Guest Speaker:  Patrick Purcell, Founder & Non-Executive Director, Mincon Group plc

Patrick Purcell served an apprenticeship in the Irish Air Corps in the 1950s and later qualified as an accountant in Australia where he emigrated in 1961.  When he returned to Ireland in 1967 he joined Shannon Diamond & Carbide Ltd. (later Boart Longyear) and worked in various capacities with their European Group Companies for the next 10 years in a number of roles including Cost Accountant, Sales & Marketing Manager, General Manager of the manufacturing plant in Norway, and Director for European Sales Companies and Product Development.

Patrick set up Mincon in 1977 and developed the Mincon Group firstly in Ireland then into overseas areas including USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Sweden.  He remained as Executive Chairman until 2012 and post-flotation he has taken non-executive directorship.