Our People

Niall Murray was appointed Managing Director in November 2015 having led a (MBO) Management Buy Out of Collins McNicholas along with fellow Directors Antoinette O’Flaherty and Michelle Murphy. Niall joined Collins McNicholas in 1998 to establish their Sligo office and was promoted to the position of General Manager in September 2010. Niall is a graduate of Dublin City University Business School, is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) and is certified by The British Psychological Society to carry out Levels A and B+ psychometric assessments. Prior to joining Collins McNicholas, Niall spent a number of years working in the recruitment industry in Dublin.

In November 2015 Antoinette was appointed Director following a Management Buy Out of Collins McNicholas with fellow Directors Michelle Murphy and Niall Murray. Antoinette, a native of Sligo, joined Collins McNicholas in November 1998 as a Recruitment Consultant and recruited across IT, Technical & Engineering, Accountancy & Finance and HR/Training. She was promoted to Senior Recruitment Consultant in 2002 and to Regional Manager in 2010. Antoinette has managed a number of executive search assignments for blue chip and middle-market clients in the North West region. She has been a member of the Marketing Institute of Ireland since 1999 and has held the role of PRO for the North West branch. Antoinette has a Bachelor of Business (Hons) from IT Sligo.

Michelle was appointed Director in November 2015 having completed a Management Buy Out of Collins McNicholas with fellow Directors Antoinette O’Flaherty and Niall Murray. She commenced working with Collins McNicholas as a Recruitment Consultant in 2000 and worked primarily in the Technical Engineering & Construction divisions. She was promoted to Senior Recruitment Consultant and took responsibility for the busy HR division within the Galway office, and was later promoted to Regional Manager. Michelle has a M.Sc in Strategic Human Resource Management and a National Diploma in Personnel Management from the CIPD. Michelle is a Fellow member of the CIPD and has been heavily involved with the CIPD Western Region in Galway.

Caroline Ward is HR Services Manager at Collins McNicholas. She joined the team in 2011 and is responsible for designing and providing assessment services, ranging from volume recruitment to executive search support for a wide range of clients, providing recruitment project management, training and outplacement. Caroline holds an MSc in Occupational Psychology from University of Nottingham and is certified by The British Psychological Society to carry out Levels A and B+ Psychometric Assessment (OPQ, 16PF and Dimensions personality profiling tools), as well as assessment centre design. She is an active member of CIPD Ireland and Chairperson of the CIPD Ireland Midlands Region.

Ita Hodder is the Regional Manager in our Dublin Office. Ita joined Collins McNicholas in 2006 after working in London for a number of years. She has extensive experience working with SME’s and Multinational companies across the Accountancy & Finance, Commercial and HR sectors. Ita has an Honours Degree in Social Science from UCD and a post graduate Diploma in Business Studies from the Smurfit Business School. She also holds a law degree from the London Metropolitan University.

Rory Walsh is based in our Cork office and is Regional Manager for the South and South East regions. A native of Cork, Rory joined the management team in May 2016. Rory has over 10 years’ experience in recruitment and managing recruitment teams. He specialises in technical appointments within the Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical Industries. Rory holds a degree in Chemistry and is currently specialising in Science and Engineering recruitment across the South and South East.

David Fitzgibbon is Regional Manager for the Midwest region, based in our Limerick office. David is a native of Limerick and joined the management team in January 2017. David specialises in recruitment in the Accountancy and Finance sector, and his most recent role was Manager of a Permanent Accountancy & Finance Desk in Cork. A graduate of the University of Limerick, David obtained his degree in 2002 in Manufacturing Technology.

Based in the Athlone office, Mary Mullin is the Regional Manager for the Midlands region. A native of Athlone, Mary joined the management team of Collins McNicholas in May 2015. She has over 12 years’ experience recruiting across the Accountancy & Finance, Technical Engineering and HR sectors, and has also managed many recruitment campaigns for national and multinational companies. Mary has a Diploma in HR Management and is CIPD qualified.

A native of Sligo, Fiona joined the Collins McNicholas team in June 2016 having relocated back from the UK. Fiona is a qualified accountant, holds a B.Comm from NUIG and has over 15 years accounting experience, including over 5 years as a Finance Manager working within Multi-National organisations.