Patrick O’Brien, Head of Business Development, Ireland

I joined Carne in June 2021 as Head of Business Development, Ireland. I have known and worked with a lot of the team at Carne over many years, so the decision to come on board was an easy one.

I have been hugely fortunate throughout my career. Over the past 20 years, I’ve worked with talented people and innovative clients, within an industry that has grown significantly. It has given me the opportunity to develop skills, travel the world, and gain experience I could only have dreamt of when growing up as a kid in Sligo, Northwest of Ireland. My background has covered operations, product, sales, relationship management and board management with some of the world’s largest firms in the asset management industry. I am now really looking forward to continuing my learning and development with Carne, and hopefully adding what I have learnt so far, to contribute to the continued growth and success of the business.

I started out in the airline industry, working with Aer Lingus in the passenger handling unit at Dublin airport for 7 years. As I recently told a colleague, it only takes up one line on my CV now, but was a huge influence on who I became. Anyone that has dealt with customers face to face in a testing environment will know what I mean. After Aer Lingus, I created a recruitment division for a firm and ran that for 4 years. I was then introduced to Asset Management when GAM Fund Management approached me to run their client services department. It was here that I really learnt all there was to know about fund structuring, distribution, and strategies. I eventually managed the Shareholder Services area which consisted of 70+ people across 5 departments. It was challenging, hugely educational and built up my knowledge across a great range of fund types.

I then joined J.P. Morgan and was there for 8 years. At the company I became familiar with the Irish Funds Industry and global managers in general. I worked in product, sales and managed their global client strategy where we allocated the annual budget to client requirements and developments. My scope for sales was across Ireland, Luxembourg & the Channel Islands. When working on key sales pitches I used to insist on a “certain” Des Fullam, Carne’s Head of Regulation & Client Solutions, to come and represent the Depository product. At J.P. Morgan I also had a great opportunity to act as CEO to both of their administration boards, which opened my eyes to the requirements and attention needed on regulatory issues and governance oversight.

Over the same period, I was also on the Irish Funds Council with Yvonne Connolly, Carne’s Country Head, Ireland. We were actively working on changes to the regulatory landscape and a key focus being on a certain ILP initiative. During this time Citi asked me to join them and manage their Irish Fund Administration business, whilst growing their Ireland & Luxembourg franchises. It was a great experience and one I was enjoying until my previous boss at J.P. Morgan became CEO at Intertrust.  A phone call later and it led to me becoming Global Head of Funds Business at Intertrust. That role taught me a lot about SPVs, Private Capital and Management Company services. As it is often the case, there was a shake up at the C suite and the CEO left, which made me consider my next steps.

I wanted to work with a group of ambitious and innovative people, with the right products, and in a company that is respected in the industry and that is always investing in the best solutions for its clients. It turned out that Carne were the perfect match. After hearing the plans, ambitions and vision for the group, I was really excited to join and bring what I have learnt to the team. I really look forward to working with all the great team and delivering solutions that lead to better investor outcomes.