Michael Cawley is a chartered accountant and joined Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline in 1997 as CFO prior to its IPO. He subsequently became COO and Deputy CEO in 2002. He stepped down from full time executive responsibility in 2014 but remains a non executive director of the airline. During his tenure the airline has grown from 3 million passengers to 185 million and from 9 aircraft to over 550. Since 2014 he has served on a number of Boards of both public and private companies in a variety of sectors including building materials, energy, betting, property development and motor. He chairs Hostelworld , the global hostel OTA and is a former chair of Failte Ireland, the Irish Tourism Authority.



Michael lives just south of Dublin, is married and has four children and eight grandchildren.