Business movers: The latest appointments in the business world
Here is a selection of people who have moved into interesting new roles with companies in Ireland.
Norman Pratt has been appointed as director of consumer with PR firm Weber Shandwick, leading the Consumer Division and its portfolio of brands across beauty, entertainment, FMCG, food, lifestyle and retail.
He brings 15 years of experience. He joins from Murray Brand where he was associate director.
From Trim Co Meath, he holds a Law and Business Degree and a Masters in Commercial Law from UCD as well as a postgraduate diploma in Public Relations from the Fitzwilliam Institute. He is a member of the Public Relations Institute Ireland.
Earlier this year, Mr Pratt was elected to the Marketing Society of Ireland Council. His experience includes strategically devising award-winning social and digital media campaigns for leading Irish and international brands.
Mark Saunders has been appointed as CEO of Horseware Ireland, the producer of branded equestrian and pet products including rugs, clothing, therapies and accessories.
He joined the company as chief commercial officer in 2017 from Bewley’s where he was group brand director and prior to that he held senior management and leadership roles in Dairy Crest plc, IAWS Group plc and Superquinn. He takes over from CEO and founder Tom MacGuinness, who will become executive chairman.
He holds a Masters in Business Studies from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School and a Business Studies degree from TU Dublin.
Horseware Ireland employs over 700 people globally, with annual revenues in excess of €40m and facilities that are wholly and directly owned and managed by the company in Ireland, the USA, China and Cambodia.
Rory Walsh has been named as associate director for Munster at recruitment & HR services group Collins McNicholas. He was previously regional manager for the south and south east, based at the firm’s Cork office.
He will now operate between the Cork and Limerick offices to cover the entire Munster region. From Douglas in Cork, Rory now lives in Ballinora, Waterfall.
He joined the firm’s management team in May 2016 and has more than 13 years’ experience in recruitment and managing recruitment teams.
He holds a degree in chemistry, and started his career specialising in technical appointments within the pharma and biopharma industries.
He now has experience in managing teams across many areas from Finance and IT, to executive search and multilingual. The company also recently appointed Mary Mullin as associate director for Leinster.
Keith Butler has been named as CEO of life assurance company Acorn Life. With over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry, he is a qualified actuary and a qualified financial adviser.
He has been Acorn Life’s sales director for the past 11 years and has been a non-executive director of Acorn Insurance for six years.
A native of Barefield, Co Clare, he takes up the new role from January 1. He is married to Lorna and has three children, Abby, Calvin and Clara.
Acorn Life has over 250 staff and financial advisers and, assets under management of €698m and reported premium income of €118m in 2018. Its strategic plan, Distribution 21, will be launched early in 2020.
John Cunningham has been appointed as commercial director with recruitment firm Morgan McKinley. He has previously held senior roles in Irish Permanent and Friends First and was an independent non-executive director of Zurich Bank for a number of years.
He is the founder and CEO at HR platform People Dynamic Solutions. He is also a director and shareholder in CheckRisk, an online risk analysis programme for financial services.
He was a client relationship director with Alexander Mann Solutions in the UK.
He chairs the judging panel for the CSR awards for Chambers Ireland. He is also a board member of the Immigrant Council of Ireland. and a director of the Irish Youth Foundation since 2002.
He was appointed chair of Gaisce, The President’s Award. He is a board member of IMMA.
Edward Yusko has been appointed to oversee business development with office investment group Elkstone. He has over 30 years’ experience in high growth Financial Services and Technology companies, both in the US and Ireland.
He has worked in senior roles with Merrill Lynch Private Client Group in Beverly Hills, California, and more recently Bank of Ireland Private Banking and Key Capital Private in Dublin.
Throughout his career, he has served as a trusted advisor to executives of major corporations, entrepreneurs, business owners, and top professionals. He studied Engineering and Computer Science at Cornell University, and has a degree in Philosophy and Computer Science from the State University of New York at Albany.
Elkstone employs 50 people in Dublin, Galway and Cork.
