By Business & Finance 
Pictured (L-R): Niall Murphy, president, PMI Ireland chapter; Elaine Carey, chief commercial officer, Three Ireland; and Sean Casey, Group chief operations officer, Ervia
The Ireland chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI) held its national conference in the Aviva Stadium today.
300 delegates attended the sold-out event where the importance of the project management profession was highlighted in relation to foreign direct investment.
Ireland is the leading European location for the project management profession. Several multinationals run their project management operations from here and more than 50,500 people are employed in project management related roles in Ireland.
PMI Ireland chapter president Niall Murphy said: “Irish project managers are now internationally recognised for their skills, experience and the calibre of their third level qualifications. We are witnessing a new trend whereby several multinationals which are headquartered in other countries, are locating the project management side of their operations in Ireland. The sector has a significant impact on foreign direct investment here and our project managers should be very proud of that fact.”
Gary Keegan, director of the Irish Institute for Sport, gave a keynote speech at the conference. He was joined by a number of other high-profile speakers, including Three Ireland’s chief commercial officer Elaine Carey and motivational speaker Paul McNeive.
Keegan commented: “There are many parallels between effective project management and successful sports leadership. At the Institute of Sport, we are focused on creating a structured, managed environment to lead our Olympians and Paralympians to deliver at Rio. To succeed in sport, like business, you need a plan. For a project or plan to be implemented successfully, you need leadership. For Irish project managers to remain world-leaders, it’s vital that they understand the importance of leadership in the profession. This is why the theme of ‘Leadership in Delivery’ is so fitting for today’s conference.”
The PMI has more than 482,000 members worldwide and the Ireland chapter is the biggest per head of population in Europe, with 1,000 members.
