Image: altanaka/Shutterstock
Image: altanaka/Shutterstock

Who makes the cut for Ireland’s 25 most powerful women?

22 Jun 2017

25 of Ireland’s most powerful women have been recognised for their great achievements across the likes of business, science, technology and law.

It’s getting to the stage where Ciara Clancy needs to invest in a bigger trophy cabinet, with the Women’s Executive Network (WXN) the latest to laud the Beats Medical founder.

Named today (22 June) as a future leader and one of Ireland’s most powerful women, Clancy can add this award to a bulging array of recognitions.

In 2015, she was named laureate for Europe’s leg of the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards. Her company’s app, which provides treatment for those with Parkinson’s, won Google’s Adopt a Start-up programme soon after.

Clancy followed this up with the title of Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur at another Google event this year, having featured at Inspirefest in 2016.

Clancy joins an array of accomplished women in today’s list of 25, which includes Caroline Lennon, MD of Open Eir; Inspirefest 2017 speaker Jane Ní Dhulchaointigh, founder of Sugru; Trinity College’s Prof Lydia Lynch; and Iseult Ward, co-founder of FoodCloud.

Lynch is spearheading research into the role our immune system has in regulating metabolism, with the aim of understanding how we might one day use our own immune systems to target cancer.

“I am delighted to be recognised with this award for the work we are doing here in Trinity and in Harvard,” she said.

“Cancer immunotherapy is at an exciting time and the more we are finding out about how to reinvigorate the immune system to attack cancer, the better the chances are of it working in more people.”

“I’m also proud to receive this award as a woman and mother in science, as I hope it shows that if I can do it, others can too. It doesn’t matter what kind of background, gender or family you’re from – science, like most things, benefits from diversity.”

You might have heard of FoodCloud already, with Ward having pitched her business to Richard Branson at a special Virgin entrepreneur event last year.

Ward came through Trinity’s LaunchBox programme. Her company helps businesses redistribute surplus or short-dated food to charities across Ireland so that they can make it available to those who need it.

Sherri Stevens, CEO of WXN, said: “Our winners include an Olympic silver medallist, a Michelin-starred chef, many CEOs and entrepreneurs, a European Court of Human Rights Justice, and a professor whose research is changing our understanding of obesity and immunity.”

“All 25 are trailblazers and role models for the generations who will follow – which is why it’s very important to recognise and celebrate their great achievements.”

The full list of women named is:

  • Catherine Duffy, first female chair, A&L Goodbody
  • Louise Foody,  global marketing director, Kingspan
  • Lucy Gaffney, chairperson, Communicorp
  • Aisling Hassell, global head of CX, Airbnb
  • Carolan Lennon, MD, Open Eir
  • Catherine Moroney, head of business banking, AIB Ireland
  • Dr Nuala Murphy, president, Icon Clinical Services
  • Dr Grainne Quinn, chief medical officer & EVP, Perrigo Company
  • Marguerite Sayers, MD, ESB Networks Ireland
  • Julie Sharp, head of group HR, Bank of Ireland
  • Susan Whelan, CEO, Leicester City Football Club
  • Marissa Carter, founder, Cocoa Brown
  • Alison Cowzer, co-founder, East Coast Bakehouse
  • Jane Ní Dhulchaointigh, founder, Sugru
  • Eileen Creedon, chief state solicitor
  • Sharon Donnery, deputy governor, Central Bank of Ireland
  • Dee Forbes, director general, RTE
  • Justice Siofra O’Leary, European Court of Human Rights
  • Danni Barry, Ireland’s only female Michelin-starred chef
  • Prof Lydia Lynch, associate professor, Trinity College Dublin; assistant professor, Harvard Medical School
  • Iseult Ward, co-founder, FoodCloud
  • Selina Cartmell, director, The Gate Theatre
  • Sharon Horgan, international screenwriter and actress
  • Annalise Murphy, Olympian
  • Ciara Clancy, CEO, Beats Medical
Gordon Hunt
By Gordon Hunt

Gordon Hunt joined Silicon Republic in October 2014 as a journalist. He spends most of his time avoiding conversations about music, appreciating even the least creative pun and rueing the day he panicked when meeting Paul McGrath. His favourite thing on the internet is the ‘Random Article’ link on Wikipedia.

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