Darragh Brien, Apprenticeship Engagement Specialist at the National College of Ireland, has been named as a member of the judging panel for the Irish CX Impact Awards 2026, bringing a 20-year career spanning international hospitality, recruitment, education, and workforce development to the evaluation of customer experience excellence across Ireland.

Brien's professional journey has been shaped by direct exposure to service excellence at its most demanding. Management roles in restaurants across Canada and Spain, combined with experience in Ireland's five-star hospitality sector, built a foundation in customer service and operational leadership that few CX practitioners develop from first principles. 

That grounding in the lived reality of customer-facing delivery, where customer satisfaction is not a metric on a dashboard but a moment-by-moment responsibility, informs an evaluator's perspective attentive to the gap between CX strategy and what organisations actually deliver to the people they serve.

Following four years in recruitment, Brien transitioned into skills and talent development, reorienting a career already defined by people-centred practice towards the systems and structures that build workforce capability at scale. 

At the National College of Ireland, he leads stakeholder engagement and coordinates a consortium steering group of leading financial services organisations, work that sits at the intersection of employer needs, educational delivery, and the employee experience frameworks that determine how well organisations resource and sustain their customer experience functions. His understanding of how workforce development connects to customer-centric strategy gives his panel contribution a dimension that extends beyond conventional CX practice.

His academic formation is equally distinctive. Among the first graduates of Ireland's pioneering Level 8 degree in Recruitment Practice, Brien also holds a Level 9 Microcredential in Harnessing Neurodiversity in the Workplace, a Professional Diploma in Coaching and Mentoring, and is currently pursuing a Level 9 MBA, a portfolio of qualifications that reflects a sustained commitment to professional development across the full breadth of his career.

The Irish CX Impact Awards 2026 spans 27 categories covering the full breadth of customer experience in Ireland, from CX Champion and digital experience categories to sector-specific and people-focused awards including CX Manager of the Year and CX Rising Star of the Year. 

Brien joins a panel that includes Gavin Carpenter of Phonovation, Evin Conway of CSG, Rachael Corcoran of EPAM Systems, Jenny McCoy of the Irish Management Institute, Tara Martin of RentalMatics, Ann Marie O'Donnell of Actavo, and Brian O'Flynn of Capventis.

The awards gala will take place on 4 November 2026 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Santry. Entries remain open until 24 July 2026.

Visit the official Irish CX Impact Awards website to explore past winners, review category details, and submit your entry. Subscribe to the newsletter for other news and updates.