Irish

Anne Heraty

Anne Heraty

Cpl Resources
CEO

Anne Heraty is CEO of Cpl Resources plc., a provider of workforce solutions, specialist recruitment, managed services and outsourcing. The company has annual turnover of more than €455 million, more than 670 traditional employees and a weekly average of more than 12,000 temp/contract staff under management in customer sites. Cpl has grown through both strong organic growth and strategic acquisitions. Most recently, Heraty was recognised as the Business & Finance “Business Person of the Year 2014” and Cpl was ranked as “Best Place to Work 2016” in the large organisation category. Heraty is the president of the Irish Business and Employers Confederation and the chair of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in Ireland.

Aaron O’Brien

Aaron O’Brien

Grafton Recruitment
Managing Director

Aaron O’Brien is the managing director of Grafton Recruitment and is based in Dublin, Ireland. Previously, O’Brien held senior executive roles in Symbio Business Solutions and CPL and was owner and managing partner of Broadreach International Search and Selection. O’Brien is responsible for the strategic development and oversight of Grafton as it expands its operations in Ireland. O’Brien is a Fellow of The Sales Institute of Ireland.

Rosaleen Blair

Rosaleen Blair

Alexander Mann Solutions
Founder & CEO

Rosaleen Blair is the founder and CEO of Alexander Mann Solutions, a London-based, global provider of talent outsourcing and consulting services. Since launching the firm in 1996, she has led Alexander Mann through geographic expansion and revenue growth, a management buyout, four private equity relationships and a global economic crisis. Last year, Canada’s Omers Private Equity acquired Alexander Mann from New Mountain Capital in a deal giving the company an enterprise value of £820 million. Her numerous awards include Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the Year and E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year, and she supports organisations including Everywoman, the Prince’s Trust, UNICEF, Modern Muse and more.

Rosaleen Blair

Rosaleen Blair

Alexander Mann Solutions
Founder and Chair
Irish

Staffing 100 Europe | Hall of Fame |  2020

Rosaleen Blair is the founder and chair of Alexander Mann Solutions, a London-based, global provider of talent outsourcing and consulting services. Since launching the firm in 1996, she has led Alexander Mann through geographic expansion and revenue growth, a management buyout, four private equity relationships and a global economic crisis and a pandemic. In 2020, Alexander Mann Solutions earned The Chartered Institute of Credit Management’s CICMQ accreditation and was named an MSP/CWS 2020 Global Leader in the NelsonHall NEAT Matrix. Among her accolades, Blair has been named Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the Year, E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year and was appointed CBE in 2017. She also supports a number of not-for-profit initiatives, notably as Chair of the London Irish Centre and as a donor to several charities.

Anne Heraty

Anne Heraty

CPL Resources plc.
Co-Founder, Major Stakeholder and CEO

Anne Heraty is the co-founder, major stakeholder and CEO of CPL Resources plc. In 1989, Heraty and Keith O’Malley founded Computer Placement Ltd., which placed people at IT companies setting up businesses in Ireland. In 1992, she became sole shareholder. In 1996, Heraty’s husband, Paul Carrol, joined the group and in 1999 they took CPL to the Irish and London stock markets, making Heraty the firstfemale CEO of an Irish company floatedon the stock exchange. In 2006, she won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for Ireland.

Rosaleen Blair

Rosaleen Blair

Alexander Mann Solutions
CEO

Rosaleen Blair is chief executive officer of Alexander Mann Solutions. She has worked in the recruitment industry since 1990 and established Alexander Mann Solutions as an autonomous division of the Alexander Mann Group in 1996. Blair is widely credited as the pioneer of recruitment process outsourcing in Europe. In 2007, she led the management buyout backed by Graphite Capital and stayed with the firm after it was sold to New Mountain Capital for almost €315 million in 2013.

Shona McManus

Shona McManus

Osborne Recruitment
CEO
Irish

Staffing 100 Europe | 2020

As CEO and owner of Osborne, Shona McManus has quadrupled turnover, profits and headcount since 2013, and led the effort to earn Osborne a Great Place to Work certification. With 19 years of experience, McManus has successfully led and transformed recruitment businesses in both multinational and indigenous Irish recruitment firms. Since 2018, Osborne has added four new locations to its repertoire, including its first international office in Toronto. It also placed in the top-three best workplaces in its category at the Great Place to Work Awards 2020. McManus’ vision and inclusive entrepreneurial leadership have made her stand out as a recruitment luminary.

Frank Farrelly

Frank Farrelly

Sigmar Recruitment
Co-founder and COO

Frank Farrelly is COO and co-founder at Sigmar Recruitment, leading a team of more than 120 recruitment professionals nationwide. Over the last seven years, Farrelly has been a committee member, treasurer, VP and secretary for the National Recruitment Federation in Ireland and was elected NRF president in 2016. He was part of the NRF team that lobbied the government on the Agency Workers Act, Zero Hours Contracts and ‘If & When’ contracts. Farrelly recently led NRF’s efforts that secured the hosting of the 2018 World Employment Conference in Ireland.

Farrelly was nonexecutive director for The People Group from 2005 to 2009; he currently sits on the external interview panel for the MBA programme at Dublin City University and has delivered courses for The Ryan Academy and The Smurfit Business School.

Geraldine King

Geraldine King

National Recruitment Federation
CEO
Irish

In 2020, National Recruitment Federation CEO Geraldine King successfully launched the world’s first undergraduate three-year degree apprenticeship program for recruiters in partnership with the National College of Ireland and a campaign to “Keep Ireland Working,” connecting agencies to candidates who lost jobs during the pandemic. As the head of an organisation that establishes and maintains standards and codes of practice for the recruitment industry in Ireland, King has focused on expanding its services and has introduced the accredited Certificate in Recruitment Practice — the only certificate for recruiters in Ireland. She joined the federation in 2009.

Staffing 100 Europe | 2021

Geraldine King

Geraldine King

National Recruitment Federation
Chief Executive

Since joining the National Recruitment Federation in 2009, Geraldine King has focused on expanding its services to members. She also introduced the accredited certificate in recruitment practice to the Irish recruitment industry. King envisions a full academic career path for recruitment. She led the NRF to develop the first-ever undergraduate degree for recruiters, which will be available as of January 2020. Her mission is to have an accredited academic career path to the master’s level, making recruitment a career of choice on the prospectus of third-level institutions. In 2018, she was awarded the James Kilbaine award for outstanding contribution to the recruitment industry.