The Association’s Southern Chapter is pleased to host a UCC Executive MBA Panel Discussion on Friday, 27th March from 5 – 6pm at  UCC Executive MBA, Lapps Quay, Cork.

Careers rarely unfold as planned. Industries shift, interests evolve, and the work that felt right at one stage of life can feel less so at another. For some, change is forced by circumstance. For others, it comes from a growing sense that something needs to shift. Navigating career shifts requires more than ambition. It requires reflection, learning, and a willingness to rethink what success looks like.

This panel brings together three individuals who have navigated significant professional transitions, moving across sectors, disciplines, and leadership contexts. We will explore how we construct professional identity, how we make sense of moments of disruption, and how deliberate learning shapes what comes next.

Tomás O’Leary is a former professional rugby international and current EMBA student at University College Cork, where he also serves as Head of Rugby. During an outstanding playing career, he represented the Ireland national rugby union team while winning a Grand Slam in 2009.  He won two European Cup titles with Munster Rugby and was selected for the British & Irish Lions in 2009, with additional experience in both the UK and French leagues. Since retiring in 2017, Tomas has built a successful career in education and recruitment, bringing his leadership and high-performance mindset from elite sport into the professional world.

Virginia Teehan Virginia Teehan is an Irish art historian, writer, curator and archivist who has led the Irish Heritage Council (An Comhairle Oidhreachta) since January 2019.  She completed her EMBA at UCC in 2018 and was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2022.

John Forde has over 25 years experience in supply chain logistics. Previously Director of Global Supply Chain Planning and Logistics at GE healthcare, he is now Senior Director of Global Distribution Operations at Cytiva, leading complex international supply chains. He completed the UCC EMBA in 2014.

Moderator for the discussion is Professor Ronan Carbery, Director of the UCC Executive MBA Programme.

The panellists will reflect on what prompted their own transitions, what they carried forward from earlier careers, and what the experience of returning to formal education meant for them. This is intended as an honest conversation rather than a polished set of lessons, and it is open to anyone thinking seriously about their own career trajectory.

This event is open to EMBA alumni and anyone considering the programme.

The Association is delighted to invite Bob Goodson to present a webinar on Wednesday, 22 April from 6.30pm. Bob is the co-author of the Harvard Business Review book  Like: The Button That Changed the World, a riveting, insider’s look at the creation and evolution of the like button and what it reveals about innovation, business, and culture—and its profound impact on modern human interaction.

Over 160 billion times a day, someone taps a like button. How could something that came out of nowhere become so ubiquitous—and even so addictive? How did this seemingly ordinary social media icon go from such a small and unassuming invention to something so intuitive and universally understood that it has scaled well beyond its original intent? This is the story of the like button and how it changed our lives. In Like, bestselling author and renowned strategy expert Martin Reeves and co-author Bob Goodson — Silicon Valley veteran and one of the originators of the like button — take readers on a quest to uncover the origins of the thumbs-up gesture, how it became an icon on social media, and what’s behind its power.

This event is free to members, who may bring a guest. Note you must log in when booking to avail of free entry.

Once again the Association is pleased to host a hike in the Wicklow Mountains with MBAAI member Simon Holmes of Escape2Nature – the perfect way to unwind and discover breath-taking beauty on Dublin’s doorstep!

The walk will take place  on Sunday, 14th June.

This is a date for diary- details to follow!