Past Events

“A brand – not just for Christmas”

Our annual Christmastime event took place in the RDS, where we welcomed branding expert Gerard Tannam for a festive take on branding, accompanied by wine and mince pies! A renowned brand-builder, author and keynote speaker at Islandbridge Brand Development, Gerard’s recently-published Branding for SMEs: A Guide is packed with all sorts of goodies. All the […]

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The Economic and Investment Outlook with Goodbody

Leading wealth manager Goodbody recently hosted a virtual event for MBAAI members on the Economic and Investment Outlook. Goodbody Head of Investment Strategy Joe Prendergast was MC. On the panel was Chief Investment Officer, Bernard Swords and Senior Wealth Manager, Kate Walley. Bernard gave the global investment outlook for 2025, concentrating on what themes we can expect to see in […]

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John Winsor on ‘Open Talent’

The last in our quarterly series of international speaker events in 2024 saw Harvard Business Review author John Winsor in the RDS Members’ Club  in Dublin to speak on reorganising around the new, digitally enabled world of “open talent”. In his eye-opening, essential guidebook for the new world of work Open Talent, John, leader at the […]

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Nuala Walsh on making smarter decisions

The third in our quarterly series of international speaker events this year, author Nuala Walsh addressed members in the RDS Members’ Club in Dublin in October on the subject of her new book Tune In – how to make smarter decisions in a noisy world. An adjunct professor of behavioural science at Trinity College Dublin, […]

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From Metrics to Action: Sustainability event at UL

The MBAAI MidWest Chapter hosted an event on sustainability at the Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick in September. Under the theme of ‘Metrics to Action’, our panel of speakers covered the essence of sustainability, and looked to future-proofing a sustainability strategy rather than reactive compliance. Professor Sheila Killian of UL walked us through the […]

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Is the Road to a Renewable Energy Island a Smooth One?

The Answer: Buckle up, you are in for a bumpy ride! The resounding feedback from the expert panel at this event in conjunction with the Kemmy Business School at Analog Devices – Catalyst Limerick in May was this is not going to be easy! The event was effortlessly moderated by Val Cummins PhD, Simply Blue […]

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Wendy K. Smith on “Both/And Thinking”

The first in our quarterly series of international speaker events in 2024 was a virtual event with HBR’s Wendy K. Smith, co-author of Both/And Thinking – Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems. Wendy discussed how to use “both/and thinking” to make more creative, flexible, and impactful decisions in a world of competing demands […]

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CUBS event in Cork with Carol Kulik

In conjunction with Cork University Business School (CUBS), the Association’s Southern Chapter was delighted to host a networking breakfast and seminar with Carol Kulik on Line managers: the unsung heroes in every organisation, taking place at the UCC Centre for Executive Education, Lapps Quay, Cork. Line managers are the unsung heroes in every organisation! Their […]

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Lessons from the Boardroom with Pat McDonagh

The Association’s Mid-West Chapter was to host an evening with Pat McDonagh and Professor Stephen Kinsella at the Kemmy Business School at the University of Limerick. The format of the event was a fireside chat, which took place in front of a full house of members and students. Pat McDonagh is the Managing Director of […]

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Michael Dwyer: an entrepreneur’s journey

The Association recently invited entrepreneur Michael Dwyer for a fireside chat with Conor Horgan following its AGM. Founder of Pigsback.com, Michael drew on his book from the arena: an entrepreneur’s journey – the story of pigsback.com to recount a marathon entrepreneurial journey with Pigsback.com, starting at the height of the dot-com boom in late 1999, […]

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The Best Business Books of 2023

Irish Times Business Book Reviewer Frank Dillon regaled members at our recent Christmas event in the RDS with his favourite reads of 2023. Here they are : Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson & Risking it All by Michael Vlisman The Digital transformation Roadmap by David L. Rogers Right Kind of Wrong by Amy Edmondson * […]

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BACK-TO-BACK VICTORY FOR SETU AT NATIONAL STRATEGY COMPETITION

A remarkable feat for the second consecutive year, the MBA team from South East Technological University (SETU) emerged victorious at the MBAAI National Strategy Competition 2023. The intense competition, held at Flutter HQ in Dublin, drew participation from renowned business schools nationwide. In a departure from the traditional Harvard Business Review (HBR) case study format, […]

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Towards Better Networking

Expert Nishtha Chugh provides valuable lessons on perfecting the often neglected art of networking. Most people tend to treat networking events like fish markets. Armed with shiny business cards they move from table to table looking for the finest catch the place has to offer. But what distinguishes networking events from fish markets is that […]

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The Microstress Effect

The Association was delighted to host the third in its series of international speaker events in 2023 last September with New York Times best-selling author Karen Dillon. How a million little things are dragging you down, and what to do about it – there is a force in our everyday lives that we aren’t even […]

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Make Work Healthy

The Mid-West Chapter of the MBA Association was delighted to welcome John Ryan to speak at a lunchtime event in at ACI Worldwide in Limerick recently. This followed an evening with John in Dublin some weeks earlier. Formerly of the Great Places to Work organisation, John has set up a business focussed on the global […]

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James Burstall: Prosper in a Crisis

The Association’s 2nd international speaker event of 2023 was an evening in the RDS with author and industry leader James Burstall. James is the author of a new book called The Flexible Method – Prepare to Prosper In The Next Global Crisis (Hachette, March 2023). It is a step by step guide to preparing companies for the […]

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Bryan Murphy triumphs in 2023 MBAAI Golf Outing

The annual Association golf outing for 2023 saw board member Bryan Murphy retain his MBAAI Perpetual Trophy on a sunswept East Course at Powerscourt in Wicklow. Bryan had a 5-shot win over Robert Cooper with Conor Horgan a further shot back.    

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AI – for better or worse?

The Association kicked off a quarterly series of international speaker events in 2023 with a webinar with Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, the renowned psychologist, author and entrepreneur, who uses science and tech to help organizations predict human performance. Against the backdrop of his latest book I, Human, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic took us on an enthralling and eye-opening journey […]

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Entrepreneurs’ Evening in the GEC

With the Guinness Enterprise Centre in Dublin 8 as our venue, our popular ‘Meet the Entrepreneurs’ evening took place in January, when we heard first-hand the stories of a number of start-ups from the Centre and elsewhere. Among the entrepreneurs on the night was sustainability champion Dr. Mary O’Riordan, whose company HaPPE Earth has produced a […]

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Driving Ireland’s Digital Transformation

The Association’s Southern Chapter hosted an event at Johnson & Perrott Jaguar Land Rover, Cork in November with John Cormican, General Manager of Vehicle Engineering JLR Shannon & Portland USA, who addressed guests on the topic of Driving the Digital Transformation of Ireland through Connected and Autonomous Vehicles. John originally helped Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) […]

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Business Books of the Year

On the occasion of the Association’s Christmas event in the RDS, Irish Times business book reviewer Frank Dillon gave us his best reads of the year … Net positive, how courageous companies thrive by giving more than they take by Paul Polman and Andrew Winston. The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order by Gary Gerstle […]

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Ade McCormack: Leadership Reset

The Association was delighted to welcome globally renowned speaker, thinker and advisor on disruption Ade McCormack to Dublin for an in-person event in September in the Shelbourne Hotel Dublin. The theme of Ade’s talk was “Leadership reset: How to lead in an increasingly unpredictable world”. Accelerating market uncertainty is making it increasingly difficult to achieve lasting […]

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SETU wins National Strategy Prize Competition

A team of MBA students from The South East Technological University (SETU) has won the prestigious National Strategy Competition for 2022, organised for the second consecutive year by Michelle Gallagher, Academic Liaison at the MBA Association of Ireland. The competition is open to all MBA programmes across Ireland, past winners having included UCD, NUIG, DCU. […]

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How Successful People Collaborate

The Association was delighted to host a webinar on collaboration with acclaimed HBR author Rob Cross. Rob is author of Beyond Collaboration Overload, which reveals how successful people collaborate in ways that enable them to be 18-24% more efficient than their peers. Based on over a decade of research, the book shows how to invest […]

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Bryan Murphy wins MBAAI Golf

Congratulations to MBAAI board member Bryan Murphy, who recently won the MBAAI Perpetual Golf Trophy at Powerscourt Golf Club in Co. Wicklow. Bryan squeezed out Ken Greene by the tightest of margins, finishing on the same stableford score of 37 points, but with a better back 9. The annual MBAAI Golf Outing returned after an […]

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Good governance standards

The South East chapter of the Association recently hosted a lunchtime webinar with Carolynn Chalmers, CEO of the Good Governance Academy. Designed as an introduction to ISO 37000, the first-international standard for organisational governance, the key topics covered were: The purpose of the standard The governance conditions, principles and key aspects of practice recommended by […]

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Better, Simpler Strategy

The Association recently welcomed Harvard Business School professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee, author of the HBR title Better, Simpler Strategy, to speak at a virtual event. In nearly every business segment and corner of the world economy, the most successful companies dramatically outperform their rivals. What is their secret? In Better, Simpler Strategy, Felix Oberholzer-Gee shows how these companies […]

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New Ways of Working: Employer Guide

The Association was delighted to welcome Kevin Callan of HR and Employment Law specialists Peninsula to speak on the evening of our online AGM in January. Kevin, Consultancy Manager at GraphiteHRM, discussed what employers need to do as they adapt to a new way of working, covering both HR and health & safety aspects, including […]

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Best Business Reads of 2021

As part our Christmas event in the RDS. Frank Dillon, business book reviewer with The Irish Times, recently gave us his list of favourite business books of 2021: The Invincible company by Alex Osterwalder et al: The latest from the inventor of the business model canvas summarises his key ideas on innovation. In an attractively […]

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Entrepreneurs’ Evening in the GEC

The MBA Association was delighted to host our popular “Meet The Entrepreneurs” event in conjunction with the Guinness Enterprise Centre in Dublin. This was an opportunity to hear first-hand the stories of young entrepreneurs across a range of industries – and the funding, marketing and organisational challenges they face. Taking place in the newly expanded […]

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Whistleblowing Policy and Process

Grainne Madden, founder of GMJ Associates, a consultancy offering advice and training in business ethics and responsible business practice, recently hosted a webinar for members on Whistleblowing Policy and Process. The EU Whistleblowing Directive has introduced common minimum standards for the protection of whistleblowers in EU countries.  In Ireland, the General Scheme of the Protected […]

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Creative Conflict with HBR’s Bill Sanders

The MBA Association was delighted to invite Bill Sanders, co-author of Creative Conflict: A Practical Guide for Business Negotiators, to host a webinar on negotiation in September. Negotiation is stuck. It’s time for something new. Almost everything is negotiable. Almost every interaction is a negotiation. And in no field is this clearer than in business, […]

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Changes in the Pensions Landscape

The MBA Association was once again delighted to invite Ralph Benson and Olive Ryan of pensions adviser Moneycube for a lunchtime webinar on pensions. The event covered the following: Changes in the pensions landscape Legislative, professionalisation of governance Control, costs and transparency What’s around the corner? IORPS II, auto enrolment 5 big opportunities to enhance […]

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Wedell-Wedellsborg: ‘What’s Your Problem’

In this insightful interview with Frank Dillon of Decision, made available for MBAAI members, Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg, author of ‘What’s Your Problem’ (HBR Press), looks at how to reframe business and personal problems to achieve better outcomes. Thomas has worked with managers in nearly all parts of the globe, including China, India, Russia, Singapore, Britain, France […]

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Why developers are central to your business

We are delighted to bring members an exclusive interview with Jeff Lawson, CEO of software giant Twilio and author of ‘Ask Your Developer’, talking to Decision’s Frank Dillon about why developers should be central to your business. Lawson is a serial inventor with over 15 years of entrepreneurial and product experience. You can view the […]

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Out-think the Competition: Kaihan Krippendorff

To coincide with the Association’s National Strategy Competition 2021, we were delighted to have world-renowned strategy expert Kaihan Krippendorff of outthinkers.com address members on the subject of  “Outthink the Competition: Excelling in a Digital, Agile, Purpose-Driven Future” .  One of the most influential innovation thought leaders in the world, Kaihan was participating as a judge in […]

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TU Dublin wins National Strategy Competition

A team of MBA students from TU Dublin has won the prestigious National Strategy Competition for 2021, organised by the MBA Association of Ireland. The competition is open to all MBA programmes across Ireland, past winners having included UCD, NUIG, DCU and WIT. The students had four hours to prepare a strategic analysis and presentation […]

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Cybersecurity & Internet Fraud

The MBA Association recently hosted a webinar with Donal Murphy of Intuity Technologies on the pressing topic of Cyber Security and Internet Fraud. In light of the high profile cyber-attack on the HSE IT systems, this webinar was designed to provide businesses and managers with relevant guidelines on how best to protect themselves and their […]

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Why Brand needs to be on the board agenda

We were delighted to welcome Gillian Horan, CEO and founder of branding consultancy The Pudding, recently to speak on the subject of “Brand – why it needs to be on the board agenda”. Companies dramatically underestimate the value of a strong brand. Now more than ever, executives need to consider how building and developing purposeful […]

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Marketing Effectiveness with Paul Dervan

The Association was delighted to welcome Paul Dervan, Chief Marketing Officer with National Lottery, to speak on marketing effectiveness recently. Paul is author of Run with Foxes: Make better marketing decisions, a contributor to WARC, the online effectiveness website, and has judged the European Effies Effectiveness Awards. Prior to The National Lottery, he was the […]

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Out-Innovate with HBR’s Alex Lazarow

The Association was delighted to invite acclaimed HBR author Alex Lazarow for a virtual fireside chat recently. Alexandre (Alex) Lazarow has spent his career working at the intersection of investing, innovation, and economic development in the private, public, and social sectors. He is the author of Out-Innovate: How Global Entrepreneurs – from Delhi to Detroit […]

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Using AI to optimise business decisions

The Association was delighted to welcome change management consultants Sia Partners for a virtual event recently centred on Artificial Intelligence and how it can be used to optimise business decisions. The session provided an overview of some of the most common topics tackled nowadays in business: Customer centricity, Marketing and Productivity and connect them to […]

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Blockchain 2021 with Dr. Aidan Duane of WIT

The South East chapter of the Association was delighted to host a webinar in February with Dr. Aidan Duane of Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) on the ever topical subject of blockchain. Designed as an introductory business-oriented presentation to Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology, the session included examples from across multiple industries to suit all […]

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HBR’s Dorie Clark: Entrepreneurial You

In conjunction with Decision, the Association was delighted to host a virtual event in November with renowned author Dorie Clark of Harvard Business Review. Dorie Clark has been named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, and was recognised as the #1 Communication Coach in the world by the Marshall […]

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“Meet the Entrepreneurs” at the GEC

Once again the Association partnered with the Guinness Enterprise Centre to host our annual Meet The Entrepreneurs event, which took place as a webinar in October. We heard about the major development taking place at the GEC in Dublin, whose capacity will double in 2021, and a number of start-ups inspired us with their ideas, […]

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Isolde Norris on Setting Up Teams for Success

Experienced executive and team coach Isolde Norris shared her insights at an event in September on a compelling question that all organisations grapple with – what makes teams effective in the workplace? Often when there is a problem in teams, personalities are blamed and people can be scapegoated. Drawing on research from Hackman and Wageman, […]

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Economic Outlook with DAVY

Once again the Association was delighted to welcome Davy for its annual economic review at a genuinely unprecented time for the Irish and global economy, with the ongoing uncertainty surrounding around Covid-19 compounded by the possibility of a no-deal Brexit and the upcoming US elections. Donough Kilmurray, Chief Investment Officer at Davy lent his expert insights on the prospects […]

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The politics of conversations at work

The Association hosted a virtual event in September with Professor Megan Reitz from Ashridge Business School in the UK. Reitz’s latest book, Speak up – say what needs to be said and hear what needs to be heard, has been described as a ‘how-to guide to navigating the power and politics of conversations at work’. […]

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The future of work

We were delighted to have careers expert Ciara Garvan as host of a virtual event on The Future of Work. The Future of Work as a topic has accelerated due to the pandemic. Hot themes such as remote working and flexible working are no longer trending but realities we are all grappling with. What does this mean for highly skilled […]

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Musgrave: adapting in a crisis

The Association was delighted to have David Codd, Group Transformation Director at Musgrave, as our speaker for a webinar in July. The Covid-19 crisis has brought the importance of food retailers in our lives to the fore like never before, and none more so than Musgrave. With over 1,450 stores, and brands including Supervalu, Centra, Donnybrook Fair and others, the Group feeds […]

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Diversity & Inclusion

Most Diversity and Inclusion initiatives are developed to comply with corporate governance and self-regulation (often under the heading “Corporate Social Responsibility” or CSR). But most fail to move the needle and are just a box check. At a webinar in June, expert John Rankin  enlightened us on how to move the needle substantially and make […]

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Pensions webinar with Moneycube

The Association was delighted to host a webinar with Ralph Benson and Feargal McKenna of pensions adviser Moneycube on trends in the pensions market and what “auto-enrolment” – where an employee worker will be automatically enrolled in a pension scheme when starting a job – is likely to mean for Irish industry, both from an […]

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Site visit: Waterford Distillery

The MBAAI South East Chapter, in collaboration with the WIT Graduate Business School, recently hosted a visit to the Waterford Distillery facility located at the converted former Guinness Brewery building. Head Distiller Ned Gahan facilitated the group on the day. Waterford Distillery was established five years ago by entrepreneur and third-generation wine merchant Mark Reynier. […]

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Career Readiness at UL

The MBAAI Mid-West chapter recently hosted an event at the University of Limerick on career progression with John Fitzgerald, Managing Director of Harmonics Ireland. The 4th Industrial revolution is disrupting traditional approaches to how we build and grow a 50-year career. Career progression is no longer predictable. Stability has been replaced by the constant need […]

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Can you hear me?

The MBA Association of Ireland was again delighted to team up with Harvard Business Review to welcome Dr. Nick Morgan to Dublin for a breakfast event on Wednesday, 20 February in Mason Hayes & Curran in Barrow St., at which he spoke on the challenges of communicating in a virtual world. We’ve all felt disconnected […]

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How long will your job last?

Panel discussion with Cpl at UCC What can you do to prepare for the upcoming technological revolution? The MBAAI Southern Chapter, in conjunction with UCC and Cpl, was delighted to host a panel discussion and Q&A on this most compelling of topics. In our talk we discussed: The Future of Work What jobs will be […]

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Christmas event at RDS

It was tools down as the RDS was the venue for our annual Christmas gathering, which this year was run jointly with the Corporate Governance Association of Ireland. We were delighted to have Diageo as sponsor of this year’s event and to welcome Eamon DeBurca, Commercial Manager Diageo Ireland, who explored key themes facing the […]

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Innovation Capital Event

Innovation Capital

The Association was delighted to have Curtis Lefrandt visit from London to speak on Innovation Capital. Published by Harvard Business Review, Lefrandt’s book Innovation Capital: How to Compete and Win Like the World’s Most Innovative Leaders features case studies with the superstars who made the list of the top 25 people in the world with […]

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WIT take MBAAI Strategy Prize

Congratulations to WIT who were victorious in the annual MBAAI National Strategy Competition, which took place in 2019 at Microsoft. From left, winning team members Jon Hawkins, Ann Keenan, Tommy Murphy and Tony Lonergan receive the trophy from Alacoque McMenamin, MBAAI President. The annual Competition presents an opportunity for students from MBA Programmes from all over […]

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