Upcoming Events at WIT

Title: Graduate Business Society 8th Annual Gala Ball

Date: Friday, 27 August 2010

Location: Granville Hotel , Waterford City

Time: 7.30pm

The Graduate Business Society 8th Annual Gala Ball will take place in the Granville Hotel in Waterford city on the 27th of August, 2010.

The evening will begin with a champagne reception upon arrival at 7:30pm with dinner being served at 8pm sharp, followed by music by Avalon and DJ Jono O' Byrne.

There will be an award ceremony for WIT Business Postgraduate students.

Dragon, Bobby Kerr will deliver this year’s key note address.  Bobby from a young age had a keen interest in business and began his catering career at the age of 16 in the kitchen of his father’s hotel-the Newpark Hotel. Building on his experiences from his post in AIB catering, Kerr then went on to travel the world working as a chef on Oil Rigs in the North Sea and Canada. At this time Kerr was honored to cater for 1 million people for the Pope's visit to Canada. Upon his return to Ireland in the 80’s, Kerr took up a post in Campbell Catering and became the Director of Development of the Campbell Bewley Group with responsibility for the overseas development of the Bewley's brand in the UK, USA and Japan. He also ran the product export department which involved the acquisition of the two American Cafe chains Java City and Rebecca's. Currently, CEO of the Insomnia brand, Kerry led the expansion of Insomnia from 17 to 50 shops and was responsible for increasing turnover from €5 to €13 million. Recently, Kerr took up post as a Dragon on the hit TV series ‘Dragons Den’. It is here that Kerr offers perils of wisdom to contestant entrepreneurs vying for investment from the business gurus. Kerr believes that in business, positive thinking is key for entrepreneurs and believes that they must challenges themselves everyday, and take calculated risks for the sake of competitive advantage. He is also a firm believer of the use of humour as a tool in overcoming the daily ups and downs in the business world.

Tickets are being sold at €65 each and can be bought from any member of the GBS Committee or by contacting Catherine Gannon on 085-76864055 or cgannon@wit.ie