CEO Outlook: Delivering life-changing interventions with Dominic MacSorley, Concern Worldwide

In this episode of The EY CEO Outlook podcast series, Dominic MacSorley tells host Richard Curran the remarkable story of a career spent finding hope in despair, travelling the world to care for the survivors of crises, and running an organisation with over 4500 staff across 25 countries.

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Dominic MacSorley’s first role with Concern Worldwide was a baptism of fire. Posted to the Thai-Cambodian border aged 26, Dominic thought he would be building a school in a quiet village; rather he ended up deep in a conflict zone, working in vast camps that housed over 350,000 refugees. Here, he learned an early lesson – that an organisation like Concern does not just provide people living in these conditions with education and healthcare, but also  with a valuable feeling of protection – “it’s not just what you do, it’s the fact that you’re there”.  

Since then, MacSorley has led the organisation’s emergency responses to some of the world’s most serious humanitarian crises, in countries including Rwanda, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Darfur, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Haiti. In 2013, MacSorley became CEO of Concern Worldwide. Such a long career in such a challenging field, he explains, relies on the ability to see past the awfulness of the situation, to the potential of what it can become. 

They also talk about:

• How he and his team narrowly escaped detention by Saddam Hussein’s forces

• The importance of hiring the right people – “we don’t control the situations we’re in, but we do control the quality of staff we put in there“

• His experience working through the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide and watching that country become safer and more developed than he ever could have expected. 

• The mindset required to thrive in a role such as his, and his constant struggle to achieve a work-life balance.  

• The importance of fundraising and corporate partnerships to ensure Concern Worldwide can provide immediate relief in emergency situations