IIBN - International Irish Business Network

Conor Foley, CEO, WorldSpreads Limited and Chairman, IIBN

Conor Foley is the CEO and co-founder of WorldSpreads Group plc., the financial markets trading company with offices in London, Dublin, Europe and the Far East. Prior to launching WorldSpreads, Conor was Chief Dealer with Smurfit Paribas Bank in Dublin, with whom he worked from 1989 to 1998. Conor has been short-listed by Ernst & Young for Entrepreneur of the Year in Ireland three times. He serves on the Executive Committee of Co-Operation Ireland, a charity dedicated to promoting better relations between the people of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Conor has a Masters Degree in Economics from University College, Dublin and is a mentor on the London Business School MBA Summer Programme.

Aoife O’Sullivan, Partner, Gates and Partners

Aoife O’Sullivan is a partner in the commercial/private equity department of Gates and Partners in London. She has extensive experience in corporate, asset finance and commercial law. Before joining Gates and Partners, Aoife was a senior associate at Clifford Chance LLP in London in their corporate finance department. She then joined a leading offshore firm in the Cayman Islands where she advised on structuring and implementing local and international securitisations, asset financings, mutual fund and unit trust schemes, and assisted in establishing complex corporate structures with worldwide tax effective outcomes. Aoife provides advice on all aspects of private equity including transactional MBO’s, venture capital investments, start-ups, early stage financings, strategic minority interests, restructurings, exit strategies, debt finance and fund establishment and structuring. Aoife also advises clients in aircraft finance and regulatory issues including acquisitions and disposals, financings, airline start-ups, licensing applications and ancillary issues. She has written many articles and spoken publicly on corporate and private jets in the UK and Europe.

Fionuala Pender, Executive Director, IIBN

Prior to joining IIBN in September 2007, Fionuala was the Executive Director of the Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE UK), a global not for profit networking organisation which spans 45 cities in 11 countries. Fionuala headed up two TiE offices in London and Manchester and worked closely with the Board to help drive strategy. During her 4 years with TiE, Fionuala delivered a technology focused tour in India which showcased over 100 technology start up companies in New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. In the UK, Fionuala saw the group triple in membership and corporate sponsorship was gained from 4 key industry sectors. Fionuala also helped to build and deliver a mentoring programme to the growing membership who required business guidance and advice. Fionuala has also worked for Lehman Brothers Investment Bank within its IBD Technology division. Fionuala is a graduate from the London School of Economics, and her first job after graduating was for a London based charity which focused on alleviating poverty in the UK working closely with the European Union.

Damon Oldcorn COO StuffedAnimalsMedia

Damon Oldcorn COO StuffedAnimalsMedia has over twenty years experience on the boards of companies in the emerging technology and digital media markets. He had an outstanding corporate career in telecommunications, data communications and microcomputers at ITT, STC, Chernikeeff, Norbain Micro and Tandon. In the early 90s following the completion of his Masters Degree in International Business at Bristol University, he returned from study periods at Harvard, MIT and UC Berkeley to found and drive his own companies as the CEO. These include Interim Edge the UK’s first virtual management company focussed on technology, PhoneMe that launched, led and created a successful Silicon Valley exit in the web call back market in the dotcom years, NicheGnat that pioneered browser based web conferencing in Europe and recently the award winning Zebtab that created the first aggregated widget for sports and news media. He is also a Non – Exec on the boards of CaptivesGlobal, BookingBug and the Irish International Business Network..

Jonathan Grey, Founder & Owner of Ovation Incentives

A native of Cork city, Jonathan Grey is heavily involved in the online gift voucher and corporate business incentive markets in Europe and currently runs Ovation Incentives, an award winning developer and integrator of corporate incentive, rewards and motivation systems. Previously, he founded and directed GreatDaysOut.ie, an Irish gift experience company, until its sale in February 2009. Prior to starting his own businesses in 1999, Jonathan Grey was a public relations and online marketing specialist practising in San Francisco and London for Information Technology companies specialising in technologies surrounding payment systems, encryption and smart cards. Graduating from University in 1993, Jonathan holds an honours bachelor’s degree in economics and computer science from University College Cork, Ireland. He also holds a post graduate diploma in Public Relations from the Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland.

Andy Rogers, Chairman, Global Shares UK Limited

Andy Rogers is Chairman of The European Marketing Group and principal of Rogers Associates Ltd, a consultancy providing both strategic advice and mentoring support at board level to many European companies. He is an Associate Director of Elior UK. Andy worked for Bank of Ireland for 38 years, a career equally divided between Ireland and the UK, and was a Director of many Bank subsidiaries and an executive of Bank of Ireland UK. He was a member of the Foundation Board of IMD, Lausanne until last year; is Chairman of The London Committee of Help the Aged; a director of the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland; a Council Member of The Ireland Fund of Great Britain; a Patron of SafeStart; a member of the London 2012 Forum and many other organisations. He holds a first class honours degree in Business Studies and a Masters degree from Trinity College Dublin and in recent years attended the Managing Corporate Resources (MCR) programme at IMD, Lausanne. Andy is married with three daughters and enjoys all sports, especially golf and tennis.

John Matthews, Deutsche Bank

John Matthews joined Deutsche Bank in 2007 as a Director in its Private Wealth Management division. Previously, John worked at major financial institutions including ABN AMRO, Close Brothers and Citibank (now Citigroup). His current role involves coverage of Key Clients – Ultra High Net Worth Investors, Business Principals and Family Offices – in Western Europe, who are sophisticated investors with a range of both Private & Investment Banking requirements.

John holds a Masters Degree in Basin Evolution and Dynamics from the University of London (RHBNC, 1992). He is also a graduate of University College Dublin (B.Sc., 1991) and was educated at Marist College, Dundalk, Ireland.

Professional memberships include: Fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment; Membership of the Chartered Insurance Institute and Membership of the Institute of Financial Planning.

John is married, with 1 daughter. Personal interests include all sports, wildlife photography, and history. He is a Lifetime member of the NSPCC City Club, a member of the Galapagos Conservation Trust, and a Board Member of the Irish International Business Network.

Stephen O’Connor, Executive Chairman, The Underwriting Exchange Ltd

Stephen O’Connor is the Executive Chairman of the Underwriting Exchange Limited, with offices in London and Dublin. The Underwriting Exchange was established in 2007 to primarily specialise in servicing the London Market for Irish Brokers. The team at The Underwriting Exchange have ambitions to develop the business in a number of areas.

Stephen was educated at St Gerrard’s School, Bray, Co. Wicklow and Trinity College Dublin and completed his education in 1985. Prior to moving to London he travelled to Australia before starting his career as a Trainee Lloyds Broker, at the age of 20. In 1993, in association with Chris McHale, he formed Connor, Hale, Kerslake Ltd., which was sold ten years later in 2003. Stephen remained with the company for a further three years, after taking a year out, he was involved in the purchase of a dormant Lloyds Brokers, which was the beginning of his current venture the Underwriting Exchange Limited.

Stephen splits his time between London and Dublin and his main passion in life other than his family and business are horses. He has a number of successful race horses and an investment with a couple of very good Show Jumpers with Cian O’Connor, one of which ‘Complete’ was the reserve horse for the Irish Individual for the Beijing Games. In addition to The Underwriting Exchange, Stephen has a number of business interests and Directorships.

Gerry Collins, Partner, Wingrave Yeats

Gerry joined the firm from a top 50 firm where he acted as relationship partner on a varied client portfolio. Gerry previously worked for BDO Stoy Hayward for 10 years where he gained extensive experience from running a portfolio of larger corporate clients. Consequently, Gerry has many years experience in advising clients on auditing, accounting, taxation, financial accounting and general business advisory issues.
His clients have included very large private clients, subsidiaries of US and Japanese listed parents as well as a broad range of owner- managed and family run businesses. Gerry’s experience covers a number of sectors including financial services, leisure, and retail. His experience also covers assisting overseas companies looking to set up in the UK. Gerry is ideally placed to help IIBN members with their needs ranging from start up businesses to more established businesses. Out of work Gerry is a keen cyclist. He has completed cycle challenges in New Zealand, Cuba, South Africa and Morocco.