Name: Mairéad Golding 

Position & Organisation: Director of People & Change, Flogas Ireland 

Flogas Ireland 
Number of Employees: 500 


Give us an idea about your early life and career: 

Originally from Clondalkin, in Dublin, I graduated from UCD with an Arts Degree, a Post Grad in Business and zero idea as to what I wanted to be when I grew up! I toyed with the idea of accountancy and journalism, but the HR modules in my Post Grad were always my favourite, so following graduation, I applied for a Trainee HR Manager position with Dunnes Stores and relocated to Galway to start my training.  I loved every minute of my 6 years there. It was hard work, but I got to experience every single aspect of HR, from training and payroll to recruitment and employee relations. I spent lots of time on the shop floor too, which gave me such a good grounding, taught me to work under pressure and honed my commercial mindset. I worked in various stores, led the opening of two new ones and worked my way up to a regional manager with responsibility for 17 stores in the stores in the West of Ireland. Retail was such a good place to start a career in HR due to the sheer breadth of experiences you’re exposed to. 

After 6 years, it was time to move back to Dublin and after a brief stint in Paddy Power I took a role with Uniphar as Group HR manager. The business was a lot smaller than it is today and had no HR function, so my role was to set one up! It was great to put my stamp on all things HR and I also led several significant change programmes during my 6 years there. This really ignited my passion for leading change and transformation.  I also took the opportunity to go back to college in the evenings and undertake a Degree in HR with NCI and a Masters in HR Strategies with DCU. Stepping out of the day job to understand the theory and what good looked, gave me a whole new perspective and helped me become a more rounded HR professional. 

A move to the UK followed, with senior roles at Wolseley, Jaguar Land Rover and the AA. This gave me exposure to much larger scale organisations, partnering with senior stakeholders and helped me develop an enterprise mindset. I started to learn my value was more about being a leader than a functional HR expert and how important it is to understand every aspect of an organisation. My years in the UK also began my interest is DEI and Leadership Development. I moved home following the birth of my daughter, worked for myself for a while and then found my way to DCC and the HRD role at Certa Ireland. This was during a period of significant change for the business which allowed me to again stretch into areas outside of traditional HR activities.  In November 24, I moved within DCC to take on a similar and equally exciting role at Flogas. 


What are the key challenges you face in your role?  

After a tough week, what’s your go-to for recharging and staying grounded? 

What’s the funniest or most unusual thing that’s ever happened in an interview, and what did it teach you? 

What’s the most important piece of advice you’d give to someone aspiring to your role, especially in today’s fast-changing world? 

Imagine HR is a reality TV show—what would the title of your episode be?