Loretta Dignam: Balances working and family life.

Jacob Fruitfield Food Group marketing and technical director Loretta Dignam talks to Conor Keane about her busy working day

MORNING:

I get up at 6.45am/7am on weekdays. As a single parent of two kids, morning time is busy: getting breakfast for everyone, making school lunches and feeding the two dogs. As I work full-time outside the home, I have always made a point of taking my children to school.

First thing on Monday mornings, our management executives meet to review the weekly sales performance of our brands, and to discuss any key business issues. That meeting helps set the agenda for the week. I always have my “to do” list planned for each day, divided into “imperative” (I must complete that day) and important (need to complete that day, but can wait till tomorrow).

AFTERNOON:

A few days a week at lunch time I try to go for a half-hour run and on the other days a 40 minute walk. This helps clear my head and gives me energy. I then have a quick light lunch and tackle the afternoon. I often have teleconferences with suppliers and agency partners (advertising, media, PR, and design) throughout the week.

Since I joined here two and half years ago, my key task has been the revitalisation and modernisation of the Jacob’s brand. I have done this by focusing the majority of our resources on three key driver brands: Jacob’s Fig Rolls, Mallows (Kimberley, Mikado and Coconut Creams) and Elite.

EVENING:

I usually finish work around six-ish, sometimes a bit earlier, sometimes a bit later, depending on what’s going on. It takes me about 20 minutes to get home to Rathfarnham. I see evenings and weekends as family time and spend it mostly with my two children. Both my kids play basketball, so some evenings can be spent ferrying them to and from training or matches, and I coach under-10’s at the weekend. Other evenings it’s dinner, check homework, walk the dogs, then it’s the kids’ bedtime. Weekdays are quite routine during the kids’ term time. I don’t watch much TV, but I do have my couple of “appointment to view” programmes, including Fair City!, the Apprentice and Prime Time. I love my sleep, so go to bed at about 10.30pm weekdays and sleep soundly until that alarm wakes me up the next morning.