The head of Fermanagh business Mannok, formerly known as Quinn Industrial Holdings (QIH), is to step down later this year.
Liam McCaffrey (61) will retire as chief executive of the Derrylin-based company in 2024, with Mannok’s current chief financial officer Dara O’Reilly named as his successor.
Both figures took on leadership roles in the group in December 2014, three years after Sean Quinn and his family lost control of the business he founded in 1973.
In the past decade, directors and senior management of QIH (and subsequently Mannok), have faced a catalogue of threats, intimidation and abuse, culminating in the September 2019 kidnapping of chief operations officer Kevin Lunney.
The company eventually dropped the Quinn name in 2020, opting for Mannok, which is derived from the Gaelige name for the Lakeland county.
Mannok confirmed its outgoing CEO will continue to be involved in the business as a non-executive director.
Brenda Rennick (47), Mannok’s current finance director, has been named as the group’s new chief financial officer.
“It has been my privilege to serve as CEO working alongside exceptional colleagues across the business and with a hugely supportive board,” said Mr McCaffrey.
“What we have achieved for the business and the region, we have achieved together and I know that will continue under the leadership of Dara, Brenda, chief operations officer Kevin Lunney and the broader senior management team.”
The company said that under the current leadership, the group had invested in excess of €100m in the region, doubling group turnover, seeing profitability grow more than five-fold and adding around 150 jobs.
“Liam McCaffrey has been a formidable leader of Mannok over the past nine years, developing and growing the company into a profitable and well invested business whose people, products and services are widely respected in the industry,” said group chairman, Adrian Barden.
“We are very pleased to have continuing access to his knowledge and experience in his capacity as a non-executive director.
“As a board we conducted a succession process for the positions of CEO and CFO and we were delighted to have the requisite talent and experience to promote from within,” said the chairman.
“Dara and Brenda enjoy the respect and trust of their colleagues and of the Board. I wish them well in our next phase of growth as an increasingly sustainability focussed business.”
In a short statement, Dara O’Reilly said: “This is a resilient business with great people and a bright future.
“Over the coming years we will continue to source, produce and employ locally but we will also transform our manufacturing processes to become one of the cleanest producers in our industry.
“Managing that energy transition, whilst continuing to grow the business, will be our key priority for the business over the coming years.”
