Mayo woman earns executive director position with ESB

ESB chief executive Paddy Hayes has today announced the appointment of Sinéad Kilkelly as executive director, people and organisational development, and Paul Smith as executive director, engineering and major projects.

Sinéad, a daughter of John and Sheila Kilkelly, Curragh, Castlebar, will take up the role in the new year.

The appointments were approved by the board and both Sinéad and Paul now join the executive director team at ESB.

Sinéad Kilkelly joins ESB from Bus Éireann, where she has held the position of chief people officer since 2018. Prior to this she held a number of senior leadership roles, including vice-president of people services at Etihad Aviation Group in Abu Dhabi, in addition to HR roles in Ulster Bank and Intel Ireland. 

She also has an MBA from Trinity College Dublin and is a Chartered Fellow with CIPD.

Paul Smith joined ESB in 1992 and has held a number of senior management roles in the company, including station manager at Aghada Generating Station, head of generation operations and, most recently, head of asset development, where he led the expansion of ESB’s renewables portfolio in Ireland and the UK. 

He holds a B.Eng. in electrical and electronics engineering from Queen’s University Belfast and also an MBA from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.

Commenting on this announcement, Mr. Hayes said: “I am delighted to announce these new appointments and welcome Paul and Sinéad onto our executive team. I look forward to working closely with them to deliver our Brighter Future strategy, making a lasting difference for the customers and communities we serve.”