Brian Macdonald, Director of Operations

Brian is Director of Operations at Newcourt. He has extensive experience in the life and pensions industry spanning over 25 years, having worked both in Ireland and the UK in various life and pensions technical roles. He is an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute and is also Licentiate of the Association of Compliance Officers in Ireland.

Prior to joining Newcourt, Brian was the Life and Pensions Technical Support Manager for New Ireland Assurance. Brian is vice chairman of the pensions working group of the Association of Compliance Officers in Ireland (ACOI) and sits on the DC Committee of the Irish Association of Pension Funds (IAPF). He was previously chairman of Insurance Ireland’s Pensions Committee.

Michael McGurrin, Head of Finance

Michael joined Newcourt Retirement Fund Managers Limited in May 2019. He previously held a number of senior finance roles in a variety of industries, most recently in the United Kingdom in the Insurance industry, and has over 10 years’ experience in Finance.

Michael is a Qualified Chartered Accountant (ACCA) and a Qualified Financial Advisor (QFA). He is also currently in the process of qualifying as a Chartered Tax Advisor (AITI).

Bernadette Peters, Head of Compliance

Bernadette joined Newcourt Retirement Fund Managers Limited in July 2019. She has over 30 years’ experience in the financial services industry in Ireland and the USA working in senior compliance roles in banks, broker/dealer, funds, payments services and trusts. She is a member of the Association of Compliance Officers in Ireland (ACOI) and sat on the ACOI Finance Committee. She was also a member of the Irish Funds Industry Association (IFIA) and sat on the IFIA Trustee Committee, the European Fund Manager Association (EFMA) AIFMD working group, and the IFIA AIFMD and FATCA working groups.

Ursula Galvin, Head of HR

Ursula joined Newcourt Retirement Fund Managers in June 2021 as Human Resources Manager. She previously held a number of senior management roles in a not-for-profit organisation and most recently as National Lead for Diversity, Equality and Inclusion in the HSE.
Ursula holds a Degree in Education & Training and a Diploma in HR Management. Among her many other qualifications Ursula has a NFQ Level 9 in Coaching & Mentoring and having studied in London she is also a qualified work place investigator.

Annette O’Brien, Risk Manager

Annette is Risk Manager at Newcourt Pensioneer Trustees Limited. She has broad experience in the finance industry spanning over 20 years and has worked in pillar Banks AIB and BoI operating in leadership roles across both risk and assurance in addition to managing teams in debt restructuring and within the retail network. Annette was the AIB Women in Business Network Lead actively supporting the Banks overall Diversity, Inclusion and Culture agenda. In this role she introduced numerous events and initiatives including the AIB “Mentor Her” programme which won awards at the “Women in Finance Awards, Ireland” and continues to operate successfully within AIB. She is a Licentiate of both the Compliance Institute and the Institute of Banking.

Annette holds a Diploma in Risk Management, Internal Audit and Compliance from Chartered Accountants Ireland. Furthermore, she has completed the Compliance Diploma with the Institute of Banking. In addition to the above Annette is Qualified Financial Advisor (QFA), has been awarded the Professional Banker designation and is a Pension Trustee Practitioner (PTP).