Business Movers
Here is a selection of people who have begun new roles with a selection of companies and organisations, including LEON Ireland, Esri Ireland, Mastercard, LauraLynn, William Fry and Empathy Connects.
Adrian Crean has been appointed as a non-executive director of LEON Ireland, the Naturally Fast Food brand launched into the Irish market in May 2019. He brings over 20 years of foodservice experience, notably as MD of McDonald’s Restaurants in Ireland from 2011 to 2017. He has also been managing director of Rocket Restaurants Group, and chief brand and strategy officer for Applegreen. As of February 2020, LEON has two Dublin city restaurants, in Temple Bar and Millennium Walkway. The company has an ongoing commitment to open 20 restaurants and create 600 jobs by 2023. To date, LEON has raised €3.6m investment to fund the Irish launch and rollout plans.
Ellen Scully has been appointed as digital marketer with Esri Ireland, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) specialist. She was previously digital marketing executive with the Irish Institute of Digital Business. She will lead campaigns like the Esri Ireland ArcGIS for Schools scheme, offering free digital mapping software to primary and secondary schools across the island of Ireland. She will optimise digital and social media content and advertising campaigns, producing and distributing the Esri Ireland customer newsletter, as well as leading Esri Ireland events, and analysing and monitoring the performance of digital marketing campaigns. She holds an MSc in Digital Marketing and a BSc in Multimedia from DCU.
Mark Barnett has been named as president of Mastercard’s European business, based in Brussels, succeeding Javier Perez, who retires at the end of the year. Mr Barnett was previously the company’s divisional president for the UK, Ireland Nordics and Baltics. He joined in 2003 and has held roles including leading their payments consulting business for Europe and then globally. He brings 20 years of experience in retail banking and payments. He will lead the direction of all aspects of the firm’s business in Europe. Mastercard’s European business covers 53 countries, serving over 950m people through partnerships with retailers, financial institutions and businesses.
Kerry McLaverty has been named as CEO of LauraLynn, Ireland’s children’s hospice, providing support and palliative care for children with life-limiting conditions and their families across Ireland. A longstanding member of the team, she initially joined the physiotherapy department in 2012, and rose to head of operations in 2016. She has 15 years’ experience as a healthcare professional in the healthcare sector, not-for-profit and voluntary sectors. Her healthcare management and leadership skills are underpinned by an extensive clinical background in physiotherapy and paediatrics, along with strong clinical research and teaching experience as a former annual lecturer at RCSI and within the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists (ISCP).
Matthew Cahill has been appointed as head of structured finance and debt capital markets with law firm William Fry. Matthew is returning to Ireland after 25 years working in this highly specialised area in London, Tokyo, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai. He has been a partner at leading law firms Clifford Chance and Sidley Austin. Matthew is from Cork and holds a BCL from NUI Cork. William Fry’s managing partner, Bryan Bourke, said: “We look forward to our clients and teams benefiting from Matthew’s arrival.” The firm has 300+ legal and tax professionals and 460+ staff in Ireland. The firm has offices in Dublin, Cork, UK, and USA.
Stephen Rust has been appointed as MD of Empathy Connects, the new shopper research unit at marketing firm Empathy in Dublin. HE joins from V360°, part of Visualise Group, where he was joint MD. Empathy and V360° have also formed a strategic partnership which will see the two firms formalise their relationship to provide complementary services to their respective clients. The partnership between Empathy and V360° is an evolution of a seven-year relationship which has seen them work together on a wide range of projects for clients such as Bord Bia, Kerryfoods and Freshways Food Co., in addition to Pharma Focus, a syndicated research service for the Irish Pharmacy industry.
