Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

We at IMAGE are delighted to announce that Breege O’Donoghue, board director at Penneys/Primark will receive the first Lifetime Achievement award at the 2014 IMAGE Businesswoman of the Year Awards next Monday, November 24 at the DoubleTree By Hilton Hotel in Dublin.

A woman with elegance, huge smarts and a wonderful turn of phrase, Breege O’Donoghue has been with Penneys for 35 years, steering the company from fashion concept to retail behemoth, whose size and power continues to grow.

Breege started her career in hospitality with The Great Southern hotel group, joining Penneys in 1979 as an HR executive. She was appointed to the board in January 1988 and has been responsible for steadily growing the company to become a household name, and byword for fast, on-trend, accessible fashion on a global scale.

The retail group was originally founded by the Weston family (current owners of Brown Thomas, Selfridges, Holt Renfrew), and is now owned by British giant ABF).

Not one to let grass grow under her feet, Breege studied for her B.Comm in UCD at night whilst empire building with Penneys. Known outside of Ireland as Primark, the company with over 250 retail outlets, has rolled out stores across Europe, and into the USA where rapid expansion is foreseen in 2015.

Breege has previously been a director of An Post and Aer Lingus, a chair of her alma mater, The Shannon College of Hotel Management and the Institute of Personnel Management. She is currently chair of the Labour Relations Commission, a member of the Outside Appointments Board of the Code of Standards and Behaviour for the Civil Service, and a trustee of IBEC.

It will be an honour to welcome Breege O’Donoghue to the stage at The DoubleTree by Hilton hotel on Monday, November 24 as she accepts her lifetime achievement award. Prepare for some very inspiring words in her acceptance.

To book tickets email?business@image.ie or call 086 365 3631/ 01 271 9616/ 01 271 9653.

Sponsored by Brown Thomas, Samsung, Boodles, Electric Ireland and Cara Pharmacy, and proudly supported by ?Newstalk, Independent.ie, Enterprise Ireland, Marks & Spencer,Versatile Bathrooms and the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel.