Brendan Noonan

Brendan Noonan is a Learning & Development veteran who has worked for over 35 years in three of the best organisations in their field. Gulf Air 10 years, Emirates 24 years & Qatar Airways 2 ½ years.

He is a native of Ireland. He is currently running his own successful business: Strategic Leadership Consultancy and works with leading organisation across the globe, helping to solve business challenges. He has recently worked on projects with FIFA Zurich, PwC Dubai and Katara Doha.

He regularly gives presentations to business leaders across the globe on business issues and challenges. Previously he was the Head of Talent Development for the Qatar Airway group, based in Doha, Qatar. He was responsible for the learning and development needs of over 55,000 staff worldwide. He introduced and successfully implemented Virtual Reality Training which resulted in savings to the company of over $8 million dollars. He also developed and implemented a Crisis Management programme for Senior Managers that resulted in saving of over $1 million.

Previous to Qatar Airways he was the Senior Vice President of Group Learning & Development at Emirates Airline Group and was responsible for the learning & development needs of over 65,000 staff globally. During his time with Emirates his team won over 12 international awards for training & development initiatives. He completed 24 years with Emirates based in Dubai and has travelled extensively delivering Service Enhancement, Strategy Development and Leadership Development programmes for many different airlines, hotels and banks worldwide.

Brendan is a MBA Graduate of the Bradford School of Business UK. He was also a board member of the London Business School - Global Business Consortium for 7 years. He was also a judge for the Chief Learning Officer magazine that evaluated key L&D initiatives from organisations across the globe on an annual basis for 4 years.

In 2011, he was requested by the Prime Minister of Ireland to participate in a forum with a select group of key Irish businesspeople from across the globe. The objective was to look at options that could help the country develop its GDP and assist the Irish Government in finding solution to its financial crisis. The Irish Government announced at the end of October 2012 that it has achieved all requirements of the IMF and is now a role model for other struggling economies in Europe.

During his career, whilst contributing to various aviation projects worldwide, Brendan has taken around 1,500 flights to 127 destinations, flown more than 3 million miles on 78 different aircraft types with 70 airlines—equivalent to traveling around the world 121 times and six times to the moon and back.