IDA Ireland has appointed a new chief executive, with Michael Lohan stepping into the role from next month.
Mr Lohan is the global head of life sciences and talent transformation and innovation for IDA Ireland. He will take up his new role on April 17th, with interim chief executive Mary Buckley returning to her role as executive director.
“The board is confident that Michael has the required experience to lead IDA in the ongoing implementation of our current strategy and on the future development of the organisation. He will continue to lead IDA in the attraction of foreign direct investment to Ireland and the winning of investments for regional locations,” said IDA chairman Frank Ryan.
“Michael will also work in close co-operation with the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment to drive the transformation agenda with client companies in the areas of advance manufacturing, sustainability, digitisation, and increasing the level of research and development undertaken by overseas companies in Ireland.”
Prior to joining IDA Ireland in 2003, Mr Lohan worked in the private sector with the European operations of companies such as Nortel and IEC Electronics. He took up his role as head of global life sciences and talent and innovation in 2017. He also joined the executive team in 2017.
Mr Lohan also represents IDA as board member on Digital Manufacturing Ireland, governance member on the SSPC research centre for pharmaceuticals and is an advisory board member for the Disruptive Technology Innovation Fund.
Minister for Enterprise Simon Coveney, welcomed Mr Lohan’s appointment.
“I look forward to working with [Mr Lohan] to sustain Ireland’s success in winning and retaining investment and jobs in an increasingly competitive international environment,” he said in a statement. “We must ensure that Ireland continues to attract and retain overseas investments and the jobs they provide and that our value proposition continues to be amongst the best in the world.”
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“Our FDI sector is a central element of our economic model. Government is committed to ensuring that Ireland remains at the frontier of new technologies and sectoral development and realising the potential of our regions. IDA is working closely with the FDI sector on digital transformation, achieving our net-zero carbon commitments and developing our offshore wind industry.
“My department and IDA will work hand in glove to maintain Ireland’s strong performance in attracting high-quality mobile FDI to Ireland in such key sectors as ICT, life sciences, financial services and frontier manufacturing, as well as further embedding the many FDI companies already located here, built up over the seven decades of IDA’s existence,” he added.
