Kevin Quinlan joined ESB, Ireland’s largest utility, as a data scientist in 2015. Like so many others, once he finished Michael Lewis’ Moneyball he was hooked – convinced that a world that could bring reason to the chaos of sport needed to be explored.
He joined ESB’s nascent data analytics department, seeing the team grow from imploring the business for opportunities to becoming a pillar of the ESB Net Zero 2040 strategy.
Kevin has delivered diverse AI/ML and analytics solutions to support multiple businesses from energy trading to generation to the rollout of 2.4m smart meters across Ireland. ESB can trace its roots back to the foundation of the Irish state, becoming an exemplar of traditional Irish organisation embracing analytics, winning Analytics Team of the Year at the 2022 Analytics Institute Awards.
Kevin’s role in this growth has seen him named Young AI Role Model of the Year at the 2022 AI Ireland Awards and Future IT Leader of the Year at the 2023 CIO Awards.
As Kevin moves into a new role of Data Governance and Quality lead, he looks forward to enabling the continuation of this growth and the merging of two key innovation trends; AI/ML and Greentech, and the prospect of that union making a massive contribution at home and abroad.
Kevin Quinlan
Data Governance and Quality Lead, ESB