Brendan Noonan, Senior Vice-President of Group Learning and Development at Emirates Group will present a talk entitled ‘Leadership Lessons from a Global Airline Company' this evening as part of the RCSI Institute of Leadership Lecture Series.

This is the third lecture of the 2013/2014 RCSI Lessons in Leadership Series which will be delivered to approximately 100 health professionals at RCSI, 123 St Stephen's Green, Dublin.

Speaking ahead of the lecture, Noonan said: “Leaders must have vision, develop a strategy and implement it correctly, and implementation can only be achieved through development of staff that have the skills knowledge and attributes to deliver a safe customer focused service.”

Noonan lecture will present the story of how Emirates Airline has become a global aviation company and will outline the leadership steps that had to be taken to achieve success.

Professor Ciaran O'Boyle, Director of the RCSI Institute of Leadership said: “We are delighted to welcome Brendan Noonan at this evening's 'Lessons in Leadership' lecture. With organisations in the healthcare sector and beyond becoming increasingly large-scale, complex and globalised, there will be numerous invaluable insights from the global airline industry which are relevant to those in positions of leadership across many sectors.”

Brendan Noonan is an aviation veteran having worked in the industry for more than 30 years. In his current roles for the Emirates Group which incorporates Emirates airline and DNATA , the world's fourth-largest ground handling company, he is responsible for the learning and development needs of over 65,000 staff worldwide (excluding Engineering, Cabin Crew and Flight Crew) and manages a team of 176 staff. 

Originally from Dublin, Ireland, he has just completed 21 years with the company based in Dubai, having started in 1992 following earlier positions in London and Bahrain with Thomas Cook, London Olympic Airways and Gulf Air. He has travelled extensively and has delivered service training programmes and strategy development programmes for many different airlines, hotels and banks worldwide, during his career.

In 2011 he was requested by An Taoiseach to participate in the Global Irish Economic Forum with a select group of key Irish business people from across the globe. The objective was to look at options that could help the country develop its GDP and assist the Irish government in finding solution to its financial crisis.

The RCSI Institute of Leadership is Ireland's only third level institution dedicated exclusively to developing the leadership and management capacity of health professionals. While the Institute is a fully academic institution, it maintains close connections with the world of healthcare delivery and its programmes are characterised by flexibility, speed of response, customer service and a blended learning approach that allows our students to learn while continuing to work. The Institute has campuses in Dublin, Bahrain and Dubai and it also deliver programmes in Abu Dhabi, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

2013/2014 programme

• 12 February 2014: Mr Brendan Noonan, Vice President Learning & Development, Emirates Airline, Dubai , UAE - Leadership Lessons from a Global Airline Company
• 14 May 2014: Mr Jimmy Sheehan, Galway Clinic - The Leadership Challenge in the Private Healthcare Sector