Anne Sheehan Appointed General Manager of Microsoft Ireland
29th July 2021
Anne Sheehan has been appointed General Manager of Microsoft Ireland. She will assume the role at the beginning of October taking on responsibility for the sales, marketing and services business across the island of Ireland with a particular focus on delivering business transformation with Microsoft’s customers and partners within the public and private sectors.
Anne joins from Vodafone UK where she is currently the Enterprise Director with responsibility for sales, brand, product and solution design, services and government relations across multiple lines of business. Before assuming the UK responsibilities, Anne ran Vodafone Ireland’s enterprise business in Ireland for four years. Prior to that, Anne worked at IBM for 16 years in a number of senior positions including Vice President of Sales and Services for the Nordic Region, Sales and Services Director for IBM Ireland, Head of Channel, and Head of Infrastructure & Technology Services.
Commenting on the appointment, Cindy Rose, President, Microsoft Western Europe, said: “I’ve had the pleasure of working with Anne in the past, during my own time at Vodafone. I was always impressed by her high energy and pace, her growth mindset and customer obsession. I know she is passionate about partnering with businesses and the public sector, whatever their size, industry or ambitions, to help them find ways to use technology to drive success now and in the future.
I also know her to be an empathetic and caring leader with deep commitment to building diverse and inclusive teams.
I am confident that Anne will bring all of these qualities and more as she builds on the incredible foundation that the Microsoft Ireland team has established and to help accelerate the growth and transformation of Microsoft’s customers in Ireland.”
Anne Sheehan commented: “I am delighted and honoured to join Microsoft. It is a company I have admired and worked in partnership with over recent years. Microsoft has been on a very exciting journey in Ireland. I look forward to working with the team to take the business forward in a market that has huge opportunity. I am motivated by working with great teams, collaborating with our customers and winning in the market.
I am passionate about fostering an environment where learning, being curious, bold and ambitious are core to achieving our goals.
I feel incredibly privileged to be joining such a great team, and I look forward to us working to support our customers on their digital transformation journey together.”
Anne’s appointment follows the decision by Cathriona Hallahan to retire from the company following more than 35 years of service in a wide variety of global and regional operations and sales roles.
Cindy Rose added: “I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Cathriona Hallahan for her exceptional contribution to Microsoft. Not only did she drive strong commercial growth within the business but her passion for unlocking the power of technology to drive transformation and ensure inclusiveness across the economy and society was infectious. Certainly, her contribution will have an impact on generations to come.”
Cathriona Hallahan concludes: “I would like to wish Anne well in her new role in what is an exciting time for Microsoft in Ireland.
Leaving Microsoft is bittersweet for me. I have had such an amazing journey – literally and metaphorically – as I essentially grew up and matured in parallel with the company.
I have truly had a fantastic time and appreciate all that the company has enabled me to do and to learn. I now look forward to my next chapter, which will see me take on new and exciting challenges and apply my experience and knowledge to support other organisations to transform and grow.”
