RealEx Payments and "Why Ireland?" - Monday April 27th

Across the River Liffey from Jury's Inn Custom House was our base of operations - RealEx Payments.

RealEx Payments

Class walking over a pedestrian bridge on the way to RealEx Payments

 

 

RealEx was co-founded by Colm Lyon, a good friend of Professor Mooney. We were hosted in one of their conference rooms where we would spend most of the day.

Class taking in lunch and the nice view from RealEx's office.

(RealEx COO Gary Conroy center of picture)

Upon entering the RealEx office space, one can't help but notice the open floor plan. Every employee of the company has an open workspace - there are no closed offices. The same is true for CEO Colm Lyon!

There a several of these nearly complete circle group meeting spaces throughout RealEx's office. They are designed to encourage creativity, innovation and teamwork.

IT Operations at RealEx - monitoring the RealEx IT Infrastructure

 

Throughout the day at RealEx we were treated to numerous guest speakers: Gary Conroy (COO of RealEx Payments), Carol Murphy (Ernst & Young), Conor Simpson (IDA Ireland) and a gentleman from the Bank of New York Mellon who's name escapes me!

Each of the speaker's spoke of their career journey and why Ireland and Dublin is a good place for business. A few of the highlights from a few of the speakers:

Gary Conroy - COO RealEx Payments

• RealEx is a Financial Technology (FinTech)
• Specialize in online payments
• Provides payment services to mid-size companies
• RealEx doesn't take any credit risk
• RealEx is a software as a service company
• RealEx is the middleman between companies and banks

Conor Simpson - IDA Ireland

• Industrial Development Authority (IDA)
• Agency of the Irish Government
• Establishes the Foreign Direct Investment strategy - attracting multinational corporations to Ireland
• "We are a marketing agency and specialize in relationship building."
• Three E's: Education, Europe, English
• Four T's: Track Record, Talent, Tax, Technology

Bank of NY Mellon

• "Ireland doesn't have wealth or experience in asset management, they bring in the talent - taking advantage of the 12.5% corporate tax rate."
• Ireland "speaks English and have a copy of UK laws."
• Ireland is a respected jurisdiction

Old Jameson Distillery

To close out the day, many of us ventured over to the Old Jameson Distillery

 

Even after a great tour I still have not acquired a taste for whiskey!

To close out the night, some of us spent the evening within the Temple Bar neighborhood singing and dancing along with the live music. (Wish there was more of this at US pubs!)