Head of LinkedIn Ireland, Sharon McCooey to Retire
18th April 2023
If you check out Monaghan native Sharon McCooey’s LinkedIn profile you can’t but be impressed. In an early interview with WMB, as Country Manager and Head of LinkedIn in Ireland she said that one of the reasons for LinkedIn’s success was the fact that the company is a purpose-driven organisation.
In the WMB interview (from 2018), she admitted: “I call it my dream job – it causes me to jump out of bed every day.” For 13 years, this continued to be ‘her dream job’ and during this time Sharon scaled the business from 3 employees to c1780+ employees today.
However at the end of June this year, Sharon plans to step down from LinkedIn to pursue other passions.
“I have been very fortunate to call LinkedIn my dream job for thirteen years. It has been the icing on the cake of my 35-year professional career. Today {Monday 17th, April, 2023} I shared with our team at LinkedIn, my intention to retire at the end of June,” she announced.
LinkedIn in Ireland manages the EMEA division. Profits increased in 2021 by 42%. And although there were plans to increase LinkedIn’s physical footprint in the city, these plans have been scaled back because of emerging work trends post pandemic with less need for physical office space.
“LinkedIn was in its infancy when I joined in 2010 with just 78 million members, and only a small footprint of employees and customers outside of the U.S.
In those early days, it was just me and three colleagues in Dublin. How things have changed.
Now there are over 900 million members – with over 2 million in Ireland – with more than 80% of our member growth coming from outside the U.S. It has been a remarkable period, and I feel very lucky to have played a role from humble beginnings, hiring initial employees, to opening our wonderful Dublin campus space, and to this year marking our 20th anniversary,” she writes.
As the search for her replacement commences, she reveals: “It is now time to hand over to another lucky person, a job I would recommend in a heartbeat. A process to appoint my successor will kick off shortly, more news to follow.”
So how do you follow up on such a stellar career? “I plan to fulfill a long-held promise to myself to travel. For starters, I will be back on my bike with my friends from Paris2Nice,” she divulges.
As a proud, soon to be, LinkedIn alumna, Sharon’s contribution to the business world is immense. As a woman in leadership and a role model, she has been vocal about her passion for diversity and inclusion. She will be one hard act to follow.
