A Kilkenny business leader has been appointed chairperson of the South East Regional Skills Forum.
Laurence (Lar) Conroy is Ireland Operations Manager of Security Risk Advisors (www.sra.io) based in Kilkenny.
He’s now been appointed Chairperson of the South East Regional Skills Forum (SERSF), succeeding Dr Patricia Mulcahy, President of IT Carlow, who has held the position since its inception in 2014.
Mr Conroy has been a member of the SERSF since 2016 and is a strong promoter of lifelong learning for industry. He leads the European base of the American IT security company and has relied on the flow of IT graduates from the institutes of technology and ETBs in the South East to grow the enterprise over the past two years. A chartered engineer by profession, he has many years of experience in leadership roles and is a director of Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce. In his spare time, he is long-serving rugby referee.
Following his appointment at the SERSF quarterly meeting, Mr Conroy acknowledged Dr Mulcahy’s significant contribution as outgoing chairperson and said he hoped to continue the excellent service the forum provides.
“Dr Patricia Mulcahy has been an exemplary chairperson of the South East Regional Skills Forum since its inception in 2014. She has been a tremendous advocate for the concept of ‘regional skills fora’ within the south east region, and nationally, from the outset. This was central to gaining the support of all stakeholders – industry and education in particular”, said Mr Conroy.
Dr Mulcahy’s breadth of experience in education and vision to seek progress in education delivery for the benefit of enterprise and wider society has been a driving force within the SERSF. Her leadership skills enabled the effective coming together of a wide spectrum of education and industry interests that resulted in greater co-operation in regional education and training provision. Her open and inclusive approach to chairing the SERSF ensured that industry voices were heard and continue to contribute. She has maintained a strong focus on the SERSF while serving as president of IT Carlow as it evolves to become a technological university with WIT. She has also served as IBEC’s south-east regional president during this time.
Roseline Dalton, a learning & development specialist with Jabil Healthcare in Waterford, was appointed vice chairperson. Roseline joined the SERSF in August 2020. She has significant experience of education and training across the life science and hospitality industries.
The South East Regional Skills Forum (SERSF) is a body that brings together the voices of industry, education and training with the aim of working together to meet the emerging skills needs of the region. It is one of nine regional skills fora in Ireland. Members of the forum include industry representatives from manufacturing, life sciences, construction, hospitality, ICT and financial services. IT Carlow, WIT, Waterford Wexford ETB, Kilkenny & Carlow ETB and Tipperary ETB and the regional Skillnets are also represented on the forum. The SERSF has encouraged and facilitated the creation of a wide range of new part-time courses relevant to industry across many sectors over the past number of years.
