By Business & Finance 
Pictured (L-R): John Delves, CEO, UCD Professional Academy & UCD English Language Academy
This week sees new and notable appointments at UCD Professional Academy, RDJ, Grant Thornton and McCann FitzGerald LLP.
John Delves, CEO,
UCD Professional Academy
UCD Professional Academy, a provider of workforce upskilling and professional development, has announced John Delves as its new CEO. As part of this exciting role, John will also be the CEO of the UCD English Language Academy, Ireland’s premier English language school.
As CEO, John will be responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of both the UCD Professional Academy and UCD English Language Academy and will take up his new position from February 1st. John is an experienced C-suite level executive in the telecoms, food and software Industries.
After beginning his career at Hibernia Foods in the UK, John progressed through more Irish companies in the UK including Kerry Foods and Greencore before moving to Digicel where he spent over a decade at CEO level in the Pacific and Caribbean, and implemented two successful greenfield launches in Vanuatu and Fiji. John developed the company from being a mobile-only operator into a total communications provider across mobile, fixed, TV and Broadband and digital media in the Caribbean. John was also the founding Chairman of the Digicel Foundation in Trinidad and Tobago.
After leaving Digicel, John became MD of Magnet+, where he led the successful integration of Magnet Networks and Airspeed Telecom and is part of the Speed Fibre Group which was successfully sold late last year.
Eamonn Russell, Chair of the Company, commented: “We are very excited to welcome John on board. His commercial experience of growing businesses is enormous. We feel he has the correct skillset to build on the significant opportunities available to our Professional Academy and English Language Academy businesses.”
Commenting on his appointment, John said: “I am delighted to join UCD Professional Academy and UCD English Language Academy as CEO and look forward to working with the excellent team here as we continue to deliver the highest quality courses. Coming from the world of tech and telecoms, this is a unique chance to shape the future growth and ambitions of both UCD Professional Academy and UCD English Language Academy, while also ensuring Ireland’s workforce remains competitive and highly skilled.”
Louise Boughton & Sarah Slevin, New Partners,
RDJ
Pictured (from l-r): Bryan McCarthy, Partner in Charge of RDJ’s Dublin office; Louise Boughton; Sarah Slevin; and Mary Purtill, Dispute Resolution Partner.
RDJ has announced the appointment of two Partners across the Firm’s corporate and commercial and dispute resolution practices. The new partners are Louise Boughton (Dispute Resolution) and Sarah Slevin (Corporate and Commercial).
Managing Partner at RDJ, Jamie Olden, commenting on the appointments, said, “My congratulations to Louise and Sarah on reaching this milestone in their career. They are talented solicitors who have demonstrated exemplary commitment to the firm and to our clients. I am delighted to welcome them into the partnership and look forward to having them play a key role in the firm’s future as they start the next phase of their careers here in RDJ.”
Louise Boughton (Litigation and Dispute Resolution). Louise is part of RDJ’s Dispute Resolution team, specialising in the area of insurance defence litigation. She has extensive experience advising both public and private sector clients in this area. Louise has advised and defended State Authorities in relation to liability claims initiated against the State in the Circuit Court, High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. She also brings her extensive experience from working for the State Claims Agency to the private sector and advises self – insured entities and insurers in both the Irish and UK jurisdiction.
Sarah Slevin (Corporate and Commercial). Sarah is a member of RDJ’s Corporate and Commercial team (with expertise across each of M&A/corporate finance, corporate advisory and commercial advisory), but also practices across the key areas of Cyber and Data Protection, Technology and AI. She has advised on numerous complex and high-value transactions across M&A, private equity, venture capital investment and restructuring, across a wide range of sectors, deal sizes and deal types and acting for both buyers/investors and sellers/targets. Her advisory work covers all business challenges faced by organisations, including commercial matters, contracting, IP protection, governance and compliance. She also has a deep expertise in all aspects of data protection law and compliance, technology and, more recently, AI, advising clients, including multinational companies, large public sector bodies and innovative technology companies in all sectors and across all sizes on complex queries specific to each of these areas.
Various, New Partners,
Grant Thornton
Grant Thornton Ireland has announced the appointment of six new partners as it continues to grow in response to client and market demands.
They are Maria Afontsenko, Kevin Coleman, Janice Daly, Jonathan Fitzpatrick, Marie Mannion, and Julieanne Nolan.
Announcing these new partners, Stephen Tennant, CEO, Grant Thornton, said, “I would like to congratulate Maria, Kevin, Janice, Jonathan, Marie and Julieanne on their appointment. They have demonstrated the qualities we pride ourselves on here at Grant Thornton; they have shown great leadership, they are committed to serving our clients with integrity and excellence, and they live our values every day.”
Maria Afontsenko is an Audit partner specialising in the financial services industry, including banks and other credit institutions, regulated e-money and payment institutions, stockbrokers and asset management companies. Maria has over 14 years of professional experience in audit and advisory services in the European financial sector.
Kevin Coleman is an Advisory partner with over 21 years’ experience. Kevin leads the financial services consulting offering in conduct and prudential risk and has worked on all sides of the table as a former banker, leading advisor, and as a former senior regulator. He collaborates with top executives, boards, and senior management to create value through end-to-end enterprise-wide regulatory change transformation.
Janice Daly is an Advisory partner leading the firm’s sustainability offering. Janice specialises in sustainable finance and climate risk and has over 15 years of global financial markets experience, where she held senior roles across sustainable finance, climate risk, strategic finance and treasury.
Jonathan Fitzpatrick is an Advisory partner and head of quantitative risk. Jonathan specialises in delivering risk measurement and quantification services to clients. He has over 16 years’ experience working in both the UK and Ireland, where he led teams across professional services firms and with multinational banks.
Marie Mannion is an Advisory partner specialising in internal audit services. Marie trained as an accountant with Grant Thornton, and later worked in industry before returning to the firm in 2018. Marie supports clients on a co-sourced and outsourced basis providing internal audit solutions and best practice risk management, compliance and governance insights.
Julieanne Nolan is an Audit partner specialising in asset management. Julieanne has over thirteen years’ experience providing audit and assurance services to the world’s largest investment advisors. Her portfolio of domestic and international clients includes hedge funds, private equity funds, asset managers, Irish regulated funds, and S.110 companies.
Speaking of the new partners, Sinead Donovan, Chair of Grant Thornton said, ‘Our leadership within Grant Thornton will be strengthened massively by the addition of these six partners. As a firm, we’re committed to promoting the best talent to the partnership and these appointments serve to underpin our values-driven policies.
Iain Ferguson, Head of Investment Management Group,
McCann FitzGerald LLP
Pictured: Iain Ferguson, Head of Investment Management Group, McCann FitzGerald LLP
Irish law firm McCann FitzGerald LLP has announced the appointment of Iain Ferguson as Head of the Investment Management Group (IMG) of McCann FitzGerald.
Iain Ferguson, Partner, succeeds Mark White as Head of the Investment Management Group (IMG) following Mark’s appointment as Chair of the firm in November 2023.
Both Iain and Mark, in addition to their new roles, will continue to support their broad client bases in Irish and international financial institutions.
In his new role, which takes effect from 1 February 2024, Iain will lead a market-leading, tier 1 ranked team providing a full range of legal, regulatory, corporate governance and business advisory expertise aimed at delivering integrated service to clients involved in asset management and investment funds.
Iain has significant expertise in structuring, establishing, and advising on a wide range of UCITS/AIFs including private equity and VC funds, private credit funds, real estate funds, infrastructure funds, ETFs, structured products, managed accounts platforms and hedge funds. Iain is currently an elected member of Council of Irish Funds.
Commenting on the appointment, Stephen Holst, Managing Partner, McCann FitzGerald LLP, said: “We are delighted to announce Iain Ferguson as our new Head of the Investment Management Group (IMG) and wish him every success as he embarks on this new role within the firm. Iain’s leadership, fresh perspectives and significant experience in the field of investment management will enable the Investment Management Group (IMG) to continue to grow its extensive portfolio of clients.
On behalf of the firm, I would also like to thank Mark White for the immense contribution he made in the role, and for helping to grow the group to its current market-leading position.”
Iain Ferguson, Partner and Head of IMG, McCann FitzGerald LLP, added: “Ireland has a thriving funds industry, and under Mark’s leadership our team has been very much at the forefront of developments in the funds industry over a number of years. I’m honoured to have the opportunity to lead our growing Investment Management Group and, with Mark and our broader team, continue to build on the success achieved to date.”
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