Business & Finance Awards

Ursula von der Leyen to accept Sutherland Leadership Award on behalf of the European Union

By Business & Finance
28 November 2022

The Sutherland Leadership Award will recognise the European Union’s contribution to Ireland, with President Ursula von der Leyen accepting the Award on behalf of the European Union, at the Business & Finance Awards on Thursday, 1st December in Dublin.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will accept the 2022 Sutherland Leadership Award at the 48th annual Business & Finance Awards. The event will take place at the Convention Centre in Dublin on Thursday, December 1st in the company of 1,000 International business, political and social leaders. 

President von der Leyen, who has served as the Commission President since 2019, will travel to Ireland to accept the Sutherland Leadership Award on behalf of the European Union. The accolade marks the 50th anniversary of Ireland joining the European Union, and recognises the EU’s contribution to Ireland over five decades.

Since its inception in 1974, the Business & Finance Awards Programme has honoured and hosted some of the most outstanding political and social leaders including President Clinton, Senator George Mitchell, Sir John Major, Mario Draghi, José Manuel Barroso, Mary Robinson & Kofi Annan. This year, notable guests include:

  • An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin
  • European Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union, Mairead McGuinness
  • Former Irish President, Mary Robinson
  • Former Taoiseach, Enda Kenny
  • Ukrainian Ambassador to Ireland, Larysa Gerasko 
  • US Ambassador to Ireland Claire Cronin

The Sutherland Leadership Award was established in 2018 with the support of the Sutherland Family to recognise outstanding international leaders who have embodied the values of one of Ireland’s and Europe’s finest leaders, Peter Sutherland. Since its inception, The Sutherland Leadership Award has recognised Henry (Hank) Paulson, 74th US Secretary of the Treasury & Founder of the Paulson Institute; José Manuel Barroso, former President of the European Commission and Mario Draghi former President of the European Central Bank and Prime Minister of Italy.

Established in 1974, the Business & Finance Awards is the longest-running and most prestigious business awards programme in Ireland and is an important recognition platform for the Irish business community. The event serves to acknowledge and celebrate excellence in innovation, growth and scale of individual business leaders and their teams.