Lorna Conn is the winner of this year’s leadership award for her accomplishments across a series of senior roles in finance and business. In this interview with Tim Banerjee Dhoul the qualified chartered accountant, board member and CEO reflects on her business school experience and what companies need to do to enable more female professionals to reach the highest levels of management Strategies for success
Can you provide some background on your career to date?
company Bord na Móna and the construction firm Glenveagh Properties. In addition, I am an advisory board member of the 30% Club Ireland.” How did it feel to win this award and what kind of impact do you think it will have on your career? “It was completely unexpected and I was overjoyed to receive such an accolade. University College Dublin (UCD) Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School holds special memories for me and it was a real honour to receive this award in the company of past and present students from UCD and, of course, some of the university’s esteemed faculty members. I think the award acknowledges my career achievements since leaving UCD and it is something I can be very proud of.” What motivated you to do a master’s degree in accounting and why did you choose to do it at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School? “I wanted to continue my academic studies and to avail myself of exemptions for my chartered accountancy qualification. Specifically, I wanted my first two years at Deloitte to be focused exclusively on work experience and then to have one set of final exams to achieve my qualification. The Smurfit School has a fantastic reputation and I had already undertaken a degree in commerce at their undergraduate school, so there was no other business school for me.
“I trained with Deloitte and qualified as a chartered accountant in 2005, progressing to audit manager shortly afterwards. During my five years with Deloitte, I had the great fortune to travel to the US for four months, supporting the Sarbanes-Oxley readiness programme [relating to financial reporting] at building materials firm CRH. I was also seconded to Deloitte’s office in Darwin, Australia as part of an employee exchange programme. “In January 2008, I moved to renewable energy firm NTR as chief financial officer (CFO) of its roads division, eventually supporting the €50 million disposal of this division in 2011. In 2012, I relocated to the US as CFO of NTR’s US waste recycling division in Houston, Texas and then on to NTR’s wind division as commercial director in St Louis, Missouri. “In 2014, I returned to Ireland and moved to Independent News and Media as digital CFO. I then became finance director for Ireland at facility management company ISS in 2015, before being appointed CFO at talent solutions firm CPL Resources in 2017. I joined the board at CPL in July 2018 and in 2021, the business was acquired by Tokyo-listed Outsourcing Inc. I became deputy CEO of CPL in April 2021 and CEO in January 2022. “In April 2023, I was appointed senior managing executive officer of Outsourcing Inc with regional oversight for CPL in the UK and Oceania. I am also a qualified chartered director and hold two non-executive directorships; at climate solutions
42 | Ambition | MAY 2024
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