Trailblazer Anne Heraty, the first woman CEO of an Irish publicly-quoted company, sold CPL Resources to Japanese group Outsourcing for €318m.
Entrepreneur and co-founder of CPL Resources Anne Heraty has been chosen as the Irish Times Business Person of the Year for 2021, in association with Bank of Ireland.
Heraty sold CPL Resources to Japanese group Outsourcing for almost €318m in an all-cash deal. She co-founded the Irish-listed recruitment company more than 30 years ago, floating it on the stock market in 1999.
“The Irish business community showed exceptional resolve in dealing with the challenges of the past couple of years”
Longford native Heraty was just 29 when she set up CPL in 1989. She became the first woman CEO of an Irish publicly-quoted company a decade later when she floated the business.
‘A terrific journey’
According to The Irish Times, Heraty thanked the judging panel for choosing her and she accepted her award “on behalf of the team in CPL.”
She said: “They are a phenomenal team and I was really fortunate to work with them. It’s been a terrific journey and I’m grateful for all the opportunities that I’ve had to work with great customers and great people.”
Heraty said the opportunity for CPL to expand globally was central to her thinking on the sale to Outsourcing. “We felt there was a big opportunity to serve clients in different geographies. Outsourcing is in 134 locations and already we have worked for clients in Indonesia, and in Vietnam … it’s really opened up whole new opportunities for the company. CPL is in safe hands with a massive opportunity to grow.”
The prestigious Business Person of the Year prize has previously been awarded to Róisín Hennerty of Ornua Foods (2020), Patrick and John Collison of Stripe (2019) and Glanbia’s Siobhán Talbot (2018).
Among the candidates in the running for this year’s awards were Suzanne Moloney of HidraMed Solutions, Aengus Kelly of AerCap, Gwen Layden of the Layden Group, Ger Rabbette of Uniphar and Donal Murphy of DCC.
As well as the Business Person of the Year category, among the other categories were awards for Company of the Year, Deal of the Year and Local Enterprise of the Year, along with a Distinguished Leader in Business award.
“Bank of Ireland was delighted once again to sponsor the Irish Times Business Awards, acknowledging outstanding corporate leadership and excellence amongst Irish business leaders,” said Oliver Wall, group chief of staff at Bank of Ireland.
“The Irish business community showed exceptional resolve in dealing with the challenges of the past couple of years, and Bank of Ireland now looks forward to working with businesses nationwide to help achieve their future ambitions.”
“These awards acknowledged outstanding corporate leadership and excellence amongst Irish business leaders, with all the nominees and winners exemplifying the expertise, talent and commitment of our businesses leaders across both the indigenous and the multi-national sectors,” added Nikki Canavan, senior director of Corporate Banking at Bank of Ireland.
The winners
Business Person of the Year: Anne Heraty, co-founder CPL Resources
Local Enterprise of the Year: Glenisk
Company of the Year: Uniphar
Deal of the Year: Aercap
Distinguished Leader in Business: Pat McCann, former CEO, Dalata Hotel Group
Main image at top (from left): Ciaran Hancock, business editor, The Irish Times; CPL Resources co-founder Anne Heraty; and Bank of Ireland chief of staff Oliver Wall. Photo: Conor McCabe
