50 Years of Co-op: Karen Ronan

Tell us a bit about yourself, what course did you study in UL, what has your career looked like to date?

I graduated from the Kemmy School of Business with a BBS in 1993. Over the past 30 years, I’ve built a robust career in business and sports tourism, both in Ireland and internationally. My journey in tourism began with a co-op placement at Bord Fáilte in New York, followed by another at the Collisons Dromineer Bay Hotel in Tipperary. It was during my time at UL that I truly discovered my passion for tourism.

Currently, I manage the Shannon Region Conference and Sports Bureau. In this role, I focus on enhancing the brand equity and market share of Limerick and the wider Shannon Region as premier destinations for global business and sporting events. Since I took on this role in 2003, I’ve led the bureau in generating an economic impact of €150 million for the region. I’ve also established Limerick as a preferred destination for major conference and sports event organisers worldwide. A significant part of my work involves collaborating with the conference and events team at UL, leveraging the campus’s capability to host world-class events.

In addition to my role at the bureau, I serve as a board member of Limerick Market Trustees and SITE Ireland. After serving as President of Network Limerick in 2023, I joined the national executive of Network Ireland as Branch Support and EDI.

I have a strong interest in sustainable tourism and events that drive legacy and impact, as well as embedding EDI practices in all my roles. This interest was furthered by my recent postgraduate studies at UL in Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in 2021, and in Sustainable Work as part of the current academic year.

Tell us a bit about your co-op placement, what organisation did you work with and what year it took place?

I did my first placement with Bord Failte (now Tourism Ireland) on Park Ave in New York in 1995.  I still remember my interview for the role and how I had to talk about my knowledge of Ireland as a tourism destination.  I am forever grateful to my dad for the many trips around the country as kids to various places and the exposure to Irish music along the way to being the key to that successful interview.

The experience was incredible.  I worked in the “action centre” a dedicated 1800 number that people in the US would call to get advice about a prospective trip to Ireland.  Email did not exist in our world and so after a call you would add a note to a computer system that went to a mail room and a physical brochure relevant to the type of vacation you had discussed with the client would be mailed to their home address.

It was my first experience of a trade show, meeting tour operators in the Waldorf Astoria in New York which is a key activity I still do to this day. Highlights during my placement were helping launch Maeve Binchy’s book The Glass Lake in Manhattan and meeting Maureen O’Hara at the Irish American Awards in 1995.

What impact did your co-op placement have on your future career?

My co-op placement paved the way for my entire career to date.  I had no knowledge of tourism prior to joining Bord Failte and it has been the most rewarding career.  I learned about destination marketing and PR from the amazing team in Bord Failte while in New York, key skills that I still utilise today.  I saw first hand the power of the Irish Diaspora and how they can help influence business back to Ireland.  I helped thousands of people plan their vacation and I was absolutely inspired by their enthusiasm for Ireland as a destination.

I knew when I returned that tourism was where my heart lay and my second co-op copper fastened that.  I took up a marketing role with Denis and Lily Collison in their gorgeous lakeside hotel Dromineer Bay Hotel, Co. Tipperary for my second co-op.  Here I learned the grassroots of hotel management and customer service.  Lily owned a training company based in the hotel “Shannon Quality Training”, attracting international delegates to ISO9000 training course at the hotel.  I saw firsthand how important business tourism could be to help underpin our hotel sector and combat seasonality.

I have met so many wonderful people, travelled all over the world and I am so proud to be a champion for Limerick, UL and the Island of Ireland as part of my job.  Professor Jim Deegan was my final year project advisor and to this day Failte Ireland and Tourism Ireland use metrics in business tourism that he helped develop, to understand the net worth of a conference delegate coming to Ireland from overseas.  UL has had a huge impact on my life and I’m so proud to be a UL alumna.

What piece of advice would you give to students going on co-op now?

Consider taking an overseas placement.  Embrace it, take the risk, jump outside your comfort zone.  It’s a lifechanging experience.  Be open to new challenges, learn from the people around you and always remember to leave a positive impression as you are representing UL and your future self.  Co-op is still a conversation piece for me when talking about my career so look at it as the first step in your CV.