Over The Rainbow: 5 Guiding Principles on How to Create Impactful Campaigns & Avoid Rainbow Washing

Carolan Lennon is a non-executive director with over 25 years of senior executive leadership across the telecoms and technology sectors working with leading organisations including Salesforce, Eir, and Vodafone.

During her time as Country Leader for Salesforce Ireland, Carolan led the company’s 3,000+ strong workforce, growing its presence as an EMEA talent hub, and leading the launch of the renowned Dublin Tower. As the first female CEO of Eir, one of Ireland's largest telecommunications companies, she led the organisation through a period of rapid transformation and growth during a pivotal period. She also held a number of senior leadership roles at Vodafone Ireland, including Marketing Director and Consumer Director.

Carolan currently serves on the boards of Salesforce Ireland, Flutter Entertainment, itrust6a and previously held the position of Senior Independent Director at AIB. Beyond the boardroom, she is a proud patron of Special Olympics Ireland, and has a passion for promoting corporate sustainability and advocating for equality in the workplace.

Carolan has a BSc from University College Dublin, and an MBA from Trinity College Dublin.

Prior to her board career, Orla worked with WaterWipes between early 2020- end 2022. As CEO and board member she with her exec team implemented a 3-year strategy that more than doubled the business with the brand now a top global brand leader in all its key markets including the U.S. An Irish founder owned global success story the WaterWipes brand, as the world's purest baby wipe has disrupted the wipes category with exponential growth in multiple geographies globally.
Until May 2019 Orla was Global President of Gum & Mints at Mars Wrigley Confectionery, a subsidiary of Mars, Incorporated. She led the Business Strategy, Global Innovation pipeline, Strategic P&L, capital program and Brand strategy for a Portfolio of Globally famous gum and mints brands including Orbit Extra, 5, Doublemint and Juicy Fruit to name but a few. She was also a member of the Mars Wrigley Leadership Team and Strategy team (a sub-team of the Leadership team responsible for Global Segment strategy).
Prior to this role she held the position of Chief Marketing Officer for Wrigley preceding the integration of the Mars Confectionery businesses. Orla was with Mars for 18 years in several different roles, and her business and marketing expertise across multiple regions make her a highly experienced strategic and marketing resource. Before joining Wrigley, Orla served as the CMO for Mars Global Food, where she promoted marketing excellence across the company’s global good business and helped create a strategic growth agenda. Prior to that, she was the European Marketing Director for Mars Foods Europe, where she was responsible for marketing Mars’ sauce brands in Europe. Orla began her time with Mars as the Marketing Director of Petcare for Mars Ireland and has moved up in the Marketing function since then. Orla has a passion for developing sustainable business legacy and growth strategies and has led several business turnarounds during her career to date. She is also very experienced in developing iconic and multi award winning communications campaigns.