Buisness Lunch Report 2011

Friday, 18th November 2011

The Rockwell Union is happy to report that the 2011 Rockwell Business Lunch, which was held on the 18th of November in the Conrad Hotel, Dublin was a success. There were 75 guests in attendance, which, in reflecting the difficult economic times in which we find ourselves, was down on last year.

This year, our guest speaker was Rory Gillen, an alumnus of the Class of 1977, who gave an interesting insight into where the world markets have gone and the dynamics that were driving sentiment. He identified the challenges which are prevalent in the market place, but also highlighted the opportunities that exist.
Rory Founded www.investrcentre.com in 2005, which is a subscription-based website dedicated to Uncovering Value for Investors across the various asset classes including equities, property, government bonds, commodities, private equity, hedge funds and a range alternative asset-types quoted on the stock exchanges. The website assists people in understanding and implementing a life-long investment plan suitable for managing both savings and pensions. He is rebranding InvestRcentre as Gillen Markets in the near future.

Due to prior commitments in Rockwell College, the Principal, Pat O’Sullivan was unable to attend. However, President of the Union, Paul Marren, reported on the successes at the school, both academically and on the sports field across a broad range of sporting disciplines. Frank Fitzgerald and Tom Mulcahy, the S.C.T. coach, attended in Pat O’Sullivan’s place and were good enough to bring the Munster Senior Cup and a signed winning S.C.T. jersey along for display at the lunch.

This year raffle prizes included a Hotel Break (Conrad Hotel), 6 Bottles of Wine (Aidan Deegan, Scrufy Murphy’s), Fuel Vouchers (Joe Barrett, Applegreen), 6 Bottles of Wine (Hilary Healy), Hotel Break (Gresham Hotel), and a Four Ball at the Woodbrook Golf Club (Paul Marren); which altogether produced revenue of €1,380.10. A special thanks to all who donated these prizes.

We would also like to thank Martin Taylor of Dublin Crystal for his continued support of the Union, and for his kind donation of a piece of crystal which was presented to our guest speaker, Rory Gillen.
The committee was delighted to report an overall profit of €4,370. Again this year the Past Pupils Union is delighted to offer a generous sum to the school Dean, Mr Pat Egan.

A special thanks goes to Michael English (Class of 1994) of Yogen Fruz for sponsoring this year’s lunch. Michael owns the master franchise rights of Yogen Fruz for Europe and is actively looking to expand here and abroad. He currently has 2 stores in Ireland, and he is looking forward to opening another unit in Porto, Portugal in the coming weeks.

Finally, the Union wishes to thank the Business Lunch Committee for organising another successful event.

Location : Dublin

Venue : Conrad Hotel


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