2021 Awards

The Business & Finance Awards, in association with KPMG Ireland, celebrated a ‘New Era of Excellence’ at Dublin’s Convention Centre on 12th April 2022, with 1,000 of Ireland’s business, political and social leaders in attendance at the celebrations.

Presented by veteran broadcaster Pat Kenny, alongside Business & Finance Managing Editor Sarah Freeman, this year’s awards acknowledged the former US Treasury Secretary Henry (Hank) Paulson with the Sutherland Leadership Award, which was presented by Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD. Mr. Paulson and his wife Wendy travelled to Ireland to accept the honour.

Business & Finance also honoured Pat and John Hume with the TK Whitaker Award. The Award was presented to the Grandchildren of the late John and Pat Hume, Rachel and Ollie, by U2 frontman Bono, a surprise guest. “Right now, freedom in Ukraine means taking up arms, but in 1998, 10th of April, 24 years and 2 days ago, freedom in Ireland meant laying them down,” said Bono while presenting the Award.

Past Years

The 2020 Business & Finance Awards was broadcast virtually on the 23rd of February 2021. The 46th awards programme celebrated the resilience of the Irish business community suitably themed ‘Reimagine, Reboot, and Reinvent’ with key contributions from business leaders throughout the virtual event. You can view the awards broadcast here.

Awards were bestowed across five categories including – The 2020 Company of the Year in association with KPMG; Business Person of the Year in association with KPMG; Elevation Award in association with Enterprise Ireland; FDI of the Year in association with IDA Ireland and the Diversity, Equality & Inclusion Award. You can view this year’s winners on our Hall of Fame here.

The 2019 Awards showcased a ‘Celebration of FDI in Ireland’. In doing so, the Awards recognised IDA Ireland on their 70th Anniversary and in a broader context, celebrated the success of FDI companies and their contribution to Irish business.

The 2018 Awards saw The inaugural Sutherland Leadership Award recognising former President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso. Former President of Ireland, Mary McAleese received the 2018 TK Whitaker Award for Outstanding Contribution to Public Life as part of the 44th annual Business & Finance Awards. Joe Schmidt received the Outstanding Contribution to Brand Ireland.

The 2017 Awards saw Former Taoiseach Mr. Enda Kenny TD being honoured with the TK Whitaker Award for Outstanding Contribution to Public Life, Brian Moynihan of Bank of America received the Outstanding Achievement in Business Award, and Aidan O’Brien received the Outstanding Contribution to Brand Ireland Award.

The 2016 Business & Finance Awards honoured President of Ireland Michael D.Higgins with the Inaugural TK Whitaker Award for Outstanding Contribution to Public Life, Sir Bob Geldof received the Outstanding Contribution to Ireland Award. In addition, Susan Whelan, CEO, Leicester City Football Club received Global Irish Outstanding Achievement in Business Award.

In 2015, former President of Ireland Mary Robinson received The Outstanding Contribution to Ireland Award presented by Former Secretary-General of The United Nations Kofi Annan.

Over the past 45 years, the prestigious Business & Finance Awards programme has celebrated the outstanding achievements of individuals such as JP McManus, Neville Isdell, Michael Smurfit, Tony Ryan, Dermot Desmond, Liam O’ Mahony, Willie Walsh, Philip Lynch, Peter Sutherland, T.K. Whitaker and Denis O’ Brien as recipients of the Business Person of the Year Award.

Recognised for the exceptional performance of their management teams previous winners of the Company of the Year Award include: Dalata Hotel Group, Kingspan, Primark, Smurfit Kappa Group, Paddy Power Betfair, Google, CRH, Intel Ireland, First Active, United Drug, Ryanair, Iona Technologies, Glanbia, Kerry Group and many more.

Each year the Awards are attended by 1200 CEOs and business leaders. The support of a select group of corporate patrons allows for the Awards’ independent status to be maintained and presents the patrons with the opportunity to be in the room with the CEOs of the top 500 companies and the most influential business leaders in our country.