Dublin Airport Authority appoints new chief executive

THE DUBLIN Airport Authority has appointed Kevin Toland as its new chief executive. He will take up the role in January for a seven-year term.

He replaces Declan Collier, who left in April to run London City Airport.

DAA executive Oliver Cussen has acted as interim CEO in the meantime.

Mr Toland joins DAA from Glanbia, where he is chief executive and president of Glanbia USA and global nutritionals based in Chicago.

The Meath man is taking a significant pay cut by returning to Ireland.

It is understood that he will earn close to the €250,000 cap imposed by the Government on the DAA role.

In 2011 he earned €925,000 with Glanbia, where he has been a board member since 2003.

Mr Toland said he was “delighted to get the opportunity” to lead the airport authority.

Under his stewardship Glanbia has become the largest manufacturer and exporter of American-style cheese in the US.

“Kevin is exactly the right leader for DAA,” DAA chairman Pádraig Ó Ríordáin said.

The DAA chairman said Mr Toland had a “remarkable track record of success”.

John Moloney, the group managing director of Glanbia, said he was “disappointed” that Mr Toland would “not be part of the next exciting phase for the business”.

Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar said Mr Toland’s initial challenge would be to deal with declining passenger numbers and to “bring the company back to healthy growth”.