Leadership Team

Paula’s career has seen her work on major financial services programmes in Ireland, the UK and the USA for over 20 years.

She has worked across a range of key accounts with clients in the financial services industry. Paula has successfully managed change initiatives from technology implementations to mergers, consolidations and regulatory driven change. She has worked in the cards and payments industry and in retail banking.

Her core skills are project management, the management of key business customer relationships and communications, risk management, and third party vendor management.

Paula is PMP certified and familiar with Software Development Lifecycle, AGILE and PMBOK methodologies.

Paul Hennessy is a Director of Pinnacle with over 20 years’ experience delivering major transformation programmes across financial services, telecoms, technology and retail. He has a proven track record in managing complex business change, from large-scale digital software implementations, banking data migrations and complex regulatory change programmes.

Paul has worked extensively in management consultancy environments and brings strong leadership to both matrix and line-managed teams. He is highly skilled in stakeholder engagement at C-level and has successfully guided diverse teams through challenging change initiatives.

His expertise spans programme structuring, planning and execution, underpinned by certifications in Agile, Prince2, Six Sigma and Lean.

Emer has worked for the past six years in programme management roles within Irish banking, primarily in PTSB. Emer’s most recent programmes include vendor selections and outsourcing of services, implementation of various Regulatory and Compliance Solutions and mobilisation of a Central Data Office. Prior to joining Pinnacle in 2013, Emer led many diverse projects and managed various banking and process operations functions at GE Money, PA Consulting Group and Unilever.

Emer holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from UCD. Her interests include scuba-diving and skiing.

John is a Director with significant experience in the Programme and Project Management of large-scale, complex business transformation, IT systems implementations, operational efficiency initiatives and regulatory compliance projects, in Ireland and the UK. John has a demonstrated ability to manage and deliver appropriate business and technical solutions on time and within budget in payments, retail banking and insurance. In recent years, John has successfully led projects at Tesco Bank, the Dublin Airport Authority, PTSB and Bank of Ireland.

Prior to joining Pinnacle, John was a Senior Manager in Financial Services with Accenture. He has recently attained a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the Henley Business School, University of Reading in the UK. John also has a first class honours degree in Computer Applications from Dublin City University, has attained a Certified Diploma in Accounting & Finance (ACCA) and is a certified PMP (Project Management Professional) and ACP (Agile Certified Practitioner).

Marrita joined Pinnacle on 2003 and has worked with clients in Ireland, the UK and the USA. She has a very strong reputation as a programme director and manager.

Marrita’s management style is inclusive, open and honest. She believes that clear communication, sound planning and well-defined roles and responsibilities are essential ingredients for effective programme delivery.

Marrita’s leadership style is very collaborative, demonstrated by creating a ‘one team’ culture on her programmes, regardless of the mix of client staff, offshore resources and 3rd party vendors involved.

She has deep domain knowledge in card issuing and acquiring. In recent years Marrita has been engaged in numerous regulatory programmes, IT infrastructure modernisation, a ServiceNow implementation and large data migration programmes.

Marrita holds an IT qualification (ACP) from Trinity College, is certified by the PMI and is a Director and Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants and Advisors. Prior to joining Pinnacle Marrita worked with the Revenue Commissioners in Ireland and Vision Consulting.