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ACA Young Professionals Business Leaders Corner Summer BBQ 2016

28 Jul 2016

Brightwater

The ACA Young Professionals Business Leaders Corner Summer Barbeque 2016 organised by The Young Professionals Committee and sponsored by Brightwater was held in House on Lower Leeson Street on Thursday June 23rd. I was joined by my colleagues, Mark Byrne, Ciaran Bergin, Robert Patterson, Grace Caraher and Lyn White.

The ACA Young Professionals Business Leaders Corner Summer Barbeque 2016 organised by The Young Professionals Committee and sponsored by Brightwater was held in House on Lower Leeson Street on Thursday June 23rd. I was joined by my colleagues, Mark Byrne, Robert Patterson, Grace Caraher and Lyn White.

The speaker on the night was Olympian Caitriona Jennings, an Irish long distance runner who competed in the marathon at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Jennings attended Loreto Convent in Letterkenny and went on to study Law and Accountancy at the University of Limerick before taking up a job as a tax advisor with PwC in Dublin.

Caitriona had a wealth of advice for the young accountancy professionals on the night.

She discussed the different facets of her career and how the discipline of accountancy and the aspects she has learned from it interlaced with her running career.

Working full time with PwC and training for the Olympics, Caitriona made a number of sacrifices, when questioned about it, she answered that “they don’t seem like sacrifices when you’re focusing on your goal”.

When asked about the 2012 London Olympics, for Caitriona, the highlight was walking onto the track at the opening ceremony behind the Irish flag.

It did help that Caitriona’s workplace had great benefits, including a gym, which made training for the Olympics more convenient while injured and also working full time.

A great time was had by all at the event. Thankfully the rain held off and the weather was sunny. Over 80 Young Professionals attended. The Brightwater prize draw proved popular and with a €250 Brown Thomas voucher, it was a delighted Evelyn Hartnett from NTMA who accepted her prize from Brightwater’s Mark Byrne and Caitriona Jennings.

The BBQ wrapped up the Young Professionals events for the summer but we’re looking forward to seeing you at the next Business Leaders Corner series in the autumn.

The Young Professionals Committee is a voluntary committee established to focus on the needs of ACA and FAE qualified members. They organise various events throughout the year (most of which are free), which include formal CPD, social events, inter-professional, and every spring they host an interactive conference. These events are generally informal, with speakers who are known business and industry leaders, with diverse backgrounds. The Committee is also dedicated to the FAE qualified, providing them with information on career development and, if required, mentoring support. For more information please visit https://www.charteredaccountants.ie/en/Young-Professionals/