DCU Alumni Office launched the Alumni Wall

Alumni Wall Recipients from L-R: Michael Dwyer, Caroline Morahan, Dr. Ena Prosser, Rotimi Adebari, Paul Kerley, Paddy Christie.

Dublin City University Alumni Office launched the first Alumni Wall on Wednesday 1st of October in the John and Aileen O’Reilly Library. The Alumni Wall covers a wide spectrum of high profile graduates from Airgeadas, Ríomhairíocht agus Fiontraíocht (Seán Óg Ó hAilpín) to BA in Communications (Ardal O’Hanlon).

DCU President Ferdinand von Prondzynski welcomed all the Alumni Wall nominees back to DCU. The event was well attended by staff, graduates and students. Rotimi Adebari, a new member on the DCU Alumni Council, spoke about his student days in DCU and the support he received in the university. Rotimi graduated from MA in Intercultural Studies 2005 class.

Gerard Kiely, Alumni Relations Officer in DCU, said the Alumni Wall nominees would be a great source of inspiration for current and prospective students in DCU. “As a graduate of DCU, my decision to come here in the first place to study journalism was very much based on the calibre of graduates from this university,” Gerard said.

Cathy Holahan, Chair of the Alumni Council, said the Alumni Wall will be an annual event in DCU with new nominees selected for each academic year. The Alumni Wall photos will be retained in the Schools in which the graduates studied.

All Alumni Wall nominees for the 2008-09 academic year are profiled below:

Paul Kerley
Diploma/BSc in Information Technology 1995

Paul Kerley is the founder of Norkom Technologies. Norkom Technologies is a leading player in the financial crime and compliance market sector. Their software suite is deployed in more than 100 countries across four continents and monitors millions of transactions a day for global financial clients. We enable clients to fight crime and meet the most stringent demands of the regulator with a portfolio of products that address every aspect of crime and compliance - from money laundering to fraud.
Paul was back in DCU in February of this year. He took part in the Citispeaker series run by the Educational Trust. As part of this programme Paul spoke to final year business studies students about setting up his own business.

Ardal O’Hanlon
BA in Communication Studies 1987

Ardal O’Hanlon is best known for his role in Father Ted. Over the years Ardal has been known as an actor, a comedian and an author. Ardal was back in DCU in 2007 and performed in the Hub in front of hundreds of DCU students.

Caroline Morahan
BA in Communication Studies 1998

Caroline Morahan is best known for her work on RTÉ. After presenting The Fame Game for a number of series she began co-presenting the fashion show Off The Rails. Currently she can be seen as a judge on RTÉ’s childrens talent show Class Act. In January 2008 she appeared in the comedy theatre piece I Keano' as Surfia at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin.

Conor Lenihan
Graduate Diploma in Journalism 1985

Minister Conor Lenihan is Minister of State with special responsibility for Integration Policy at the Department of Community, Rural, and Gaeltacht Affairs, the Department of Education and Science, the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Conor was elected to Dáil Éireann in 1997, formerly Senior Executive with telecommunications company. Appointed Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs with special responsibility for Overseas Development and Human Rights in September 2004. Member of the Committee on Public Accounts from 1997 to 2004. Vice Chairman of the Committee on Enterprise and Small Business from 2002 to 2004. Member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Body from 1997 to 2004.

Seán Óg Ó hAilpín
Airgeadas, Ríomhairíocht agus Fiontraíocht 1999 (BSc. in Finance Computing and Entrepreneurship)

Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, (born 22 May 1977 in Rotuma, Fiji) is a sportsperson of Fijian-Irish descent. He plays hurling with his local club Na Piarsaigh and has been a member of the Cork senior inter-county team since 1996. Seán Óg captained Cork to the All-Ireland title in 2005. He is widely regarded as one of Cork's most iconic players and is one of the most well-known faces in Irish sport.
In a senior inter-county career that has lasted since 1996 Seán Óg won three All-Ireland titles, five Munster titles, one National Hurling League title and one Railway Cup title. As a former Gaelic footballer he has also won both Munster and National Football League honours.
He has also been the recipient of many awards and honours off the field. Since 2000 Ó hAilpín has won three All-Star awards. In 2005 his hurling prowess earned him the three most prestigious personal awards in the game – the Vodafone, Texaco and Gaelic Players’ Association Hurler of the Year Awards. That same year he was also presented with the RTÉ Sports Person of the Year award. Seán Óg was the only amateur sportsperson on the award’s shortlist.
He currently works as an official with the Ulster Bank group in Cork.
Seán Óg is an Alumni Award recipient from 2006.

Rotimi Adebari
MA in Intercultural Studies 2005

Rotimi Adebari was elected as a city councilor in local elections in Laois in 2004. In June 2007 he was elected as mayor of Portlaoise Town Council (9 members).

Rotimi became a member of the DCU Alumni Council in September 2008.

Margaret Ward
BA in Int. Marketing & Languages 1985

Margaret Ward has been managing RTÉ's international news coverage as Foreign Editor since 1999. She has reported from more than 20 countries including Rwanda, Sudan, the Balkans, Afghanistan and North Korea. Margaret went on a year's leave of absence in September 2006. She spent August 2007 working as a volunteer in eastern Chad. She was rececently based in China, running RTÉ's Beijing bureau from October 2007 through to the Summer Olympics 2008.

Michael Dwyer
BA in Int. Marketing & Languages 1985

Michael Dwyer is the founder and CEO, Pigsback.com During his time at DCU he was Auditor of the Debating Society, a Chairman’s Medallist (Student of the Year 1983) and recipient of a German Government scholarship for the academic year 1983-84. Michael is a recipient of the “Marketing Professional of the Year” Award in Ireland in 2003 and the Internet Hero Award at the 2006 Golden Spider Awards. Michael founded Pigsback.com in Ireland in early 2000 and launched it in the UK in June 2005. Pigsback.com is the leading online marketing model in Ireland and is making fast inroads into the UK market. It is building a very substantial community in Ireland and the UK, already boasting over half a million members. The company employs 55 people in its Dublin and London offices.

Michael is an Alumni Award recipient from 2006.

Ena Prosser
BSc in Biotechnology 1987

Dr. Ena Prosser is a partner in Fountain Healthcare Partners, a new venture capital firm based in Ireland and the US which was formed by former Elan Corporation executives. Previous to this, she was Director of Enterprise Ireland Biotechnology Directorate, EI bio. In this role she led a team focused on lifesciences commercialisation, bioincubation and technology transfer across universities and public research organisations. Her team was also responsible for the coordination of EU FP6 programme for Health in Ireland. Ena joined Enterprise Ireland’s from Élan Corporation where she held a number of key positions culminating in her appointment as Director, Corporate Office of Technology in 2001 Ena is currently a member of the Advisory Science Council of Ireland, she is on the research board of St Vincent's Hospital, the board of the Irish BioIndustry Association and the executive committee of Women in technology and Science.

Ena is an Alumni Award recipient from 2006.

Paddy Christie
BSc in Applied Physics 1998

Paddy Christie is an Irish Gaelic footballer. He made his inter-county senior debut for Dublin against Armagh in April 1995 and usually plays in the full-back position. He plays for Ballymun Kickhams and served as captain of the Dublin GAA Senior football team in 2005. He was selected in the 2002 GAA All Stars Awards team at full-back. He has won three Leinster Championship medals in 2002, 2005 and 2006. Christie collected his 2006 Leinster senior football championship medal for 2006, although he did not make the first team and was did make a substitute appearance. One of the highlights of his achievements at underage level was getting the triple with Ballymun Kickhams U-21 team by winning the Dublin Championship, the North League and then overall league winners in the same season.

Paddy is a science teacher in a secondary school in the local Ballymun area.

Liavan Mallin
BSc in Computer Applications 1985

Liavan Mallin is a highly accomplished business entrepreneur, having founded successful companies in the telecommunications, retail, IT and real estate sectors, based both in the United States and in Ireland. She is also a committed philanthropist and gifted athlete, serving on several not-for profit Boards, and holding the women’s world record for longest distance in hang gliding.
Ms. Mallin launched her business career in 1987 by founding an innovative retail group that became the leading mail order company in Ireland. As Founder, Chairperson and Chief Executive of Shopdirect Group Ltd. (initially known as Celtic Hampers), Mallin grew her company by an average of 100% per year. In 1993, she led the acquisition of the company’s closest competitor Harvest Hampers & Gifts. By the time she sold the company in 1997, Shopdirect employed 8,000 agents throughout Ireland, and was the clear market leader in its field.
She was been appointed to the Board of Trustees & the Governing Board at Dublin City University, where she initiated and co-funds the Mallin-DCU Enterprise Award to encourage entrepreneurship within the post graduate & student body. She was also a member of the organizing board for the Special Olympics World games, the largest sporting event in the world in 2003, which took place in Ireland.
In 2003 she was appointed to the Enterprise Strategy Review Group, which was established by the Tánaiste, to set out a new Enterprise strategy, which would result in economic growth in Ireland over the next decade. This report was launched in July 2004.

Liavan is an Alumni Award recipient from 2006.

Jamie Heaslip
B.Eng. in Medical Mechanical Engineering 2005

Jamie Heaslip, who started playing rugby with local club Naas, has a degree in Medical Mechnical Engineering (DCU). He has lined out for Dublin University and Clontarf but has gone back to his roots with Naas. He made his Leinster senior debut in the Celtic League in March 2005 and is the son of former Shannon player Richard, a Colonel in the Irish Army. Was nominated for the IRB Under-21 World Player of the Year award after starring at the 2004 U-21 World Cup in Scotland, where Ireland finished as runners-up to New Zealand. Heaslip was named in the Ireland squad for the Guinness Autumn series in 2006 and made his test debut against the Pacific Islanders. He has the honour of being the 1000th player to wear the green of Ireland. His earned caps against Argentina and Scotland in the lead up to the Rugby World Cup and as a replacement against Italy in this year's Six Nations. He then went on to cement his place for the rest of the RBS 6 Nations and the 2008 Summer tour.