pagi-full-4Pádraic Gilligan,
Managing Partner, SoolNua.

With his business partner Patrick Delaney, Pádraic is currently Managing Partner at SoolNua, a boutique marketing consultancy helping destinations, hotels and venues with marketing, strategy and training for the MICE marketplace. Prior to founding SoolNua, Gilligan was Vice President of Ovation, MCI’s global DMC network and Vice President of Industry Relations at MCI.

He has written and spoken all over the world on many aspects of meetings and events, regularly contributing to SITE, MPI, FICP, ICCA , IACC, ADMEI and other industry bodies. Areas of interest include Workplace Culture, Digital Marketing, Branding, Service Marketing, Regulations in the Pharmaceutical Industry, Measurement and Return on Investment, Defining Value Proposition particularly in the DMC sector, the Business Case for Meetings and Events etc. His interests in these areas and in destinations in general are reflected in his award winning blog which may be accessed on www.padraicino.com. He also blogs regularly on destinations and venues at EventMB, the events industry premier blog.

Gilligan holds BA and MA degrees in Italian and English literature from University College Dublin and a post graduate diploma in Marketing from Boston College. Following a 13 year career in education, teaching at second and third levels, he started Delaney Marketing Consultants in 1994 with Patrick Delaney. In 2002 Delaney Marketing acquired Ovation and re-branded as Ovation Group. In June 2007 Ovation was acquired by MCI Group and commenced a robust global expansion programme which saw the establishment of offices at 100 global destinations under the Ovation Global DMC brand.

In 2004 he was elected to the International Board of the SITE and served as international President of this global organisation in 2008. He has won many awards including Industry Personality of the Year from Meetings.net in 2009 and Destination Management Professional of the Year from ADMEI in 2012. He currently serves as a Trustee of the SITE Foundation.

Pádraic is married to Rita Smyth and together they have 6 grown-up children and 5 grandchildren. He is a passionate supporter of Arsenal Football Club, a performing singer-songwriter and loves cycling his bicycle.

Contact: Pádraic Gilligan [email protected] | 353 86 8113134