Here is a selection of people starting new roles with Teagasc, Four Star Pizza, Global Fresh Exotics, Murray Group Taxback.com, and ECS Group.
Dr Joe Patton has been appointed as the head of Dairy Knowledge Transfer in Teagasc following the move by Dr Tom O’Dwyer to head up the Teagasc Signpost programme. Dr Patton will lead the team of dairy specialists in the organisation. He started his career in Teagasc in 2006 with a contract research post in the area of dairy herd nutrition. In 2009, he took up a role as dairy specialist for winter milk production in Teagasc, based at Teagasc Grange. He led the Teagasc winter milk systems project at Johnstown Castle. In 2020, he moved to the position of ruminant nutrition specialist. He holds a degree in AgriScience from UCD and a PhD on dairy nutrition from Teagasc and UCD.
Ciara Kellett has been appointed director of operations for Irish-owned pizza chain Four Star Pizza. Ciara has been working with Four Star Pizza for the past three years as project lead consultant engaging with franchisees for the creation and development of the Bun Bros brand, Four Star’s burger offering. She brings 20 years of experience in senior commercial and operational roles in retail FMCG and foodservice industries, notably with Musgrave Wholesale Partners (head of national accounts), Primeline Group (head of national accounts) and Johnson Brothers (commercial manager for Ngage). She will now manage operations, liaise with franchisees and oversees the continued rollout of Bun Bros across the store network. Four Star Pizza employs over 1,000 people across 60 stores on the island of Ireland.
Richard Moore has been appointed as managing director of Global Fresh Exotics, the Meath-based importer, grower and distributor of fresh food produce. He brings more than 25 years of leadership experience in the international and domestic fresh produce industry to the role, including working for the past ten years as commercial director at the Global Fruit Company, home of the Del Monte brand in Ireland. Richard also previously held managing director roles with Keelings Wholesale and with Seed Potato Company. Global Fresh Exotics has operated in the Irish market since 2000. Mr Moore will now guide the company through a period of building upon its already respected position in the industry. He holds a degree in Business Management from DIT.
Paul O’Kane has been appointed as director in its corporate and financial PR team with communications consultants Murray Group. He brings more than 30 years’ experience in communications and national newspapers. He was chief communications officer (CCO) at Dublin Airport Authority for the past 12 years, having joined as communications manager in 2006. He established and managed the airport’s award-winning Twitter account. He chaired Airports Council International (ACI), Europe’s digital communications forum, from 2013 to 2015. He also spent 15 years in journalism in roles with The Sunday Tribune and The Irish Times. A native of Whiteabbey, Co Antrim, Paul has a degree in Modern History and Politics from QUB and an MA in Journalism from DCU.
William Maher has been appointed as director of business development with Taxback.com financial consultants, based in Co Kilkenny. In his new role, he will manage outbound B2B prospecting to Irish organisations, from SMEs to multinationals; generating and managing sales pipelines; developing and managing campaigns; building strong professional relationships with prospects, clients, and key accounts. He was previously general manager with Hermitage Technologies for the past two years. Prior to that, he was commercial manager with Amgen for 13 years. He was also previously a director with eFrontiers. Having studied at WIT and UCD, he holds an MBA, a Hdip in Education and a BA in Business Studies. He is also a former manager of the Tipperary U21 hurling team.
Adrien Thominet has been appointed executive chairman of airline services firm ECS Group, succeeding Bertrand Schmoll. Headquartered in France, ECS Group’s Irish wing is Globe Air Cargo (GAC) in Dublin. With the group for 25 years, Mr Thominet has been CEO since 2017; prior to that, he was COO since 2011. Over the past four years, ECS Group has seen huge development in-network, client base growth, as well as in innovation and digital technology, including new in-house business intelligence and training platform tools. A leader in general sales and service agents (GSSA), ECS partners with airlines, commercialising their air freight capacity and supervising local operations. It represents over 150 airlines of all sizes across the globe, supporting around 10,000 freight forwarders.
