Dermot Desmond
Founder, Owner and Chairman
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See why many of the world’s strongest brands chose Daon to help them build lasting trust with their customers.
As business interactions move online at an exponential pace, users must rely on proxies, from passwords to devices, to prove who they are — even when these methods are infamous for being not only cumbersome, but far from secure.
Daon was founded to change that. We believe every person deserves convenient and secure access to financial, telecom, government, healthcare, and other services. Our goal is to make that possible by bringing the human being back into every identity transaction, helping businesses trust that their customers are exactly who they claim to be and allowing customers to feel confident that their data is protected while still enjoying an accessible user experience. Putting people first is even in our name.
Daon is the Old Irish word for human.
Since 2000, Daon has been at the forefront of biometric identity assurance technology. From its early days in Ireland, Daon has grown to become a trusted global partner in both the public sector and for some of the world’s most iconic brands, securing over 1 billion identities on 6 continents.
The foundation of Daon’s core solutions is built on the unique concept of Identity Continuity, an approach to access management built around a single identity record for each customer — one that’s connected to every point of interaction and can be accessed through any channel. Through Identity Continuity, Daon is able to help its customers significantly decrease fraud, increase ROI, and improve user experience.
Daon’s solutions aren’t just based on a unique idea — they are also built on uniquely innovative technology. Daon Labs, the internal science and engineering teams, have been granted over 285 patents for many of the processes and algorithms that drive the company’s award-winning platforms and applications, and new fraud prevention and operational improvement technologies are always under development.
When your organization is ready to maximize identity fraud prevention without sacrificing customer experience, Daon has the knowledge and technology to help you build a proven identity verification and authentication solution that establishes complete trust between you and your customers.
From veterans who have been with the company since its inception, to newer talent with a wealth of technical knowledge and entrepreneurial experience in identity fraud prevention, Daon’s leadership team offers decades of combined expertise in creating trust across industries and continents.
Founder, Owner and Chairman
Dermot Desmond is Daon’s Founder, Owner and Chairman. Before setting up his own company in 1981, Dermot worked for Citibank Dublin, The Investment Bank of Ireland, Dublin and as a banking consultant to the World Bank on behalf of Price Waterhouse Coopers.
Presently, Dermot is Chairman of International Investment & Underwriting (IIU), which he founded in 1995. IIU is a private company, operating from the International Financial Services Centre in Dublin, specializing in direct equity investment and underwriting, funds management and capital markets trading.
In 1981, he founded National City Brokers (NCB) an interbank moneybroking company, which developed into Ireland’s leading independent stockbrokers. In 1994, he sold his stake to National Westminster Bank (now part of Royal Bank of Scotland).
In 1984, he founded Quay Financial Software, which grew out of NCB’s internal technology requirements. He sold his 80% shareholding in 1995 to CSK Japan. In 1985, he established Financial Courseware Limited, to develop training products for financial market professionals. Intuition, as the company is known today has a joint venture with the Harvard Medical School and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
Dermot conceived the establishment of a Financial Services Centre in Ireland in 1987. The Centre is a vibrant part of the Irish economy and is host to half of the world’s top 50 banks and top 20 insurance companies.
Previous high profile investments include, London City Airport, Baltimore Technologies plc, Esat Digifone, Pembroke Capital, Greencore plc, Vivas Healthcare, Betdaq, Chronicle Bookmakers, Execujet and Acision. He was also part of the successful consortium that bid for Ireland’s first independent commercial National Radio Licence.
Through his private investment vehicle (IIU), Dermot has a substantial number of investments in a variety of businesses worldwide, including Celtic Football Club, Sandy Lane Hotel Barbados, Sandy Lane Yacht Club & Residences Canouan, Titanic Quarter Belfast, Rietumu Bank in Riga, Mountain Province Diamonds, Barchester Healthcare, Datalex, GBE Technologies, Rapt Technologies, Venson and many more. In 2004, he opened The Sporting Emporium, Dublin’s premier Private Members Club. In 2000, he established Daon. He holds substantial investments in many other companies across different industries.
Dermot is Chairman of a charity called ‘Respect’, which was set-up by the Daughters of Charity to raise funds to develop their services to people with a mental and physical handicap, and a trustee of the Chester Beatty Library.
He was educated at Scoil Mhuire in Marino and at Good Counsel College in New Ross.
Dermot is an avid golfer and plays annually in the AT&T Invitational Pro-Am at Pebble Beach, California and at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St. Andrews in Scotland. He also plays annually at the Father & Son Invitational Golf in Waterville, Ireland and has won the Tournament with each of his sons.
Chief Executive Officer
Tom is Daon’s CEO and a member of Daon’s Board of Directors. Tom oversees all strategic and operational aspects of the business worldwide and is based in Daon’s Fairfax, Virginia office. His career spans publicly traded Fortune 100 technology companies to early stage “pure play” software companies.
Tom is a member of the Advisory Committee of a joint venture with SMFG (Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group), providing cloud-based biometric Identity Services across a variety of markets in Japan. He is very active in advisory groups and previously served on the Board of Directors for TechAmerica’s Public Sector. Tom holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Central Michigan University and an Executive MBA from the Eli Broad School of Business at Michigan State University.
Tom is recognized in the biometrics and identity industry as a thought leader, regularly called on by the media to discuss how biometrics establish trust online, significantly enhancing security while improving the user experience. Tom was identified by Forbes as “One of the Five CEO’s Who Are Reinventing Industry Through Digital” and has appeared on national television programs, such as CNBC’s Squawk Box.
Tom’s hobbies include skiing, sailing, hiking National Parks, running and travel.
President & Chief Product Officer
Ralph A. Rodriguez is President, Chief Product Officer (CPO), and a member of the Board of Directors for Daon. He is accountable for defining the go-to-market vision, strategy, and roadmaps for Daon’s products and technology.
Ralph was most recently an Executive-in-Residence at Summit Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm. Previously he was a Research Scientist and Head of Identity Verification at Facebook, where he oversaw Applied Identity Intelligence. Ralph was also the co-founder and chief technology officer of Confirm.io, an identity verification and authentication company acquired by Facebook in March 2018. Ralph founded Blue Hill Research, Delfigo Security, Invenio, and NTA before Confirm.io. In addition, he was the CTO/CIO of public companies Brooks Automation (NASDAQ: BRKS), C-bridge Internet Solutions (NASDAQ: CBIS), and Excelon Corporation (NASDAQ: EXLN).
As the longest-serving Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Ralph pioneered research on artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, mobile, neural science, and security technologies at the MIT Media Lab and Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology (HST) departments.
Ralph studied for an Sc.D. in information systems and is a graduate of the management program GPMD-MBA at IESE Business School, Barcelona, Spain. He served in the United States Army during the Persian Gulf War in 1990 and was named Soldier of the Year by the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) in 1987. Ralph has 23 US patents and international patent applications.
Global Head of Human Resources
As Global Head of HR, Kathleen Kozlow and her team are responsible for the global HR function with a core focus on leading the company’s efforts to attract, develop, and retain world class talent. Kathleen has more than 20 years’ experience in the field of Human Resources and is accomplished in building high performing teams and transforming HR departments for organizations ranging from start-up to maturity with populations of 20 to over 10,000.
Prior to joining Daon, Kathleen held management roles with Serco Inc., Ericsson Federal and Intelligence Data Systems (now L3 Communications). Kathleen holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology (with high distinction) from George Mason University and a Master of Science in Human Resource Management from American University.
Kathleen enjoys the outdoors (hiking and bike riding), cooking and baking, visiting local wineries and being creative and artistic (sketching, painting and writing).
Chief Technology Officer
As the CTO of Daon and a member of Daon’s Board of Directors, James Ahern is responsible for the research, development, and cloud services functions within Daon. He has overall responsibly for the technical leadership and direction of all Daon products and services. The Research team works on leading edge technology, developing new biometric algorithms which make it easier for consumers to interact online. The Engineering teams are responsible for the software products Daon delivers which incorporate that leading-edge research and support many of the largest authentication and biometric systems in the world. The Cloud Services team now delivers Daon’s software products as a service for customers with a scalable, secure and fully multi-tenant offering for small and large customers around the globe. James is Daon’s representative to the FIDO Alliance board and is an accomplished inventor with multiple patents to his name.
Prior to joining Daon, James worked at Electronic Data Systems (EDS) for seven years as a Systems Engineer where he developed and delivered computing systems for the US Government, General Motors, and a number of other clients. James holds a degree in Electrical Engineering and Microelectronics from University College Cork.
Chief Legal Officer
Martin is Daon’s Chief Legal Officer and Head of Government Affairs. As such Martin is responsible for managing all legal and regulatory activity across the company. Martin is also responsible for directing Daon’s political and government affairs strategy.
Martin is a qualified barrister and was called to the Bar in 1995. He is a recognized, international legal and regulatory affairs expert and combines broad based experience in senior legal and regulatory positions both in-house and in private practice with a successful international legal, lobbying and advisory career in Brussels, London and Washington DC.
Martin was also one of the founding Directors of the European Biometric Forum – a non-profit organization launched by the European Commission in 2003 and in 2008 was nominated to act as Rapporteur for the newly founded European Security Research and Innovation Forum (ESRIF) working group responsible for Identification and Identity Management.
Martin enjoys mountain climbing, family time and listening to music.
Head of Finance
Jason Carr is the Head of Finance and is responsible for Daon’s financial planning, reporting and compliance. He leads the global finance department that supports all the group entities in a shared services model.
Jason established the finance function in Daon when it was still in start-up mode and the data analytics function for business value and metrics reporting within the organization. He works extensively with the sales teams on licensing models, tender responses and key technology supplier relationships.
A Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland, Jason holds a Bachelor of the Arts in Mental and Moral Science from Trinity College Dublin and a Diploma (Distinction) in Data Analytics and Strategy.
When not ensuring Daon’s financial functions are in proper working order, Jason is a keen squash player and enjoys writing music.
Chief Information Security Officer
Doug Swope serves as Daon’s Chief Information Security Officer. In this role he leads the teams that manage our global cybersecurity and compliance, IT, and customer support operations.
Doug began his tenure with Daon in 2007 as a Project Manager on our Professional Services team, assisting customers with product implementation and customization. Prior to joining Daon, he held technical roles with data management and security companies CDSI and ECI Solutions.
Doug holds a master’s degree in Technology Management from Georgetown University, a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems from James Madison University, and a Certificate in Cyber Security for Business Leaders from Oxford University. He also holds numerous professional credentials in cybersecurity, privacy, and IT service management, and was awarded the Fellow of Information Privacy designation from the IAPP.
President, Americas
Robert (Bob) Long, is on his second stint with Daon after serving as a Senior Vice President from 2015-2019. In his current role as President of the Americas, Bob leads the sales, business development, customer success, marketing, and operations for the region encompassing North America, South America, and Latin America.
Bob brings over 25 years of experience in financial services, payments, and technology to Daon. Most recently, he held the position of Chief Revenue Officer at Seattle-based payment solutions company Member Access Processing (MAP), one of the largest payment and technology providers. He has also held several management roles including Senior Vice President of Financial Services at Vantiv and Vice President roles at both First Data Corporation and US Bank/Rocky Mountain BankCard.
Bob received his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of The Pacific in Stockton, CA.
President, EMEA & APAC
Clive Bourke is President of EMEA and APAC for Daon and is a member of Daon’s Board of Directors. His team are responsible for all Daon’s business activities across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. They deliver and support biometric and identity solutions in banking, payment, public sector, aviation, telecommunication, gaming, online markets and fintech sectors.
Clive has been intimately involved in the development of Daon from start-up to an established global business with market leadership in biometrics and identity. With over 25 years of international technology experience, Clive brings a track record in taking multiple first-of-a-kind initiatives from concept to realization. He earned his Electronic Engineering degree from University College Dublin in Ireland.
In his free time, Clive enjoys going to the gym, running, hanging with family and socializing, reading and playing golf.
President, Strategic Initiatives
Conor White is part of the core team that founded Daon. He joined the company as Chief Technology Officer in 2001 with the goal of designing and delivering trusted experiences that put human beings back at the center of digital transactions. In 2015, Conor accepted the role of President of the Americas, where he led all Daon activities across North, South, and Latin America. Then, in 2023, he accepted the role of President, Strategic Initiatives, where he leads efforts to find Daon’s “next big thing.”
In his current role on the Senior Management team, Conor spearheads the company’s expansion by identifying opportunities to apply Daon’s tech stack in new markets and verticals around the world.
As CTO, Conor shaped Daon’s technology strategy, including the development of its award-winning IdentityX® platform. As President of the Americas, his responsibilities encompassed sales, business development, marketing, customer delivery and financial performance.
Conor has a proven, 25-year track record of innovation in digital identity and cybersecurity. He is an accomplished inventor, with more than 30 patents in the field of human authentication, and has architected some of the world’s highest-performing digital identity systems.
Conor is also a frequent speaker at international digital identity conferences on the topics of human identity, biometrics, and cybersecurity. He serves on several technology standards boards, both in the U.S. and abroad, and is a member of Daon’s Board of Directors.
Conor holds a B.Sc. in Computer Applications and an M.Sc. in Computer Science from Cork Institute of Technology. He is also a graduate of the Executive Leadership Program at Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
In his spare time, Conor enjoys traveling, playing bad golf and spending time with his wife and sons. In the last two years, he has become an avid cyclist (commuting almost daily when not traveling on business) and is seriously trying to find a way to get rid of his car!
Exec. Vice President, APAC
John Duggan and his team are responsible for all of Daon’s business across the Asia-Pacific region. They create, deliver and support innovative biometric and identity solutions in both the commercial and public sectors including, but not limited to, digital identity services for bank and telco consumers, citizen identity services and border security.
John manages the functions of sales, business development, solution delivery, customer service and administration. He has over 20 years of experience with identity technologies, significant commercial experience and a strong track record of negotiating new business agreements for Daon. John is a graduate of University of Dublin, Trinity College, with an Honors Bachelor Degree in Mathematics.
John patrols as a volunteer lifesaver with his local surf club and enjoys family time, travel, and the outdoors.
Daon, Inc.
4097 Monument Corner Dr.
Suite 550
Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
Phone: +1 703 984 4000
Daon PTY
Office Foyer, Ste. 65, Lvl. 1
10-12 Lonsdale St.
Braddon, ACT 2612
Phone: +61 2 6230 0950