Business movers: People starting new jobs in Ireland
New roles: (top row) Conall Bolger, Amruta Vaidya, Brian Barter; (bottom row) Sandra Hayes, Ben Byrne, Richard Pike.
Here is a selection of people starting new roles with Trifecta Ireland, Coca-Cola Ireland, Blink Parametric, Teagasc, Ashview Consultants and Tuath Housing.
Conall Bolger has been appointed as the CEO of the newly established energy think tank Trifecta Ireland, developing practical steps to reach a zero-carbon energy system by 2050. He has worked in renewable energy for almost two decades, notably with Airtricity, Mainstream Renewable Power, Cornwall Insight and the Crown Estate. He was CEO of Solar Ireland (recently rebranded from the Irish Solar Energy Association) since 2021. During his time as CEO of Solar Ireland, he advocated for numerous changes in national policy to support solar power and renewables more broadly; during his Solar Ireland tenure, Ireland’s solar capacity grew from 3MW to nearly 1,700MW.
Amruta Vaidya has been appointed as country manager of Coca-Cola Ireland; she will work closely with Coca-Cola’s bottling partner Coca-Cola HBC. She replaces Agnese Filippi who was recently appointed as country manager for Coca-Cola in Sweden. Vaidya joined Coca-Cola in 2017 and brings more than 20 years’ experience in global FMCG sector. She most recently served as the company’s country manager for Norway and Iceland, delivering consistent growth across the region, while building a high-performance team and strengthening partnership with bottlers. She has also held leadership roles across franchise operations, marketing and general management in Australia, Singapore and Malaysia. Vaidya and her family will relocate to Dublin.
Brian Barter has been appointed as CEO of Blink Parametric, a B2B SaaS company providing solutions to insurance companies and part of CPPGroup. He will succeed Sid Mouncey, who will remain with blink parametric as chief commercial officer. A Cork native, Brian has worked with his family’s travel agency business, Cork-based, Barter’s Travelnet. He has also held senior roles at Accenture, Bank of Ireland and as MD of BoatyardX, a global software business that builds and runs software for fintech, payments, e-commerce and IoT companies in Europe, North America, South America, Africa and South East Asia. He led BoatyardX from inception to acquisition by Ergo in 2022.
Sandra Hayes has been appointed as Teagasc regional advisory manager in Laois, Kildare and Offaly, delivering advisory services to farmers and educational courses in the regional offices. She currently co-ordinates the Teagasc/Tirlán Future Farm joint programme for Kilkenny and Waterford. She works closely with 11 dairy farmers, demonstrating best practices to 4,500 Tirlán suppliers across 12 counties. She has worked as a business and technology dairy advisor and as a drystock advisor in Co Tipperary, facilitating discussion groups. In her early career, Sandra was a REPS planner in Co Laois. She was also a manager of Mid Tipperary FRS. She holds a degree in Agricultural Science from UCD.
Ben Byrne has been appointed as managing director of risk management specialist Ashview Consultants, with offices in Dublin, Newry and London. He joined the firm seven years ago as a director. His previous roles include senior health and safety officer at G&T Crampton, group health and safety officer with Height for Hire, and senior health and safety officer at John Paul Construction. He holds a degree in Building Construction Technology from TUD and a postgrad diploma in Health and Safety in Construction from TCD. He has lectured at the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health. He has chaired the International Institute of Risk & Safety Management (IIRSM).
Richard Pike has been appointed as chair of Tuath Housing, an approved housing body, providing long-term, safe, quality housing. He takes over the chair from Prof Paddy Gray, who will remain on the board. A director since 2022, Richard has led Tuath’s audit and risk committee. He is skilled in applying excellent governance at firms while developing innovative cultures using new digital technologies. He is chair of FBD Insurance, and Citadel Securities Ireland and Europe. He has also held roles with Permanent TSB, JP Morgan, ABN AMRO, and Bain. He lectures at the Institute of Banking and Smurfit Business School and holds the ‘Certified Bank Director’ designation.
