In this episode of the EY CEO Outlook Podcast, Brian Walsh, CEO of Vhi talks with host Richard Curran about leading Vhi, combining business with purpose, and the shift toward digital and community-based healthcare. The career path that Brian Walsh has travelled is testament to the early influence of his parents and childhood. His mother worked in healthcare and his father in business, and Brian developed deep interest in both fields. These twin passions then converged in 2014 when Brian took a l...
Jun 03, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 45
In this episode of the EY CFO Outlook podcast, Thelma O’Driscoll, CFO of the IRFU joins host Jonathan Healy to talk about her diverse career path, her passion for growing male and female rugby from the grassroots up, and how the role of CFO enables her to create a strong and sustainable financial foundation for the game. Thelma O’Driscoll’s journey into the rugby world was not a direct one. Starting out in the family business, Thelma went on to work in various finance functions across computer m...
Apr 09, 2025•22 min•Season 1Ep. 20
In this episode of the EY CEO Outlook podcast, Danny McCoy, CEO of Ibec, discusses with host Richard Curran his early influences, his approach to leadership, and his vision for Ireland’s economy. Danny McCoy’s career showcases a journey driven by a passion for economics and a deep understanding of Ireland’s evolving socio-economic landscape. Growing up in Tuam, County Galway, during challenging economic times, he witnessed firsthand the effects of industrial decline and small business struggles,...
Dec 18, 2024•34 min•Season 1Ep. 44
Aisling Kenny, CFO of SMBC Aviation Capital, has built a notable career in the aviation leasing sector. She started her career at EY, where she was involved in auditing various clients, including banks and leasing companies. She joined SMBC Aviation Capital (then RBS Aviation Capital) in 2012, initially as manager and head of finance. In 2022, she became the CFO. Ireland has established itself as a global centre for aircraft leasing with over 60% of the world’s leased aircraft managed from Irela...
Dec 04, 2024•23 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Niall Gleeson was 13 years old when he realised he wanted to be an engineer. Influenced by his grandfather, whose love of tinkering and ham radio sparked Niall's curiosity for how things worked, he developed a passion for taking things apart and understanding the mechanics behind them. After earning his engineering degree from Bolton Street College in Dublin, Niall began his career with General Electric in the United States, where he installed gas turbines and power plants. He went on to lead ma...
Nov 13, 2024•37 min•Season 1Ep. 43
Alice Mansergh, a city girl with a love for the countryside, attended school in Dublin but spent her weekends on the family farm in Tipperary, where she enjoyed fruit picking and digging potatoes. After graduating from Trinity College Dublin with a degree in English and Irish literature, she took a year to travel around Ireland and worked on a novel that she admits remains unfinished and gathering dust - “It's gathering dust somewhere, and maybe I'll go back to it with a distance of time”. Her c...
Oct 09, 2024•46 min•Season 1Ep. 42
When Paul Stapleton joined ESB over 33 years ago, it was a very different organisation to the one it is today. In the three decades since, Paul has held ten different roles within the company and has watched first-hand the transformation of its structure, mandate, and the nature of the role it plays in Ireland’s economy and society. Since its foundation, ESB has been critical to the running of households, businesses, and industry across Ireland. As such, it is one of the country’s best-known bra...
Sep 03, 2024•34 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Founded in 1981, Fexco is Ireland’s most successful multinational financial and business solutions provider, operating in 29 countries and processing over €3bn in transactions annually. Yet, at heart, it is a family-owned business, proudly headquartered in Killorglin, Co Kerry, that values on curiosity, wellness and community impact. After almost 20 years working in the traditional banking sector, Anna Savage joined Fexco as Group CFO and immediately noticed the differences in the structures and...
Jun 28, 2024•27 min•Ep. 17
From the age of sixteen, Anne McCormack knew that she wanted to be a CEO. Having played golf at a high level throughout her childhood, Anne became concerned about the numbers of her peers that were leaving the sport, and realised that the only way to effect change was to hold a leadership position within the sport’s representative organisation. This realisation was the first step in Anne’s long and successful career in sports administration and leadership. After several years working at a high l...
Jun 05, 2024•30 min•Season 1Ep. 41
It was a complaint about the quality of a mobile phone that ultimately set Barry Napier on the path to becoming one of Ireland’s most successful technology entrepreneurs. The owner of the company to which Barry complained liked him, and offered him a job, and so began a lucrative career within the technology industry. But it was in 2011, when Barry discovered Cubic Telecom, that everything changed, and after a twelve-year, rollercoaster journey at the helm of the company, Barry has just sold a m...
May 07, 2024•41 min•Season 1Ep. 40
It was the culture of Microsoft that first attracted Anne Sheehan to the company – “ It's not about who's the cleverest person in the room. It's about who can be curious, who can learn, who can be creative”. Having spent over 20 years in the technology and telecom sectors working with companies like IBM and Vodafone, Anne has always chosen roles based on the “scale, breadth and depth” of the work to be done and the potential impact she could make for the company and its customers. So, when the o...
Jan 30, 2024•31 min•Season 1Ep. 39
Ten minutes into the first job interview, Wendy Chang Smith knew that Glanbia was the right fit for her. As someone for whom company culture, values and learning experiences are paramount, Wendy was bowled over by the “wisdom and experience” of the two colleagues on the panel and felt like she had known them for years – “ I was sold, I was ready to join this company.” But the idea of taking on the role of CFO of Glanbia Performance Nutrition was also very compelling from a business perspective. ...
Jan 10, 2024•29 min•Ep. 16
On Mairead McCaul’s first day in nursing college, her tutor said something that has always stayed with her: “when you're caring for a patient, you’re in a privileged position and you should always treat them as if they were your mother or your father or your brother or sister or your child”. Mairead carried these words with her throughout her time in nursing and midwifery, working in sales in the laboratory diagnostics sector, and into the position she holds today as MD, Human Health, of one of ...
Dec 13, 2023•31 min•Season 1Ep. 38
Carol Phelan has always loved numbers. Growing up on a farm, she understood how the numbers she was learning in school related to the business of the farm and how it scaled. Accountancy was one of her Leaving Cert subjects, but, for Carol, “accountancy was a set of tools that I wanted to work in Business rather than accountancy as the end in and of itself.” Carol spent the first six years of her career as a consultant , auditing and advising client companies. However this work increasingly led h...
Nov 27, 2023•31 min•Season 1Ep. 16
Growing up on a small farm in Tipperary taught Leo Clancy a lot about entrepreneurship. From an early age he understood how to assess the business’s performance in any given year, how to make a profit on tight margins, and, crucially, he learned to “dig in and get the work done that needs to be done and make things happen”. Today, Clancy leads an organisation that supports companies all over Ireland to start, grow, innovate and win export sales in global markets. Enterprise Ireland client compan...
Nov 06, 2023•29 min•Season 1Ep. 37
In this episode of The EY Podcast: CEO Outlook Series, Deirdre Mortell, CEO of Rethink Ireland, joins host Richard Curran to talk about her passion for social change, the power of people to make positive impact, her vision for a better Ireland, and how this role is helping her to achieve it. From an early age, Deirdre Mortell wanted to ‘change the world’. A very active participant in student politics, Mortell left UCC with a Masters in Women’s Studies but with no clear sense of what came next an...
Oct 04, 2023•36 min•Season 1Ep. 36
In this episode of the EY CFO Outlook podcast, Ken Bowles of Smurfit Kappa Group discusses the Irish packaging company's recent merger announcement and what it means for their growth. Also, as he approaches almost 30 years with the company, he talks about why people are at the heart of a successful business and how Smurfit Kappa's focus on sustainability now means the same box is used 25 times.
Sep 20, 2023•31 min•Season 1Ep. 15
In this episode of the EY CFO Outlook podcast, Tom Hickey of mining company Kenmare Resources chats to host Jonathan Healy about becoming a CFO at the young age of 31, the importance of storytelling in business, his love of the natural resources sector and how ESG is at the heart of Kenmare’s operations in Mozambique.
Aug 09, 2023•31 min•Ep. 14
In this episode of The EY Podcast: CEO Outlook series, Conor Galvin tells host Richard Curran about his unconventional journey to the position of CEO of Dairygold and his long term strategic ambitions for the company. He also shares his unique insights into the current challenges and opportunities facing the food production sector. When Conor Galvin became CEO of Dairygold in January 2022, it was a period of great volatility and uncertainty. The company’s energy bills had soared by 800% due to r...
Jul 20, 2023•38 min•Season 1Ep. 35
In this episode of The EY Podcast: CEO Outlook Series, Jim Bergin, CEO of Tirlán, tells host Richard Curran the story of his 30-year journey to the top of one of Ireland’s best-known indigenous companies. Jim leads Tirlán during a very significant time for the company, with a recent restructuring from plc to cooperative, the creation of a new investment fund, and record farmgate prices. Coming from a farming family in Co Kilkenny, Jim Bergin has always understood the language of farmers, the pre...
Jun 21, 2023•37 min•Season 1Ep. 34
In this episode of The EY CEO Outlook Podcast Series, Enda McMahon of Blackrock Asset Management Ireland, joins host Richard Curran to talk about his journey from the public sector, where he worked with Ireland’s C&AG and Financial Regulator, to his current leadership position with the world’s largest asset manager, and the valuable lessons he has learned along the way. Blackrock is the world's largest asset manager with approximately $8 trillion in assets under management. The company’s pur...
Apr 14, 2023•50 min•Season 1Ep. 33
With clients in over 100 countries and a global team of 105,000+, CBRE is one of the world’s leading commercial real estate services & investment companies. As MD of CBRE’s Irish operations, Myles Clarke has a bird’s-eye view of Ireland’s current and future commercial activity, FDI footprint, and the nature of the post-covid workplace. He is also plugged-in to the incredibly fast-changing importance of environmental sustainability and clients’ demand for highly efficient commercial propertie...
Feb 28, 2023•36 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Sara Venning was appointed CEO of Northern Irish Water in 2014. A love of hard work, solving problems, and improving systems and processes attracted Sara to an industry that is ‘always on’, such as a public utility. It is a sector with its own unique challenges, and Sara thrives on finding a way through them. These challenges include competing for funding from the same pot that education and healthcare also draw from, finding a solution to Northern Ireland’s above-average water wastage, and the ...
Nov 24, 2022•39 min•Season 1Ep. 31
In this episode of The EY CFO Outlook Podcast, TJ Kelly, Group CFO of Origin Enterprises, tells host Vincent Wall the remarkable story of a career spent in the finance function of some of the world’s most iconic companies. He shares the lessons he has learned along the way, from people management and investor relations, to strategic international expansion and building a brand. Growing up in the family business in Co Kilkenny, TJ Kelly learned the basics of commerce from a very young age. His fa...
Oct 27, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 13
In this episode of The EY CEO Outlook podcast series, Dominic MacSorley tells host Richard Curran the remarkable story of a career spent finding hope in despair, travelling the world to care for the survivors of crises, and running an organisation with over 4500 staff across 25 countries. Dominic MacSorley’s first role with Concern Worldwide was a baptism of fire. Posted to the Thai-Cambodian border aged 26, Dominic thought he would be building a school in a quiet village; rather he ended up dee...
Oct 13, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 30
“I think we have a real opportunity here for Ireland to be the shining example of how a health system could be delivered.” In this episode of The EY CEO Outlook podcast series, Bill Maher, Group CEO of the Bon Secours Heath System, tells host Richard Curran the story of his journey from Ireland to the UK and back again, what he has learned about world-class healthcare delivery along the way, and his vision for Ireland as a shining light in patient care. Bill Maher has high hopes for Ireland’s he...
Sep 09, 2022•50 min•Season 1Ep. 29
In this episode of The EY CEO Outlook podcast, Jason Ward, MD of Dell Technologies Ireland, tells host Richard Curran about his personal and professional journey to the top of one of Ireland’s most significant companies, his priorities for the role, and how Dell is leading digital, IT, security, and workplace transformation. ....................... The story of Dell in Ireland is a fascinating one. Founded by Michael Dell in 1984, the company opened its Irish operations six years later, and quic...
Jul 29, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 28
In 2008, Mainstream Renewable Power was born out of a belief that renewable energy would become a mainstream asset class. At the time, renewable power was not as popular or investable as it is today, but the company founders had a vision that it would soon become ‘front and centre’ to how we live our lives, and backed themselves accordingly. Today, Mainstream is valued at over 2bn, employs 500 staff, and it is eyeing a potential IPO. Central to this success story is Group CFO, Paul Corrigan. Hav...
Jul 15, 2022•41 min•Season 1Ep. 11
“ I became obsessed by the creativity of the business world” In this episode of The EY CEO Outlook podcast series, Deborah Kelleher tells host Richard Curran the story of her childhood love of music, her rise to the highest levels of musicianship and academia, and subsequent transition to business and leadership in the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Deborah Kelleher started playing piano at the age of seven and so began a devotion to music that was to dominate her formative years. Coming from a h...
Jun 24, 2022•31 min•Season 1Ep. 27
In this episode of the EY CFO Outlook podcast series, NTR plc CFO Marie Joyce tells host Vincent Wall the story of her rise through the ranks of companies including Arthur Anderson, Elan, and Irish Broadband, to her current role, securing a green future with NTR plc. Established in 1978 to build Ireland’s first toll bridge, NTR plc has been investing in sustainable infrastructure since 1999. Solely focussed on investments in onshore wind, solar, and battery storage, the company now manages 1bn o...
May 31, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 10
