The Business & Finance CIO 100 recognises the top 100 Chief Information Officers working across some of the largest corporates in Ireland. This year’s event coincides with the Dublin Tech Summit and will take place at the Convention Centre Dublin on the 18 April from 6–8pm, where a panel will discuss the topic of ‘Information Influx: the Challenges Facing CIOs’. Here is section two of the four-section list.
David McGettrick, Group Software Development Manager The Taxback Group
The Taxback Group has grown from small beginnings to become a global financial services group with nearly 1,000 staff worldwide. It is parent to a family of brands which provide finance, tax and travel services. David leads the development teams across the group, which includes development, QA, analysis and project management. He holds a B.Sc. (Comp) from University of Limerick.
David Wall, Director of ICT Tallaght Hospital
As Director of ICT at Tallaght Hospital, David is a Member of the Executive Management team. His strong influencing, negotiating and management skills have made him an effective member of multidisciplinary teams. His role involves leading the hospital in planning and implementing enterprise-wide information solutions to support and improve patient care and achieve more effective and cost-beneficial enterprise-wide ICT operations.
Denis Kennelly, General Manager Hybrid Cloud/Chief Product Officer IBM Security Systems
A part of IBM for 11 years, Denis is now General Manager for IBM’s Hybrid Cloud Business and Chief Product Officer for IBM Security Product Portfolio where he manages a global team of over 2,000 security professionals made up of security researchers, product managers and cloud operations. Previously he was the VP for Development & Technology at IBM Security Systems.
The former Oracle Ireland Managing Director, Dermot O’Kelly, is SVP for Oracle Cloud Systems, EMEA. Dermot joined Oracle in 1997 and has been SVP for UK, Ireland and Israel Technology; SVP for Alliances and Channels (and also Hardware Sales), EMEA; SVP for Technology Sales, UK; VP of Consulting Sales and Senior Director, HR Systems, EMEA.
Dervla Mannion, Vice-President Sales Operations/Vice-President European Operations Centre Trend Micro
With Trend Micro since 2003, in her roles as VP of Sales and European Operations, Dervla is focused on driving operational strategies across multiple revenue-generating departments. She regularly drives cross-functional and remote groups to enable cohesive behaviours and an integrated business. Dervla is a member of Trend Micro EMEA’s Management Council and Director of it@cork European Technology Cluster.
Enda Kyne, Chief Technology and Operations Officer FBD
Enda Kyne is Chief Technology and Operations Officer at FBD Insurance. He previously worked with the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Pathfinder, Bank of Ireland, Vision Consulting and Cap Gemini in a number of senior roles. He is responsible for IT and back-office operations, including IT security and GDPR. He is also a member of the eHealth Ireland committee.
Evert Vandenbussche, Transformation and IT Lead KBC Bank
Evert has been a member of KBC since 1992. He worked through the ranks in HR, consultancy and strategy before becoming an Executive Director in HR. In July 2007 he became a member of the Board of Directors in the Bratislava, Slovakia branch. In February 2014 he became COO in Ireland. Evert is now Transformation and IT Lead in Bratislava.
Fin Goulding, International Chief Information Officer Aviva
Fin drives Aviva’s next generation of Agile based on ‘Flow’. Prior to Aviva, Fin joined Paddy Power as the Group CIO for Europe where he pioneered DevOps, KanBan, continuous delivery and an early variant of Flow. Whilst CIO at Sabre Holding’s offshore Global Development Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he was the CIO of Travelocity Europe and CTO of lastminute.com.
Fiona Gallagher-Payet, Enterprise Operations Engagement, International Manager/Regional IT Manager, EMEA Facebook
Fiona is responsible for regional IT management, leading a team of IT operations and business analysts across APAC, EMEA and Americas to support all Facebook offices outside of HQ, extending IT services and solutions globally. She boasts deep financial expertise, with a consultancy background and a strong emphasis on process-driven and methodology-led projects. She is passionate about gender diversity technology.
Francis O’Hare, Group Technology Director DataSolutions
Francis joined DataSolutions in 1991 when the company commenced trading. Today he is the Group Technology Director and over the last 27 years Francis has identified all the world-class vendors that DataSolutions bring to the market, both in Ireland and the UK. As of March last year, he has been an Ambassador for the GDPR Awareness Coalition.
Gerry McDonnell, Chief Operating Officer Bord na Móna
With Bord na Móna since March 2017, Gerry, as COO, is responsible for delivering the operational results of the company to the benefit of the stakeholders. Prior to this he has been in senior roles in the medical device, telecoms and PC industries, with such firms as DJO Global, Stryker, Irish Medical Devices Association, Nortel, AST/Samsung, Apple and Mincon Group.
Günter Bayer, Chief Information Officer vCloud.ie
Günter Bayer is a founding director of Titan Technology Solutions, founded in 2008, and vCloud, founded in 2012. Since 2008 he has been engaged in meeting the growing demand for businesses to develop and implement cloud-computing strategies. With over 15 years’ experience at the cutting edge of information technology, Günter brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise for cloud-based clients.
Ian Brennan, Director of IT Laya Healthcare
As Director of IT for Laya Healthcare, Ian is the strategic manager of the IT team in delivering better business value. Prior to joining Laya in 2013, he spent seven years with Bon Secours Health System private hospital group, rising to Group Head of IT. His IT career began with the Department of Defence at the naval base in Haulbowline.
Ian Lennon, Chief Information Officer Affidea International
Ian is a senior IT management specialist with over 15 years’ experience in transforming IT process landscapes for major national and international business leaders. He previously worked as CIO, then as Group Business Applications Director for Euromedic. At Affidea, a pan-European diagnostic imaging and cancer care company, Ian’s role encompasses IT strategy, transformation, ITIL policies, infrastructure, security, management and more.
John Barron, Chief Information Officer Revenue Commissioners
John has worked in Revenue’s IT division for over 25 years and has played a key role in developing the organisation’s ICT. His current priorities include improving customer service and channel offerings, modernising ICT to reduce technical debt and utilising analytics to drive decision-making. John is also a member of the CIO Advisory Board in the Irish Computer Society.
John Craven, Head of IT HSBC Ireland
John joined HSBC in 2007 as Senior Systems Administrator before becoming IT Operations Assistant Manager in June 2012. Since November 2015 he has been Head of IT, where his role constitutes governance of all IT projects in HSBC across Ireland, delivering on business and client demands. He has also held administrator roles at Cuisine de France and Hewlett Packard.
John Hurley, Chief Technology Officer Ryanair
Appointed to his role in September 2014, John directs his team of hundreds in planning and delivering Ryanair’s highly-successful digital strategy – with a focus on the completion of complex projects within the company. With over 16 years’ experience, John was previously in senior roles across Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and was Production Manager at Intuition Publishing Ltd. and Educational Multimedia Group.
John Lenihan, Chief Information Officer, Head of IT KPMG Ireland
With KPMG since 2001, John previously worked as IT Manager with Motorola BV and Software Engineer at Digital Equipment Corporation. He holds an M.Eng.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from NUI Galway. John is responsible for IT support, systems and infrastructure for KPMG’s Irish business and leads the development of IT planning and strategy to support the operation.
Jonathan Boylan, Chief Technology Officer FINEOS
Jonathan’s career in insurance software began in 1988 as a developer for Irish Life. He joined FINEOS in 1995 to direct product design, authoring several FINEOS patents. In the early 2000s, he led the strategic redevelopment of the FINEOS product to Java. From May 2010 to March 2012, he was Member of the Executive Council of the Irish Software Association.
Karen Forte, Chief Information Officer & Head of Services Allianz Ireland
Karen began her career in the technology sector in 1978 with Andersen Consulting in London. She joined Allianz as CIO in 1997, and manages a team that handles application development, change management, PMO, security risk assessment and access management. Karen is a Fellow of the Irish Computer Society. She was also the inaugural president of the Association of Information Managers.
Karl Crowley, IT Manager, EMEA New Relic
Karl supports all of the corporate IT needs for New Relic’s EMEA-based employees and offices in delivering application performance monitoring (APM). He cites one of the highlights of his time in the company was his involvement with the Ducksboard acquisition. Ducksboard is a provider of real-time dashboards for tracking business metrics from a broad set of application sources.
Keith Fingleton, Chief Information Officer IDA Ireland
Beginning his high-profile tech career with IBM as a Product Specialist in 1996, Keith has held many senior roles in system engineering, software architecture, project management, and was CTO at Phoenix Technology Group from March 2000 to April 2002. He joined IDA Ireland in March 2015 as Chief Technology Advisor – Financial Services before becoming CIO at the beginning of 2018.
Ken Anderson, Chief Technology Officer Mingo
In 1997, Ken served eight years in the US Army finishing as a Sergeant E-5. He then spent over a decade in consultancy and project management before becoming President & COO of Concordus Applications. Ken is currently CTO of Mingo, the messaging/cryptocurrency company; CEO of LaunchBadge, the software management firm; and Lead Developer Advocate of Swirlds, helping/advising developer communities.
Ken Ryan, Chief Information Officer/Executive Director 123.ie
Ken joined 123.ie’s executive management team to establish an industry-leading IT organisation and systems-delivery capability. 123.ie was successfully acquired by RSA in 2010 and the IT platforms supporting the business remain a key part of the merged organisation strategy. Ken built the IT team from the ground up to include IT operations, security, quality, software development and program management.
Kevin Cooney, Senior Vice-President and Managing Director EMEA, Global Chief Information Officer Xilinx
Kevin was appointed Corporate Vice President and CIO of Xilinx in 2005, the first time the company had chosen an executive from outside of the US for these positions. Before joining the company in 1995, Kevin worked in various senior positions with Digital Equipment Corporation during its time in Galway from 1984 until its closure in 1995.
