The Team

Colum is the CEO and founder of ID-Pal. Prior to this, Colum worked as a stockbroker and has over 20 years experience within the financial markets. He is a qualified charting analyst as well as a qualified financial advisor. Read Colum’s CEO profile here.

Previously James was a management consultant for Accenture where he worked on a number of client engagements ranging from strategy development to operational excellence and delivery within the Financial Services industry. Read James’ CBO profile here.

Shelley is a Harvard graduate with 12 years of marketing experience. She has worked in the US, Asia and Europe launching global campaigns for large corporations as well as building new brands for young companies. Read Shelley’s CMO profile here.

Rob is an IT Professional with over 10 years experience working with some of the world’s largest utilities. He specialises in bringing a business-goal-focus to IT with over 13 year of experience in Solution/Enterprise Architecture and structuring effective IT divisions. Read an interview with Robert here.

Joining ID-Pal from Future Finance Student Loan company, Simon holds an MBA in General Management and brings over 20 years Financial Services experience to ID-Pal. Simon has worked in start-up, scaling and large corporate organisations. His background is primarily in Banking and Fintech.

With a proven track record of leading commercial teams to manage and grow strong client partnerships, Sara West is responsible for the strategic development of ID-Pal in the UK and new markets. Sara is also a member of the Executive Team and is experienced in delivering high-value revenue growth and quality commercial engagement, bringing 20 years of expertise from within the technology sector to ID-Pal.

Originally a marketer, Brian has worked with a number of Irish Fintech companies as they expanded across Europe. Since completing an MBA his focus has shifted to more commercial roles, with a particular focus on Business Development and the management of culturally and geographically diverse sales teams.

Justin has over 12 years experience with Software Technology and team leadership. Working with multiple blue chip companies including Kerry Group and Tesco he has led large scale projects successfully to completion.

Conor is the founder and Managing Director of Information Security Assurance Services Limited (ISAS), an ISO 27001 certified company. Conor has over 25 years experience in ICT Security and advises both a number of public sector bodies as well as private enterprises. Conor currently sits on the Audit Committee in the Department of Agriculture.

Sinead has over 17 years’ experience in regulatory compliance within the financial services sector. She is a qualified solicitor and holds a number of diplomas in legal studies including an Advanced Diploma in Data Protection Law. Sinead is a member of the Institute of Directors, Association of Compliance Officers in Ireland and the Association of Data Protection Officers in Ireland. Sinead’s experience includes Head of Compliance & Regulatory Affairs in ISAS and Director of Data Protection at Waystone Compliance Solutions.

Alex is an experienced business development & relationship manager with over 11 years history working within the Financial Services industry in London, advising clients and executing their business. He holds a BCOMM (Hons) Degree and MSc. Postgrad qualification in Management Consultancy from UCD as well as being an FCA approved individual. He recently completed Harvard Law Schools Executive Education Programme on Negotiation – PON Global.

Richard is a seasoned sales professional with solid commercial experience with start-up and established companies in global industries and markets. Richard’s customer-orientated and solution-based approach will support ID-Pal’s client’s objective of delivering robust, future proof and user-friendly solutions to satisfy their growth and data compliance needs.

Founder and Managing Director of CFO Services, Fionán is a Management Accountant and Chartered Tax Advisor with over 18 years commercial experience in a variety of finance roles. Fionán is the financial mentor for the current NDRC Venture Lab Programme where he assists cohort companies to develop robust multi-annual financial models with a view to raising investment funding. He is a regular speaker at business start-up and business community events, on topics such as business planning, financial management and sources of business funding.

Rob joined the Product function in ID Pal from Hostelworld. He brings valuable Product Management experience alongside a wealth of knowledge gained working in Financial Services across Product, Onboarding, and AML.

Tom interned with ID-Pal during a formative period for the company. Tom graduated from Trinity College Dublin, with a First in English Lit and History. Tom brings an interdisciplinary, customer-first approach to the CX team much of this as a result of his experience working in customer facing roles with Carphone Warehouse. Find out why Tom chose ID-Pal as the best option for his career development here.

Toni is a software engineer with 20 years experience and his most recent role was with Mastercard Ireland. He has extensive knowledge in Agile frameworks and his core focus is driving Continuous Improvement across businesses. Toni specialises in helping companies undergo agile transformation in a controlled manner.

Val is a software engineer with extensive start-up experience, where the necessity to wear many hats gave him exposure to all aspects of various Web Stacks – as well as insight into a variety of different software languages, setups, frameworks, technologies and tools.

Caroline joins ID-Pal from Currency Fair, and holds a degree in Business and German from Trinity College Dublin as well as an altMBA completed in 2020. She specialises in devising and delivering marketing campaigns for the Financial Services Industry in EMEA and APAC. Prior to this she worked in agencies managing PPC campaigns for a portfolio of B2B clients.

Emma is an experienced and knowledgeable QA Professional that has noted expertise as a QA Manager and Senior QA Engineer for Pharmapod, Kyckr, SE2.com, Delaware Life and Sun Life. She has worked with large international teams and understands how to effectively manage employees across the globe. She is proficient and knowledgeable in all areas of software testing and has over 14 year’s worth of experience of bringing quality to the customer.

Julia is a front-end developer with experience in all aspects of web development. Holding a degree in Visual Communication from the University of Delaware, as well as an MSc. in Interactive Digital Media from Trinity College Dublin, she specializes in building and maintaining user-friendly and responsive interfaces.

Tanzeeb is a Biotechnology Engineer with an MSc. in Business Management from Trinity College Dublin. He specialises in Business Intelligence, Business Analysis and Research and Development. Prior to joining ID-Pal he worked as a Derivatives Trader & Analyst.

Having graduated from the Marketing Institute of Ireland in 2000 and from the Institute of Commercial Management in 2005 with qualifications in Marketing, PR & Advertising Peter has spent the best part of the last 15 years gaining extensive sales experience in Strategic Business Planning, Key Account Management and Business Development. In 2013 after spending 6 years in New Zealand Peter returned to Ireland working with several SaaS providers, partnering with some of the most recognisable global organisations across all sectors including Banking & Finance, Insurance, Life Science, Aviation and Retail and geographic regions including Asia-Pacific, EMEA & the US.

Kevin is a TU Dublin, Product Design graduate. He brings a broad range of skills to ID-Pal which he developed in his previous roles in creative direction and product development. He is passionate about problem solving with a particular focus on improving user experience.

Mark has over 25 years’ experience within the Sales and Marketing function, he has built start-ups from the ground upward and directed a Global Sales and Marketing operations for a billion-dollar company. He has a wealth of experience within technology solutions with a heavy focus towards SaaS within Identity Verification, Digital Identity, Telecommunications and Financial Services.

Ian comes with over 12 years of sales experience predominantly in the Legal Sector helping SME law firms with a SaaS solutions in this sector. Ian’s consultative approach will support ID-Pal’s client’s objective of delivering robust, future proof and user-friendly solutions to satisfy their growth and data compliance needs.

Đuro joins ID-Pal as a Senior PHP Developer with 14 years of experience in his field. Đuro began his career by developing online booking systems for accommodations and taxi transfers, before he transitioned to Rest API Servers and third-party API integrations. His focus is on delivering clean and testable code.

Niall is an experienced QA Engineer with a H. Dip in Computer Science from WIT. He joins ID-Pal having previously worked as a Senior QA Analyst and QA Lead managing a QA team across different timezones. Niall is highly proficient in all areas of software testing and passionate about providing a high testing standard and quality results.

A Sales Development Specialist in the Technology solutions space for more than 20 years, Joan brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise in Pre-Sales Process Architecture and Implementation and Demand Generation.

Rhiannon is a skilled and creative junior front-end web developer with a first-class BA in Anthropology from Maynooth University and a first-class postgraduate diploma in Interaction design from DCU. She specialises in human-centred design practices, believing that front-end innovation is achieved by getting to know your users to build the best products that fit their needs.

A graduate of Economics and French from University College Cork, Sarah is an adaptable customer experience executive with a passion for all things people. Prior to joining ID-Pal Sarah’s focus on delivering excellence in customer support was developed during her time in a managerial role in tourism before moving to gain extensive experience across the payments and lending space working as a Senior Multi-skilled Agent for student lending firm Future Finance

Maja is an Operations Executive who holds an MA in psychology from the University of Zagreb in her native Croatia. Prior to joining ID-Pal, she honed her experience and skills in a busy operations department of a student lender operating in the UK market. Maja has a passion for understanding human behaviour and what’s behind it, as well as identifying areas for improvement and implementing changes in order to help a business achieve its objectives.

An Engineering Manager and Mobile Architect with 10 years of professional experience (in start-ups and enterprises), Luigi brings a huge amount of knowledge to ID-Pal’s technology team. Luigi is curious and likes to solve problems in the area of team leadership and software development to build products that customers love, while understanding how the human body and mind work. Luigi’s focus is on honesty, driving forward and authenticity. Luigi has a passion for Platform and Product development, Transactional Analysis and Game Theory. In his spare time, you’ll find Luigi cycling or doing strength training.  

Oisín is a Database Administrator with over 5 years of experience working within the Financial Services industry. He has a wide range of experience with RDBMS and NoSQL database technologies. He has a passion for cloud technologies. He was attracted to the role at ID-Pal due to their innovative technology, passion for continuous improvement, customer focused development, and culture of learning.  

Emma is a skilled marketing and public relations professional with several years’ experience working with B2B companies in the technology space. Emma loves nothing more than organising events, planning marketing campaigns and strategising. She is passionate about producing good content through video, webinars, podcasts, and the written word. Emma has previously written for the Irish Times, thejournal.ie, Phoenix Magazine and Family Friendly HQ.  

Mick McCarthy joins ID-Pal from Rakuten as Senior QA Automation Engineer. Mick specialises in test automation, and he holds a BEng in Motorsport Engineering from Brunel University. His previous experience ranges from working in Fintech start-ups as a technical BA, to developing automation frameworks for cryptocurrency exchanges & regulatory reporting platforms. His focus is on creating clean, extensible automation frameworks and promoting technical upskilling within QA.

Paul is a highly experienced & versatile business development professional with over 15 years history working with established global companies across multiple sectors & industries including Banking, Financial Services, Business & Professional Services, Insurance, and Retail. He has noted expertise working with companies in the identity verification space, supporting & advising clients to execute their business plans to meet AML & KYC regulation.

Chayan is a Senior DevOps Engineer and a recent graduate from Dublin Business School with an MBA in Cloud Computing. He specialises in IT infrastructure, automation and cloud developments and operation. Prior to pursuing his MBA, he worked as a Senior Systems Engineer with a US multinational information technology services and consulting company.

Robert works in ID-Pal as a Backend Developer and graduated from Southeast Technological University as a Software Developer. He has experience designing, developing, and deploying full-stack applications. His skills include UI/UX, SASS, Vue.js, MySQL and Full-Stack Development.

Kwame is an experienced sales executive with over 5 years of experience working with some of the most exciting companies within the tech and Identity verification space. Kwame’s consultative approach always puts the customer first to fix any problems they have, which in turn will drive ID Pals’ mission of providing everyone with a simple, secure , and convenient way of verifying their Identity.

Raiha is a Computer Science graduate and holds an MS in Software Project Management. She has five years of experience as an Agile Project Manager and Scrum Master for high-growth tech teams. Her professional background and qualifications make her adept at transforming teams and coaching organisations to adopt best practices that will increase productivity and revenue.

Ben is an experienced integration engineer with a background in computer science and programming. He has a deep understanding of software development principles, web services, architecture, and design and worked on numerous integration projects involving diverse technologies and platforms, such as APIs, databases, messaging systems, and web services.

Michael has over 15 years’ experience in a variety of sales and leadership roles with the last 10 years being focused entirely on delivering business critical software and technology solutions to some of the world’s leading organisations. He has experience providing Identity and Fraud Prevention services across multiple sectors including Gaming, Retail, Banking, FS, Insurance and Government Departments.