By Business & Finance 
Pictured: John Feeney, Head of Property, Project & Asset-backed Finance, Bank of Ireland
This week sees new and notable appointments at Bank of Ireland, Servecentric, Ergo, Mortgage Navigators and Datalex.
John Feeney, Head of Property, Project & Asset-backed Finance,
Bank of Ireland
Bank of Ireland has announced the appointment of John Feeney to a newly-created role overseeing its property, project and asset-backed finance activities.
Feeney joins the Group from Mizuho Bank, the banking arm of Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. There he held the role of Head of European Banking with responsibility for the Corporate and Financial Institution Banking business.
He has a wealth of financial services leadership experience in London, Singapore and Tokyo, including senior roles at Lloyds Banking Group, Henderson Global Investors and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
In his new role, Feeney will have responsibility for Bank of Ireland’s real estate and project finance teams, as well as Bank of Ireland Finance, the largest provider of car finance to the Irish motor industry. He holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.
Brian Roe, Company Director,
Servecentric
Servecentric, the Irish cloud, data centre and connectivity services provider, has announced that its CEO, Brian Roe, has been appointed as a director of the company. In his capacity as director and CEO, Brian is responsible for spearheading the growth and development of the business and shaping the overall strategic direction.
His focus is on expanding Servecentric’s portfolio of innovative products and services, while continuing to broaden the company’s customer base in Ireland and internationally, particularly across cloud services. Roe will also continue to build on relationships with key industry players such as telecoms providers, cloud providers and hardware vendors to further enhance Servecentric’s offerings and drive growth.
With over 25 years’ experience in the Irish IT industry, Roe was appointed as CEO of Servecentric in 2021. He joined the company in 2016 as Commercial Director, overseeing all commercial and sales activities for the company. He helped Servecentric to grow its core data centre colocation services and led the company’s introduction of an Irish-owned, self-service, pay-as-you-go public cloud offering.
Prior to this, Roe worked in Typetec, a leading managed IT and cyber security services provider. Here, he played an integral role in developing the company’s IT managed services and cloud services business, and was ultimately appointed as Commercial Director with full responsibility for the organisation’s IT managed services division.
Brian Roe, Director and CEO, Servecentric: “I am delighted to have been appointed as a director of Servecentric. As a company, we have a strategic vision for growth as an indigenous player in the Irish cloud and data centre services market. I will focus on enhancing our offerings in the cloud, connectivity, and data centre co-location spaces, while continuing to deliver first-rate managed services to our customers. I plan to leverage my extensive experience in the industry to help meet our ambitious growth targets and drive success for our customers.”
Shelah McMahon, Head of Public Sector,
Ergo
Pictured: Shelah McMahon, Head of Public Sector, Ergo
Ergo, the solutions provider and long-standing partner to Government and to public sector organisations, has announced the appointment of Shelah McMahon as Director of Public Sector. McMahon will oversee Ergo’s Public Sector Centre of Excellence across its Dublin, Cork, and Limerick offices, consolidating key service offerings across Digital, Cloud & Managed Services.
Ergo have been partnering with the Irish Public Sector for almost 30 years, delivering wide-ranging services from Micromail (software licensing consultancy, part of the Ergo Group), IT Resourcing, Cloud, and Applications and Software Services to enable digital transformation across Government and the public sector. Ergo has partnered with more than 300 government and public bodies, highlighting its continued investment in Ireland, and to empower citizen centricity, data driven decision making and secure collaboration.
Prior to joining Ergo, McMahon spent 5 years as Head of Public Sector Sales at Vodafone Ireland, where she worked closely with Government on the delivery of digital infrastructure and services.
McMahon has an outstanding record of delivery and more than 20 years’ experience developing and leading high performing, ambitious teams. She is uniquely placed to lead Ergo’s Public Sector Centre of Excellence across key areas supporting delivery of critical public services including health, central and local governments, and education.
Ergo’s investment in the public sector has gone from strength to strength over the past number of years, consolidated in 2016 through the acquisition of Micromail, in a transformative deal that brought together the complementary skills and services from two homegrown success stories within the Irish IT sector. Notably, Micromail is one of the largest Microsoft Licensing Solutions Providers in Ireland with a dedicated team catering to the public sector and exclusive supplier of Microsoft cloud solutions to HEAnet clients.
Commenting on her new role, McMahon said: “It is wonderful to be part of Ireland’s largest Indigenous Irish IT Services company that is so highly regarded within the public sector, with such a range of expertise across services from licensing, Managed Services to IT resourcing and software applications. The Irish Government’s continued support and partnership with indigenous Irish IT Services is critical to support local economic growth, drive domestic innovation and foster collaboration. I look forward to leading Ergo’s Public Sector Centre of Excellence and delivering transformative outcomes for citizens.”
Paul McCann, CEO at Ergo also said, “We couldn’t be happier to welcome Shelah, who joins Ergo as Head of our Public Sector Centre of Excellence. This announcement comes at an exciting time for Ergo. It follows a period of accelerated growth and Shelah will play a critical role in supporting the expansion of our Public Sector division as we continue to partner with key organisations across government and the public sector on their digital transformation journeys.”
Margaret Barrett, Managing Director,
Mortgage Navigators
Pictured: Margaret Barrett, Managing Director, Mortgage Navigators
Margaret Barrett is the newly appointed Managing Director at Mortgage Navigators, a specialist mortgage broker service, tailored specifically to the financial circumstances of self-employed contractors.
The mortgage brokerage is the latest new division of Contracting PLUS, the Dublin head-quartered financial services provider that manages accounting, tax and financial advisory for independent professional contractors.
The appointment was announced by Chairman, Michael Dineen, who founded the Irish-owned international professional services company in 2002.
An experienced mortgage advisor and Qualified Financial Advisor (QFA), Margaret Barrett was previously with Bank of Ireland in Cork for seven years. As well as lending and mortgages, Barrett has specialist knowledge of banking, savings, insurance, and investment opportunities, having led teams in dedicated service provision across Cork’s Bank of Ireland network.
At Mortgage Navigators, Barrett now heads a team tasked with identifying optimum borrowing solutions for self-employed professionals, buying properties. The mortgage advice service is free to Contracting PLUS clients, while open to all borrowers in the market.
The borrowing requirements of first-time homebuyers and self-builds are catered for, as well as remortgaging, switching providers, or buying an investment property. Mortgage Navigators has a simple online application platform, with an option to schedule a consultation call.
The Mortgage Navigators USP in the market is understanding both contracting and lending, and combining these expert insights to smooth the route for self-employed contractors, the business principals at the new brokerage maintain.
Margaret Barrett holds a Business Degree from Munster Technological University, graduating in 2002. More recently, she completed the Professional Diploma in Financial Advice from University College Dublin, becoming a Qualified Financial Advisor, QFA.
Jonathan Rockett, CEO,
Datalex
Pictured: Jonathan Rockett, CEO, Datalex
Datalex has announced the appointment of Jonathan Rockett as Chief Executive Officer. Rockett will join the board early in Q4 working alongside Sean Corkery, who recently announced his intention to retire from the Company, until the end of the year to ensure a seamless transition.
Rockett joins Datalex from Ding, where he currently occupies the role of Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). He has led the organisation in various strategic and financial areas and has made a significant contribution to the overall growth of the business, including a sale to private equity in 2021. He previously held senior positions in Paddy Power (now part of Flutter Entertainment Plc.) and PwC.
Commenting on Jonathan Rockett’s appointment, Non-Executive Chairman of Datalex, David Hargaden said: “On behalf of the Board, I am delighted to be welcoming someone of Jonathan’s calibre and experience to Datalex’s senior leadership team. Given his past achievements across a variety of consumer-focused sectors, we see Jonathan as the ideal person to lead Datalex.”
Jonathan Rockett, incoming CEO of Datalex, said: “I am very excited to be joining Datalex, a market leader in airline retail technology. The ability to provide an innovative digital retail experience across the full customer journey for some of the largest airline brands, really appeals to me. I am looking forward to working with the team, as we lead Datalex into its next phase. Given my background in finance, technology and strategic partnerships, I aim to use a combination of the existing capabilities within Datalex and build some new ones to unlock future growth opportunities.”
READ MORE APPOINTMENTS:
Auxilion, Drinkaware, Envisage and Rásaíocht Con Éireann
Great-West Lifeco, Esri Ireland, FTI Consulting and Cork Society of Chartered Accountants Ireland
