Smurfit WestRock chief executive Tony Smurfit has been chosen as The Irish Times Business Person of the Year for 2024, an award run in association with Bank of Ireland.
Mr Smufit had been chosen as the winner of The Irish Times Business Person of the Month for July. During that month, Dublin-based Smurfit Kappa, led by Mr Smurfit, formally merged with US peer WestRock to become the largest packaging group in the world.
Under the terms of the $24 billion (€21.9 billion) deal, Mr Smurfit was chosen to lead the merged entity with Smurfit’s chief financial officer Ken Bowles becoming executive vice-president and group CFO within the group. Smurfit chairman Irial Finan became chair of the enlarged entity.
At the time of the transaction, Smurfit Kappa shareholders owned 50.4 per cent of the enlarged group. The company is headquartered in Dublin and listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Mr Smurfit was not able to attend the event due to prior travel commitments. In a video accepting the award, he said: “I am so honored to speak to you as the Irish Times Business Person of the Year award. Thank you to the judging panel for selecting me for this award but most of all I would alike to thank all my colleagues in the Smurfit Westrock organisation, who have made me look good, frankly.
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“We have 100,000 people across the world, there is a great executive team and I have a great board who support our ambitions. Our transforamtion journey from being a very small box plant in Rathmines to being the largest paper and packaging company in the world is quite remarkable, operating in 40 countries and all of the products we do for our myriad of customers.
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“In a sense I’m honouring my grandfather [Jefferson Smurfit] and my father [Michael Smurfit] and the people who work in this company. Smurfit WestRock, I believe, is one of the great companies of the world.”
The award was presented to Mr Smurfit by the Taoiseach Micheál Martin at a ceremony held in the Round Room of the Mansion House in Dublin on Thursday night.
Mr Smurfit follows in the footsteps of previous winners: Cubic Telecom founder Barry Napier, Barry Connolly, co-founder of Fulfil Nutrition; Anne Heraty, former head of recruiter CPL; then managing director of Ornua’s global foods division Róisín Hennerty; brothers John and Patrick Collison of payments group Stripe; and Siobhán Talbot, then group managing director of Glanbia.
Mr Smurfit was chosen by a panel of judges chaired by Microsoft executive Anne Sheehan. He was successful from a pool of winners of the Business Person of the Month awards last year.
