Jim Bergin has been appointed as non-executive director of insurance group FBD Holdings. He has also been appointed to the board of FBD Forsikring. In May 2025, he will take over as chairman of FBD. After nine years on the board, Liam Herlihy will step down as director and chairman at FBD’s general meeting in May next year. As former managing director and director of Tirlán Co-Op, Mr. Bergin many years in leading roles at Glanbia plc. He has chaired the Irish Dairy Industry Association and currently chairs the Teagasc ‘Better Farming for Water’ committee. He is also on the boards of Enable Ireland and SETU.

Niamh Murphy has been appointed as a partner with Ifac, specialist agriculture, food and agribusiness specialist professional services firm. Niamh will be based in Cork and will work alongside Stuart Crowley, partner in ifac’s Mallow office. A native of Cork, Niamh joined ifac Mallow in 2014 and has since gained ten years’ experience and completed her CPA qualification prior to her recent appointment as partner. As well as contributing to the company’s continued growth and development, Niamh will work closely with her colleagues to ensure ifac clients receive an excellent local service supported by ifac’s expert tax and advisory team.

Himanshu Patel has been named chief technology officer at Data Edge, the network optimization specialist and application performance management company. He will lead the company’s technology strategy and ensure smooth delivery of its services to customers. He joined Data Edge in 2019 and has progressed through the company moving to pre-sales engineer and then sales engineer for nearly four years until his promotion. He previously held roles at Accenture and International Travel Network. He holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Riga Technical University, Latvia, as well as a degree in Computer Science & Engineering from Gujarat Technological University, India.

Ciara MacConnell has been appointed corporate travel manager at Travel Counselors Ireland, specialists in corporate and leisure travel. Ciara will oversee the delivery of business travel solutions, supporting and promoting the work of the 85 travel advisors in Ireland. Ciara brings over 25 years of experience in the travel industry to the role. Having joined in 2007, Ciara has held key roles in the firm’s Irish branch – headquartered in Mahon, Cork – including Head of Operations and Business Development. The company achieved €10m. in business travel sales over the past year, an increase of 22%, and represents almost 20% of the company’s total €52m. in Irish sales.

Miriam Hughes has been appointed as the new chairman of telecoms provider eir, replacing David McRedmond, who has stepped down after three terms in the role. Miriam is the former CEO of DDFH&B and has been on the board of eir since 2021. She has more than 30 years of experience in advertising and marketing. She is a former chairman of Bus Eireann. She is a director of Pluto and was on the IAPI board. She is a past president of the Marketing Institute of Ireland, the Association of Advertisers in Ireland and chair of Barnardo’s. She holds a BComm and an MBS in Marketing from UCDE.