Public Procurement Conference 2024

Anne is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin and has worked in the private, voluntary and public sectors. She worked in Dublin City Council in various roles from 1999 – 2015 during which time she led the Council’s Central Procurement Unit for four years, where she developed a strong emphasis on staff development and education, strategic procurement and corporate contract development. Anne joined the Office of Government Procurement team in November 2015. She is currently responsible for Sourcing in the OGP’s Professional Services portfolio. Anne leads a team of procurement professionals responsible for delivering national and bespoke solutions for public sector clients across a range of professional services categories including: Accounting, Auditing and Financial services, Integrated Design Team Services, Banking Services, Business, Management & ICT Consultancy Services, ICT Professional Services, Insurance Brokerage Services, Legal & Stenography Services, Market Research & Surveys, Procurement Consultancy Services.

Sinéad is the Chief Procurement Officer for Iarnród Éireann (IÉ). She was appointed to the role in 2020, having previously held the position of Category Manager, Rail Networks where she was directly involved in the procurement for a number of key capital projects such as the City Centre Re-Signalling Project, the GSM-R Project, the construction of a new National Train Control Centre, the design and supply of a new traffic management system and more recently the DART Plus Project, a €3bn project, which will see the electrification of large sections of the Maynooth Line, Kildare Line and an extension to the existing DART Line from Malahide to Drogheda. Sinéad and the Procurement team are currently involved in the development of procurement strategies for other capital projects such as Connect, Rosslare ORE Development and the Navan Line, as IÉ embarks on its ‘Decade of Delivery’ to become the backbone of sustainable transport in Ireland.

Philip Gurnett is EPS Director and Head of Sourcing Education. Philip has a successful track record of achievement as a leader and senior manager in the public and private sector. In 2013 he was appointed to the OGP executive as head of sourcing education with responsibility for implementing and operating the centralised procurement model within the new DES sector sourcing hub, EPS. Within the Education Sector, Philip is responsible for sourcing a procurement spend of approximately €900 million annually. In his role as director of EPS, he has established and developed a business model and change management strategy to on-board the model and has delivered savings of over €13 million to date

John Swords is the National Director of Procurement in the Health Service Executive (HSE). In this capacity, John leads procurement with a firm focus to enable a better service, with improved outcomes for patients and service users in a challenging environment. John has been instrumental in progressing the strategic procurement journey across the organisation. With a keen interest on driving transformation through collaboration and innovation, John has led on developing and improving the Procurement Sourcing Plan, Compliance Improvement, development and roll out of the National Logistics Service along with supporting the National Finance Reform and Stabilisation Programmes. John’s procurement leadership across health incorporates strong emphasis on the importance of sustainability as being critical to our collective obligations to provide safe patient care and contribute to reducing our collective carbon footprint. John is a member of the HSE Climate Action Steering Group and is leading on two key programmes of work in relation to Green Procurement and Procurement Decarbonisation Trajectory. Cross border collaborative working in health and social care is a high priority for John and in this regard he chairs the Procurement CAWT (Cooperation And Working Together) Group, a partnership between the Health and Social Care Services in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which is EU funded. As a member of the OGP (Office of Government Procurement) Reform Board, John is committed to procurement excellence and the overall public procurement reform programme. He is also a member of the GS1 Ireland Board of Directors whose standards improve the efficiency, safety and visibility of supply chains across physical and digital channels in 25 sectors.

John Fitzgerald Coyne is the Commerical Director for the Welsh Government. John is an expert at developing commercial strategy and skills for the modern business. John began his career in the Irish tourism sector and in 1991 became the first ever Commercial Director at Liverpool FC where he was tasked with broadening the financial, commercial and business development aspects of the club. After leaving Liverpool FC, John spent some time at Sports Wales before moving to the health sector where he has largely remained since. John was most recently the Managing Director an NHS owned Teckal Company, SWFT Clinical Services Ltd. Here he managed a turnover of approximately £50m a year and 280 staff.

Aidan Sweeney is Head of Enterprise & Regulatory Affairs, as well as Head of Dublin & Eastern Regional Policy at Ibec, Ireland’s largest business organisation. He has special responsibility for public procurement and infrastructure delivery. He is Vice Chair of Business at the OECD’s Governance and Regulatory Policy Committee and sits on the Office of Government Procurement’s SME Working Group. In 2023, he was nominated to represent business on the European Court of Auditor’s Procurement Expert Group. He is a member of the Housing Commission’s Procurement Sub-group and represents Ibec on the Labour Employer Economic Forum sub-group on housing. He is an external member of Dublin City Council’s Finance, Economic Development and Enterprise strategic policy committees, and sits on the Dublin Regional Enterprise Plan’s steering committee. Prior to joining Ibec in 2008, Aidan was a Brussels-based consultant who identified, tracked, and progressed public procurement opportunities across a number of sectors with the European institutions or Member State governments, as well as having spent time in the Delegation of the European Commission in Washington, DC. He is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London.

Conor studied Electrical Engineering in UCD and initially worked in technical roles before taking on project management and contract management roles in both ESB International and in General Electric. He worked on many developing significant renewal generation projects in Ireland, UK and was lead significant consultancy projects in Africa for ESB International. He holds an MBA from UCD Smurfit School. Recent roles in ESB include Systems, Processes and Contracts Manager and MD of ESB Telecoms Limited. He took up the role of ESB’s Chief Procurement Officer in early 2024.

Norman Jackson is the Senior Projects and Procurement Advisor with the Housing Agency. The Procurement Unit he manages offers construction related procurement services and advice to Local Authorities and Approved Housing Bodies in accordance with ‘Housing for All’. The Procurement and Projects team of technical professionals, providing architectural, engineering, quantity surveying and procurement services in support of the delivery of social housing projects.

In March last year of this year his Procurement Unit were responsible for the publication of a Guidance Document for the use of PW-CF2 Public Works Contract for Building Works Designed by the Contractor as a mechanism of promoting innovation and Modern Methods of Construction. He is also a member of the assessment panel of a number of Competitive Dialogue procurement processes. Norman is an active member and fellow of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland.

Dr Maggie Farrell is a Strategic Supply Management lecturer and researcher with over 25 years’ experience teaching and supervising on undergraduate, postgraduate, and executive programmes at TU Dublin. Maggie’s research is in procurement management, with a particular focus on strategy and how taking a strategic approach to inbound supply management can support delivery of Government policy and goals (e.g., cost and sustainability). She completed her PhD research at University of Warwick where her thesis was titled “Transforming Irelands Public Procurement Business Model: A Dynamic Capability Approach.” Prior to joining TU Dublin, her supply management career began when, as a Structural and Civil Engineer, she developed and managed tender agreements. Having completed an M.I.E. (UCD) and Masters in Purchasing & Supply Management (University of Ulster) she worked as an Operations Manager with Bord na Mona, before joining Team Aer Lingus as an Industrial Engineering Manager.

Eileen Torres Morales is a Research Associate at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Headquarters. Her main role involves keeping track of the newest technological developments that are steering the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in industries like steel and cement. This work has closely linked her to Green Public Procurement policies, particularly in the construction sector. Eileen holds a Master's degree in Sustainable Energy Engineering from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, as well as a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Universidad de los Andes in Colombia.

Paul Roulston is an Amazon Web Services, Business Development Capture Manager, aligned to the Irish public sector. He works with organisations across Ireland, educating and sharing knowledge on cloud procurement best practices. With over ten years’ experience, Paul has vast knowledge and expertise in procuring goods and services, and understands the hurdles that organisations may face when procuring new and transformative technologies.