By Business & Finance 
Pictured: Laura Douglas, Head of Bloom & Brand Partnerships, Bord Bia
This week sees new and notable appointments at Bord Bia, Outform Consulting, refurbed, and safefood.
Laura Douglas, Head of Bloom & Brand Partnerships,
Bord Bia
Laura Douglas, a marketeer who was delivered major national events and experiences such as the Guinness Open Gate Brewery, Carlsberg Cat Laughs and the Vodafone Comedy Festival, has been announced as Head of Bloom & Brand Partnerships, Bord Bia.
Laura’s appointment comes as Bord Bia sets out a new vision for Bloom, which has grown from its roots as a gardening festival supporting the Irish horticulture industry into a major outdoor experience and host of over 100,000, predominantly ABC1 consumers in the Phoenix Park, Dublin each June bank holiday weekend.
Una Fitzgibbon, Marketing Director, Bord Bia said, “We are delighted to warmly welcome Laura on board and know that Bord Bia Bloom will continue to flourish under her guidance, drawing on her expertise in delivering best-in-class experiences. Bord Bia Bloom has become one of Ireland’s largest and most prestigious outdoor festivals and we are on a mission to transform the event into a truly immersive experience that embraces sustainable lifestyles, all while celebrating Irish horticulture, food and drink. Laura has been recognised for her breakthrough strategic thinking and excellent relationship-building skills and we look forward to her bringing this experience and vision to Bloom.”
Speaking about the fresh direction for the festival, Laura Douglas said, “Bord Bia Bloom is one of Ireland’s most loved festivals, heralding a vibrant and colourful start to the summer each year. In 2023 our ambition is to build on this success and reposition Bloom as a world-class, uplifting and innovative horticulture, food and drink experience, with nature and sustainable living at its heart, meeting the responsibility we have to the planet, to society and to future generations.”
The move comes as Bord Bia has witnessed a shift in its audience. “Of the more than 110,000 visitors in 2022, 75% were under the age of 54 with over half aged between 35-54, reflecting a blossoming interest in gardening and sustainable living among a younger cohort. While Bord Bia Bloom is still loved by our traditional audience (female, 55+, ABC1), our growth is coming in our key target market (male and female, 35+, ABC1) and this is where we see the greatest potential as we reimagine Bord Bia Bloom for a new era,” Laura added.
Jerry Grant, Chairperson,
Outform Consulting
OutForm Consulting, a consultancy specialising in business transformation, has announced the appointment of Jerry Grant as Chairperson.
Existing Chairperson at Dublin Port and former Managing Director of Irish Water, Jerry joins the company as part of OutForm’s strategy to become the leading infrastructure consultancy partner.
His presence will seek to support the strategic growth of OutForm, which has offices in Dublin and Belfast and specialises in the infrastructure and manufacturing sectors. The firm has plans to quadruple in both revenue and size in the next five years and is on track to more than double in 2023 following significant growth this year.
Jerry, who is also currently a Member of the Major Projects Advisory Group at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, will draw on his career experience in leading major infrastructure, asset management and utility operations to support OutForm, who’s clients include two national utilities providers.
Jerry will join the Board in support of the leadership team and its overall business proposition to ensure an environment where its people, clients, and wider community can thrive.
The OutForm team is focused on delivering sustained results across the infrastructure asset lifecycle as a business transformation partner and has a recruitment drive underway to support its plans for expansion.
Speaking after his appointment, Chairperson at OutForm Consulting Jerry Grant said:
“I am honoured to be appointed as Chairperson for OutForm Consulting. I have been impressed with OutForm’s strong performance and ambition to provide an alternative consulting model to the market. This is a challenging time for business and organisations of all shapes and sizes. What they now need is informed, reliable and trusted advice in order to streamline their operations and deliver their service to market. Having joined the team at OutForm, I am excited by the opportunities ahead and fully confident that, jointly with the excellent management team, we will be able to continue building on the success of OutForm Consulting.”
Managing Director of OutForm Consulting, Brian Thompson added:
“I am very pleased that Jerry has agreed to join the board. He has had a successful executive career and will strengthen the existing OutForm leadership team with his deep knowledge of consulting and the infrastructure sector. His appointment comes at an important time for OutForm, as we continue recruiting to support our plans to quadruple our business over the next five years – with a focus on the infrastructure sector.”
“This is a new phase for us, and we look forward to seeing our clients and our own business flourish. We have a passion for building long lasting relationships, as reflected in our work as transformation partners for two of Ireland’s national utility providers. We believe in true collaboration with our clients and know that Jerry’s support and guidance within OutForm will help drive us forward.”
Jonny Ng, Chief Marketing Officer,
refurbed
refurbed, Europe’s fastest growing online marketplace for refurbished products, has today announced the appointment of Jonny Ng as Chief Marketing Officer. Ng (38) was previously responsible for Zalando’s global marketing strategy & communications between 2018 and 2021 and assumed the position of Chief Marketing Officer at refurbed at the beginning of September. He is far from a stranger to the industry, having worked for well-known brands such as Marks & Spencer, Coca Cola and Burberry over the past two decades. He is the second executive to be appointed from Zalando after Maria Rupprechter joined the company as Director of Supply in April 2022.
Born in the UK, he knows both the agency and corporate sides of marketing first-hand, having previously worked at the renowned advertising agency Grey London as Strategy Partner and as Brand Marketing Director of the furniture design company MADE.com. From his time at Zalando, where he was responsible for 17 European markets, Ng brings a wide range of international know-how from the areas of digital marketing and brand strategy, as well as a plethora of experience in building digital marketplaces.
At refurbed, he works remote-first – like many of the now 278 team members – and will be partly based out of London.
Speaking on his appointment, Jonny Ng, Chief Marketing Officer, refurbed said; “Refurbed looks back on a very successful start-up phase and has built a strong foundation in both data-based marketing and impact storytelling over the past years. The upcoming phase will be particularly exciting as it offers a unique opportunity to make sustainable consumption mainstream, and to build and expand Europe’s largest sustainable online marketplace.”
Also commenting on today’s announcement, Co-Founder and CEO, Peter Windischhofer, is also excited about the C-level team addition.
“Jonny is the missing link in our leadership team and brings not only an extreme amount of experience and creativity, but also the right spirit. His diverse set of values, his high standards and his international background are a perfect fit for our corporate philosophy, and we are looking forward to launching the next growth phase together with him,” says Windischhofer.
Dr Gary A. Kearney, Chief Executive Officer,
safefood
Dr Gary A. Kearney, Chief Executive Officer, safefood
safefood, the body responsible for promoting food safety and healthy eating to consumers on the island of Ireland, has announced the appointment of Dr Gary A. Kearney as its new interim Chief Executive Officer.
Gary will lead the North-South Body’s senior management team and 30 full-time staff promoting the importance of food safety and highlighting nutritional issues to consumers aimed at improving public health.
A highly experienced food safety expert, Gary has been with safefood since 2001 in roles including Laboratory Liaison Manager, Corporate Operations Manager and most recently, as the Director of Food Science since 2009.
Speaking about his appointment, Gary says: “I’m extremely proud to step into the role of Chief Executive at safefood. I want to use my experience and expertise to build on the organisation’s use of our high-quality research to promote a better understanding of food safety and healthy eating among the public and those working along the food supply chain across the island.”
Gary has a keen interest in the management of change, corporate governance, and staff development. “At safefood, it’s important we see the big picture in terms of how our work is informed by the latest research and evidence-base in food safety and nutrition; how we effectively develop, nurture and sustain co-operation with key partners in both Ireland and Northern Ireland; and finally, how we translate all that into communicating behaviour change to the public and with stakeholders across the food supply chain through our integrated marketing campaigns, training, and information services. I believe such a joined-up-approach will encourage best use of existing resources to obtain optimum value in order to protect public health.”
Prior to joining safefood, Gary spent nine years in the field of national and EU legislative food regulatory compliance with the Health Service Executive in Galway and Cork. He has also previously served as a member of the Board of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, and as Board Member at Leargas.
Gary is a graduate of University College Cork with an MSc in Organic Chemistry and a PhD in Analytical Chemistry. He also had further training at Harvard Business School, Harvard JFK School of Government, and Henley. He holds an MA in Health Care Management and a Professional Certificate in Corporate Governance from the Institute of Public Administration.
He will continue to act as safefood’s Director of Food Science with overall responsibility for the chemistry/toxicology and microbiology disciplines within the organisation, including the management of the research programme, food safety promotion, and specialised laboratory support.
Gary succeeds Ray Dolan who served as safefood’s Chief Executive since 2014.
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