Having been voted in The Top 10 Best Companies to Work for in Ireland in 2005, 2006, 2007 and again in 2008, Brightwater takes pride
in also having the best staff. Constantly on the frontline of our business, our staff are Brightwater's most valuable asset. We have
recruited staff on many levels from pure graduates right up to experienced directors.
In this section, there are brief biographies of some of our staff members.
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David Bloch
CEO
David holds a degree in Economics & Sociology from a UK university and has over 20 years’ experience in recruitment in both the UK and Ireland. Born in the US and educated in the UK, he spent a number of years working and travelling around the world before returning to the UK in 1989. Attracted by the fast-paced environment of recruitment, he worked for several years in three of the UK’s leading recruitment consultancies before leaving and setting up on his own in Manchester.
David set up Brightwater in Manchester in 1995 and Dublin in 1998. By 2001 he had opened a second office in Belfast and had added in several other divisions. Since then he has been at the helm of the company, guiding it to the success it has enjoyed over recent years. Under his leadership, Brightwater has grown to over 100 employees, 3 offices and over 14 professional divisions winning a Best Place in Europe to Work in for four consecutive years. |
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Barbara McGrath
Director
Barbara is a B.Comm graduate, MREC qualified and is a former Chairperson of the Sales Institute of Ireland. She has over twenty years’ sales experience and over ten years’ management recruitment experience. A fellow of the Sales Institute of Ireland, she was elected chairperson in June 2007. Barbara is also on the Council for the NRF (National Recruitment Federation).
Barbara joined Brightwater Support in April 2005 as Head of Recruitment and was an integral part of setting the company up as a sister company to the already successful Brightwater Group. In January 2007, Barbara was appointed Regional Operations Manager and a year later was promoted to Operations Director. In January 2011, she was appointed to the Board where she now has full responsibility for Brightwater Support as well as the Engineering, Supply Chain, Sales & Marketing and the Science & Pharmaceutical divisions. Barbara also oversees the Brightwater offices in Northern Ireland.
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Michelle McGrath
Commercial Director
Michelle holds a degree in Computer Science from Bristol University. She has over 16 years’ IT recruitment experience and has worked in the UK, the US and Northern Ireland on multisite projects for IT clients. On her return to Northern Ireland, Michelle joined a large IT recruiter as a partner where she developed superb business relationships with a number of multinationals on their IT resourcing projects.
In the summer of 2009, Michelle joined Brightwater’s Belfast office as Commercial Manager and in January 2012 was appointed Commercial Director of Brightwater Northern Ireland. She now manages a team of dedicated consultants across IT, Human Resources, Accountancy, Banking, Legal, Sales & Marketing and Office Support. She is also responsible for all large volume recruitment projects and business development.
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James Coulter
Manager - Engineering & Technical Services
James has a Degree in Textiles from Manchester University. After graduation James joined a third party organisation for engineering and IT companies but he decided to use his background in engineering to develop a career in recruitment. In 2004, James joined Brightwater and set up the Engineering & Technical Services division. He was promoted to Team Leader in 2006 and in 2009 he was promoted to Assistant Manager. His background in engineering gave him a solid platform to develop lasting client relationships with companies ranging from SMEs to large scale engineering operations.
In January 2011 James was promoted to Manager. He is now responsible for overseeing a team of consultants across the Engineering, Operations and Supply Chain sectors in Northern Ireland, working closely with the professional institutes to promote the sector in the region. |
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Joanne Bloomer
Team Leader - Accountancy
Joanne has a Degree in German and European Studies from the University of Keele in the UK. After graduating in 1997, she moved to the south of England and began working in recruitment. She then moved to a global recruitment agency, working in London and Australia specialising in temporary recruitment across the finance arena within the public sector. In 2005, after a year spent travelling, Joanne then returned to Northern Ireland where she worked with a number of recruitment consultancies on their Temporary & Contracts desks.
In early 2010, Joanne joined Brightwater in Belfast, specialising in finance and accountancy roles in the commercial arena. With nearly 14 years’ experience in recruitment, Joanne is now responsible for recruiting across both public and private sectors for Accountancy professionals on a permanent, temporary and contract basis. |
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Stephanie Mulholland
Team Leader - Human Resources / Sales & Marketing
Stephanie holds a BA in Geography from Queens University in Belfast. After graduating in 1997, she spent a year in marketing roles with various companies including the Grand Opera House. In 1998, she made the jump to recruitment where she spent nearly seven years recruiting for large public sector bodies on the Temporary & Contracts side. Stephanie joined Brightwater in 2005, initially recruiting for temporary and contract roles within accountancy and finance, building up strong relationships with clients in the private and public sectors. In 2008, she took over the HR division, recruiting for roles from HR assistant up to HR Director across a variety of industries. Stephanie was promoted to Team Leader of the HR and Sales & Marketing divisions in 2011 and now oversees a team of consultants recruiting for a wide range of clients.
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William Cranston
Consultant - Information Technology
William gained a BA in Politics from the University of Ulster in 2008. Attracted by the challenges that the recruitment sector presented, he joined a high street recruitment agency directly after graduation where he worked recruiting IT staff for the public and private sectors.
In 2009, William joined Brightwater’s Belfast office as a consultant in their IT division. With over 2 years’ experience recruiting IT professionals in Northern Ireland, William has built up superb client relationships across a variety of sectors from SMEs to blue chip multinationals. He now recruits for temporary, contract and permanent roles in diverse areas ranging from software development and testing to help desks, IT consultancies to quality assurance, and from database administration to project management. |
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Ruth McDonald
Consultant - Financial Services & Insurance
Ruth has a BA Hons in French and Spanish from Queens University. After graduating in 1999, she spent over a year working with an international insurance company. On return to Northern Ireland in 2000 she moved into recruitment, more recently working for a global recruitment company specifically to set up their banking division.
In 2009, Ruth joined Brightwater’s Financial Services and Insurance divisions and has developed excellent relationships with local clients, candidates and the relevant professional institutes. With a decade of recruitment experience, she has taken full responsibility for the financial services and insurance sectors recruiting for clients ranging from local companies to large blue chip multinationals. |
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Sarah Stewart
Consultant - Sales & Marketing
Sarah graduated from the University of Dundee in 2004 with a BSc in Town & Regional Planning. Immediately after graduation, she joined a marketing firm based in Northern Ireland, working on various events and sales promotions. In 2006, she joined a recruitment consultancy where she worked nearly four years in their architecture and engineering divisions, specialising in technical construction, engineering and architectural roles.
In 2010, Sarah joined the Brightwater Group in Northern Ireland as a consultant in their successful Sales & Marketing division. With over four years’ recruitment experience across both the public and private sectors, Sarah is now responsible for the recruitment of Sales & Marketing professionals across a wide variety of companies from SMEs to blue chip multinationals. |
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Marc Morrow
Consultant - Engineering & Technical Services
Marc has over 6 years’ sales and engineering experience within an industrial service and supply company where he worked on a range of projects varying from supplying spare parts to large projects on temperature and data recording. He has conducted several training courses covering FDA compliance, PLC programming, CAD and Electronics & Instrument Calibration. With a background in manufacturing, food and pharmaceutical arenas, Marc also has nearly 2 years’ call centre experience managing teams of up to 22 people and over 3 years’ sales experience with a business directory company where he was regularly ranked with the top 5 consultants.
Marc joined Brightwater in 2010 as a consultant in the Engineering & Technical Services division and now specialises in recruitment across the Engineering, Operations and Supply Chain sectors in Northern Ireland.
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Shona Coulson
Consultant - Public Practice & Taxation
Shona gained a BA in French & Spanish from Queens University in Belfast and immediately joined a major financial services organisation as a sales consultant. She spent over 4 years selling life assurance and savings products across Northern Ireland before making a career move into recruitment. She joined a high street agency and spent nearly 7 years recruiting for office support staff on a permanent basis.
In 2010, Shona joined Brightwater as a consultant on their Office Support team. In January 2011, she moved to the Accountancy division where she works with the Big 4 and Top 20 accountancy practices across Northern Ireland recruiting for all levels of Audit, Taxation and Advisory professionals. |
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Laura Haggan
Consultant - Information Technology
On completing her education, Laura pursued a career within the Financial Services industry where she becamea qualified Financial Advisor. She spent 7 years in financial services, initially based in Glasgow where she worked for a successful Pensions & Investment company as a Broker Consultant. In 2002, Laura relocated to their Belfast office but later moved to one of Northern Ireland's major banking institutions as a Financial Planning Manager before embarking on a career in recruitment with a well known recruitment firm.
Laura gained over 6 years' recruitment consulting experience in the UK & Irish markets and 2 years' experience in international markets including the Middle East, African and Asia. In September 2011, Laura joined Brightwater’s Information Technology team where she now recruits jobs for IT professionals on behalf of clients ranging from SMEs to large multinationals. |
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Laura McFarlane
Consultant - Accountancy
After gaining an honours degree in Hospitality Management from the University of Ulster in Jordanstown, Laura continued to forge a career in hospitality. After 2 years she then decided to go travelling and made the move into recruitment whilst in Australia. Initially working as an administrator in a recruitment agency, she transferred back to Northern Ireland, spending nearly four years working as a recruitment consultant.
Laura joined Brightwater’s Office Support team in mid 2010 as a consultant in their temporary and contracts division. In January 2011, she moved to the Accountancy division where she is now responsible for sourcing part-qualified accountants into a variety of Industry and Commerce organisations. |
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Claire Nixon
Consultant - Information Technology
Claire graduated from Edinburgh University in 2001 with a degree in EU studies and languages. She spent the following seven years working in a retail environment in both Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands where she managed large teams of permanent and temporary retail staff. In 2008, she took a year’s sabbatical and travelled for a year throughout Central and South America, also doing volunteer work in the Galapagos.
On returning to the Channel Islands in 2009, Claire began her career in recruitment specifically focusing on IT recruitment for the financial services industry. In mid 2011, she returned to Northern Ireland and joined Brightwater’s IT division. She now recruits IT professionals across a range of industries from graduate level up to senior CIO level.
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Lindsey McCracken
Consultant - Legal
Lindsey graduated from the University of Leeds with a BSc in Geography in 2001 before going on to gain a Masters in Human Resources Management at Northumbria University. She then spent 5 years in London where she primarily specialised in recruiting specialist finance & marketing professionals.
In 2006, Lindsey returned to Northern Ireland and since then has recruited senior & part qualified accountancy professionals in the commercial sector as well as establishing a sales & marketing division in a local agency. In January 2012, Lindsey joined Brightwater's Belfast office where she brings her extensive recruitment expertise to the running of the Legal division. |
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Paul Wright
Consultant - Information Technology
After graduating from Queens University in 1999, Paul worked in the shipping industry as a freight forwarder for 5 years. He developed an impressive track record in the industry working with both importers and exporters. In 2005, he decided to change careers and entered the recruitment sector joining the IT team of a well known high street agency where he primarily recruited for software engineers, software testers and business analysts.
In December 2011, Paul joined Brightwater as an integral part of their busy IT team. With nearly 7 years' experience recruiting IT professionals across the island of Ireland, Paul has developed a superb network of contacts and client relationships. He now recruits for IT professionals for both permanent and contract roles, primarily focusing on IT roles within the financial services sector. |
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Stacey Dougherty
Consultant - Accountancy
After graduating with a BSc in Psychology from Queens University Belfast in 2009, Stacey began her career in London with a global finance and accountancy recruitment consultancy. She specialised in the recruitment of part qualified accountants with large commercial clients, primarily in the media and retail sectors. After spending a few months travelling in South East Asia, Stacey then returned to Northern Ireland to resume her career in recruitment.
In January 2012, Stacey joined Brightwater's specialist Accountancy division where she is responsible for the recruitment of part qualified accountants across a wide variety of industries ranging from SMEs to large blue-chip multinationals. |
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Sorcha O’Neill
Team Leader - Administration
Sorcha has over 13 years’ administration experience, 10 of which have been within the recruitment industry. Initially beginning her administration career in recruitment, Sorcha assisted in the recruitment of temporary and contract staff for large public sector bodies.
In 2003, Sorcha joined the Brightwater Group in Northern Ireland as the receptionist and office administrator. In 2007 she was promoted to Senior Administrator and gained a further promotion to Team Leader in 2011. Sorcha also assists in large volume recruitment projects and is the FETO monitoring officer for Brightwater in Northern Ireland. She is now responsible for the facilities management of the Belfast office and oversees a team of administrators. |
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Gillian Kerr
Marketing Executive
After graduating from Trinity College in Dublin with a BA in History in 1998, Gillian spent over 2 years teaching in an international school in Dubai before returning to Ireland where she began her recruitment career. Working in Dublin with an agency, she primarily focused on recruiting temporary staff into the accountancy and finance market before setting up the senior finance desk in their Belfast office where she specialised in senior finance appointments in the private sector.
In 2011, Gillian joined Brightwater's specialist accountancy division in their Belfast office where she was responsible for recruiting accountancy professionals into industry roles. In January 2012, she made a career change and moved to a Marketing Executive role where she now assists in running Brightwater's marketing activities in Northern Ireland including event management, sponsorship and advertising. |
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