No-fee initiative for state boards

ONE hundred of Ireland’s top businesspeople are being asked to serve on the country’s state boards for free.

The group is being recruited and once top executives from around the world are in place, organisers will present the initiative to the Government.

It is being driven by the Irish Technology Leadership Group (ITLG), which hopes that the executives will volunteer on Irish state boards such as Enterprise Ireland and the IDA until 2016 without remuneration.

The executives will also travel to Ireland for meetings at their own expense.

President and founder of ITLG, John Hartnett, said: “We expect this group to cover many sectors of the economy, with particular focus on information technology, life sciences, innovation and entrepreneurship. It will be a seasoned group of leaders with a track record of achievement at a vice-president or C-suite level on the global stage.”

He said the group of volunteers will not expect any fees or expenses in return for their work. He added that they have discussed the idea with many executives and there is already “huge interest” in volunteering.

Mr Hartnett has already volunteered his time, as have former mayor of San Jose in California, Tom McEnery; Rory McInerney, vice-president at Intel; Barry O’Sullivan, senior vice-president of Cisco and Conrad Burke, the founder of Innovalight.

Mr O’Sullivan said he feels the group can offer an “outside-in view” on the boards. He added that Ireland is in danger of becoming a country with a small group of people serving on a diverse group of boards.

Established in October 2007, the ITLG is a group made up of high-level technology leaders in Silicon Valley who are either Irish or Irish-American.