UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School

Dublin Business School

Griffith College Dublin

Dublin Institute of Technology

Principal Account Manager @ Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Principal Account Manager

Senior Technology Account Manager at Oracle, responsible for UK strategic Financial Services Accounts.

Oracle

Senior Account Manager - Strategic Accounts

Business Intelligence Account Manager - Financial Services

Hartley & Marks is a Canadian stationary company and the maker of Paperblanks, a premium range of journals and diaries. The EMEA office is based in Dublin and manages key accounts in the region such as WH Smith, FNAC, Waterstones, Easons, John Lewis & Amazon.  My role in Hartley & Marks was to create structure and develop / implement a sales and marketing strategy for the EMEA region. This included working closely with key accounts, sales agents and country managers across the territories to identify and implement methods to grow the business. In addition, the role incorporated a business development function to target new business channels both online and offline.

Hartley & Marks Group

Sales and Marketing Director

I was headhunted for the role at WaterWipes following my time in a self-employed capacity and due to my experience dealing with online channels such as Amazon where I had vast experience both during my employment with TomTom and working as a consultant. My role at WaterWipes included responsibilities for sales, marketing and management of global e-commerce accounts such as Amazon and Ocado. Developing joint account strategies, implementation of marketing, managing stock in channel, key account management and business development

WaterWipes

Online Channel Manager

DC Consulting was established in 2012 as a sales and marketing agency and to source and introduce brands to the Irish market. During this time I was also involved as a Co-Founder of an E-commerce startup, <a href="http://BlocBuy.com">BlocBuy.com</a>. I worked with 3 different distributors, assisting them with sales strategy, new routes to market, business development and seeking and securing new products. The focus in terms of product was mostly within consumer electronics and these brands included AKG, JBL, Harman, Fitbit, RHA, Frends and Philips. The new customer channels included online and offline with businesses such as Amazon UK, iConnect Apple Stores, Power City, Living Social, Brown Thomas & Arnotts. I managed these key accounts directly along with integrating the relationship with the distributors. Each business enjoyed significant increases to sales, in one case more than doubling their turnover in less than 12 months.The <a href="http://BlocBuy.com">BlocBuy.com</a> project was created with a vision to build a platform/SaaS model that facilitated group purchasing, initially via our own website but with the goal to sell as SaaS solution. The early model was an e-commerce site focusing on Consumer Electronic goods. I had seen the fitbit One while working in TomTom and was keen to be the first to offer this in the Irish market - we launched the fitbit Flex in late 2012 in conjunction with AXA Insurance and it was a great success, driving large numbers of customers to our website. We were selected as 1 of 12 finalists in the ITLG Innovations Awards in 2014 out of 200 entrants.

DC Consulting

Business Owner & Co-Founder of BlocBuy.com

I was approached by TomTom after launching the brand while working in a distribution capacity with my previous employer, Sharptext. TomTom were keen to develop the Irish market and sought to recruit a full-time resource to manage the distribution, retail and B2B channels. I drove the brand from basically zero to market leadership within the first 18 months. This was achieved by way of our retail and distribution partnerships, strategic marketing, PR and introduction of products that held a competitive advantage over existing players such as Garmin - key to this was the launch of HD Traffic in 2010, bringing the first Live traffic information to sat navs in Ireland. I worked closely with local entities such as the Road Safety Authority, National Roads Authority and Tourism bodies to ensure we had the best road data on our devices and drive brand awareness via relevant channels.In addition to my responsibilities in Ireland, I took on key accounts in the UK - this gave me exposure to a much larger market and included accounts such as Amazon, John Lewis, Best Buy and Halfords - the latter being the largest UK account and 2nd largest TomTom account in Europe. I launched the first TomTom Nike Sports watch with Amazon and John Lewis in 2011 which was an instant success, especially with Amazon.I took a bold step to leave Sharptext and work for TomTom in 2008, just as the Irish economy was in free fall and consumer spending was in huge decline but it proved to be a fantastic transition in my career - I had the opportunity to work with some of the best sales and marketing people I have ever encountered in a fast paced, innovative, target driven environment - driving the brand to number 1 in Ireland and moving on to take responsibility for the largest UK accounts.

TomTom

Country Manager - Ireland

I was recruited by Sharptext to develop and manage the retail channel and introduce new brands to the product portfolio. The focus was the development of key nationwide retail accounts in Ireland including Harvey Norman, DID, Power City, Expert, Euronics, Easons and Soundstore. During my time with Sharptext, I worked with some of the world's top IT brands such as Microsoft, Symantec, HP, Toshiba and Epson. My role included seeking out new business opportunities by expanding product ranges within current accounts and developing new retail partners to work with nationwide. Crucial to the success of this role was generating and maintaining great customer relationships and being a trusted and reliable distribution partner with top retail accounts throughout Ireland. This position was at a time of great prosperity in Ireland during the 'Celtic Tiger' and we introduced a number of new and innovative brands to the Irish market which included; Cowon iAudio Digital Music Players from South Korea, SonicGear multimedia from Singapore, Skullcandy headphones and last but not least, TomTom satellite navigation devices. Sharptext was a great company to work for and allowed me to further develop my career by working with some of the best brands in the world, forming relationships with international suppliers and working closely with top retail accounts in Ireland.

Sharptext Ltd. (Now Exertis)

Business Development Manager

An opportunity came up to take a role with a small distributor called EDL. At the time, they had the distribution rights to prepay mobile phones from 02, selling specifically into the Expert Group. When I joined in 2003 it consisted of 1 staff member who focused on sales of mobile phones into the Expert stores. I developed the business into a fully fledged distributor employing 6 people with a diverse product portfolio and expanded the customer base to over 200 stores nationwide. My role was to grow the business and manage the relations with suppliers and customers. The focus in terms of products was new emerging technology and at the time this was mostly around Digital Music Players, Home Cinema, Multimedia Speakers, Digital Cameras, Portable DVD Players, DECT Phones to name a few. We introduced several first-to-market brands and technologies and it was a fantastic experience to see these products on retail shelves around the country. It was a big step to leave Philips but I was excited to take on a new challenge and further explore other product segments, further fueling my love for technology and curiosity!

Effective Distribution Limited

Sales & Marketing Manager

After my successful time working as the Philips representative in Brown Thomas, I was promoted to a position in field sales - this was initially to work as a product trainer, merchandiser and demonstrator - in less than 3 months this became a full Account Management role with retail accounts nationwide, these included stores within the Expert Group, Euronics, Brown Thomas and several other independent stores. I loved working with retailers around the country and developing sales strategies to ensure the brand was number 1 with our partners. Later on, I took on the responsibility of managing sales of Interactive TV in conjunction with key sales partners to target corporate business in the hospitality sector. Another element to my role was the management of the sponsorship of the Murphy's Irish Open Annual golf event. This involved being on-site ahead of the event to ensure TV's were positioned across all key strategic locations such as VIP areas, corporate tents, press areas and across the clubhouse. Branding was also key and to find opportunities to maximise exposure in all locations. I remained at the event for the duration to manage any challenges and enjoy the golf! Philips were a fantastic company to work for and I have very fond memories of that time working with some truly professional and great people.

Philips Consumer Electronics, Ireland

Account Manager

I was approached by the then buyer for Brown Thomas about a role to manage the Philips concession in the Audio Visual department in Brown Thomas. I was recommended to him by a rep I was dealing with in Courts for PC peripherals. The AV department in Brown Thomas was a wonderful consumer experience at the time and I fell immediately in love with the idea of running the Philips area and was delighted to be offered the role after being interviewed by Philips. The key element in this role was driving Philips sales within the overall AV department - competing with other brands of the time such as Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer & JVC. Philips became consistently number 1 and often enjoyed in excess of 60% of the AV dept. business - this was achieved by way of the strength of the brand, display methods, bundles, managing relations with Brown Thomas management and ensuring the sales staff in the department were pushing Philips over the competition. At the time plasma screens were beginning to emerge and Philips were the first with an incredible 42" Cool Green Plasma TV - selling at the time for a whopping £12,000, probably about €25,000 in today's money. Even with the wealthy customer demographic that Brown Thomas attracts, we still probably only averaged about 1 sale per month - however, it was a fantastic way to up-sell customers who intended only buying a 25" TV (CRT) that sold for £499 to something like a 32" with integrated Dolby Surround which would have been in the region of £2,000 at the time... I remember with very fond memories demonstrating these TVs to a group of multiple customers and then happily processing sales of several in one go, even running down to the stockroom to see if we had enough to meet demand.

Department Head at Brown Thomas, Dublin

I continued my career in the electrical retail space when Courts arrived to Ireland. For those unfamiliar with the business, they were very like what Harvey Norman are today - except Harvey Norman do it better and have lasted far longer! A mix of furniture, bedding, electrical and consumer electronics. Home computers were beginning to emerge around this time as a more prominent business, mostly due to peoples' desire to get online (think old dial-up days). My role initially was sales of consumer electronics - brands such as Sony, Panasonic, Akai, JVC etc. When the idea of a computer department began to take shape, I put my hand up first (I don't think anyone else did come to think of it) to be the person who would look after this area. We created an area in the corner of the first Courts store which consisted of about 6 desktop PCs, a selection of printers and an array of peripherals and software. This grew into a significant category and went on to become a much larger department within Arnotts Department store which became my new home and area of responsibility.

Courts @ Arnotts Department Store

Sales Representative & Computer Department Head

Harry Moore Ltd was a leading consumer electronics chain in Dublin during the 80s & 90s. They were eventually bought out by the Dixons Stores Group in 1999. Harry Moore was the go-to store for TV, cameras, audio, and high-end separates. As a teenager in my first job, I had a mix of responsibilities - helping customers to their cars with a new TV, going to a customers home to setup their audio equipment, putting 3-pin plugs on figure 8 leads and eventually finding a home selling Walkman, Discman, cameras and accessories - something I enjoyed immensely - playing with technology and then selling to customers. I loved nothing more than to test out new products - try the auto-reverse feature on a new Walkman, test the sound enhancing features such as Mega-Bass or various other tone adjustments, hear how loud a new ghetto blaster could actually blast... As a teenager who loved music and technology, this was an incredibly well suited job!

David Crotty

David Crotty