2016 Awardees

H.E. Anderson is currently the 17th Ambassador of Ireland to the United States. She has also served as Ambassador of Ireland to the UN, the European Union, France and Monaco. She is the first woman to hold each of these positions​.​

Mr Cleary is a writer and director. He is also an Academy Award winner in Spring 2016 for his short film, Stutterer.

​​Mr O'Rourke is an Irish sportsperson, national columnist and analyst who previously played Gaelic football for the Meath senior inter-county team. He has won two All Ireland Senior Football Championship Medals, in 1987 and 1988.

Dr Hayden is the chairperson of the housing charity, Threshold since 1999 and has made significant contribution to enhancing legal protections and securing funding for housing matters over the last 30 years.

Dr Merriman is one of the leading Hospice Movement pioneers in the world and the undisputed leader of the Hospice Movement in Africa. In 2014 she was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.​

​​Dr Jennings has been inducted as a Pioneer into the Internet Hall of Fame in 2014 and was UCD’s first full time Director of Computing Service from 1977 to 1999.

Mr Quinn is co-founder of Creganna Medical Device which is now ranked among the top three providers of minimally invasive medical device outsourcing solutions in the world.

Mr Horgan is Managing Director of the Kepak Group. He has been responsible for the driving the diversification and growth of the Kepak group from a traditional meat processing business into a consumer focused food processor.​

​Mr Fraser is the current Secretary General to the Irish Government and Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach since August 2011.

Prof. Maguire is a neuroscientist and academic. She is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London and has been named as one of the ‘Twenty Europeans who have changed our lives’.