Ian Hyland presents the Sutherland Leadership Award to Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton

A highlight of the 2025 Business & Finance Awards was the presentation to Secretary Hillary Clinton, who had travelled to Dublin to accept the 2025 Sutherland Leadership Award. The Sutherland Leadership Award was established in 2018 to honour the legacy of Peter Sutherland, a transformative leader in European and global affairs.

As an American politician, lawyer and diplomat, widely regarded as one of the most transformative leaders of her generation, Secretary Clinton was a worthy honouree for such an award. Throughout her career, she has championed democracy, women’s rights, healthcare, children’s welfare, and global cooperation, earning a reputation as one of the most transformative political leaders of her generation.

The award was presented by Ian Hyland, President of Business & Finance. In his presentation remarks, Ian reflected that Secretary Clinton, “Like Peter Sutherland, knows you can be fiercely loyal to your own country and still hold a responsibility to the wider world. And like Peter, she has been willing to walk into difficult rooms, absorb the challenges and keep going because the goal mattered more than the noise. The Sutherland Leadership Award is not about titles. It is about purpose. It is about the ability to hold the local and the global in your hands at the same time; to see the world as it is, and still work for what it can be; and to use influence not as a prize, but as a tool.”

Upon accepting the Award, Secretary Clinton said, “I’m always delighted to be back in Ireland, a country whose friendship with America goes back to the very beginning. Several of the people who signed the Declaration of Independence were born in Ireland. So were many of the soldiers who fought in our revolution.”

She continues, “For so many Americans, including my family, Ireland is a special place.

As First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State, I’ve been fortunate enough to visit Ireland and Northern Ireland several times over the years. It always feels like returning to a second home.

“Today, as Chancellor of Queen’s University, Belfast, it means everything to see these two countries through the eyes of the students I meet.

“Over the years, I’ve watched those students’ futures open up, as a fragile peace held and Ireland’s economy grew.

“Ireland’s investments in higher education, its encouragement of cross-sector partnerships, and its growth of women’s workforce participation offer an encouraging example of a thriving democracy – at a time when those examples are in short supply.

“So it is incumbent upon us to recommit to finishing the work of building a global community that is free, fair, and prosperous.

“I’m honored to receive this award in the name of a man who did so much for both Ireland and the world.

“His vision of an open global economy laid the foundation for so much growth, development, and diplomacy.

“But it is his steadfast commitment to the dignity and rights of refugees that most calls us to carry his work forward.

“May we live up to his vision of economic development – and human dignity.”