Kentz leader and inspiration awarded Doctor of Management honoris causa
24th May 2006Kentz director and shareholder Noel Kelly was awarded Companion Membership of IMCA, within the Honorary Court, and Doctor of Management honoris causa at the graduation of Executive Diploma in Leadership & Management Kentz Set 1 at the Metropolitan Hotel in Dubai on May 24, 2006.
Pictured with Noel are Dr Hugh O’ Donnell, Kentz CEO (left), who nominated him, and Dr Eric Sandelands, of Corporate Learning Consultants for IMCA, making the award.
In his nomination speech, Dr Hugh O’Donnell described Noel as “the most inspirational man I have ever met”. He continued, “His attitude towards the concept of action learning is dedicated as he possesses an uncanny knack at bringing people together who learn and share from each other. He can pick people that work well together and with his sponsorship they are humbled into learning in a way that they previously may not have been used to seeing and doing.”
Going on to say, “His ongoing dedication to the advancement of people has earned him great respect not only within the company but across the industry as a whole where he is well recognised as a man that delivers what he says and says what he delivers.” The speech was interspersed with recollections and commendations from many clients and industry leaders.
In a moving acceptance speech, Noel played particular tribute to his family (pictured), before being awarded a bound version of the nomination speech and collated commendations.
Noel joined Kentz in October 1977 from the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) in Ireland. There he had worked as an Instrument Technician with the ESB in Dublin.
When he joined Kentz initially he worked under Paul Lloyd who was the specialist in instrumentation in Kentz.
In 1978 Noel went to Mexico with Jim Finn where he worked on his first overseas assignment.
Noel then went to South Africa in 1980/1981 as the Kentz pioneer on the ground there. Noel went down to “sell” the Kentz involvement in the Sasol project in sales mode and ended up staying on to run what was a very successful project.
Noel then went to Saudi Arabia 1984/1985 where he took up the position of General Manager for Kentz in Saudi Arabia.
Noel then moved to London in 1988-1989 where he spearheaded the growth and development of Kentz in the UK market.
When Kentz fell on financial difficulties in 1994, Noel himself took on the task to act as a catalyst between exiting and entering shareholders – resolving the differences in expectations along the way.
Since that time Noel has been the leading Kentz figure in the Middle East operations, focusing on the key principles of client relationships, people development and growth in shareholder returns.