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CHRIS MARTIN, MUSGRAVE, ENGLAND:One of the longest-serving ex-pat chief executives in Ireland, Martin was Musgrave's finance director when he won a hotly contested internal competition in 2004 to succeed Seamus Scally as the head of the Cork-based wholesale grocery giant

Martin has overseen Musgrave’s expansion into Britain through the acquisition of Budgens and Londis there.

This move has not been without its challenges, although it now appears to be working well for Musgrave and is a good
counterbalance to the Irish business, which has been under stress in the recession. Martin is awaiting regulatory approval to buy the Superquinn supermarket chain, which would make Musgrave the biggest player in the Irish grocery market, ahead of Tesco and Dunnes Stores. It already operates the SuperValu, Centra and Daybreak outlets.

Hailing from Huddersfield, Martin studied economics in Newcastle and qualified as an accountant. His CV includes roles at Asda, Pizza Hut and Storehouse, and he was chief executive of Mothercare, where a disastrous investment in new warehousing resulted in Martin being shown the door.

In 2003 he responded to an ad in the Financial Timesand landed the role of finance director with Musgrave.

PAUL DONOVAN, EIRCOM, ENGLAND

DONOVAN RETURNED to work in Ireland in July 2009 to lead Eircom. He had previously run Vodafone's Irish operation here.

His appointment came as Eircom was transitioning from the ownership of Australian group Babcock Brown to Singapore-based STT. Irishman Cathal Magee, the then interim CEO, was considered the favourite for the position but Donovan got the nod.

The Englishman was given the unenviable task of sorting out Eircom's crippling €4 billion debt. He has also had to chart a strategic course for Eircom at a time when it is strapped for cash and under significant pressure from competitors in a declining market.

On the plus side, he launched eMobile in 2009, has improved relations with the regulator, and secured significant concessions from staff on cost reductions and changes to their pension scheme.

MIKE AYNSLEY, ANGLO IRISH BANK, AUSTRALIA

PROBABLY THE most high profile of all the ex-pat bosses working here. In 2009, the Aussie accepted the unenviable challenge of running Anglo Irish Bank, the institution that almost dragged Ireland over the cliff.

What started as a turnaround operation has evolved into a lengthy wind-down of the failed bank.

Aynsley has overseen the merger with Irish Nationwide, the transfer of billions of duff development loans to Nama, and the movement of deposits to AIB. He has had the dubious honour of announcing the biggest corporate losses in Irish history.

Aynsley has also been leading the legal chase against Anglo's former chief executive David Drumm and wrote to Michael Fingleton earlier this year asking him to give back an €11,500 watch and a €1 million that he received after the 2008 state banking guarantee. He has also given it a new name that nobody bothers to use.

He previously worked for Security Pacific, now part of Bank of America, in the late 1980s; stockbroker Hoare Govett; and National Australia Bank, where he was head of capital markets and treasury in the 1990s.

He spent two years as head of risk at Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Banking Group and also worked as a consultant.

DANA STRONG, UPC IRELAND, US/AUSTRALIA

BORN IN America but also now an Australian citizen after 12 years running satellite TV company Austar for Colorado-based listed company Liberty Global.

Strong was tapped by Liberty to take charge of UPC Ireland in May, succeeding Scot Robert Dunn – he was promoted to a role in the Netherlands.

She is believed to have beaten local competition for the role.

UPC was formed some years back by the merger of the old NTL cable TV business with MMDS operator Chorus, which was previously owned by Independent News Media.

Liberty Global is at the tail end of a €400 million investment programme for its Irish assets that has transformed the sleepy pay TV company. It now has a slick triple-play offering of digital TV, broadband and phone services, undercutting its rivals in the process. 
 
GAVIN SLARK, GRAFTON GROUP, ENGLAND

THE DECISION to name Gavin Slark to succeed Michael Chadwick as head of Grafton Group, the builders' merchant and DIY company, was a surprise one.

In February, Chadwick announced his decision to step down after 26 years at the helm. Slark, a Briton, joined in April as chief executive designate before taking on the role full time from July 1st.

He was previously group chief executive of BSS Group plc, a UK distributor to specialist trades including the plumbing, heating and construction sectors.

Slark, who is 45, was appointed group chief executive of BSS in 2006 following periods as chief operating officer and managing director of the company's largest operating division – plumbing trade supplies.

He helped BSS to open 160 new outlets and complete several acquisitions. The group was acquired by Travis Perkins last year.

Slark has big shoes to fill. In February, Chadwick said Slark's "priority will be to keep Grafton focused on meeting the challenge of an uncertain economic climate while positioning the group for future growth".

ANNA MALMHAKE, IRISH DISTILLERS, SWEDEN

ANNA MALMHAKE, a Swede, took over as chair and chief executive of Irish Distillers, owned by French drinks group Pernod Ricard, this month.

Malmhake succeeded Frenchman Alexandre Ricard, who joined the group general management team of Pernod Ricard as managing director of distribution network.

Ricard, a member of the family that helped found the business, could yet be destined for the top job at the spirits group.

Malmhake was marketing director of The Absolut Company, the vodka maker, and will be a member of the Pernod Ricard executive board. She is charged with continuing the stellar growth of Jameson Irish whiskey, one of Pernod Ricard's star brands. Volume sales of Jameson rose by 17 per cent last year to 3.4 million cases. Absolut was no slouch last year, growing by 74 per cent, so Malmhake should have few fears about her challenge.

NIGEL BLOW, ARNOTTS, ENGLAND

BORN IN Leicester, Blow took over at Arnotts in October 2010 after Anglo Irish Bank and Ulster Bank took control of the retailer. The banks installed US group Palladin Capital to run Arnotts and it hired Blow to manage its day-to-day trading. He succeeded Englishman David Riddiford in the role. Having trained in accountancy, Blow found his niche in retail.

He spent 14 years at Harrods in London, latterly as buying and merchandising director. He also had stints with Next and French Connection and ran Brown Thomas in Ireland for two years from the start of 2007.

Blow's task is to return Arnotts to its former glory after plans to place it at the centre of a €750 million grand Northern Quarter retail development were scrapped.

This is no easy task. Eventually, Blow and Palladin will also have to identify a suitable new owner for the Dublin department store.

ANDREW RICHARDS, BRITVIC, ENGLAND

A LOW-PROFILE head of Britvic's operation in Ireland, he succeeded Irishman Billy O'Regan in the role in March 2009.

Britvic acquired C&C's soft drinks business – Club and Ballygowan were the main brands – in 2007 for €249 million. It thus became Britvic's first overseas unit.

This was a price the British company must regret having paid, as the economy lurched into recession shortly afterwards.

Britvic, like all drinks companies in Ireland, is finding it tough going. On trade sales remain weak, while value-conscious shoppers are demanding keener prices at retail level.

On the plus side, Britvic has a strong stable of brands and it has gained market share in the downturn.

With the business now leaner following a restructuring of the Irish operation, Britvic should be well placed to benefit when the economy eventually returns to growth.

Richards served on the executive committee of Britvic plc for five years as customer management director. He previously held roles with Cadbury and Walkers Snackfoods, a division of PepsiCo

CHRISTOPH MUELLER, AER LINGUS, GERMANY

BORN IN Germany, Mueller succeeded Sligoman Dermot Mannion in October 2009 as Aer Lingus boss at a time of extreme turbulence for the Irish flag carrier.

Mueller had been aviation director of Tui Travel plc, where he managed seven airlines within the group, a fleet of 160 aircraft and 11,000 staff.

Mueller was also last chief executive of Sabena, the Belgian airline that collapsed in 2001.

His CV includes senior roles within Daimler Benz Aerospace, Lufthansa, DHL and Deutsche Post.

Mueller was given the task of implementing a new restructuring plan for Aer Lingus and to return it to profitability at a time of recession and volatile fuel prices.

He has had mixed results to date. Aer Lingus looks set to post a decent profit this year but the Greenfield cost-cutting plan, aimed at saving €97 million a year, has still to be fully implemented.

Mueller also had to deal with the fallout from the controversial so-called leave-and-return redundancy scheme that cost Aer Lingus €30 million earlier this year.

Ryanair, its biggest shareholder, also provides an unwelcome presence on its share register.

DAVID HODGKINSON, AIB ENGLAND

APPOINTED AS interim executive chairman of AIB in October of last year, Hodgkinson has spent much of the intervening period seeking to recruit a chief executive to manage the bank on a day-to-day basis.

He replaced Dan O’Connor after the latter and Colm Doherty fell on their swords following the news AIB would require €10.4 billion in capital.

Hodgkinson is a former chief operating officer of global bank HSBC. He was a member of the group management board of HSBC from May 2006 until his retirement in December 2008 after 39 years with the bank. After leaving HSBC, he was on the advisory board of accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Under Hodgkinson’s watch, AIB has offloaded more non-core assets, has taken building society EBS under its wing and taken on the deposits of Anglo Irish Bank.

JOHN DUNSMORE, C&C, ENGLAND

JOHN DUNSMORE was one of three former executives from Scottish & Newcastle – Kenny Neison and Stephen Glancey being the others – who were hired in late 2008 to sort out the then underperforming Irish cider maker.

This followed Maurice Pratt’s decision to step aside at a time when C&C’s sales of Bulmers and Magners in the UK were flagging.

The trio had departed Scottish & Newcastle earlier that year after it was bought by Heineken and Carlsberg. Dunsmore, an Englishman, had been its chief executive.

At the time of their appointments, C&C’s then chairman Tony O’Brien said their recruitment was “a major achievement” for the company and would bring “renewed impetus and momentum”.

The trio were heavily incentivised and immediately set about restructuring the business. Its spirits division was sold, while Tennant's lager in Scotland and Northern Ireland was added to the portfolio. C&C's share price has more than doubled
since Dunsmore took the helm. Many analysts are of the view that the Clonmel-based company will ultimately be gobbled up by a larger rival.

CHRISTINE OURMIÈRES, CITYJET, FRANCE

IT WAS perhaps no surprise that Swords-based CityJet, owned by Air France, should choose a French executive to lead the business after Geoffrey O’Byrne White stepped down last year.

The job fell to Christine Ourmières, who led Air France KLM’s commercial and ground operations in the US. Her family still live in New York, and she travels between Dublin, London and Belgium in her new role.

Her task is to navigate a route back to profitability for CityJet, which lost about €20million in the 12 months to the end of March 2011. "We have a commitment to reach breakeven [this year]," Ourmières told The Irish Timesin July. "It will be a challenge, but it's very important for the company, for the shareholder and for the team." Ourmières has also grounded some loss-making routes, while the pace of integration with Belgian carrier VLM has quickened.

RICHIE BOUCHER, BANK OF IRELAND, ZAMBIA

THE ZAMBIAN-BORN banker was a controversial choice to succeed Brian Goggin as head of Bank of Ireland in 2009 given that he had run the Irish retail arm and was a key decision maker in a lot of its bad property loans. Boucher’s appointment provoked Dermot Desmond, a shareholder in the bank, to write to board members to express opposition to Boucher’s selection as chief executive.

He joined the bank in December 2003 when he was headhunted from Ulster Bank’s parent company, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), to become head of corporate banking. He was previously head of corporate banking at Ulster Bank and later managing director of corporate banking at RBS for London and southeast England.

Boucher was educated at Rockwell College in Co Tipperary, and Trinity College Dublin, where he graduated with a degree in business before pursuing a career in banking. He was forced to take a cut in remuneration to take the top job and to waive his right to retire at 55.

However, there is considerable interest as to whether he will pass the Central Bank’s fitness and probity test. The Central Bank’s evaluation will track banking executives’ records in the run-up to the financial crisis.

JOHN ATHERTON McDONALD'S, ENGLAND

ENGLISHMAN JOHN Atherton took the reins at McDonald’s Irish business in January 2009 and has been steadily growing its footprint and staff headcount since then, in spite of the continuing recession.

Atherton, who has a degree in geography, began his career with the fast food giant in 1982 when he started as a trainee manager in Birmingham. He worked his way through the ranks, working in regional operations, marketing and corporate training before being appointed as senior vice-president and chief operations officer.

Atherton told The Irish Timestwo years ago that he eats in McDonald's at least twice a week. "I need to check the products," he said. His menu favourite is, perhaps predictably, a Big Mac.

MATTHEW ELDERFIELD, CENTRAL BANK OF IRELAND, ENGLAND

AS HEAD of financial regulation, the quiet-spoken Englishman rode into town in January 2010 to clean up the Irish financial services sector, once dubbed as the “wild west” by international media.

Thus far, Elderfield hasn’t been found wanting. Last year he took the brave step of moving against Seán Quinn by appointing an administrator to Quinn Insurance. This caused consternation in Quinn’s heartland along the Cavan-Fermanagh border and resulted in Elderfield being placed under enormous pressure. To date, he hasn’t wilted.

Before coming here, Elderfield was chief executive of the Bermuda Monetary Authority. He actually took a pay cut on moving from Bermuda. He also spent eight years with the Financial Services Authority in the UK.

A Cambridge graduate, Elderfield also established the European operations of the International Swaps and Derivatives
Association and held posts at the London Investment Banking Association, the British Bankers Association and a Washington-DC based consultancy firm, the Institute for Strategy Development.

JEROAN HOENCAMP, VODAFONE IRELAND, NETHERLANDS

THE DUTCHMAN beat off local competition to become Vodafone Ireland’s chief executive in July 2010, succeeding Briton Charles Butterworth, whomoved back to the UK to take on a different role within the telco.

Hoencamp, who has kept a low media profile, joined from Vodafone Netherlands where he has been director of enterprise since 2006 and amember of the general management board. He joined Vodafone Netherlands in 1998 and
has held senior positions in sales, corporate, marketing and retail.

Hoencamp previously served as an officer with the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps and also held a marketing role with Canon Southern Copy Machines in the US. He moved back to the Netherlands in 1994 to work for Thorn EMI/Skala Home Electronics. He now runs Ireland’s biggest mobile phone operator and the second-largest fixed-line provider.

JOHN KENNEDY, DIAGEO, UNITED STATES

IN SEPTEMBER 2008, the flame-haired New Yorker was named as managing director of Diageo Ireland.

This gave him responsibility for Guinness and the St James’s Gate brewery. A tough job but someone has to do it.

He had worked for Diageo for more than a decade up to that point. His parents are Irish so he has a strong connection to the country. In July, Kennedy was promoted within Diageo, taking on responsibility for western Europe. He continues to be based in Dublin, where his family live.

Englishman David Smith was appointed to the role of country manager in Ireland. Smith, who was sales director for Diageo GB, reports to Kennedy, and is responsible for leading the Ireland spirits and beer business.

JAMES BROWN, ULSTER BANK, NEW ZEALAND

THE NEW Zealander was appointed earlier this year to replace Cormac McCarthy as chief executive of Ulster Bank, Ireland’s third-biggest full-service bank.

Brown was chief executive of retail and commercial markets at RBS Asia. It was a long goodbye for McCarthy who announced his decision to step down from Ulster Bank in July 2010 but didn't go until May of this year. Brown previously worked for US group Citibank and Dutch bank ABN Amro before joining RBS. This is his first stint in banking in Europe.
Brown's appointment was seen as a refocusing of Ulster Bank towards more traditional retail and commercial banking, and away from corporate lending, an area that was responsible for the bank's heavy losses on property.

He reports to Brian Hartzer, who runs the RBS division which covers the UK retail business and Ulster Bank. The Irish bank has undergone significant restructuring and cost-cutting over the past two years, with staff cut by more than 1,000, a raft of branches closed and its First Active mortgage business shut.

STEPHEN SHURROCK, O2 IRELAND, WALES

SHURROCK HAILS from Swansea in Wales and succeeded English woman Danuta Gray last December as head of O2 in Ireland, the country’s second biggest operator.

Amanagement accountant by trade, his early career involved stints at Viag Interkom, a phone company in Germany now owned by O2 and Excite, aweb portal in Britain, before he hooked up with O2 in 2000.

Initially, Shurrock filled financial roles at O2 but made the break into sales six years ago. He was consumer sales director for the three years before coming here. In an interview with The Irish Timesin February, Shurrock said this about his move here: "From a career perspective, I had an ambition to move into a chief executive role. Clearly I knew the [Irish] market was tough and very competitive but it's a great challenge."