ALLIED IRISH Banks will shortly announce the appointment of Jim O’Hara, former general manager of the Irish operations of multinational Intel, and Catherine Woods, a former executive at US bank JP Morgan, as non-executive directors on the board of the bank.
The bank has been planning the two appointments since before the Government’s second bailout of the lender announced last month to replace non-executive directors who have retired from the board.
The appointment of the new directors, which is understood to have the support of the Department of Finance and the National Treasury Management Agency, is expected to be announced imminently. A spokeswoman for AIB declined to make any comment while a spokesman for the department declined to comment.
The bank has been seeking to beef up its board following the departure of a large number of executives and non-executive directors over the financial crisis.
Eleven AIB directors, including four senior executives, have left the bank since April 2008, while the bank’s executive chairman Dan O’Connor and managing director Colm Doherty will depart over the coming weeks as the bank moves into Government control.
Following the departures of Mr O’Connor and Mr Doherty, there will be no executives on the board.
A veteran executive with US technology multinationals Mr O’Hara returned to Ireland in 1989 to help establish Intel’s Leixlip factory. He has played a central role in convincing the US chip maker to invest €5 billion in its Irish operations over the last 20 years. He declined to comment last night.
Ms Woods has been a non-executive director of An Post since February 2008. She spent most of her career working in the financial services sector in London. During her 17 years at JP Morgan, she worked on mergers and acquisitions and in stockbroking.
She was involved in the recapitalisation of insurance company Lloyds of London and the re-privatisation of Scandinavian banks – experience that will prove valuable at AIB as it is effectively nationalised with the Government taking a stake of over 90 per cent.
AIB said its planned €5.4 billion capital-raising next month, which is being underwritten by the Government, is expected to be structured as a placing and open offer.
The bank said in a circular to shareholders yesterday that existing shareholders will be invited to subscribe for all or part of their pro-rata entitlements and new institutional investors may also be permitted to subscribe.
THE BOARD OF AIB IN AND OUT
WHO IS GONE?
Dermot Gleeson, chairman – left July 2009
Eugene Sheehy, chief executive – left Nov 2009
John O’Donnell, finance director – left Aug 2009
Donal Forde, head of AIB’s RoI division – left Apr 2009
Colm Doherty, managing director – will leave before end of the year
Dan O’Connor, executive chairman – leaving within weeks
Robert Wilmers (non-executive director) – left Oct 2010
Kieran Crowley (non-executive director) – left Oct 2010
Sean O’Driscoll (non-executive director) – left Apr2010
Mike Sullivan (non-executive director) – left Apr 2009
Jenny Winter (non-executive director) – left Mar 2009
Bernard Somers (non-executive director) – left Dec 2008
Jim O’Leary (non-executive director) – left Apr 2008
WHO IS STILL THERE?
Dick Spring, Gov public-interest director – appointed Dec 2008
Declan Collier, Government- public interest director – appointed Dec 2008
Michael Somers, Government-public interest director – appointed Nov 2009
David Pritchard (non-executive director) – appointed in 2007
Stephen Kingon (non-executive director) – appointed in 2007
Anne Maher (non-executive director) – appointed in 2007
WHO IS AIB BRINGING IN?
Jim O’Hara, general manager of Intel in Ireland
Catherine Woods, non-executive director of An Post and former executive at US bank JP Morgan
