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Alan Cuddihy is a director within the Asset Management Audit team of Grant Thornton with specific responsibility for the FS audit practice in our Cork office. He has over 20 years of broad experience in the Investment Management sector as an audit director.

Alan has managed the audits of some of the largest hedge funds, mutual funds, securitisation vehicles, fund administration companies and investment management companies and he has significant experience in managing and co-ordinating large scale and cross-border audit engagements, including liaising with numerous service providers to ensure an efficient global audit is delivered to the client. He has extensive experience in IFRS, US GAAP and FRS 102. He also has specific and significant experience in the provision of SOC1 services to a broad range of investment management, administration and depositary companies.

Eamon Ryan is the Minister for Environment, Climate, Communications and Transport. He was elected to represent Dublin Bay South in the 2016 and 2020 General Elections. He was born in Dublin and raised in Dundrum and Dartry. He studied commerce in UCD before taking a job managing a marketing course in the university’s School of Business. He went on to found a cycling tourism company, Irish Cycling Safaris, in the late 1980s and in 1996 won the Ernst & Young Tourism Enterprise Award. The business still trades successfully as Cycling Safaris.

He was the founding chairperson of the Dublin Cycling Campaign and began his political career as a Dublin City Councillor for the Rathgar – Rathmines ward. He then went on to serve both as a TD for Dublin South and as a Government Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.

In recent years, Eamon has worked for a European climate organisation and chaired the digital policy group in the Institute of International and European Affairs. He is leader of the Green Party/Comhaontas Glas.

Shona is a Partner in our Financial Accounting and Advisory Services division and is the Global Head of Asset Management in Grant Thornton International. She leads outsourced global statutory reporting, accounting and compliance projects for leading financial services clients. She works with clients across the globe in key Financial Services hubs here in Dublin as well as overseas, primarily in New York, Boston, Toronto and Luxembourg. Shona develops flexible delivery models to support her clients needs. Through this work she has vast experience of working in a virtual world, running teams around the globe and brings these insights to clients which is especially important in the current remote working environment.

Shona has worked in the Financial Services across Industry, Regulation and Professional services and has a 360 degree view of the industry. She has 18 years experience working with Grant Thornton and the Central Bank of Ireland and prior to that Citi Hedge Fund Services, Bisys Fund Services and Bank of Ireland.

Shona is a fellow of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants. She chairs the prospective members group of Irish Funds and on the steering committee of The Green Team Network as well as a member of 100 Women in Finance

Barry Harbison is America's Head of Liquidity Investment Specialists at HSBC Global Asset Management and has been working in the industry since 2006. Barry is responsible for representing HSBC Asset Management's Liquidity and Short Duration Fixed Income products to corporate and financial institution clients of HSBC in the Americas, acting as a subject matter expert on off-balance sheet cash investment solutions. Prior to joining HSBC in 2008, Mr. Harbison worked at A&L Goodbody (Dublin, Ireland) working with a variety of mutual funds. He holds a LL.B. (Hons) Bachelor of Laws from Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Catriona is a partner in the Asset Management Department at Matheson. She practices financial services law and advises many of the world’s leading financial institutions, investment banks, asset management companies and service providers carrying on business in Ireland or through Irish vehicles.

Catriona has extensive experience advising a wide range of domestic and international clients on the structuring, establishment, marketing and sale of both UCITS and alternative investment funds in Ireland across the full range of investment strategies and asset classes.

Catriona has completed secondments with two of the world’s largest asset managers in both Dublin and London. She was based in the Matheson New York office for six months in 2018 / 2019 where she was a key local resource for our US East Coast clients. Catriona is a member of the Irish Funds Events Working Group. She is also sits on the Dublin Chapter leadership committee for global industry group, Women in ETFs and was responsible for running its EMEA mentoring scheme during 2018 / 2019. Catriona has lectured at the Summer Law School on Corporate and Finance Law with the European Law Students Association (ELSA) at Trinity College Dublin.

Catriona is also a member of the firm’s Mindful Business Charter committee.

Bruno Bertocci announced he will be retiring in March 2022 after a 40+ year career, having been Head of Sustainable Equities and lead Portfolio Manager of the Global Sustainable Equity portfolio since 2007.

While he has stepped down from his day-to-day responsibilities as Lead PM, he remains a senior Portfolio Manager within the Global Equity team, ensuring a smooth handover of responsibilities.

Bruno has played a critical role within the team over many years, having led the development of the team's distinctive approach from a negative screening to positive screening process since December 2007, when he became lead Portfolio Manager of the Global Sustainable Equity portfolio.

Prior to joining UBS Asset Management in 1998, Bruno managed the global equity investment group at Stein Roe & Farnham.

Previously, his positions included regional portfolio manager and global equity portfolio manager at Rockefeller & Co. Before assuming these roles, Bruno was based in London, then Hong Kong, as manager of that firm’s foreign offices. Bruno began his career at T.Rowe Price Associates as a US equity analyst.

Bruno represents UBS on committees such as the CFA Institute ESG Technical Committee and the Institutional Advisory Group for SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board) as well as the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.

Deirdre O’Connor is a Managing Director at Blackrock. She is the CFO of BlackRock Alternatives Investment Funds and Managing Director. Previously, she was Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan. She held various roles including CFO, COO, Chief of Staff, Global Head of Finance and Operations across Real Assets, Private Equity, Real Estate, Mutual Fund, and BDCs.

Deirdre was the International Advisor to the Irish Government and the Irish Financial Services Advisory Committee. She Co-Chairs the NICSA Diversity Project North America across the Asset Management industry. Deirdre was the founding member of the Digital Irish Angels and the New York Digital Irish group. Deirdre was on the Board of Directors of a number of not-profits organizations including Woman’s Bond Club, Concern USA and Irish Repertory Theater.

Deirdre was named on the Wall Street Top 50 list for multiple years by American Ireland magazine.

Deirdre is from Ireland and studied Accounting at the Cork Institute of Technology. Deirdre studied MIT Blockchain Technology. She is a Chartered Management accountant with CIMA and GCMA and is a fellow at the Chartered of Management Accountants and attended MTU, Ireland.

Mary is an audit partner in PwC Ireland and specialises in the Asset Management industry. Mary has over 20 years of experience auditing asset management clients. She is an elected member of Irish Funds Council (Ireland's representative body for Asset Management) and also a member of the EFAMA ETF task force. She has also previously chaired the Irish Funds ETF working group.

Stephen is the General Counsel for Fiera Capital, Inc., the SEC-registered US division of Fiera Capital Corporation, an independent Toronto stock exchange-listed asset management firm with approximately $149.1 billion assets under management as of December 31, 2021, approximately $36.3 billion of which is managed or advised by Fiera Capital Inc. across various strategies, including equities, fixed income, and alternatives, offered via private funds, public funds and separately managed accounts. In this role, he manages all legal matters for the US division.

Stephen has been practicing securities, general corporate and finance law since 2000, first in private practice for nine years and then in-house in various roles as both a General Counsel and a Chief Compliance Officer. His experience includes private and public fund formation and operation, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance for investment advisers, mutual funds and broker-dealers, private equity financing, general corporate law, secured lending, and bankruptcy. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences dealing with regulatory and compliance issues facing SEC-registered investment advisers. From 2012-2015, he served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Fordham University School of Law, where he developed and taught a class on investment adviser and hedge fund regulation.

Prior to joining Fiera, he was the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Larch Lane Advisors. Prior to joining Larch Lane, he was a senior associate at Dechert LLP in its Financial Services and Investment Management group. He received a JD/MBA from Boston College in 2000. He is a member of the Bars of New York and Massachusetts.

Nondini is a Relationship Manager in International Business Development at Polen Capital and joined in 2021. Prior to Polen Capital, Nondini was a Director of European Distribution at RBC Global Asset Management UK. Before joining RBC, Nondini worked as an auditor at BMO Capital Markets and Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP. Nondini received a B.B.A. in Accounting from Wilfrid Laurier University and an M.B.A. in Finance from Ivey Business School at Western University. Nondini is also a Chartered Accountant (Canada) and holds the Investment Management Certificate from CFA UK.

Lorcan Murphy is Managing Director of ACOLIN UK & Ireland. ACOLIN is a pan-European distribution administrator helping fund managers to develop new markets – cost-efficiently and quickly. The ACOLIN team assist fund managers in entering new markets by managing a network of distribution relationships and providing insight into market structure and practices. ACOLIN is also the leading independent Swiss Legal Representative, helping fund managers distribute in Swizterland.

Prior to ACOLIN, Lorcan was Head of Private Wealth & Retail EMEA at Barclays Global Investors, where he managed business development and product launches across a range of geographies and product types.

Lorcan studied Economics at Trinity College Dublin, and worked as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in Dublin and San Francisco.

Marcus has more than 22 years of experience in the asset servicing and asset management industry.

Before joining Universal Investment in 2018 he held various management positions at Deutsche Bank and State Street in Germany and Switzerland.

As Head of Business Development and Fund Distribution at Universal-Investment, Marcus supports asset managers and institutional clients in the establishment of UCITS and AIF vehicles with the focus on successful distribution into the DACH region and globally. 

Des is Head of Regulatory and Client Solutions at Carne. He has over 20 years’ experience in senior roles in the funds sector. Des manages Carne’s suite of 40 regulatory solutions and works with Carne’s clients on dealing with the impact of regulatory change. Des is a member of the Irish Funds Brexit Group, a former member of the EFAMA working group on management companies and is a regular speaker on industry panels. Des has held senior roles at JP Morgan and Euronext Dublin. Des is a qualified barrister and has an MBA from the UCD Smurfit business school.

Afsar Farman-Farmaian is a Managing Director, General Counsel, and Senior Compliance Officer of Varagon. Afsar joined Varagon from AIG Investments, where she had senior responsibility for the structuring, legal and regulatory aspects of investment strategies. She previously held senior legal and investment roles at PineBridge Investments. She began her career at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP. She earned an A.B. degree from Princeton University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Joining Waystone in August 2016, Daniel Forbes oversees business development and client relations across multiple product lines, including offshore and European solutions for both traditional and alternative asset managers. With an extensive background in AIFMD, UCITS products and other alternative investment vehicles, Daniel plays a key role in building Waystone’s onshore and offshore governance capabilities.

Previously, Daniel served as an attorney in the Asset Management & Investment Funds group at Dublin-based international law firm Dillon Eustace. While heading the firm’s US Representative Office in New York, Daniel advised US asset managers on the establishment, structuring, financing, public/private distribution and ongoing operation of traditional, hedge, private equity, and real estate funds, within the AIFMD and UCITS framework.

While at Dillon Eustace, Daniel spearheaded its US business development, covering all practice areas of the Irish and Cayman offices, including Banking & Capital Markets, Securitization & Structured Finance, Corporate M&A, and Litigation.

Daniel is a regular speaker at industry seminars and conferences, where he frequently discusses the impact of EU regulatory issues on the US asset-management community and is a member of the North American Events Committee of the Irish Funds Industry Association.

Daniel is a graduate of University College, Dublin and a member of the Law Society of Ireland.

Iain has significant expertise in structuring, establishing and advising on a wide range of UCITS/AIFs including structured products, hedge funds, ETFs, loan/credit funds, real estate funds, private equity funds and infrastructure funds. Iain has also practiced in a leading international asset management and investment banking business. He chairs the Irish Funds’ Front Office Steering Group and is a member of the Irish Funds’ ETF Working Group and Real Estate Working Group.

He advises major global fund promoters and asset managers, investment banks, wealth managers, family offices, custodians and international prime brokers in connection with their Irish authorised fund activities.

Pat Lardner joined Irish Funds as Chief Executive in April 2012. He has over twenty five years’ experience in the global asset management industry and has held executive/leadership positions in Ireland and overseas with firms managing a broad range of both traditional and alternative investment strategies. Pat is an active participant on all significant Government sponsored groups relating to funds in Ireland, is a member of the Board of the European Fund and Asset Management Association and is an Advisor to the Asset Management Association of China’s International Partners Committee. He is a past Council Member of the Irish Association of Pension Funds and a former Director of both the Irish Association of Investment Managers and the International Investment Funds Association. He attained honours undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from University College Dublin.