IDA Ireland appoints new Head of Life Science, Engineering and Industrial Technology Division

The Investment Promotion and Development Agency (IDA Ireland) has appointed Michael Lohan as Head of its Life Science, Engineering and Industrial Technology division. Michael will play a key management role in IDA as a member of IDA’s Executive Leadership Team.

Michael joined IDA Ireland in 2003 and since then he has held a number of key roles within the organisation, most recently leading IDA’s global team as Head of Medical Technologies & Healthcare Services as well as a number of management positions across its strategic property, corporate planning and operations divisions.

IDA Ireland through MERC undertook an extensive search to find the best candidate for the position.

Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA Ireland said: “Michael has a vast experience of what it takes to win foreign direct investment for Ireland through his experience in business development, property, and corporate planning within IDA.  Michael will be responsible for leading a strong global team in the Life Sciences, Engineering and Industrial Technology Division to win investment and identify areas of opportunities for Ireland.  I wish Michael all the very best in this new challenging and results driven role and look forward to working closely with him.”

Ireland’s Life Sciences sector has grown from very humble beginnings in the 1960s to reach global significance. Collaborative clusters in Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, Medical Devices and Diagnostics have been a key element behind the remarkable growth of a sector that directly employs over 58,000 people generating exports in excess of €65 billion.

The Engineering sector in Ireland is thriving with over 180 overseas companies generating €4.3 billion in exports annually across areas such as Industrial Products and Services, Aerospace, Automotive and Clean Tech.

Michael Lohan Bio

Michael represents IDA in several fora including as industry advisory board member with AMBER (Trinity) and Bio Innovate (NUIG) and is an active participant with the Irish Medical Association, which is the business association within IBEC representing the medical devices and diagnostics sector.

Prior to joining IDA Ireland, Michael held a number of management positions in the private sector as a member of Nortel’s European Operational Management team, with responsibility for the development and implementation of key Global Corporate strategies in supply chain optimisation and design, M&A and New Product Introduction to support Nortel’s EMEA Enterprise business.  In addition, Michael was part of IEC Electronic European leadership team with direct responsibilities to lead and manage the engineering and technical department of IEC operations in Ireland.

Michael is an Engineering graduate and holds an MSc in Technology Management from the National University of Ireland, Galway has studied at London Business School and is currently undertaking an Executive Leadership program at Berkeley.

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