Belfast – Leadership Series: Mark Dowds and Jonny Petrie with Andrew Trimble

RSVP: sgallagher@irelandfunds.org

Mark Dowds co-founder & CSO Trov, and Jonny Petrie CEO Ulster Rugby in conversation with Andrew Trimble co-founder & CEO Kairos, former Ireland and Ulster rugby player.

Mark Dowds

In 2012 Mark co-founded Trov—the world’s first on-demand insurance platform—and today is the Chief Strategy Officer and is accountable for all revenue, strategy, and growth as the company expands internationally.

Over the last two decades, he has helped get dozens of ventures off the ground, in Canada, USA, and Northern Ireland. He co-founded the Ormeau Baths, a tech hub in Belfast city centre that hosts around 200 entrepreneurs focused on Tech, Gaming, and Film.

Mark was an LP in Bullet Time Ventures, an early seed investor in Uber, Twilio and is a current LP in Anthemis Venture Fund. He is the Chairman of Techstart Ventures, helping entrepreneurs build successful technology businesses from the ground up.

Mark is also the Chairman of Generation Innovation – a program designed to bring entrepreneurial experiences to high school students throughout Northern Ireland.

Jonny Petrie, Chief Executive Ulster Rugby

Jonny was a professional rugby player with Glasgow Warriors and Scotland up until his retirement from the sport in 2007. During that time, he played over 170 times for his club, won 45 caps for his country and became the 106^th captain of the National Team.

Subsequent to his playing career, he worked for SSE, becoming Head of Sponsorship in 2009, before re-joining Scottish Rugby in a corporate role in 2014.

Jonny was appointed Managing Director of Edinburgh Rugby in 2015, and having led the club for 3 years, then moved to Belfast to take up the role of CEO at Ulster Rugby, which he began in December of last year.