2024 Speakers

John James is the IACT President and Group Treasurer of Glen Dimplex. He has extensive Treasury experience, having previously worked with DCC plc, Grafton Group plc and IBM. He was awarded Best Cash Management Solution at the Treasury Today, Adam Smith Awards 2020 – the ultimate global benchmark in Corporate Treasury.

A Chartered Management Accountant, he holds an MSc in Investment, Treasury and Banking from DCU, a Graduate Certificate in Corporate Treasury from DCU and a Bachelor of Commerce from UCD.

Kim Dowling Doyle is the Head of Treasury for EMEA & Asia (ex-Japan) at MetLife. Kim holds a master’s degree in Business Studies and Graduate Certificate in Corporate Treasury from Dublin City University. Prior to joining MetLife, she held several back and middle office roles in Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch, and Invesco. Kim joined MetLife in 2010 and has over a two decades of successful experience in Banking and Cash Management. Kim specialises in Treasury operations and has vast experience developing best practices. Her passion for change management, process transformation and strategic partnership building has elevated the Treasury function to becoming a highly valued business partner across her region.

Sara Savidge has spent over two decades working with some of the world’s largest corporations and fintech organisations, where she has crafted, led, and accelerated multi-regional growth, business transformation, and new market entry strategies across EMEA, APAC, LATAM, and North America. Her leadership has consistently delivered remarkable, sustainable, and predictable results by driving and orchestrating impactful change. Before joining Fexco, she held several senior leadership roles at JP Morgan, Fiserv, and other leading financial institutions. Renowned for being passionate about people and payments, Sara is also a dedicated board member, advisor, and sponsor. She actively contributes to advancing DE&I initiatives throughout the payments ecosystem, championing the inclusion of underrepresented groups, and supporting the ongoing growth and transformation of the industry.

Birgita is a Partner at Zanders with over 17 years of treasury consulting experience. In this role, Birgita has supported clients with assessing their treasury function and treasury target operating model, determining how technology could be used to drive efficiencies in Treasury and Finance as well as identified ways to improve the control environment. Before joining Zanders in 2019, Birgita was a Treasury specialist at PwC, working with a wide range of companies and providing treasury audit and consulting advice, across areas such as hedging and cash management strategies, policies and controls, system selections and implementations. Birgita holds a MSc in Business Administration and Accounting, and an ACT qualification from the Association of Corporate Treasurers in London.

Uwe Reinemer has been with Merck for 14 years. Before joining the corporate in Darmstadt, Germany, he spent more than a decade with Deutsche Bank specialising in derivatives. In his current role as Head of Treasury Systems and Digitalisation, he leads a team of eight and is responsible for Merck’s centralised treasury system.

Aimee is Associate Director at Carrier Treasury since September 2022. She has diverse Treasury experience, having held Head of Treasury roles at Primark and CarTrawler in Dublin. Prior to this, she spent 9 years with Johnson & Johnson in various roles across their Treasury Centres in Dublin, Belgium, Sao Paulo and New Jersey. She started her career with ABN Amro’s Outsourced Treasury Centre in Dublin after completing a Bachelor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin and is a qualified accountant.

Michael is the CEO for J.P. Morgan EU Merchant Services, as well as being the Ireland Country Payments Head.  He has also served as branch manager for J.P. Morgan’s bank in Luxembourg while leading its Securities Services business, including all aspects of strategy, client service, product delivery and operations.

Michael joined J.P. Morgan in 1993 and held also senior positions across Asset Management, Prime Brokerage and Securities Services.  He is a senior advocate of its DE&I and Professional Development agenda while also being the ESG business sponsor for the Payments business.  

Dr. Jacques Yana Mbena is a passionate entrepreneur and treasury professional, who has implemented and worked with different TMS within corporates. Based on these experiences and in his role as VP solutions architect at TIS, his goal is to help companies decide to digitise their payment ecosystem, to go for a platform that helps to connect the CFO’s office by integrating the ERP landscape and connecting it best to the bank, and to significantly reduce the total cost of ownership by removing complexity. He strongly believes in the power of delivering on its promises, improving organisational agility and innovation.

Jim Power has worked as an economist in the private sector for over 35 years. He is owner-manager of Jim Power Economics, an economic and financial consultancy, which he set up in 2009. He is a graduate of University College Dublin (UCD) with a BA in Economics & Politics, and a Master of Economic Science Degree.

He was previously Treasury Economist at AIB (1987-1991), Chief Economist at Bank of Ireland Group (1992-2000) and Chief Economist Friends First Group (2000 to 2018). He is a board director of Love Irish Food, BMW Financial Services and Arboretum Garden Centre. He is a member of the Institute of Directors in Ireland.

He successfully completed the Institute of Directors Diploma examinations in Company Direction in 2022. He teaches on the Executive MBA and the Full-Time MBA at Smurfit Business School, UCD. In February 2021, Jim and Chris Johns launched their own Podcast ‘The Other Hand’, which is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other podcasts hosts.

He lives in Dublin and is a native of Waterford. He comes from a farming background.

Renowned as the world’s foremost TV hypnotist, mentalist and Brain Hacker, Keith has been revolutionizing the entertainment industry on a global scale for numerous years. With his awe-inspiring abilities, he has been featured in over forty international television shows, captivating audiences with his mind-bending performances. Over the past two decades Keith has also written, produced and performed many of his own live and virtual shows, selling out venues across the world. 

Beyond his successful career as a performer, Keith has become a much sought-after motivational speaker, delivering keynote speeches at prestigious events such as the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, T-FEST and TED. Notably, his TED Talk is one of the platform’s most celebrated, ranking among the top 25 talks of all time, amassing over 25 million views! 

Expanding his influence further, Keith released his groundbreaking self-help book, Brain Hacks, in 2021, designed to foster a champion mindset and develop mental toughness. A children’s adaption of the book‘ Mind Magic’ aimed at empowering young readers was published last year. His latest release, Sleep Hacks, further solidifies his reputation as an influential author and mental performance expert. 

Jason is Co-Founder and Group Chief Strategy Officer at Centrus.  He has 25 years’ investment banking and financial advisory experience.  He is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and a past Chair of ACCA Ireland.  Jason is also Vice President of the Irish Association of Corporate Treasurers and lectures on Treasury Management for the Masters in Finance at Trinity College Dublin. Jason has advised some of the largest housing associations, infrastructure investors and regulated utilities in the UK and Ireland.  As a highly regarded contributor in the infrastructure and housing markets he has produced many articles/publications and has been a regular speaker at various conferences and seminars in his chosen field.

King has won a number of prestigious honours including Best Global Coaching Leaders’ Award, which was presented to her in Mumbai in February 2017. She was the first Female Executive Coach in Europe to have received this international recognition. She also won the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) European Coach of the Year Award in 2018. This accolade was presented to her in Amsterdam at the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) International Conference where she was also a keynote speaker. King holds an MSc in Coaching and Organisational Development from Portsmouth University and is Past President of EMCC Ireland. She is a Master Certified Coach (MCC) with the International Coaching Federation (ICF). She also holds accreditation from the David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry.

Patrick Drury Byrne is Head of Credit Market Research for S&P Global Ratings, as well as the Head of S&P Global Ratings in Ireland. In his role, Patrick leads a global team responsible for the creation and publication of high frequency research on global rating performance and credit market trends. This research covers ratings performance indicators, default and issuance forecasts and financing conditions.

Based in Dublin, Nikolay Popov is Associate Director in the EMEA Consumer Products & Healthcare team within S&P Global Ratings’ Corporate Ratings group. He has a primary coverage responsibility for a portfolio of agribusiness, consumer products, pharmaceutical and healthcare services companies across both investment and non-investment grade spectrum, and emerging and developed markets. Major names in Nikolay’s portfolio include Fresenius Group, Merck KGaA, Novo Nordisk, Kerry Group, Roquette Freres, Sudzucker AG, Pernod Ricard, Anadolu Efes, JDE Peet’s N.V., Coca-Cola HBC AG, Coca-Cola Icecek, Refresco and Valeo Foods.

Nikolay has been at S&P Global Ratings since mid-August 2015, and at the Corporate Ratings Group since August 2017. He joined the Consumer Goods & Healthcare team in August 2018 and relocated from London to the then newly established European headquarters of S&P Global Ratings in Dublin, Ireland.

Eleanor started writing about corporate treasury in the days before the iPhone was invented. Having since edited several financial publications, she has been working with TMI since January 2018.

Mark is a Managing Director at Centrus, bringing over 15 years of expertise in banking, capital markets, and advisory services. He currently leads the Risk Advisory and Analytics Businesses across the group, which have seen substantial growth in recent years. At Centrus, Mark has spearheaded a diverse array of corporate, fund, and asset-level capital raising and hedging transactions, managing risks related to inflation, interest rates, foreign exchange, commodities, and power prices.

Ed is on the risk Solutions Team in Bank of Ireland where he is responsible for helping the banks corporate clients manage their Interest Rate Risk.

Previously Ed worked in London as Head of Fixed Income sales at Raiffeisen Bank International and in Credit Sales in Mizuho International.

Paul is Director of Treasury at GE Vernova. He has extensive Treasury experience spanning a 25 year career, having worked in several Treasury roles including Director of Front Office at GE Financial Markets managing an extensive derivative book of FX, IR, Commodity and CDS exposure on behalf of Capital and Industrial Businesses at GE Company. Currently in the role of Treasurer for Offshore Wind, Paul oversees Exposure Management, Business Funding requirements, Banking infrastructure development and Advisory on Commercial activity.

Paul holds a Bachelor of Economics Degree from UCD and a Higher Diploma in Business Studies from the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business.

John has many years’ experience in Corporate Treasury and Banking, in his current role he is responsible for Global Treasury Operations and FX for Hewlett Packard Enterprise and is based in Leixlip, Co. Kildare, Ireland. He has worldwide oversight for Liquidity Planning, Cash Management, Treasury Solutions, Bank Relations, FX and Treasury Management of HPE Financial Services. Previous, to joining HPE in 2007 John also spent a number of years in the Banking industry, predominantly in various Front Office Treasury roles across FX, Liquidity and Interest Rate Risk Management. In addition, John is also an ACCA qualified accountant.    

Gareth Condon heads the Fraud Risk management function in Barclays Europe, incorporating Investment Banking, Corporate Banking, Private Banking and Consumer Banking. Gareth has worked with Barclays since the establishment of Barclays Europe on 2018, initially supporting the transfer of business from the UK, establishing a EU based Fraud Risk team for Barclays. 

Gareth has over 30 years Fraud Risk experience leading teams in Bank of Ireland, Bank of Scotland, PayPal and Tesco successfully supporting these organisations mitigate fraud risks, resolving several high profile fraud risk events,  whilst maintaining a customer centric approach to fraud risk management. 

Gareth moved to Ireland over 25 years ago and lives in Dublin with his wife and 2 children.

Ross Jones leads the Payment Product Management team at Barclays Corporate and is responsible for the product proposition across Corporates and Public Sector Organisations. Ross’ top current priority is completing the successful delivery of the SEPA Instant EU Regulation as well as taking advantage of advances in the interoperability of real time payments across the globe.

Prior to joining Barclays in 2020, Ross had over 14 years’ banking experience at BNY Mellon with 7 years served in Cash Operations managing a number of significant global projects, as well as teams in payments, investigations, reconciliation and cash management. In 2012 Ross moved into product management and has since had responsibilities for direct clearing, mass payments as well as FX and multi-currency payments.

Ross lives in London with his Fiancée and loves to holiday on the West Coast of the US.

Donna Foley is the IACT Mentoring pillar lead and Director of Global Cash Operations for Xerox Corporation. Donna has a background in both banking and corporate Treasury, having previously worked with Bank of Ireland shifting into Corporate Treasury some 15 years ago. She holds an MSc in Investment, Treasury and Banking from DCU, and BSc (Hons) Sports Science from DeMontfort University.

Cian Butler is International Treasury Manager with multinational engineering consultancy firm AECOM since August of this year. This follows 6 years in ESB’s Treasury Front Office as well as Treasury roles in Primark, LeasePlan and Mediolanum. His responsibilities include FX Risk Management, Cash Management, Trade Finance and managing the relationships between AECOM Group & their banking partners. He plays an active role in the association – sitting on the IACT Committee & running the Young Treasurers Program. Cian has a degree in Mathematics & Statistics.

Meindert is EMEA Treasurer with 3M, responsible for the in-house bank, investments, hedging programs and treasury operations in the region. Prior to this Meindert worked for Publicis Groupe as International Treasurer, setting up their global in-house bank in Dublin; General Electric as head of EMEA IC Funding and LeasePlan in various roles including setting up their multi-jurisdiction securitisation programme, EMTN private placements and work with rating agencies. He worked in the Netherlands, Ireland and Brazil. Meindert holds a MSc in Business Economics and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). Meindert is past president of IACT (2022).

John O’Connor is the Country Head of Subsidiary Banking for J.P. Morgan Ireland. John is responsible for the corporate banking coverage for the leading multinationals in Ireland operating across EMEA. 

John is a Certified Director and recently completed a Diploma in Sustainable Finance with the University of Cambridge.

Annette is currently a Director at EY in the Global Treasury Solutions team, where she serves as a subject matter advisor supporting the UK and EMEA region. With many years of experience in treasury and financial markets, she has extensive knowledge in treasury management, risk management, and financial structures and gold hedging. Annette’s skillset covers Forex, derivatives, liquidity management, treasury transformation and TMS implementation. She also founded her own advisory firm, which specialised in setting up treasuries globally, and has successfully executed numerous Treasury Management System projects and Swift payment projects across Africa with multinational companies.

Andrea Jankovics is a former mentee of the IACT Mentoring Programme 2023. She is a Group Treasury Operations Analyst of Smurfit Westrock for over 4 years. She has Cash Management, Forecasting, and Tax Control experience, having previously worked with Bank of America for 4 years as a Cash Management Analyst, and as a Tax Process and Control Analyst.

She holds an BSc in Business Communication and Media, and a Diploma in Business Translation and Interpretation from Budapest Business College. She also holds a Certificate in International Treasury & Cash Management from EuroFinance.

James has over 10 years of experience in banking and corporate treasury. He is currently a Group Treasury Manager at DCC, initially joining to develop and implement a SWIFT payments and collections gateway. Currently, he oversees the Group’s Treasury systems and related processes, driving significant transformation in cash management, banking, and reporting for DCC’s Global Treasury Department. Prior to joining DCC, he worked in Bank of Ireland as a Relationship Manager working with large corporations and government departments.

Duncan is the Global Head of Traditional Trade and EMEA Head of Trade & Supply Chain Finance Product Management at Bank of America. Duncan has end-to-end responsibility for the management, enhancement, and commercialization of the Traditional Trade product suite.

Previously, Duncan was Head of Strategy, Innovation, and Traditional Lending within Trade Finance at Lloyds Banking Group. He started his career at Barclays Bank, working in a variety of roles within Trade Finance.

Duncan is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and is based in London UK.

Markus has over 20 years of experience in financial services. He started his career at Deutsche Bundesbank, before holding various management positions for 15 years at Siemens Financial Services in Germany and the US from 2000. 

As Head of Supply Chain Finance at Siemens, Markus worked in Siemens Treasury where he led global teams that developed and implemented the Siemens-wide supply chain finance program. 

Prior to joining Orbian in 2018, Markus led the Business Development at an Asset Management and a Fintech Company in Switzerland.

Shao Shroff leads the North America Industrials, Chemicals, and Materials sales coverage team within J.P. Morgan’s Payments business. In this role, he oversees a team dedicated to supporting some of the firm’s largest and most complex Diversified Industries clients, offering comprehensive global payments services, including Treasury, Merchant Acquiring, and Trade and Working Capital. With 15 years of experience at J.P. Morgan, Shao has held various client-facing roles in Payments Sales and Corporate Banking, serving diverse client segments such as Tech, Media, Telecom, and APAC based Multinational Corporates. Based in New Jersey, Shao enjoys spending time with his wife, son, and their English bulldog, Motu.

Kieran Buckley is the Global Head of Cash Management in Eaton, a Global Power Management company headquartered in Dublin. 

In his role Kieran leads a global team and is responsible for Eaton’s liquidity management and investment strategies.

Akanssha Suresh Prabhu is the inaugural candidate of the IACT Graduate Programme and currently serves as a Corporate Treasury Intern at Kellanova. With a strong foundation in finance, Akanssha recently began her career in corporate treasury after completing her MSc in Finance from Trinity College Dublin. She also holds a BA in Corporate Economics from Women’s Christian College.

Sheila is Group Treasurer at Legend Biotech Corporation a global commercial stage biotechnology company since December 2023.  Having spent over two decades working in Multinational, Treasury and Fintech organisations she has diverse experience in FX, Payments, Investments and Cash Management.

Prior to joining Legend Biotech Sheila spent was Group Treasurer for Fexco Group, having held various senior roles within the Group over a 14 year period.  Prior work experience includes the Utility and Multinational sector. 

Sean is the CEO of Silver Birch Finance, a working capital structuring and advisory business, majority owned by TDR Capital, a UK headquartered private equity firm with over $16 billion in capital under management.

He has over 30 years of financial services experience between Citigroup and Standard Chartered, across corporate finance, capital markets, corporate banking, trade finance and working capital.

In addition to his CEO responsibilities at Silver Birch Finance, Sean’s current Non-Executive roles include:

• Chairman of the EMEA Advisory Board for New Energy Risk, a private equity backed cleantech insurance business, spun out of AXA XL in 2021;

• Senior Advisor to the Climate Bond Initiative, a leading international climate finance NGO; 

• Senior Advisor to the Green Finance Initiative, established by the UK Government and City of London in 2019 to accelerate the flow of capital into UK transition finance, following his prior appointment by the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer as a Member of the UK Government’s Green Investment Bank Commission (2009-10), which led to the creation of the first Green Bank globally.

Stuart is responsible for the Company’s capital structure & debt, cash & liquidity, foreign exchange & interest rate risk management, together with insurance and oversight of the Company’s DB pension scheme investments & funding. He joined Xerox in 2004 after a 20-year career in Investment Banking and Treasury. He has been a member of IACT since 2005 and served as President in 2009.

Patrick is a senior portfolio manager in the Trade Finance Team responsible for the transaction structuring, portfolio monitoring and asset allocation with over 34 years investment experience of which over 29 years is in trade finance. Patrick joined the firm in 2019 from Federated Investors where he was a portfolio manager specialising in trade finance strategies. Prior to this, he held portfolio management roles at GML Capital and BlueCrest Capital Management. Patrick graduated from the University of Bristol with a BSc in Economics.