Manufacturing and Construction
Bernard McNamara: Formerly McNamara Construction
Bernard McNamara stepped down from his position as executive chairman of Michael McNamara & Co in January 2010. The once famed
Brendan Murtagh: Kingspan
Brendan Murtagh co-founded Kingspan Group plc, a multinational construction products company. Initially a small engineering business, the company quickly expanded and in 1989 the group was floated on the Irish Stock Exchange. Through acquisitions and by adding facilities and sales companies in the UK, Benelux, Germany, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, the Group achieved additional geographic diversity. Good timing and exceptional business savvy led Murtagh to sell 2.4 million of his shares in 2007, earning him a whooping €90million.
Derek Quinlan: Formerly Quinlan Private
Derek Quinlan is founder of Quinlan Private (QP), a global property and investment advisory group based in Dublin. He was CEO of the company until July 2009, when he stepped down amid financial difficulties and the most severe recession ever to hit the Irish property market.
Garrett Kelleher: Shelbourne Development Group
Garrett Kelleher is executive chairman of the Shelbourne Development Group, an international real estate investment and development group. He received the Irish Business Person of The Year Award at the Business & Finance US Awards 2007, and is acknowledged as one of Ireland's most innovative property developers.
Gary McGann: Smurfit Kappa Group
Gary McGann is group chief executive officer of the Smurfit Kappa Group plc (SKG). SKG is one of the world's leading paper-based packaging companies, with a current annual turnover of over €6 billion, and employs approximately 40,000 employees in over 350 plants worldwide.
George Quigley: Bombardier Aerospace
Sir George Quigley graduated with a first-class honours degree and PhD from Queen's University, Belfast.
Harry Crosbie: The Point Village
With an extensive portfolio of properties in Ireland, Harry Crosbie is chairman and owner of The Point Village, a new world class business centre and cultural hub at the heart of Dublin's Docklands.
John Flaherty: C&F Group
C&F Global Manufacturing was established in Ballybane, Galway in 1989 and has since progressed from being tool designers and manufacturers for multinational companies in the domestic market, to a global solutions provider for the sheet metal industry. The group currently employs 984 people nationwide and is headquartered in a purpose-built facility in Athenry, Co Galway.
Liam Nagle: Sisk Group
Having established itself as the leading contracting business in Ireland, the Sisk Group took a decision in the early part of the decade to embark on a broader diversification strategy and expand its business horizons. This would mark a significant departure from its construction focus, developed across five generations, primarily through its subsidiary John Sisk & Son Ltd, which today remains Ireland's largest and most successful construction company. The group also has a significant contracting business in the UK, which it is currently investing in for growth.
Liam Shanahan: Shanahan Engineering
Liam Shanahan is managing director of Shanahan Engineering, one of the biggest engineering firms in the state which was established by his father Liam Snr in 1979. Initially offering large-turbine generator and boiler construction projects to Europe's big power-generation projects, in the 1980s the business extended beyond Europe into the Middle East and in 1982 won its first international power generation contract in Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Mark & Noel Elliott: P Elliott & Company
P Elliott & Company, the third-generation Elliott family business, was founded in Cavan in 1942 by the late Patrick Elliott. Now it is one of the country's leading construction and property development companies and grandsons of the founder, brothers Mark and Noel Elliott, are managing directors.
Martin Naughton: Glen Dimplex Group
Born in Dublin in 1939, Martin Naughton, an entrepreneur with an outstanding global reputation, was raised in Dundalk, Co Louth. He is executive chairman - and, following a buyback of shares in 2004, sole owner - of the Glen Dimplex Group. Glen Dimplex is the world's leading manufacturer of electrical heating products and also produces a wide range of other appliances. Glen Dimplex has established a global presence, with manufacturing and sales subsidiaries in Europe, US, Canada, China, Japan and New Zealand. The company also owns two distribution subsidiaries in Ireland.
Michael Chadwick: Grafton Group
Michael Chadwick is the executive chairman of construction firm Grafton Group, as well as director of other smaller companies. He holds both a BA and MSc and, besides his chair, has conjunct roles within the group of nomination committee member and finance committee chairman. He joined the group in 1975 and was appointed to the board four years later. In 1985, he took his present position as executive chairman.
Michael Ryan: Bombardier Aerospace
Michael Ryan was born in Belfast in 1959. He graduated from Queen's University, Belfast in 1981 with an honours degree in aeronautical engineering, and joined Short Brothers the same year. Prior to and since Bombardier's acquisition of Shorts in 1989, he has held various management positions in the company, including general manager of the Advanced Composites Production Unit and general manager of Fabrications. In 1997, he was appointed director of procurement in Northern Ireland and, in June 1999, he was transferred to Montreal where he took up the position of general manager, procurement for Bombardier Aerospace.
Myles Lee: CRH
Myles Lee is chief executive of CRH plc, the international building materials group. Headquartered in Ireland, CRH operates in 35 countries, employing approximately 80,000 people.
Ray Moore: WYG Ireland
Ray Moore is group managing director at WYG Ireland, an international award-winning multidisciplinary consultant delivering engineering, environmental, planning and surveying, and project management solutions for clients across a broad range of sectors including infrastructure, health care, education, and energy.
Richard Barrett & Johnny Ronan: Treasury Holdings
In 1989, Richard Barrett and Johnny Ronan set up Treasury Holdings, an Irish high-quality property development group, which has faired well in what can only be described as a disastrous year for Irish property development.
Sean Mulryan: Ballymore
Sean Mulryan is chairman of The Ballymore Group, a design-conscious international property development company in Co Kildare with operations in Ireland, the UK and central Europe.
Sir Michael Smurfit: Formerly Smurfit Kappa Group
Michael Smurfit can be described as Ireland's business royalty - a towering figure in finance and industry here and internationally for more than three decades. Smurfit was, until March 2007, chairman of the Smurfit Kappa Group, although his business, philanthropic and official interests span several industries and nations.
Stephen Grant: Grant Engineering
In the 1970s during the oil crisis, Stephen Grant saw the opportunity to improve the home back boiler. Following a number of smaller prototypes he designed a boiler that became the most efficient back boiler at that time in the UK. His plumbing background was instrumental in ensuring Grant boilers were easy to install and easy to clean and maintain. This market has continued to flourish in good times and bad and today Grant Engineering boilers heat over 50% of the UK oil-heated homes.
Thomas Ryan: Ryan International Corporation
Over the past decade, Thomas Ryan's business interests have grown substantially on both sides of the Atlantic. His company, Ryan International Corporation, incorporates property development, aviation leasing and the drinks industry, and has commercial properties in the US as well as commercial and residential property developments in Ireland. Ryan is concentrating on scheduling a substantive stream of property developments in selective Dublin suburbs - in north county Dublin, Co Meath and Co Louth - all in areas of high residential value with excellent transport access. Key developments include world class leisure facilities, superb quality hotels, luxury housing and retail outlets. A major venture in the prestigious Canary Wharf area of London is also close to completion and a number of other leading developments in the UK are in the pipeline for Ryan International.
