| Norkom Technologies and its CEO recognised at this year’s annual ISA Software Industry Awards | | Print | |
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18 November 2009 – Dublin, Ireland - Norkom Technologies, the leading provider of financial crime and compliance software solutions for the global financial services industry, was the proud recipient of two awards at the prestigious annual ISA Software Industry Awards ceremony, which was held in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin, on Friday, 13 November 2009. The company won the award for Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), while its CEO, Paul Kerley, was named Technology Person of the Year. In winning the Corporate Social Responsibility Excellence Award, the company was recognised for its innovative CSR programme, “We are pleased to announce Norkom as the winner of the CSR Excellence Award,” says Paul Sweetman, Director, Irish Software Association. “This award aims to recognise the software company that has contributed most in promoting all aspects of social responsibility. Through its Education in the Community programme, Norkom has exemplified excellence in this area through its innovative engagement with students in inner city Dublin in technology-related topics that will increase their awareness of and disposition towards the Irish technology industry as a whole. This programme has also managed to successfully engage Norkom’s employee base who, through their roles as mentors to the students, have tapped into the many benefits of helping younger people discover the innovative world of technology.”
In the last award of the evening, one in which is awarded at the discretion of the ISA executive and its chairman, Paul Kerley was named the ISA’s Technology Person of the Year in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the Irish software industry. In awarding Kerley with such a prestigious award, Sean Baker, co-founder of Iona Technologies, described how he exhibited entrepreneurial tendencies from a very early age. He recounted Kerley’s belief in technology and education being key social equalisers, with the capability of leveling the playing pitch so that the focus is on what an individual can contribute rather than where they come from, which subsequently became the genesis behind the Norkom CSR programme. “We’re also delighted to recognise Paul Kerley as Technology Person of the Year. Paul is certainly no stranger to the ISA, having won Company of the Year back in 2005, and was a natural choice for this year’s awards having built a truly global organisation that has successfully floated on the Irish Stock Exchange and London’s AIM markets, and continues to grow and expand internationally year-on-year,” adds Sweetman.
Following on from the success of last year’s Dragons Den-style CSR competition, which was won by Dublin-based Mount Carmel Girls Secondary School and runners-up Synge Street CBS, Norkom will be shortly launching its second consecutive CSR initiative - The Norkom Challenge. With a total prize fund of €25,000, this year’s programme aims to enhance students’ knowledge of safety on the internet by empowering them to devise an awareness campaign on this topic for an audience profile of its choosing. The company has successfully recruited a number of Dublin City secondary school students to partake in this. “My colleagues and I at Norkom are particularly concerned at the downward trend in mathematics scores at secondary level, which is having a dramatic impact on the take-up of science and IT-related subjects at third level,” says Kerley. “Ireland needs to build a robust and sustainable knowledge economy if it is to reposition itself on a global stage and help the country emerge from the economic doldrums that we’re still experiencing. Norkom will continue to explore areas and ways in which we can help students think not only about a college career, but perhaps a college career in IT or science, so that we can kick-start the educational revolution that the country badly needs right now.”
Ends – For more information, please contact: Fiona McLoughlin, Marketing Manager About Norkom Technologies (www.norkom.com) Norkom Technologies (AIM: NORK.L, IEX: NORK.IE) enables financial organisations to take intelligent action, control defences, and evolve strategies against fraud, money laundering, and other types of financial crime. By combining a unique investigative technology platform with deep domain expertise, Norkom has established a solid track record of reducing financial losses, protecting users’ reputations, improving operational efficiencies and lowering the cost of information technology.
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Norkom wins ISA Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility Award and its CEO, Paul Kerley, is named Technology Person of the Year
Education in the Community, which aims to encourage students in disadvantaged areas of Dublin to access third level education. Managed and organised by Norkom employees who act as mentors to the students involved, this programme involves the active participation of students from schools within the Dublin City Centre, the area that houses Norkom’s global headquarters, who compete against each other in a technology-related project for a prize fund towards a college career.
“We are absolutely delighted to win the CSR Excellence Award,” explains a proud Paul Kerley, a former winner of Ernst & Young’s Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year award. “The Norkom Team has put tremendous effort into making this programme the success that it is. The aim of the programme is to stimulate the interests of inner city students in science and IT-related subjects and encourage them to think about a third-level education. These are students, who by their very post-code, might never have considered a college career a viable option. We want and aim to change that. Secondly, I’m extremely honoured to have been named the ISA’s Technology Person of the Year and I accept this award on behalf of the whole Norkom team. It’s a great feeling to be recognised by your peers in the industry and I’m truly grateful”.