Derek Foley Butler, FCA

GRID Finance is on a mission to help 10,000 small businesses build their financial health and resilience. This means they are better capitalised, better financed and better financially run. By being financially stronger they are more resilient, more sustainable and better citizens in our society. Our key value is 'Delivery' We do what we say we will do with Respect, Integrity and Transparency.

The group includes the Business Post newspaper, RedC Research, Irish Management institute and Iquest events. As an early and repeat investor I sit on the board and have chaired two sub-committee.

The National Fintech Awards were set up by the GRID Foundation to celebrate the people and companies who are driving change in financial services in Ireland. The National Fintech Summit brings together this community once a year to share best practice, connect and do business together.

As a member of the SME Growth Taskforce I helped inform the new SME Growth strategy that will guide the development of the SME sector in the coming years. The final plan incorporated much of our 4 Big ideas that we pushed hard for, particularly the need for a dedicated support agency for domestic businesses that do not export but provide a vital function in our societies and economy. We also pushed for a resilience fund and other incentives to drive investment into the SME sector which were incorporated.

The SME Recovery Campaign was a highly successfully campaign that drove the policy agenda for the government's response to the pandemic in the SME Sector. It brought together an alliance of 28 organisations that worked collectively to get a toolbox of supports for all SME's over the course of 2020

Chaired the Fintech Stream of the FSI/City of London dialogue launched by President Higgins on his State visit to UK in 2014. We scoped the opportunity to create a Fintech Bridge and hosted events to build the relationship between Irish and UK Fintech

The Independent Finance Providers of Ireland is the Umbrella Group for Non-Bank Finance Providers that build awareness of the non-bank finance sector among businesses and policy makers.

Responsible for the management of the Haiti country programme on the ground. The country programme delivered programmes in Shelter, water and sanitation and economic development. Country budget was 12 million USD with 280 staff and was funded by the Irish public, USAID, IrishAid, EU among others. Executed a successful transformation programme which involved setting up a new economic development and disaster risk reduction programme. Raised and negotiated multi-million dollar funding to support the new programme. Also successfully managed a number of crisis scenarios and critical incidents.

Overall responsibility for financial and risk management on the ground in Uganda. This involved Cash management, Month end accounting, Internal audit, Risk Management, Statutory Accounting and Donor reporting. Managed a team of 15 over 4 locations (HQ and 3 field offices). Oversaw a $10m budget.

Provided assurance services to clients in the petroleum and shipping industries in the Greater Los Angeles area. Responsible for project management, team management and client service delivery.

Provided assurance services to clients in the shipping, fund management, petroleum, not for profit and owner-managed industries. Completed special project work in the advisory department and lead a number of practice management projects

Provided assurance services to clients in the financial services and banking industries in the Boston Office. Responsible for overseeing complex audit engagements and the examination of complex financial instruments.