Leadership

Ann Horan, chief executive of the DCU Ryan Academy, talks about her own career, a growing interest in female entrepreneurs and some of the traits women bring to leadership roles. Could you tell us a bit about your career path and what your role involves now? My career began in the Central Bank in the mid-70s, not that long after the ending of the marriage bar.  Right from the start, I loved the bank.  I found the work interesting and progressed through the various roles and levels.  I soon started to study, attracted initially by the promise of money for passing the exams and then I discovered my love of…

Women make up a third of company directors in Ireland – reportPictured: Adrian Brady, Eulogy Women account for a third of all directors in Ireland, according to the Irish Directors Report, which is based on CRO figures. The research, which was commissioned by Irish-owned, London-based PR agency, Eulogy PR and carried out by Blue Sheep, reveals that a further one in 13 Irish female directors is moving to the UK to develop her career and that 14pc are aged between 18 and 35 years old According to the report, 41pc of female directors (68,570) are in business services, 6.4pc (10,840) are in social work, 5.5pc (9,232) are involved in construction,…

Brian O’Gorman of Arthur Cox and George O’Connor of Enterprise Rent-A-Car have been appointed to the board of Enactus Ireland, the Irish branch of the university-based partnership between business and higher education for social change. The appointments are effective immediately. O’Gorman is currently managing partner of Arthur Cox.  A law graduate of Trinity College Dublin, he spent some years in London and Hong Kong with a leading international law firm and leading international investment bank before returning to Dublin in 1999 to join Arthur Cox, where he was appointed partner in 2000. O’Connor is managing director of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Ireland.  A graduate of DIT Business School, he joined Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s…

Gender diversity on boards in Ireland is improving, but greater transparency in the appointment process is needed to increase the number of women directors, according to a new research report from the Institute of Directors in Ireland. The Women on boards in Ireland: Progress made, but obstacles remain, which has been released today, is based on interviews with 155 of the Institute of Directors in Ireland women members who currently hold an executive or non-executive directorship. In the research, 58pc of women said gender diversity on the board on which they sit has improved in the last five years. Over a third (37pc) said gender diversity is either a medium…

Michael Gibney, UCD Professor of Food and Health, has been appointed chairman of the Food Safety Authority (FSAI). The FSAI also appointed Raymond O’Rourke, a qualified barrister and a food regulatory and consumer affairs lawyer, and reappointed Prof Charles Daly, emeritus professor of food science and technology at University College, Cork, to its board. “Prof Gibney will be a tremendous asset to our board’s cumulative deliberations,” said Prof Alan Reilly, chief executive of the FSAI. “His appointment reaffirms our science-based ethos which underpins all the decisions, policies and actions of our organisation. “He has an impeccable global reputation for research on food and nutrition and has served on a number…

A new €70m energy efficiency fund, approved by the Government yesterday, will provide project lending for energy efficiency works in the public and commercial sectors and has the potential to create 5,000 jobs, according to Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte. According to the Minister, the fund will be separate from, and additional to, the grants-based Retrofit programme for private homes, which currently maintains more than 4,000 jobs. He said the Government has authorised €35m in seed capital for the fund, which will leverage a similar amount from the private sector. “We estimate that about €250m in savings can be made in energy bills in the public…

A worldwide movement that aims to bridge the gender divide in tech and teach women how to code comes to the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) tonight. A ‘Rails Girls’ workshop will hosted in NDRC’s offices in Crane Street in Dublin tonight from 6pm to 8pm and tomorrow (Saturday) from 9am to 6pm. Rails Girls is an international movement that teaches women how to code using Ruby on Rails, a web-based programming language. Ireland becomes the 36th country to host one of these workshops and joins countries such as Brazil, US, Japan, China and Ukraine, which have held events since the first workshop in Finland in 2010. In 2012 alone,…

To coincide with Global Data Protection Day today, law firm Matheson hosted a seminar in Dublin with Irish Data Protection Commissioner Billy Hawkes. Ireland is set to play an important role in advancing the new data protection regulation throughout the EU presidency, according to Hawkes. The regulation, which is particularly relevant to foreign multinationals operating in and through Ireland, will come to a crucial point during the presidency and the Irish Government is preparing to play a significant part in its progression. The proposed new data protection regulation aims to strengthen and harmonise existing data protection law across the EU in order to ensure more transparency on information being collected,…

The World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting – Davos 2013 – opened last night with the presentation of Crystal Awards to artist Vik Muniz, documentary filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy and the actress Charlize Theron. The meeting was opened by WEF founder and executive chairman, Klaus Schwab, who welcomed more than 2,500 participants from over 100 countries, including nearly 50 heads of state or government, 1,500 business leaders, and representatives from civil society, media, academia and the arts, and called for “soul, heart, brains and good nerves”. “It is my hope that you come out of this meeting with a vision that goes beyond crisis management,” he said. At the opening,…

Hilton Worldwide is championing youth development having commissioned a white paper from the International Youth Foundation (IYF) and launched its own strategy for the area called Bright Blue Futures. The white paper, ‘Creating Opportunities for Youth in Hospitality,’ looks at the economic and social struggles facing the world’s youth and the key issues that need to be addressed to solve those challenges. Hilton Worldwide announced its publication at the World Economic Forum. Leveraging insights gained through its partnership with the hotel group, IYF also presents the hospitality industry with a roadmap for action that focuses on creating career pathways while also meeting critical industry-wide hiring needs. “We have a tremendous…