Leadership

Wexford-based Lake Region Medical (LRM) has become the first company in the Republic of Ireland, and the first medical device manufacturer in Europe to be awarded a Shingo Accreditation Bronze Medallion for Operational Excellence. The Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence is a not-for-profit located in the Jon M Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. The mission of The Shingo Prize is to create excellence in organisations and to empower people and transform organisational culture. “The achievement is a real win for the company but also Ireland as an economy, as we strive to continue to grow in investment in operations by delivering higher value to investors than that…

Cork-based anti-theft solutions provider Yougetitback (YGIB) has appointed Paul Leahy to lead its global business development operations. Yougetitback works with insurance and warranty companies, telecom operators and consumer electronics retailers, having developed a range of anti-theft solutions for smartphones, tablets and laptops. CEO Paul Prendergast said Leahy’s appointment would provide the company with a deeper insight into the needs and ambitions of warranty and insurance clients. On accepting the role, Leahy said he believed Yougetitback brought value to clients by enabling them to accelerate their business growth by increasing attachment rates, lowering customer churn and driving better value. Leahy’s career spans working with global companies including Bank of America, Affinion International Group,…

Well-known handbag designer Anya Hindmarch has been named Veuve Clicquot’s businesswoman of the year at an event in Claridge’s Hotel in London this week. Hindmarch, whose bags can retail at up to £2,895, became the award’s 40th winner, following in the footsteps of Dame Anita Roddick of The Body Shop fame and Linda Bennett, founder of LK Bennett. She saw off competition from City heavyweight Helena Morrissey, chief executive of Newton Investment Management. Organizers of the event say the award is the first international award created specifically to recognize the contribution that women have made to business life and is now regarded as the “Oscar” for female entrepreneurs and business…

Scholarship in Waterford named after Ernst Walton A new scholarship scheme in Waterford has been named after Ernest Walton, who was the first to split the atom along with John Cockcroft and Ireland’s only Nobel laureate in science. The new bursaries will recognise high achievement for students who are from disadvantaged families and attending DEIS schools. A park in the town of Dungarvan is already named after Walton whose discovery with Cockcroft gave rise to a whole new generation of research in physics. It was of paramount importance because it validated many scientific theories within the realm of relativity theory and quantum mechanics, provided proof for Einstein’s mass-energy equation and…

President of Griffith College and entrepreneur Diarmuid Hegarty has been awarded an honorary professorship by the Beijing Information, Science and Technology University (BISTU) in China. Also founder of the college, Hegarty was awarded honorary membership of the Chinese University’s Academic Council reflecting the relationship that has existed between Griffith College and BISTU for the past decade. Griffith College has strong ties to China having partnerships with 16 universities throughout the country. Over the past ten years, many BISTU lecturers have been visiting scholars to Griffith College and students of BISTU have also graduated from Griffith College while on their year abroad. A member of An Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s four-day mission…

Former Intel Ireland general manager Jim O’Hara has been named the chairman of the fabless semiconductor company, DecaWave. The Dublin-headquartered company , which specializes in ultra-wideband (UWB) technology for real-time location systems (RTLS) and wireless sensor networks (WSN), also announced that it had raised a further funding round of €6m from private investors in the US and Europe. This brings the total invested in DecaWave to €12.4m. O’Hara was general manager of Intel Ireland from 2002 until 2010 and was a vice president of Intel Corporation from 2003. He is a board member of Enterprise Ireland, is on the board of the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, and is on…

Minister for Health, Dr James Reilly TD has appointed Dr Ambrose McLoughlin, John Melvin and Martin Sisk to the board of Vhi Healthcare for a three year period to 14 March, 2015. McLoughlin has over 30 years’ experience in health services from practitioner  level to chief executive. He is the registrar and chief executive officer of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) and a former CEO of the North Eastern regional Health Board in Ireland. Melvin is an engineer with extensive consulting and management experience in the public and private sectors. He was a member of the senior management team in Beaumont Hospital with responsibility for allied health and clinical support…

Bank of Ireland has announced the appointment of Patrick Haren and Kent Atkinson to its board as non-executive directors with immediate effect. Haren is a former CEO of the Viridian Group, having joined Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE), the regional electricity supplier, in 1992 as chief executive. He led the privatisation of NIE by IPO in 1993 and grew the business under the new holding company Viridian between 2000 and 2007. He previously worked with the ESB, including as director, new business investment. Haren, who has an MBA from UCD, served as a board member of Invest Northern Ireland for a number of years. Atkinson was group finance director of Lloyds…

Irish senior executives are showing a willingness to contribute to economic recovery, with 65pc saying they would participate on a State board, a new survey out today reveals. The study, conducted by Amárach Research on behalf of MERC Partners, revealed that 69pc of respondents believe prospects for the Irish economy are currently more positive than they were this time last year. Only 14pc of those surveyed had a more negative outlook compared to 12 months ago. The need to create a better climate for job creation was noted as the most urgent issue for Government, with 43pc of respondents saying it was the Government’s single most urgent short-term challenge. The…

Opening of the Global Irish Economic Forum Taoiseach opens Global Irish Economic Forum Taoiseach Enda Kenny this morning opened the Global Irish Economic Forum at Dublin Castle, welcoming 300 delegates from more than 37 countries. “We are glad you are here for this crucially important event,” he said. “We want to hear your ideas on how together we can grow Ireland.” Unprecedented Challenge and Extraordinary Opportunity Kenny said that in the history of Ireland, there has “never been such an unprecedented challenge nor such an extraordinary opportunity”. He talked about some of the priorities of the Government in its mandate to “face up to and tackle the country’s problems and…