Lincoln Recruitment Irish Early Career Awards Winners Announced

Talented professionals from all walks of life recognised at glittering awards ceremony in the Mansion House, Dublin.


The winners of this year’s Lincoln Recruitment Irish Early Career Awards in association with KBC Bank have been revealed. Professionals from across 16 different sectors entered this year’s competition which saw a record number of entries. A selection of Ireland’s brightest young professionals from marketing, digital, finance, IT and law attended the black-tie event which took place this evening in the Mansion House, Dublin.

Over 300 people turned out for the event which provides a platform and recognition for talented individuals and organisations across Ireland. Minister of State for European Affairs, Helen Mc Entee T.D. featured as this year’s guest of honour. The Overall Winner of the Lincoln Recruitment Irish Early Career Awards was Conor Sexton, Investment Quant at Renaissance Reinsurance.

The judging panel were highly impressed with Conor based on his outstanding academic and professional achievements. Academically, Conor holds a PhD in Mathematics, MSc in Financial Mathematics and a BSc in Actuarial Science while professionally his work has led to major improvements and substantial benefits for the organisations he worked for. Technically brilliant, Conor was viewed as an exceptional world-class young talent and was also awarded the Banking & Capital Markets Professional of the Year sponsored by ACOI & IOB.

Category Winners

There were a host of new categories this year including Early Career Digital Professional, Public Sector Making a Difference and Sales Professional of the Year sponsored by Sales Talk.

Some of the categories and winners this year included:

● Special Recognition Award, Emma Walker, Managing Director, Wachsman
● Early Career Accountant of the Year (sponsored by RSM) Lucinda Woods, The Restaurant Group plc
● Early Career Digital Professional of the Year, Jana Solovjova, Nissan Ireland
● Early Career Entrepreneur of the Year (sponsored by KBC), Jennifer Hourihane, Oathello
● Early Career Lawyer of the Year, Conall Geraghty, Mason Hayes & Curran
● Early Career Sales Professional of the Year (sponsored by SALEStalk) Billy Norman, Unilever
● Early Career Marketing & Communications Professional of the Year, Darren O Reilly, Member First
● Early Career IT & Tech Professional of the Year, Aditya Grover, Centre for Applied Data Analytics (CeADAR)
● Early Career Banking & Capital Markets Professional of the Year (sponsored by ACOI & IOB) Conor Sexton, Renaissance Reinsurance
● Early Career Consulting & Advisory Professional of the Year (sponsored by Pathfinder) Sarah Jane MacLaverty, Deloitte
● Early Career Public Service – Making a Difference award, Michael Guerin, Smart Docklands – Dublin City Council & Trinity College
● Early Career – HR Professional of the Year – Lorna Leydon, Twitter
● Early Career – Fund Services Professional of the Year (Sponsored by ACOI & IOB) – Claire Conroy, KB Associates
● Early Career – Engineering & Manufacturing Professional of the Year – Shane Martin, Brightwind
● Early Career – Compliance & Risk Professional of the Year (Sponsored by ACOI & IOB) – Kate Hotten, Stripe
● Early Career – Best Organisation In Learning & Development – Abbvie

The judging panel for this year’s awards consisted of four of Ireland’s leading senior executives including: Shay Dalton, Managing Director, Lincoln Recruitment Specialists (Chairman of the Judging Panel) Lawrence Hickey, Chief Financial Officer, Digicel Group, Maeve McEnri, Director of Human Resources at KBC Bank Ireland and Darragh Lennon Director of Distribution at KBC Bank Ireland. Speaking about this year’s winners Shay Dalton, Managing Director of Lincoln Recruitment, Chairman of the Judging Panel and title sponsor of the event said

”There was a huge volume of entries this year and the calibre of the finalists show the breadth of talent across Ireland. The judging panel took a holistic approach to choosing the winners, looking at the context of a young professionals achievements, but also weighing heavily on the applicant’s commitment to excellence, ongoing learning and development, values and any contribution they make through their profession to their industry and to the wider community. I sincerely congratulate this year’s Irish Early Career Award winners on their achievements, the success of the outstanding professionals we have moving up through the ranks of Irish business should be acknowledged, and at Lincoln we want to celebrate that”.

To find out more on the Lincoln Recruitment Irish Early Career Awards in association with KBC Bank please visit http://earlycareerawards.ie/

Shay Dalton avatar
Lincoln Recruitment Owner & Founder
sdalton@lincoln.ie