By Business & Finance 
Pictured, L-R: ByrneWallace Managing Partner Feargal Brennan, Head of Financial Services Joe Gavin and new partner Damien McShane.
Business & Finance highlights the notable new appointments at ByrneWallace, BBDO and AirSpeed Telecom.
David Drohan, Chief Financial Officer
BBDO
BBDO Dublin has announced the appointment of David Drohan as the new chief financial officer. Mr Drohan joins the leading creative advertising agency from NextRoll (formerly Adroll) where he was financial director since 2016. Prior to this he was group financial controller at Havok, the Dublin based gaming technology firm. Mr Drohan, who brings with him an extensive background in managing and driving growth, will report to Neal Davies, CEO BBDO Dublin and will join the agency’s senior management team.
Mr Drohan trained as an accountant with Deloitte, is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and holds a Masters in Accounting from the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.
Pictured L-R: Neal Davies, CEO, BBDO Dublin; David Drohan, CFO, BBDO Dublin and Allen Kiernan.
Mr Drohan succeeds Allen Kiernan, who has been with BBDO Dublin (previously Irish International) since 1991. Mr Kiernan, an integral part of BBDO Dublin, Irish International and the Irish advertising industry for many years, will remain a strategic advisor to the team during a transition period, before departing to work on new business ventures.
“Allen let the team know of his plans earlier in the year and we went through a lengthy recruitment process to replace him. I’m happy to say that David was our unanimous choice,” said Neal Davies, CEO, BBDO Dublin. “He’s an experienced leader with a blue-chip pedigree and he brings us a fresh perspective from outside the traditional advertising industry. We’re delighted he’s on board.”
“I’ve had a wonderful 28 years with the company and wish Neal and all the gang continued success into the future” said Mr Kiernan. “It’s a very special place to work, full of great people and I hope David will be as happy here as I have been.”
Damien McShane, Partner
ByrneWallace
ByrneWallace has announced the appointment of new partner in its financial services practice, Damien McShane. Mr McShane has over 10 years’ experience advising on financial services law and regulation.
Before joining ByrneWallace, Mr McShane acted as a legal advisor and executive in a range of roles including in one of Ireland’s leading insurers, and in the Central Bank of Ireland where he specialised in insurance and investment services law as well as the general Irish regulatory framework. He was also an executive at one of the world’s largest multinational banking groups where he was most recently a member of the Board of Directors of its Irish depositary company and responsible for that firm’s custody operations.
ByrneWallace Managing Partner Feargal Brennan, Head of Financial Services Joe Gavin and new partner Damien McShane.
Mr McShane is an acknowledged expert on financial services law in Ireland and lectures in the Institute of Banking on legal and regulatory matters. He is the current chairperson of the Irish Funds Depositary Working Group, a member of the Irish Funds Operational Steering Group, and serves as a Director of the Health Insurance Authority in a non-executive capacity.
Commenting on the appointment, Managing Partner Feargal Brennan said:
We are delighted to welcome Damien to the firm. Damien’s appointment demonstrates the firm’s ongoing commitment to recruiting and developing the best people to deliver the best legal service and advice to our clients.
“In recent years, we have experienced strong and sustained growth in demand for our financial services offering. Damien has a wealth of experience advising on financial services law, and we believe that Damien’s appointment will ensure that ByrneWallace continues to be at the forefront of this market and well positioned to meet the growing and evolving needs of our clients across this sector.”
Head of Financial Services Joe Gavin said,
Damien’s appointment also adds exceptional strength and depth to our offering and greatly enhances our ability to service the demands of our thriving financial services practice.”
Gary Connors, Customer Support and Operations Manager
AirSpeed Telecom
AirSpeed Telecom, a leading provider of high-performance telecommunications products and bandwidth services to enterprise, large businesses and public sector clients, has announced the appointment of Gary Connors as Customer Support and Operations Manager. In this newly-created role, Mr Connors has responsibility for the customer journey and will ensure that the company continues to deliver the best possible customer experience for its clients.
Gary Connors, AirSpeed Telecom.
Mr Connors brings considerable knowledge to this new role, with over 10 years’ experience in Customer Service and Sales roles across the retail, IT and telecommunications sectors. Mr Connors spent seven years in eir, where he worked in a number of senior customer support and operations roles including Customer Service Manager, Sales Operations Manager, as well as a Business Learning & Development Specialist.
Speaking about the appointment, Charles O’Reilly, General Manager at AirSpeed Telecom, said:
We’re very pleased to welcome someone of Gary’s experience and proven calibre to the team. This is a newly-created position and further underlines the fact that AirSpeed Telecom places our customers at the very core of our business. We understand the criticality of delivering a reliable and consistent service and having Gary on board will drive how we continue to adapt to evolving customer needs.”
