INTERNATIONAL IRISH BUSINESS PERSON OF THE YEAR 2010


Catherine Toolan, Executive Director, 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games Catering Project

Catherine Toolan currently serves as Executive Director for the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games Catering Project, the second largest multi sporting event in the world. Her team of almost 3,000 people are in the final stages of design, build, logistics and operations to serve over 15,000 athletes and officials. Prior to this Catherine led ARAMARK’s largest ever Olympic Project with a team of over 7,400 people – overseeing the design, build and operations of 30 restaurants, serving approximately 3.5 million meals for athletes, officials and volunteers at the 2008 Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Catherine joined ARAMARK Ireland, a division of ARAMARK Corporation, headquartered in Philadelphia, in 2002 as Operations Director for the West of Ireland. Catherine relocated to China in 2005, where she overseen the food service business for ARAMARK China, including building and developing the operational, supply chain and cold chain logistics infrastructure for global complex food service projects such as the Formula 1 and the Olympic Games.
From Sligo, Catherine obtained a Degree in Hotel Management from Galway Institute of Technology and studied for an MBS at University College Dublin. In 1999 she completed postgraduate studies in Strategy and Cross Cultural Management at Tsinghua University, Beijing and also holds a Diploma in Employment Law from the National University of Ireland. Catherine is a committee member of the Irish Network China which provides social and business networking opportunities to Irish people in Beijing and has served three terms as Chairperson. She is a member of the Global Irish Network and in her spare time helps Irish businesses and educational institutions to develop a deeper business, educational and cultural understanding of China in the context of developing their capacity to access the rapidly growing China market.

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