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 Ireland’s leading healthcare companies. MSD has been in Ireland for over 50-years and the company employs over 3000 colleagues across five different sites around Ireland. Mairead joined the company in 2007 and, having worked in various roles across the company, was promoted into her current role as well as that of Head of MSD Ireland’s Country Leadership Team in 2020. She credits her progression largely to having “managers and a leadership team in MSD that saw something in me that I might not necessarily have seen in myself and really encouraged me to continue to progress.”In this episode of The EY Podcast: CEO Outlook Series, Mairead McCaul, MD of MSD Ireland Human Heath & Country Leader shares the story of her remarkable journey through the healthcare industry in Ireland. In conversation with host Richard Curran, she talks about growing up on a farm in rural Ireland, her various roles in the healthcare sector, and her vision for the future of patient care. They also discuss:·       The huge significance and impact of the pharma industry in Ireland.·       Personalised medicine – what it is and its role in the future of healthcare. ·       Mairead’s leadership style and why she like to always challenge the status quo.·       Why some medicines manufactured in Ireland are not available to Irish patients, and Mairead’s work on increasing their availability and affordability.  ·       The advice she would give to other business leaders just starting out in the role. 

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 her to “be the person” and become fully involved in the running of a business: “I was walking away from it at the point they were about to go and live and breathe the consequences of their decision, whether it was a new investment or whatever that might be”.And so began Carol’s career on the frontlines of business, leading to her current role as CFO of Dalata Hotel Group, which operates Ireland’s largest hotel brands, Clayton and Maldron, and is now rapidly growing its presence across the UK and Europe.In this episode of The EY CFO Outlook podcast, Carol Phelan, CFO of Dalata Hotel Group chats with Jonathon Healy about her love of business, people and company culture, and her role in helping to grow Dalata Group revenues to a record €500m last year. They also discuss:- Dalata’s successful decentralised model, where the teams in the group’s hotels are empowered to run them as if they are their own, presenting their strategy at a group level annually.- How Dalata and its leadership and teams navigated the challenges of Covid-19 and related lockdowns.- Dalata’s success in achieving 50/50 gender parity across its board and executive team.- Why financial success all starts with hiring the right people, treating them fairly, and building a great company culture.- Dalata’s rapid expansion across the UK and Europe.

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 companies employ almost 220,000 people and are responsible for €32 billion in exports, compared with €8bn in 1998. Clancy credits this success primarily to the businesses that have built the export base, but also to his colleagues in Enterprise Ireland that have helped them to scale internationally for over 25-years.  “The most important thing for me in my role is that weserve our clients well and that we keep our eye on the economic prize thatresults from that, which is jobs and economic investment and impact here inIreland.” In this episode of The EY Podcast, CEO Outlook Series, LeoClancy of Enterprise Ireland joins host Richard Curran to talk about his loveof entrepreneurship, problem-solving, and leadership and how all three combineto support his mission to help Irish companies to become global leaders intheir field. They also discuss: · Clancy’s background in Electronic Engineering and how itled to a love of problem solving.  · The many factors that make Ireland so attractive tomultinational companies, including language, talent, and stability.  · Enterprise Ireland’s role in encouraging greater levels of entrepreneurshipamong women and those in their 20s.  · Why he was a ‘reluctant leader’ and how straight-talkingand honesty have ‘liberated’ him.  · Clancy’s vision for advancing the cause of industry inIreland and creating a stronger Irish enterprise base as a result. 

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 and “sort of fell into the non-profit sector and particularly into fundraising”. Today, she leads one of Ireland’s largest social innovation funds, with almost €100m raised and 400 innovations backed.Rethink Ireland was created by the Irish government following the last economic crash with the aim of restimulating philanthropy during the recession. Having built high-performance teams for non-profits such as Oxfam, Barnardos and Headstrong, and co-founding The One Foundation with Declan Ryan, Mortell was appointed CEO of Rethink in 2014. Her mission is not just to fund the organisations tackling Ireland's critical social issues, it’s also to transform the entire culture of fundraising and philanthropy in Ireland.They also discuss:· The most common “demoralising” myths about the non-profit sector· The culture of philanthropy in Ireland (‘D’ grade, must try harder) and how Rethink Ireland is helping to improve it· Mortell’s experience in student politics and setting up the political party, The Women’s Alliance· Creating The One Foundation with Declan Ryan and what they managed to achieve in 10 years.· Rethink Ireland’s manifesto 2030 – a vision for the Ireland we want to live in

Ken Bowles, CFO of Smurfit Kappa Group, talks about their recent merger announcement and the company's focus on sustainability. He reflects on his 30 years with the company and emphasizes the importance of people in a successful business. Topics also include learning from mistakes, leadership qualities, and the legacy of packaging in the industry.

Tom Hickey, CFO of Kenmare Resources, talks about becoming a CFO at a young age, the importance of storytelling in business, Kenmare's ESG initiatives in Mozambique, balancing work and family life, and the success and challenges of the company.

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 rising gas prices and the war in Ukraine. Galvin managed, not only to steer the company through this difficult period, but to oversee a record turnover of €1.65bn, an increase of over 40% from the previous year. Growing up on a dairy farm gave Galvin a deep understanding of all aspects of the food production industry and an appreciation for the work involved and the pressures experienced by the whole supply chain. That, combined with later qualifications in science and accountancy, have helped him to build a vision for the future of Dairygold, including new building opportunities in the health and nutrition spaces.They also discuss:· Galvin’s education and career experience leading up to Dairygold and what he learned at each step along the way.· Environmental sustainability and food production – what Ireland does well, where it can improve, and the role that new technologies are playing.· People management and trying to balance achieving consensus with the imperatives of getting the job done.· Galvin’s focus on long term value and how he tries to balance the needs of the company today with that of the future.· The leader that had the most impact on his career and why.

Jim Bergin, CEO of Tirlán, shares his journey leading the company through restructuring and new investments. They discuss the importance of the farming community, Tirlán's diverse portfolio, and its impact on the Irish economy. They also explore the challenges of running a co-op and the future of food and farming in Ireland.

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 purpose is to help more and more people experience financial well-being. For Enda McMahon, CEO of Blackrock’s Irish operations, a core part of the mission is to empower people to have ‘dignity in retirement’.  Enda not only has a professional background in compliance and regulation, he has a passion for it. For him, trust is at the heart of a properly functioning financial system and his career has always involved making sure that ‘people are doing the right thing, backed with integrity’.  They discuss: ·        Enda’s experience of moving from the public into the private sector, and how this required him to become less ‘purist’ around compliance.  ·        The importance of building strong relationships based on trust between financial services companies and regulators, and how that is achieved. ·        The power of active listening and understanding the position and priorities of stakeholders.  ·        How and why Blackrock has repositioned all of its products towards sustainability, and why customers need to be protected against ‘green washing’. ·        Blackrock’s ongoing journey to becoming a more diverse and inclusive organisation. 

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 properties.  In this episode of The EY CEO Outlook podcast Myles Clarke joins host Richard Curran to talk about his ambitions for CBREIreland, what the commercial real estate market can reveal about a country’seconomy, and his leadership style. They also discuss: ·       The changing nature of FDI in Ireland – increasingdiversification and decreasing reliance on tech and on being fully based inDublin.   ·       The future of retail and balancing ‘bricks and mortar’ withan online presence.  ·       Why Myles and his family decided to move from London andsettle in the small village of Fanore, Co Clare.  ·       The power of keeping things simple and why clients and customers value it somuch.  ·       His leadership style – being thoughtful, delegating correctly, and speaking one’smind.