Episode 1: Working Globally, Living Locally (Remote & Hybrid)

Pauline Oakes of Integer and Colin Browne of Microsoft share how they have built thriving global careers while living in County Wexford. In conversation with Paula Roche, CEO of County Wexford Chamber, they talk about why strong local talent, cutting edge connectivity and a rich quality of life make Wexford the perfect foundation for scaling a meaningful career internationally.  

About the guests: 

Pauline Oakes is Vice President of Operations at Integer, the global medtech company that employs over 1200 people in New Ross, manufacturing products that are used somewhere in the world every half second. 

Colin Browne is Head of Global Customer Lifecycle Operation at global tech giant Microsoft, with whom he has built a 30-year career.  Colin’s work supports thousands of small and medium businesses worldwide and delivers billions in revenue, all from his base in Co Wexford.  

Business Connections is supported by LEADER.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Connection to the people, to the product, to what you're doing, it's really important. And for me, it's here. Wexford is home. It hasn't stopped me being ambitious to do what I want to do. There's no reason why I can't do a global vote from here.

SPEAKER_03 0:13

Why can't we have the next Mark Zuckerberg in Wexford? Or the next whoever in Wexford? I think a lot of the time we have a perspective that that can't be achieved, but there's no reason it can't. Why can't these things be possible?

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Welcome to Business Connections, a podcast by County Wexford Chamber. In this episode, Paula Roach is joined by two guests who prove that you can build a thriving global career from right here in County Wexford. Pauline Oakes is Vice President of Operations at Integer, the global med tech company with significant operations in New Ross, where it employs over 1,200 people and manufactures products that are used somewhere in the world every half second. And Colin Brown, who has built a 30-year career with global tech giant Microsoft, where he now leads global customer lifecycle operations. Colin's work supports thousands of small and medium businesses worldwide and delivers billions in revenue and all from his base here in County Wexford. They discuss how strong local talent, global connectivity, and a lifestyle rooted in community make Wexford the perfect base for international success. Proving that you don't need to leave home to build a world-class career.

SPEAKER_04 1:27

Pauline, Colin, thank you for being here today with us at County Wexford Chamber. You have both built international careers, Pauline at Intro and the whole med tech sector really. And Colin Microsoft, tell us a bit about your career journey to date.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

Funnily enough, I started out as a computer programmer, so it wasn't necessarily the obvious route that you take. So I started up in what was Clearstream, worked my way up, then we were acquired in 2011, so I started uh running the site there. So was the site lead until about 2019, and then moved to Integer. So moved to run the facility in New Ross, which a lot of people would still know as Lake Region. Ran that site for four years, so worked through a kind of a significant expansion there. So we've been growing pretty rapidly there in New Ross. Currently have about twelve hundred people in Neuras. So it's a it's a pretty large site. It's one of the largest guy buyer manufacturers in uh the world. So we reckon that there's a product manufactured in New Ross used about every half second somewhere in the world. So that's the kind of the reach that it has from New Ross. So led that site for four years and now moved into my current role, which is covering the EMEA and APAC regions. So we have three facilities in Ireland and a facility in Malaysia. Um so there's about 2,000 employees in total. So basically, my role is, I suppose, responsible for leading operations uh across the region. The location here makes it really accessible for me to take care of the region that I'm responsible for, also to be easily accessible to our headquarters, which are uh based in the US. So I think the the Irish kind of Wexford zone is a is a great uh place to be able to manage a global career from that point of view. And you started in technology, did I hear you say?

SPEAKER_04 3:27

Yes, a manager.

SPEAKER_02 3:30

Yeah, when I was in college, I I studied uh economics and computers. Um so didn't necessarily foresee ending up in operations now, I have to say. Uh but I suppose how it happened, I started out in Clearstream as the network manager, the IT manager eventually. And it was a startup at the time, so had to set up all the computer system. And if you're setting up an ERP system, you have to learn a lot about the business. And so I really had to work with all the leadership team on the site at the time to understand the processes in each of their areas and make sure that the system reflected and enabled the business. So that kind of got me into the engineering side, customer service, the supply chain operations. And so eventually kind of started adding on pieces to my responsibilities and ended up where I am. Yeah. Wasn't necessarily a well-laid-out plan, but it happened the way it did. So yeah, it's a good transition.

SPEAKER_04 4:27

IT and operations surely are the two of the backbones or the backbone of um any organization. Colin, let's talk about your journey to where you are now.

SPEAKER_03 4:36

Yeah, so I uh went to college in both Carlow and Waterford. So I stayed in the South East and I studied business and finance and went to get my first job having left college and had two interviews and prioritized them really on distance from home.

SPEAKER_04 4:51

Really?

SPEAKER_03 4:52

So I had uh one interview with Irish Country Meats and one interview with Microsoft.

SPEAKER_04 4:57

Right.

SPEAKER_03 4:57

And initially Irish Country Meats offered me a job and Microsoft rejected me. Irish Country Meets came back and said, Yes, we want to give you a job. It's in Rooske, County Roscommon. I thought I was going to be working in Kamolden. Um so I didn't know how to react to that one. And as I was trying to get over the shock, I got a phone call from Microsoft saying, We want you to come back in for another interview. Okay. Um and I effectively ended up at Microsoft straight from from college, um, went in doing a role managing the pricing for Microsoft products in Europe, effectively. And have been there now for 30 years next summer and have effectively been involved in different transformation initiatives. So I remember back in the early days I was involved in uh some people may remember Y2K and all computers were going to blow up, which never happened. Um then the Euro implementation, then Xbox, um, right through to making software available as a digital download. So we take Office 365 for granted today. We did that. And now most recently, um, Microsoft obviously has a large volume of customers worldwide. Um, we can't cover all of those customers with Microsoft employees, so we outsource a lot of our small medium business to other partners like Accenture, Concentrics, Teleperformance. And I manage that globally. So I work with those companies around the world to engage with all of our small medium business customers.

SPEAKER_04 6:20

Wow. Did you have to move to Dublin for the Microsoft role in the end?

SPEAKER_03 6:23

I did. I did. Um and I uh went to Dublin, experienced a big smoke, figured out what email was, because I didn't know much about that coming out of college. Um but uh we'll get into it, I guess, later in the in in the conversation. By the time my eldest was four years of age and was about to start school, I had built a house and moved back home.

SPEAKER_04 6:45

Wow, you were determined to be a homeboy.

unknown 6:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:48

I was.

SPEAKER_04 6:50

So you have quite impressive titles, folks. Um, Colin, head of um Global Customer Life Cycle, and Pauline, VP of Operations IMIA and APAC. I know a bit about what they mean, but to our listeners, explain what that means in Lehman terms.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

For me, it means that I'm responsible for making sure that um all operations in my region are effective, executing the plan, uh, managing, I suppose, global strategy um initiatives, working with the teams on the grounds at the sites to make sure that we kind of resolve any issues in terms of uh meeting our objectives. It also means and a critical part of the role is developing talent to ensure that we're successful as we grow, to make sure that we're looking at how we manage our footprint, optimizing it, ensuring that we have, I suppose, our key selling points or we have key competencies, that we grow them, that you know, we have a long-term strategy for operations in the region. So that's kind of so it could mean being on calls, you know, early mornings usually with Asia, then working in in the York time zone, uh, and then in the afternoons and evens, we're we're working with head office on kind of global strategies and things like that. So while it's it's remote and it's global, it's also pretty connected to the people on the ground in the sites and ensuring that we are, you know, making sure that we meet our objectives and that we're placing ourselves in a position where we can be the the next site of choice to to grow, to get new products to, I suppose, serve the organization's needs as we expand in areas like Asia. Um, you know, that's the the kind of day-to-day that that I would have.

SPEAKER_03 8:40

The latter point of what you said sounded so familiar because it's the exact same. You're trying to manage globally by having Asia calls in the morning, you're trying to manage a me in the afternoon and then the US at night. Um, but similar to yourself, for me it's around delivering operational excellence. So uh we talked about customer life cycle. Customer lifecycle really means, and and all businesses will recognise this, we have a cohort of customers that we either have to acquire or grow. Okay. So we've existing customers that we need to manage and grow and and maybe sell new things to, or we have new customers we need to go and acquire. And and that's really what my role is about. It's working with um the outsource partners I talked about to contact predominantly existing customers, but also new customers, and help them understand what uh solutions we have for their problems. And ultimately that's what it comes down to is talking to customers about what are they trying to solve for from a technology perspective and what solutions do we have that helps them do business.

SPEAKER_04 9:39

And your customer, Colin, who is your customer?

SPEAKER_03 9:41

Yeah. So it's predominantly uh small and medium business. Okay. And to put that into context, you're probably talking about companies that have at least 25 people and right up to maybe three or four thousand people. Um and I know that probably sounds like a lot of uh people, but in the Microsoft context, it's it's not really.

SPEAKER_04 10:00

Bodhi has so casually talked about um working across three time zones and three continents on on an average day, folks. What time does your day start at? What time does it end at? Do you have gaps in between? Tell me of little breaks in between.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

It varies a lot. And you kind of do have to put manners on it a bit, otherwise it can take over your whole life. You know, it can start early, it can start, you know, maybe at six, seven o'clock with Asia. And obviously, Europe is is easy in terms of it's it's the it's in your own time zone. The US can go on late in the evening, but to be fair, you know, there is a consciousness of that with say head office. You know, they don't do it casually. So typically with our standing meetings that recur all the time, they try to facilitate within a reasonable time. But then business requirements take over sometimes and you have to do late at night. Um, so you do you do manage it yourself though as well. You kind of these days I can work late in the evening or I can do really early in the morning. So I think it's really important if you're going to do a good job that you try and balance it and that you're not, you know, wearing yourself out going from kind of burning the candle at both ends. I mean, you can do that for a certain period of time and you have to do it sometimes, but you can't do it non-stop.

SPEAKER_03 11:18

100% agree, and and very, very similar again. You are on early morning conversations, you're at late night conversations, but it's about being disciplined and putting some you know principles in place. So um I would also have specific days in the week where I know I'm going to be late. Um, there will always be out-of-cycle type meetings where you you just have to do them because it's something major is happening in the business. Um, equally to Paula, one of your points, you know, does it mean you're working from that early time to that late time? No. And one of the things people locally will see is me walking on the road maybe at 11 o'clock in the morning. That's what I'm the very same.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

Yeah. I always try to take like a half an hour or an hour during the day because just to take your head out of it and you break it up, and it actually is really useful, I find, both mentally as well as physically.

SPEAKER_03 12:04

Because you may have come through a morning of meetings with Asia where you're dealing with a series of problems. You go out for a walk at eleven o'clock or whatever time, and you come back and you've figured out what you're going to do about that problem.

SPEAKER_04 12:14

Fresh air is is a lot to be said for it, isn't it? Yeah. So what you've described, folks, is are very global international careers, and there's a maybe concept or preconception that you have to be in London or Dublin to have those careers, but you used to do that at Wexford. And you've done it out of Wexford for a long time.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

I think nowadays with connectivity, you know, obviously 10-15 years ago, high-speed broadband wasn't as easily available in Wexford. Yeah. Now it doesn't really matter whether it's Wexford or London or Boston or New York or wherever. I think this location is well served, I can serve a global role very well because of the time zone, because now we have the connectivity, we have the the technology, you know, teams is like a revelation. Um, you know, the way that you can collaborate with teams, you know, I'm in a project at the moment. There's people from Asia, there's a guy in Dublin, there's a guy in Washford, there's myself in Wexford, another person in Wexford, and it's really easy to get online. We're we're doing a presentation that we're all inputting into. It's you know, it's it's a high-level presentation for the executive uh uh leadership team, and it's very possible to really collaborate online, get a load done. I think nothing beat face to face every now and again. I mean, there's no there's no point in saying that it does, but the technology that we have now and the connectivity, and I think the access from Wexford to the airport, yeah. I mean, it's really easy. Um, the roads have improved significantly. Um, so it's it's absolutely achievable. You know, obviously you have to travel when you have to travel, yeah. But in general, the the technology and the connectivity have really enabled it for me.

SPEAKER_03 14:05

Yeah, I agree. And look, I've been doing this for 20 years. So I've actually been based in Wexford for 20 years. The technology wasn't as advanced as it is now. So I remember starting with Skype and everything before we had teams and dealing with the broadband. I I always had two broadband connections at home. One of them was you know the dial up, and then I had like a mobile connection as well, so I had a backup. Um, but a couple of things that I think were important as well were setting kind of norms within organ an organization. So my team, as I described earlier, is a global team. Um, we're working all over the world, uh, we're in different locations around the world. So, interestingly enough, when people in Microsoft came back from COVID, there was a whole conversation around um having norms for teams around how we were going to work a new way of working. Hybrid was the new term. We'd actually been doing hybrid but didn't know the term for probably 15 years before that. Because it was how we were set up and how we were structured. We were all dialing into calls from different parts of the world, like you described, and it didn't make any difference where we were. So that was one thing that I think you know each team has to establish for themselves what are their team norms and and kind of set uh some principles around it. We did it 20 years ago, so when something like COVID came along, there was no change for us. When people came back from COVID, they were talking about what's the new way of work gonna be, and we're like, still no change for us, it's the exact same. The other thing then was you know, you talked about doing it from Wexford. One of the big things that I found was removing myself as a blocker. So what I mean by that was I probably was at a point in my career, and I described coming back to Wexford when my eldest was about to start school. In my mind, I had a misconception that okay, I'm gonna stall or pause my career here now because I'm going back to Oxford. That I wouldn't have the same opportunity because I wasn't based in Dublin. And in fairness, it was actually one of my mentors in Microsoft that I suppose basically told me to cop on. Like, why do you think that? And as we teased it out and talked through it, realised that actually you can do the same job or a better job from anywhere in the world than being in a Dublin office.

SPEAKER_02 16:09

Yeah, I think once you're remote, you know, i in in that environment, there's nothing stopping you really. You know, once you're well set up and you're shown that you're flexible and available, um, whether it's in the evenings, in the mornings, as necessary and also available to travel if you have to.

SPEAKER_03 16:25

Or the only thing that will stop you, at least in my case, was me. It wasn't anybody else. It was my own misconceptions.

SPEAKER_04 16:32

Integer was one of my first site tours in my chamber role and it the whole world of medical devices I didn't even know existed in Wexford, um, even though I'm from here. It was fascinating to see it. And the guide wire obviously is one of the main products you you produce, and I was just kind of overwhelmed to hear that the guide wires produced in your Rost are used every second in a surgery somewhere in the world. Like what a global impact, eh?

SPEAKER_02 16:57

Yeah, and it's probably a well-kept secret to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_04 17:00

So very modest.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

Um yeah, it is like it is amazing, and it is it just goes to show you what's possible, you know. And we've been there for 30 years now. And you know, when I went into the site, I did not realize the impact it had globally. Yeah, you know. Um, and so, you know, I think it is amazing the product is still growing. Um, you know, we had to do an expansion really quickly after COVID because when I said there were some of our products that were elective, there's a huge catch-up in those procedures post-COVID. Uh, there's a lot of medical device regulation changes as well, and so some of the smaller players in the market kind of exited and we picked up all of that demand. And so we found ourselves in a situation uh post-COVID where we had a long-range plan of where our you know our growth was coming from. And so five years growth came within about six months, and it just exploded, and we really had to react quickly, and we were really fortunate we had an existing planning application that was nine years old. So we extended it, you know, we have five years, and we extended it when the five years were up for the second five years, and it was nine years old, and um so we had to make a very quick decision to expand to satisfy our customer needs, and we got great cooperation in terms of uh making that happen with the the council, and I think we started um the actual facility in January, and we were in the first phase of it in September, so it was really rapid. We were under serious pressure, we had customers calling us, we had demand coming out of our ears. Um so we really had to respond quickly, and we did. And as I say, it was complicated because we were working on an existing site, we had a lot of people moving in and out, we had you know construction traffic, it was really complicated from an EHS perspective. Uh, but we changed the entrance to the building, I think it was 19 times. So we had people like walking where there was construction going on, so it was yeah, not stuff of dreams are made of in terms of EHS, but uh we got there and thankfully nobody was injured and it was up and running, and it's a fantastic facility nowadays.

SPEAKER_04 19:17

It's very impressive, and the large employer went for it, which is great.

SPEAKER_02 19:20

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:20

So this episode, folks, is all about kind of having global international careers and living locally. And when I was thinking about who do I know who travels a lot, you two definitely jumped to mind to me. Um, Colin, you're just back from maybe three weeks in the States. How do you balance it all? How do you balance the very demanding travel schedule? How do you organise yourselves and then keep it balanced with your family life, community life, and all that?

SPEAKER_03 19:45

Yeah, it is really about being planful, you know, and I do tend to kind of step back and look at maybe a three to six month period and figure out where am I going to be, what am I going to do, and when am I going to do it. Uh, and you just mentioned being away for three weeks. Um, that's a good example because I knew I had to be in Seattle for a week. I also knew I needed to go to Costa Rica for a week, and then I knew that as part of some of the community involvement through uh not-for-profit Wexra Enterprise Centre, we have a trade bridge initiative in partnership with Wexford County Council that I would be in Savannah. So my options were do I go transatlantic three times in the space of a couple of months or a month, or do I push it all together? So in the end, that's what I did. I went from uh Ireland to Seattle for a week, then I was down in Costa Rica for a week, then I was up in a combination of Atlanta and Savannah for a week. Yes, it was difficult to be gone for three weeks, but from a personal perspective, it trumps going three times. Absolutely. From a family perspective, yes, it means I'm gone for a big chunk of three weeks, but then I get back to Ireland and I probably won't travel again for a month or two. But but uh it does mean that you know there's there's kind of some certainty around it. Everybody knows here's where when I'm gonna be gone, here's when I'm gonna be back. And then outside of that, you also have to plan in that personal time to your point around everything else that you're involved in. So I'm actually off in I think two weeks' time for a week's holidays in the midst of it all. And then from a community perspective, you kind of plan a lot of the meetings or a lot of different uh organizations I I I volunteer with to have those meetings either around the times that I'm gonna be in the country or um back to Teams, you could dial in from Teams. Yeah, you know, and and that's not even as as uh demanding as having a laptop. You can do that from your mobile phone. So it's just balancing it all and making sure that you know you're a little planful around what does the upcoming three to six months look like? Um, how are you going to schedule it all in? And then, you know, from a family perspective, I guess I'm lucky now, all three of my guys have finished uh uh secondary school, so they're all either in college or working. Um but before, as they were growing up, it was really kind of looking at schedule with my wife, Nolan, and and looking at what the lads had and figuring out, okay, how are we going to manage this?

SPEAKER_04 22:10

It's a family plan, really, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 22:12

Exactly. That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_04 22:13

So, Colin, you mentioned your director roles with Trape Bridge and Wexford Enterprise Centre, which is a lot on top of the day job. Uh do you ever think, what am I taking on so much for? Or is it more a personal development that you work with both of those organizations?

SPEAKER_03 22:28

Yeah, it's more personal passion and giving back to the community. I love that. Look, at the end of the day, I think I've been extremely lucky with the career that I've had, right? And I've been somewhat successful, I suppose, in that I've had a career at Microsoft, I've been able to live in Wexford. I probably do have a Wexford jersey underneath everything I wear because I'm proud of where I'm from. Um and for me, it's just a way of giving back. So I get the point around the capacity or the time to do those things, but when you actually enjoy it and feel like it's purposeful, it makes it a lot easier, you know. And and I feel like in some way, with TradeBridge as an example, we're creating opportunities for you know jobs in the South East, jobs in Wexford, and a strong partnership between Georgia and the Southeast US states and Ireland. Um, and for me, one of the things that it links back to as well is I always said, and I talked earlier about looking for a job closest to Wexford. Being in a multinational organization, I said, why can't we have the next Mark Zuckerberg in Wexford or the next whoever in Wexford? And I think a lot of the time the blocker I said earlier to some of the things is me, and I think it's the same for a lot of us, we're kind of fearful a little bit, or we have a perspective that that can't be achieved, but there's no reason it can't. And that's where some of the passion comes from being in those organizations is why can't these things be possible? And if you take the enterprise centre, for example, you know, for me, success is people graduating out of that enterprise centre into something bigger and better and and going on to be the next Facebook or be the next whatever. That's all possible here in Wexford. And we have to believe that because if we do and we enable it, then it will happen. So then you can almost hear the passion already here at why I'm involved in those things. It doesn't take energy then. It takes, you know, it actually gives a lot of energy and and gets us going behind these types of opportunities.

SPEAKER_04 24:23

Is it a lack of belief in ourselves, or do you think it's a fear of judgment from others that they might say, Oh, you you think you can do that?

SPEAKER_03 24:30

I I think there's two aspects to it. One is a lack of confidence. I don't think we always have enough confidence here in in Wexford and in the South East in in what we can do and achieve. And sometimes we probably should do a better job in celebrating all the successes that we've had, and even some of the ones you described earlier. The second point is fear. And I think we all have that inherent fear of failure. And I think that holds us back a lot as well, as we're afraid of putting ourselves out there and trying it because maybe we fail. But the one thing I will ask anybody listening to this or otherwise is what's the worst thing that can happen? Yeah. And it's never really that bad.

SPEAKER_02 25:03

I I think a lot of it is uh you know, I think I agree with Colin, like in terms of visibility. Um I I I think Wexford sometimes is seen as a kind of a a lifestyle choice. Okay. Right? Not necessarily as a place where you can build a career for whatever you want. And I think it is a lifestyle choice, you know, and it's a lifestyle choice I've always made. Um, but it's it's not it's not a blocker, it's kind of an enabler in some ways for me anyway, because it does allow you that kind of switch off because you're you're not in the hustle and bustle of a big city, which wouldn't suit me. Um doesn't mean it wouldn't suit somebody else, but I think the the it's it's both a lifestyle choice and an enabler. And you know, I think that's where um maybe we need to give more visibility to what's happened that's worked out well and that is successful, and that can kind of encourage people to do it more.

SPEAKER_04 26:00

I think that's a great point, Pauline, that you see Wexford as a lifestyle choice, but it hasn't stopped you having the international career been here.

SPEAKER_02 26:09

Yeah, it's it's the balance actually for me, if I'm not happy personally, I won't do a good job. Yeah. Right. Um, so you know, Wexford is home. Um, and so like if if you if you feel you belong somewhere, you enjoy it, you can get out as soon as you come off a global call where your head might be about to explode, you can just go out, you can you reconnect immediately with your family, you can go walking as we just talked about earlier, and and you know, go for a walk on the beach and kind of resets you. Yeah. Come back and the feeling of belonging is important, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 26:46

Yeah, absolutely. When I lived in Dublin, I didn't feel like I belonged there.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

I think feeling a belonging no matter what you're at is really important. Yeah. Um feeling connection, um, both in your personal life or where you're living, but also where you're working.

SPEAKER_04 26:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:00

You know, I think having that connection to the people you work with. Why are you going today otherwise? I know. You know, I mean, connection to the people, to the product, to what you're doing. Um, I just think it's really important. And for me, it's here. Yeah. So um it hasn't stopped me being ambitious to do what I want to do. Um, and there's no reason why I can't do it global road from here. But I think having the the location here, it just allows you to get your headspace really easily. You know, in an instant you're you're able to kind of reset. Yeah. Um and I just don't think I get that in somewhere else.

SPEAKER_03 27:38

Yeah, I'd agree, but I think equally it's important to highlight the success stories so that people see what's possible. So here we have Pauline as a good example. You mentioned some other folks you talked to in this series. Like Dave Dempsey was the leader for Salesforce from Wexford. I know. Eamon as well. And I I know I know all the tech guys side side of it. My boss is a guy called James O'Connor who's from Kilteeley.

SPEAKER_04 28:02

So James O'Connor's your boss. Yeah. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 28:04

So all of these leaders, and James leads globally worldwide operations for Microsoft. Um, so you've got leaders across the industry who are recognizing the industry, and they're all Wexford people. Yeah, there's many examples. Oh, there are so many examples. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:18

And that's what we're trying to showcase. You both work for global companies, but there's a lot of our members in the chamber who are smaller companies and solepreneurs, sole traders, and they need that ecosystem and a network. And that's where the chamber comes in, where Wexford Enterprise Centre comes in and many other organizations. How important do you think that ecosystem is? Is it SETU as well? Is it all those organizations that kind of can support your growth and development?

SPEAKER_02 28:41

I think it's huge. I mean, I'm a part of the governing body of SETU, so I am passionate about developing that university and that connection in the South East. And you know, obviously the campus in Wexford. And I think it's absolutely critical that we keep our young people, our talent in the South East. And the more options we have available locally, the more likely that is to happen. And so I think, you know, developing the uh university and expanding the disciplines that are an offer, absolutely critical. You know, we're losing a lot of our young people, and sometimes they don't come back then. They don't come back. Yeah. And I think, you know, we have a much higher chance of keeping all that talent in the South East if we if we develop the university. You know, all of the other things like the the ecosystem, like you were talking about, the skills forum, all those things make such a difference. And even just opportunities to connect, you know, like the chamber facilitates, just to talk to other businesses. But I I think that ecosystem is absolutely essential.

SPEAKER_03 29:42

Yeah, two two perspectives on that from me. One is when I think about SETU, and Veronica was actually with us last week in Georgia. We talked in this conversation about international business and working globally. Part of what SETU have done a really good job on is making connections with Georgia Southern last week, as well as other universities across America and China and in Europe. So they're actually creating the environment where the students and graduates that are going to come forward in the future have an experience of having engaged with people around the world and have that international dimension to their learning. So I think that's critical for us. I think everything that we're doing with SCTU is critical to continuing to build that capability here in Wexford. And then equally on the other side of it, you talked about, you know, the organizations like Wexford Chamber. I think that's uh a real asset to all of those small-medium businesses. Because I've engaged with some of them through my own uh activities. And, you know, these are amazing, fantastic people who maybe have the entrepreneurial spirit or or I was going to say another word, well, let's say gumption, that I didn't like it. Yeah. And they went and have done these things for themselves. But sometimes maybe where they need help is with experiences that people across that network in the Wexford chamber or people they can be connected with outside of the chamber, like ourselves, can share an experience or something that they've come across in the past that helps that growth and helps that uh progress. And I see that in TradeBridge as well with some of the Wexford companies that have been involved, is for example, they don't know how to trade into America or they don't know what FDA approval is or they don't know something. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_02 31:24

It's like a reach into somebody that does, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:27

Yeah. So networks like the Wexford Chamber and others are feeding them and helping them with the information they need to be successful and to have that growth.

SPEAKER_04 31:35

It's all the connections, really, isn't it? Yeah. And if you don't have the connections, that ecosystem network can give you the connections.

SPEAKER_02 31:41

Um and then Green Tech as well, I think it's green technology um opportunity for you know young, new entrepreneurs and and businesses to really connect. Um and like they are facilitating so many pieces to the you know, getting a business up and running and and you know, making things that appear complicated, helping businesses to actually navigate through them. And and that's a real that's a real help because you know, like there's a lot of things available to help businesses, but a lot of them just don't know how to access them. And you know, the paperwork and all that kind of thing does put people off, but um it's amazing to have them there as well to help enterprises grow.

SPEAKER_04 32:23

Green Tech um partner with Skillnet Innovation Exchange, yeah, and that whole purpose of that business is to find solutions to problems. Yeah, so come to them with a problem, and they have a whole panel of businesses who are going to provide solutions. So it's it's yeah, it's just knowing who to go to, really, isn't it? Um, Colin, you mentioned Georgia Southern University, who have a partnership at Wexford. Quite incredible, isn't it, that such a large state university um has this really well-established connection with County Wexford and they're taking over the Adoration Convent and building more accommodation for students. Amazing, isn't it? And you you've been involved with that?

SPEAKER_03 32:59

Yeah, and look, I don't want to go too much into the history of it, but effectively our our our forefathers left Ireland on ships from New Ross and Wexford. Yeah. And when I went to Savannah for the first time, they brought me down to River Street and talked about how the immigrants had landed in Savannah and showed me the cobblestones that were ballast stones from Wexford. Oh wow. So the connection is it actually predates the famine. It was back in the 1600s, I think, but obviously was much more significant during the famine. Um, and and it has led to a couple of key people, um, uh Dr. Howard Keeley, who probably people will have heard of and know about, as well as uh people like uh Father Laurie Cahoe, who would have been involved back uh in the early days and of establishing the connection. But from that connection has come exactly what you described. Georgia Southern, across the road from where we're sitting, has their their campus. Um, having spoken with them last week, they're oversubscribed for the next three terms here in Wexford. Right. So they have more students than they can handle coming. Those students are spending and investing in Wexford and in the South East. Um they're going all over the country as well, exploring different parts of Ireland, um, and they're learning about Irish heritage and about uh the Irish culture. Um, equally, you can go beyond just the numbers. So you talked about the Adoration Convent, there's probably five or six million been spent in the local economy to turn that into campus accommodation, another investment back into Wexford, right? But what I think is going to be the biggest asset for us in Wexford is all of these students who are coming across and learning about Wexford in the South East in Ireland, um, they're not gonna be a stranger to Ireland in the future. Some of those are gonna be leaders in the US, some of them are gonna be global leaders. And when they look out and see where do I know in Europe or where do I know in other parts of the world, Wexford is gonna be on the map. So we're gonna benefit from this for years and years and years to come. Equally, we're gonna establish really strong relationships between SETU and GSU. They were together last week sharing a lot of information and a lot of opportunities. That's also gonna make our students stronger and have bigger and brighter learnings. Um it's a win-win across the board, and I think the future is very positive in that regard.

SPEAKER_04 35:24

And it's reverse as well. I understand that there's um a bar in Savannah called the Wexford pub, or Wexford bar is a called Shepherd.

SPEAKER_03 35:31

The Wexford pub, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:32

Amazing, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 35:33

And equally that's another one where millions were spent developing that. Yes. Now that's great that that was spent, but what maybe people don't know is that the interior of that Wexford bar on the first level is all Wexford themed with product from Wexford, and then the top floor is all Ireland themed. And again, it was kitted out by an Irish uh company. Yeah. So, you know, good good advertisement for us.

SPEAKER_04 35:57

It does, isn't it? Um Wexford and Ireland really does get the support of um the um a lot of international countries, don't we? Um when you're talking to your colleagues around the world, um, how do you describe Wexter to them? Pauline.

SPEAKER_02 36:13

That's a good question. Um it's a great place to live. It's a great place to do business as well. Okay. Um and we have great people and we we have great skill set, I think, in Ireland. Ireland's a real medical device hub, obviously. The highest uh amount of people working in in the medical device industry in the world. All of the the large medical device companies are here in a big way. Um what we can offer as uh a country and as a county is a huge amount of talent. And I genuinely believe we have really strong talent in Wexford and it's growing. And you can see it with young professionals coming into our site, into roles that are remote, that are working, you know, with the the global functions, and they're well able to work across multiple disciplines. Uh, they're well able to meet the standards required uh globally. Uh, we have more than I could talk about in terms of the amount of people that have come out of the site in New Ross that are in global roles. It's a constant stream of we have to be always developing talent because people are always getting promoted. Um, and like you can build any career and any function from here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:24

I think it really is back to talent, and it's about us continuing to develop that talent. And I think you know, there was a period in which, and and this may resonate with folks that are listening, uh, where I think we had graduates who academically knew everything they needed to know, but didn't necessarily have the soft skills or the transversal skills to know how to communicate, how to be part of a team, how to collaborate? Um, and I think now what we're seeing with SETU and with others is that there's a much stronger focus on that. So we're creating really strong graduates that are going to be future leaders, um, and we need to continue to nurture that and to promote that.

SPEAKER_04 38:04

Going back to you two again, because you two are the talent in the room right now. What's your proudest moment in your career? You've had a lot of proud moments, I'm sure, because your in your careers are impressive, folks. So impressive. But there has to be one standout moment. Was there something you were, I suppose, setting as an objective for yourself and then you achieved it and you're like, yes, that ticked the box for me.

SPEAKER_02 38:26

For me, it's not really about me. Oh. It it it because I don't I don't I don't necessarily say, Oh, I want this and I want that. It more in terms of when I'm in a job, it's just like, how can I do the best that I'm you know can in that job? And then usually another one will come along at some stage. Uh but I think for me it's more when a team achieves something, when I'm part of something like that. And probably, you know, the hardest time, well, there's probably a lot of them, there's lots of bumps in the road. Um but you know, when we with ClearStream um originally was originally a subsidiary of a company called Angiodynamics in the US, and then we did a management buyout, and so there were six of us on the leadership team there, and that was quite the roller coaster ride, I can tell you. And there was lots of times when we thought, can we open the doors the next day? Um, and there was lots of market shifts that uh required us to pivot. And there was lots of days when it was really, really, really tough, you know. And when I talk about like cash flow management, paying our people, paying our suppliers, it was uh every sort of experience you can get, we got in those few years. And you know, we we floated the company in 2004 to raise funds to kind of expand our product portfolio when we were in during a really difficult phase, um, and that was quite an experience um uh to be involved in. And in 2011, then we were acquired by CR Bard. Yeah, and it was kind of the culmination. It was like, okay, the the job is is the really it's accomplished, um, and that was that was really a real moment, but it was with the team, you know, it wasn't necessarily about me, it was I I have uh probably my best friends in the world were on that team because it was you're in the trenches with them for a number of years, and it was really, I suppose, uh a feeling of we've done it, we've we've arrived at the destination. Now that was only the beginning of another journey, but it was yeah, it was quite an interesting journey, and it was really felt we we we we made it.

SPEAKER_04 40:37

So that that definitely has been quite a journey because Clearstream went through quite a few acquisition journeys, yeah. The value of that company from when it started, I think the management buyout was like four million or something, not something something small enough.

SPEAKER_02 40:48

Yeah, it was in in 2000 the management buy-out, and uh then we floated and we I think we raised seven million at that stage, and uh we had to develop I I believe it must have been about ten or twelve products. We moved from coronary focused to peripheral focused, um, and that gives a whole new market after there was a huge shift in the market from uh bare metal stents to uh drug eluting stents, and a lot of our customers were bare metal stents, so we plummeted in ourselves in one year. And that I tell you, it makes you resilient because you're literally going into work where you you don't know what the next week's gonna hold. Yeah. Um and at the time I had just got married and uh uh we had just come home from honeymoon and that was ended fairly lightly when we came back. You know, we're in serious trouble. So but yeah, it was when I look back at the time you probably didn't think it was that enjoyable.

SPEAKER_04 41:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:42

But I made some really great friends. And to this day, every quarter we go away for a night and we uh we talk about all the experiences over the years. We all went off into different careers then, but uh yeah, that that was probably my moment.

SPEAKER_04 41:58

How nice to retange your friendships as well. But to be part of that growth trajectory of a company worth four million, now worth over twenty billion, uh amazing. Colin?

SPEAKER_03 42:09

Yeah, I think for me, hopefully Microsoft won't be offended. I think what I do on a work basis are achievements as opposed to the moments of of pride. So for me, it's back to some of the the voluntary work I do. So Wexford Enterprise Centre. Um I wouldn't say uh I played a massive role, but if I had some small hand actor part in some of the things that they've done out there, that has given me pride. And to give you a couple of examples, one of the companies that we have within the Enterprise Centre hires people with disabilities, so gives people opportunities that they wouldn't otherwise have. And I know in one scenario that the parents came back to our CEO Brendan and said to him that that individual had come out of their shells and were communicating much more than ever before. In another example, we were not for profit, so we took some of our uh profit and gave it to FDYS and helped them with some of the mental health programs they run. And I remember uh Kieran came back to us at the time and said that um we hadn't just helped one person uh potentially save their lives, but multiple people, and they're the types of things that I get a sense of pride from. Not that I have done anything, but that I've had a small hand actor part in influencing that we give the money to that or that we hire people from those types of backgrounds because they're the things that really make a difference, you know, and and that is something that I take some sense of pride from, and organizations like the Enterprise Centre and others should take massive pride from.

SPEAKER_04 43:43

There's so many great organisations in Wexford and across the country, I'm sure, in terms of supporting those maybe with disabilities and needs that employers are accommodating these days. Like it across the road in Wexford local development, there's that workability, employability, and there's a national learning network up in the Great organizations and the business community to really get behind them and support them and support that transition into the workforce. I'm sure Microsoft are very proud of you, Colin, as well. 30 years next summer. I say you'll make the 30 years next summer. In terms of Wexter again, so what's the opportunity here if we really lean into this idea of global work from a local base?

SPEAKER_03 44:24

I think from my perspective, we have a lot of uh change coming our way. Okay. We are at the cusp of the fourth industrial revolution. Um, and and what that really means is we're seeing AI coming at us and we're seeing how it's transforming how we do business. Um to give an example of what it means in my world, um I talked earlier about having effectively outsourced telesales agents globally calling my customers. Um they, believe it or not, spend 25% of their time talking to customers. That's not where I want that percentage to be, right? Um where I want it to be is I want them spending as much time as possible with customers. What we're going to do and what we are doing at the moment is transforming a day in the life of that uh seller. We're helping them by using AI to prepare them for a customer call. We're helping them by prompting them within the customer call. Uh we're helping them by help giving them uh guidance as they close the customer call, after the customer call with actions and follow-ups, which ultimately means that for them they should be much more productive. We should see much more deals, hopefully, and a greater top line. Now that's all very good from a business perspective, but from a uh evolution perspective and where we're going, um the decision making and the prompting and the strategy is happening from Wexford, it's happening from all parts of the world, um, with all parts of the world. So these agents are sitting in places in every corner of the world, being uh made more effective and more productive by the future of technology, which ultimately makes businesses more successful. Um as I said, happening from here, happening from all over the world, uh that's what the future looks like for us. And I think the key thing is that it is about uh improved decision making. It's not about AI having all the answers, it's about AI giving us more data to make improved decisions. It's also about the ethical side of things, how do we make ethical decisions? People make those decisions. And while I've heard it said that, you know, will AI have all the answers? It may well do at some point in the future. But we are the ones who have the questions.

SPEAKER_04 46:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:42

So we need to be the people that prompt the questions, decide the direction, uh, influence the strategy. And we can do that from here in Wexford, we can do it from all parts of the world.

SPEAKER_04 46:51

I'm really curated in terms of what our need is. Um, your Microsoft GM Catherine Doyle joined us as keynote speaker for our leadership summit last November. She was fantastic, and she shared a stat that Ireland is fort in the world in terms of AI adoption. How incredible is that, little old Ireland, fort in the world, AI adoption.

SPEAKER_03 47:09

I'll give you a very practical example of that, which might resonate with folks. So I came home from Dublin one uh evening and I was pretty tired to be very honest about it. And Nolan asked me a question, and I was like, Well, I I'm not sure. I I don't know. And then I said, No, hang on a minute. And I said, Ask me that question again. And I co-pilot on my phone and I pressed the microphone button, and copilot gave her the answer. And she was like, What was that? I said, That's co-pilot on my phone. Now that's not the point. The point is she took that and gave it to her dad, who's 87 years of age, and he was using copilot within a week. Oh wow. So Ireland being fourth on that list, and you have octagenarians as well as ourselves using Copilot as easily as I just described. Yeah. You can see how it is going to be a real aid to us as we move forward.

SPEAKER_04 47:58

I think my AI on my phone might be turning me off in the evenings I ask so many questions. It's like Paula, we need a break from you. Stop asking questions. Curiosity in me. Pauline, what about global um organizations, local base? What do you think?

SPEAKER_02 48:16

Why not?

SPEAKER_04 48:16

Yeah, why not?

SPEAKER_02 48:18

There's nothing stopping us. Um, and you know, as I said, I've I've worked in Wexford all my career, and I can't see any reason why that can't be a way to move forward. I think, like we said earlier, you know, we need to be purposeful in terms of making the success stories visible.

SPEAKER_01 48:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:33

Right. And really getting that message out in terms of there is no reason why we can't. Um and I think now that we have the local university and you know the opportunity for that to really uh develop really close links with industry, um, I think that's a that's one of the enablers that wasn't available before. Because I know I worked with the IDA in the past, sometimes meeting prospective clients from the south east. And one of the things that was, you know, I suppose a tick against us was we didn't have a university. And I know we had a client almost ready to commit, yeah, and that the university was the the piece that just wasn't there and they ended up uh going to Limerick. Um, but now that we have that, there is nothing that we haven't got, so there's no reason why we can't have a global organization either come and invest here or start here and grow globally.

SPEAKER_01 49:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:26

You know, there's there's nothing stopping us. It's the reverse as well, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 49:30

That the local company starting here and then going global. Absolutely. It's both ways. Yeah. On another episode, we had um BD and Danone join us and they talked about why they chose Wextford and it it's the people. It's people and it's the talent. Um and that misconception that we don't have the talent here is.

SPEAKER_02 49:47

Yeah, and I think the the the young people are looking for something really different from careers now, you know. We are seeing that, and they're they're prioritizing different things. I mean, when we were young, it was like just drive hard and go, go, go, and every hour God sends you want to be pursuing you know what you have to do. But um they're much more thoughtful now in terms of what they're looking for. Um and they're looking for a good work-life balance, they're looking for um, you know, um an area where they can connect with the community, connect with the the nature. They're you know, they're they're I think that the the talent, you know, they're yeah, we have to appeal to people differently. Yeah. Um and it's they're making different career choices. Um we, you know, they're they're very conscious of sustainability, things like that. So, you know, that's where I think being in Wexford, where we can offer so much more than maybe in a big city, is important. I think growing talent and keeping them is probably easier if you keep them in the place where they want to be, you know, and so I I just think there's a there's a a culture shift there that we need to be mindful of and and make adjustments for.

SPEAKER_03 50:54

I oversimplify sometimes when I talk about roles and I say that if you can do change management, you can do program management, and you can do relationship management, you can probably do any role. Now, if we hone in on the relationship management aspect of it, one of the things that I think we're uniquely talented at, and I don't know why, but I've heard it said back to us a number of times, is that we can go out and tell people what they don't want to hear in a way that they find acceptable that allows you to make a breakthrough and drive forward. And I I've particularly heard that from some of our US counterparts that you know, we'll put the problem on the table, we'll talk about what the challenge is.

SPEAKER_02 51:31

Yeah, I think we're very the the US word is is we we use a lot of candor, right? What I would say is we say what we're thinking. Sometimes we need to polish it up a bit, but um we're generally quite direct and open. You know, we say what we're thinking, which uh I think to some people is refreshing because you you it even if it's a problem, we want to look at it. It it's put it on the table and let's have a chat about it rather than kind of have this kind of building up in it, it becomes kind of a passive aggressive thing. Um, and so you know, I think our personalities are like that. I think we're we form relationships quite easily with people from different cultures uh because we can usually connect to something.

SPEAKER_03 52:13

And sustainable relationships so that when we tell them the bad things, we're still they know we're coming from a good place, yeah, and you're able to keep that all the way.

SPEAKER_02 52:19

They usually trust you relatively easy. I think that's something that Irish people have a good um way about you know, building trust with people, um, and that's really important. Yeah. Um, and so we we do that quite well, and I think that serves us uh really well globally with different cultures.

SPEAKER_04 52:37

It's the transparency of sharing when there's a problem, but maybe coming with solutions as well. Oh, that's absolutely critical. Yeah, Colin, you mentioned change management. I think change management and lean are two of the most valuable skills you can learn throughout your career. And it doesn't matter what industry you're in, lean applies to every industry, really, doesn't it? Um so if to someone tries to run in the house, yeah, planning removing all that waste, it doesn't belong in the house. Um so yeah, we obviously have a skill net in Kentucky Expert Chamber, and we've lots of people uh availing of the lean training we do, um, and it's such a valuable skill. I'm gonna finish up with a quick fire round. So the first is the person, the person who's had a big impact on your life. It can be a personal level, it can be a work level, career level.

SPEAKER_02 53:23

I think well, the persons there's lots of persons that had impact on my life. I suppose from a career perspective, from a personal perspective, I would say my parents. From a career perspective, I would say I I talked about my friends that I have and they were in the trenches with me when times were tough at when we were at Clearstream and they they'd call you out if you weren't, you know, necessarily kind of pulling up to to where you need to be in terms of pulling your weight. They'd also encourage you when your confidence would be low and things aren't going right, and they'd be like, Come on, you know you can do it. Like shake yourself off here now and get on with it. Yeah. And you know, you could have a bit of fun with them along the way as well. And I think that's what really gets you through the tough times, you know. It's when you can kind of be real and you can say, Let's get out of here for an hour and go do something. Um, so they're the enduring impact on me in terms of over the years. We worked together back, uh we did the MBO in 2000, so it's 26 years now. And we have our quarterly meetings, as we call them, every every every quarter, somewhere somewhere nice. Um, and we're like-minded in a lot of ways, and we're different in a lot of ways. So I think that from a career perspective, probably the biggest impact on me. Excellent.

SPEAKER_03 54:43

Again, I'll I'll talk about personal and professional. On the personal side, definitely my parents. When I talk about uh my values in a professional context, I talk about uh passion, integrity, and innovation. But they actually all link back to my upbringing, I suppose. The passion one was it didn't matter whether I was hoovering or cutting the grass, you do it right or you don't do it at all. Yeah. When it came to the integrity piece of it, if I told a lie, I was getting in a hell of a lot more trouble than if I told the truth. So always put the truth on the table and and deal with whatever the problem is. And then the innovation one was more around some people look at things that are and ask why. I look at things that are not and ask why not. Okay. Right. So just because it hasn't been done doesn't mean it's not possible. And again, all three of them back to what my parents would have always said to me growing up. On the professional side, I suppose I'll go back to that mentor I spoke about earlier. Um I believed that I either had to leave Microsoft or I had to slow down my career. And he was the one that said why. And I probably wasn't asking myself why. So I think he had a massive influence on me because he helped me think through the fact that just because I was in Wexford didn't mean I couldn't have a career and continue to grow my career. I was probably mid or earlier stage in my career when I moved back here to Wexford. So he was dead right. I probably was my own blocker and and he had a major influence on how I thought about that.

SPEAKER_04 56:08

What was his name?

SPEAKER_03 56:09

Tim.

SPEAKER_04 56:10

Tim. Um okay. The next is a place. So a place in Wexford that means something to you that can be a place to eat, or something you go for a pint or a Pinot, or I had two that came to mind for me, actually.

SPEAKER_03 56:23

One of them will resonate with you, I think, Paula, which is uh what we refer to as St Anne's because it was where Paula grew up and Paula and I are neighbours. My grandparents were there as well, and and we all came together there, you know, like it was almost every weekend, if not more frequently. And then the second place that was linked directly to that, I suppose, because when we were all there, the next place we went to was Kilmorekey. We spent years, you know, kind of growing up in an environment where um it was just different type and quality of life. And and really to this day, if I'm stressed or if I need to go somewhere different, it's easy to just go down to Kilmorekey and walk down the pier and again solve all those problems as you're walking around and not thinking about uh all the all the other things that are going on in the world.

SPEAKER_04 57:12

Not like a bit of southeast coastal sunshine and wind to clear your head and make things seem better. Yeah. Love it. Pauline.

SPEAKER_02 57:20

Um home I would say, and home is kind of two places. So it's Nescorty where I live now with my husband and sons, and it's where you're kind of at ease. And home, the other home is in Feathered, where I grew up. Um and that's where all my family are. So it's kind of like what Colin said, it's kind of where where you were shaped. Yeah. And so both places obviously where you belong. And other than that, it's like that the coast, the beaches. I grew up in Feathered, beach, great peace. And definitely if you walk on a beach and you're on your own, it's just it's lovely. Yeah. It's it's great for resetting the head, and you know, it's it's great for just clearing out the cobwebs. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 58:08

Even areas like Slade down that direction, gorgeous, isn't it? So peaceful. Dollar Bay would have been our dollar bay, yeah, beautiful. Yeah. We've 260 kilometres of coastline in County Export, you know. And a lot of it is stunning beaches from the Kalmoras.

SPEAKER_02 58:23

We used to walk across the fields to the beach um in drip. Like there's 14 of us in the family, so there was a long line over the course of the afternoon. And you know, we talk about uh uh parents and how they shape you, and you know, a lot of it, like uh Colin said, the values and the resilience, yeah, you know, because when there's 14 in the family, you don't get a lot of attention individually, right? So it's like there's no there's no point in whing you can get on with it, figure out how you get past it. And you know, uh uh I don't mean sound hard, but that that was it wasn't hard, but um it just built that resilience in you and kind of uh football team basically at home, you know. So there's a lot of support around, and uh yeah, we used to spend a lot of time. Well, if you did, if you didn't go to the beach, you got a lot of jobs. Yeah, you were on the beach a lot. Yeah, you spent your summer your summers down there. Um, and you know, you you went to the beach early in the day and you came back in the evening, and basically, I'd say a head count was done. We have them all, grand mall. Everything was fine. Where did you come into 14?

SPEAKER_04 59:24

12. Number 12. Right, okay.

SPEAKER_02 59:27

Yeah, apparently we got it easy.

SPEAKER_04 59:28

We were the young ones, got it easy. I'm middle as well. Um, you just find you found things to do, didn't you? Like there wasn't obviously Xboxes or PlayStations or Netflix's or anything like that. God no. Um you just found things to do. Yeah, but you wouldn't be inside on your mother's feet anyway. No, you wouldn't. Unless you're ironing or washing dishes. You'd have jobs. You wouldn't be just sitting around, no. Um I love learning about where people like to eat in Wexford. Where'd you like to eat in Wexford? What's your favourite place?

SPEAKER_02 59:56

Well, in an escorti via Venito, uh really like that. I haven't been in there. Um it's an Italian, really nice. Nice. It's been there for a while. It's it's it's a real nice vibe in the place and uh yeah, really nice kind of nearly family atmosphere. Okay. I like to eat in the vine as well. Oh, the vine pie. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, the the kids like the vine as well, so uh it's somewhere suitable for all four. Well, Vivanitos as well. Okay, Colin, where do you like to eat?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:21

Well, I'll I'll maybe give a hidden gem. So in Roslare Golf Club, La Vista have the restaurant now at the moment. Oh, do they? And there as well. La Vista. And it's it's really good. And you know, I've I've eaten in some of their other establishments, but I think the golf club is actually the best one of them. Yeah, so really nice there. And and the other thing, you know, I suppose being from Wexford, I'm also partial to a wristle. So from anywhere.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:46

A wristle from anywhere. Premier is probably the best, is it? Most well known. Good old wristle in Wexford. On the note of wristles in Wexford, folks, thank you so much. Pauline, Colin, thank you for being with us. Thank you for giving back to the county in all the ways you do, because I know you have your international careers, but you do give back on various boards and committees you sit on. And thanks for joining me today. You're very welcome.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:11

Thanks for listening to this episode of Business Connections. For more information on County Wexford Chamber and how it is working to shape Wexford's future as a great place to work, live, and do business. Visit County WexfordChabber.ie. The recording of this podcast is supported by Leader.