He takes over from Gerry Britchfield who has been acting CEO of the company since the departure of David Gunning in 2013.
Leamy joins Coillte from Terra Firma Capital Partners, where he has worked for the past four years based in the UK and Australia. He has responsibility for three of the company’s portfolio businesses comprising a multi-billion motorway service station business in Germany, a large beef business in Australia and a multi-site hotel business in the UK.
He has strong ties with the agricultural sector especially in his CEO role of Tera Firma’s Consolidated Pastoral Company (CPS) in Australia. “He played a major part in transforming CPC, a beef business covering a land area of 5.7 million hectares, from a farm focused producer to a customer focused profitable business,” said a Coillte spokesperson.
He also has strong ties with the Coveney brothers. He served as an adviser to Simon Coveney, Minister of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, while his connection with Patrick Coveney is through his former work as CEO of Greencore USA.
“The breadth of his experience in relevant sectors such as natural resources, will be a significant asset to the future development of Coillte,” said John Moloney, chairman of Coillte and former group managing director, Glanbia.
“His record of transforming and growing businesses and managing a diverse portfolio of assets is exceptional and we look forward to Coillte benefiting from his experience and skills.”
Leamy’s past experience in agri-food and natural resources are regarded as extremely important in managing the various businesses in Coillte, the largest landowner in Ireland. Issues facing him, include the proposed part-merger with Bord na Mona and the funding of expansion of SmartPly, one of two panelboard mills owned by the company. The sale of the company’s network of telecom masts is proposed as one way of funding development of the oriented strandboard mill in Waterford Port as well as further investment in wind energy.
The appointment of Fergal Leamy has received broad welcome not least in Government circles. His past working relationship with Simon Coveney is seen as positive and should avoid any conflict with the Department especially in relation to remuneration, such as arose during David Gunning’s tenure. The former CEO took a High Court case against Coillte after his departure and won his claim for bonus payments totalling €299,000.
He takes over from Gerry Britchfield who has been acting CEO of the company since the departure of David Gunning in 2013.
Leamy joins Coillte from Terra Firma Capital Partners, where he has worked for the past four years based in the UK and Australia. He has responsibility for three of the company’s portfolio businesses comprising a multi-billion motorway service station business in Germany, a large beef business in Australia and a multi-site hotel business in the UK.
He has strong ties with the agricultural sector especially in his CEO role of Tera Firma’s Consolidated Pastoral Company (CPS) in Australia. “He played a major part in transforming CPC, a beef business covering a land area of 5.7 million hectares, from a farm focused producer to a customer focused profitable business,” said a Coillte spokesperson.
He also has strong ties with the Coveney brothers. He served as an adviser to Simon Coveney, Minister of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, while his connection with Patrick Coveney is through his former work as CEO of Greencore USA.
“The breadth of his experience in relevant sectors such as natural resources, will be a significant asset to the future development of Coillte,” said John Moloney, chairman of Coillte and former group managing director, Glanbia.
“His record of transforming and growing businesses and managing a diverse portfolio of assets is exceptional and we look forward to Coillte benefiting from his experience and skills.”
Leamy’s past experience in agri-food and natural resources are regarded as extremely important in managing the various businesses in Coillte, the largest landowner in Ireland. Issues facing him, include the proposed part-merger with Bord na Mona and the funding of expansion of SmartPly, one of two panelboard mills owned by the company. The sale of the company’s network of telecom masts is proposed as one way of funding development of the oriented strandboard mill in Waterford Port as well as further investment in wind energy.
The appointment of Fergal Leamy has received broad welcome not least in Government circles. His past working relationship with Simon Coveney is seen as positive and should avoid any conflict with the Department especially in relation to remuneration, such as arose during David Gunning’s tenure. The former CEO took a High Court case against Coillte after his departure and won his claim for bonus payments totalling €299,000.
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