Michael Cawley is Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer of Ryanair having previously served as Ryanair’s Chief Financial Officer and Commercial Director. Before working with Ryanair, Michael worked with other firms such as Frank Boland Group, Kodak, Gowan Group (main distributors in Ireland of Citroen & Peugeot). Today, Michael is responsible for all of Ryanair’s commercial activities including new route negotiation and selection, ancillary revenue, setting of fares, advertising, Ryanair.com and sales and marketing. Michael Cawley is a native of Cork, attended Coláiste Chríost Rí secondary school in Turner’s Cross and graduated in 1975 from UCC with a Bachelor of Commerce. He later briefly taught at UCC as a lecturer in Accounting & Auditing. In accepting an Alumnus Achievement Award from UCC in 2006, Michael stated that “I regard my time there [at UCC] as one of the most formative of my business career”. Michael's talk will focus on the importance to him of teamwork and collaboration as well as the importance of informed decision-making, of seizing opportunities when they appear and of learning, when they happen, from one’s mistakes.
This talk is the first in the 2010-2011 ‘Occasional Lecture’ series hosted by Professor Grace Neville, Vice-President for Teaching and Learning, UCC. All welcome.
