Brian Conlon, founder and chief executive of Co Down-headquartered firm First Derivatives, was awarded the title of 2010 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year at a ceremony in Dublin’s Citywest this evening.
Mr Conlon was presented with the award by President Mary McAleese, after first being named the winner of the competition's International category.
He founded First Derivatives in 1996 as a consultancy and services business aimed at the investment banking market, with a seed capital of £5,000.
The firm is now a leading global service provider to the capital markets industry and its client list boasts nine of the 10 largest US investment banks, 30 of the world's top hedge funds, two of the world's largest stock exchanges and three of the largest retail banks in south-east Asia.
Longford brothers Mike and Pat Glennon scooped the top accolade in the Industry category of the awards. The Glennon Brothers timber processing firm, located near Longford town, was founded in 1913. Since becoming involved in the family firm, Pat and Mike have driven its growth through a series of strategic acquisitions and organic growth.
Meanwhile Dublin-born Conrad Burke, founder of the Silicon Valley solar energy company Innovalight, was named Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year. A Trinity College physics graduate, Mr Burke founded Innovalight in 2005. He spent the earlier part of his career working for large multinationals in Germany, Japan and the United States, where he gained the experience and confidence to start his own venture from scratch.
Innovalight, which is based in California's Silicon Valley, has developed a portfolio of patented technologies and materials that allow crystalline silicon cell manufacturers to produce solar cells with higher conversion efficiencies.