CFO Forum

Rick Fearon, CFO, Eaton Plc and Non-Executive Director, CRH will be our first speaker in a virtual fireside chat discussing the strategic nature of the CFO role. Rick will provide a board member’s point of view of the relationship between the CFO, their CEO and Board, and the critical importance of this relationship for the future growth of a business. Rick will also discuss the transition from CFO to NED and the challenges and opportunities this transition poses. As for perspectives on transformation initiatives and what Long Term Value means to the CFO, you can’t get a better source of information than someone at the top of one of the world’s largest power management corporations.

Guest: Rick Fearon, CFO, Eaton Plc and Non-Executive Director, CRH

Host: Vincent Wall

While transformation is at the forefront of the finance function, knowing where to start when transforming operations, is often the most challenging part. Our panel of leading finance transformation figures will share their insights into how they are working to stay ahead of the curve. Learn how they ensure their operations are agile and predictive, and hear first-hand how to engage with both the right talent and the right new technologies, to gain a competitive edge.

Guests:

• Patrick Cooney, CFO Europe & Russia and Group Finance Transformation Executive, Kerry Group plc
• Mark Irwin, Group Director of Finance & Treasury, Flutter Entertainment plc
• Conrad Ketterer, Global Head of Finance Change, HSBC Holdings plc
• Martina Keane, Head of Assurance Financial Services, EY

Host: Ben Castell, UK&I CFO Finance & CFO Agenda Leader, EY

Patrick has worked with Kerry for over 10 years in a variety of finance roles in North America and Europe. Patrick’s current responsibilities include CFO for the Europe & Russia business with a turnover of €1.2bn, 6,000 employees, 35 manufacturing sites and a commercial presence across 40+ countries. Patrick is also leading a Finance Transformation programme across the group transforming the operating model to deliver greater value contribution to the business and enhanced employee experience for our finance colleagues.

Rick is Vice Chairman, Chief Financial and Planning Officer, and a member of the board of directors of Eaton Plc, a global power management company. In this role, he has responsibility for the accounting, control, corporate development, information systems, internal audit, investor relations, strategic planning, tax and treasury functions. In December 2020, Rick joined the board of CRH as a Non-Executive Director.

Prior to Eaton, Rick worked at several large diversified companies, including Transamerica Corporation in San Francisco, NatSteel Limited in Singapore, and The Walt Disney Company in Burbank. Rick’s prior work experience also includes The Boston Consulting Group, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Willow Place Partners.

Mark is Group Director of Finance & Treasury, Flutter Entertainment plc, based in Dublin. Since joining Paddy Power plc in 2010, Mark has held various senior positions across Group Finance, including the significant roles he played during the transformational mergers of Paddy Power and Betfair in 2016, and more recently this year when Paddy Power Betfair completed a merger with The Stars Group, to create the world’s largest online betting and gaming group.

Mark’s career experiences have been characterised by frequent and significant periods of change. The integration of the newly merged Flutter Group will take this to a new level, in an industry which is already evolving at considerable pace.

Rosheen became CEO of NTR plc in 2013. Before her CEO appointment she was responsible for business development, as the architect of NTR's future investment strategy. NTR plc is a leading renewable energy company based in Dublin that has transacted more than €3 billion of sustainable infrastructure investments in wind, solar, bioenergy, water treatment, energy storage and recycling over the past 15 years. The firm was awarded an A+ rating for Infrastructure and A for Strategy and Governance from UN Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) for 2020. NTR’s fleet of wind and solar assets under management across Europe has projects located in over 40 locations across Ireland, the UK, France, Sweden and Finland. A non–executive director of Grafton Group plc and Sicon Limited, before NTR, Rosheen was CEO of GE Money Ireland and led the business transformation initiative for ESB Power Generation.

Danny is a partner in EY Ireland’s Financial Services CFO Advisory team. Danny has more than 20 years’ industry and practice experience spanning finance (consumer banking, corporate banking and markets/treasury), corporate finance (recapitalisation of the banks, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring of the Irish banking system), financial services audit and transaction advisory services.

Danny has considerable experience in IFRS accounting, treasury accounting, leading and delivering change, risk-adjusted return on capital / ROE, budgeting and planning, business partnering, cost change programmes and leading large teams (both project and business as usual).

George is an Assurance Partner in EY Ireland and is Deputy Head of Assurance. In his role as CFO Forum leader, George leads a team of senior business executives in its roll out.

As the Global Engagement Partner for a number of listed clients and as the EMEIA Coordinating Partner for Fortune 100 companies, George coordinates and leads multidiscipline cross-border teams and resources. In over 18 years at EY, he also worked with clients listed on Nasdaq and New York markets, supporting significant debt offerings and other public equity offerings.

Martina leads EY Financial Services Assurance, specialising in banking and insurance. She works extensively across the global insurance and banking landscape. Martina has significant experience leading large teams in an environment where there is on-going change. She has detailed knowledge of finance functions, IFRS implementation, loan loss provisioning and reserving. She is passionate about driving innovation in financial services assurance and developing high performing teams both in audit and in financial accounting advisory services (FAAS).