By Business & Finance 
Pictured: Ronan Murray, Managing Partner, EY Cork
This weeks sees new and notable appointments at EY Cork, Urbeo, NFP Ireland, Mediolanum International Funds, Bauer Media Audio Ireland, Rent the Runway, BearingPoint, and Grant Thornton.
Ronan Murray, Managing Partner,
EY Cork
EY Ireland has announced the appointment of Ronan Murray as EY Cork Office Managing Partner. Murray will succeed John Higgins, who this Summer will be retiring as Cork Managing Partner after more than 35 years with EY.
Ronan Murray is a Corporate Finance (M&A) Partner in EY Ireland. Based in Cork, Murray has more than two decades experience in professional services, with extensive experience providing corporate finance services to indigenous entrepreneurs, private businesses and multinational corporations. Originally from Tralee in Kerry, Murray is the current President of Cork Chamber of Commerce, an alumnus of University College Cork and a fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland.
EY Cork has grown significantly over recent years, scaling alongside the fast-growing economy of Cork and the region. Today, EY’s Cork practice has over 400 people as well as 24 Partners. Located on Lapps Quay in the city, EY Cork offers a full range of professional services including Assurance (Audit), Consulting, Tax, Corporate Finance and Strategy. It hosts a National Pensions Centre of Excellence and has a rapidly growing footprint in the areas of Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics, Law and Life Sciences.
Ronan Murray, EY Cork Office Managing Partner, says; “I am really proud to take on the incredible opportunity to lead EY’s Cork office, as we look to build on the transformational success of recent years and chart a course for the next phase of growth for the practice, our clients and our community.
“As the business landscape continues to grow in complexity, more and more organisations are turning to EY to help them solve their most pressing challenges – supporting sustainable growth, driving digital transformation, and advising on operations and financial performance to name but a few. With the vast potential of Artificial Intelligence, the need to meet ambitious decarbonisation and sustainability targets, and ongoing global macroeconomic uncertainty, businesses require rapid access to top-quality advice and support. EY Cork has the expertise, capacity and industry knowledge to deliver solutions for our clients at speed and scale, helping to build a better working world for all.”
Frank O’Keeffe, EY Ireland Managing Partner, says “Ronan brings a wealth of experience and expertise with him into this role, and I know he will serve our clients, our people and our business with distinction. Under his leadership we look forward to both our Cork and our wider regional practice continuing to thrive into the future.”
Anthony Sweetman, Managing Partner,
Urbeo
Anthony Sweetman, Managing Partner,
Urbeo
Urbeo, the Irish property investment platform, has appointed Anthony Sweetman as Managing Partner. Mr Sweetman has been with Urbeo as Partner and Development Director since 2019. He has overseen the acquisition and development of over 2,000 apartments in Ireland in the last five years and the stabilisation of the company’s operational portfolio.
Mr Sweetman has over 25 years’ industry experience both in Ireland and internationally and was previously head of business development at Rohan Holdings.
Frank Kenny, Chairman of Urbeo said: “We are delighted to appoint Anthony as Managing Partner. Anthony’s great technical skills, boundless energy and his drive have been crucial to making Urbeo a best-in-class residential rental platform in Ireland”.
Teresa Flattery, a Chartered Accountant with 15 years’ experience in the real estate sector, has been promoted to Finance Director having been Financial Controller at Urbeo for the last five years.
New acquisitions, new fund structures and the expansion of Urbeo’s capital base will continue to be overseen by Partners Greg Kenny and Pete Carlsen.
Mr Kenny added: “Urbeo’s strong leadership team continues to work closely with our primary funding partner Starwood Capital Group on the continued growth and management of our operational portfolio and our ambitious plans to expand into new asset classes in Ireland.”
Louise Gallagher, Operations Director,
NFP Ireland
NFP Ireland, a market-leading specialty insurance broking and consulting firm has today announced that their Head of Client Services, Louise Gallagher, has been promoted to Operations Director of NFP Ireland.
“Since joining NFP, Louise has been an invaluable member of the team,” said Colm Power, Managing Director at NFP Ireland. “Her unwavering commitment is an example to leaders everywhere and we’re delighted to be able to reward her dedication.”
Pictured: Louise Gallagher, Operations Director, NFP Ireland
With this appointment, Gallagher will oversee the smooth running of all NFP Ireland’s administration controls and procedures, as well as maintaining her significant client relationships in the employee benefits space.
“Being the first female director at NFP Ireland is a really proud achievement, and I’m incredibly excited for this new challenge”, said Gallagher. “I’d like to think this promotion doesn’t just represent my development on an individual level, but it helps break down barriers, empower others, and create a more inclusive environment where everyone can thrive.”
NFP has been steadily growing its footprint in the Irish market over the last few years, following several strategic local broker acquisitions in 2020. Its latest acquisition saw them diversify their solutions, as they welcomed SeaChange, a specialist health and safety consultancy.
NFP has recently expanded to a new head office based in the Blackrock Business Park, Co. Dublin. Alongside this new facility, they continue to operate across their other locations in Dublin, including Grand Canal Dock and Malahide.
Daniel Loughney, Head of Fixed Income,
Mediolanum International Funds
The European asset management platform of Mediolanum Banking Group, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd (MIFL), has today announced the appointment of Daniel Loughney as its new Head of Fixed Income.
With over 30 years’ experience in the industry working for leading international asset managers, most recently as Senior Fixed Income Portfolio Manager at Border to Coast Pension Group, and before that as Senior Vice President at AllianceBernstein Asset Management for over ten years, Loughney brings with him a deep understanding f market trends and valuations drivers across asset classes.
Based in Dublin, Loughney will lead a growing team of investment professionals and be responsible for the internally managed fixed-income strategies. Loughney brings his expertise actively contributing also to the definition of the macro view of the Investment Committee, which will be the base of strategic and tactical investment decisions for all funds including the multi-manager strategies.
Pictured: Daniel Loughney, Head of Fixed Income, Mediolanum International Funds
In his role, Loughney’s focus will be in continuing to deliver superior quality of performance, expanding the team skills and competencies and helping the creation of innovative, client-oriented investment solutions.
He will report to Brian O’Reilly, Head of Market Strategy, while also working closely with Christophe Jaubert, MIFL’s Chief Investment Officer.
Loughney succeeds Charles Diebel who made significant contributions to the fixed-income and broader investment team. He will continue to contribute in an advisory capacity.
Daniel Loughney, MIFL’s Head of Fixed Income commented: “I believe that Mediolanum’s constant investment in talent and technology, its diverse product lineup, and its strong customer-centric focus will drive future growth and success and are also the main reasons driving my decision to join the organisation. I’m looking forward to contributing to MIFL’s continued success, aiming to exceed client expectations across the entire spectrum of strategies.”
Brian O’Reilly, commented: “We are delighted to have Daniel join our team in Dublin. I have no doubt he will be a great asset to our firm as we continue to grow and serve our customers. Daniel brings with him a wealth of experience which will undoubtedly further enhance our capabilities and our commitment to excellence.”
Eamon Fitzpatrick, Group Commercial Director,
Bauer Media Audio Ireland
Bauer Media Audio Ireland has announced the appointment of Eamon Fitzpatrick to the role of Group Commercial Director.
In this newly created position, which follows the recent acquisition of Media Central, Fitzpatrick will lead the commercial strategy for Bauer in Ireland across agency, direct and digital audio advertising. As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, he will play a critical role in driving the commercial success of business.
Eamon Fitzpatrick, Group Commercial Director, Bauer Media Audio Ireland
Fitzpatrick brings a wealth of experience to the role, having started his media sales career in local radio before establishing Today FM as a commercial leader in the Irish media landscape. Subsequently, Fitzpatrick held senior commercial management roles at the Irish Times, advertising agency IPG Media Brands and more recently with iZest and Bradley: The Brand Agency.
In the Irish Times, Fitzpatrick spearheaded the shift from traditional to digital media sales, growing market share during a challenging time for print while at IPG, he led the Irish operation to success, reshaping the business and attracting an impressive client portfolio including FitBit, Amazon, Tesco, BMW, Zurich and Just Eat.
Commenting on his appointment, Fitzpatrick said: “I’m thrilled to be joining the team at Bauer. Radio has always been my first love and with the Irish audio market in rude health, I’m excited to realise the huge opportunity this commercial role brings. The strategy that Bauer has adopted in the Irish market is one that really appeals to me – a passion for innovation, evolving technology and expanding its portfolio with exciting acquisitions and delivering excellence. I look forward to working with the Bauer team to realise that growth ambition”.
Welcoming the appointment, Chris Doyle, Interim CEO, Bauer Media Audio Ireland said: “We are delighted to welcome Eamon to Bauer, his significant experience and passion for audio will be an excellent addition to the team and his appointment will further enhance Bauer’s position as a dynamic, collaborative and creative partner for advertisers”.
Ronan Conlon, Stephanus Meiring, Sarah Lynch, Various,
Rent the Runway
Rent the Runway, the world’s first designer closet that enables women to rent a la carte, subscribe, or shop resale from hundreds of designer brands, has announced details of three new executive leadership appointments at its European technology headquarters in Galway.
Ronan Conlon is being promoted to Ireland Site Lead with effect from March 1st, 2024. Conlon’s newly expanded role will see him oversee all Galway site operations while continuing his global technology leadership role focusing on Consumer Engineering and eCommerce innovation. Conlon is a graduate of University of Galway and the Irish Management Institute, with over 20 years’ experience scaling enterprise software teams in management and leadership roles for SMEs and multinationals.
Stephanus Meiring is being promoted to Managing Director for the Ireland office overseeing corporate governance. He will continue to be a key leader for the technology organisation while managing his current areas of scope across Cloud, Networking, and Software Delivery Platform Engineering, as well as Quality Engineering.
In addition, Sarah Lynch has been promoted to Director, People & Culture at Rent the Runway. Lynch’s new role will see her take over Office Operations in Galway while continuing to be HR business partner lead for corporate employees in New York and Galway.
“The talented team in Galway tackles core technology challenges and influences the next generation of services critical to Rent the Runway’s success,” said Becky Case, SVP, Engineering, Rent the Runway, based in Rent the Runway HQ in New York. “We’re looking forward to working with this strong group of leaders as we continue to grow our presence in the area and continue to make important contributions as a tech employer in the West of Ireland.”
Congratulating Ronan, Stephanus, and Sarah on their new positions, outgoing Vice President, Managing Director and Site Lead Dorothy Creaven said: “As the first employee at Rent the Runway’s European HQ in Ireland, I am sincerely delighted to hand over the reins after five successful years to our newly expanded senior leadership team in Ireland, as Rent the Runway enters the next phase of its development. I am confident that Ronan, Stephanus, and Sarah will bring their vision and leadership, as well as an incredible wealth of combined experience and expertise to each of these roles. Rent the Runway’s Galway office is in excellent hands as it continues to work with its New York team members to innovate, disrupt and revolutionise the trillion dollar fashion industry.”
Rent the Runway established its European technology hub in Galway in April 2019 and is based in the refurbished Piscatorial School in the heart of the historic Claddagh area of the city.
The Galway office is Rent the Runway’s first international office outside the US and enables the company to expand its Software Engineering, Product Development, Machine Learning and Data Science footprint.
Karl Byrne, Stephen Redmond, Phillip Fitzpatrick, Mícheál Morrissey, Directors,
BearingPoint
Management and technology consultancy BearingPoint has announced the appointment of four new Directors to its business in Ireland, following significant growth in 2023 which saw the company’s workforce grow by 30% to 320 consultants. To support BearingPoint’s ambitious growth plan for 2024 the company will be expanding its workforce by over 15%, with an additional 50 new jobs to be filled this year.
These latest appointments include Karl Byrne, Director & Head of Software Development, Stephen Redmond, Director, Head of Data Analytics & AI, Phillip Fitzpatrick, Director Microsoft Services and Mícheál Morrissey, Director Technology Business Development.
BearingPoint’s growing headcount presence in Ireland has also been matched with a similar business growth trajectory, that has seen over 35% revenue growth over the last two years. In Ireland, the business has enjoyed strong growth across government, pharmaceutical, retail and banking sectors in particular.
Gillian O’Sullivan, Partner and Country Lead at BearingPoint Ireland said: “Today’s announcement is another proof point in the significant investments we are making in our people, in order to continue delivering and strengthening our offering of services and expertise across technology and business consulting. These latest senior appointments will add significant value to the business and ensure we are well placed to continue our growth trajectory in Ireland.”
BearingPoint recently hit a significant milestone in the company’s history reporting worldwide revenues of over €1 billion for 2023, representing a jump in year-on-year growth of 18%.
Pictured (L–R): Stephen Redmon, Director, Head of Data Analytics & AI, Phillip Fitzpatrick, Director Microsoft Services, Mícheál Morrissey, Director, Technology Advisory Client Business Development, Gillian O’Sullivan, Partner and Country Lead at BearingPoint Ireland, Karl Byrne, Director & Head of Software Development and Claudia Carr, Partner – People & Strategy.
BearingPoint is currently recruiting for a range of graduate positions across technology and business consulting, as well as experienced roles with a current focus on software and technology, including cloud solution architect, senior solution architect, data and analytics manager, and DevOps container engineer.
BearingPoint’s latest senior hires in Ireland will support the company’s vision for growth and success in four key areas including; AI and Data Analytics, Cloud Services, People & Change Management and Sustainability Services devised to support Irish based organisations in meeting their ESG obligations.
Commenting on the announcement, Claudia Carr, Partner – People & Strategy said: “We are thrilled to welcome Karl, Stephen, Phillip, and Mícheál to our leadership team. They are seasoned professionals with deep expertise in software development, data analytics, AI, Microsoft services, and technology advisory, to support the growing demand for digital transformation and innovation with our clients. Their expertise, and our organisation development and change management capabilities, will support our clients to realise measurable and sustainable benefits from investments in digital technology.”
As the newly appointed Director & Head of Software Development, Karl Byrne will manage the software development process for client projects. A key part of his role will be to grow BearingPoint’s software consulting business. Byrne has over 25 years’ commercial experience in Software Engineering delivering innovative solutions for both the consumer and enterprise markets.
Stephen Redmond joins the BearingPoint team as Director, Head of Data Analytics & AI to lead and grow a diverse Data Analytics & AI team. In his new role, Redmond will focus on creating and pursuing fast emerging AI & Data Analytics opportunities in both the private and public sectors.
In his role as Director Microsoft Services, Phillip Fitzpatrick will be responsible for BearingPoint’s growth strategy for Microsoft services and ensuring alignment between the business development team and delivery teams. With over 30 years of industry experience, Fitzpatrick has worked for the last 19 years as a digital transformation specialist for Microsoft where he led the Microsoft Technology Centre in Dublin.
Mícheál Morrissey has been appointed BearingPoint’s Director, Technology Advisory Client Business Development, with his key focus to acquire new corporate clients, strengthen existing client relationships, provide C-Level Technology and M&A Advisory services. With over 20 years professional services experience, and a Certified Data Protection Officer (CDPO) and a Certified Cyber Risk Specialist (CCRS), Morrissey brings a wealth of expertise across strategic planning, data protection & governance, cyber preparedness, digital transformation and sustainable business practices.
Robert Fitzgerald, Tax Partner,
Grant Thornton
Grant Thornton Ireland has appointed Robert Fitzgerald as a new tax partner. With over 15 years of experience, Fitzgerald brings a wealth of expertise to the firm and will play a critical role in expanding its asset management and financial services tax practice. Fitzgerald’s addition builds on the continued growth of the firm’s tax offering, led by 12 partners and supported by a team of over 300 dedicated tax professionals. His appointment follows the announcement last month of six new partners across Grant Thornton’s audit and advisory practices.
Fitzgerald, a Grant Thornton alumnus, rejoins the firm with extensive experience advising on investment vehicles, real estate, financing, securitization, mergers and acquisitions, and cross-border transactions.
Pictured (L-R): Steve Tennant, CEO, Robert Fitzgerald, Tax Partner, Sinead Donovan, Chair.
Speaking about joining the firm, Robert Fitzgerald, Partner in Tax at Grant Thornton, said: “I am delighted to join Grant Thornton as the firm continues to expand its tax practice. I look forward to supporting this growth and responding to the many challenges in the market through finding real solutions for our clients. As the tax landscape continues to evolve, I will support our clients in navigating new developments across industries, specifically in the asset management and the financial services sector”.
Commenting on the appointment, Steve Tennant, Grant Thornton CEO said: “We’re delighted to have Fitzgerald rejoin our Grant Thornton team. His wealth of experience advising domestic and international clients on a wide range of tax matters adds significant depth to our team and will be a tremendous asset to our clients. This is an exciting time for Grant Thornton as we continue to grow out our tax practice, and Robert’s appointment will add momentum to our firm’s continued success.”
Fitzgerald is a member of the Irish Taxation Institute and a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI).
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