Graduates of the Year 2018

The Project Management – Graduate of the Year Awards recognise and honour the hard work and high standards required to obtain the Certified Project Management Diploma and the associated international IPMA certification and academic recognition from TUD.

The objectives of the Institute’s “Project Management Graduate of the Year Awards” are to:

1. Recognise and honour the results in the qualifying examinations.
2. Increase awareness of the high quality and standards of IPMA qualification among the business community & the general public.
3. Increase the awareness of and status of project management as an important business discipline.

Graduates of the Year 2018

Meet our 2018 Graduate Award Winners who have successfully complete the Certified Project Management Diploma programme and attained their IPMA Certification. 

National Winner: Sorsha Foran

Sorsha graduated from University College Dublin with a Bachelor of Commerce in 2002. She also has a Diploma in Tax Policy and Practice (2016).

She is currently employed in the Department of Finance in the Tax Policy Division and her duties here involve:

• Briefing the Minister and senior management on tax and State aid matters
• Developing and implementing tax policy changes with successful execution through the Finance Bill legislative programme.

Before moving to the Department of Finance, she was with the Internal and EU Audit Unit of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Her initial engagement with the public sector was as a Trainee Auditor at the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Her professional qualifications include:

• Associate Membership of the Institute in Taxation Ireland
• Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accounts

Eastern Region Winner: Anna Smith

Anna graduated from Trinity College with a Bachelor of Business Studies and French in 2013 and took further studies at NEOMA Business School in France.

She is currently working as Communications | Core Banking Systems Programme at Bank of Ireland. Before that, she worked as a Project Manager and Communications Manager with Habitat for Humanity (HFH) Ireland. HFH is a non-profit housing and international development organisation.

Her responsibilities here included: Communications and Marketing, Institutional Funding and Compliance. 

She is an active Volunteer supporting the Irish Cancer Shop in Bray and has participated in Trinity College Student2Student Peer Mentor programme over a 3-year period.

Western Winner: Mikolaj Ratajczak

Mikolaj graduated from the University of Limerick with a Masters of Sciences in Technology Management in 2014, a Bachelors in Science and Technology (Specialist in Lean, Six Sigma and Quality Systems) in 2012 and a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology in 2007. 

He is currently working as an IT Program Manager & Business Partner in Teleflex Incorporated, where he is responsible for building trust and developing relationships with business partners and owning IT programs of projects within the EMEA & APAC regions.

Before that, he employed as an IT Project Manager at the Global IT Commercial PMO in Boston Scientific. He has also worked in the following areas: Enterprise IT Simplification, Global IT Mfg Operations, Global IT Supply Chain, Business Systems and Cardiology Value Stream.

His professional qualifications include Certified Scrum Master and Yellow Belt Six Sigma.

Southern Region Winner: Aoife Floyd

Aoife graduated from University College Cork with a Bachelor of Business Information Systems in 2002 with a First-Class Honour Degree (1H).

She is currently working as a Business Optimization Manager in VMware International. She is responsible for Business, System and Non-Technical readiness and partnering cross-functionality with multiple groups, including IT, BI, Analytics & Data Management PMO, PPM.

Before that, she worked as a Senior Business Analyst at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch and as a Software Developer at Fidelity Investments, where she started her career as a Technical Intern.

She is an active member of the Women in Technology & Operations (WIT&O) Committee at Bank of America and a registered volunteer for Special Olympics Ireland. She is also a Member of the Charity Committee, where she works with local charities to identify volunteering opportunities and works to engage associates to volunteer at these events.

If you would like to read more content like this, feel free to take a look at our 2016's graduates of the year award winners.