DMG Media Ireland has selected 40 brilliant young minds in the PR industry as part of the 40 Under 40 series.

James McCann - CEO, ClearStory International

James McCann is the founder and CEO of ClearStory International, a Dublin-based public relations agency specialising in international reputation building for technology companies.

Before establishing ClearStory in 2017, McCann honed his skills as a PR manager for Web Summit, where he managed media campaigns for major events in Dublin, Lisbon, Bangalore, and Hong Kong.

His early career included four years in the Defence Forces, as well as experience in politics as a local election candidate in 2014, a relationship analyst with Irish Life and a lecturer in Digital PR at the Institute of Art, Design & Technology in Dún Laoghaire.

McCann currently serves as a board member and advisor to the Organisation of National Ex-Service Personnel (ONE), which provides homelessness and mental health support to Irish veterans. He was a previous board member of the National Youth Council of Ireland and the Southside Partnership in South Dublin.

In 2020, James co-founded Everhaze, a PR tech platform which leverages AI to provide real-time actionable media intelligence to PR professionals by unifying content distribution, CRM and media monitoring features.

The company was accepted into Enterprise Ireland's New Frontiers program, and by August 2022, Everhaze launched into the UK market, quickly acquiring clients across the UK and Ireland.

Having established the agency, James’ role in ClearStory now focuses on crisis communications and ecosystem development work advising governments and large enterprises on establishing global credibility to attract top tech talent. He is currently a member of the PRII’s AI in PR Advisory Council as is a startup mentor with Techstars.

• Hobbies Genealogy, currently writing a book about Dublin from 1780 to 1922 based on research into his family.
• Best piece of advice you've ever received Play for time, not for money. There's quality in certain time spent that money can never pay for.
• Why you love your job The adventure, the places, the people, the stories. It's a privilege that very few get to experience.
• Motto for life Audacity, audacity, always audacity - serves as a reminder to take risks and back yourself first.

Mark O’Toole

One of Mark O'Toole's earliest roles in public relations was with Web Summit, managing communications with a diverse range of national and international journalists, helping to position Web Summit as an influential event in the global tech scene and Ireland as an exciting location for emerging tech start-ups.

Since then, O'Toole has held key leadership roles, including communications director at Beachhut PR and head of European operations at 150Bond. He was Recipient of the PRII Young Communicator of the Year award in 2016 and has won PRCA Awards for Excellence including Best Corporate PR (2017) and Best Long-Term PR Campaign (2020),

Currently an independent advisor to tech companies, he has a strong interest in AI and its potential impact on industry and contributed to the drafting of the Public Relations Institute of Ireland’s industry guidelines on the use of AI in PR.

He remains deeply connected with international media, getting Jeremy Kahn, Fortune Magazine’s award-winning journalist to Dublin where he addressed “The Briefing”, a bespoke event organised by Mark that brought together one of the largest gatherings of senior PR leaders in Ireland.

Prior to working in PR, Mark worked in journalism from his time as a teenager in local, national and digital titles.

• Hobbies Training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, reading, surfing, fishing and going for the occasional 10km run.
• Best piece of advice you've ever received In your career the best way to grow and gain experience is to get "comfortable in the uncomfortable."
• Why you love your job As a former journalist, O'Toole love narratives and get real energy from talking to people. He finds great pride in helping clients find their voice.
• Motto for life: "One of our greatest freedoms is how we react to things."

Brian Harrison - director, MKC Communications

Brian Harrison is a director and member of the senior leadership team in MKC Communications, one of Ireland’s longest standing public relations and public affairs agencies.

Harrison leads a team that specialises in the areas of healthcare, technology and public sector. His clients include some of the largest global corporations located in Ireland. He has a reputation for delivering impactful results for his clients with a focus on strategic communications, media relations and content creation.

The quality of his work has been consistently recognised by the PR industry. His projects have won multiple PRCA Awards for Excellence in PR, including for the award for Best Healthcare campaign (2022) and Best Public Affairs Campaign (2020). He has also been highly commended for his work corporate communications and for his work in the NGO space.

Harrison is also a director and the current treasurer of the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA), the representative body for PR consultancies in Ireland. In this role he has been part of a steering committee developing the new strategic direction of the association. He represented the PRCA, and Ireland’s PR industry, in Istanbul at this year’s Global Summit of the International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO).

Previously head of communications for the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland, one of Ireland’s most influential representative bodies, he led national and international communications programmes for the Chamber positioning Ireland as an attractive and important FDI location while defending Ireland’s taxation regime.

• Hobbies: Running marathons and coaching an under-10s football tem.
• Best piece of advice you've ever received: Schedule one hour every day just to be a dad. Urgent work can almost always wait an extra hour so you can have a ‘Disney moment’ with your kids’ until their bedtime.
• Why you love your job: In one afternoon, you can go from having an interesting conversation with a client about healthcare, to one on the latest technology trends and then onto renewable energy.
• Motto for life: "Everything Matters". The smallest actions and details can have a meaningful impact.