MEET THE TEAM
Our Team
With over 30 years of experience working in the financial services industry in Ireland and America, John is a leading expert in company pension plans and independent investment advice.
His early career was with Irish Life in Dublin and America where he held several senior financial management and M&A positions. In 2003, John put his experience into a leadership role as a founding director of Acuvest. Since then, Acuvest has grown into a successful advisory business with a strong reputation in the corporate marketplace and in providing individual advice.
John is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants and a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Edward who has over 10 years’ experience in the investment industry is our Head of Pensions and leads our Institutional Business. As head of Acuvest’s Institutional Business, his focus is on market innovations, market research and client management.
Edward works predominately with pension funds and is also a member of our Investment Analysis and Research Team. Before joining Acuvest, he worked with Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM) and prior to that, Edward worked in retail banking in Ulster Bank.
He completed a MSc in Investment Treasury and Banking from Dublin City University in 2015.
Damian Cooper is Director and Head of Private Clients and Investments, having joined the firm in 2006. Prior to that, Damian held senior roles with Bank of Ireland and PricewaterhouseCoopers and was a director of Glassco Recycling.
Damian is a leading member of Acuvest’s Investment Analysis and Research function with over 20 years of experience in providing investment advice to institutional investors and individuals. His knowledge also extends to assessing the financial position of companies from the perspective of various stakeholders, including corporate investors, lenders, auditors and reporting accountants.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and is a CFA charter holder.
Jim is an experienced manager with over 25 years’ experience across many industries, including 18 years working in America. There, he worked for a Chicago-based law firm, as Financial Controller for the US division of a manufacturer of diabetes monitoring and healthcare worker safety solutions, and subsequently as Financial Controller for a San Francisco-based IT company.
Upon returning to Ireland in 2005, Jim spent several years working in finance and operations roles in the property sector. He joined Acuvest as Finance & Operations Manager in April 2010.
Kieran joined Acuvest in January 2016 as an Investment Analyst.
Before joining he spent over three years working as a Management Consultant in Mazars – specialising in the areas of financial modelling and data analysis.
Kieran holds an honours degree in Financial Mathematics and Actuarial Science from University College Cork.
He has passed all three levels of the CFA examinations and holds the Professional Diploma in Financial Advice (QFA).
John has over 38 years extensive experience in investment industry and is a Senior Consultant in our Pension and Institutional Business.
John joined us from AIB Bank where he was responsible for the investment activities of the Trustee of the AIB Ireland pension schemes from 2012 to 2022. In this role he had day to day responsibility for all aspects of the investment related activities of the AIB DB and DC schemes totalling some € 6.0 billion in assets. Main elements of this role covered all relationships with appointed investment Managers, custodian, investment consultants and investment decision review and implementation.
Prior to this John worked in AIB Investment Mangers Managers (AIBIM) from 1985 to 2012. In AIBIM he was primarily in the client relationship side engaging with pension schemes, corporate and private clients. He also had responsibility for all AIBIM unit funds which included policy implementation, review, monitoring as well as regulatory compliance of authorised unit funds.
David Kingston is a maths major from Oxford University and a Fellow of both the Faculty of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries in Ireland. He joined Irish Life in 1968, having worked in pensions and investments with Scottish Widows.
David led a number of divisions in Irish Life including investment management, pensions and marketing before becoming CEO, a position he held for fourteen years until 1998. During this time David led the company’s move from Government ownership to Stock Exchange flotation.
Since he retired form Irish Life in 1998, David has acted as a non-executive director for a number of companies in the financial area. He was Chairman of the Irish Stock Exchange from 1998 to 2007 and is currently a director of four insurance companies and two fund management companies. He was instrumental in the founding of Acuvest as an investment and pensions consultancy and has been actively involved ever since. He is currently chair of both the Board and the Investment Committee.
David has been Chairman of the Financial Services Industry in Ireland and of the Irish Insurance Federation (now Insurance Ireland). He has been President of both the Society of Actuaries in Ireland and the Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland.
Willie Holmes spent 37 years working for Irish Life, the last 20 of which served as General Manager.
An actuary by profession, he worked across a range of areas in Irish Life including sales, investments, marketing and administration.
He is currently holds a number of non-executive directorships. He is a founding member of the Sales Institute of Ireland and has had many roles in LIMRA, the international trade association of some 800 Financial Services Companies, including Chairman of LIMRA Europe and Main Board member of LIMRA International. He is a recent Past President of the LIA, which provides training to the financial services industry.
He reviews all Pensions, Investment and Life Assurance textbooks produced by the LIA for their Qualified Financial Adviser (QFA) course, and also the Professional Diploma in Retirement Planning Advice (RPA) course, which covers all technical issues involved with pensions in the private and public sector.
A Business Support Professional with over 20 years’ experience working across multiple industries, having worked for Baxter Healthcare, a multinational Pharmaceutical Company for 5 years and 15 years in the position of Executive Assistant and Office Manager at Director and Board Level in Acuvest Limited.
Fully experienced in advanced administrative work, business prioritisation, relationship building and decision making, Samantha is the Head of Corporate Business CET & Team Support at Acuvest Limited where her focus is on Client Services and improving outcomes for Customers.
Fiona joins Acuvest with more than 20 years’ experience in Finance. She qualified as an accountant with Irish Life Assurance plc and has gone on to work in private practice and more recently in the facility services management sector in Ireland.
She comes to Acuvest with experience and qualifications in accountancy, project management and payroll.
Agnieszka moved to Ireland in 2004 and worked in the Hospitality and Retail Sectors (Dunnes Stores) in management positions for over four years.
Having a strong aptitude for business and finance, she studied Business Studies and achieved a FETAC 6 Advanced Certificate in Administration and Finance.
Enjoying a career in accounts in the Financial Services and IT Industry, Agnieszka joined Acuvest in September 2014 as a temporary member of staff and became a permanent employee in January 2015 in the role of Accounting & Reporting Assistant.
Agnieszka holds a B.A. in Political Science from Melchior Wankowicz College of Journalism in Warsaw, Poland.
Gráinne has worked in the investment pensions & investment industry in Dublin and London since graduating and has worked with Acuvest since 2010 in both a business development & customer experience capacity.
From 2003 to 2009, Gráinne was a Senior Relationship Manager with BIAM looking after some of their largest Irish institutional clients. Prior to that, she spent four years working as a Portfolio Specialist in their investment team specifically focused on their international offices.
Before this Gráinne spent five years in London, initially working with SBC Warburg where she provided Institutional Investor Relations services to a range of clients, including FTSE 100 listed companies. She then joined Henderson Global Investors as Head of Institutional Marketing, where her experience included the integration of functions following their acquisition by AMP and the establishment of their North American Retail Distribution operation.
After graduating from UCD with a BA (Hons) in Economics, Gráinne’s initial investment experience was gained as a trainee with the investment team of Eagle Star Life, where she worked with the cash & fixed income team before going on to establish the company’s Investment Communications function providing client service and business development support.
After completing a degree in Psychology and Economics, Candia joined Scottish Life in 1995 and qualified as an actuary in 1998.
She remained with the group until 2003, working in DC administration and latterly becoming responsible for developing and promoting Scottish Life’s pension fund range.
Candia is based in Edinburgh and now works both as an independent pension trustee for defined benefit and defined contribution clients, and as a consultant on pension and investment matters. She has also been an Examiner for the Institute & Faculty of Actuaries.
Investment Committee
David Kingston is a maths major from Oxford University and a Fellow of both the Faculty of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries in Ireland. He joined Irish Life in 1968, having worked in pensions and investments with Scottish Widows.
David led a number of divisions in Irish Life including investment management, pensions and marketing before becoming CEO, a position he held for fourteen years until 1998. During this time David led the company’s move from Government ownership to Stock Exchange flotation.
Since he retired form Irish Life in 1998, David has acted as a non-executive director for a number of companies in the financial area. He was Chairman of the Irish Stock Exchange from 1998 to 2007 and is currently a director of four insurance companies and two fund management companies. He was instrumental in the founding of Acuvest as an investment and pensions consultancy and has been actively involved ever since. He is currently chair of both the Board and the Investment Committee.
David has been Chairman of the Financial Services Industry in Ireland and of the Irish Insurance Federation (now Insurance Ireland). He has been President of both the Society of Actuaries in Ireland and the Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland.
With over 30 years of experience working in the financial services industry in Ireland and America, John is a leading expert in company pension plans and independent investment advice.
His early career was with Irish Life in Dublin and America where he held several senior financial management and M&A positions. In 2003, John put his experience into a leadership role as a founding director of Acuvest. Since then, Acuvest has grown into a successful advisory business with a strong reputation in the corporate marketplace and in providing individual advice.
John is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants and a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Damian Cooper is Director and Head of Private Clients and Investments, having joined the firm in 2006. Prior to that, Damian held senior roles with Bank of Ireland and PricewaterhouseCoopers and was a director of Glassco Recycling.
Damian is a leading member of Acuvest’s Investment Analysis and Research function with over 20 years of experience in providing investment advice to institutional investors and individuals. His knowledge also extends to assessing the financial position of companies from the perspective of various stakeholders, including corporate investors, lenders, auditors and reporting accountants.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and is a CFA charter holder.
Innovation Group
Ken has over 22 years’ experience with over 13 years in leadership positions in the digital sector. Since June 2013, Ken has been CEO of the Digital Marketing Institute. The Digital Marketing Institute is a global leader in the provision of certified and accredited education for digital marketing. From Nov 2010-May 2013, Ken was CEO of Simply Zesty, which is one of the largest full service digital marketing agencies in Ireland and the UK. From 2000-2008, Ken worked with Saongroup.com where his roles included Marketing Director with Irishjobs.ie, MD of their software business, Candidate Manager and finally Group Chief Executive of Saongroup.com. During his tenure, Ken oversaw the completion of 9 acquisitions, 5 start-ups, and 7 new market entries and staff numbers grew to over 800. Prior to this, he held various Marketing Manager Positions with Irish Life Assurance plc. Ken holds a Bachelor of Business Studies Degree (1st Class Hons) from Dublin City University.
Jim O’Hara is a veteran of the high tech industry having served Digital Equipment Corp for 17 years in a variety of senior management positions in Europe, US and Asia. Jim joined Intel Corp in 1991 to lead the companies first semiconductor investment in Europe. Prior to his retirement in 2010 Jim spent the previous 10 years as Vice President of Intel’s Technology and Manufacturing Group and General Manager for Intel Ireland. Jim recently chaired a government taskforce on research prioritisation and has taken up several board positions in publicly quoted companies. He is chairman of a number of high tech start-up companies. Jim was awarded ICT Ireland business person of the year in 2007 and in 2009 Business and Finance business person of the year. He is a fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineers and holds an honorary doctorate of science from National University of Ireland. Jim served a 9 year term on the Board of AIB from 2010 to 2019.
Willie Holmes spent 37 years working for Irish Life, the last 20 of which served as General Manager.
An actuary by profession, he worked across a range of areas in Irish Life including sales, investments, marketing and administration.
He is currently holds a number of non-executive directorships. He is a founding member of the Sales Institute of Ireland and has had many roles in LIMRA, the international trade association of some 800 Financial Services Companies, including Chairman of LIMRA Europe and Main Board member of LIMRA International. He is a recent Past President of the LIA, which provides training to the financial services industry.
He reviews all Pensions, Investment and Life Assurance textbooks produced by the LIA for their Qualified Financial Adviser (QFA) course, and also the Professional Diploma in Retirement Planning Advice (RPA) course, which covers all technical issues involved with pensions in the private and public sector.
