Tánaiste announces membership of Enterprise Strategy Group

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, Mary Harney, today (Friday 1^st August 2003) announced the membership of the Enterprise Strategy Group which she has established to advise and make recommendations on Ireland's future policy options for encouraging and generating growth and employment in the economy.

Making the announcement, the Tánaiste said that she believed that the Group had the right mix of experience and expertise to enable it to make a significant contribution to shaping Ireland's enterprise strategy. She said: "I have asked this Group to report to me within the next six to nine months. That is an onerous task but one which I believe the Group is well equipped to undertake. Each of the individuals has something unique to bring to the table. Their combined knowledge and understanding of the key issues driving enterprise is critical to the task at hand."

The Tánaiste expressed her appreciation to the Chairman, Eoin O'Driscoll, and to each of the members for their willingness to participate in the work of the Group. "I wish them well in their work and look forward to receiving their report in due course," the Tánaiste said.

Membership of Enterprise, Strategy Board

Eoin O Driscoll - Chairman of Group

Eoin O'Driscoll is managing director of Aderra, a company established in 2002 to provide consulting in technology, strategy, change management, and supply chain management.

Prior to founding Aderra, Mr. O'Driscoll held a number of senior positions at Lucent Technologies, including managing director Ireland, senior vice president and chief supply chain officer Wireline Products, senior vice president Worldwide Manufacturing Data Products, and chief supply chain officer EMEA.

A graduate of University College Cork, Mr. O'Driscoll holds a bachelor's and master's degree in electrical engineering. He has worked in the electronics and telecommunications industry for over twenty years in Ireland, Canada, and the USA. He has worked with Nortel Networks, Wang, Stratus, and Ascend Communications, and held vice president positions at Wang, Stratus, Ascend, and Lucent. In addition to being on the board of a number of private companies, Mr. O'Driscoll is a member of the NMRC Industry Advisory Board, a director of the National Microelectronics Application Centre, and a board member of the Cork University Foundation.

Reg Shaw

Managing Director Wyeth

Reg Shaw joined Wyeth in 1999 as Managing Director of The WyethBioPharmaCampus at Grange Castle.

Before joining Wyeth Dr. Shaw worked for over 25 years with the SmithKline Beecham Corporation. He held a variety of positions both in Ireland and abroad and in 1997 was appointed Director and Senior Vice President with responsibility for worldwide supply operations involving 26 facilities in 11 countries. He was responsible for a staff of 7,000 and operating assets of $1.2 billion.

He was educated at the National University Of Ireland, Galway where he obtained a BSc in Chemistry in 1971 and a PhD in Chemistry in 1974.  His interests include reading, golf, travel, music and photography.

Des Geraghty

Des Geraghty is General President of SIPTU, a position he took up in November 1999.

Until October 1997 when he took up the post as Vice President, Des Geraghty was National Industrial Secretary of SIPTU with particular responsibility for the Strategic Development Initiative, European Affairs, Participation, and National Industrial Issues.

Des has held virtually every elective post in the union from shop steward, branch committee member, Dublin District Council member and National Officer.  He has represented workers since the age of 17 in Ireland and Britain, before becoming a full time trade union official in the ITGWU's Dublin No. 1 (Docks and Transport) Branch, a National Group Secretary and subsequently a National Industrial Secretary on the formation of SIPTU.  He was the first Industrial Relations Tutor in the Education and Training Department of the IT&GWU, and, subsequently, Publications and Communications Officer of that union.

Des was also a member of the European Parliament, (on secondment from SIPTU) and served on the Economic, Industrial and Monetary Committees.  He was Economic and Industrial spokesman for the European United Left group of the Parliament during that period - 1992/1994.

Des is also author of `Luke Kelly', a best seller on singer Luke Kelly.  He was co-author with Norbert Gallagher of a book on European Works Councils in Ireland, published by the Irish Productivity Centre.  He has also written extensively on industrial relations and economic topics in many journals and newspapers.  He has managed a number of EU development projects under the ADAPT programme; the NOW (New Opportunities for Women) programme, and is currently a Director and Chairperson of the Institute for the Development of Employee Assistance Services (IDEAS), which is at the cutting edge of new technology, health and safety, financial participation, up-skilling, problem-solving and teamwork.

He was appointed as Board Member of the RTE Authority in 1995; re-appointed for a second term in 2000 - he stood down in July 2002 for the period of the Seanad elections for which he was a candidate.  He became an Elected Shareholder of the Abbey Theatre in September 1998.  He was appointed to the Board of FAS in January 1999, and re-appointed for a further term of office in January 2001.  In January 1997 he was first appointed to the National Competitiveness Council and in 2000 was re-appointed for another three-year term.  In June 2001 he was nominated by Irish Congress of Trade Unions to the National Economic & Social Council. 

Des is a member of the Executive Council of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.

He is also a member of the Board of Poetry Ireland.

Alan Dwyer

Alan Dwyer joined Eurostyle in 1986 having completed a Marketing/Sales Training course in Cork. Started in the Embroidery section, which he managed from 1990 and in 1991/2 spearheaded the successful introduction of our Green Lamb brand. Became a Director in 1994, joint MD in 1998 and became MD in 2001. Alan is aged 34 years.

Rory O'Donnell

Director of the National Economic and Social Council of Ireland (NESC) and Chief Officer of the newly-established National Economic and Social Development Office (NESDO). In his work as Economist and later Director at NESC he has prepared the analysis that underpins Ireland's social partnership approach to economic and social policy and has written extensively on partnership He was Jean Monet Professor of Business at the Smurfit Business School, University College Dublin; where he edited a review of Ireland's first 25 years in the EU, Europe - The Irish Experience (Institute of European Affairs, 2000) and co-authored Europe's Experimental Union: Rethinking Integration (Routledge, 2000).

John Hegarty

Dr. John Hegarty, Provost of Trinity College Dublin

John Hegarty was elected as the 43rd Provost of Trinity College Dublin in August 2001.

Born in Co. Mayo 1948, he started his College career in St. Patrick's College, Maynooth completing his PhD in Physics in University College Galway. He was a Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Research Scientist at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey.

Appointed Professor of Laser Physics in Trinity (1986-2001) and Dean of Research (1995-2000) he was elected as a Fellow to the College.

He was Adjunct Professor, University of Georgia USA (1990-95) and Visiting Professor, University of Tokyo and Sony Corporation Japan (1995).

John is a member of the Royal Irish Academy, the American Physical Society, the American Optical Society, the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics. He served on the Advisory Board in Information and Communications Technologies with Science Foundation Ireland as well as on the Board of the Higher Education Authority.

He produced over 140 publications in peer-reviewed journals, developed a number of patents, and in 1989 co-established Optronics Ireland, a national research programme in opto electronics. From his research group, a new company, Eblana Photonics, was formed in 2001.

Frank Kenny

Frank Kenny founded Delta Partners in 1994, a venture capital firm focused on investing in early stage technology companies. He has been in the Venture Capital business for 20 years in Boston and in Dublin. He previously worked for American Standard, Penn Athletic Products and IDA Ireland.

Frank has a B. Command M. Econ. Sc. from UCD and an MBA from the University of Chicago

Frank currently serves on a number of private Boards, including Advanced Surgical Concepts, Kelvinside and Qumas

Rita Gunther McGrath

Assistant Professor, Management of Organizations, Columbia Business School

Rita Gunther McGrath joined the faculty of Columbia Business School in 1993. Prior to life in academia, she managed major information technology projects, worked in the political arena and founded two startups. Her Ph.D. is from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Her research focuses on strategy in situations of high uncertainty, particularly innovation, entrepreneurship and new venture management. Her articles appear in leading academic journals such as the Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, and Management Science. Her research has won the Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice Award for the Best Conceptual Paper, at both the 1992 and 1996 Academy of Management meetings. The European Foundation for Entrepreneurship Research (EFER) also awarded her the "best paper" award in 1995.

McGrath's work has also been featured in managerial oriented publications, including HarvardBusiness Review, CEO Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily and the Financial Times of London. She has three articles in the Harvard Business Review: 'Discovery Driven Planning' (July-August issue, 1995), "Discover Your Products' Hidden Potential" (May-June issue, 1996) and "Discovering New Points of Differentiation" (July-August, 1997). She appears in one of the first videos to be offered in the Harvard Business Review Video Series, on Discovery Driven Planning.

At Columbia, she teaches courses in corporate strategy and the innovation process, and is also an active consultant and instructor in corporate executive education programs. Companies she has worked with recently include American Reinsurance, Commercial Union, Plc. (England), Chubb & Sons, Flour Daniel, Inc., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (Japan), Mitsubishi Materials (Japan), Santander Investments (Latin America and New York), Severn Trent, Plc., Texas Instruments and the Young President's Organization. She has extensive international experience, with affiliations in Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, R.O.C. and the United Kingdom.

Jim Hoey (James Gerard Hoey)

Jim has been Managing Director of Masonite Ireland since 1996. Previously he was employed by Tarkett Ireland Ltd, as Managing Director from 1983-1996 and as Operations manager at C.R. Bard Ireland Ltd. He spent some time as Operations Manager and as a Technical Manager at GAF Ireland Ltd.

He has a Bachelor of Science B.Sc. (Hons) 1971, a Doctor of Philosophy in Organic Chemistry (PhD) 1974 and a Masters of Industrial Engineering (MIE)

Jim was former chairman of Irish Productivity Centre and is currently a member of IBEC National Executive and incoming President of IBEC North West Regional Executive.

Hugh Friel

Hugh Friel is Managing Director of Kerry Group.  Educated at St. Eunan's College, Letterkenny and University College Galway, he previously worked with Aer Lingus in New York, Mobil Oil Corp. in London and Erin Foods in Ireland.  In 1972 he was appointed Financial Controller of North Kerry Milk Products Limited, the forerunner of Kerry Co-op and Kerry Group plc.  He was Deputy Managing Director of Kerry Group from its flotation in 1986 until his appointment as Managing Director on 1 January 2002.

Kerry Group today is a leader in global food ingredients markets, a leading international flavour company and a leading consumer foods processing and marketing organisation in selected EU markets.  In some 30 years, from the commissioning of its first manufacturing plant in Listowel, Ireland, the Kerry organization has grown to become a highly successful public company, having achieved sustained profitable growth with current annualized sales of €3.75 billion.  Listed on the Dublin and London Stock markets, Kerry has established over 130 manufacturing facilities across four continents and provides over 10,000 food and ingredient products through its network of international sales and technical centres to a wide customer base in 120 countries.  Launched as a public company in 1986, the market capitalisation of the Group has grown to a current level of €2.6 billion.  Kerry Group now employs approximately 18,000 people throughout its worldwide activities and operations.

Nicky Hartery

Nicky Hartery is responsible for Dell's manufacturing operations in Europe, Middle East and Africa, comprising Dell's state of the art manufacturing facilities located in Limerick, Ireland. Nicky reports to Paul Bell, president, Dell EMEA.

Prior to joining Dell in January 2000, Nicky was executive vice president at Eastman Kodak where he had overall responsibility for manufacturing operations in Europe, North America, South America and South East Asia for Colour Film. Prior to joining Kodak, he was president and CEO of Verbatim Corporation for seven years. Other senior positions include a three year period as chief operating officer at Verbatim, two years as senior vice president of Verbatim Europe, Middle East &y Africa Division and five years as managing director of Verbatim Limerick. Nicky started his career at General Electric Corporation.

Nicky earned a bachelor's degree in electronic engineering from University College Cork, Ireland and also holds a MBA from University College Galway, Ireland.

David Griffin

Graduate of Trinity College Dublin and Chartered Accountant. Chief Risk Officer and Member of the Management Team of Allied Irish Bank, Republic of Ireland.

Martin McVicar - Managing Director, Combilift Ltd

Martin Mc Vicar, born 1972, left St. Macartan's College, Monaghan at the age of 17 after completing his leaving certificate. He took up a full time employment position with Moffett Engineering, manufacturers of the Truck Mounted Forklift.

After 8 years with Moffett Engineering Ltd. Martin set up Combilift Ltd. with Robert Moffett (Technical Director) in March 1998 to design, develop and manufacture a specialised combined new forklift concept capable of performing the functions of a Counterbalance, Sideloader & 4-way electric forklift in one cost effective forklift. Martin with his technical expertise developed this forklift known today as the Combilift, the worlds first engine powered, 4-way, all wheel hydrostatically driven industrial forklift capable of operating both indoor and outdoor. The Combilift using its patented 4-way steering circuit can be converted from a conventional front forklift to a sideloader at the push of a button which enables long length loads to be transported through doors as narrow as 2000mm and stored in narrow aisles.

Combilift now employs a workforce of 80 people andthe Combilift is distributed through a network of 60 dealers to 44 countries worldwide including South Africa, New Zealand and Mexico etc.

Combilift Ltd. was winner of the DHL Exporter of the Year Award 2001 & Martin was winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2001.

John Sutton

John Sutton is the Sir John Hicks Professor of Economics, Chair of the Economics Department and Director of the Economics of Industry Group at the London School of Economics. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and is President-elect of the Royal Economic Society.

A graduate of University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin, he has been a Visiting Associate Professor at Tokyo University, a Marvin Bower Fellow at the Harvard Business School, and a Visiting Professor of Economics at Harvard University.

Professor Sutton is a member of the Council for Economic Analysis of the European Union, and has served as a member of the Advisory Committee on Access to the Japanese Market, Tokyo. He is a consultant to the World Bank, for whom he has done extensive work on Indian industry over the past three years.

His books include Sunk Costs and Market Structure, Technology and Market Structure, and Marshall's Tendencies: What Can Economists Know? all from MIT Press.

Liavan Mallin

Liavan Mallin is a highly accomplished business entrepreneur, having founded successful companies in the telecommunications, retail, IT and real estate sectors, based both in the United States and in Ireland.

In recognition of her many accomplishments, Liavan was named 1995 Businesswoman of The Year by Veuve Cliquot, and in 2000 was recognized as a Global Leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

She is Chairperson & Investor of Killeen Golf Club and has extensive experience in the real estate market, having invested in residential, commercial and retail properties in Ireland, UK, US and the Czech republic.

Ms. Mallin launched her business career in 1987 by founding an innovative retail group that became the leading mail order company in Ireland. As Founder, Chairperson and Chief Executive of Shopdirect Group Ltd. (initially known as Celtic Hampers), Mallin grew her company by an average of 100% per year. In 1993, she led the acquisition of the companies closest competitor Harvest Hampers & Gifts. By the time she sold the company in 1997, Shopdirect employed 8,000 agents throughout Ireland, and was the clear market leader in its field.

Next, Liavan co-founded Onemade.com, an online retailer of arts, antiques and crafts based in Saratoga, New York. As CEO she raised capital for the launch of the group from VC's, private & strategic investors. Then, as Chairperson, she led the reorganization of the company and subsequently the acquisition of Collector Online, a leading website in the antiques and collectibles industry, to reposition the company as the premier provider of merchandising & marketing solutions to the online art, antique, craft & collectible market. She negotiated strategic relationships with America Online & Ebay among other well recognized online sites. One of the few internet companies to have continued to grow successfully over the last 2 years, it was recently sold to America Online.

Liavan serves on a number of for-profit and not-for-profit Boards. She has been appointed to the Board of Trustees & the Governing Board at Dublin City University, where she initiated and co-funds the Mallin-DCU Enterprise Award to encourage entrepreneurship within the post graduate & student body.

Mary Meaney

Mary Meaney is the Director of the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown and Chairperson of the Council of Directors of Institutes of Technology.  Her primary degree is in Analytical Science which she completed at NIHED before completing a PhD in Environmental Chemistry at Dublin City University.  In 1989 having completed her studies Mary was appointed as a member of Academic staff in the School of Chemical Sciences at DCU where she lectured for over 8 years while continuing her research in the field of Environmental Science.

 

She moved to take up the position of Registrar at the new Institute of Technology in Blanchardstown in 1999 having spent two years as Assistant Registrar in DCU.  Mary was appointed Director of ITB in 2000.

ENDS