SI 100 Europe - 2022, Irish -

Lorna Conn was promoted to CEO of Irish recruitment firm Cpl in January 2022. Prior to this, she was deputy CEO and CFO as well as a board director. Recently, Conn headed the group’s ongoing acquisition of German IT contracting company neusta. The deal, signed on 22 June and subject to antitrust clearance, will see Cpl continue its ambitious expansion plans in Europe. Conn plans to further internationalise Cpl and broaden its existing geographic footprint for its valued clients. The group plans to focus on the US, UK and Germany. Conn is a fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland and a qualified chartered director.

Staffing 100 Europe | 2022

SI 100 Europe - 2018, Irish -

Shona McManus is CEO and owner of Osborne. Over her 18 years in the recruitment industry, McManus has successfully led and transformed recruitment businesses in both multinational and indigenous Irish recruitment firms. Since taking the helm of Osborne in April 2013, she guided it through the still-rocky economy to see it emerge in a strong market position. Osborne has more than quadrupled turnover, profits and headcount in the most recent years and has become a certified Great Place to Work. In 2018, Osborne opened two new branches, including its first international office in Toronto. McManus is also president of the Drogheda Chamber of Commerce.

SI 100 Europe - 2018, Irish -

CEO Rosaleen Blair founded Alexander Mann Solutions in 1996 with an ambition to revolutionise and professionalise the way blue-chip multinationals attract, engage and retain top talent, while helping the best people in business achieve their fullest potential. The company now employs 4,000 people in more than 80 countries worldwide. Acquired by New Mountain Capital in 2013 for £260 million, AMS was then acquired by OMERS Private Markets in 2018 for £820 million. Recognised as an industry leader and entrepreneur, Blair has won numerous awards including Strategic Leader of the Year from National Outsourcing Awards in 2015, and most recently the Recruiter Magazine Impact Award in 2017. Additionally, Blair enthusiastically supports organisations including Everywoman and Barclays LifeSkills and invests her time and resources in entrepreneurs and small businesses through coaching, investment, sponsorship and mentoring.

SI 100 Europe - 2014, Irish -

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.

SI 100 Europe - 2019, Irish -

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.

SI 100 Europe - 2015, Irish -

Steven Quinn was appointed CEO, Americas, of SThree in December 2013, after serving as the COO officer since 2012. Prior to that, he was group managing director of SThree’s brands across the UK, Ireland, Benelux and the Middle East. Quinn came to the company from the Real Staffing Group (formerly Real IT) in 2010, where he was managing director. He is a lawyer by training. Sthree is ranked 18th in Staffing Industry Analysts’ UK Largest Staffing Report.

SI 100 Europe - 2019, Irish -

Anne Heraty has been CEO of Cpl Resources plc since founding the company in 1989. Ireland’s largest recruitment company now counts 22 brands and 48 offices in several countries. Revenue for the last six months of 2018 increased 9% year over year to €278.6 million and gross profit increased 15% to €46.4 million. Heraty last year helped launch Open Doors, a group focused on increasing access to the labour market for marginalised groups. Cpl Resources last year was named one of the best large workplaces in Ireland at the Great Place to Work awards for the fifth consecutive year and won the Best Company Social Responsibility Award at the 2018 NRF Awards.

SI 100 Europe - 2015, Irish -

Rosaleen Blair is the CEO and founder of Alexander Mann Solutions, a global talent acquisition and management company with more than 3,000 staff supporting clients in more than 80 countries and more than 30 languages. Blair is widely credited as a pioneer of talent acquisition and management globally, and has received a number of awards including VeuveClicquot Businesswoman of the Year and E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2007, she led a management buyout backed by Graphite Capital and in 2013 brought in new investors New Mountain Capital securing an investment of almost €315 million.

SI 100 Europe - 2017, Irish -

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.

SI 100 Europe - 2021, 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