Founder and chief executive of Shannon-based Ei to step down

IT’S the end of an era at Shannon-based firm Ei Electronics as its founder and long-serving chief executive Mick Guinee steps down.

The well-known businessman will end his 42-year long tenure at the top of the fire alarm manufacturing firm at the end of this quarter, March 31.

But he will not be stepping away from Ei Electronics completely.

He will remain as chairman of the board, and will be actively involved in the future direction of Ei, which employs 1,000 people in Shannon.

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Mr Guinee was originally appointed as managing director of the then General Electric owned Ei in 1983. He led a management buyout and established Ei Electronics as a fully owned Irish firm in March 1988.

Under his leadership, Ei Electronics has grown from Shannon to subsidiaries in Britain, Germany, France, USA and Australia.

Across these locations, some 250 people also work for the company which has world-wide sales exceeding €420m.

Reflecting on his time as chief executive Mr Guinee stated: “I am proud of my role in establishing and growing such a successful Irish company. It has been an honour and privilege to lead a dedicated and skilled team of people. There were many challenges along the way, but we had the grit, the vision and above all the skilled workforce to succeed. At the heart of our success has been our commitment to our core values of quality, integrity and respect.”

Something really important to the chief executive is the fact that Ei has given back to its local community including supporting educational, sporting, cultural and charitable activities.

“Above all, It is very rewarding to be manufacturing life-safety products which have safeguarded lives in millions of homes, world-wide,” he concluded.