Lorraine Burnell MD of Joseph Murphy Ballina Ltd (JMBL) won in the National Employee Shining Star category at the annual Conference and Businesswoman of the Year Awards at Galway’s Salthill Hotel on Friday 7th October.
A 300-strong audience attended the gala event which was hosted by Irish broadcaster and writer Mary Kennedy.
A total of 350 applicants put their names forward for this year’s awards through 14 regional branches of Network Ireland. A hectic season of selection events across the country in recent months resulted in the selection of 71 finalists going forward to the event.
There were only eight category winners announced on the night and Lorraine Burnell of JMBL, representing the Mayo Branch was one of them; bringing home the “Employee Shining Star Award”.
An amazing achievement and recognition of her hard work and dedication as a very successful Hardware Industry leader.

Lorraine has displayed enormous leadership over the last couple of years as Managing Director of JMBL. The hardware distributor has enjoyed fantastic growth and successes over the past year, achieving AIBF All-Star Accreditation and with Lorraine also winning AIBF Mayo Business Woman of the Year 2022.
JMBL operates from a purpose built 40,000 ft2 warehouse in Ballina and stock a vast portfolio of products ranges, listing over 4,500 products lines. Lorraine leads the way in innovation, continually developing new product ranges and own brands, such as MOY Agri, Moy Aquapro and many more.
Find out more information and see the vast array of products available on www.josephmurphy.ie.