Colm Lyon - Founder and Managing Director

Founded in 2000 by Colm Lyon, Realex Payments is at the heart of eCommerce and behind many Irish and international businesses who sell online. Realex Payments has grown exponentially over the past number of years, and now processes billions of euro per annum for thousands of businesses. Prior to 2000, Colm worked in the Ulster Bank Group for 14 years where he held senior IT management roles.

Colm is a regular industry speaker and in 2005 he was acclaimed and rewarded for his leadership when he was a finalist of the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. As an industry figure he was Director and Chairman of the Irish Internet Association for over four years - during which time the association significantly enhanced its position. He has been invited (2008) by Enterprise Ireland (Irish State) to participate in the Steering Group to devise the strategy for the Irish Software Sector. Colm is a graduate of University College Dublin with a Bachelor of Commerce and a Master of Management Science Degree.

Over the last three years Colm has spent further time in Harvard, Shanghai Business School and is currently enrolled with Stanford Business School.




Dr Laurence Crowley - Chairman of Realex Payments

Dr Laurence Crowley was educated at Belvedere College and University College Dublin, where he completed a Bachelor of Commerce Degree. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant and became a partner in what is now KPMG, specialising in insolvency.

He subsequently became founding executive chairman of the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business at UCD as well as a Director of Rothmans International plc and a director and subsequently governor of Bank of Ireland - a position he held up until 2005.

Dr Crowley is currently Director of:

• Aer Lingus Limited
• The Economic and Social Research Institute
• Edwards MacLiammoir Dublin Gate Theatre Productions Limited
• O’Flaherty Holdings Limited
• Gaisce – Gradam An Uachtarain – The President’s Award
• Ecocem Materials Limited
• US-Ireland Alliance Limited

Dr Crowley was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Law from the National University of Ireland.




Dr John Mooney - Director

Dr John Mooney is Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Executive Education and Associate Professor of Information Systems at Pepperdine University's Graziadio School of Business and Management in Los Angeles. Prior to joining the Graziadio School in 2003, John was Associate Dean for Information and Learning Technology and Senior Lecturer in Management Information Systems at the Smurfit Graduate School and Quinn Undergraduate School of Business, University College Dublin. John’s areas of expertise include business executive responsibilities for IT management, eBusiness, and the management of information and IT resources. He has been honoured with a number of teaching, research and service awards.

John holds a BSc in Computer Science and MS in Management Science both from University College Dublin, Ireland, and a PhD in Information Systems from the University of California, Irvine. He is Vice President for Chapters and Affiliated Organizations at the Association for Information Systems (AIS), and a member of the editorial boards of MISQ Executive, the eService Journal and the Journal of Strategic Information Systems, and formerly served on the editorial board and as associate editor of the Communications of the AIS.

John was a founding director of Realex Payments and joined the board from its inception in March 2000.