UCD Smurfit School MSc in Business Sustainability Alumni Deirdre Ryan has been nominated for the CEMS Alumni of the Year Award in the Mid-Career Alumni Category.

Deirdre is currently the Director of Origin Green and Quality Assurance programmes at Bord Bia, The Irish Food Board. Origin Green is the pioneering Bord Bia food and drink sustainability programme that remains the world’s only national food and drink sustainability programme that drives sustainability improvements across the entire supply chain on a national level.

Origin Green enables Ireland’s food industry to set and achieve measurable sustainability targets that respect the environment and serve local communities more effectively; it is about measuring and improving on an ongoing basis.

Prior to this appointment, Deirdre was Head of Corporate Social Responsibility for Lidl Ireland & Northern Ireland, where she led the development and implementation of Ireland and Northern Ireland’s sustainability strategy. She is also an Irish Olympian competing in the high jump at the London 2012 Olympics.

Deirdre remains active with the CEMS community through her contributions to the CEMS Responsible Global Leadership Seminars in UCD and has also participated in the Alumni Panel at the CEMS Graduation in Vienna in December 2019.

CEMS is recognised as a unique global community, comprising the world’s finest students, schools, alumni, corporate and social partners, delivering the leading international Master’s in Management (MiM) that prepares responsible leaders contributing to a more open, sustainable and inclusive world.

The global alliance is comprise of academic and corporate institutions dedicated to educating and preparing future generations of international business leaders. The CEMS academic and corporate members work collectively to develop knowledge and provide education that is essential in the multilingual, multicultural and interconnected business world.

Alumni Awards are given out in 3 categories: Junior Alumni Award (1 to 5 years), Mid-Career Alumni Award (6 to 15 years) and Senior Alumni Award (16 to 30 years).

Voting opened on November 1, 2020 and will close on November 30, 2020.

The voting process takes less than one minute and can be accessed here.