Business Movers

Joan Curry, a finance officer at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and a Chartered Accountants Ireland member, has been elected to the IFAC (International Federation of Accountants) council, the first time the global group has a female-majority board in its 42-year history. Joan is the first Irish public servant to be elected to the board. She previously worked with the Public Service Pay Commission at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and with Department of Finance for nine years. She was a financial accountant with Georgia-Pacific for more than 14 years. She is a graduate of Mercy College, Coolock, lives in Castleknock.

Paula Conlon has been appointed as marketing manager for cider with Heineken Ireland, responsible for the Orchard Thieves and Appleman’s cider brands, both designed for the Irish market. She spent the past five years as Heineken’s customer marketing controller, involved in campaigns such as the launch of non-alcoholic beer Heineken 0.0. She previously worked for three years at Britvic Ireland as head of commercial operations. A graduate of DCU and the Smurfit School of Business, Conlon has also worked in the consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser. She will communicate with Core, which Heineken has recently named as its new creative agency for ciders.

Rob Frew has been appointed as creative director with creative agency Oliver Ireland. He brings more than 15 years’ experience in advertising, having worked in a number of agencies in Dublin, London, Paris and Sydney on brands like Vodafone, Guinness, National Lottery and Unilever. He will work on the Oliver team that works with Bank of Ireland. Mark McCann, MD of Oliver Ireland, said: “Rob has worked on many impressive projects and his vast experience and skills are going to make a very valuable contribution going forward.” Apart from Bank of Ireland, clients of Oliver Ireland include AXA, Virgin Media, Britvic, BMW, Davy, Lidl, 3M, Dalata, Aramark as well as the Irish League of Credit Unions.

Pat Rigney, managing director and founder of The Shed Distillery in Co Leitrim, maker of Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin, has been appointed chair of representative body Drinks Ireland|Spirits. Pat, who was previously vice-chair, will take over as chair from Aoife Clarke, senior director of international public affairs at Beam Suntory. Bryan Fallon, director of TJ Carolan’s has been appointed as vice-chair. The group was established in 1997 and acts as a voice among national and EU policy makers for issues such as taxation, trade and ongoing protection of Ireland’s Geographic Indicators. It is the representative organisation for alcoholic drinks manufacturers and suppliers in Ireland in Ibec.

June Butler has been named as head of Bank of Ireland’s sector specialists team. Since joining Bank of Ireland in 2003, she has served in a range of roles, most recently as head of SME Banking. In her new role she will lead the bank’s team of sector specialists, recruited directly from industry to provide expert insights on cycles, trends and business outlook and, using their sector knowledge, to identify financial solutions for businesses in their sector. Michael Lauhoff, Bank of Ireland’s director of business banking, said: “I wish June well in leading the sectors team, whose expertise is crucial in identifying opportunities in each sector and the financial support these businesses need.”

Róisín O’Shea has been appointed as Bank of Ireland’s head of food and drink sector, a newly created role. Prior to joining Bank of Ireland, she held a number of senior commercial positions in both indigenous and multinational consumer goods companies including PepsiCo, Valeo Foods, Carbery, Boyne Valley and Robert Roberts Ltd. Her most recent role was in the rapidly-growing sports nutrition industry. Michael Lauhoff, Bank of Ireland’s director of business banking, said: “I would like to welcome Róisín to Bank of Ireland and to a newly created role that reflects the importance of the food and drink sector as one of Ireland’s key indigenous industries.”