DCU Voices

2021 EDITION 75 RODNEY SMITH (BA Literature and Philosophy, 2014 [DCU Oscail] and MSc Management of Informations Systems Strategy, 2014) Portfolio Analyst at Canada Life Europe “I outsold David Walliams when my book reached No 2 in the bestseller list!” Memories Meeting people like myself who had to work during the day and study at night while also juggling family responsibilities. It was a challenge, but we had our own support group. In the end it was definitely worth it! Career highlights Graduating from the Open University in 2019 with a Masters in Creative Writing. I am the author of 11 books to date for children / young adults, published by Poolbeg Press. I outsold David Walliams in Ireland when my book was number 2 in the bestseller list! Another highlight has been mentoring secondary school students in Dublin in Creative Writing and IBM P-Tech. HANNAH BYRNE (BSc Analytical Science, 2011 and PhD Biochemistry, 2015) Head of Biological Sciences at Valitacell Ltd “During the final months of my PhD I was headhunted on LinkedIn” Memories During my undergraduate degree, one of my favourite memories was the time I spent in industry during my third year, which allowed me to gain experience and insight into a career after my degree. Another good memory was the class environmental trip away to Cornwall. During my PhD, my favourite memory was the daily coffee and scones from the canteen in the Nurses’ building and my graduation day. Career highlights During the final months of my PhD, in Prof Richard O’Kennedy’s Lab, I was headhunted on LinkedIn by Kymab, a company based in Cambridge, to join their new bispecific antibody development team. Within my first year, after successfully building a high- throughput functioning bispecific antibody production platform [patent pending], I was promoted to Project Lead of the company’s latest drug target. In addition, I was tasked with developing the in-house analytics team. I spent three years at Kymab, prior to joining Valitacell in 2017, initially as Product Manager, and now as Head of Biological Sciences.” PETER O’HALLORAN (BA International Business and Languages [French and Spanish], 2000 and MSc eCommerce, 2001) Vice President & General Manager, Global Digital Commerce at Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV) “My favourite memory of DCU was making friends” Memories My favourite memory of DCU was making friends, so many of whom I still have today, through my degree, my Masters and the various trips abroad with classmates. I have fond memories of going to the “35’s” tournament in U.L., summer 1998 in Munich with 20 of my IBL classmates, but the standout memory was Erasmus in Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona in 1998/1999 with 8 friends from DCU. Erasmus was an incredible experience which I would advise all students to undertake. Career Highlights I co-founded Branded Payments Solutions in 2008, raised venture capital and sold it to Planet Payments in 2012, which was a special and formative experience. I was part of First Data when we did the world’s largest IPO of 2015 on the NYSE. I was appointed to the board of First Data PolCard as non-Executive Director in May 2016. I rang the bell on the world’s oldest stock exchange, the AEX, in 2017 to announce First Data’s joint venture with ABN AMRO. I studied Global Business Management at Harvard Business School in 2019 and I was appointed to the board of Payzone Ireland as non-Executive Director in January 2020.