Alan Holland

Founder & CEO

Previously a lecturer in Artificial Intelligence in University College Cork’s Computer Science Department, Alan specialized in Optimization, Game Theory and Algorithmic Mechanism Design. Alan founded Keelvar in September 2012 when he left the University to commercialize advances in AI for procurement teams.

Alan’s specialist knowledge in Optimization, Game Theory and Mechanism Design gives Keelvar an edge in terms of innovating with offerings that exceed competitors’ technical capabilities. This enables Keelvar to define an entirely new category of the solution, putting Keelvar in an ideal position to lead this new category that Keelvar has called Autonomous Sourcing.

Winning the Cork Company of the Year in the small company category in Keelvar’s first year, and moving on to be awarded a Gartner Cool vendor award more recently has highlighted Keelvar’s international progress.

“We are transforming a space that has a huge potential to impact the lives of everyone on the planet. Our customers manage over €90bn in spend annually using our software so we are excited about how Artificial Intelligence can transform how suppliers engage with big business for win-win outcomes.”