By Business & Finance 
Pictured (L-R): John and Pat Hume, recipients of the TK Whitaker Award 2021
On 12th April 2022, the Business & Finance Awards Programme, in association with KPMG, will return to a live awards ceremony and welcome the executive business community to the Convention Centre Dublin to honour the businesses, leaders and corporations that persevered across an extraordinary 2021. The gala awards ceremony will include contributions from a range of Irish and international business, political and social leaders. For more information on the Business & Finance Awards, click here.
John and Pat Hume were announced as the 2021 recipients of the TK Whitaker Award and will be recognised for their unyielding contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process at the Convention Centre in April as part of the Business & Finance Awards.
The TK Whitaker Award, forms part of the Business & Finance Awards Programme, was established in 2016 to mark the 100th birthday of Dr. Ken Whitaker. The Award recognises Irish and international political and social leaders who have made a unique contribution to public life.
Pictured: Henry (Hank) Paulson, recipient of The Sutherland Leadership Award 2021
Henry (Hank) Paulson, 74th US Secretary of the Treasury & Founder of the Paulson Institute, which aims to foster a positive US-China relationship, was announced as the 2021 recipient of The Sutherland Leadership Award.
In 2018 Business & Finance announced the establishment of The Sutherland Leadership Award in recognition of the late Peter Sutherland, a truly outstanding business, political and social leader.
Ian Hyland, publisher of Business & Finance, welcomed the return of an in-person gala awards ceremony, saying: “The 2021 Business & Finance Awards programme will embrace and reflect the dynamic global market in which Irish businesses operate, particularly in a post-COVID world. This year’s awards will follow and recognise outstanding entrepreneurs, business leaders and leadership teams on their journey into what is now a new normal for business.”
CATEGORIES
The six categories across the programme include the 2021 Company of the Year; Business Person of the Year; Elevation Award in association with Enterprise Ireland; FDI of the Year in association with IDA Ireland, the Diversity, Equality & Inclusion Award in association with Indeed, now in its third year, and the newly introduced Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) Award in association with Coillte.
Environmental, Social & Governance Award
The ESG Award recognises companies making exceptional contributions by having a clear strategy across environmental, social and governance indicators. The ESG Award seeks to highlight that ESG is now a core component of business strategy and will recognise companies who have shown a track record in designing and implementing a coordinated ESG strategy.
Diversity, Equality & Inclusion Award
The Diversity, Equality & Inclusion Award, in association with Indeed, was established as part of the Business & Finance Awards programme to recognise a company with Irish operations that is at the forefront of improving the lives of its employees, while also enhancing the civic environment in which they operate.
Bank of Ireland were the inaugural recipients of the Diversity, Equality & Inclusion Award, for publicly committing to equal gender representation, through a comprehensive range of initiatives, establishing a multi-cultural network that actively celebrates the diversity of ethnicities in the group, supporting colleagues with physical or mental health challenges, and for their Pride LGBT+ network which has introduced new policies such as ‘Gender Identity and Transitioning at Work’ and all-gender inclusive language.
PREVIOUS HONOREES
Pictured (L-R): Honourees Jose Manuel Barroso, Mary McAleese & Joe Schmidt at the 2018 Business & Finance Awards.
Business & Finance was launched in 1964 as Ireland’s first business magazine with the Awards programme established a decade later. The Business & Finance Awards is Ireland’s premier business awards programme and includes among its previous honorees outstanding leaders of our time across business, politics and wider society.
This includes former United States President Bill Clinton, former British Prime Minister Sir John Major, former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, President Michael D. Higgins, former ECB President Mario Draghi, former Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Senator George Mitchell, and Sir Bob Geldof, among others.
UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School Scholarship
UCD The Awards programme is also proud to announce its partnership with the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School to offer a full MBA Scholarship to join the full-time MBA, Executive MBA or the Modular Executive MBA in August 2022. The recipient of the 2021 scholarship, Eamon Fennell, said: “It means a lot to my family and I… I couldn’t have undertaken this course without the support from the Business & Finance scholarship.”
We would like to thank our headline partner KPMG and our other main partners IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, Coillte, Indeed and Zurich, who have joined us as official partners.
To align your company with the Business & Finance executive audience we have a limited number of partnership opportunities still available. To find out more information or book a table for the event, please contact brian.kearns@businessandfinance.com.
