John Treacy appointed as new Chair at Port of Waterford

An Olympics legend has been appointed as Chair at the Port of Waterford, it has been confirmed. 

The board of directors at the Port of Waterford is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr John Treacy, above, as the Chair of the Company from May 2nd 2023.

The former athlete crowned an impressive career with a silver medal in the 1984 LA Olympics marathon. 

A native of Villierstown, he attended St Anne's Post-Primary School in Cappoquin.

John joins the board following a recruitment process and the completion of his role as voluntary chair of the board of Concern Worldwide alongside his role as Chief Executive at Sport Ireland where he provided a strategic leadership role in the further development of Sport Ireland and bringing to fruition a variety of projects for the organisation.

Prior to his role at Sport Ireland, John was also Chief Executive at the Irish Sports Council and during the period of his training for the LA Olympic Games, he also worked with the Irish Export Board. John will bring his vast leadership experience and his skills in strategic development, change management and governance to his role at the Port of Waterford company.

Welcoming John to the role, Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan TD said: "The Port of Waterford is the most important Load-On Load-Off (Lo-Lo ) port in the Southeast and I was delighted to appoint John Treacy as Chairperson of the Company. The Port enjoys excellent connectivity to both the national road and rail networks and I know that John will bring his skills to bear in furthering the sustainable growth of the Company.

"It is important that all of our main ports are developed in a sustainable way. Waterford Port is only one of two ports in Ireland with an operating rail freight terminal. The further development of rail freight is a key priority of mine as Minister for Transport and the forthcoming All Island Strategic Rail Review will set an increased ambition for rail freight as a means of addressing congestion and emissions from road haulage over the next 30 years". 

John replaces Des Whelan who completed his term as Chair in late 2022 after 8 successful years guiding the Port to growth and through the development of its Masterplan.

The board is very pleased to welcome John to the team at the Port Company. John joins the Port at a significant time as the Port focuses on the project developments within its 25-year Masterplan to 2044 and throughput is growing year on year. 

Chief Executive at the Port David Sinnott said: "We are very pleased to welcome John Treacy as Chair at the Port of Waterford. He is hugely competent and holds a depth of broad-ranging business experience. We know that his addition to the team here at the Port will be a valuable one. We are very much looking forward to working with John to further shape the future and continued growth of the Port of Waterford".

In accepting the role John said: "I am delighted to be appointed by Minister Ryan to chair the Port of Waterford Company. The Southeast is of course very close to my heart and look forward to working with the board and the highly skilled team and further building upon the ambitious future plans for the Port, its community and stakeholders for the entire Southeast region".