WeddingDates Founder and CEO Ciara Crossan has been named Networker of the Year 2026 at the Network Ireland Businesswoman of the Year Awards.
The win was announced at the national gala dinner at the Galmont Hotel, Galway, on Friday, 18 September 2026. It caps a year that started in Cork. Ciara took the Networker of the Year title at the Network Cork Businesswoman of the Year Awards in May, held at the Kingsley Hotel. That win sent her forward to represent Cork at national level. She has now come out on top against the branch winners from across the country.
Network Ireland has around 1,500 members across 17 branches. This year’s awards drew close to 600 applications, narrowed to 100 national finalists across 8 categories. More than 500 members travelled to Galway for the national conference at Dexcom Stadium and the awards that followed.
The Networker of the Year category was sponsored by Sound to Light. It recognises the member who uses connection as a business tool and brings other women with her. The category was judged by Michelle Corbett, AIB Brand Strategy for Sustainability, Business and UK; Lorraine Bowen, CEO of The Entrepreneurs Academy; and Aileen McHugh, Board Member of Respond Housing.
For Ciara, being a good networker means talking to people, being genuinely interested in them, staying curious about their stories, adding value and helping where she can, and making friends all over the world. She collected the award in a room of 500 women she says she respects and admires, and described the hugs, the claps and the congratulations messages afterwards as the part that meant the most, because they came from women she looks up to. Writing after the awards, Ciara said:
To win an award like this on a national stage means a HUGE deal to me.
Because networking isn’t something I do. It’s just who I am.
A network built over years.
Ciara founded WeddingDates in 2008 and has built a network that runs across Ireland, the UK and internationally with connections across the globe. She takes part in the EY Winning Women programme, mentors other founders and shares business insight openly on LinkedIn and Instagram.
We are so proud of Ciara, who aptly deserves this recognition. Huge congratulations to every finalist who made it to the Businesswoman of the Year Awards 2026, and a huge thank you to the Network Ireland Committee, led by Karen Ronan.
