Executive Director at Historypin
Breandán leads the Historypin team as its Executive Director, and advises the Shift team as its Product Manager. He’s responsible for the overall strategic direction and product management for Historypin, balancing design, technology and partnerships, while obsessing about the best possible user experience for community-based archiving projects. Breandán joined the Shift team in 2014, stepping up to lead Historypin in September 2014.
A former software developer and technical architect, Breandán comes from the world of large-scale systems thinking and brings specific experience managing digital heritage projects. Breandán joined us from Europeana, the digital museum and library service of Europe, where he was the Programme Manager and Chief Product Officer. He is also particularly proud of the traditional music archive he developed as CTO of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, the premier organisation for the promotion of Irish traditional music and culture.
While moving between tiny technology start-ups, large-scale multinational public-sector projects and a variety of commercial environments over 20 years, he has learned and practised a lot of project and personnel management, business development, community organising and organisational development. He shares some of these insights in his book, “A Practical Guide to Managing Web Projects.”
Breandán holds a BA Hons in Letters, Arts & Sciences, specialising in classical music composition, from the Pennsylvania State University and an MA 1st Hons in Ethnomusicology from the University of Limerick. He is currently working on his PhD in Ethnomusicology, and threatening to write another book on workshop design.
Since moving to London, he’s continued playing an 1836 flute in an Irish traditional music pub session every week, and frequently and unsuccessfully chases his two greyhounds around the park.
Speech Title: “Building a community of citizen historians”