Having been voted in The Top 10 Best Companies to Work for in Ireland in 2005, 2006, 2007 and again in 2008, Brightwater takes pride
in also having the best staff. Constantly on the frontline of our business, our staff are Brightwater's most valuable asset. We have
recruited staff on many levels from pure graduates right up to experienced directors.
In this section, there are brief biographies of some of our staff members.
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David Bloch
Managing Director
David holds a degree in Economics & Sociology from a UK university and has over 20 years’ experience in recruitment in both the UK and Ireland. Born in the US and educated in the UK, he spent a number of years working and travelling around the world before returning to the UK in 1989. Attracted by the fast-paced environment of recruitment, he worked for several years in three of the UK’s leading recruitment consultancies before leaving and setting up on his own in Manchester.
David set up Brightwater in Manchester in 1995 and Dublin in 1998. By 2001 he had opened a second office in Belfast and had added in several other divisions. Since then he has been at the helm of the company, guiding it to the success it has enjoyed over recent years. Under his leadership, Brightwater has grown to over 100 employees, 3 offices and over 14 professional divisions winning a Best Place in Europe to Work in for four consecutive years. |
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Mairead Fleming
Deputy Managing Director
Mairead is a Drama graduate from Trinity College and has over 15 years’ experience working in recruitment both in the UK and Ireland. Her experience covers both permanent and contract recruitment. Mairead has recruited staff at junior and senior levels for various disciplines across a wide range of sectors.
Mairead joined Brightwater in 2003 to manage the busy temporary and contracts division and within a year was overseeing all five accountancy divisions. She was promoted to Operations Director in 2006 and in 2008 was appointed to the Board. In 2010, Mairead was appointed Deputy Managing Director. She now has full responsibility for the Accountancy & Finance, Banking, Sales & Marketing, HR, Insurance and IT Divisions. Mairead is also the public face of Brightwater, appearing on TV3 in Ireland AM’s Jobs Club. |
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Barbara McGrath
Operations Director
Barbara is a B.Comm graduate, MREC qualified and is a fellow and former Chairperson of the Sales Institute of Ireland. She has over ten years' sales experience and over seven years' management recruitment experience, both on a permanent and temporary & contract basis.
A fellow of the Sales Institute of Ireland, she was elected chairperson in June 2007. Barbara joined Brightwater Support in April 2005 as Head of Recruitment and was an integral part of setting the company up as a sister company to the already successful Brightwater Group. In January 2007, Barbara was appointed Regional Operations Manager for the company and was then promoted to Operations Director in January 2008. She now has full responsibility for Brightwater Support in Dublin as well as the International Engineering, Insurance and Science & Pharmaceutical divisions.
Barbara is personally responsible for all executive appointments. |
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John O'Donnell
Finance Director
John is a qualified FCCA with over 13 years’ PQE in both practice and industry. After graduating from Athlone Institute of Technology with a Diploma in Accounting & Finance in 1994, John then continued to study for his ACCA qualification while working in the insolvency department of a Top 10 accountancy practice. Following his qualification, he then moved to a role as Financial Accountant in industry where he stayed for three years before returning to a well known accountancy practice as a Consultancy Manager.
In 2002, John joined Brightwater as Financial Controller and assisted with the rapid growth of the Brightwater Group. In January 2008, he was appointed Finance Director and is now responsible for the Finance, IT, Marketing and Administration functions for the companies within the group including offices in Dublin, Cork and Belfast. |
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Jean O'Donovan
Manager - Temporary & Contract
Jean holds a BA in Sociology & Psychology from UCC and a Diploma in Business Studies from Michael Smurfit School. Attracted by the autonomous nature of recruitment, she then joined a high street recruitment agency. In 2003 Jean joined Brightwater as a consultant in their busy temporary & contracts division specialising in accountancy and finance roles across the commercial sector. By 2005, she was promoted to team leader of the division, heading up a team of four consultants.
In January 2007, Jean was promoted to Manager of the Temporary & Contracts division and her remit extended to include roles in banking, funds & financial services. With a client base ranging from SMEs to large blue-chip multinationals, Jean is now responsible for all temporary and contract roles across Brightwater's accountancy and finance divisions. |
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Mark Byrne
Manager -
Accountancy Division
A graduate of DIT Mountjoy Square, Mark has over ten years’ recruitment experience. Mark joined Brightwater in 2003 as a consultant in the accountancy division working with a range of clients from small indigenous companies to large multinationals. By 2005, Mark was promoted to team lead and quickly gained further promotion to manager of that area. In 2008, Mark took over responsibility for the IT division, managing a team of three consultant recruiting for high volume projects.
In 2010, Mark moved back to take over the busy Accountancy desk and now specialises in recruiting qualified accountants for the industry and commerce sector on a permanent basis. He also oversees a team of consultants placing accountants into the Industry & Commerce arena across Ireland. |
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Louise Fallon
Manager - Accountancy Division
Louise holds a BA in Psychoanalysis from Dublin Business School, a Diploma in Public Relations and a further BA in Human Resources from the National College of Ireland. After graduating from DBS, she spent some time working in nationally acclaimed PR agencies before changing to recruitment. In 2004, Louise joined the Industry & Commerce team in Brightwater where she specialised in recruiting qualified accountants on a permanent basis.
Promoted to Team Leader in 2006, Louise then set up the successful Supply Chain & Logistics division. In 2008, she moved back to take charge of the Accountancy division and in 2010, she was promoted to Manager. Louise now manages the busy Accountancy and the Temporary & Contracts divisions and oversees a team of consultants placing accountants on a permanent, temporary and contract basis into the Industry & Commerce arena. |
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Estelle Davis
Manager - Banking & Financial Services
With a degree in International Marketing and Japanese from DCU, Estelle moved to Japan in 2000 to work for the Japanese government co-ordinating international conferences. On her return to Ireland, she spent a further year working in the same field before joining Brightwater as a recruitment consultant in the newly set up Insurance division where she worked with a range of clients from small brokers to large multinationals.
In 2005, Estelle moved across to the financial services division and shortly afterwards was promoted to Team Leader. In January 2008, she gained a further promotion to Manager of the Banking and Financial Services Divisions. Estelle is now responsible for managing a team of consultants who recruit for banking, financial services and fund services clients. She personally recruits at the senior level for the banking and financial services arenas. |
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Hugh McCarthy
Manager - Information Technology (ROI)
Hugh holds a BA (Hons) in History & Politics from UCD in 1995. After graduating, he then went on to complete a Higher Diploma in Computer Science in 1997 before embarking on a career in recruitment. He spent over 6 years recruiting for a global recruitment consultancy in the US, UK and Ireland in their technology division before deciding to return to Ireland full-time.
Hugh joined Brightwater in early 2003 and helped establish the IT division from the outset focusing on the temporary & contract arena. In 2006, he was promoted to Team Leader of the division and in 2010 was appointed Manager. He has over 8 years’ direct IT experience recruiting for high-end consultants in high volume complex projects from the USA to Asia and across all sectors in Ireland. He now heads up a team of recruitment consultants specialising in the recruitment of IT professionals on a permanent temporary and contract basis. |
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Michelle Kearns
Manager - Belfast Office
Michelle holds a degree in Computer Science from Bristol University. She has over 16 years' IT recruitment experience and has worked in the UK, the US and Northern Ireland on multisite projects for IT clients. On her return to Northern Ireland, Michelle joined a large IT recruiter as a partner where she developed superb business relationships with a number of multinationals on their IT resourcing projects.
In the summer of 2009, Michelle joined Brightwater¹s Belfast office where she is Manager of the entire recruitment function, managing a team of dedicated consultants across IT, Engineering & Supply Chain, HR, Accountancy, Banking, Legal, Sales & Marketing and Office Support. She is also responsible for all large volume recruitment projects. |
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Caroline O'Reilly
Team Leader - Engineering
Having graduated from Trinity College in 1998, Caroline spent 8 years working in transportation engineering in Berlin before returning to Ireland in 2006. Shortly after her return, Caroline joined Brightwater where she initially spent a few months working as a consultant in the accountancy division. However her engineering background made her the ideal choice to set up Brightwater¹s engineering division, specializing in a broad range of engineering disciplines including service,manufacturing, operations, quality and senior management positions.
At the start of 2010, Caroline was promoted to Team Leader of the Engineering division. With a client profile ranging from Kelloggs to Irish Rail, Caroline works closely with her clients to add real value to their businesses. |
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Mared Roberts
Team Leader - Insurance & HR Division (ROI)
After graduating with a BA in French & German from the University of Cardiff, Mared then joined the European Commission, working in France, Germany and Ireland before joining an IT company in Dublin as a project manager. In 2003 she moved into recruitment joining Brightwater as a consultant in their HR division. Mared moved back to Wales in 2006 continuing to work in recruitment in Cardiff and the South West of England.
On her return to Ireland in 2009, Mared rejoined Brightwater as Team Leader of the HR and Insurance divisions. With a particular focus on senior/executive appointments, her clients range from SMEs to large multinational/global organisations and she has gained a reputation for working on senior niche positions. While putting emphasis on servicing each assignment uniquely, Mared develops close relationships with clients and candidates alike. |
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Ross Wynne
Team Leader - Accountancy Practice, Taxation & Legal Division (ROI)
Ross holds a BA in Philosophy & History from UCD. After graduating in 2002, he then went travelling throughout Europe for a few months before working in sales roles across a variety of industries. In 2004, he then joined a global financial services company where he spent nearly two years working as an account manager for one of their biggest channel partners.
In 2006, Ross joined Brightwater as a member of their Accountancy Practice and Taxation team where he worked on the junior desk recruiting trainee and part qualified accountants for accountancy practices including Big 4 and indigenous firms. In January 2008, he took over responsibility for the senior desk, recruiting qualified accountants for senior roles for clients both in Ireland and overseas. His extensive experience and in-depth knowledge of the accountancy practice and taxation market is invaluable to his clients. In 2010, Ross was promoted to Team Leader of the division and his responsibilities have broadened to include the legal desk. |
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Emma Anglim
Assistant Manager - Temporary & Contracts, Office Support & Pharmaceutical (ROI)
Emma holds a BA in European Studies and a postgrad Diploma in Software Localisation. She also holds a Diploma in Business and HR. After graduating, she worked as a Senior Project Manager in a localisation company before joining a national broadcasting company as a senior PA and a broadcast executive.
Emma joined Brightwater in September 2007 as a consultant on the Temporary & Contracts desk recruiting office administration and secretarial staff. She was promoted to Senior Consultant in January 2010 and gained a further promotion to Assistant Manager later that year. Emma is now responsible for a team of consultants recruiting office support staff on a temporary & contract basis. She also oversees the locum pharmaceutical division, recruiting locum pharmacists on a nationwide basis. |
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Deborah Crilly
Senior Consultant - Sales & Marketing
After graduating with a BA in Consumer Studies and a post graduate Diploma in Administration & Legal Studies from the University of Ulster, Deborah began a career in retail management.
In 1997, she then began her career within recruitment and spent 2 years in London working in a busy recruitment environment before returning to Ireland. She joined the Brightwater Group in 2006 and is now specialising in Sales & Marketing for Brightwater and Brightwater Support. She recruits across a wide variety of industries including Information Technology, FMCG, Business to Business and Engineering. |
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Eimear Walsh
Senior Consultant - Banking & Fund Services (ROI)
After graduating with a BA in Economics from UCD, Eimear went on to complete a post grad Diploma in Business in the Smurfit Business School in 2004. She also holds an MA in Management. In 2004, she worked in sales & marketing for a healthcare company before travelling for a year.
Eimear joined the Brightwater Group as a Consultant in their Retail division in April 2006 and managed the division successfully for four years. She was promoted to Senior Consultant in 2007 and developed strong client relationships sourcing staff for a variety of retailers ranging from well known high street stores to large luxury concessions. In April 2010, Eimear moved to take up a consultant role with the Banking and Fund Services division and is now currently responsible for sourcing candidates for a broad spectrum of roles across the banking and fund services arena. |
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Pauline McCullagh
Consultant - Science & Pharmaceutical (ROI)
Pauline has a Diploma in HR Management, a Diploma in Business Studies and is currently studying for her ACCA qualification. She travelled considerably throughout Australasia before returning to Ireland in 2003 and starting her career in recruitment. She began working as a locum co-ordinator in a healthcare recruitment agency and in 2006 was promoted to Recruitment & Locum Manager.
Pauline joined Brightwater in 2010 and now heads up their Science & Pharmaceutical desk. She is responsible for a team recruiting pharmaceutical professionals across a range of roles including development chemists, sales managers and pharmacists. She has an unrivalled knowledge of the industry and has developed excellent working partnerships with her clients. |
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Shaun Du Preez
Consultant - Supply Chain & Logistics (ROI)
After graduating in 2002, Shaun left his native South Africa to settle in Edinburgh, Scotland. He spent three years working as a claims loss adjustor for a well- known insurance multinational before changing careers and focusing on recruitment. He then joined a busy recruitment consultancy in Edinburgh focusing primarily on the FMCG and manufacturing arenas.
In 2009, Shaun moved to Ireland and joined Brightwater’s Supply Chain & Logistics division. With over 5 years’ recruitment experience, Shaun is well versed in handling the intricacies of recruiting a range of diverse roles for clients for whom time is of the essence. He has developed strong recruitment partnerships across a varied portfolio of clients in the Supply Chain & Logistics sector and has an innate understanding of his clients’ requirements. |