Leo is Managing Partner of Investec Ventures Ireland Limited. He has 20 years SME experience in the ICT sector and 17 years’ experience in the venture capital industry. He is a non-executive director of Rainmaker Business Technologies, TerminalFour Solutions, Diona and Davra. Leo was previously a Board member of Fenergo, SilverCloud Health, Blue Tree Systems StitcherAds. Leo is a strong contributor at board level with excellent analytical, communication, presentation and people skills influencing corporate and strategic direction. He has excellent domain knowledge of enterprise software & hardware, business intelligence, data analytics, Ad-Tech, e-commerce, Web (social & search), & online health. Leo played a significant role in raising Investec’s €75m venture fund, initially as corporate finance adviser before joining the team as a Partner in 2006. The Investec fund has backed companies such as Fenergo (successfully exiting to Insight Partners), Brite:bill (sold to Amdocs), AMCS (successfully exiting to Insight Partners), SilverCloud Health (sold to Amwell), Helix Health (now part of Clanwilliam Group), Blue Tree Systems (acquired by Orbcomm), micksgarage.com (MBO), StitcherAds (sold to Kargo), Diona, TerminalFour, Rainmaker and Davra amongst others. Prior to Investec he was a corporate financier with Merrion Corporate Finance and NCB Corporate Finance. He has extensive corporate finance advisory experience, including, M&A, private equity fundraisings, MBOs and public to private transactions. He graduated with a Business Studies degree from Trinity College Dublin in 1993 and has an MBA from the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business UCD, receiving the Dean’s List Award for Academic Achievement.
Sarah-Jane has been Director General of the IVCA since January 2018. Previously she has worked in commercial roles in the healthcare and medical device sectors and for a representative body in the Lifesciences sector. In her free time Sarah-Jane likes nothing more than socialising with family and friends and keeps fit mainly by running around after her children.
Ciara Burrowes joined the IVCA in 2002. Her role within the IVCA has grown and developed during the last 20 years; she manages the association. Ciara previously specialised in magazine and newspaper publishing. To relax Ciara loves walking and volunteering with her rescue dog Lola.