THE Equine Summit will kick off at 3pm on Thursday, November 9th with a welcome address from Henry Corbally, Glanbia Group chairman.This will be followed by a keynote address from Alltech’s founder and president, Dr Pearse Lyons.

Sasha Kerins from Grant Thornton will then present a set of equine industry statistics which will precede the discussion sessions outlined elsewhere on these pages.

Ticket holders will be served dinner at 5.30pm but, just before that, the Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed, will give a speech.

Here we profile the four contributors named above:

HENRY CORBALLY

Glanbia Group Chairman

Henry was appointed to the Glanbia co-operative board in 1999. He was appointed Glanbia Group chairman two years ago. He farms at Kilmainhamwood in Co Meath and is a former vice-chairman of the National Dairy Council. Henry holds a certificate of merit in corporate governance from University College Cork.

MICHAEL CREED

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Born in Macroom, Minister Creed was educated at St Colman’s College (Fermoy), De La Salle College (Macroom), at University College Cork and the College of Commerce, Rathmines.

He was a member of Cork County Council from 1987 until 2007 and was elected chairman from 2005 to 2006.

He was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1989 general election and retained his seat until 2002. He was chairman of the Dáil Small Business and Services Committee from 1995-’97. He was party spokesperson on Education, Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht (1994), Health (1989–’93) and Youth and Sport (1993-’94).

After regaining his Dáil seat at the 2007 general election, he was party spokesperson on Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (2007-10). He was appointed Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine in May 2016.

SASHA KERINS

Partner and Head of Agri-Food, Grant Thornton

Sasha joined Grant Thornton in 2008, having previously spent time working in both practice and industry. She also leads the firm’s Kildare office. She advises on a number of areas of taxation across a variety of sectors but principally in the areas of food and agriculture, construction and e-commerce.

Sasha has extensive experience advising medium/large privately-held businesses on corporation tax and succession planning as well as working with international clients on corporate re-organisations and structuring.

She has a strong involvement in both the thoroughbred and sport horse sectors and advises a number of clients. She was previously a member of the Curragh Racecourse Committee for four years and is currently a member on HRI’s Audit and Risk Committee.

Sasha also has a personal interest in the industry having competed from pony level up, across a number of equestrian disciplines.

DR PEARSE LYONS

Founder and President of Alltech

With his experience in brewing and his specialist knowledge of yeast fermentation, Dr Pearse Lyons saw an opportunity to improve agriculture around the world when he moved from Ireland to the US with his young family in the 1970s.

In 1980, he founded Alltech with just $10,000 and a vision: to discover new ways to sustain our planet and all living things on it. His scientific expertise, combined with an acute business sense, helped revolutionise the animal feed industry through the introduction of natural ingredients to feed.

Dr Lyons was acknowledged as leading one of the top 100 fastest-growing high-tech companies by World Trade Magazine. Dr Lyons spearheaded Alltech’s commitment to international equestrian sport, beginning with the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games 2010 in Lexington, Kentucky, which was followed by the record-breaking Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games 2014 in Normandy, France.