Five Trinity graduates, including Annraí O’Toole, European Chief Technical Officer of Workday and co-founder of Cape Clear and Iona Technologies, are being recognised today for their contributions to Ireland and the wider world at Trinity’s Alumni Awards 2017.
The awards, which will be presented by Provost Patrick Prendergast this evening at a dinner in Trinity’s Dining Hall, are awarded to those who “have excelled in their chosen field”, with this years awardees leaders in the fields of visual effects, computer engineering and pharmaceuticals.
Also recognised today are co-founder of Oscar-winning visual effects company Framestore William Sargent; founders of computer vision hardware company Movidius, Sean Mitchell and David Moloney; and Executive Vice-President of Global Operations at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Julie O’Neill.
Often referred to as Ireland’s “Tech Godfather”, O’Toole became the first official employee of Irish software company IONA Technologies, which spun out from Trinity’s incubation centre. Later becoming a director and the Chief Technical Officer, O’Toole left the company in 2000, he left IONA to found another start-up, Cape Clear, which was acquired by Workday in 2008.
O’Toole graduated with a BA, BAI in computer engineering from Trinity in 1987, before completing an MSc in computer science. Involved in groups such as Trinity Engineering Society (Eng Soc) and the University Philosophical Society (the Phil) as an undergraduate, O’Toole then worked as a research assistant in Trinity’s Department of Computer Science, lecturing students for four years.
Sargent co-founded Framestore in 1986, bringing it to its position as an Oscar-winning visual effects company based in London, New York, Los Angeles, Montreal and Beijing. Framestone has worked with Harry Potter, Guardians of the Galaxy and Dr Strange. Sargent graduated with a business degree in 1978 from Trinity before emigrating to London.
Mitchell co-founded Movidius, a Dublin-based company that produces computer vision hardware for use in drones, security cameras, robotics, and virtual reality products, in 2005. Mitchell led the company as its CEO and now leads the Movidus team in Europe within Intel, which was acquired Movidus in November 2016. Mitchell received a degree in electronic engineering from Trinity in 1989, followed by a master’s in 1990 and a master’s in management practice in 2004. Moloney, who received a PhD in engineering from Trinity in 2010, is currently the Chief Technical Officer of Movidius.
O’Neill, who received a BSc in pharmacy from Trinity, has worked with Alexion Pharmaceuticals since 2014, where she currently serves as Vice-President for Global Operations, leading a diverse international team. Since 2013, O’Neill has served as Chairwoman and a member of the Board of the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) and is the former President of the Irish Business and Employers’ Confederation (IBEC) – the first woman to hold this position.
