Sonru Out and About in 2019

Oh what a year for the Sonru roadshow. We headed east (North America), west (UK and Europe) and south (Singapore, NZ and Australia). Here’s a whistle stop tour of Sonru on the road in 2019.

Q1: Europe and Australia

  • The first stop on the Sonru 2019 tour was Nordic HR Tech Days 2019 in Copenhagen, a jam-packed event with keynote speakers and track leaders discussing their own challenges and success stories when getting to grips with implementing technology in the HR process. Sonru’s Nordic Development Executive was flying the Video Interviewing flag.
  • Sonru’s Ian Gallagher co-hosted the Canberra Recruitment Breakfast with Xref and DFP Recruitment and soon afterwards were invited to lunch with the Irish Ambassador at his residence where they heard how Canberra is embracing HR tech and challenging the norm.
  • Next stop In-House Recruitment Expo 2019 in London. Marie O’Sullivan, Sonru’s Head of Marketing, delivered a masterclass, ‘Don’t Believe Everything You Hear…’ on how to distinguish between candidates’ constructive criticism and flattery feedback to get your recruitment process into the best shape possible.
  • Meanwhile in Sydney, Andy Martin and the team at IAG hosted a Sonru workshop where they learned how Andy and early adopters like Caroline Bessemer had transformed their recruitment processes as a result of introducing HR technology.
  • Team Sonru celebrated our national holiday in Sydney at the biggest St. Patrick’s Day lunch in the world hosted by the Lansdowne Club Australia with 1600 guests and many Irish companies.
  • Then Minister for Business, Enterprise & Innovation, Ms. Heather Humphreys T.D. took time out of her Trade and Investment Mission to Singapore to meet and congratulate Luke Falvey, CEO Sonru APAC on Sonru’s ISO27001 Certification.

Q2: North and South

  • Our first trip north in 2019 was HR Tech Montréal, North-America’s leading event for technology, current and future HR trends. With almost 30 conferences, workshops and consultations over two days, team Sonru’s francophones (Marie-Pierre et Daniel) were kept busy.
  • SEAAGE’s annual conference in Singapore, which brings Early Talent professionals from around the globe. was next on the list. Sonru were the proud sponsor of the networking evening on the eve of the conference where guests had the opportunity to meet their peers.
  • Sonru returned to Sydney for ATC 2019 making it their final event in Q2. With the ‘Intelligent Age’ as its theme, the event focused on Intelligent use of technology, Intelligent organisations, Intelligent questions, Intelligent relationships, and Shared intelligence.

Q3: Breakfast in Switzerland followed by lunches down under

  • Our first European breakfast event took place in Geneva, Switzerland in September. Hosted at the InterContinental Geneva, attendees enjoyed gathering knowledge and advice from fellow clients as they discussed experiences of using Sonru as part of the recruitment process. I User insights and success stories were shared from Sonru clients CERN, World Economic Forum and Nestlé.
  • Then it was a whistle stop tour of luncheons in Australia kindly hosted by Sonru clients – CUA in Brisbane, News Corp in Sydney and the Melbourne Convention Centre in Melbourne. Thank you all so much for your time and generosity.

Q4: Let the Great World Spin

  • Q4 was off to a flying start at HRTech Las Vegas, where team Sonru were at hand to answer all things video interviewing.
  • Back east we set up camp at Unleash in Paris. Over the past 4 years of sponsoring UNLEASH World, we’ve met with some wonderful organisations striving to make meaningful changes within their HR function, as well as learning valuable insights from countless incredible keynote speakers such as Sir Richard Branson, Josh Bersin and Arianna Huffington.
  • Back to the Southern Hemisphere where team Sonru manned a stand at the New Zealand Association of Graduate Employers
    NZAGE Summit 2019 in Auckland, New Zealand and a week later sponsored the AAGE Conference 2019 in Sydney.
  • Back home, Sonru’s final event of 2019 was a breakfast event kindly hosted by our friends in BDO Ireland in their beautiful glass conference hall overlooking Dublin city.  BDO Ireland shared their Sonru story along with Version 1 and Tourism Ireland.

Would you like co-host a HR community event?

As you can see above, we co-host a number of HR community events  —breakfasts and lunches — with our clients. Would you be interested in working with us on a communitu event? We’re all ears, so please get in touch.

Is there a new HR Tech event worth visiting?

At Sonru, we like to keep an eye out and test new events and productions. Was there a new event you attended this year that is a ‘simply must go’ for 2020? Please let us know.

Joy Redmond
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Edward Hendrick
CEO
Ed holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Agribusiness & Rural Development and a Higher Diploma in Enterprise Development and Entrepreneurship.

Since founding Sonru in 2007 with the vision of introducing Video Interviewing to mainstream recruitment, Ed has established the organisation as a global leader and one of the top recruitment SaaS companies worldwide.

With numerous accolades to his name such as the Sunday Business Posts ‘Top 40 Under 40’ and IIA Net Visionary award for innovation, Ed is recognised as one of the world’s leading experts in video recruitment technology and is a renowned industry speaker.

With a passion for new technology and how it can be used to make life easier for people in the real world, Ed has been instrumental in shaping the current landscape of the Video Interviewing industry.
Chris Horan
CTO at Sonru
Chris graduated from Trinity College Dublin with an Honours Bachelor of Science Degree in Physics and Computer Science and went on to complete a Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Science in Physics and Computer Science as well as a Higher Diploma in Enterprise Development.

With almost 20 years’ experience in the software engineering and computer science space, Chris has worked with leading technology companies such as Accuris, CAPE Technologies and BearingPoint.

Chris has been at the forefront of Sonru’s product development since the company’s inception in 2007.
Daniel Richard
Managing Director EMEA
Sonru’s Europe MD, Daniel Richard, graduated from Queen’s University, Canada with a Master of Science in Industrial and Organisational Science.

A trained Occupational Psychologist with more than 15 years of sales and consulting experience in multinational recruitment and HR services companies, Daniel leads Sonru’s sales efforts within EMEA, helping to grow its rapidly expanding customer base.

Prior to joining Sonru, Daniel spent 10 years at Oracle Taleo helping to build the company from a small regional start-up to a true industry leader. Daniel has held a variety of sales and consulting positions on various continents, including the US and Europe.
Fergal O'Byrne
Non-Executive Director
Fergal holds a Bachelor of Science in Electronic Engineering from Dublin Institute of Technology and is an experienced Internet industry entrepreneur.

Since founding Interactive Return in 1998, Fergal has been a member of the Board of Directors of IGOpeople.com, WINC, and CCD Limited and was a previous chair of the Project Advisory Group for Fáilte Ireland’s eBusiness Support Initiative.

A recognised influencer within the industry, Fergal has served as CEO of the Irish Internet Association and has published four books including ‘10 Online Marketing and Search Engine Essentials’ and ‘10 Technologies Every Executive Should Know’.

In 2015, Fergal was inducted into the IIA Internet Hall of Fame in recognition for services to the internet industry.
George Pennock
Chairman
George holds an MA in History from Oxford University and is a previous Partner and Head of Saphir UK at Saphir Capital Partners.

George spent several years with the Goldman Sachs Group as a mergers and acquisitions banker before moving into private equity where he has spent most of the past 15 years. He has served as a Senior Investment Manager and COO at Pi Capital, and worked with Botts & Company Ltd where he made private equity investments in the leisure, publishing, branded goods, retail, and technology sectors.

Having spent the past two decades working with a myriad of talented and unconventional entrepreneurs, investing in everything from online employee benefits platforms to river boats and book publishers, George is passionate about backing exceptional people and interesting businesses and believes that while a mediocre management team can ruin even a great plan, a great management team can make a success of almost any business opportunity.
John Penning
Director
Currently, I am a Director of Sonru, the leading Online Video Interviewing company. Previous career highlights include; CEO of the Irish Internet Association, Chairman of IGOpeople.com and Founder and CEO of Interactive Return. In 2015 I was very honoured to be inducted into the IIA Internet Hall of Fame in recognition for services to the internet industry.
Rodolphe Verhaegen
Non-Executive Director
Rodolphe is currently an Operational Advisor with Digital Ventures in Brussels having previously worked in Ebay, most recently as Director of Customer Innovation.

Rodolphe is an innovative and creative business leader, with a strong interest in technology and agile software development practices. He holds an Masters Degree in Business Information Management and a BA in Business Economics from the Vrije Universiteit, Brussels.
Georges Schmit
Non-Executive Director
A native of Luxembourg, Georges graduated with degrees in Economics from the University of Louvain, Belgium (BA) and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (MA). Besides his native Luxembourgish, Georges is fluent in French, English and German.

Georges served the Government of Luxembourg from 1981 to 2016 and throughout most of his career he focused on innovation and technology policy, economic development and trade and investment promotion.

During his time with the Government of Luxembourg, Georges served as Secretary General of the Luxembourg Ministry of the Economy and was a member of several European Union high-level advisory bodies including the European Commission's "Enterprise Policy Group”. He also served as both Vice-Chairman and Executive Chairman of the National Credit and Investment Corporation (SNCI) of Luxembourg.

Georges has served on the Board of Directors of both listed and private companies including the world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal, the Luxembourg-based global satellite operator SES, the Luxembourg Post and Telecommunications Company, and the Luxembourg State and Savings Bank, among others. Most recently, he contributed to the design and launch of several major Luxembourg Government innovation policy initiatives and sits on the Luxembourg Government’s Advisory Board on Space Resources.
Daria Polunina
Non-Executive Director
A director at Saphir Capital Partners, Daria holds a Bachelor of Science in Financial Management from the University of Essex as well as a MSc in Finance from Cass Business School. Daria also sits on the board of Molinare and Wine Source Group.

Patrick Sweeney
Non-Executive Director
Patrick holds a Bachelor of Business Studies Degree in Accounting, Management, Human Resources, Marketing and Economics from University of Limerick as well as Masters of Education in Management, Human Resources and Training and Development from University of Sheffield.

For 25 years, Patrick held the position of Human Resources and Public Affairs Director for Aughinish Alumina where he was involved in change management, restructuring and international mergers and acquisitions.

Patrick also undertook many other leadership roles including operations management, training and development and employee relations management. In addition to sitting on the Board of Directors at Sonru since 2011, Patrick has operated his own strategic management and human resources consultancy firm for the past 8 years.