Caroline Casey

Caroline Casey is the founder of The Valuable 500, a groundbreaking global initiative focusing on disability inclusion in business. Born with ocular albinism, a condition that rendered her legally blind, Casey concealed her disability until her vision deteriorated significantly, compelling her to disclose it to her employer. After leaving her role as a management consultant, she embarked on a transformative journey, traveling across India on an elephant named Kanchi to fundraise for Sight Savers. This experience inspired her to establish Kanchi, a nonprofit dedicated to shifting societal attitudes and behaviors toward people with disabilities through collaboration with business leaders. Kanchi is renowned for its innovative approach, developing ISO 9000 quality standards-based best practices for businesses to reimagine "disabled" workers as valuable assets. This initiative has successfully influenced hundreds of companies to alter their policies and perspectives.

In addition to founding Kanchi, in 2004, Casey launched the O2 Ability Awards to honor Irish businesses that excel in including people with disabilities as employees and customers. These awards have gained international recognition and have expanded into a similar program in Spain. Plans are underway to further roll out the awards internationally across multiple countries. Casey's involvement in global dialogues has brought her to platforms like TED, the World Economic Forum in Davos, and the Clinton Global Initiative. She has also been acknowledged as the first Irish individual to be named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and is an Ashoka Fellow. She received an honorary doctorate from National University Ireland and currently serves on the boards of various media and charity organizations in Ireland.

Caroline Casey's advocacy also extends to major global events such as One Young World and the Clinton Initiative, where she delivers powerful speeches to inspire and promote diversity and inclusion. Her presentations, lauded for their authenticity and impact, have touched audiences at high-profile venues, including Microsoft Ireland, the Annual Conference of Chartered Accountants Ireland, and EMEA Salesforce. She consistently earns high praise for her engaging style and insightful content that covers topics like personal growth, the complexities of modern Diversity & Inclusion, and authentic leadership. Recently, Casey was highlighted as a standout speaker at the Million Dollar Round Table and received exceptional feedback for her presentation on career development at Dell Ireland.