Marketing Institute Ireland (MII) has announced in a statement that Shane McGonigle is to step down as its chief executive officer after four years in the job. McGonigle will leave the institute shortly before Christmas to take up a global CMO role in the technology sector. An interim CEO will soon be announced by the institute’s leadership team and board.
McGonigle was appointed to the role in August 2022 in place of David Field following a search by MII members led by Amárach’s Gerard O’Neill. He had spent the previous five years with the Kerry Group where he was European digital marketing director and strategic marketing director. He had previously advised companies on NPD and innovation.
McGonigle’s career began at Young Advertising in 1990. He worked with Dentsu in Belgium on pan-European campaigns for almost four years. After leaving Dentsu, he moved to JWT in the US to work on the global Kraft account. On his return to Ireland, he was hired by DDFH&B-JWT to handle Baileys. He later became managing director at Leo Burnett.
In his MII role, McGonigle’s focus was on MII membership, events and education
Leo Burnett had come out of what had been CDP Associates. Its executive chairman at the time was Martin Larkin. The agency’s main account was Kellogg’s and the agency created some major campaigns for the cereal giant both at home and overseas. In an interview with Marketing.ie, McGonigle admitted that he had originally planned to be an accountant.
In his MII role, his focus was on membership, events and education at a time when continuous professional development (CPD) was key. Apart from his ‘day job’, he was external examiner and industry specialist on the masters course at TU Dublin and visiting professor at the University of Ulster. He served on the board of the ASAI and was president of IAPI.
