Business movers

People starting new roles with The Montenotte Hotel, IFA, Huawei, Philip Lee, FCI and Taxback.com.

New roles: (top row) Ray Kelleher, Tadhg Buckley, Tony Yangxu; (bottom row) Jonathan Kelly, Sean O'Connor and Marian Ryan.

Here is a selection of people starting new roles with companies with operations in Ireland, including The Montenotte Hotel, the Irish Farmers’ Association, Huawei Ireland, Philip Lee, the Association of Farm & Forestry Contractors in Ireland and Taxback.com.

Ray Kelleher has been appointed as director of sales and marketing with The Montenotte Hotel, Cork. His prior roles include group sales and marketing manager at Trigon Hotels and previously as sales and marketing manager at the Clayton Hotel, Cork. He is currently chair of the Cork city centre forum, is a very well-known personality in the business community in Cork and brings with him a wealth of experience to his new role. He will lead The Montenotte Hotel's sales, marketing, e-commerce and the public relations activity. Ray resides in Clonakilty in West Cork with his family. He holds a diploma in Hotel Management & Business Studies from the Dublin Institute of Technology – Cathal Brugha Street. The Montenotte is an award-winning 4-star boutique hotel in Cork City, a member of Conde Nast Johansens.

Tadhg Buckley has been appointed as director of policy and chief economist with the Irish Farmers’ Association. He will join in December following a notice period from his current role as head of agriculture with AIB; he was also a team leader of AIB’s agri advisory team in the South of Ireland. He is also actively involved in dairy farming on his home farm in North Cork. From a farming background, he has a strong knowledge of Irish farming and its policy environment at national and EU level. A Nuffield Scholar a member of the ASA, he is a qualified financial advisor. He holds a degree in Agricultural Science from UCD and an MBA from UL. “I am really looking forward to joining the IFA at what is a pivotal time for Irish farmers. IFA has always had a central role in policy development in Irish agriculture and my ambition is to further enhance this position,” he said.

Tony Yangxu has been appointed as CEO of Huawei Ireland. He will assume responsibility for Huawei’s carrier, enterprise and consumer business units in Ireland, including the national rollout of 5G. He joined the telecomms firm in 2006, and has held several senior positions, including roles in the Asia Pacific region and most recently as sales director for Huawei UK. In these positions, he was responsible for business strategy development, improving sales revenue and contributing to the growth of Huawei in these markets. He assumes the role as Huawei is positioned to play a central role in the development of Ireland’s digital infrastructure, supporting its customers to deliver fast, efficient and secure connectivity across the country. Huawei Ireland employs over 500 staff directly and indirectly, primarily at its Dublin, Athlone and Cork R&D sites.

Jonathan Kelly has been appointed as managing partner with law firm Philip Lee. He takes over the role from founder Philip Lee, who will remain as a senior partner in the firm's regulatory, government and infrastructure practices. Since joining in 2002, Jonathan Kelly has led the firm’s finance practice. He began his career specialising in film and TV finance and helped to build its media and entertainment practice into the largest in the country. Over the past decade he has advised the firm’s clients on a range of corporate and financing transactions, notably in infrastructure, energy, media and real estate. His uniquely diverse transactional experience ranges from the financing of “Braveheart” and “Game of Thrones” to numerous PPP transactions (in sectors such as education, health and transport) to negotiating Microsoft’s first corporate power purchase agreement in the Irish market.

Sean O’Connor has joined the Association of Farm & Forestry Contractors in Ireland (FCI) as national commercial manager. He will work to enhance the membership and commercial offers available to FCI members. He has worked closely with farm contractors as an agribusiness professional for more than 25 years in various roles within the agricultural sector, selling the market leading range of crop protection products and building film products to major Co-ops, PLCs, machinery dealers, buying groups and merchants in Ireland. He holds an Agri Science degree from Warnborough College in the UK, and a diploma in Agricultural Engineering from IT Tralee. Sean is a native of Kilbrittain, Bandon, Co Cork and has interests in Gaelic football and golf.

Marian Ryan has been promoted to consumer tax manager with financial services company Taxback.com. She will be responsible for business development across all functions that sustain the strategic objectives of the company in Ireland, UK, Europe and Australia. She will also develop and influence company strategy to expand the company’s client base and service offering from a B2C model to a B2B model, while streamlining internal procedures to increase efficiency and improve the customer experience. She was was sales team leader and business development manager for the past six years, and a client account manager for the previous four years. She has also worked as a sales and quality and accreditations manager with Nifast Health & Safety. She holds a degree in Business Studies & Marketing from CIT Cork, a Certificate in Business Studies and Tourism, and FETAC Level 6 – Consultative Selling Training.