By Business & Finance 
Pictrued (L-R): Eric Mosley, founder & CEO of Workhuman, with Alvina Antar, Chief Digital Officer, F5.
Ahead of the opening of the Dublin Tech Summit, senior technology and business leaders gathered at the Stephen’s Green Club for the Dublin Tech Summit Leaders Dinner, an intimate prelude to one of Europe’s largest gatherings of the global tech community.
By Héloïse Chaudot
Set against the backdrop of a warm Dublin evening, the dinner brought together executives, founders, investors and industry figures for a night focused on leadership, innovation and the future direction of the technology sector. Conversations ranged from artificial intelligence and digital transformation to talent, workplace culture and Europe’s role in an increasingly competitive global technology landscape.
The annual gathering has become a key networking event ahead of the summit itself, offering attendees an opportunity to connect before the formal opening of the Dublin Tech Summit on Wednesday, 27 May. Throughout the evening, guests exchanged perspectives on the opportunities and challenges shaping the sector, while anticipation continued to build for this year’s summit programme.
This year’s event also recognised two industry leaders for their contributions to technology and business transformation. Eric Mosley, founder and CEO of Workhuman, received the Visionary Leader Award, while Alvina Antar, Chief Digital Officer at F5, was presented with the Grace Hopper Award.
Oisin Lunny, award-winning marketer and event MC, opened the dinner by reflecting on previous honourees, including Sarah Friar, CFO of OpenAI, who received the Grace Hopper Award last year.
Ian Hyland, President and Publisher of Business & Finance, addressed attendees and noted the significance of the evening, saying, “We are celebrating two great technology leaders.”
He added, “This year marks a decade since we founded the Dublin Tech Summit on the ambition to reaffirm Dublin as a global centre for technology and innovation. The ambition seems as important today as it did in 2016.”
Paula Neary, Senior Managing Director at Accenture, said the company’s partnership with Dublin Tech Summit reflects its belief in Ireland’s position as a leading global technology hub and its commitment to supporting the country’s tech ecosystem.
Neary also presented the Grace Hopper Award to Alvina Antar, Chief Digital Officer at F5, recognising her leadership in digital transformation, customer-focused innovation and efforts to advance women in technology.
Antar opened her speech by thanking Grace Hopper, saying it was “people like her who made [Alvina’s] dreams come true.”
Grace Hopper, who created the coding language COBOL, was the first programmer Alvina Antar started coding with.
Upon receiving the award, Antar said, “My purpose is to be able to live to the next generation of young girls in technology.”
Neary added that Antar is “a visionary leader known for building high-performance teams, diverse teams across 40 and 50 companies, high-growth businesses and start-ups, focused on innovation to disruptive technologies and challenging the status quo.”
She continued, “Prior to F5, Alvina spent four years as CIO at Okta, where she championed identity-driven security and helped scale the business.
“Before that, she served as the first CIO at Zuora, building a modern business transformation organisation for subscription-based businesses and guiding the company to a successful IPO.
“She began her career as a software engineer at Dell, visited Ireland many times, stayed at Dell down south, spending 17 years leading M&A integration and supporting the company’s evolution from hardware to software service solutions.
“A purpose-driven leader, Alvina creates meaningful relationships with both the customer, blending start-up agility with enterprise scale.”
Neary also noted Antar’s commitment to advancing women in technology, highlighting her role as co-founder of the Silicon Valley CIO Women’s Network and advisory board member at Dell.
Eric Mosley, founder and CEO of Workhuman, received the Visionary Leader Award in recognition of his contribution to workplace culture and employee engagement.
Accepting the award, Mosley said, “It is a village that creates success in a working room.”
Ian Hyland, President & Publisher of Business & Finance, commented on Mosley’s Award.
He noted that his leadership stands out because he has never viewed technology and humanity as competing forces. As AI continues to transform the workplace, Eric Mosley advocates for using technology not only to drive efficiency but also to strengthen “trust, connection, and belonging.”
Workhuman’s chief executive also spoke about the importance of recognition in the workplace, noting that traditionally only the top five to 10 per cent of employees receive awards or formal recognition.
“When people feel recognised, it gets right to their heart of their human needs for connections.”
Workhuman’s mission is to improve company culture through employee recognition programmes.
As guests continued conversations into the evening, the atmosphere reflected both optimism and momentum ahead of the week’s events. With Dublin once again hosting global technology leaders, the dinner offered an early indication of the themes likely to dominate this year’s summit: innovation, resilience, leadership and the future direction of the technology industry.
Read more:
Dublin Tech Summit opens with AI, leadership data and warnings over tech’s societal impact
Dublin Tech Summit Day 2: AI, leadership, and trust take centre stage
CIO 100 leaders focus on execution, governance, and value in the AI era
