The Ecocem Group have made a strategic internal appointment of Susan McGarry as Managing Director of Ecocem Ireland. A chartered engineer Susan has worked for Ecocem for close to nine years in a variety of roles, the most recent of which was European Sustainablity Manager. Susans impact on Innovation and sustainability is well recognised within the group and externally: she has spearheaded the introduction of international standards across the group helping to transfrom operations and designed and implemented the Group Sustainability strategy and report.
Ecocem is Europe’s leading independent producer of Ground Granulated Blastfurnace Slag (GGBS) a by product from the steel industry that partially replaces traditional cement in concrete, improving strength, durability and finish with a carbon footprint up to 95% lower than traditional cement.
The Ecocem Group has seen significant growth in sales over over the past three years with Ecocem Ireland contributing to this through UK and European exports. Susan brings a group view to the Irish business with an extremely rare skillset ranging from commercial, marketing, sustainability and technical competence. Susans skills have been honed and developed in house over many years to develop her into the ideal Managing Director for the Irish operation. This latest move; a switch from the groups previous external appointments to internal promotion, is in line with Ecocems new focus on developing their own people through training and mentoring. Originally recruited through the Ecocem Graduate training programme, Susan is an example of how successful development schemes like this can be.
Susan has worked across all elements of the business, learning a variety of skills that she was able to apply in various geographic areas. This cross cultural capability is essential to perform at the highest level in this new globalised economy.
“Working across the Ecocem Group for 9 years has giving me the confidence and the ability to take on this challenge. The Ecocem Group is at a crucial point in its development and I intend to make sure Ireland plays a central role in making a success of this. We’ll be launching a series of innovative products, services and practices over the next few months.”
A keen advocate for Women in Engineering, Susan delivers talks in schools promoting careers in the industry to young women across the country. She is passionate about giving people the necessary experience to develop their careers and has championed internship programmes across the group for the last 5 years. She also guest lectures in Trinity College Dublin and TU Dublin, and is a qualified LEED Green Associate.
The recent figures from the Construction Industry Federation show that women make up 8.49% of the workforce in the construction industry, a slight increase in previous years but still disappointly low. The appointment of women to senior positions within the industry is now more important than ever.
