Our conference speakers will guide you on a range of areas, each an essential ingredient in making 2021 a year of growth and prosperity for your business and your clients.

We’ll be sharing insights and thoughts on global markets, the Irish economy, the need to adopt more digital technology into our L&P businesses, capitalising on the business opportunities thrown up by change and importantly, tips on how to stay focussed, healthy and motivated as we adapt to new ways of working.

Date: Thursday 21 January 2021     

Time: 8.30 – 10.30am (2 Hours CPD)

Our speaker line up has a wealth of experience and proven capability in their specialist area, the full speaker guide can be viewed below

Thursday 21 January 2021 - Start 8.30 – Finish 10.30

Welcome                                                                           Ray McKenna

Achieving Growth & Prosperity                                     Ray McKenna and Michael Murphy

Economic Outlook                                                           Loretta O'Sullivan

Sales Focus & Opportunities                                         MC Niall Concannon - Andy Ivory Corr, Greg Dixon & Anthony Kavanagh

Special Guest Speaker                                                    Kingsley Aikins

Close                                                                                  Ray McKenna

Ray McKenna

Ray is Distribution Director for New Ireland.  He has held a number of senior roles over the last 20 years including Managing Director at Towers Watson and Managing Director at Arthur Andersen & KPMG.  Ray is a fellow of the Pensions Management institute and a member of the Institute of Directors. He has over 20 years’ experience advising companies on the design, implementation and communication of a wide range of employee benefits.

Michael Murphy

Michael joined Bank of Ireland in July 2017 as Managing Director of New Ireland and became Managing Director of New Ireland, Wealth & Insurance in May 2018. Prior to Bank of Ireland he held a number of Managing Director and Finance Director positions at an Irish, European and Global level with Great-West, Aviva and Willis Towers Watson. His most recent role in WTW was Managing Director and Global Leader, Insurance Consulting & Technology. Before joining WTW he held a number of senior management positions in Aviva (most recently as Managing Director & Director of General Insurance Products for Aviva Europe) and Great-West/Canada Life (as European (excl. UK) Finance Director and Chief Actuary). Michael started his career with Bank of Ireland Lifetime Assurance in 1989.

Loretta O'Sullivan

Dr Loretta O'Sullivan is Group Chief Economist at Bank of Ireland. Loretta heads up the Economic Research Unit and is responsible for economic analysis, including commentary, forecasts and research for various Group stakeholders and customers. She joined the Group from the Central Bank of Ireland, where she held the position of Senior Economist within the Monetary Policy & International Relations Division. Prior to that, she was a Senior Economist at the Department of Finance, during which time she was seconded for two years to the European Commission's Economic and Financial Affairs Directorate in Brussels. Loretta holds a Ph.D in Economics from Trinity College Dublin, an MA in Policy, Management and Government from the University of York, and a BA (Mod) in Economics and Social Studies from Trinity College Dublin.

Greg Dixon

Greg joined New Ireland in 1997 and spent 20 years working as an Account Manager before joining the Distribution Leadership team as a Regional Broker Lead in 2019. Greg has extensive experience working with Corporate and Retail brokers and is a Qualified Pensioneer Trustee (QPT), Fellow of the LIA and a Fellow of the Irish Institute of Pension Managers. Greg also holds a number of Diplomas through the Irish Management Institute (IMI) including Leadership, Strategy & Innovation and Organisational Development resulting in an MBS in Business Practice in 2018. Greg continues to work closely with the Transformational team in New Ireland to help implement and shape the digitisation of our business for the benefit of our broker partners.

Andy Ivory Corr

Andy is head of Investment Sales with New Ireland for the last 14 years and has over 30 years’ experience in the Irish Financial services sector. Prior to Working with New Ireland, Andy spent 6 years in a national role as Investment Development Manager with Bank of Ireland Life and has also worked with Bank of Ireland Private Banking, and Davy Stockbrokers. Andy holds an MSc (Honours) degree in Financial Services from UCD and the Institute of Bankers in Ireland. He is a Qualified Financial Advisor (QFA) and a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) in the Irish market. With over 22 years' of experience in Investments, Andy is a frequent speaker at industry events, and a regular contributor to investment trade publications on investment issues.

Niall Concannon

Niall is Head of Broker Growth in New Ireland having joined in 2019 from Zurich Life where he held the national role of Business Development Director for Protection Business. He has a wealth of experience having previously held roles as Regional Sales Director and Broker Consultant with Zurich Life. Niall joined the industry in 1993, starting his career with Cornmarket Financial Services as a Financial Consultant. He is a graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology and Trinity College Dublin and holds a Masters in Financial Services from UCD and CFP^®. He is also a past Chairman of the LIA West of Ireland Region.

Anthony Kavanagh

Anthony has 14 years’ experience in working in the Life and Pension industry, initially working in an advisory role with large independent brokerages in Dublin and Limerick. In 2012 he joined New Ireland as a Broker Consultant, servicing a panel of brokers whilst based in Limerick and in 2019 was promoted into New Ireland’s Distribution Leadership Team in the role of Regional Lead for the South. Anthony’s varied career of being client facing and broker supporting has given him invaluable insights into the business challenges and opportunities that brokers face today. He is a qualified Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and holds a Master’s in Business from the University of Limerick and was most recently the National Chair of the LIA.

Kingsley Aikins

Kingsley Aikins was born and brought up in Dublin and educated at The High School, Dublin and Trinity College Dublin, from which he graduated with an honors degree in economics and politics. He also has a post-graduate Diploma in International Marketing and has studied and worked extensively in France and Spain. For five years he was the Sydney, Australia based representative of the Irish Trade Board and the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) of Ireland.

He was a founding director of The Australian Ireland Fund and for two years served as Executive Director responsible for the growth of the Fund in Australia and setting up The Ireland Fund of New Zealand.

In January of 1993, Kingsley Aikins moved to Boston to take over as Executive Director of The American Ireland Fund. The Fund was set up in 1976 and since then The Worldwide Ireland Funds have raised over $300 million for projects of Peace, Culture, Community Development and Education throughout the island of Ireland. In June 1995 he was appointed Chief Executive of the Worldwide Ireland Funds now active in 13 countries including Ireland. He is a member of the Institutes of Marketing, Export and Linguists. He was also responsible for the successful five-year Hope and History Campaign to raise $100 million. After 21 years he left The Ireland Funds and runs a consultancy company based in Dublin called Diaspora Matters which gives advice on diaspora issues to governments, corporates and individuals.

Kingsley represented Trinity College, Irish Universities, Vichy (France) and Leinster in rugby. In 2008, Kingsley was awarded a CBE for his work on British-Irish relations. He is married with three children and lives in Dublin