By Business & Finance 
Pictured: Thomas McGrath, COO, Aspira
This week saw new and notable appointments at Aspira, Fuzion Communications, HealthBeacon, Fidelity Investments and Ambisense
Thomas McGrath, COO,
Aspira
Aspira, the Irish-owned international consulting and technology business, has announced the appointment of Thomas McGrath as Chief Operations Officer (COO). Mr McGrath succeeds Aspira co-founder Colum Horgan, who will be taking up a strategic role on the company’s board.
This latest announcement follows the recent appointments of Peter Ryan as Chief Executive Officer and Gillian Whelan as Chief Commercial Officer. With over 25 years’ experience, Thomas was previously Head of Business Consultancy at Aspira. Before joining Aspira, Thomas held leadership roles in multinational organisations across various sectors specialising in the financial services and national utilities sectors.
Speaking on his appointment, Thomas McGrath said: “I am delighted to have been appointed as Chief Operations Officer at Aspira. The company continues to expand globally from Ireland, into Malaysia, Portugal, and the Netherlands, among others. We are also continuing to hire for strategic new roles across various exciting opportunities within our Business and IT Consultancy offerings. I am looking forward to working with the team to refine and build our operations further to support our employees and customer base, worldwide.”
Commenting on the appointment of CEO Peter Ryan said: “As our new COO, Thomas will leverage his extensive background in the management of complex projects across both private and public sectors to the benefit of our company and its customers.
“Aspira thrives on the progression of its employees, which in turn benefits the business. His appointment rounds out our new Senior Leadership Team, who together will spearhead the next phase of Aspira’s strategic growth.”
This latest announcement follows the company’s 2021 expansion, which saw the opening of its new headquarters in Penrose Dock, Cork, alongside the creation of 40 new roles within the business and the opening of its new offices in Lisbon.
Mary O’Mahony, Senior Account Executive,
Fuzion Communications
Mary O’Mahony, Senior Account Executive, Fuzion Communications
Fuzion Communications is pleased to announce the appointment of Mary O’Mahony as Senior Account Executive to their Public Relations team.
Mary previously worked with National Beauty Distribution, where she managed the PR for a variety of beauty & hair care brands, including Irish brands Bare by Vogue Williams and LUNA by Lisa Jordan, as well as global brands such as KEVIN.MURPHY and Aveda. With a keen interest in the lifestyle and hospitality sectors, Mary has also worked on a number of campaigns for a range of national brands such as Glenisk, Hotel Westport and more. Combining a mix of both traditional and digital media, Mary successfully delivers campaigns for her clients on both a national and regional level.
Mary’s experience to date includes day-to-day PR & Communications support, stakeholder engagement, press relations, influencer management and project activations working with both national and global clients, household names across the consumer and lifestyle sectors.
She is passionate about delivering results for her clients and combines her personable manner with her terrific work ethic and creative flair to continuously achieve results for clients.
Fuzion Communications, is an award-winning communications and creative agency with offices in Dublin and Cork, providing specialist PR, Marketing, Design and Digital Marketing services offering integrated campaigns across a broad range of sectors.
Orla O’Gorman, Non-executive Director,
HealthBeacon
HealthBeacon plc (“HealthBeacon” or the “Company”), the leading digital therapeutics company developing products for managing injectable medications for patients in the home, is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms Orla O’Gorman as Non-Executive Director of the Company with immediate effect. Upon her appointment, Ms O’Gorman will join the Audit & Risk Committee and the Nomination Committee.
Orla O’Gorman, is a Fellow of the Chartered Accountants of Ireland, has over 25 years’ experience as an executive leader and adviser to a range of businesses. Orla spent seven years at the Irish Stock Exchange (“ISE”), where she was Head of Equity. She was centrally involved in the sale of the ISE to Euronext in 2018 and, following that transaction, was appointed as Head of Listing for UK and Ireland. Prior to joining the ISE, Ms O’Gorman founded OR Associates, and previously held senior management positions at Eurologic Systems, ABN AMRO and PwC.
Ms O’Gorman is a non-executive director of Cairn Homes plc and Elite SpA. Orla is a member of the European Commission’s SME Technical Expert Group, Chartered Accountants Ireland Sustainability Expert Working Group and the Advisory Board of Elkstone Ventures. Orla is a qualified accountant, holds a Bachelor of Commerce from University College Dublin and a Master of Accounting from UCD Smurfit School.
Robert Garber, Chairman, commented on the appointment:
“We are delighted to announce the appointment of Orla to HealthBeacon’s board. This appointment comes at a pivotal time for our business, following our listing in December 2021 and key developments in early 2022.
Orla has an exceptional track record and brings significant capital markets experience to the Board. Orla’s Environment and Governance knowledge, experience and insight will further support both of these core themes across HealthBeacon. We look forward to working with Orla as the Company continues to grow on its path to becoming the world’s leading digital therapeutics platform for injectable medications.”
Lorna Martyn, Ireland Regional Chair,
Fidelity Investments
Lorna Martyn, Ireland Regional Chair, Fidelity Investments. Picture by Shane O’Neill
Fidelity Investments Ireland is pleased to announce the appointment of Lorna Martyn as Regional Chair. Since joining Fidelity Investments in 2004, Lorna has held several senior leadership roles in both Ireland and the US. Most recently, Lorna held the position of Head of Technology for Fidelity Investments Ireland where she led the division through tremendous headcount and capability growth over a five-year period.
With a career in financial services and telecommunications spanning three decades, Lorna is considered a global leader in technology. She is actively involved in developing the technology ecosystem in Ireland as Chairperson of Technology Ireland. In addition to her work with Technology Ireland, Lorna is a staunch advocate of promoting inclusion and diversity in STEM. She spearheaded the development of a multi-faceted program that affected sustainable change for women in STEM within Fidelity Investments, local communities, and industry. The program received the inaugural Women in Technology Award from Technology Ireland in 2018. Strengthening her commitment to this cause, Lorna has served as a Gender Diversity Ambassador with Women Mean Business during the pandemic.
Lorna is also a Board member of the Irish American Partnership which supports education and community programs across the island of Ireland.
Commenting on her appointment as Regional Chair, Lorna Martyn stated: “I am delighted to continue my journey at Fidelity Investments Ireland. In the 18 years I have spent with the organisation, I have witnessed its evolution from a small technology talent focused presence to a large contributor, bringing unique perspectives based on integration to the European business, research, and development landscape. In my new role as Regional Chair, I am excited to continue to help Fidelity Investments Ireland grow and innovate.”
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Simon Jones, Head of Air Quality Control,
Ambisense
Ambisense, an IoT and AI analytics business focussed on monitoring environmental risks has recently appointed Simon Jones as the Head of Air Quality Control, bringing a huge wealth of industry knowledge and experience to the scaling Irish business. Simon had previously held the role of Commercial Director for Aereco UK and Ireland.
Prior to joining Ambisense, Simon has been in building services and the built environment for nearly two decades and has been a voice for better standards and approaches in the industry. He is currently one of Ireland’s representatives and Board Members for Annex 5, the Air, Infiltration and Ventilation centre (AIVC) part of the IEA. He is on the advisory board for the UK centre for moisture in buildings (UKCMB) and the expert group on ventilation advising the Irish Government during the COVID-19 pandemic, earning himself a reputation of integrity and knowledge across the ventilation and IAQ sector.
“I deeply care about the sector and have seen first-hand the transformative effect good air quality and indoor environments have on people’s health and wellbeing. I firmly believe that for the first time we are moving into a new era where buildings are starting to talk to us. We now have an opportunity to listen and act”, said Simon on his new role and goals for Ambisense.
Ambisense’s mission since being founded by CEO Stephen McNulty in 2014 has been to build the worldʼs leading system of intelligence, to automate, analyse and accelerate environmental risk assessment for a safer and more sustainable world.
“Data without purpose is just noise. I have been singularly impressed with Ambisense and their approach to data science and environmental analytics. I am genuinely excited by what they are already capable of and look forward to bringing my experience of the sector to bear and the impact we can have together,” continued Simon.
Simon will be directly involved in enhancing and growing Ambisense’s presence in the indoor air quality market, particularly around AmbiAir, a smart indoor air quality solution. AmbiAir helps building owners and managers leverage the power of data in the decision-making process, generating actionable insights that can be automated by integrating with BMS systems.
