The Ibec President's Dinner 2026 is now live and ready for bookings. We are delighted to announce that Ibec's flagship business networking event will return to the RDS in September 2026, supported by our returning event partner Spencer Stuart.
Ibec's most prestigious networking event, the Ibec President's Dinner marks the annual handover of the Ibec Presidency. The event will be attended by 800+ senior industry leaders representing organisations across key sectors of the Irish economy. On the night, we will formally welcome Maureen Walsh, Managing Director, DeCare as the new Ibec President. Maureen will take over from the current Ibec President Colin Hunt, Chief Executive Officer at AIB Group. An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin has been invited to deliver a keynote address
Don’t miss the opportunity to network with leaders in Irish business and politics at this black-tie event.
To learn more about the Ibec Board, please see here.
Political / Guest speaker
Micheál Martin is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician serving as Taoiseach since January 2025, a role he previously held from 2020 to 2022. He has been the leader of Fianna Fáil since January 2011 and has served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Cork South-Central since 1989. Known for his extensive cabinet experience, he has held numerous ministerial portfolios
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Colin Hunt was appointed Chief Executive Officer of AIB and an Executive Director on the AIB Board in March 2019. He joined AIB in August 2016 as Managing Director, Wholesale, Institutional & Corporate Banking Division.
Prior to joining AIB, he was Managing Director at Macquarie Capital where he led the development of its business in Ireland. Previously, he was a Special Policy Adviser at the Departments of Transport and Finance, Research Director and Chief Economist at Goodbody Stockbrokers, Head of Trading Research and Senior Economist at Bank of Ireland Group Treasury and a country risk analyst at NatWest.
He has a PhD in Economics from Trinity College, Dublin and degrees in Commerce & Economics from University College, Cork. He served as a Non-Executive Director of Aer Lingus Group plc from 2008 to 2014. Colin is also a Board member of The Ireland Funds, Ireland Chapter, and was President 2021/2022 of the Institute of Bankers in Ireland.
Colin was appointed President of Ibec in September 2025.
Maureen, originally from the US, relocated from Boston to Ireland in 1999 to help establish DeCare Operations Ireland. She has successfully led DeCare Dental Insurance Ireland from start-up stages to become Ireland’s first and only specialist dental and vision benefits insurer with over 76,000 members.
Maureen holds a Bachelor of Science from Boston College, an MBA from the National University of Ireland, Galway, and is a Certified Insurance Practitioner.
Actively engaged in various associations, she serves on the Ibec Board of Directors, acts as Chairperson of the Digital and AI Policy group within Ibec, and served two terms as Ibec West Regional President. She was also a member of the Governing Body of GMIT (now ATU). Maureen serves on the Local Enterprise Evaluations and Appeals Committee and previously served as Chairperson of the Mayo Cancer Association.
She is the Deputy President and a Board member of Ibec and will take up the role of Ibec President in September 2025.
