By Business & Finance 
The Business & Finance CIO 100 Index 2022, in association with Equinix, recognises the top 100 Chief Information Officers working across some of the most innovative companies in Ireland today.
The CIO 100 Index 2022 was launched officially today at Dublin Tech Summit on 15th June, 2022, at an 8am breakfast reception in the RDS Minerva Room. Sponsored and opened by Equinix, it featured a keynote address from Harry Moseley, Co-CIO of Zoom.
Joining the discussion were some of Ireland’s leading IT professionals, Colin Kennedy, CIO DPD Ireland and Ashling Cunningham, CIO, Irish Water. The panel was moderated by Joan Mulvihill, Digitalisation & Sustainability Lead, Siemens. Michael Galvin, Enterprise Sales Director, Ireland, Equinix, opened the discussion.
Maurice Mortell, Manager Director, Equinix Ireland spoke about the importance of the event at a recent photocall: “The CIO 100 Index event is testament to the fact that our economy and the digital world have become inextricably linked. The future of business – and our everyday lives – relies on brave decision-making from our digital leaders and it is important that we celebrate those people and the far-reaching impact they are making. Equinix is proud to be supporting the CIO 100 Index and I look forward to some rich conversations with the people driving innovation across Ireland today when we gather at the RDS in June.”
Here is section four of the four-section list.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Nick Atkinson, Chief Officer, Technology Operations, Europe/Director of Solutions, Architecture and Technology/Lead Architect,
Visa
Nick has over twenty years’ experience in technology. Within Visa he has led the development of architecture and design across all of Visa European systems and has played a wider role developing the IT team. A former consultant for Accenture and IBM, Nick has worked with a number of blue-chip organisations, including the London Stock Exchange, Lloyds Bank and Visa.
Roy Baker, Director of Transformation & Change,
SSE Airtricity
A creative and transforming individual, Roy Baker has considerable experience in delivering data and digital transformations in complex organisations. He is experienced in Energy and Print sectors with a strong personal style of leadership that is results-driven, customer-focused and people-orientated. Roy is driving a constructive and supportive culture, in which leadership and collaboration, drive improved performance.
He is a highly experienced Operations director delivering award winning services to a multi jurisdiction customer base over a twelve year period of growth implementing and delivering Lean Six Sigma company wide. He is experienced at working at board level and with C level stakeholders including the leadership of a number of C level committees. Baker delivered operations and Digital/Data transformations including AI platforms, Robotic Process Automation, Integration, Cloud and ERP platforms including Oracle, Juniper and SAP. Comfortable in agile and lean environments at scale, having set up and delivered both Agile working and DevOps functions in multiple organisations and in different countries and cultures.
Alan Bambury, Chief Information Security Officer,
Kerry Group Plc
Responsible for application strategy, information security and software compliance as Chief Information Security Officer, Alan previously held roles as SAP Solution Architect, SAP Development Lead and SAP Finance Lead in Kerry Group after joining originally as IT Manager before moving to Kerry Ingredients and Flavours as IT Director. Alan holds a BA from University College Cork.
Nathan Bishop, Group Information Technology Director,
Grafton Group Plc
Nathan is the current Group Information Technology Director at Grafton Group plc
Previous positions include Director of Enterprise Architecture at Homeserve and Head of Information Technology Services and Architecture at E.ON. He has a BSc in Computer Science from Middlesex University.
Phil Blackwell, Chief Information Officer,
The Irish Times
Phil leads the Technology Teams across the Irish Times Group. Phil has 20+ years’ experience in Technology leadership across multiple business’s – including senior Roles with Liberty Global, Bank of Ireland and the Irish Times. These technology roles have included leading Security, Engineering, Development, Architecture teams and Operations of large scale technology infrastructures. Those 20+ years’ experience predominantly driving technology services and transformational change programs. Recent focus has been on the commissioning and management of regulated, high volume secure transactional environments whilst maintaining a high priority for security and risk management.
Jonathan Boylan, Chief Technology Officer,
FINEOS
Jonathan Boylan drives the FINEOS technology strategy and keeps FINEOS up to date with this fast changing landscape. In previous roles, Jonathan was responsible for product development and engineering. Jonathan focuses on keeping FINEOS ahead of the competition and abreast of customers’ ever-changing technology needs. As Chief Technology Officer, Jonathan is focused on representing FINEOS as our spokesperson on technology and platform and helps to increase the business value of the FINEOS Platform to our prospects and customers.
A strong understanding of insurance and the creative application of new technology and software design to insurance distinguish his 30-plus year career. Jonathan 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. He has held key positions in the management of application design, technology architecture and product development. As a member of the FINEOS Leadership Team, Jonathan helps define and execute strategy at FINEOS. He is responsible for the FINEOS Pre-Sales team and plays a key role in the direction of the FINEOS R&D program.
Andrew Brothers, Chief Information Officer,
Primark
Andrew Brothers has been Chief Information Officer at Primark since 2021 with previous roles including CIO for Europe & Indonesia at Ahold Delhaize, Global CIO & Digital Director at TCC Global and CIO at Whitbread. Andrew is a digital executive with global multi sector expertise in both the client and consulting side, who is driving business value through the use of innovative and market leading technology solutions that are redefining the retail industry.
Eileen Burns, Chief Digital Officer,
Arthur Cox
Eileen, is head of the Legal Tech and Innovation Services and is Arthur Cox’s Chief Digital Officer. She has nearly 30 years’ experience in the consulting services, finance shared service and the tech sector.Since joining Arthur Cox in September 2018, Eileen has focused on developing and enhancing the Arthur Cox consulting and Legal Tech client service offerings including commissioning the Arthur Cox eDiscovery and Investigation Services.
Eileen is also responsible for the digital transformation agenda within Arthur Cox, with a strategy to embed legal tech into the day to day work activities of our partners, associates, trainees and consultants firm wide and to identify and shape tech enabled client services. Previously, Eileen spent 17 years in senior leadership positions at both European and global levels within Accenture CIO and 10 years on Accenture client consulting engagements.
Wayne Bursey, Industrial Cyber Security Lead,
Siemens Ltd
Wayne Bursey is the Industrial Cyber Security Lead with Siemens Ltd., Dublin, responsible for the security of Operational Technology (OT) Networks and systems including Industrial Control and Safety Systems across a vast range of Manufacturing Environments and infrastructure companies, many critical to the supply of products and services like water, energy, and food. Bursey has worked with Siemens for 21 years within the industrial sector and has a background in Control Systems and Electronics, more recently in OT Security Technologies.
Jared Carstensen, Chief Information Security Officer,
CRH Plc
Jared Carstensen is an internationally recognised information and cyber security professional with extensive experience in the design, implementation, and governance of security controls, business strategies, and frameworks across global organisations spanning multiple sectors. Over the past 18 years’ Carstensen has been advising Fortune 500, law enforcement and intelligence agencies, government and state departments, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, telecommunications, utilities and financial services entities on all areas of information and cyber security. He combines years of international experience with a breadth of in-depth business and industry awareness to ensure that security acts as a business enabler while being a valuable business partner.
He has contributed and led various projects across the EMEA, Americas and APAC regions and is currently listed as a member of the IT Governance Institute Expert Panel (on 10+ Information Security and related domains). He is a member of the Standards.org advisory panel on ISO 27001, ISO 38500 along with best practice frameworks and standards.
Brian Chapman, Chief Information Officer,
Eir Ireland
In May 2018, Brian Chapman was appointed as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of eir. Brian joined eir through the purchase of Meteor in 2005 and has held a number of senior IT roles throughout the years. His role as CIO encompasses IT Strategy, Security, Transformation, Architecture, Development and IT Operations functions. Brian holds a BEng in Telecommunications Engineering from Dublin City University, and a BA in Technology Management from the Institute of Technology.
Paul Clarke, Chief Technology Officer,
SL Controls
Paul has over 20 years’ experience in manufacturing Controls and OT systems delivery. He has delivered multiple manufacturing system designs for many SL Controls customers, utilising this knowledge to create and enhance service and custom software development offerings. He has significant experience designing, developing, and implementing solutions in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and food and beverage sectors. He plays a key role in researching and developing SL Controls’ industry-leading range of services and bespoke customer solutions – solutions that reduce customers’ operational costs and improve efficiency.
Paul supports SL Controls’ development in controls and site systems such as MES, OEE, and ERP integration, and he continues to build expertise in cloud systems to create turnkey solutions from controls to cloud. His experience as part of the management team gives insight into areas like introducing new skills and technologies, and growing the capabilities of the SL Controls’ engineering teams.
Sean Convery, Chief Technology Officer,
Boylesports
Sean Convery is the CTO at Boylesports since 2015. He is a strong technology manager in enterprise scale ICT, network and data centre Domains both internal to an organization and supporting customers. He is skilled at prioritizing business needs and risks and right sized approach for solving current issues and growing teams as business grows. Sean Convery is an experienced operation, project, programme and people manager in public and private sector domains with numerous M&A integrations experience.
Ashling Cunningham, CIO,
Irish Water
Ashling Cunningham is the Chief Information Officer at Irish Water, She has extensive experience working in manufacturing, services and utilities industries. Ashling has an IT and Finance background, and she holds an M.Sc. in Management from Trinity College. Before joining Irish Water Ashling held several senior leadership and consulting positions in international companies. A regular speaker at seminars, conference and industry events on the transformational role of digital and technology, data and security, innovation and women in business, she is a frequent contributor to trade publications.
Louise Dennehy, Chief Information Officer,
Central Bank of Ireland
Louise Dennehy was appointed as Chief Information Officer in September 2019. She joined the Central Bank of Ireland as Head of IT Delivery in April 2017. Louise has over 25 year’s experience in IT within the financial services industry, including holding a number of Head of IT roles. Louise is a graduate of University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin in science and IT related disciplines.
Rosalyn Donnelly, Head of IT,
C&D Foods
A proven and ambitious professional, responsible for managing the IT function of C&D Foods across 9 European sites, whilst leveraging the opportunities and challenges that come with the size, scale and requirements of such an environment. Donnelly leads a driven and engaged European IT team which supports and services their clients’ day to day needs as well as helping the business achieve its wider goals by engaging and leading business development and improvement projects.
Chris Donnelly, Chief Information Officer,
BWG Foods
Chris Donnelly was appointed Chief Information Officer of BWG in October 2020 having served as IT Director since 2016. Chris joined BWG Foods in 2015, when BWG acquired ADM Londis. Chris has vast experience in IT, having worked in technology, wholesale and in the retail industry in particular, having previously held the role of Head of Digital and Retail Technology for BWG Foods and Head of IT for ADM Londis plc. With his team, Chris designed and developed the multi award-winning BWG ShopLink eCommerce platform.
Tim Drew, VP Head of IT Infrastructure,
RenaissanceRe
Tim Drew works as the VP head of Infrastructure for RenaissanceRe. He is an experienced IT professional with over 20 years of technical expertise and possess architect level enterprise knowledge with a proven track record of managing, motivating and growing high performing technical teams.
Drew has experience spanning Enterprise data centre solutions, low latency high performance storage design, virtualisation design including physical to virtual migration projects on a global scale, cloud connectivity, Hybrid and full cloud infrastructure design, Azure, AWS and infrastructure transformation projects. He has a keen interest in all thing’s retention and backup related. Drew’s key strengths include Global Budget management, conflict resolution, contract negotiation and supplier management.
John Duffy, Head of IT/Associate Director,
The Brightwater Group
John Duffy is a highly experienced IT professional and heads up the internal IT department for the Brightwater Group. He joined the Group in 2013, bringing with him a wealth of experience in network security, systems implementation and change management.
He has led a huge array of digital transformation projects in the last three years, helping drive the success of the Brightwater Group with leading edge technologies. John’s role ensures that the Brightwater Group remains a leader within the recruitment sector and that their systems serve to enhance both client and candidate experience within the Group.
Ryan Estes, VP of Technology,
Datalex
Ryan Estes is the VP of Technology of Datalex. He was promoted to the position in 2019 from his previous position as Director of Global Technical Architecture. He is a results driven, entrepreneurial-spirited technology leader with 15 years of industry experience. Estes is described as technically superb. He is profound in leadership and executive management. He received a B.S in Mathematics from California Polytechnic State University.
Keith Fingleton, Chief Information Officer,
IDA Ireland
Keith joined IDA Ireland in March 2015 as Chief Technology Advisor, becoming CIO at the beginning of 2018. Currently Keith is leading a cross organisational Digital Transformation Programme, which aims to make IDA Ireland the most digitally enabled Investment Promotion Agency in the world. This programme will enhance the client experience in their engagement with the IDA, contributing to Ireland’s global reputation as a digital leader.
Phillip Fischer, Chief Information Officer,
UCD
Phillip joined UCD as Chief Information Officer in July 2017 and is responsible for University-wide IT Services including Academic and Administrative Systems, Research IT, Teaching and Learning Technologies, UCD Web Services and the delivery of the IT Strategy 2020. Prior to joining UCD, Phillip Fischer held the position of CIO & PMO Europe at Aramark, a $15b managed services organisation operating in over 22 countries globally.
In his 12 years with Aramark Phillip worked with the Enterprise and European business entities to develop long term ICT strategies and effective ICT services models and played a key part in driving the region forward. Previous roles include running an IT services business in Germany before joining the Musgrave Group Ireland, where he held a number of positions with the primary aim of delivering business intelligence solutions across the enterprise and project managing the integration of new acquisitions. Phillip is a member of Ibec’s Digital Economy Policy Committee and completed the Henley MBA in 2009 specialising in ICT Shared Services.
Business & Finance CIO 100 (alphabetical by surname):
View part one (A-F)
View part two (F-L)
View part three (L-O)
View part four (O-W)
