Corporate Ireland has felt its fair share of movement at board level over the past year, from the appointment of a managing director tasked with the overhaul of national operations to the disputed ousting of a chairman.
Here, The Irish Times profiles 10 of the most notable recent moves in Irish business.
Marian Finnegan
After nearly 30 years of working for the country’s largest real estate agency, Marian Finnegan’s service to Sherry Fitzgerald led to her taking up the group’s chief executive role in September last year.
She is the first woman at the helm of the company, which employs 360 people in over 100 offices. Within six months of Finnegan’s promotion to the top job, the firm specialising in residential properties acquired its rival Knight Frank, which focuses on commercial properties.
RM Block
In an interview with The Irish Times, Finnegan said she saw a “tiny” job advertisement on the back page of this newspaper for an economist position at the firm in 1996. After 29 years, while managing director of the residential arm of the company, Finnegan said “it felt like the natural next step” to head the business.
The top position had been left vacant since February 2025 following the exit of Steven McKenna, who has since founded his own advisory firm.
Kenny Jacobs
In February of this year, the High Court heard Kenny Jacobs would “voluntarily step down” as chief executive of the DAA, which operates Dublin and Cork airports, after an out-of-court settlement closed the lawsuit brought against the semi-State body.
Suspended from his position just before Christmas following a months-long rift with DAA colleagues, Jacobs had previously agreed an exit package with its board, however Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien refused to sign off on it.
Following an ugly court case – what is seen as the fieriest feud to engulf the airport operator in decades – Jacobs ultimately left with a parting sum in the region of €480,000.
In July, the Cork-born businessman was appointed chairman and president of Manna, the drone delivery service that paused operations in Ireland the previous month and is now focusing on the US and UK markets.
Garry Moroney
Marking a departure from the managing director title bestowed on previous commercial leaders of The Irish Times Group, tech-exec-turned-media-mogul Garry Moroney was appointed its first chief executive in November 2025.
He took over in January 2026 from the interim chief executive Michael Sheehan, who reverted to his previous position of chief financial officer. Previously chief executive of travel management platform Roomex, Moroney had founded two companies before this and worked at McKinsey at the start of his career.
Alongside this newspaper, the group owns the Irish Examiner and Echo, a range of regional newspapers and websites MyHome.ie and RIP.ie. In early August, it announced its intention to wind down breakingnews.ie.
Deirdre Veldon, the former deputy editor of The Irish Times, stepped down as the group’s managing director in September 2025 having served in the position since late 2022.
Andrew Yaxley
UK-based Tesco Group reshuffled its Irish operations in August, with former Tesco Ireland chief executive Andrew Yaxley returning to lead the all-island business here after eight years in Britain.
He effectively traded roles with Geoff Byrne, who will take over as chief executive of the wholesaler Booker Group in September. Both men will continue to sit on the group’s executive committee.
Yaxley, who has worked for the supermarket giant for over 25 years in Ireland, Britain and Czech Republic, had been head of the Irish arm of the retailer from 2015 to 2018.
He was promoted by then-Tesco chief, now-Diageo chief, Dave Lewis, to the chief product officer role in the supermarket group, amid a major restructuring push.
Conor Neiland
Perhaps another beneficiary of Dave Lewis’s inclination to overhaul operations, Conor Neiland took over the role of managing director of Diageo Ireland in July.
The University of Galway graduate has worked for the drinks giant – which owns Guinness, Bewleys, Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker whiskey – for 21 years, with managing director stints in the Seychelles islands, South Korea and Colombia.
Not long after his appointment, the UK-based parent company announced its intention to save £1 billion (€866 million) over the next three years through supply chain reform and job cuts.
It is understood some 150 jobs are at risk within the group’s 1,200 person-strong workforce in Ireland. Louise Ryan left the managing director role in June, after one year in the post.
Caroline Bocquel
Moving from the top job at Ireland’s Seafood Development Agency (Bord Iascaigh Mhara) to the top job at the State’s national tourism development authority, Caroline Bocquel was appointed chief executive of Fáilte Ireland in November last year.
The first woman to lead the State agency, she previously chaired the audit and risk committee in the Environmental Protection Agency and, before that, served as chief financial officer of the global charity Goal.
Fáilte Ireland’s previous chief executive, Paul Kelly, left the tourism authority in March after eight years in the post. He now serves as chief executive of the Royal Dublin Society (RDS).
Albert Manifold
In an unexpected move that attracted international headlines, Templeogue-born Albert Manifold was ousted as chairman of British oil and gas giant BP with immediate effect in late May.
The company said “serious concerns” were raised with relation to “important governance standards, oversight and conduct”. Manifold said he was removed “without warning and without explanation” and rejected “lies” spread about his personal and professional conduct.
Shares in BP dropped 4 per cent on the London Stock Exchange the day Manifold was removed, as many investors questioned the stability of the company. The same day, Ian Tyler was appointed as BP’s interim chair.
Eoin Tonge
Primark returned to its Irish leadership roots with the appointment of Eoin Tonge as its chief executive in March this year, 17 years after its founder Arthur Ryan left the position.
Between the two, from 2009 to 2025, the role was held by British-born Paul Marchant, who resigned in March last year following an investigation into alleged inappropriate behaviour towards a female colleague.
Tonge had acted as interim chief executive from the conclusion of the investigation but was announced as a permanent successor a year later.
The retailer’s parent company, Associated British Foods, is moving forward with plans to demerge the fashion giant from grocery businesses under its portfolio by late 2027.
Fergal Leamy
With the exit of David McRedmond after a decade as the head of An Post in August, the chief executive title is to pass next to Fergal Leamy, the former head of Coillte, the State-owned forestry company and Glen Dimplex, a privately-owned manufacturing and heating group.
The path towards finding the next chief executive for a semi-State company is often a bumpy one. Although both board members and Government Ministers are obliged to sign off on any agreement, the two parties rarely see eye to eye on the issue of pay.
Following prolonged negotiations, in which it was reported Minister for Communications Patrick O’Donovan insisted on a lower salary than what other executives petitioned for, it is understood Leamy’s salary will start at €285,000.
Anne Shaw
Trading a top transport job in the UK for an Irish equivalent, Anne Shaw was appointed chief executive of the National Transport Authority (NTA) in September last year.
As the then executive director of Transport for West Midlands – “one of the biggest transport authorities in the UK” – she was tasked with a transport strategy for the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham.
She now oversees the long-awaited Dublin MetroLink and a Dart-like service in Cork city. Upon her appointment, Shaw said she was “excited to begin work to continue the journey of improving transport for the people of Ireland”.
