CEO Outlook: Powering ahead with Pat O'Doherty, ESB Group

If somebody had told Pat O’Doherty that he would one day be running an organisation of 8000 people from a room at home, he wouldn’t have believed them. However, that is exactly the position the CEO of ESB finds himself in today. 

When COVID-19 struck, Pat had two main priorities: to keep the lights on and to keep his people safe and well. Those priorities, alongside his mission to transform the generation and delivery of electricity across the country, has made 2020/21 one of the busiest years Pat has experienced in the company he first joined in 1981.  

In this episode of The EY CEO Outlook podcast, Pat O’Doherty talks to host Richard Curran about how he has led ESB and its 8000 employees through the COVID-19 pandemic, his vision for the future of energy and the resulting opportunities for Ireland, and his own personal leadership journey and principles. They also discuss:

• How electricity can play a central role in the de-carbonisation of industry.
• The move from onshore to offshore wind, and why Ireland can be a leader in this field  
• The smart homes of the future and how they will be powered and heated
• Transforming the network to enable homeowners to generate, sell, and share electricity they produced themselves
• His path to the top job in the ESB, his personal business mantras, and how he like to relax.