*Marie Donnellan.
NEWMARKET-ON-FERGUS woman Marie Donnellan has been appointed as the CEO of the Galway innovation hub, Platform94.
After a combined tenure of nearly 15 years at EY Ireland, where she was first a senior auditor and more recently a director, Marie was announced as the CEO last week and took over the role on Thursday.
Up until May of last year, Platform94 was known as the Galway Technology Centre. The rebrand aimed to reflect the centre’s new vision, and the fact it now caters to the entire western region, and not just Galway.
Since 1994, Platform 94 has supported over 300 companies, facilitated 3,000 jobs, and generated €1.3 billion in value for the West.
A chartered accountant by background, Marie has spent the last number of years working with companies and entrepreneurs in the Mid-West, West and North-West of Ireland. Other than EY, she also had a brief stint at Apple as a financial analyst in 2013-14. In 2013, she was the Rose of Clare and made it all the way to the Dome in Tralee.
She said, “When it comes to business expansion, we should always be looking through an international lens. Ireland has a world-leading ecosystem for fostering innovation and providing support for startup entrepreneurs. However, when it comes to supporting established innovative businesses to scale internationally, I believe there is a gap in the ecosystem, especially at a regional level”.
Marie added, “At Platform94, we will strive to address that gap, providing businesses with a suite of international scaling support services, regardless of where their business is physically located. I look forward to helping businesses from all over the region, not only in identifying growth opportunities, but in recognising and addressing both internal and external barriers to growth”.
Her appointment comes just weeks after Platform94, previously the Galway Technology Centre, celebrated its 30th anniversary and underwent a €5.2m expansion that saw the size of its Galway headquarters increase to 66,000 sq ft across four floors.
“Entrepreneurship can be a lonely place. At Platform94, our highly talented team can provide those all-important links, helping businesses and key stakeholders to collaborate, and giving businesses the ideal platform for international growth,” Donnellan added.
Owned by Galway Chamber and WestBIC, the hub was originally set up in 1994 to facilitate emerging ICT businesses in the west as they grew their operations. It works closely with local start-ups and scale-ups as well as other business support organisations based in the west, such as the Portershed, ITAG and CREW.
Currently a team of six, the centre last year launched their International Scale-up Programme to increase the number of successful Irish-founded companies overseas.
Platform94 Chair, David Hickey noted that Marie has “vast experience and a proven track record”. He said, “Her extensive strategic leadership, together with her financial and business development experience in a global-centric environment, will be of massive benefit. We look forward to seeing her lead Platform94 to expand its regional and national scale-up offerings, and to reach new heights in the international technology landscape over the coming years”.
