Imelda Hurley, CEO at Coillte, the semi-state forestry company, talks about her passion for sustainability and the importance of Ireland’s climate action and biodiversity agenda for the Irish economy and society 

Imelda Hurley knew from an early age that she was destined for a career in business. Hurley tells Accountancy Ireland about her career path and how Coillte’s strategic vision will further support its contribution to Ireland’s climate targets, optimising the multiple benefits from forestry. 

Tell us about yourself and the start of your career.

I grew up on a family dairy farm just outside Clonakilty in West Cork. My first job was with Clonakilty Black Pudding, a little-known brand back then, but now a very successful and entrepreneurial operation. I completed a Business Studies degree at the University of Limerick. Following that I joined Arthur Andersen and became a Chartered Accountant.

During that time, I had the opportunity to engage with multinationals and indigenous companies. That gave me a great lens into how organisations successfully operate, develop and implement strategy.

How has your career evolved since you qualified as a Chartered Accountant?

A: I always had an ambition to become a CFO and eventually a CEO. My career experience has been from farm to fork to forestry, working in the food, agribusiness and agriservices businesses across a variety of ownership structures. 

During my role as CFO and Head of Corporate Sustainability at PCH International in China, I had the opportunity to learn more about sustainable product development and supply chain management. 

That was over 10 years ago, when few organisations were talking about sustainability. I’m left reflecting on how times have changed over those 10 years and how there is an increased focus on sustainability today. 

You were appointed as CEO of Coillte in November 2019. Tell us about your role and what attracted you to the position.

I really enjoy the outdoors and nature. Coillte gave me a great opportunity to work in a business with a commercial focus, but also a business delivering social good.

I joined Coillte in November 2019 and I spent much of the first two years navigating the pandemic. I wanted to ensure that Coillte emerged from the pandemic as a sustainable, viable and vibrant organisation. I am pleased to say that when we reported our 2021 results, we delivered record revenues, record profitability and a record dividend to the State. 

Coillte manages 440,000 hectares of primarily forested land, circa seven percent of Ireland’s land, with about 6,000 individual properties. We have just over 800 employees and 1,200 contractors working across three divisions: Coillte Forest, Land Solutions and Medite Smartply. 

Coillte is the nation’s largest forester and producer of certified wood, a natural, renewable and sustainable resource and the largest provider of outdoor recreation space in Ireland. It enables wind-energy on the estate, processes forestry by-products and undertakes nature rehabilitation projects of scale.

When you were presented with your Businessperson of the Year Award in December, you were described as an “advocate for sustainable business practices and a leader in sustainability discussions”. Why is sustainability important to you?

We are on a journey that requires us to leave the planet in a better place than we found it. There is a financial balance sheet but also an environmental and social balance sheet. Good business brings these together. From my perspective, I accepted the award on behalf of Team Coillte, all of whom work every day to balance and deliver the multiple benefits of forestry. 

Tell us about the strategic vision you launched last year and Coillte’s plans for the next 12 months and beyond.

In April 2022, we launched a new forest strategic vision focusing on four pillars – Forests for Climate, Wood, Nature and People.

This vision sees us, as an example, enabling the creation of 100,000 hectares of new forests by 2050. Those forests will sink approximately 18 million tonnes of CO2. 

We are also working on how we manage our existing forests to capture an additional 10 million tonnes of CO2 by 2050. 

We have an ambition to redesign approximately 30,000 hectares of peatland forests through a programme of rewetting or rewilding for climate and ecological benefits and also aiming to enable the generation of one gigawatt of renewable wind energy by 2030. 

From a people and recreational perspective, we are targeting to enable €100 million of investment to create world-class visitor destinations by 2030. 

In July 2022, we launched Beyond The Trees, Avondale at Avondale Forest Park in County Wicklow and in June of this year, we opened the newly refurbished Avondale House, further adding to Avondale Forest Park experience, which has had over 300,000 visitors since June 2022.

Our ongoing focus is to continue to ensure a strong, viable, vibrant Coillte that focuses on optimising our contribution to Ireland’s Climate Action plan, while continuing to deliver sustainably certified timber to support the decarbonisation of the built environment. 

Our strategic vision also involves increasing from 20 percent of the estate being primarily managed for nature and biodiversity to 30 percent by 2025 and to 50 percent in the long-term.

Another major focus for us is workforce capacity, planning for our organisation and the industry more broadly. We have 440,000 hectares under management and between now and 2050 the State has an ambition to increase forest cover from 11.6 percent to 18 percent. As such there will be a requirement to attract more people into our sector going forward.

Are you glad you made the decision to qualify as a Chartered Accountant and what career advice would you offer your younger self?

A: In the early years of my career, I looked up to others. Ultimately, I realised what was much more important was to follow my own path and enjoy the journey. You have to do what makes you happy and if you work hard and are determined, good things will come.