From the age of sixteen, Anne McCormack knew that she wanted to be a CEO. Having played golf at a high level throughout her childhood, Anne became concerned about the numbers of her peers that were leaving the sport, and realised that the only way to effect change was to hold a leadership position within the sport’s representative organisation. This realisation was the first step in Anne’s long and successful career in sports administration and leadership.

After several years working at a high level in golf administration, including the role of COO of Golf Ireland, Anne was appointed CEO of Hockey Ireland in 2023. With a strong belief in the power of sport and the positive impact that she can have in this role, Anne’s vision for hockey includes raising its visibility and profile, increasing diversity and inclusion among the player base, and expanding the sport’s revenue streams.

In this episode of The EY Podcast: CEO Outlook Series, Anne McCormack, CEO of Hockey Ireland, joins host Richard Curran to talk about her belief in the positive power of sport, her vision for the future of hockey, and why hard work trumps natural talent.

They also discuss:

· The importance of learning from and collaborating with other sports organisations, such as the GAA

· The power of role models for increasing female participation in sport

· What hitting bad golf shots has taught Anne about being an effective leader

· Why understanding people’s fear is key to getting them to buy in to your vision

· The entrepreneurs and leaders that Anne most admires

It was a complaint about the quality of a mobile phone that ultimately set Barry Napier on the path to becoming one of Ireland’s most successful technology entrepreneurs. The owner of the company to which Barry complained liked him, and offered him a job, and so began a lucrative career within the technology industry. But it was in 2011, when Barry discovered Cubic Telecom, that everything changed, and after a twelve-year, rollercoaster journey at the helm of the company, Barry has just sold a majority stake in the business to Softbank, valuing it at over $1 billion.

Cubic Telecom connects cars, tractors, motorbikes and trucks to online services, using 90 mobile network operator deals in over 190 countries around the world – “we can touch a car in Brazil from Dublin and we can fix problems.” The company connects over 480,000 cars every month and its technology is currently in around 10% of all cars globally. Yet Barry has ambitions to grow that to 40% on the back of Softbank’s investment.

In this episode of The EY Podcast: CEO Outlook series, Barry Napier of Cubic Telecom shares the incredible story of how a small Irish company became a major player in a global ecosystem, securing a majority-stake investment from the world’s largest tech-focused investment fund. In conversation with Richard Curran, Napier reveals the personal sacrifices he made while building the company, what he has learned along the way, and what comes next... “it's only 51%. So there's still a bit of the story to go. So keep an eye out. I think it'll be a bit of fun.”

They also discuss:

· Barry’s colourful career before Cubic, including the story of buying the Irish operations of an international company, BrightPoint, building its turnover to €155m, and then selling the assets to DCC.

· Meeting Elon Musk and partnering up with Tesla.

· The “really hard” process of going out to raise significant investment for Cubic Telecom and what he learned from the experience.

· How Covid caused revenues to collapse by 80% overnight – but also how the company avoided making any staff redundant and also creating an innovative new revenue model.

· The first thing he bought himself just after earning a reported 100m.

· Convincing Qualcomm, the biggest chip manufacturer in the world, to invest in Cubic in 2011.

· How early investors made 32 times their initial investment, more than they would have earned by investing in Apple.

It was the culture of Microsoft that first attracted Anne Sheehan to the company – “It's not about who's the cleverest person in the room. It's about who can be curious, who can learn, who can be creative”. Having spent over 20 years in the technology and telecom sectors working with companies like IBM and Vodafone, Anne has always chosen roles based on the “scale, breadth and depth” of the work to be done and the potential impact she could make for the company and its customers. So, when the opportunity came up to work with a leader in tech that was on an exciting AI journey and whose values aligned with hers, Anne “didn’t blink” and accepted the role of General Manager, Microsoft Ireland.

Microsoft has a significant presence in Ireland. With over 4000 employees from 97 different nationalities working in roles spanning sales, finance, HR and engineering, the company is, as Anne describes it, like a “mini Seattle” in Dublin. AI is at the core of many of the company’s current products and initiatives and Anne is very optimistic about the positive impact that this technology is going to have and the challenges it will help to tackle. And as Microsoft works to develop AI-driven products, it is also putting into place the necessary frameworks around privacy, security, safety, transparency, and accountability.

In this episode of the EY Podcast: CEO Outlook Series Anne Sheehan, General Manager of Microsoft Ireland speaks with host Richard Curran about the importance of curiosity, the opportunities that AI can bring and why she's never overthought her career. They also discuss:

· Anne’s professional experience with IBM and Vodafone and what she learned from the roles and culture.

· Why she believes that Irish people are adept at helping to change companies for the better

· Responsible AI and how Microsoft is working to ensure guardrails are in place

· Anne’s views on the role AI will play in the Irish education system and why we need to prepare now

Anne’s business mantra, and what she would like colleagues to say about her when she finishes her current role.