Tête à Tête #1

We were delighted to kick off the first edition of our new Tête-à-Tête fireside chat series at 12:30 on Tuesday, June 2nd. Anne Marie O'Toole-Deviller, Global Head of Marketing at Kingspan Group, joined NetworkIrlande President and Equans CEO, Richard Dujardin, for an engaging and insightful conversation.

During this 30-minute lunchtime session, Anne Marie shared her Franco-Irish journey and reflected on Kingspan’s remarkable growth from a small engineering company founded in Kingscourt, Co. Cavan, into a global leader in building products and sustainable construction solutions. Together, Richard and Anne Marie explored the challenges shaping today’s business environment and discussed the resilience required to navigate an increasingly complex and competitive landscape. With 19 registered guests and 13 attendees, we were delighted with the strong participation and positive engagement for this inaugural event.

Anne Marie spoke about her own career path, having arrived in France from Galway in 2003 as a graduate and one of Kingspan’s first three employees in the country. More than two decades later, France has become Kingspan Group’s largest market, employing over 2,300 people across 47 manufacturing and commercial sites and nine separate entities. The Group, whose revenues exceeded €9 billion in 2025, has achieved much of its growth in France through strategic acquisitions. While insulation remains at the heart of Kingspan’s business, the company now provides a comprehensive range of solutions addressing energy efficiency, ventilation, acoustics and broader building performance requirements.

A key theme throughout the discussion was the importance of people. Anne Marie emphasised that Kingspan’s success is driven by its employees, whose expertise, commitment and customer-focused approach enable the company to deliver excellence while remaining resilient during periods of uncertainty. The Group’s strategic focus on innovation and sustainability is underpinned by strong technical capabilities and close collaboration across international teams.

Richard and Anne Marie also discussed Kingspan’s involvement in sport through partnerships with Rugby Club Toulonnais and Tom Dolan Racing. These partnerships reflect many of the company’s core values, including honesty, humility, determination and hard work. Looking at current market conditions, Anne Marie acknowledged that sustainability initiatives are facing challenges in some regions. However, she remains confident in Kingspan’s long-term positioning, noting that energy efficiency continues to be a priority worldwide, alongside growing attention to the environmental impact of products throughout their life cycle. She also identified significant opportunities for future growth, particularly within the rapidly expanding data centre sector.

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Anne Marie for helping us launch this new series and for sharing her experience and insights with our members. We have invited participants to provide feedback and hope to incorporate audience questions into future Tête à Tête sessions where time allows.

If you were unable to attend the live session, you can still watch the recording: HERE ! 

Our next Tête-à-Tête will feature Andrew Coffey, CEO of Smurfit Westrock, and we look forward to sharing the date with you very soon.