The Tom Crean Business Centre has an extensive network of entrepreneurs and business leaders to help you grow your business. Mentors do not act as consultants. They are a confidential sounding board, advising on key operational and strategic issues.
Mentoring
Through the Tom Crean Business Centre, members can also gain access to Enterprise Ireland’s Mentor Network which has a panel of more than 400 highly experienced business people.
These are entrepreneurs, founders and senior executives with international commercial business development experience. They can offer practical advice and guidance based on their own business experience, on a one to one basis.
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Mentors
Vice President for Research, Development and External Engagement at MTU. Responsible for Kerry Innovation Centre, R&D, student recruitment, research, lifelong learning, diversity & inclusion, external engagement & fundraising. A member of the senior executive management team with responsibility for realising the University’s key strategic goals of Technological University status.
BBS, MBA, PhD, NCEE Fellow in Entrepreneurship, Harvard University Certificate in Problem Based Learning. She is a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Centre of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development at MTU. Breda designs, evaluates and researches innovative solutions in both private and public practice through a process of entrepreneurial learning, leadership and practice.
15+ years’ experience in non-profit, start-up and financial investment companies in Ireland, the US and the UK. Supporting the activities of the Development Office, responsible for development of enterprise support initiatives at MTU and Kerry Innovation Centre, funding acquisition, innovation management, lifelong learning, and promotion and delivery of services to industrial, commercial and organisations, leading to enterprise development and employment.
Ben is a marketing professional with 7+ years of experience in the third level education and healthcare sectors, he also delivers marketing & communications consultancy services to several businesses across the south-west region. He specialises in digital but has a flair for traditional and creative engaging advertising campaigns. Ben holds an MSc in Digital Marketing Strategy and a BA (Hons) in TV, Radio and New Media Broadcasting. Ben also has extensive experience in enterprise support & development from start-up to scale up and is currently the programme manager for Goalmine - a second level outreach programme to support the development of entrepreneurship skills for young adults.
Dr Tim Yeomans is the Centre Manager for Shannon Applied Biotechnology Centre, a collaboration between MTU Kerry and Limerick Institute of Technology. Tim holds a PhD in Microbiology and postgraduate qualifications in Technology Commercialisation and Innovation Management. Tim is responsible for the scientific direction of the Centre, research commercialisation and business and technology development.
Professor Joseph Walsh is Head of the School of STEM and Head of Intelligent Mechatronics and RFID (IMaR) Research Centre at MTU, Kerry. He has a PhD in Electronic Engineering from UL and an MSc in Bio‐engineering. Professor Walsh’s research experience encompasses the field of intelligent mechatronics and sensors, dairy technology, robotics and automation, autonomous systems, bio‐instrumentation and STEM education and is well published in these areas. He has over 20 years research experience in industry and academia, has (co-)authored over 100 scientific articles and has received Eur 10 million in research funding over the past 5 years. Professor Walsh was elected Fellow of the Institute of Physics (FinstP), is a corporate member of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland (MIEI) and has been awarded the titles of Chartered Engineer and Chartered Physicist. He currently leads a number of SFI co-funded (Lero and Confirm) projects with Dairymaster, Bons Secours Hospital Group, Liebherr and Kostal, where researchers are developing IoT, autonomous systems, sensing and cloud platforms and software/AI solutions for industrial partners. Prof. Walsh is co-founder and director of ACE – the AgriTech centre of excellence which is a non-for-profit organisation supporting AgriTech and SME’s in the adoption of immersive learning, AR and VR technologies.
John is a senior executive who has worked in finance, operations, product development and international sales. John has worked in Ireland and internationally, including local companies such as Aspen Grove Solutions and Donseed. John first trained as an accountant (FCCA) but is now equally as comfortable in operations and business development.
Co-founder of Flúirse Education Solutions, an award winning eLearning and training company based in Tralee, operating career focussed training centres across Ireland. Flúirse are also the leading providers of online training for primary school teachers in Ireland.
