02 Nov Press Release – Winners Announced 2018

Irish Early Career Awards Winners Announced

Talented professionals from all walks of life recognised at glittering awards ceremony

IRELAND- The winners of this year’s Lincoln Recruitment Irish Early Career Awards in association with KBC Bank have been revealed. Professionals from across 16 different sectors entered this year’s competition which saw a record number of entries. A selection of Ireland’s brightest young professionals from marketing, digital, finance, IT and law attended the black-tie event which took place this evening in the Mansion House, Dublin.

Over 300 people turned out for the event which provides a platform and recognition for talented individuals and organisations across Ireland. Minister of State for European Affairs, Helen Mc Entee T.D. featured as this year’s guest of honour. The Overall Winner of the Lincoln Recruitment Irish Early Career Awards was Conor Sexton, Investment Quant at Renaissance Reinsurance.

The judging panel were highly impressed with Conor based on his outstanding academic and professional achievements. Academically, Conor holds a PhD in Mathematics, MSc in Financial Mathematics and a BSc in Actuarial Science while professionally his work has led to major improvements and substantial benefits for the organisations he worked for. Technically brilliant, Conor was viewed as an exceptional world-class young talent and was also awarded the Banking & Capital Markets Professional of the Year sponsored by ACOI & IOB.

Category Winners

There were a host of new categories this year including Early Career Digital Professional, Public Sector Making a Difference and Sales Professional of the Year sponsored by Sales Talk.

Some of the categories and winners this year included:

● Special Recognition Award, Emma Walker, Managing Director, Wachsman
● Early Career Accountant of the Year (sponsored by RSM) Lucinda Woods, The Restaurant Group plc
● Early Career Digital Professional of the Year, Jana Solovjova, Nissan Ireland
● Early Career Entrepreneur of the Year (sponsored by KBC), Jennifer Hourihane, Oathello
● Early Career Lawyer of the Year, Conall Geraghty, Mason Hayes & Curran
● Early Career Sales Professional of the Year (sponsored by SALEStalk) Billy Norman, Unilever
● Early Career Marketing & Communications Professional of the Year, Darren O Reilly, Member First
● Early Career IT & Tech Professional of the Year, Aditya Grover, Centre for Applied Data Analytics (CeADAR)
● Early Career Banking & Capital Markets Professional of the Year (sponsored by ACOI & IOB) Conor Sexton, Renaissance Reinsurance
● Early Career Consulting & Advisory Professional of the Year (sponsored by Pathfinder) Sarah Jane MacLaverty, Deloitte
● Early Career Public Service – Making a Difference award, Michael Guerin, Smart Docklands – Dublin City Council & Trinity College
● Early Career – HR Professional of the Year – Lorna Leydon, Twitter
● Early Career – Fund Services Professional of the Year (Sponsored by ACOI & IOB) – Claire Conroy, KB Associates
● Early Career – Engineering & Manufacturing Professional of the Year – Shane Martin, Brightwind
● Early Career – Compliance & Risk Professional of the Year (Sponsored by ACOI & IOB) – Kate Hotten, Stripe
● Early Career – Best Organisation In Learning & Development – Abbvie

The judging panel for this year’s awards consisted of four of Ireland’s leading senior executives including: Shay Dalton, Managing Director, Lincoln Recruitment Specialists (Chairman of the Judging Panel) Lawrence Hickey, Chief Financial Officer, Digicel Group, Maeve McEnri, Director of Human Resources at KBC Bank Ireland and Darragh Lennon Director of Distribution at KBC Bank Ireland. Speaking about this year’s winners Shay Dalton, Managing Director of Lincoln Recruitment, Chairman of the Judging Panel and title sponsor of the event said

“There was a huge volume of entries this year and the calibre of the finalists show the breadth of talent across Ireland. The judging panel took a holistic approach to choosing the winners, looking at the context of a young professionals achievements, but also weighing heavily on the applicant’s commitment to excellence, ongoing learning and development, values and any contribution they make through their profession to their industry and to the wider community. I sincerely congratulate this year’s Irish Early Career Award winners on their achievements, the success of the outstanding professionals we have moving up through the ranks of Irish business should be acknowledged, and at Lincoln we want to celebrate that.”

Speaking about the awards Dara Deering, Executive Director, KBC Bank Ireland said:

“This is the second year that KBC has partnered with the Irish Early Career Awards and we are, once again, delighted to support as sponsor. At KBC, we understand the importance of nurturing young talent and our sponsorship of the Early Career awards allows us to celebrate young talent and support those who have made a significant impact in their chosen industry at such an early age. This year, to further support the emergence of young emerging talent in Ireland, we announced the launch of the KBC Early Career Bursary, a fund designed to support young entrepreneurs. We are delighted to announce Jennifer Hourihane, CEO and Founder of Oathello as the winner of the KBC Early Career Bursary, Jennifer will receive a €1,500 cash prize to support her business journey, in addition to a KBC business banking package and a dedicated relationship manager.”

“I would like to congratulate all of the finalists shortlisted, this is a huge achievement and marks a significant career milestone. I look forward to following the future successes of all of our outstanding young professionals,” she added.

To find out more on the Lincoln Recruitment Irish Early Career Awards in association with KBC Bank please visit https://earlycareerawards.ie/