About us
Board of Directors
The role of the Board is to provide effective leadership and oversight of I-RES, set the strategic objectives for the Company and determine the nature and extent of the principal risks it is willing to take in achieving these strategic objectives.
The Board is collectively responsible for the long-term sustainable success of the Company and delivery of value for its shareholders and other principal stakeholders, including employees, residents, lenders and suppliers. The Board leads the development of the culture, purpose, values and strategy in I-RES and aims to ensure that these are aligned.
The Board is responsible for I-RES’ dividend policy, corporate governance, approval of financial statements and shareholder documents and formulating, monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of the Group’s risk management and internal control systems. The Board also seeks to ensure that its obligations towards its shareholders and other stakeholders are understood and met.
The Board is responsible for ensuring the accuracy of financial and business information provided to shareholders and for ensuring that such information presents a fair, balanced and understandable assessment of the Company’s position and prospects.
There is a clear division of responsibilities within I-RES between the Board and the Senior Leadership Team. Responsibility for day-to-day running of I-RES operations is delegated by the Board to the CEO, CFO and Senior Leadership Team, with the Board reserving to itself a formal schedule of matters over which it retains control.
Hugh Scott-Barrett was until 23 February 2024 a non-executive Director and Senior Independent Director on the Board of Balanced Commercial Property Trust Limited, a UK REIT listed on the London Stock Exchange. Hugh has experience at board level for over 20 years across real estate, asset management, and banking. He was previously Non-Executive Chair at the UK specialist property REIT Capital & Regional plc until May 2020 and previously served as Chief Executive of the company prior to this from 2008-2017. He was previously a member of ABN AMRO’s managing board serving as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer and before that worked at SBC Warburg and Kleinwort Benson.
Eddie Byrne is the Chief Executive Officer and a Board Director of Irish Residential Properties REIT Plc (I-RES), the leading provider of professionally-managed private residential rental accommodation in Ireland.
Eddie has over 20 years’ experience at executive level in the real estate sector. Most recently, he was Joint Managing Partner at Quintain Developments Ireland, one of Ireland’s largest residential real estate developers, where he co-established the Irish operation that achieved over 5,000 planning permissions, built and sold c. 1,500 rental and private homes, and raised a significant amount of growth capital.
He was previously Managing Director at Hudson Advisors Ireland, where he oversaw several billion euro of acquisitions and disposals of real estate assets in Ireland. He was also Chief Portfolio Officer at Netherlands based Propertize where he had responsibility for a large property portfolio across the Benelux countries and before that, worked in real estate, banking, and capital markets in North America.
Richard Nesbitt is based in London, United Kingdom where he works with the London School of Economics as a Senior Visiting Fellow on the creation of a new research institute called The Inclusion Initiative at LSE.
Mr. Nesbitt was President and CEO of the Global Risk Institute until 2019 and is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and Chair of the Rotman LEADS mentoring program.
Previously, Mr. Nesbitt served a dual role as Chairman and CEO of CIBC World Markets Inc. as well as Chief Operating Officer of CIBC Bank. Prior to that, Mr Nesbitt was the CEO of the TMX Group, the operator of all major Canadian trading exchanges, including the Toronto Stock Exchange, Montreal Exchange and the Canadian Derivatives Clearing Corporation. Between 1997 and 2000, he served as President and CEO of HSBC Securities. He completed LSE PKU Summer School, China’s Economic Development, Beijing, 2012, the Institute of Corporate Directors 3 module course “Board Oversight of Climate Change” 2022 and the Indigenous Learning Series certificate program 4 module certificate course, Office of Indigenous Initiatives, University of Toronto. 2024.
Amy Freedman is an Advisor to Ewing Morris & Co., a Canadian based asset manager, on Engagement Fund Investing. Additionally, she is an Advisor to Longacre Square Partners, a communications and special situations advisory firm with offices in New York, West Palm Beach and Dallas. Ms Freedman currently serves as a director of American Hotel Income Properties (TSX: HOT.UN), Canaccord Genuity Group (TSX:CF) and Mandalay Resources Corporation (TSX: MND). She chairs the compensation committees at both American Hotel Income Properties and Mandalay Resources.
Ms Freedman was previously CEO of Kingsdale Advisors, a leading shareholder services and advisory firm specialising in strategic and defensive advisory, governance advisory, proxy and voting analytics and
investor communications. During her tenure at Kingsdale, Ms Freedman personally counselled boards of directors on best practices in corporate governance including matters pertaining to general defense advisory services to navigate threats of hostile takeovers and shareholder activism. She also advised various shareholder groups on proxy fight strategies for shareholder value enhancement.
Prior to Kingsdale, Ms Freedman spent over 15 years in capital markets as an investment banker with global firms including Stifel and Morgan Stanley in both Toronto and New York. Ms Freedman holds an MBA and JD from the University of Toronto.
Philip Burns is the Founder and a Principal of Maple Knoll Capital. During his career, he has been involved as a principal or advisor in transactions with an aggregate value of over €20.0 billion, with more than 70% centred around real estate across multiple geographies. Mr. Burns has also been involved with raising in excess of €11.0 billion of equity for principal investment, including over €2.5 billion dedicated to real estate.
Previously, Mr Burns was the Chief Executive Officer and a trustee of European Residential Real Estate Investment Trust (ERES) (TSX:ERE.UN), an unincorporated, open-ended real estate investment trust, a position Mr. Burns held as a senior employee of CAPREIT LP, which is the majority unitholder of ERES. ERES is Canada’s only European-focused residential REIT with a portfolio comprised of approximately 7,000 residential units in the Netherlands.
Previously, Mr. Burns was Chief Executive Officer of Corestate Capital, an investment manager focused on distressed real estate transactions in Europe. Prior to this, he was a Managing Director at Terra Firma Capital Partners, where he specialised in infrastructure, real estate and credit. Mr. Burns also worked for Goldman Sachs, where he focused on mortgage finance, real estate and general corporate finance, and Skadden Arps, where he worked as a corporate attorney.
Mr. Burns holds a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan and a Juris Doctor, summa cum laude, from Syracuse University.
Stefanie Frensch is a member of the Management Board of Becker & Kries Holding, a German family office with significant real estate investments including 6,000 residential units and approx. 350k sqm commercial space. Prior to May 2021, she had been a member of the Supervisory Board of Alstria Office REIT for 5 years, an investment trust listed in MDAX. She also serves as a Director of a number of associations, including ZIA (the leading professional association of the German real estate sector), ICG (Institut für Corporate Governance) and is a Non-Executive Director of Förderverein Berlinische Galerie, the sponsoring association of a Museum of Modern Art, Photography and Architecture in Berlin (voluntary work). She is member of the supervisory board of the Berlin Zoo (Zoologischer Garten) (voluntary work) Stefanie Frensch was formerly a member of the Management Board of HOWOGE Wohnungsbaugesellschaft mbH, one of the largest German publicly owned residential companies with more than 63,000 apartments and relevant development and transaction activities (2011 - 2019). She was a partner of EY Real Estate (2007-2011) and has expertise in project management and development, asset management and transaction advisory services. Ms. Frensch is an Engineer and Architect.
Joan Garahy is a member of the board of directors of ICON plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) appointed in November 2017 and is Chair of the Compensation & Organisation Committee and a member of the Nominations committee. In August 2020, she was appointed to the Board of IPB Insurance CLG, and was appointed Audit Chair of IPB Insurance CLG in August 2021. She has also served as a director of a number of private companies and is a non- executive director of the Irish Chamber Orchestra (charity).
Ms Garahy is a former member of the board of directors of Kerry Group plc (ISE:KRZ) where she held the positions of Senior Independent Director, Chair of the Remuneration Committee and a member of the Audit Committee.
Formerly Ms. Garahy was founder and Managing Director of ClearView Investments & Pensions Limited, an independent financial advisory company, which was acquired in July 2020. Ms. Garahy has more than 30 years of experience advising on and managing investment funds. She was a founder and former Managing Director of HBCL Investments & Pensions and former Director of Investments at HC Financial Services. Prior to that, Ms. Garahy worked with the National Treasury Management Agency as Head of Research at the National Pension Reserve Fund and was also Head of Research with Hibernian Investment Managers (now Aviva Investors). In her early career, she spent 10 years as a stockbroker with both Goodbody Stockbrokers and NCB in Dublin.
Ms. Garahy is a Qualified Financial Advisor and a registered stockbroker. She has an Honours Bachelor of Science and is a Master of Science graduate. She holds a C.Dip in Accounting & Finance (ACCA).
Tom Kavanagh is a former partner at Deloitte Ireland and left the firm on 31 December 2018. Mr. Kavanagh has wide-ranging experience in professional practice as a business adviser, corporate restructuring expert and insolvency practitioner. This has included, over the last 10 years, advising on the restructuring of distressed Irish property assets. In addition he was appointed to the Professional Game Board in Leinster Rugby in September 2021. Mr. Kavanagh has served as a director on the boards of a number of private companies and was a member of the board of the Credit Union Restructuring Board, REBO, from 2012 to 2014. Mr. Kavanagh holds a Bachelor of Commerce from University College Dublin. He is a fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland (FCA) since having qualified in 1982. Mr Kavanagh’s executive education includes a course in Harvard Business School/ IESE on Value Creation through Effective Boards in 2019 and a course in the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership in 2020.
Ms Turner is an experienced property professional with deep industry expertise, bringing extensive experience across property acquisition, investments, valuations, rent reviews and asset sales. Ms Turner was Head of Asset Management Ireland at Kanam Grund REAM, a privately managed, German based real estate investment specialist with current assets under management in excess of €6 billion. Prior to this, Ms Turner worked with Savills Ireland from 1993 to 2013 starting as a graduate and progressing to become a Director of Savills Commercial (Ireland) Limited in 2002. Ms Turner is a Member of the Society of Chartered Surveyors in Ireland and a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in the UK.
Corporate Governance
The Company’s corporate governance practices are governed by the relevant requirements and procedures prescribed by the UK Corporate Governance Code and the Irish Corporate Governance Annex to the UK Corporate Governance Code.
The Board is supported by its four principal Board Committees in discharging its duties. At each Board meeting, the Chair of each of these Committees provides an update on their committee’s activities. The duties and responsibilities of each of these Committees are set out clearly in written terms of reference which are approved by the Board and published on the Company’s website.
These terms of reference were reviewed and updated in November 2023.
Committees
This Committee is responsible for monitoring the integrity of the financial statements of the Company, including its annual and half-yearly reports, preliminary announcements and any other formal statements relating to its financial performance, and reviews and reports to the Board on significant financial reporting issues and judgements which those statements contain. The Committee is also responsible for reviewing the Group’s risk framework and internal controls and maintaining the auditor relationship.
Member: | |
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Tom Kavanagh | Committee Chair & Independent Non-Executive Director |
Denise Turner | Independent Non - Executive Director |
Stefanie Frensch | Independent Non - Executive Director |
Audit Committee - Terms of Reference - 22 Nov 2023 (iresreit.ie)
This Committee is responsible for the remuneration policy, performance-linked pay schemes and share-based incentive plans.
The Committee has delegated responsibility for determining the policy for Directors’ remuneration and setting remuneration for the Company’s Chair and Executive Directors and senior management, including the Company Secretary, in accordance with the Principles and Provisions of the Code.
Member | |
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Joan Garahy | Committee Chair & Senior Independent Director |
Hugh Scott-Barrett | Independent Non - Executive Chair |
Denise Turner | Independent Non - Executive Director |
Remuneration Committee - Terms of Reference - 22 Nov 2023 (iresreit.ie)
This Committee is responsible for regularly reviewing the structure, size and composition (including the skills, knowledge, experience and diversity) of the Board and making recommendations to the Board with regard to any changes, this includes proposing new Board appointments and monitoring the Board’s succession needs.
Member: | |
---|---|
Hugh Scott- Barrett | Committee Chair & Independent Non-Executive Chair |
Joan Garahy | Senior Independent Director & Independent Non-Executive Director |
Denise Turner | Independent Non-Executive Director |
Nomination Committee - Terms of Reference - 21 Nov 2023 (iresreit.ie)
This Committee is responsible for developing and recommending to the Board the Company’s ESG strategy and ensuring it remains fit for purpose, developing and recommending policies, risks, targets and investment required to achieve the Company’s ESG strategy as well as ensuring any ESG commitments are consistent with the Company’s business strategy and Code of Ethics, and it advises the Audit Committee on ESG-related risks, including climate-related issues.
Member: | |
---|---|
Stefanie Frensch | Committee Chair & Independent Non - Executive Director |
Tom Kavanagh | Independent Non - Executive Director |
Phillip Burns | Non - Executive Director |
The Senior Leadership team is responsible for executing the strategy. It manages, monitors and provides the senior leadership input underlying the Company’s strategic and operational decisions, ensuring strong alignment on business priorities, investments and actions.
The company constitution, memorandum and articles of association can be found here .
memorandum-and-articles-of-association-2021-january-2021.pdf (iresreit.ie)