THRIVING Region in focus
UNUM
Colette Lane, Chief Administration Officer, Unum
C A R LO W
Colette Lane, Chief Administration Officer, Unum Unum’s Carlow operation is the IT Centre of Excellence for the Unum Group and we chose to locate here to draw on the wide pool of talent across the South East that wanted to avoid a lengthy commute to Dublin, and the advantage of having the Institute of Technology, Carlow on our doorstep. The collaboration with IT Carlow has been truly excellent. Around 30 per cent of the workforce joined as graduates of the Institute and we have also secured former graduates who were working in Dublin and were keen to return home and settle here. Each year, we hire in 10-12 interns whom we set up in a software lab in the college and they are terrific strategic partners for Unum. While we are able to secure strong graduate talent, more senior positions and highly specialised tech roles take a little longer to fill. However, this year we have had great success attracting overseas talent to work in Unum who love the cost-effective renting options and hasslefree commuting compared to the larger cities, enabling us to build a strong diverse inclusive workforce. Unum is very fortunate to have access to so many great regional clusters on its doorstep, including Crystal Valley Tech, the South East Regional Skills Forum, Skillnet Carlow which has an ICT sector, and most importantly the Institute of Technology in Carlow and its recently established Insurtech Network Centre. Unum is partnering closely with its Business Development Manager Aidan Mahon on a number of initiatives in the data analytics space that are relevant to both Unum and other insurance companies in the South East.
AB AGRI KILKENNY
John McCurdy, Technical Director, Intellync
John McCurdy, Technical Director, Intellync AB Agri is a leading international agricultural business operating across the agri-food industry. Kilkenny has been selected as the location for a new Technology Centre for Intellync, our data and technology business. Intellync works across agricultural supply chains with major food processors, retailers and directly with farmers, developing new generations of technology solutions that will increase productivity, improve animal health and enhance corporate responsibility programmes. We have just begun recruiting for graduates and experienced engineers and have been very successful so far. The collaborative spirit across industry, education and government is one of the core reasons for
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choosing Kilkenny. Waterford Institute of Technology, Carlow Institute of Technology, the Local Enterprise Office and Kilkenny County Council have been extremely helpful.
BOSTON SCIENTIFIC S O U T H T I P P E R A RY
Conor Russell, Vice President Operations, Boston Scientific, Clonmel Boston Scientific has three strategic locations here, Galway, Cork and Clonmel, and employs Conor Russell, President over 5,500 people. Here in Clonmel, we are in Vice Operations at operation since 1998 and we primarily focus on Boston Scientific long-term implantable electronic devices such as pacemakers, defibrillators, spinal cord stimulators and deep brain stimulators. In its 21 years, the Clonmel site has expanded and grown and today employs over 1,000 employees in areas such as product development, manufacturing operations, capital equipment repair, supply chain and distribution. These medical devices are highly innovative and transform patients’ lives every day around the world. From our defibrillator device that delivers lifesaving therapy to our cardiac patients when they need it most, to our deep brain stimulation device that delivers an electrical stimulus to the brain to alleviate the involuntary muscle movements associated with Parkinson’s disease, it is easy to see why our work is important. Here at the site, we often say that it is a privilege to work in this industry where we have such a profound impact on patients’ lives. With that privilege is also a responsibility to deliver the highest quality products for our patients. Our success depends on having a culture where people are highly engaged and are enabled to do their best work. The devices we design and manufacture are complex and require people with strong technical and business skills that can collaborate strongly with other teams across the globe. We are constantly focused on continuously developing our employees and we work closely with our educational partners in the region to develop the technical and leadership capabilities of our people, so they are always learning and stretching to take on the next challenge. Boston Scientific has invested in Clonmel for many reasons but primarily because of our ability to attract and retain top talent. Clonmel and the surrounding region offers a great quality of life. With affordable housing, high-quality schools and access to many different sports clubs and outdoor amenities such as the recently opened Suir Blueway, it’s easy to see why people choose to relocate to this area and while most of our employees live locally, we have also a significant number of people who take on a relatively short commute from the surrounding areas of Kilkenny, Cork, Waterford and Limerick. Ireland is also recognised as one of the top five global medtech hubs in the world with 38,000 people employed. This has enabled a growing medtech ecosystem to develop through indigenous, startup, academia and the multinational sector, and it will be through this collective strength that the whole industry, as well as Boston Scientific, will continue to lead at a global level within the medtech industry.
IDAIRELAND.COM
13/02/2020 13:30
