EBAN Cork 2021 – People, Purpose & Passion

Peter studied Engineering and Computer Science at Cambridge University, lives near Cambridge and has owned and run small businesses in technology and construction. Peter was UKBAA business angel of the year 2014/15 and is one of top Global Corporate Venturers.

He is a Fellow in Entrepreneurship at the Cambridge Judge Business School. He is currenty the president of EBAN. He has been an active angel investor for many years and is a board member of the Cambridge Angels and the Investment Director of the Marshall of Cambridge, Martlet Corporate Angel division.

He has personally invested in over 50 startups (in the SaaS, biotech, sensing, IoT, cleantech, fintech, edtech, medtech and security sectors), has led many investment rounds and is a non-executive director or observer of seven technology start-ups. Peter has been voluntary chair, treasurer and trustee of numerous charities for over fifteen years and he has built several domestic houses and refurbished many others, including the Cambridge Advice Centre. Peter is a freeman of the City of London and is on the advisory board of a Social Enterprise in criminal justice.

Julian Costley is an active investor in technology and media companies and serves as a chairman or non-executive director on a number of boards. He has just completed a book on crowdfunding (How to use Crowdfunding).

He was a Country Manager at Thomson Reuters, before creating his own TV channel on BSB (later BSkyB), then CEO of France Telecom’s Globecast satellite company. After meeting venture capitalist Hermann Hauser in 1998, they created E*TRADE UK, the UK’s first all-Internet stockbroking firm and effected a trade sale at the height of the dotcom boom.

Since then he has invested in 16 companies and became chairman/NED or adviser to many more focusing on the telecoms, media, financial services, and internet markets in UK, Netherlands, Scandinavia, France, Canada and China. He is an occasional lecturer/mentor/MBA course judge at London Business School, Said (Oxford University), EDHEC (Nice), UM (Barcelona), Skema Business School (Sophia Antipolis) and Deusto (San Sebastian).

Candace Johnson is an international telecommunications expert and entrepreneur, and one of the 50 most powerful businesswomen in Europe. She is co-initiator of SES ASTRA and SES Global, one of the largest satellite systems in the world.

She is the founder and president of Europe Online, the world’s first Internet via satellite network and is the founder of the continent’s first independent, private trans-border satellite communications company, Teleport Europe-Loral Cyberstar.

Candace has played a revolutionary role in European telecommunications and has been honoured for her contributions to advances in telecommunications across Europe and America. She has a Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Communications Awards as well as honours from the Luxembourg and German governments.

She holds masters degrees from the Sorbonne and Stanford University and graduated with a bachelors degree from Vassar College. Candace is currently President of EBAN (The European Trade Association for Business Angels, Seed Funds and Early Stage Market Players).

Pete Smyth is founder and CEO of Broadlake a private investment company focused on investing in established and growing SMEs.

Broadlake manages €100m of family capital, investing €1-10m in ambitious businesses.  Pre Broadlake, Pete was CEO of Noonan Services Group where he led the Group through a period of high growth culminating in the sale of the business in 2008.  At the time it was one of Ireland largest Service companies employing 5,500 people.

Former life experiences include periods in Private Equity and Investment Banking

Joe O’Sullivan is the founder and CEO of Ophir Mfg Solutions, a Singapore based company that provides Virtual Operations for both start up and mature companies introducing new technology, primarily in the wearables space.

Joe has over 30 years of Global Operations, Manufacturing and Procurement experience. Joe held the positions of Vice President, Consumer Products & Asia Operations at Apple, COO at InFocus, and most recently COO at Intelligent Energy. Joe has built and led Operations and Supply Chain teams in Europe, USA and Asia.