MEET OUR TEAM

David joined the School of Management and Marketing in 2014. Prior to this he was Research Fellow in Procurement at DCU Business School. Prior to his academic career, David worked for many well-known firms within the pharmaceutical and telecommunication industries. David’s academic career includes lecturing MBA/MSc programmes at UCD, Smurfit School of Business as well as a visiting lecturer on the prestigious joint degree programme with BUPT (China) and Queen Mary, University of London.

He has delivered modules overseas including Singapore (APMI), Hong Kong (APMI), and Beijing (BUPT) and the Czech University of Life Sciences (CULS). In November 2013 he was elected to the board of the supply management institute of Ireland (IIPMM) on which he serves as the Institute’s Academic Director. In 2015, Dr. McKevitt was a judge on the 2015 Procurement and Supply Chain Awards (www.procurementawards.ie) and mentor for the SUAS literacy programme. This programme gives one-to-one mentor support to children in designated disadvantaged schools (www.suas.ie/ireland).

David’s current research interests include project management careers, small and –medium enterprises (SMEs) and public sector performance. He has published in the Journal of Public Procurement, the International Journal of Public Sector Management, International Small Business Journal and the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research. He is currently on the editorial board of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) flagship journal, International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching.

Following the completion of his hospitality studies in Cork Institute of Technology (1995), Niall began working in the food and beverage operation of the Rochestown Park Hotel Cork, where since 2001, he has held the position of purchasing manager. Niall is a graduate of the IIPMM (2005) and also holds an Honours Law Degree (BCL) from University College Cork (2013).

Niall has considerable project management responsibilities, having formed part of the management team who have overseen and continue to oversee, the progressive expansion of the hotel, through several development and upgrading programmes, most notably a €17m investment in 2008. Due to the broad scope of his role, Niall has a very extensive knowledge of buyer and seller behaviour and has built up a very strong network of professionals with whom he develops new concepts, products and strategies. His strong relationships with his supplier base enables Niall to meet the buyers within his supplying firms which offers unique advantages to the modern buyer.

For several years Niall has volunteered his time to mentor for a number of business incubation and entrepreneurial support programmes. Most notable is the UCC IGNITE Graduate Business Innovation Programme. Niall offers guidance to individuals who have secured a place on this programme and assists them in developing their sales skills but from the perspective of a buyer. This process involves role play exercises and encourages the programme participants to engage in high level critical thinking. It requires the emerging entrepreneurs to combine academic knowledge with creative business concepts and real world experience.

As a professional buyer, manager and lecturer, Niall was a judge on the 2015 National Procurement and Supply Chain Awards. He is also a member of the Irish Institute of Purchasing and Materials Management (MIIPMM) and the Irish Hospitality Institute (MIHI).

Ingrid De Doncker is CEO of e-Quiddity and IDD consult since 2013. Ingrid is passionate about improving the voice of procurement and opens up the conversation with all stakeholders how procurement value can be created and delivered. Her current interest in research is Bridging the gap from cost focus to value creation, valuable engagement between buyers and sellers, Measurable Value reporting to the bottom line.

IDD Consult helps businesses to improve their profitability by designing bespoke “value beyond cost savings” programs. Adopting a holistic and inquisitive blended criteria approach, they move the dial in the negotiation cycle towards better, smarter, faster, more valuable decision intelligence. Ingrid and her teams offer this through bespoke Procurement as a Service, through training, and through core competency assessments for buyers and businesses. They work with clients across the private and public sector. Prior to this, Ingrid managed the Musgrave Group e-tender program for both direct and indirect spend for 8 years. During the previous 10 years, she worked in various corporate procurement roles within manufacturing, medical, and IT industries. Ingrid has an in-depth understanding of stakeholders’ positioning in the negotiation cycle and she focuses on maximum Value for Money delivery for all parties involved in the decision.

Ingrid holds a Masters Degree in Social and Political Sciences from KUL, Belgium, and a post graduate diploma “des Etudes Européennes” which she completed in Athens Panteios University when she participated in the inaugural year of the ERASMUS exchange program. Ingrid is a guest lecturer to UCC since 2014 and holds a CPM accredited by IIPMM, is a member of various international professional institutes and is actively involved in EU Procurement Innovation through EAFIP.

Mike McGrath is Managing Director of Arvo, a Procurement Consultancy which helps organizations to achieve procurement objectives, business efficiencies and commercial savings. Mike is a European Commission eTEG Expert, where the e-tendering Expert Group (eTEG) are defining a blueprint for public procurement within the EU to ensure wide accessibility including cross-border, SME inclusiveness, wide interoperability, transparency, traceability and accountability.

Prior to this, Mike founded supply.ie, which is an e-Procurement platform and business which helps companies reduce their costs with smart supplier sourcing.

Outside of work, Mike is on the Board of Deaf Enterprises, coaches underage GAA Teams in Ballincollig and lives in Cork with partner plus two toddlers.