CIFD Advisory Committee
CIFD Advisory Committee
The CIFD Advisory Committee collaborates closely with the CIFD team at IOB to uphold excellence across all aspects of the programme. Comprising leading experts from the global asset management, investment funds, and securities regulation sectors, the committee brings a wealth of industry insight and experience. Their guidance plays a vital role in helping the CIFD programme meet its goals and maintain its relevance in a dynamic financial landscape.
Clive Bellows
Clive Bellows is President for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), responsible for Northern Trust’s business and regulatory affairs in the region. He is also a member of Northern Trust Corporation’s Management Group.
Prior to this appointment, Clive spent six years as Head of Global Fund Services EMEA, overseeing the delivery of asset servicing solutions to global investment managers located in EMEA and for their funds domiciled in the region. Clive joined Northern Trust in May 2011 as Ireland Country Head and played a key role in ensuring the smooth integration of Northern Trust Securities Services (Ireland) Ltd following the acquisition of Bank of Ireland Securities Services in 2011.
Earlier in his career, Clive previously held the role of Managing Director at JP Morgan, responsible for EMEA asset managers and hedge funds, as well as key asset servicing roles at Chase Manhattan Bank, Deutsche Bank and Barclays International.
Clive is a former President of the Irish Chamber of Commerce and is a current serving Board member of the Irish US Council, Basis.Point charity and Chambers Ireland.
Professor Blanaid Clarke
Professor Blanaid Clarke is the McCann FitzGerald Chair in Corporate Law, Trinity College Dublin. She is also Deputy Chairman of the Irish Banking Culture Board, the Irish representative on the OECD’s Corporate Governance Committee, a member of ESMA’s Shareholder Transactions Working Group and a Vice President of the Academic Board of the European Banking Institute. Previously, she was a member of the IMF’s Safeguards Assessments – 2022 External Expert Panel, the Irish Central Bank Commission, ESMA’s Securities Markets Stakeholder Group, the European Commission’s Informal Expert Group on Company Law and its Reflection Group on the Future of EU Company Law.
Diarmuid Murphy
Diarmuid joined IOB as Director of Sustainability & International Markets in January 2025. Diarmuid previously spent over two decades at the Central Bank of Ireland, including during the Irish financial crisis, and has held roles in the sustainable finance unit at the European Commission (DG-FISMA), as well as in the markets and crisis management areas at the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. He also undertook a fellowship at the Bank for International Settlement’s Financial Stability Institute. Diarmuid also teaches comparative central banking as part of Warwick Business School’s Global Master’s.
Jon Griffin
Jon Griffin - Jon is the former CEO and Chairman of the Board of JPMorgan Asset Management (Europe) SarL in Luxembourg. He retired in June 2020 following a 34 year career at JPMorgan with roles based in the UK, Germany and Tokyo including the last 19 years as CEO of JPMAME in Luxembourg. Jon was also a Board member of ALFI (Luxembourg Fund Industry Association) from 2005 to 2019 and Board member of EFAMA (European Fund Asset Management Association) from 2019 to 2020. He is an accredited CIFD since 2021 and is now an Independent Advisor and iNED.
Martina Kelly
Martina joined IOB in January 2020, on a part-time basis, as Director of Funds, responsible for the development of funds education as a core part of the IOB academic faculty. Prior to that she was Head of Markets Policy Division within the Central Bank of Ireland with responsibility for the formulation of policy in relation to investment funds, investment firms, markets and market infrastructure.
Martina has considerable experience in investment funds policy and regulation having led the Central Bank’s work in this area for many years. In that capacity she was directly involved with the development of the Irish regulatory regime applicable to funds and fund service providers, including Fund ManCos (UCITS Management Companies and AIFMs). Martina represented the Central Bank at the ESMA Investment Management Standing Committee from its inception until she left the Central Bank in 2019. She also participated in various European Council Working Groups including those related to AIFMD and UCITS and was the Central Bank representative at the Irish IFSC Funds Working Group.
Martina is a non-executive director of Northern Trust Fiduciary Services (Ireland) Limited since November 2020. She is currently Chair of the Board and of the Nominations Committee and member of the Audit Committee. In 2022, Martina was appointed by the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment as Chair of the Steering Group for the EGFSN (Expert Group on Future Skills Needs) study on future skills needs for the International Financial Services sector. The EGFSN report issued in May 2024.
On behalf of IOB, and at the request of the Department of Finance, Martina wrote up the history of the Irish Funds industry as part of the Fund Sector 2030 review.
William Kelly
William (Bill) J. Kelly, CAIA has been working in the financial services sector for over four decades and is currently the CEO of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association. Previously, Bill was the CEO and a founding partner of Boston Partners, and CFO and COO of The Boston Company Asset Management, a predecessor institutional asset management firm. In addition to his current role, Bill is also the Chair and lead independent director for the Boston Partners Trust Company and serves as an independent director and Audit Committee Chair for the Artisan Partners Funds. He is of proud Irish heritage and currently sits on the Advisory Board of the Certified Investment Fund Director Institute program within the Dublin-based IOB. Bill along with his five siblings is actively pursuing Irish Citizenship through the Foreign Birth Registration process and hopes to one day be a gentleman farmer amidst his O’Neill ancestors in Bantry Bay, County Cork.
Pat Lardner
Pat Lardner joined Irish Funds as Chief Executive in April 2012. He has over thirty years’ experience in the global funds and asset management industry and has held leadership positions in Ireland and overseas with both traditional and alternative asset management firms. Domestically, he is an active participant on all key government and regulator sponsored groups relating to the industry. He is a member of the Board of the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA), and the Board of basis.point, the charity of the funds industry and its wider ecosystem. He was previously an Advisor to the Asset Management Association of China’s International Partners Committee and a Council Member of the Irish Association of Pension Funds. He attained honours undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at University College Dublin.
Giles Swan
Giles has two decades of public and private sector leadership experience with a wide-ranging background spanning capital markets, investment funds, asset management, insurance and digital finance.
Giles has been a regulator, policymaker, head of policy for a prominent global FinTech company, and the global policy director for a leading trade association. He is a non-executive director for several companies, an expert witness, runs a consultancy and advisory firm, and is the academic programme director and associate faculty for several finance related courses and education certificates.
Laura Merlini
Laura Merlini, CAIA, CIFD, is Managing Director, EMEA, for the CAIA Association since March 2012. She is a senior alternative investment professional with experience in strategic leadership, management skills and alternative investment knowledge in market outreach, brand development, reputation and member engagement. She formerly worked at Fortis Bank in Milan, Madrid, and Geneva. Since obtaining her CAIA Charter Certification in 2007, she has been an active member-volunteer, not only as the Co-founder of the CAIA Iberia Chapter in Madrid in 2008, but also as the Co-head of the CAIA Switzerland Chapter in Geneva as of 2010. Additionally, she chaired the 100 Women in Finance Educational Committee in Geneva between 2016 and 2018.
Laura earned a BA in Business Administration at Bocconi University in Milan, received the CEMS MIM (Community of European Management Schools) MSc in International Management in 2002, and is a member of the Inaugural Class (2014) of the Executive Master in Positive Psychology, Leadership and Strategy from IE in Madrid. She strongly believes that governance is the core of a healthy financial industry, and this conviction led her to become a Certified Investment Fund Director accredited by the CIFD Institute in Ireland in 2015. Laura is also currently a member of the UN PRI HF Advisory Committee and a NED at Agave Advisors, an independent wealth manager firm based in Geneva. She is often invited to speak at conferences, roundtables and webinars on alternative investments. Having earned a Sommelier diploma, in her free time, she enjoys wine tasting as well as opera and art.
Lisa Martensson
Lisa Martensson is a Swedish national with residency in Ireland since 2002.
Lisa is an Independent Non-Executive Director and Chairperson with over 35 years of experience in banking, asset management, and the financial services industry. She serves on the boards of several large asset management firms and funds, covering a range of private and public investment products.
She held the position of Chair & Deputy Chair of the Irish Fund Directors Association (IFDA) between 2021 and 2024.
Prior to becoming an independent director, Lisa worked for HSBC Securities Services (Ireland), where she was Chair of the board and Global Head of Client Experience.
From 1998 to 2001 Lisa worked for Bank of New York in Brussels, Belgium and prior to that she worked ten years as a Portfolio Manager for SEB Asset Management in Sweden and Luxemburg.
She studied Economics at Stockholm University in Sweden and holds a Certificate and Diploma (with distinction) in Company Direction from the Institute of Directors (IOD).
