9:40am
Irish Government Welcome
Speaker: Patrick O’Donovan, Minister of State at the Departments of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with special responsibility for Public Procurement, OpenGovernment and eGovernment
9:50am
City of Los Angeles Welcome
Speaker: Rob Frierson, Director of Economic Policy for LA Mayor Eric Garcetti. Ron leads a team that develops policy and liaises with major business sectors including Commercial Real Estate, Sports & Entertainment, Manufacturing and Technology
10:00am
Everything is Super Awesome – Keynote Address
Speaker: Dylan Collins, Chairman, Super Awesome
Keynote Address with Dylan Collins – Taking on Silicon Valley and making the internet safer for kids
10:25am
Airbnb in Ireland – Keynote Interview
Speakers: Aisling Hassell, VP Community Support, Airbnb & Kieran Hannon, Chief Marketing Officer, Openpath
Kieran Hannon keynote interview with Aisling Hassell from Airbnb Dublin.
11:00am
Networking Break
11:25am
Irish Entrepreneurial Spotlight
Speakers: Brian Carmody, Founding/Managing partner of International Production company SMUGGLER INC. & Marion McKeone, Journalist
Marion McKeone chats with Smuggler’s Brian Carmody on his journey from Cork to Hollywood.
11:40am
Keeping up with Brexit
Speakers: Minister Patrick O’Donovan & Conor Houston, Director, Houston Solutions
In conversation with Minister O’Donovan and Conor Houston
12:00pm
How tech is augmenting the users content consumption experience.
Speakers: Nick Linders, CEO, Algorithm, Des Carey, Head of Cinematic Innovation, Samsung & Hannah Dobson, VP, Entertainment and Media, Enterprise Ireland
Enterprise Ireland’s Hannah Dobson talks with leading innovators
12:30pm
Casual networking lunch
You’re in luck – it’s a Taco Truck
1:45PM
Facebook and Instagram Keynote Interview
Speakers: Tom Gilmartin, Director for Creative Services, Facebook & Jim Carroll, RTE
Jim Carroll talks to Facebook and Instagram Creative Shop Director Tom Gilmartin about the latest in mobile-first advertising content.
2:05PM
Scaling from Zero to Hero
Speakers: Rochelle Thielen EVP, Partnerships, HONK Technologies, Shari Shruti, Entrepreneur in Residence, SVB, Claudia Batten, Founder, The Squiggly Life & Claire Lee, Head of Early Stage Client Acquisition, SVB
Claire Lee chats with Founders and Tech Entrepreneurs.
2:45PM
Why Ireland – Irish Creative Talent
Speakers: Patrick Ewald, Epic, Patty Ishimoto – Element8, Miss Scarlet and the Duke, Eoin Macken, Director, Here are the Young Men, Steven Davenport, Inward Production Manager, Screen Ireland
Steven Davenport talks Irish Creative Talent with Filmmakers
3:15pm
Networking Break
3:45pm
Location, Location, Location!
Speakers: Jonathan Loughran, Head of Production, Troy and Ardmore Studios, Seth Meier, Executive Producer, The Turning & Jim Carroll, RTE
A case study discussion of location and production in Ireland.
4:20PM
Fireside chat
Speakers: Jeff Atherton, Visual Effects Executive Producer | SSVFX
Jeff Atherton, Bafta nominated Visual Effects Production Executive talks about the ageing process of The Irishman
4:35PM
Final remarks
Speakers: Deirdre O’Neill Machin and Buzz O’Neill, Co Founders, IrelandWeek
5:00PM
Networking Reception
Location: LA Stadium & Entertainment Experience (4th floor of Belkin Building next door)
7:00PM - late
IrelandCon After Hours
Location: More networking at Hatchet Hall and The Old Man Bar- Culver City – 5 min drive
Our Speakers
PATRICK O’DONOVAN
TD & Minister of State
Department of Finance
Following Minister O’Donovan’s election to the Dáil in 2011 he was selected to be a member of the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly, whose role it is to promote co-operation between political representatives in Britain and Ireland and build on the close relationships established in recent years between politicians throughout Britain and Ireland. During the 31st Dáil the Taoiseach also appointed him to the Joint Oireachtas Committee for Transport and Communications, and the Public Accounts Committee.
Minister O’Donovan was re- elected to the 32nd Dáil in February 2016 and was appointed by former Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD as the Minister of State for Tourism and Sport. In June 2017 he was appointed Minister of State at the Departments of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with special responsibility for Public Procurement, Open Government and eGovernment, by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD.
CLAIRE LEE
Head of the Early Stage
Silicon Valley Bank
Claire is the Head of the Early Stage Group at SVB, dedicated to working with founders, entrepreneurs and pre Series A startups globally. Her team of evangelists operates in the major centers where entrepreneurship and innovation thrive – in the U.S. and in growth markets such as LATAM. This group oversees strategic partnerships for SVB with leading organizations, such as Techstars.
Claire joined SVB in January 2014 from Microsoft where she spent a decade working with startups and developing programs such as Microsoft BizSpark and Microsoft Ventures to support early stage founders in emerging markets.
Her career has taken her to 60 countries (so far) and she has lived and worked in 10 of those. Passionate about education and inclusion, about global affairs and about democratizing access to capital and opportunity, Claire has served as a mentor to groups like Seedcamp and Astia Global and as an advisor to the U.S. Department of State and the White House during the Obama administration.
Claire sits on the board of directors of the FreeFrom organization – a group devoted to supporting victims of domestic violence – and is an active donor to programs that enable more girls access education, such as Room to Read, and aim to level the playing field for gender in politics, such as Emily’s List. Born in Dublin, Claire’s career began with IBM in Ireland. She is a student of wine.
ORLA KEANE
Consul General of Ireland to Los Angeles
Los Angeles Consulate
Orla completed her undergraduate degree in Trinity College Dublin, with a joint honour in sociology and political science. She also has a MSocSc degree in Sociology from University College Dublin.
DYLAN COLLINS
CEO
Super Awesome
Dylan Collins’ first company, DemonWare, was acquired by Activision Blizzard. His second was acquired by GameStop. After a (brief) tenure as investor, he founded SuperAwesome, the kidtech company which today powers safe digital activity for over half a billion children every month. With over 40% of all new internet users now under the age of 13, SuperAwesome is at the centre of the discussion about kids, digital privacy, technology and the future of digital media.
Collins is one of Europe’s leading digital media entrepreneurs and has been an outspoken proponent for more digital protection for children globally.
JIM CARROLL
Editor
RTE
He is also the editor of RTÉ Brainstorm, a project set up by Irish public service broadcaster RTÉ in conjunction with a number of universities and third-level institutions in 2017. The initiative, which sees academics and researchers writing and commenting on news events, will become a radio series in late 2018. See rte.ie/brainstorm for more information.
Prior to this, Jim was a journalist with The Irish Times; content strategist and copywriter; co-founder of the Choice Music Prize event for Irish Album of the Year; radio and club DJ; record label co-founder, A&R man and press officer; and freelance contributor to dozens of magazines and publications. See byjimcarroll.com for more stuff
ROBBIN D CRABTREE
Dean
Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts at LMU
AISLING HASSELL
VP Community Support
AirBNB
She also acts as Site Lead for Airbnb’s European headquarters in Dublin, its largest base outside of the US. She leads two locations here with over 500 employees, across growing teams from Community Support to Trust & Safety.
Aisling joined Airbnb in 2014, after a global career leading customer strategy and experience in technology, communications and software innovators.
In her 25-year career, Aisling has been director of global customer experience and web strategy at Sage, Group Head of Customer Experience, Vodafone and VP of Customer Experience at Symantec in the US.
Aisling lives in Dublin with her husband, two children and Sully, her dog.
CONOR HOUSTON
Director
Houston Solutions
He is also Head of Engagement for Digital DNA – the largest tech & digital conference in Northern Ireland. For the past two years, he has spearheaded their ‘Digital Futures’ programme which gives 40 young people unique access to opportunities in the tech sector.
Conor is a Governor of The Irish Times Trust and Director of ShoutOut – an LQBTQ+ youth charity. He is Founder of Connected Citizens, a civic initiative which aims to realise the potential of Northern
Ireland through informed and inclusive conversations with communities about a shared future.
Conor was part of the official NI delegations to the White House in March 2017 and 2019 to promote economic and cultural relations between the island of Ireland and the United States.
In October 2017, he joined two Nobel Peace Prize winners on stage to address the One Young World Summit in Bogota, Colombia on the theme: “It’s all about relationships” and is now Chair of a bid to bring One Young World (the largest global youth summit) to Belfast in 2023.
In April 2019, Conor was listed as one of Northern Ireland’s ’40 under 40’.
Previously, as a solicitor advocate he represented clients to the Supreme Court of both the UK and Ireland and was involved in many high profile and pioneering cases. He also represented the legal profession on the Executive Board of the European Young Bar Association and was elected to serve on the Council of the Law Society of Northern Ireland.
Conor formerly acted as Programme Director at the Centre for Democracy and Peace Building leading on their ‘EU Debate NI’ programme. This programme engaged over 30,000 people across Northern Ireland in the debate around Brexit, including all political parties and key influencers in private, public and community sectors. He gave evidence to the NI Affairs Committee in Westminster about his work.
He is a Fellow of the US State Department Rule of Law Programme, Fellow of the British Council Hammamet Conference and represented the UK at the Ship for World Young Leaders Conference in Japan. Conor was also the inaugural Chair of The Ireland Funds Belfast. He has also delivered lectures in Harvard University and Loyola Marymount University LA about Northern Ireland.
HANNAH DOBSON
VP Entertainment & Media
Enterprise Ireland
Hannah has a deep understanding of the dynamics & drivers of the Entertainment sector in LA and has led major initiatives more deeply connecting Ireland with this sector, most notably the June ’18 Trade Mission to LA consisting of 15 Irish Animation & Digital Entertainment companies.
JONATHAN LOUGHRAN
Head of Production
Troy Studios and Ardmore Studios
STEVEN DAVENPORT
Inward Production Manager
Screen Ireland
PATTY ISHIMOTO
Partner
Element 8
Patricia was also responsible for launching DIRECTV’s first original music production CD USA, a live concert event series shot at SXSW and an ongoing series co-produced with Guitar Center, and created an issues-focused documentary series. She negotiated output deals with major studios for feature films and pay-per-view events, and initiated DIRECTV’s in-flight broadcast service for LiveTV on JetBlue and Frontier airlines.
Prior to entering the entertainment business Patricia was an advertising executive for multicultural marketing at AT&T, and was a Business Development Advisor in Kenya for the United States Peace Corps.
Patricia is a member of BAFTA – Los Angeles and speaks French, Swahili, enough Japanese to keep her out of trouble and is an avid world traveller.
She is a graduate of Albright College where she earned a degree in Business, French and International Relations.
Brian Carmody
Director
Smuggler Productions
MARION MCKEONE
US Correspondent
Sunday Business Post
Nick Linders
CEO
Algorithm
Algorithm is a multi award winning studio specializing in content creation for live immersive experience. They deliver high impact projects for audiences around the world.
Kieran Hannon
Chief Marketing Officer
Openpath
Seth Meier
Executive Producer
The Turning
Tom Gilmartin
Creative Shop Director
Facebook & Instagram
Des Carey
Head of Cinematic Innovation
Samsung – North America
“Starting his film career as an Apprentice to George Lucas in the early ‘90s, Des has spent the last twenty years in the feature film and television arenas, collaborating directly with such influential filmmakers as Steven Spielberg, JJ Abrams, Brian de Palma, Michael Bay, Gore Verbinski, David Fincher, Paul Verhoeven, Steven Soderbergh and Robert Zemeckis, among many others.
With an extensive background in Physical Production, Script Development, Visual Effects, Production Budget Analysis, Tax Incentives, Publicity and Post Production, he has also designed the workflow and produced the digital finishing on over 80 of Hollywood’s most ambitious feature films. Some of Des’ film credits include “The Star Wars Trilogy – Special Editions”, “Blade Runner 2049”, “Pirates of The Caribbean”, “Quantum of Solace”, “Fast & Furious”, “Terminator: Salvation”, “Mission: Impossible III”, “Flight” and the ground-breaking features “Transformers”, “Watchmen” and “300”.
While at Lucasfilm, Des was one of the pioneering figures behind what would become known as “The Digital Intermediate Process”. This workflow and process would ultimately revolutionize the way all feature films, and television shows would be made.
In September 2012, he was honored as one of the “Hollywood 50″ at a Gala Ceremony on the Sony Pictures Lot in recognition of the ‘Top 50 most influential technology innovators’ in the entertainment industry.”
Shruti Shah
entrepreneur in residence
Silicon Valley Bank
Rochelle Thielen
Partnerships
HONK Technologies
Claudia Batten
Founder
The Squiggly Life
Claudia most recently spent three years running North American operations for NZTE, with the goal of bringing disruption into government while supporting the growth of NZ exports in North America. She is a Director of NZX listed digital travel company Serko, and digital advisor to the board of Westpac New Zealand.
She is a self-proclaimed Squiggler – a belief that anyone can be remarkable by embracing intuition and cultivating a practice of what she calls “deliberate discomfort”.
Claudia graduated Victoria University of Wellington in 1998 with degrees in Law (Hons) and Commerce. At Russell McVeagh she specialized in contract, IP, and technology law before moving to New York in 2002. She became the youngest person appointed to the New Zealand Government’s Trade and Exchange US Beachheads Board in 2007.
Claudia has achieved great success in the US market, but remains a strong supporter of the New Zealand start up scene. She participates regularly across the ecosystem on boards, advisory groups and as a very active mentor. She believes that New Zealand must be part of the digital world to close the geographic divide, remain relevant, and increase its prosperity. In 2013, she was awarded a Distinguished Alumni Award from Victoria University in recognition of her commitment to New Zealand and her achievements in tech. In 2014 she was the youngest ever recipient of the prestigious “World Class New Zealand Supreme Award”, in recognition for her achievements and her work inspiring the entrepreneurial ecosystem in New Zealand. Claudia’s work across the NZ entrepreneurial and tech ecosystem has been recognized by all the major New Zealand awards: she was Next’s woman of the year in 2015, received a Sir Peter Blake Leadership award in 2016, awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Technology and Business in award at the 2017 CIO Awards and named 2018’s Flying Kiwi at the New Zealand Hi-Tech Awards.
She is a regular speaker on the future of marketing, the impact of connectivity, and on building businesses of the future. Claudia’s experience has informed her business savvy, while her appetite for new challenges, unerring sense of timing and intuitive handle on the pulse of the industry guarantee that she will be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.
You can follow Claudia most everywhere @claudiabatten and she blogs at squigglylife.com.
Eoin Macken
Director/Actor
Ron Frierson
Director of Economic Policy
Ron’s diverse business background includes over 18 years of Corporate Site Selection, Business Tax Incentives Negotiation & Procurement and Economic Development both domestically and internationally.
Ron served as Director of National Incentives at NAI Capital in Los Angeles where he performed both tenant representation brokerage services and began building the firm’s national incentives procurement capabilities. He also served as Principal at Hickey & Associates (New York) where he performed corporate site selection and incentives negotiation and procurement.
Prior to that, Ron served as Vice President of CBRE Location Incentives (Phoenix), working with a national team that identifies and procures economic development tax incentives for corporate clients in the United States and Canada.
Before going into the private sector, Ron served as West Coast Business Development Manager for the Kansas Department of Commerce under Governor(s) Kathleen Sebelius and Sam Brownback. There he managed business attraction, discretionary incentive negotiation and project management for an 11-state territory.
Ron’s entrepreneurial accomplishments include Frierson & Associates, which performed business development, consulting and marketing services for clients that included JAM Inc., Rock Bottom Rentals and economic development consulting for the Kansas Department of Commerce. Ron also co-founded Ad Hoc Staffing, a technical recruiting firm that became a vendor for NBC Universal.
Ron is a former professional athlete, briefly playing basketball in Australia and France. He attended graduate school at Baker University- Kansas and received his undergraduate degree from Emporia State University in Kansas, where he remains involved as a member of the Cremer School of Business – Dean’s Advisory Council and serves on the Emporia State Foundation Board of Trust–
Patrick Ewald
CEO
Epic Pictures
In addition to running Epic Pictures Group, Inc., he heads DreadCentral.Com, a leading horror website and branded genre label for horror films, DreadTV, the AVOD streaming channel, and DreadXP.com, a gaming and live streaming site.
Prior to Epic Pictures Group, Inc. (between 2005-2007), he was President of Renegade Pictures, a production and sales company that sold independent genre films worldwide. Between 1999-2005, he was the Executive VP, Development and Production, at Crystal Sky Pictures and Jon Voight Entertainment.
From 1995-1999, he was the owner of Rogue Entertainment, a development and production services company that was eventually acquired by Universal.
A transplanted New Yorker, with an appreciation for all good things both west coast and east coast, Patrick is a board member of IFTA, a three-time Saturn Award winner as well as a member of the Producers Guild of America
He is also a committee member for the Reverse Rett organization, the largest fundraising body devoted to finding a cure for Rett Syndrome.
Most importantly, he is married to his incredible wife and partner, Sarah, and has three amazing daughters as well as another very important member of their family, their very lovable rescue pit bull, Lola.
Jeff Atherton
Visual Effects Executive Producer
The IrishMan
Peggy Rajski
Dean
Rajski won an Academy Award in 1995 for Best Live Action Short for her directorial debut Trevor, a comedy about a young teen whose world is turned upside down when word spreads at school that he might be gay. Based on huge public response to the film, she founded The Trevor Project, America’s first 24/7 crisis intervention and suicide prevention non-profit dedicated to LGBTQ+ youth. More than twenty years after its founding, The Trevor Project is still the world’s largest such organization.
Rajski spent eight years at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Film Program as head of studies for producing prior to joining LMU SFTV as dean. She’s a longstanding member of the Directors Guild of America, Film Independent, and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), which named her a Live Action Icon.