ORLAITH RYAN

 

Orlaith Ryan is the Chief Commercial Officer at Sky Ireland.

She was a driving force behind the partnership which Sky has forged with the Republic of Ireland Women’s National team in football and will now be central to how the team prepares for next summer’s FIFA World Cup Finals in Australia and New Zealand.

The work that Sky has done as an empathetic partner of the team, positioning them in a way that has enhanced their appeal to the fans and the nation has been justifiably award-winning and now is the time to reap more reward.

Ryan has worked at Sky since 2016, coming up through the Customer Service side of the business and being appointed to the role of Chief Commercial Officer in July of 2021.

Prior to that, she worked in Dublin with FTI Consulting and has also had spells earlier in her career with Vodafone and Aviva, giving her a detailed understanding of the commercial world of Irish sport and sports sponsorship and marketing.

 

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This is the tenth edition of our Sport for Business listing of 50 Women of Influence in Irish Sport.

Read more about the list and nominate who you think should be a part of it in 2022.

We are proud to do so again this year with AIG, an organisation that has pledged its commitment to equality in its partnerships with Gaelic Games, Tennis, Golf and more, for whom “Effort is Equal” and with whom we have ambitious plans to extend the reach of this annual celebration of the Women who are making a difference.

This year’s list will be drawn as before from the worlds of leadership, partnership, storytelling and performance.

We began this journey in 2013 when challenged that we would never be able to produce a list of twenty Influential Women in Irish Sport. The 20 stretched to 30, then 40 and 50 and it still does not do justice to the talent that is out there.

This year once more, to keep things fresh we will introduce at least 30 per cent of fresh names from last year. That will be the hardest part to have some names replaced but if it was too easy it would be of less value.

The list we will build over the coming weeks is a snapshot of those women who are making a mark on how sport is played, consumed, grown and delivered.

They are part of making the role of women in sport unexceptional by being exceptional in what they do.