Business movers

People starting new roles with MIFL, Cadoo, Cronin’s Homevalue Hardware & Agri, Aergo Capital, ABP Food Group, Ulster Bank.

New roles: (top row) Barry Noonan, Nic Fielers, Helen O’ Sullivan; (bottom row) David Power, Chris Martin, Ruairi O'Flynn.

Here is a selection of people starting new roles with companies and organisations in Ireland, including Mediolanum International Funds Ltd, Cadoo, Cronin’s Homevalue Hardware and Agri, Aergo Capital, ABP Food Group and Ulster Bank.

Barry Noonan has been appointed as chief information officer of Mediolanum International Funds Ltd (MIFL), the European asset management platform of Mediolanum Banking Group. Based in Dublin, he will report to CEO Furio Pietribiasi. He joins MIFL from leading Irish Fintech, Taxback International, where he helped the business become a fully automated cloud based, technology first company. Leading a team of 14 professionals, he will spearhead MIFL's IT strategy. He brings more than 20 years of experience working in data driven, and digital and eCommerce businesses. Other prior roles include head of engineering for HostelWorld.com, the world’s largest online travel agent specializing in budget accommodation, infrastructure manager at Ryanair, and head of Unix Engineering with Paddy Power Plc, the betting and gaming group.

Nic Fielers has been appointed as IT project manager with Cadoo, the Irish-owned messaging service which is expanding into the UK market; the app enables users to send rich media files such as JPEG and PDF, for free. Nic brings a wealth of knowledge to the role. As a member of Cadoo's leadership team, he will contribute to the strategic direction of the company. He will also oversee and manage the development, testing and release of new upgrades and features to the Cadoo messaging system. He brings over 20 years’ experience in IT project management. Prior to joining Cadoo, he was marketing and sales director at retail technology provider HRK since 2003. He was also marketing manager at HRK Africa for three years. He holds a BComm in Marketing from University of South Africa.

Helen O’ Sullivan joins the team at Cronin’s Homevalue Hardware and Agri in Ballylickey, Bantry, Co Cork, as sales representative. Helen is well known and respected in the farming community. In 2019, she was nominated as spokesperson to represent the Cork branch of the Beef Plan Movement which was widely publicised and she was also elected onto the national executive, the first female to hold such a position in any farming organisation. Farming has traditionally been a male dominated sector, Helen welcomes the shift that sees more females leading the way in agriculture. Cronin’s Homevalu Hardware stocks a large range of agri and hardware products and Helen is available to help customers with any queries, she says she is looking forward to meeting customers, “I am very passionate about farming from as far back as I can remember. I love being out on the farm and I understand first hand the challenges that farmers face. At Cronin’s we offer great value and service and I look forward to meeting our customers and working with the great team here”.

David Power has been appointed as executive chairman of structured products and senior executive advisor to the board of Aergo Capital, the specialist commercial aircraft trading and leasing company. David has over 30 years’ experience in the aviation industry, having previously worked at ORIX Aviation since 1991 and in his role as CEO for the company for over 15 years. He was also chairman of ORIX Aviation Hong Kong. David has a BA in Commerce from University College Dublin and is an Irish and UK qualified Lawyer. Fred Browne, CEO of Aergo Capital, said: “I am delighted to welcome David to the Aergo Capital team. David brings an unrivalled wealth of experience with him and I have no doubt the talented team at Aergo, along with our customers will benefit greatly from his many years of aviation experience and outstanding sector expertise.” 

 Chris Martin has been appointed as a non-executive director to its board of agri-food group ABP Food Group. He has more than 35 years’ experience of working in retail and consumer facing businesses in Britain and Ireland. In 2019, after 15 years, he stepped down as CEO of Musgrave. Prior to this he was CEO of Mothercare plc, group finance director of Storehouse plc and had various roles at PizzaHut and ASDA. Chris is a chartered accountant, fellow of the Institute of Grocers and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Larry Goodman, ABP's executive chair, said: “I am delighted to welcome Chris Martin to the Board of ABP Food Group. His experiences from a long career at the leading end of retail, and most particularly food retail, will be of considerable value with the ongoing strategic development of the business. We look forward to working with Chris in the years ahead.” 

Ruairí O'Flynn has been appointed as chairman of Ulster Bank. He replaces Des O’Shea, who leaves after eight years of service to the board, including four years as chairman. Ruairí was most recently chair of Canada Life Re Ireland and is also currently a non-executive director at Met Life Europe, Irish Life Investment Managers and Setanta Asset Management. His past roles have included CEO at Canada Life Ireland, CEO at Setanta Asset Management (Canada Life Group), and CIO Europe for Canada Life Group. He held a range of roles during 25 years with Bank of Ireland Group. He also spent three years on the faculty of the Irish Management Institute. A native of Dublin, he holds a BBS and Masters in Management Science degrees at Trinity College Dublin. He is also a graduate of the International Directors Programme at Insead Business School, and of the general management programme at Harvard Business School.