Mr Justin Keatinge holding his UL Alumni Award

From his early days at secondary school in St Flannan’s College in Ennis, Co Clare, Justin Keatinge had a passion to succeed in business and always knew he would become an entrepreneur. 

After graduating from the University of Limerick in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Systems, Justin started his working life in the IT department of ESB. It was here that he met John Mullen and together they went on to found Version 1 in 1996. 

Establishing themselves as specialists in Oracle solutions, Justin and John built their reputation in this niche market and steadily grew and diversified the business from there. From a base of two people, a small Dublin office and €60,000 revenue in 1997, Version 1 today has 550 employees in offices in Dublin, Cork, Belfast, Edinburgh, Knutsford, Kent and London and forecasted turnover of €60M this year. 

Justin has led Version 1 through organic growth and strategic acquisitions to become one of the fastest growing IT services companies in Western Europe. Under his strategic direction Version 1 has doubled both profitability and revenue over the last few years, while at the same time delivering consistent improvement in customer satisfaction and better than world-class employee engagement. 

As Managing Director at Version 1, Justin is currently focused on executing an International expansion programme, mainly focused on the UK Market, through strategic acquisitions and embedding the Version 1 culture and values within those organisations. 

On a personal level, Justin is husband to Maureen and father to three energetic children, so the busyness of life outside of Version 1 can be just as demanding as the average work day heading up an expanding international organisation. 

In his spare time, you will most likely find Justin competing in a marathon or triathlon event in any of the four corners of Ireland. As an active sportsman, Justin has competed in over 40 races of marathon length or longer. He has been involved in the Irish Mountain Running Association (governing body for mountain running in Ireland) for the last 10 years. As well as being an active competitor for IMRA, he has taken a key leadership role in the organisation where he has the privilege of running with the Number 1 shirt.