Three directors have recently obtained designation as Chartered Directors, having successfully completed the Institute of Directors in Ireland (IoD) Chartered Director Programme. Successful candidates include Paul Morgan CEO, AVID Asset Management Ltd, Raymond O’Connell, Managing Director, Carrolls Irish Gifts, and Conor Hanley, Senior Vice President, ResMed.
Over 600 participants have undertaken the Chartered Director Programme to date, which is now in its seventh year in Ireland. Having obtained a Certificate and Diploma in Company Direction, each candidate went on to become a fully accredited Chartered Director.
Paul Morgan CEO, AVID Asset Management Ltd
Paul is the CEO of AVID Asset Management Ltd, an international firm based in Ireland which provides specialist asset management services to its clients. Paul and his team at AVID have been engaged to manage and dispose of property belonging to well-known businessman, Sean Quinn. As part of his role, Paul serves on a number of boards in Ireland, the UK and internationally. Paul was also recently appointed as the Chairman of the Audit Committee of the Louth Meath Education & Training Board.
Paul has extensive commercial experience in acquiring, managing and disposing of assets worldwide with a proven track record in delivering both large scale strategic projects and complex individual transactions.
Paul is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants and holds an Honours Master’s Degree in Information Technology from Dublin City University.
Raymond O’Connell, Managing Director, Carrolls Irish Gifts
Ray O’Connell is currently Managing Director of Carrolls Irish Gifts, a fully Irish-owned retail company specialising in the sale of quality Irish gifts, clothing, jewellery and crafts. Carrolls currently has thirteen stores nationwide employing 275 people with an aggressive further expansion plan now in place. Last year, the retail concept won the prestigious national award for best store from Retail Excellence Ireland.
Ray, a graduate of the NCI, has over 40 years’ experience in retail, starting straight from school into Woolworths as a trainee manager in 1973. From his position as Assistant General Manager of Woolworths in Henry Street, he moved to help expand the famous Apollo 1 Discount chain during the 1980s. From there, he joined with Colm Carroll in 1987 to help develop / expand the BargainKing Discount stores. Over the last fifteen years, the company has strategically expanded and worked closely with local manufacturers / suppliers to develop a comprehensive range of 26,000 Irish themed products which has resulted in the creation of the “Carrolls Irish Gifts” registered brand name. At the end of this year Ray will be stepping down as Managing Director of Carrolls Irish Gifts to develop his personal Management Consultancy business.
Conor Hanley, Senior Vice President, ResMed
As Senior Vice President with ResMed, Conor is responsible for leading Chronic Disease Management solutions globally. ResMed is a global medical device company that is a world leader in sleep and respiratory care and is listed on NYSE as RMD with annual revenue >$1.6bn, >4000 employees.
Prior to ResMed, Conor was CEO and co-founder of BiancaMed, which was acquired by ResMed in 2011. BiancaMed grew as a spin out from University College Dublin and commercialised a novel, non-contact method to monitor sleep and respiratory parameters in the home for consumer and medical applications. Over 7 years, he led a team that grew the company through three rounds of venture funding from top-tier international venture funds, launching products in Japan and USA and building the supply chain with mass production in China. Prior to BiancaMed, Conor led the technology licensing program and the North American consumer electronics distribution network at Ntera, a $30m venture backed company for electronic paper displays. Prior to Ntera, he led business development in Europe for hydrogen and alternative energy for Air Products. Conor was awarded a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania (recipient of the Newman Scholarship and University Fellowship), an MBA from INSEAD (awarded a Sainsbury’s Management scholarship), and a First Class honours in B.Eng. from University College Dublin. Conor has also completed the Leadership4Growth program at Stanford University.
Conor is the Chair of APC Ltd, a director of HealthXL, on the board of the Irish Medical Device Association and an adjunct associate Professor in University College Dublin in Engineering for Entrepreneurship.