Leadership

UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School’s Executive MBA programme has been ranked 81st in the 2013 Financial Times Global Executive MBA Rankings, published today. UCD Smurfit School improved its position from 88th in the world and has a ranking of 75th over three years. It is one of fewer than 50 schools worldwide to have been consistently ranked over the last 13 years.  “As Ireland’s global business school, we are proud to, once again, have the quality of our MBA programme recognised in these prominent rankings,” said Prof Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, dean of UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. “As the only Irish business school to have its programmes ranked,…

Irish software engineering research centre Lero has appointed Prof Brian Fitzgerald as its chief scientist. Prof Fitzgerald holds the Frederick A Krehbiel II Chair in Innovation in Global Business and Technology at the University of Limerick, where he was also vice-president for research from 2008 to 2011. He is a Lero principal investigator and was founding director of the Lero Graduate School in Software Engineering. He was formerly at University College Cork, and has held visiting positions in Italy, Austria, Sweden, US and the UK. He holds a PhD from the University of London and his research interests lie primarily in software development, encompassing development methods, global software development, agile…

Two women have been appointed as Supreme Court judges by President Michael D Higgins – Justice Mary Laffoy and Justice Elizabeth Dunne, both former High Court judges. The appointments mean that Chief Justice Susan Denham is no longer the only female judge in the Supreme Court. Four of the most senior justice positions in the State are now held by women for the first time – the others being director of public prosecutions Claire Loftus, Attorney General Maire Whelan and chief State solicitor Eileen Creedon. Justices Laffoy and Dunne were sworn in yesterday at Áras an Uachtaráin at a ceremony attended by An Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD, Minister for Justice…

Desmond O’Flynn has been appointed chief executive of Waterford Airport following the departure of Graham Doyle after six years at the helm. Most recently director of Aéroport de Dijon-Bourgogne in France, O’Flynn is originally from Dublin and has also previously held senior management roles at Ireland West Airport Knock and at Aéroport de Deauville-Normandie. He said: “In common with other regional airports, Waterford has been seriously challenged by the economic environment over the past five years but good leadership has brought it through that and the opportunity is now there to move forward with development. “I was particularly encouraged in this regard by the commitment of Leo Varadkar TD, Minister…

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recently completed its 11th review of Ireland’s bailout programme and has approved the release of the latest tranche of funding, which is estimated to be around €770 million. The review assessed the performance of the Irish economy and the progress made in implementing the agreed-upon economic reforms and fiscal measures. Economic Contraction in the Second Quarter According to the IMF’s assessment, the Irish economy experienced a contraction of 1.2% year-on-year in the second quarter. This decline was primarily attributed to a decrease in exports and a shrinkage in domestic demand. These factors had a negative impact on the overall economic output during the specified…

Updated February 27, 2024 Angela Merkel has led her conservative party to victory for a third term in Germany, finishing just short of an absolute majority. She described it as “a superb result,” the best since German re-unification in 1990. Taking about 41.5 percent of the vote, the conservatives are likely to seek a coalition with the Social Democrats, as its liberal partners didn’t make it into parliament. A former research scientist, Merkel has been the chancellor of Germany since 2005 and the leader of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000. Commentators believe her core policy in her third term will be to protect German taxpayers. About Angela Merkel Angela…

The University College Dublin (UCD) is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the official opening of the UCD Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research. 
To date, there have been over 700 PhD graduates, and 350 postdoctoral researchers have been educated and trained to exacting international standards at the UCD Conway Institute. These highly skilled individuals have taken up employment in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and ICT industries, as well as in public agencies and academia in Ireland and internationally. The UCD Conway Institute’s research portfolio includes 3,275 peer-reviewed research publications with the top 1pc published in the most prestigious scientific journals. Also, UCD Conway Institute researchers currently have successful collaborations, leading…

Irish Stock Exchange listed Dragon Oil plc has appointed Justin Crowley as an independent non-executive director. Crowley is an audit and assurance partner at BDO International specialising in regulated industries, oil and gas industry and other manufacturing and industrial sectors. He is based in Dubai, UAE, where Dragon Oil has its corporate headquarters. Before joining BDO International, he had an extensive audit career with PricewaterhouseCoopers as an auditor and with two UK-based mid-tier auditing firms as a director. He graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1995 and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. “Following the resignation of Nigel…

The provost of Trinity College Dublin Dr Patrick Prendergast and the university’s professor of physics John Pethica have been named among 60 new fellows elected to the UK’s Royal Academy of Engineering. Dr Prendergast was one of just five new international fellows to be named. The other international fellows elected include Ursula Burns, chairman and CEO of Xerox Corporation, and Carlos Ghosn, chairman and CEO of Nissan and Renault. With a first degree in engineering, Dr Prendergast was a pioneer of biomechanics. Before he became provost he was founding director of the Trinity Centre for Bioengineering and, from 2007, professor of bioengineering. His areas of research include tools for computer…

Bank of Ireland has appointed Bradley Martin as a non-executive director with immediate effect. Martin is currently vice president, strategic investments at Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd, which invested in Bank of Ireland two years ago. He joins the board to replace Prem Watsa, founder, chairman and chief executive of Fairfax, who has decided to retire from the board, also with immediate effect. The appointment has been approved by the Central Bank of Ireland. “Fairfax invested in Bank of Ireland in the summer of 2011 and since then the bank has made very significant progress against its strategic objectives,” said Watsa. “Fairfax continues to be confident in the outstanding leadership of…