(Caption Left to right: John Fulham, Advocacy and Public Engagement Manager, Irish Wheelchair Association; Caroline Spillane CDir, Chief Executive Officer, IoD Ireland; Tom Berrigan, Managing Director, Ireland, IQ-EQ; and Kieran Walsh, Chairman and Independent Non-Executive Director.)
Caroline Spillane CDir, Chief Executive Officer, IoD Ireland, opened the event by welcoming all the attendees to the first Lunch Bites event of 2023 and thanking the sponsor IQ-EQ. Tom Berrigan, Managing Director, Ireland, IQ-EQ, then delivered a short address noting the value of the sponsorship.
Caroline Spillane then introduced Kieran Walsh and the two engaged in a fascinating and insightful ‘fireside chat’-style chat on the topic of diversity and inclusion, with Mr Walsh drawing on over 30 years’ experience working as an executive director and as a chairperson and an independent director. In late 2018, Mr Walsh was in an accident leaving him paraplegic. During this Lunch Bites @ the IoD event, Mr Walsh highlighted why diversity and inclusion is important and also offered advice to business leaders to ensure they are being mindful of disability diversity and are being inclusive.
(Caption Caroline Spillane CDir, Chief Executive Officer, IoD Ireland; and Kieran Walsh, Chairman and Independent Non-Executive Director, engaging in their fireside Q&A with an engaged audience)
Following a Question and Answer session between Kieran Walsh, Caroline Spillane and the audience, Ms Spillane then introduced John Fulham, Advocacy and Public Engagement Manager, Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) who delivered a further insight on the importance of diversity and inclusion.
During the event, Caroline was delighted to announce that IQ-EQ plan to plant a tree for everyone in attendance at the event, and in fact they plan to do so for all Lunch Bite events in 2023. To support this initative IQ-EQ have partnered with the Eden Reforestation Projects – an organisation on a mission to restore forests on a massive scale by partnering with local communities. Furthermore, Caroline flagged that each attendee was given a seeded paper note of wildflowers, which could be soaked in water overnight and then planted.
Sponsor of the Lunch Bites @ the IoD series, IQ-EQ, is a leading investor services group that combines global expertise with an unwavering focus on client service delivery. With a team of 3,400+ people operating across 23 jurisdictions, it supports fund managers, global companies, family offices and private clients operating worldwide. In Ireland, IQ-EQ focuses on assisting companies with their setup and ongoing administration, providing services such as financial accounting and reporting, provision of directors, company secretarial and payroll.