Business Strategist & Coach, supporting highly satisfied clients in Strategy, Business Development and Commercialisation through her business, Growth Potential, since 2010. With a very successful track record in corporate senior customer facing roles which included being a key player in defining and delivering on a highly ambitious strategy at Creganna Medical, opening up new global markets, maintaining & securing existing business, problem solving and managing acquisitions that contributed to exceptional growth. With previous roles in design engineering, business development and management consulting, across a broad range of industries, Mary is also a member of the Association for Coaching, with a Bachelor of Engineering from UCD and an MBA from DCU
COMPETENCIES
- Strategy & Business Planning: Supported multiple client organisations in developing Values, Vision & Strategy and in building business models and a case for investment. Member of the Creganna management team that developed the strategy to become one of the top 3 providers of minimally invasive medical device outsourcing solutions in the world. Instrumental in implementing that strategy.
- Due Diligence / Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A): Responsibility @ VP level for M&A at Creganna, identifying, analysing & negotiating with potential acquisitions & joint ventures Managed due diligence of Creganna’s first major acquisition.
- Funding Assessment: Member of an Enterprise Ireland panel to assess applications for significant regional enterprise development fund (REDF) investment, and of several other funding panels for funding of high potential start-ups.
- Innovation & Problem Solving: Experienced in a wide variety of problem solving & innovation tools. Strong aptitude for constructively challenging & asking the right questions. Previous roles in Product Design & Business Process Development
- Inclusive Leadership: Supports clients in development of inclusive cultures, to ensure that all their talent engages and flourishes.
- Senior Management experience: Managed teams of Design Engineers, Project and Account Managers in Engineering, Medical Devices and Overseas Humanitarian Aid environments.
- Commercial / Business Development: Proficient at supporting clients in development of Value Propositions, Market Analysis, Sales Processes & Pipelines. Responsibility at Creganna Medical for the relationship with the top 3 customers, accounting for 70% of turnover. Negotiated & developed new relationships with clients @ CEO & VP level internationally, opening up new markets and exceeding growth targets of 20% per annum. Negotiated and achieved 2 & 3 year Supply Agreements with customers that guaranteed >60% of revenue per annum.
- Executive Coaching: Supporting senior executives to grow & reach their full potential in a safe non-judgmental space
- Sectoral Experience: Medical Devices, Lifesciences, Wastewater Treatment, Engineering, Manufacturing, Product Design, Telecomms, Social Enterprise
RELEVANT EXPERIENCE
Growth Potential (www.growthpotential.ie), Dublin – Business Strategy & Coaching Sept 2010 – Present
Owner / Business Strategist & Coach
- Supporting client management teams with:
- Vision, mission, values, strategy & business plans.
- Business Process development
- Commercial Analysis, Sales Strategy and Value Proposition Development
- Business Coaching.
- Supporting start-ups with Feasibility Studies & Business Model development
- Funding Application assessments for significant Enterprise Ireland grants
- Designed and Facilitated Workshops on Strategy, Innovation, Leadership & Inclusion / Diversity, Employee Engagement & Unconscious Bias.
- Supporting leaders in reaching their full potential through Executive Coaching
- Growth Advisor on Enterprise Ireland’s “Go Global for Growth programme”, supporting SMEs to develop Growth Action Plans. Member of Mentor & Business Growth Advisor Panels
WITS (Women in Technology & Science) Executive – Voluntary Organisation, Dublin Jan 2013 – Dec 2017
Chair (2017)
Vice Chair (2014 – 2016)
Exec Member (2013)
- Voluntary membership organisation advocating, connecting and acting for women to benefit society as full participants in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths)
Selected Achievement
- Led development of strategy that increased membership from ~70 to ~500 members, raised awareness & profile of WITS and developed a more active membership
Creganna Medical Devices (Galway, Ireland) – Medical Device Design & Manuf Nov 2003 – Nov 2008
External Consultant (Nov 2007 – Nov 2008)
- Managed joint venture & organic development initiatives, to drive business growth by expanding Creganna’s technology offering
VP Business Development (June 2006 – Nov 2007)
- Responsible for Business Development through Acquisition
- Managed market analysis and identification, selection and commercial analysis of target companies
- Managed due diligence and commercialisation of recently acquired multi-million euro company, critically analysing and challenging forecasts and proposed actions.
Customer Program Manager (Nov 2003 – June 2006)
- Managed a customer facing team of Project Managers, Account Managers and Engineers, who successfully managed and resourced projects to meet customer needs over the full product life cycle
- Responsibility for building relationships with and the strategic development of our three largest customers, large multinationals, accounting for 70% of our business.
- Managed strategic initiatives devised to both protect and diversify outside Creganna’s core business, successfully meeting aggressive growth targets and recovering business lost to competitors. Included market development for existing & new products.
- As a member of the Management Team, instrumental in our business transformation, by defining vision, strategy, goals and objectives and translating those into action plans with measurable deliverables and key performance indicators (KPIs).
Selected Achievement
- Secured €9m+ per annum of next generation business with our largest customer, that had been lost to a competitor, by a 2.5 year project that met their requirements for an innovative materials solution
BSM (Dublin, Ireland) – Management and IT Consultancy May 1999 – Nov 2001
Consultant / Principal Consultant
- Successfully designed and project managed the implementation of Product Lifecycle Management software solutions and Innovation & New Product Introduction (NPI) processes for high profile clients
- Led executive level team at client company through selection of multi-million Euro ERP system
- Negotiated and sold Product Lifecycle Management Systems to senior management for clients
- Managed the relationship with our overseas alliance partner
AMT (Dublin, Ireland) – Partnership between Enterprise Ireland and UCD Jan 1998 – May 1999
Senior Management Consultant
- Developed and implemented NPI Processes and Engineering Design Processes at client companies
- Managed problem solving and value analysis projects at client companies
- Successfully facilitated clients in introducing programme and project management methodologies
- Devised and managed innovative sales and marketing campaigns
Solids Technology (Dublin, Ireland) – Design/Manufacture Sewage Treatment Machines June 1996 – Dec 1997
Engineering Manager
- Overall responsibility for Innovation & Product Design of Wastewater Treatment Machines with a team of 6
Previous Employers: Runtalrad/Tube Rollers, AT&T & DGDQA, Snr Design Engineer April 1998 – May 1996
- Supporting client management teams with:
EDUCATION
Masters in Business Administration (MBA), Dublin City University
Bachelor of Engineering (BE) (Mechanical), University College Dublin, Ireland
Member, Association for Coaching, Ireland
Licensed Business Practitioner of NLP, Society of Neurolinguistic Programming™
Diploma in Business, Executive and Personal Coaching 2009, Coach Institute of Ireland
Diploma in Computers for Engineers, Distinction, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Certificate – “The Analytics Edge” – Data Analytics, 2015, 94% – MITx, USA
Six Sigma Green Belt Training, SQT Training Ltd
Certificate in Humanitarian Assistance, University College Dublin, Ireland
Certificate in Medical Sciences, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
CINERGY Conflict Management Coaching, 2010