Tracy O'Rourke has joined the judging panel for the Business Energy Achievement Awards 2026. Founder and CEO of Vivid Edge, an Irish energy-efficiency-as-a-service company, she has built one of Ireland's most innovative approaches to funding and delivering energy upgrades by applying aircraft leasing finance principles to the decarbonisation challenge. That model is both novel and commercially sophisticated, addressing one of the most persistent barriers to energy transition, the upfront capital cost of efficiency improvements, through a financing structure borrowed from one of Ireland's most globally recognised industries.

The approach has drawn international recognition. In 2025, O'Rourke received a Cartier Women's Initiative Global Impact Award for her innovation in energy finance and climate action, an accolade that places her among a select group of entrepreneurs recognised for delivering systemic change through business model innovation. The award reflects not only the originality of the Vivid Edge model but the scale of its potential impact on how organisations across Ireland and beyond fund their transition to lower-carbon operations.

Her professional credentials are equally compelling. A Fellow of both Chartered Accountants Ireland and the Institute of Bankers, O'Rourke combines technical financial expertise with a deep understanding of risk, governance, and business transformation. Her earlier executive career spanned senior leadership roles in banking and aircraft leasing, sectors where financial rigour, long-term asset management, and regulatory compliance are non-negotiable. That background gives her an unusually precise understanding of the commercial conditions under which energy investment decisions are made and how organisations can be better supported to make them.

She also serves as an experienced independent non-executive director in financial services, a role that has further sharpened her ability to evaluate organisational strategy, governance quality, and the credibility of long-term performance commitments — all dimensions that are directly relevant to the judging process at the Business Energy Achievement Awards.

Her appointment brings a distinctive financial, entrepreneurial, and innovation-focused perspective to a panel well positioned to assess the full breadth of Ireland's energy achievement landscape in 2026.

Book your place at the Awards Gala on 16 September 2026 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Santry, via the official awards website and subscribe to the newsletter for past highlights and full category details from Ireland's energy community.