Ann O'Dea

Ann O’Dea is CEO and co-founder of Silicon Republic, Europe’s leading technology and innovation news service, reporting online since 2001. Ann is the driving force behind Silicon Republic’s Women Invent campaign, launched on International Women’s Day 2013, to champion remarkable women role models in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and to help tackle the gender gap in the knowledge industries She is the founder of Inspirefest, a unique new international sci-tech event, which is grabbing headlines for disrupting the traditionally ‘male and pale’ tech conference calendar. Ann was awarded a fellowship in May 2015 from the Irish Computer Society for her work in championing women in STEM. Ann received a Net Visionary award from the Irish Internet Association in 2015 for her work on ensuring the visibility of remarkable women role models in her industry, and was named ‘Media Woman of the Year’ at the Irish Tatler Women of the Year Awards 2014. In 2015, she was the first woman to be inducted into the Irish Internet Association’s Hall of Fame. Ann sits on the advisory board of the Digital Youth Council, and the Royal Irish Academy’s Physical, Chemical and Mathematical Sciences Committee. She is a regular speaker and moderator at tech and STEM events.