{"id":269513,"date":"2026-01-06T02:58:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T02:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/269513\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T02:58:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T02:58:17","slug":"stephen-kent-appointed-ceo-of-cie-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/269513\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Kent Appointed CEO of CI\u00c9 Group"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stephen Kent Appointed CEO of CI\u00c9 Group<\/p>\n

The CI\u00c9 Group<\/strong> has confirmed the appointment of Stephen Kent<\/strong> as its new Chief Executive Officer<\/strong> after a competitive recruitment process.<\/p>\n

Kent takes up the role for a seven-year term<\/strong>. He succeeds Lorcan O\u2019Connor<\/strong>, who has moved into the role of CEO at Transport Infrastructure Ireland<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Strong Background in Public and Private Sectors<\/p>\n

Stephen Kent brings extensive leadership experience to the position. He began his career in the private sector with Waterford Crystal<\/strong> and later C&C Group<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In 2013, he joined Bus \u00c9ireann<\/strong> as Chief Commercial Officer<\/strong>. He went on to serve as Chief Executive Officer from 2018 to 2025<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Transformational Leadership at Bus \u00c9ireann<\/p>\n

During his time as CEO, Kent led one of the largest transformation programmes<\/strong> in Ireland\u2019s public sector. The organisation delivered major structural reform under his leadership.<\/p>\n

Passenger numbers grew strongly during this period. Bus \u00c9ireann also expanded services nationwide to meet rising demand.<\/p>\n

Driving Sustainable Transport Initiatives<\/p>\n

Kent worked closely with the National Transport Authority<\/strong> and the Department of Transport<\/strong>. Together, they delivered Ireland\u2019s first fully electric regional city bus network<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This project formed part of Bus \u00c9ireann\u2019s wider rollout of electric buses across the country.<\/p>\n

In partnership with the Department of Education<\/strong>, Bus \u00c9ireann also supported significant growth in the School Transport Scheme<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Stephen<\/p>\n

Kent served as CEO of Bus \u00c9ireann from 2018 to 2025. Photo: Sam Boal \/ RollingNews.ie<\/p>\n

Board Welcomes New Appointment<\/p>\n

Aidan Murphy<\/strong>, Chair of the CI\u00c9 Group Board, welcomed the appointment.<\/p>\n

\u201cStephen made a major contribution to the CI\u00c9 Group during his time at Bus \u00c9ireann,\u201d he said. \u201cHe brings a proven skill set that will help deliver CI\u00c9\u2019s ambitious plans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy also thanked outgoing leaders. He paid tribute to Lorcan O\u2019Connor<\/strong> for his leadership and Fiona O\u2019Shea<\/strong> for her role as Interim CEO.<\/p>\n

Vision for CI\u00c9\u2019s Future<\/p>\n

Stephen Kent said he was delighted to take up the role at a key moment for public transport.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an exciting period of growth for public transport in Ireland,\u201d he said. \u201cCollaboration will be essential as demand for sustainable mobility continues to rise.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the new CI\u00c9 Strategic Plan<\/strong> will place citizens at its centre. The plan will focus on climate action<\/strong>, sustainability<\/strong>, property development<\/strong>, and shared services<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Kent added that these initiatives will strengthen financial resilience and support greater investment and innovation.<\/p>\n

He said he looks forward to working with the CI\u00c9 Group Board<\/strong>, its operating companies, the National Transport Authority<\/strong>, and the Department of Transport<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

For the latest Waterford\u00a0News<\/a><\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/b>Sport<\/a>\u00a0,<\/a>\u00a0<\/b>tune into WLR News on the hour and download the WLR App for news on demand<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stephen Kent Appointed CEO of CI\u00c9 Group The CI\u00c9 Group has confirmed the appointment of Stephen Kent as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,18,19,17,137633],"class_list":{"0":"post-269513","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-stephen-kent-appointed-ceo-of-cie-group"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115845916499365648","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}