Business movers: The biggest appointments in Irish business this week
Mike McNamara has been appointed as chairman of PCH International in Cork, which helps clients bring products to markets, including the USA and China.
He was CEO of Flex for 13 years, leading a global team of 200,000 employees in 30 countries. He is a venture partner at Eclipse Ventures and serves on the board of Workday. Mr McNamara was previously on the boards of Delphi, Sunedison and Therasense.
He advises Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management, and has advised MIT, USA, and Sloan School of Management Visiting Committee. He holds a degree from University of Cincinnati and an MBA from Santa Clara University.
Damian Boylan has been appointed as corporate sales manager with smart energy company Pinergy in Munster. He will lead sales in smart energy solutions, notably in electric vehicle (EV) charging with Pinergy’s EV charging product, ‘Pinergy Drive’.
His core areas of expertise are in transport with a speciality in light commercial vehicles and cars.
From Blarney, Co Cork, he previously worked in sales management positions within the financial and motor rental industries for several years. He was a founding member of the Blarney & District Chamber of Commerce. He is also a city councillor with Cork City Council, elected in 2019.
Caitríona Fitzpatrick has been appointed as senior account director in the public affairs team of PR firm Hume Brophy.
She will provide strategic advice to Hume Brophy clients within Ireland and internationally. She will advise clients on public affairs strategies on Brexit and wider trade issues. A former special advisor to Tánaiste Simon Coveney for 11 years, she has worked in the Departments of Agriculture, Food and Marine, Defence, Housing, Planning and Local Government, Foreign Affairs and Trade, with responsibility for Brexit.
She is a fluent Irish speaker and spent the last six months leading the introduction of a flagship brand for Fáilte Ireland.
Kevin Norton has been named as a partner in the tax department of Deloitte, specialising in transfer pricing.
He will support Irish and foreign-owned multinational groups with business model design as well as the design, implementation and defence of transfer-pricing policies.
He has 15 years’ experience, having worked in Dublin, London and Barcelona in a range of industries. He specialises in helping clients with transfer-pricing audits and resulting dispute resolution, in Ireland and overseas. He also works with clients applying for advance pricing agreements. He has a BA from TCD and an MSc from London School of Economics.
Fiona Mullan has been appointed as chief people officer with mobile top-up platform Ding.
The company also recently recruited chief technical officer Barbara McCarthy from HubSpot, and chief operating officer Rupert Shaw from Docomo Digital this year. Ms Mullan will be based in Dublin with responsibility for Ding’s HR functions. She has over 25 years of experience in developing people and teams within international, rapid-growth organisations.
Prior to joining Ding, she was vice president of international HR at Facebook. She has also led HR for Microsoft in Asia Pacific and for Accenture where she headed HR for Ireland, UK and the Nordic countries.
Tom Arnold has been named as chair of the committee developing Ireland’s Agri-Food Strategy 2030, unveiled by Agriculture Minister Michael Creed.
Mr Arnold is chair of a taskforce on Rural Africa established by the European Commission.
His prior roles include director general of the Institute of International and European Affairs; chair of Irish Constitutional Convention and CEO of Concern Worldwide. He has served on the UN Millennium Project’s Hunger Task Force, the Irish Hunger Task Force, and UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund. He was also chief economist and assistant secretary general with the Irish Department of Agriculture and Food.
