mmarymckenna
Co Donegal, Ireland
Bio: I'm a technology entrepreneur & these days angel investor. I co-founded wildly successful online learning company Learning Pool in 2006 on the back of a long local government career and a spell as a Silicon Valley dotcommer. I exited the company in May 2014 in order to get back into startup land. I invest in female founding teams working on #techforgood projects where I, through my experience or network, can add value. I'm interested in helping start & grow indigenous Irish & British tech companies and especially in working with young and female entrepreneurs. I'm one of Oxford Foundry & Said Business School's (University of Oxford) Resident Experts, an Expert Advisor to the EU's flagship innovation programme the EIC Accelerator & a trustee of CAST (the Centre for Acceleration of Social Technology). I co-founded AwakenHub in Ireland with four of my friends in July 2020. We're a cross-border female founder community. I love the arts and have been a non executive director on the board of Derry’s Millennium Forum & Theatre for many years. I'm also a trustee of the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). In the 2014 New Year’s Honours I was awarded the MBE by HM the Queen for services to digital technology, innovation and learning - which you have to admit is pretty darned cool. I'm interested in having conversations about non exec positions in tech startups or scaleups and I'm happy to speak at relevant events or write articles for publication on any of my specialist topics - how to build a kick ass network, how to scale your startup, how to build a digital business, how to build a company with a great culture ... I blog mainly about startup business and being an entrepreneur but also other things that I encounter in my travels that interest me. I've sat at Buzz Aldrin's feet & listened to his stories, I've disco danced with Leonard Cohen at Coachella and I've joined Robert Plant in singing gospel songs with Wanda Jackson at Pappy & Harriet's in the Californian desert. You can follow me on Twitter at @MMaryMcKenna
Mary McKenna's Blog 
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