Enterprise Ireland names Jenny Melia as new CEO

Enterprise Ireland has announced the appointment of Jenny Melia as its new chief executive.

Ms Melia, who has worked with the agency for 29 years, is currently an executive director of the agency, which is responsible for helping Irish companies tap export markets. In her current role, she is chief client officer for the agency.

She will take up her new role in July.

It is understood the recruitment process attracted huge interest across the public and private sector, both domestically and from abroad.

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Kevin Sherry, who has been interim chief executive since March, will return to his previous position of executive director.

Mr Sherry stepped into the breach after Leo Clancy left the organisation to take up the role of chief executive at Ei Electronics in Shannon, Co Clare.

Ms Melia, a UCD graduate, has held a number of senior leadership roles across Enterprise Ireland, working with client companies of varying scales across all sectors, including food, industrial, and technology.

She has also worked with the agency’s high potential start-up division, as well as its research and development team.

Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke said Ms Melia was “a dedicated public servant who has spent much of her career supporting and fostering the development of the Irish enterprise base”.

Enterprise Ireland chairman Michael Carey said Ms Melia had established “deep relationships” with key stakeholders, and had played a “pivotal role” in the group’s client base now exporting and employing at record levels.

Employment at companies supported by Enterprise Ireland rose to 234,454 earlier this year. The group’s five-year plan, which Ms Melia will spearhead, aims to increase exports to €50 billion by 2029.

The strategy, which was published earlier this year, looks at growing the number of jobs in companies supported by Enterprise Ireland to 275,000 over the same period.

The plan, Delivering for Ireland, Leading Globally, is focused on adding 1,700 new Irish-owned exporters, helping them to become more productive, sustainable and innovative.

It also aims to support 1,000 new start-ups to help drive long-term sustainable growth and job creation.

Among the targets are reducing carbon dioxide emissions at Enterprise Ireland-supported companies by 35 per cent by the end of 2030, and a 3 per cent annual average increase in productivity.

That will be supported by a rise in investment in research and development, with Enterprise Ireland companies expected to spend €2.2 billion in 2029 compared to €1.55 billion in 2023.

Enterprise Ireland-supported companies created 5,741 new positions in 2024, the agency said earlier this year, surpassing targets. That represented a net increase of 6,212 for the year.

The State body had targeted 45,000 new jobs over a three-year cycle to 2024, as well as an increase in exports to €30 billion.

However, in announcing its results for the year in January, Mr Clancy said it had actually overachieved during the period, with 50,931 new jobs and exports amounting to more than €34 billion.

Several Enterprise Ireland client companies have announced new investments and jobs so far this year, including Galway-headquartered medtech Aerogen, which in January unveiled a €300 million expansion plan that will create 752 positions over the next decade.