Joanne was nominated by her employer the Skeffington Arms Hotel, Galway
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Joanne Murray, Chef de Partie at the Skeffington Arms Hotel has been announced as the 2024/2025 Irish Hotels Federation Galway Branch ‘Employee of the Year’.
The announcement was made at an awards lunch at the Oranmore Lodge Hotel, where guests gathered to celebrate and recognise nine nominees from hotels and guesthouses across Galway who have made an outstanding contribution to their workplace.
Congratulating Joanne on the award, IHF Galway Branch Chair, Padraig Nolan said the judges highlighted her awareness to constantly adapt to customer needs, ability to create memorable culinary experiences for guests and openness to look out for new ideas to enhance the hotel’s food offering.
At the event, IHF President, Michael Magner congratulated all the nominees and spoke about how tourism and hospitality play a major role in our economy, and that our teams are the reason for that success as Ireland’s largest indigenous employer, supporting over 270,000 livelihoods – including over 22,000 jobs throughout Galway.
Joanne began working in the Skeffington Arms Hotel seven years ago. In her role she covers various areas including menu planning, cooking and dealing with suppliers to ensure the hotel secures the best produce at the right price. Joanne’s colleagues say “She keeps a cool head and is always polite and respectful when dealing with all members of the team no matter their department. Even through a busy service she will deal with all queries from the floor with knowledge and good humour.”
IHF Galway Branch extends its gratitude to the expert judging panel comprised of Colette Brawn, Project Manager at Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim ETB and Yvonne Hutchinson, Human Resource Manager at iNua Hotel Collection who had the difficult job of selecting a winner from the nominees.
The members of the IHF Galway Branch now wish Joanne the very best of luck as she goes on to represent them at the upcoming National IHF Employee of the Year Awards which will be held during the IHF’s Annual Conference which will take place at the Gleneagle Hotel, Killarney in late February.Helping to oversee an Irish hotel group in America for over a decade has given him an interesting perspective on how the hotel business operates both in the US and Ireland.
