UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
HONORARY CONFERRING
Friday, 6 December 2013 at 3 p.m.
TEXT OF THE INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS DELIVERED BY PROFESSOR PETER CLINCH, Vice-President for Innovation, University College Dublin on 6 December 2013, on the occasion of the conferring of the Degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa on Frank Ryan
Mohatma Gandhi once said “the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others”. Today, UCD has great pleasure in honouring one of Ireland’s great public servants.
Over 35 years, Frank Ryan has given an outstanding commitment, demonstrating inspirational leadership, to both of Ireland’s industrial Development Agencies, IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland. He has helped to shape, and lead, the growth of multinational and indigenous industry. This near lifetime of public service culminated in the last ten years when Frank served as Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise Ireland.
Frank Ryan was born in Co. Louth in 1953. Frank attended the Christian Brothers in Dundalk and, on leaving school, wished to be a professional tennis player. Quickly realising that his talents would not extend to achieving that objective, he joined Air Traffic Control. After basic training in Cork Airport, Frank was assigned to Dublin Airport where he honed skills in coordinating and navigating complex interactions happening at high speed – a skill that would no doubt be useful in his role as CEO of Enterprise Ireland during Ireland’s economic crisis.
Having worked in the computer industry for a number of years, Frank left the private sector and joined IDA Ireland. During his twenty-five year career there, Frank became prominently associated with the attraction of the Intel Project to Ireland. Today, Intel employs over 4,000 people in Leixlip, Co. Kildare with an associated investment of 7 billion dollars. At the conclusion of his IDA service, he was the Executive Director of the Agency responsible for the attraction of Foreign Direct Investment to Ireland and there are many multinational companies that, quite simply, would not be here but for the personal commitment and efforts of Frank Ryan.
Frank was appointed CEO of Enterprise Ireland in November 2003 and work commenced on the 'transformation of Irish industry'.
I had the pleasure of working with Frank during my time in Government Buildings. This coincided with the worst recession in the history of the State. What was remarkable was the impact of Frank’s contributions when invited to the Cabinet Committee on the economy that was charged with dealing with the crisis. Frank is not called frank for nothing! His contributions were always ‘frank’ and he gained great admiration from Taoisigh and Ministers for his command of the challenges and opportunities for business arising from the economic crisis and the increased threat of competition from emerging markets. Everybody paid attention when Frank spoke.
Frank’s tenure at the helm of Enterprise Ireland could only be described as a great success. By the end of 2012, exports by Irish companies had grown from €9.6 billion in 2003 to €16.2 billion notwithstanding the greatest recession in the history of the State.
The importance of research and innovation in keeping companies – and the country – competitive is at the heart of Frank’s approach to enhancing Irish industry. He was a member of the Innovation Taskforce established by Government in 2009. This enabled Enterprise Ireland to press ahead with the innovation agenda on a major scale and to fund viable but vulnerable companies to sustain business thereby maintaining thousands of jobs which otherwise would have been lost during the recession. Today more Irish companies are involved in innovation and research and development than ever before. According to Frank "if a company is not involved in innovation they are unlikely to be in business within five years".
It is in innovation that UCD and Enterprise Ireland have worked so well in partnership. Frank Ryan, as CEO, prioritised the public R&D and innovation agenda in government. This provided crucial support to the development of innovation as the third pillar of UCD as set out in our strategic plan ‘Forming Global Minds’. UCD is greatly indebted to Frank and his colleagues for enabling us to position this University as the leading university of business.
One of Frank’s most important attributes in achieving success as a public servant is his humility. I asked Frank if his colleagues were asked to describe his service, what would he hope they would say. He replied "that I did some service to the State and was fair in my dealings. Yes, I would be honoured if they thought of me in such a way".
When I asked his colleagues to describe him they said the following:
“Frank is a person that is well known for his leadership, integrity, commitment, intellect and his central role in the development of industry in Ireland. Those who are closest to him, however, also know him for his kindness, compassion, modesty, and as a true gentleman, a very rare combination to find all in one person.”
His colleagues went on to say “Frank is truly one of Ireland’s unsung heroes who deserves to be honoured for his vision, leadership, business skills and relentless commitment in successfully leading and navigating Ireland’s indigenous industry through the worst recession Ireland has ever seen in its history, with Irish Industry emerging stronger, leaner and with the highest level of indigenous exports in 2012 the country has ever recorded. This success is due in no small measure to Frank Ryan and is a testament to his skills both as a business strategist and as an inspirational leader. For this, our country and Irish companies owe him a huge debt of gratitude.”
They say you can achieve great things if you don’t care who gets the credit. That is usually the way for a public servant. However, UCD is pleased to change that today and is delighted to give due credit to Frank. It is my honour to present Frank Ryan for the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.
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Praehonorabilis Pro-Praeses, totaque Universitas,
Praesento vobis hunc meum filium, quem scio tam moribus quam doctrina habilem et idoneum esse qui admittatur, honoris causa, ad gradum Doctoratus utroque Jure, tam Civili quam Canonico; idque tibi fide mea testor ac spondeo, totique Academiae.