PROFILE
ANDY BYRNE
PRODUCTIVITY, MINDSET & ESSENTIALISM
Andy Byrne – Host of Andy’s Smart Life, a channel for using technology to simplify your life and make things more fun. Co-Founder of Innovative Startup PlayTank.net a social collaboration tool on a mission to democratize innovation and former Founder of WeDevelop Limited, a Dublin based software development house for websites, mobile apps and bespoke web based platforms. Former host and founder of UpStarts, a special interest radio show for entrepreneurs on Dublin City FM. Andy has a wide range of experience across large corporations as well as start-ups and now wants to show how people can take back control of their digital lives through smart technology and organisation.
RESUME
Employment History
Associate Faculty Lecturer - National College of Ireland
September 2023 –
Lecturing in Business, Management, Sales and IT Systems.
Learning Consultant (Hybrid) - Global Operations Learning Organisation – Meta (Facebook)
July 2022 – August 2023
Hybrid Learning Consultant Role comprising, Standard Learning Consultant Role, Project Manager, Learning Experience Designer & Learning Delivery Partner. Owning projects end to end and actively seeking areas for improved learning and development intervention as well as project managing large training design and delivery initiatives across Scaled Operations.
Project Manager - Problem Integrity Operations – Meta (Facebook)
June 2020 – July 2022
Managing and supporting 3 Trust & Safety problem areas across the social media platforms of Facebook & Instagram.
Managed Partners / Agencies Team Lead – Cognizant@Facebook
April 2019 – May 2020
Specialist team of client support experts dealing with premier tier advertising clients for Facebook.
Client Concierge Team Lead – Cognizant@Facebook
October 2018 – March 2019
Managing a team of client support experts dealing with high priority and high tier advertising clients for Facebook.
Sales & Operations Management Consultant – Waypoint
July 2018 –
I provide consulting to Waypoint on sales and operations strategy. Waypoint is a brand new enterprise collaboration platform, enabling teams to connect to the right people and information throughout the project life cycle – helping to better understand project requirements, develop project buy-in and support, solve problems and manage change.
Chief Operations Officer – PlayTank.net
April 2016 – July 2018
PlayTank is a social collaboration tool, on a mission to democratize innovation. PlayTank enables participants to easily extract components of an innovation concept and reuse them in other solutions.
Client Services & Operations Managing Director & Founder – WeDevelop Limited
Sept 2014 – May 2016
Innovative Web Design and Software development house based in Dublin City. WeDevelop aims to act as a dedicated development partner to make your visions a reality.
Co-Founder & Co-Host (Weekly Radio Show) - UpStarts 103.2FM
April 2013 – April 2015
A weekly special interest radio show for entrepreneurs on Dublin City FM.
Manager & Lead Trainer – Definition Training
Sept 2011 – Sept 2014
Sales and IT training that is relevant and innovative, easy to follow, and tailored to each audience. Training sales, IT and communications.
Customer Operations Sales & Service Trainer for Vodafone Ireland
January 2008 - Sept 2011
Responsible for training customer service reps, team leaders and managers across two busy call centres, primarily in sales and care as well as IT.
Business account manager for Bitbuzz
June 2007 - Dec 2007
Account management, field Sales and marketing, business 2 business, contact management, new business acquisition.,
Advertising Sales Executive for Spin 103.8FM
February 2007 – June 2007
Account management, field Sales and marketing, business 2 business, contact management, new business acquisition.
Account Executive for Clearwire Broadband
Feb 2006 – Feb 2007
Account management, field Sales and marketing, event management, contact management.,
Retail Sales Consultant for CarphoneWarehouse
Feb 2003 – Feb 2006
Account management, sales and care, tech support, bill management.,
Sales Associate for Dell Computers
June 2002 – December 2002
Account management, sales and negotiation, contract management. Sales & Finance to the UK market.
Retail Sales Consultant for Meteor Mobile Communications
June 2001 – April 2002
Account management sales and care insurance and handsets.
Education
National College of Ireland
September 2018 - current
Masters in Business Administration (MBA),
Irish Management Institute IMI
March 2008
Certificate in Professional Training Skills, Certified Professional Trainer,
Trinity College Dublin
October 2000 - May 2003
Computer Science, Linguistics & French (incomplete on medical grounds),
Castleknock College (St Vincent's College Castleknock)
September 1994 - June 2000
Junior & Leaving Certificate (Higher Levels),
St. Bridgets National School Castleknock
September 1986 - June 1994
Primary School.
Hobbies
MUSIC
FILM
FOOD
TECHNOLOGY
READING
Other Interests
General
• IMI Certified Professional Trainer
• Certified Professional SCRUM Master - PSM I
• Former host of UpStarts – special interest radio show on Dublin City FM
• Former Finance and Services Officer Trinity College
• 2001-2003 Faculty Convener Engineering & Systems Sciences TCD
• Speaker at CCMA networking events for call centres
Entertainment
• Gaiety School of Acting Performance 2 Year Cert in Advanced Performance
• Member of Company D Theatre Company Dublin
• Loop Group Voiceover Artist for TV & Film
• Various extra work and acting appearances
• Involved in theatre and public speaking work
IT & Communications
• HTML CSS Php & MySQL web programmer
• Various websites created for businesses charities and educational establishments
• Excellent with electronics & software
• Created various training programmes on mobiles and communications
Charity
• 2 Years Vincent dePaul Society work with Holy Angels Special School
• Fundraising for Temple Street Children's Hospital as part of Bad Medicine Charity Events
• Organiser and walk co-ordinator for Dublin Zombie Walk in aid of Irish Cancer Society & Barnardos
Language Skills
ENGLISH
FRENCH
BLOG
TESTIMONIALS
During my time here in Vodafone I have been trained by Andy in part or in full for customer care roles in pay as you go, billpay, online moderation and data support. Andy was an excellent trainer who always acted with inspiring enthusiasm, demonstrating a thorough and constantly evolving level of knowledge of mobile products and services that many in the industry would be hard pressed to attain. He conveyed all of this through innovative, engaging training methods and group exercises holding the attention of the training group and ensuring that each member benefited as much as possible from the experience. Andy is a genuine fellow who knows his training role and the telecommunications industry extremely well and these qualities shine through in his training courses.
John Leahy
Andy builds strong relationships with his customers and stakeholders. His strengths are his presentation skills, influencing skills and passion for innovation and technology.
Pamela McCabe
Andy is a knowledgeable professional, who is also approachable and friendly. He delivers material in an easy to digest manner, and is attentive to the needs of those he is training – via an engaging approach that allows the trainee to absorb the information presented, in a manner that is easily understandable. I have no hesitation in recommending Andy, and I am quite sure he would enhance any business he works with.
Darren Malins
Andy brought a rare degree of enthusiasm, passion and knowledge to any training course I attended. From sales techniques to retention sales and product refresher courses, Andy promoted an infectious interest in the subject at hand and was always available to answer any follow up questions whether he was on site or off.
David Bennett
I have known Andy for the last 3 years I have worked in Vodafone. His key skills are simplifying complicated training material around mobile and fixed data solutions which is now our core business at Vodafone. He has helped me a number of times to give me different / fresh perspectives on projects in my own channel around Mobile broadband, data, smartphones, new propositions and sales. Andy is always high energy and willing to help.
Padraic Knox
Andy is many things, and perhaps most of all he is 100 percent reliable, both in terms of character and competence. I have worked with him on several big training programmes over the last 5 years and am always impressed by his focus and enthusiasm right through the project until the very end. Staying power, integrity and an energy and light that people really connect with are just a few of Andy's qualities and I highly recommend anyone to work with him.
Matthew Snaith
Andy was my trainer and he was enthusiastic, professional. He was an expert in what he was teaching and was able to instill knowledge in a fun, creative and high energy environment. Andy goes above and beyond to always give 100 percent to his work and takes the success of each of his trainees personally.
Caroline Mion
I have no hesitation in recommending Andy for any training where professionalism and excellency in presentation would be required. His friendly attitude together with knowledge and brilliant interpersonal skills are the values which every modern business person is looking for. I am sure that Andy will be a great asset to any future business he works with.
Maya Lenczewska
CONTACT
CONTACT INFO
If you are interested in anything that I do you can contact me via the contact form here.
C/O PlayTank Limited
Ireland