Long-time friend and Sport for Business member Richard Tierney has been appointed as CEO of the St. Patrick’s Festival.
Tierney is a commercial professional who has over 25 years of experience in the live entertainment and sports sectors. He will be responsible for the development and implementation of an ambitious strategy for growth and organisational sustainability for the St. Patrick’s Festival, and will be a receptive ear for engaging with sport as part of the national celebration each March.
He has a wealth of experience working with a diverse list of clients including Musgrave Group, Guinness, Smirnoff, and Coca-Cola as a marketing agency professional, and extensive involvement in the live music industry since 1998, working with Ireland’s leading concert promoter Aiken Promotions and Live Nation.
In 2001 Richard set up his own agency “Ten Ltd” which acted as a sales and marketing service to companies in the music and event business. Ten Ltd was responsible for a number of pioneering projects including securing naming rights deals in Ireland for “the o2” music venue and Europe’s first naming right of a theatre, the “Bord Gáis Energy Theatre”.
In 2011, he went in-house with Live Nation, where he managed the commercial partner portfolio for a two-year period.
Since 2013 Richard has worked closely with Enterprise Ireland developing entertainment-focused start-up companies, negotiating the SSE Arena naming rights deal on behalf of SSE Airtricity, co-founded media business Entertainment for Business with us and secured numerous commercial deals for music and sporting venues nationally.
As CEO of St. Patrick’s Festival, he will now have overall responsibility for the management and operation of the nation’s largest celebration of contemporary and traditional Irish arts, culture and heritage.
“I am delighted and honoured to be appointed CEO of St Patricks Festival,” he said
“Having the opportunity to work with this amazing team to produce and shape the future of such an iconic festival is a real privilege. Using decades of experience in the entertainment business in Ireland, I hope to steer the organisation to a new era of creative and commercial development, whilst expanding both the offering and the reach of the festival to new levels.”
“Richard’s unique skillset, commercial acumen and extensive background in the events industry will complement and support the Festival team in delivering world-class festival experiences for domestic and international audiences alike,” added Maree Gallagher, Acting Chair of the St Patrick’s Festival Board.
“We are confident that Richard’s knowledge and expertise will help strengthen partnerships, develop strategic alliances and drive the growth of the Festival in the years to come.”
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