James Stevenson, area VP, UKI &SA, Citrix Systems

James Stevenson is area vice-president for UK, Ireland and South Africa, Citrix Systems. James has more than 25 years of experience in the IT industry, and has held a number of leadership roles in the UK and EMEA with Compaq, Digital Equipment and Hewlett-Packard.  Prior to taking his position with Citrix, James served as vice-president and managing director UK, Middle East and Africa at Mercury until its acquisition by Hewlett-Packard. James has also held chief executive positions with Keltec, a UK technology integrator, and Nomad Software, a software business providing card payment solutions for retail banks. James has an honours degree in computer studies from Sheffield Hallam University and an MBA from the University of Strathclyde.

Francis O’Haire, technical director, DataSolutions

Francis O'Haire is DataSolutions' technical director and a member of the board of directors. Francis is responsible for DataSolutions' product development, including the identification and evaluation of new technologies. He also looks after the company's product strategy and has excellent knowledge and expertise in innovative and cutting-edge technologies. Francis joined the company in 1991 and has more than 20 years of experience in the virtualisation and data communications fields. He is a graduate of DIT Kevin Street and holds numerous vendor qualifications.

Martin Cullen, SMSP director, Microsoft Ireland

Martin Cullen is director for small and mid-market solutions and partners at Microsoft Ireland.

Grace O’Rourke Veitch, Ireland country manager, Citrix Systems

Grace O’Rourke Veitch brings more than 20 years of sales and marketing experience to Citrix and is focusing on driving awareness and adoption of mobile workstyles and cloud services in Ireland. Previously, Grace held the role of CEO and founder at Indigo Solutions. Grace has also worked for ICT firms in Ireland, the UK and the US, including Microsoft and 3D Labs. She has been involved in Ireland's software export drive through her work as mentor for Enterprise Ireland, enterprise platform programmes, and the small business advice programme.

David Meade – MC and guest speaker, as seen on the BBC’s David Meade Project

David Meade is a researcher and lecturer in international business, whose interests have always focused on aspects of popular psychology, consumer behaviour, and choice. By combining these passions with his love of the performance of mentalism, David has become a sought-after speaker with a reputation for an innovative style that forces audiences to think critically about the challenges around them. Having caught the bug for mind reading and mentalism as a teenager, David has been honing his act for nearly 20 years. He has combined a childhood interest in the paranormal and showmanship with his academic interests to create the skills he is famous for today.

Fraser Kyne, technology specialist, cloud and data centre division, Citrix Systems

Fraser Kyne is a technology specialist for the UK, Ireland and South African regions of Citrix Systems. In this capacity, Fraser is responsible for cloud-centric activities in the regions and relaying the vision and strategy of Citrix and how it relates to trends in the marketplace. Fraser joined Citrix in September 2001, having previously worked as lead consultant at a Citrix partner organisation. Fraser has been in the IT industry for 15 years, working at various white-collar companies, such as Xerox, British Gas, and GlaxoSmithKline.

David Angwin, EMEA marketing director, Wyse

David is a leading spokesperson on cloud client computing - which brings together desktop virtualisation, thin and zero client computing, unified communications and green IT. With more than 20 years of experience in IT software, hardware and services, he is able to speak with authority on desktop and mobile computing choices and their impact. David’s background includes technical and product management, bringing new solutions to market, as well as marketing and business management roles with US and UK-based high-tech companies.

Nigel Simpson, senior channel development manager, EMEA for Citrix

Nigel Simpson has more than 15 years of experience of delivering desktop solutions to small and medium-sized businesses via channel partners. Nigel joined Citrix during the Kaviza acquisition in 2011 and was key to the success of VDI-in-a-Box in the United Kingdom/Ireland. During the early stages of his career, Nigel held technical roles that gave him a deep technical foundation which he still calls on when engaging with customers and partners.

Andrew Clarke, channel manager UK and Ireland, Aruba Networks

Andy Clarke has worked in the IT industry for 15 years. His experience has been built through the distribution of security vendors, such as RSA, ISS, Nokia, Check Point, and Symantec. More recently, Andy served as distribution manager for Nokia, then Check Point until November 2010, when he moved to Aruba Networks. In his current role, Andy is responsible for channel development, new product launch and sales development.

Dan Crowe, cloud and data centre specialist, Citrix Systems

Dan has 15 years of industry experience, with sales and management roles in telecommunications at AT&T and Global Crossing, and partner experience working with the Cisco Systems channel in the UK. Working directly with service provider customers in the UK and Ireland, Dan has sales responsibility for Citrix Cloud Platforms solutions and the Netscaler ADC range. Dan works with some of the biggest global cloud computing providers, as well as regional operators building out new services, and brings a line of sight into real-world challenges and barriers.

Neil Hetherington, technology strategist, Microsoft Ireland

With more than 15 years of experience in the IT industry, Neil works for Microsoft Ireland promoting how the effective use of technology can solve tangible business problems and drive organisational change. Much of Neil’s time is spent with organisations assessing the relevance of IT trends to their business, from the consumerisation of IT to the adoption of private and public cloud technologies. A Queen's University graduate, Neil has worked across a range of commercial and public-sector verticals in both the UK and Ireland, and joined Microsoft in 2006.