Business movers: People starting new jobs in Ireland

New appointees with Holmes O’Malley Sexton, Data Edge, the Bar of Ireland, Grant Thornton Ireland, S&W and Wilson Hartnell

New roles: (top row) Edel Conway, Sarun Shaji, Shirley Coulterl (bottom row) Steve Tennant, Bryan Geary, Jack Hickey.

Here is a selection of people starting new roles with Holmes O’Malley Sexton, Data Edge, the Bar of Ireland, Grant Thornton Ireland, S&W and Wilson Hartnell.

Edel Conway has been named as partner and head of the corporate finance team with law firm Holmes O’Malley Sexton. She brings over 20 years of experience in corporate and commercial law. She trained with Slaughter and May in London before returning to Dublin, where she worked with a national firm and later became a partner in a boutique corporate practice. She divides her time between the firm’s offices in Dublin and Limerick, advising in technology, healthcare, financial services, energy, food and beverage, and retail sectors. Recent projects include advising a global technology and software engineering company on its acquisition of a technology group in a cross-border transaction.

Sarun Shaji John has been appointed as IT support and telecommunications engineer with Data Edge, the network optimisation and application performance management specialist. He joins Edge’s Broadcom support team, managing clients’ network event management, performance management, and application service assurance solutions. He will also provide client support for Microchip’s TimePictra synchronisation management and timing solution, and will manage the Data Edge network test lab. He joins after two years as a cloud engineer at cloud specialist Scaleios Private in Kerala, India. He was also a service desk consultant at customer engagement firm Flytxt Solutions. Sarun holds an MBA in Cloud Computing from Dublin Business School.

Shirley Coulter has been appointed as CEO of the Bar of Ireland, the the representative body for the barristers’ profession in Ireland and is governed by the Constitution of The Bar of Ireland. She joins from the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI), where she was CEO since 2020. She previously served as The Bar of Ireland’s director of communications and policy from 2015-20. Her appointment follows the planned departure of Ciara Murphy, who has served as CEO since 2014. Seán Guerin SC, the Bar’s chair, welcomed the appointment of Shirley Coulter. He also thanked Ciara Murphy for her long and much-valued service as CEO.

Steve Tennant, managing partner of audit and tax advisors Grant Thornton Ireland, has also been newly appointed as the firm’s CEO for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) with Grant Thornton Advisors. He will continue to serve as a member of the executive committee of Grant Thornton Advisors, reporting to Jim Peko, CEO of the Grant Thornton Advisors multinational platform. As CEO of EMEA, he will drive growth and deepen cross-border capabilities for clients. His appointment reflects his proven leadership in innovation, sustainability and client-centric growth as managing partner of Grant Thornton Ireland, a role that he has held since January 2024.

Bryan Geary has been appointed as a tax director with S&W, the professional services group. He joins S&W from Vistra, where he led the private client division advising on tax reliefs related to wealth structuring, corporate restructuring, and succession planning. Bryan has been a tax professional for over 15 years and has broad experience in Irish corporate and personal tax advisory. He provides bespoke tax solutions in corporate tax advisory, cross border transactions, VAT technical services, and employment taxes. His practice covers employment tax matters, property transactions, and employer stock options, offering a hands-on advisory service to corporate clients across multiple tax disciplines. 

Jack Hickey has been appointed as head of the corporate and public affairs practice with PR firm Wilson Hartnell. He joins from fintech firm Fiserv, where he spent four years as VP EMEA for communications, focused on driving tangible business results for its diverse payments and financial services businesses across 57 countries. Jack brings extensive global financial and corporate communications experience to the Wilson Hartnell team, having led complex communications projects across Ireland, the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the US. In 2015, Jack established the Dublin office of Sodali, formerly Powerscourt, and led the growth of that business in the Irish market.