Anne Sheehan. Image: Naoise Culhane
The Vodafone exec will take up the helm in October, as MD Cathriona Hallahan steps down after more than 35 years at Microsoft.
Microsoft Ireland has today (28 July) announced that Anne Sheehan will be its new general manager.
She will step into the role at the beginning of October, taking responsibility for the company’s sales, marketing and services across the island of Ireland. The position will also have a particular focus on helping customers and partners with business transformation.
Sheehan is joining Microsoft from Vodafone UK, where she is currently enterprise director. Before that role, she ran Vodafone Ireland’s enterprise business for four years and also held a number of leadership positions at IBM in Ireland and Europe.
“Microsoft has been on a very exciting journey in Ireland,” Sheehan said. “I look forward to working with the team to take the business forward in a market that has huge opportunity.”
Cindy Rose, president of Microsoft Western Europe, said that she had worked with Sheehan in the past at Vodafone.
“I know she is passionate about partnering with businesses and the public sector, whatever their size, industry or ambitions, to help them find ways to use technology to drive success now and in the future. I also know her to be an empathetic and caring leader,” Rose added.
“I am confident that Anne will bring all of these qualities and more as she builds on the incredible foundation that the Microsoft Ireland team has established and to help accelerate the growth and transformation of Microsoft’s customers in Ireland.”
Sheehan is taking up the helm as Cathriona Hallahan is retiring from the company after more than 35 years.
Hallahan was one of the first Microsoft Ireland employees when the tech giant set up its Irish outpost in the 1980s. Over the course of her career with the company, she filled senior roles in finance and operations, before stepping into the managing director role in 2013.
Rose said that her contribution to the company “will have an impact on generations to come”.
“Leaving Microsoft is bittersweet for me,” Hallahan added. “I have had such an amazing journey – literally and metaphorically – as I essentially grew up and matured in parallel with the company.
“I would like to wish Anne well in her new role in what is an exciting time for Microsoft in Ireland.”
Microsoft Ireland employs more than 2,700 people at its campus in Leopardstown, which opened in 2018, and at its data centre in Dublin. The company has teams across software development, operations, finance, HR, sales and marketing.
