Here is a selection of people starting new roles Re-turn Ireland, Ibec, Ergo, Lidl, Life Scientific and Org Group.
Ciaran Foley has been appointed as CEO of Ireland’s Deposit Return Scheme, hosted by Re-turn Ireland. A not-for-profit organisation, Re-turn was appointed by government to assist retailers, producers, and consumers with the new beverage container return scheme, starting in February. Ciaran’s former roles include MD of DHL Ireland and supply chain director of Tesco Ireland. He is also non-executive director at FoodCloud Ireland, the charity that uses innovative IT solutions to reduce food waste, making excess food from retail outlets and providers available to charities. As CEO of Ireland’s Deposit Return Scheme, Ciaran will lead a team of 30 and work closely with board of directors.
Elizabeth Bowen has been named as director of Ibec group Aircraft Leasing Ireland. Previously public affairs lead at the Small Firms Association, she helped develop SFA’s policy positions on access to finance, taxation and ESG matters. Since joining Ibec in 2016, she has been interim director for SFA and director of prepared consumer foods in Food Drink Ireland. She has also worked as an advisor to a Government TD and with the Chartered Institute of Public Relations in London. She holds a Social Science degree from UCD and diplomas from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School and TUD.
Simon Daly has been appointed as commercial strategy lead for IT solutions provider Ergo’s modern workplace practice, overseeing hybrid working and other projects for Ergo’s global multisite clients. Simon brings 20 years of leading customer-facing teams in the Irish IT industry. He joins Ergo from Microsoft, where he previously worked as modern workplace specialist for eight years. He has also worked for IBM for over 17 years, in both technical and commercial roles, specialising in translating technical values into business values and providing organisations with modern workplace solutions that help them to connect, communicate and collaborate seamlessly across their business.
Tara O’Connor has been appointed as regional MD for the Southwest with Lidl Ireland, heading up 43 stores across Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Clare and Galway and its distribution centre in Charleville, Co Cork. Tara’s Lidl career has brought her across the world, with roles in cost management, HR, sales operations, procurement and finance in Ireland, Germany, Austria and Poland. Tara’s most recent roles include senior director of sales operations and supply chain based in Lidl’s Dublin head office and sales operations director. She holds a Business degree from DIT and a Masters in Strategic Management from UCD, as well as several managerial qualifications.
Tom Staples has been appointed as first global commercial officer with Life Scientific, the Dublin based off-patent crop protection company. From a farming background in Canada, Tom has gathered a diverse background of leadership experience working with both agricultural and digital technology industries. In the past eight years, Life Scientific has seen the expansion of a team of over 90 employees across seven countries. Pivotal to building on this growth is the development of global markets and the customer base. The company is targeting four-fold growth over the next four years. During 2023, the company registered 13 new products across seven European countries.
Pernille Fabricius has been appointed as group chief finance officer with Irish-owned professional services company Org Group, whose subsidiaries include recruitment firm Morgan McKinley, managed services firm Abtran and tech services firm Org. Pernille joins Org from Danish life sciences IT solutions company NNIT, where she was EVP, head of strategy, transformation and M&A, and previously CFO. Prior roles included executive positions at ISS, GN, APMM, Getinge with the latest being executive director at Reliance Worldwide Corporation. She has also held several non-executive roles. The Org Group employs 3,000 people worldwide, advising clients on resourcing their operations and delivering managed solutions to complex issues.
