Dick Spring – Chair of Judging Panel
Executive Vice-Chairman – FEXCO
Member of Dáil Eireann (Irish Parliament), 1981-2002. Leader of The Labour Party, 1982-1997. Served as Deputy Prime Minister in Three Governments and held Ministerial office in Departments of Justice, Environment, Energy and Foreign Affairs. He led the Irish Government's negotiating team in the Northern Peace Talks (1996-1997) that concluded in the Good Friday Agreement. He was the President of the General Affairs Council during the Irish Presidency of the EU in 1996.
Mr Spring has been actively involved in The Middle East Peace Process and is presently a member of the Council of Foreign Relations dealing with Palestinian Institutions. He is an Associate Fellow of the Kennedy School of Government and the Saltzburg Seminar.
He is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and King's Inns and formerly played Gaelic football and Hurling for Co. Kerry and represented Munster and Ireland at Rugby. Mr Spring is a Director of FEXCO Holdings, Repak, Chairman of FEXCO Stockbroking, Alder Capital, Industrial Development Ireland, Altobridge Ltd, Gulliver Info Res, Realta Global Foundation and was appointed to the Board of Allied Irish Banks in Jan 2009.
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Hugh Brady
President, University College Dublin
Dr Hugh Brady became president of University College Dublin in January 2004.  Since coming into office, he has overseen a radical programme of academic restructuring and curriculum reform in order to foster research collaboration and excellence in education and to enhance the university’s international reputation. Educated at UCD himself, he was awarded PhD and MD degrees for research in renal physiology and molecular medicine respectively.
Prior to returning to UCD in 1996 as Professor of Medicine and Therapeutics, he spent nine years at Harvard University, most recently as Associate Professor of Medicine, and prior to that worked at the University of Toronto.
Since returning to UCD, he has enhanced his international reputation in research as evidenced by grant support from national and international agencies, publications in leading journals, patents, membership of editorial boards, lecture invitations and visiting professorships. He played key roles in the establishment of UCD's Conway Institute and in the formation of Molecular Medicine Ireland.
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Dr Constantin Gurdgiev
Chairman of the Ireland-Russia Business Association
Dr. Constantin Gurdgiev is Head of Research and Strategy with Heinz Associates, Chairman of the Ireland-Russia Business Association and non-executive director of Business & Finance magazine. He is an Adjunct Lecturer in Finance with Trinity College, Dublin.
Constantin is an Honorary Fellow of the Copenhagen Institute, Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Economics Council, Member of the Academy of Political Science, the American Economic Association, the American Finance Association, Member of the Editorial Board of seven international academic journals and a Member of the Executive Panel of the McKinsey&Co. He holds PhD in Macroeconomics and Finance from Trinity College, Dublin, MA in Economics from Johns Hopkins University
(USA) and MA in Pure Mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. T P Hardiman
Board of the Asia Europe Foundation
Dr T P Hardiman, an engineering and science graduate of the National University of Ireland,  holds directorships in industry, commerce and finance and is widely experienced in domestic and international business.  He is active in BusinessEurope, the voice of EU business in Brussels. He is a member of the Supervisory Board of the EU Japan Industrial Cooperation Centre in Tokyo and is a member of the EU Japan Business Round Table. He is a member of the  Board of the Asia Europe Foundation, Singapore
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Ian Hyland
CEO Business & Finance Media Group
Ian Hyland acquired Business & Finance magazine in January 2002. Since the acquisition of the well known title he has created a substantial business across the Business & Finance title and other media activities including the acquisition of Magill magazine.
Cloughmore Media Group now publishes Business & Finance fortnightly, along with an annual B&F Top 1000 companies and Who's Who in Irish Business and a range of other business publications. Business & Finance also publish a number of special interest business supplements in the areas of corporate finance, international market reports, IT and professional assistance products. The company also publishes Magill Magazine, acquired in 2004, 30 customer publications and runs five significant industry awards.
Ian Hyland began his career in Irish Press Newspapers where he worked in Dublin and London on Major Accounts. He joined Business & Finance in 1993 as Sales & Marketing Director. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer of iCommerce, the Swiss/US marketplace portal in 2000, but returned to acquire Business & Finance in January 2002.
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Brendan Waldron
Chairperson and founding council member of the Ireland-China Business Association
Born in Dublin, Brendan Waldron has spent most of his life studying, living, and working in foreign countries and speaks 5 languages incl. Chinese. He graduated in 1986 from secondary school in Stockholm with an international Baccalaureate, completed a diploma in Marketing at the College of Marketing, Dublin, and furthered his education with studies in Chinese Business at Beijing University where he received a Degree in Chinese.
Brendan Waldron is currently Managing Director of New Tigers Consulting. An Irish services company specialised in advising companies and investors on the Chinese market. New Tigers has company offices in both China, Dublin and Canada.
During the period of 1990 until 1997, he was assigned to several projects with Philips as a Consultant in working capital. He covered different business industries such as Logistics, Manufacturing and finance and was located in India, China, Europe, and the US.
He was also appointed Resourcing Manager (1997 –2000) for Levi Strauss EMEA to redirect and restructure their EMEA IT resource organisation, comprising 250 people spread across 6 locations. His remit was to focus on human resources allocation, organisational process re-engineering, and operational management as well IT Department strategy.
Brendan Waldron is a member of several professional associations, is Chairperson and founding council member of the Ireland-China Business Association (www.irelandchina.org), and Vice-chair of the EU China Business Association (www.eucba.org). He is also member of the network of consultancy practices across Europe and is a member of the Society of Industry Leaders run by Standard & Poor in the US.
He has also given several lectures to UCD, UCC, and Portobello College as well as chairing high-level international conferences on China such as the UCC conference held in June 2007 on “China in the 21st century”.
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John Walsh
Editor of Business & Finance
John Walsh is the editor of Business & Finance magazine and publications. Originally from Youghal in east Cork, John received a BA from University College Cork and an MA in International Political Economy from University Limerick.
On moving to London in 1999 John undertook a post grad in journalism through Incisive Media. Previous positions include Bridge/Reuters as an economics reporter and Argus Media as an Opec correspondent. John has also previously freelanced for the Financial Times and was a regular contributor to BBC TV and radio, Sky news and Channel 4 news. Having moved back to Ireland in 2005, John joined Business & Finance as a journalist and became deputy editor in October 2006.
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Padraig Walsh
Partner, Barlow Lyde & Gilbert’s HK & China Corporate Commercial Group
Pádraig is a Partner in Barlow Lyde & Gilbert’s Hong Kong & China Corporate Commercial Group. He qualified as a solicitor in Ireland in 1998 and in Hong Kong in 2000.
Pádraig has assisted MNC’s and other corporates on a range of corporate procedures, including corporate restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, and joint ventures. He has particular experience of assisting clients in the insurance, aerospace, professional services, technology and fashion & beauty distribution and retail sectors.
Pádraig’s practice also includes assisting clients on financial services. Pádraig frequently advises on licensing, regulatory and compliance issues that arise for listed companies and other participants in the financial services industry in Hong Kong. In addition, Pádraig regularly advises and represents clients responding to inquiries or proceedings by regulators in Hong Kong such as the Securities and Futures Commission, the Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
Pádraig is a frequent speaker on these and other topics, including corporate governance, and provides bespoke training and guidance to the internal legal function of clients.
Pádraig is presently the Chairman of the Irish Chamber of Commerce of Hong Kong. In that capacity, he has close connections with the Irish business community in Hong Kong and actively supports business and trade facilitation between Hong Kong and Ireland.
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