Based in Dublin, he will report directly to CEO Furio Pietribiasi.

Leading a team of 14 professionals, Mr Noonan will spearhead Mediolanum Irish Operations’ IT strategy, advising and supporting the CEO and the Board of Directors on the direction of the Company technology journey vis a vis the business growth. He will also contribute in shaping the organisation data-driven decision-making culture, while ensuring the firm’s IT infrastructure, applications and security meet best-in-class standards.

Mr Noonan has over 20 years of experience working in data driven, and digital and eCommerce businesses - managing multi-disciplined technology teams. He joins MIFL from leading Irish Fintech, Taxback International, where he played a critical role in developing the business into a fully automated cloud based, technology first company.

Prior to this, he was Head of Engineering for HostelWorld.com, the world’s largest online travel agent specializing in budget accommodation. Here he designed and implemented a multi-year technology strategy to modernize the firm’s eCommerce platform. Previously Mr Noonan held the role of Infrastructure Manager at Ryanair, and Head of Unix Engineering in Paddy Power Plc, one of the world’s largest betting and gaming groups.

Furio Pietribiasi, Chief Executive Officer at MIFL commented:
“We are delighted to welcome Barry onboard. His decision to join us proves our vision and technological success to date has positioned us to attract the top talent in this space. Indeed, Barry is widely recognized as a technology industry leader with a proven record of developing and implementing innovative IT strategies. He has a deep understanding of emerging technologies and has played a significant role in organisations where data monetisation, automation and effective transaction processing are critical for business growth.

“Barry has been at the vanguard of cutting-edge technology, helping to develop large scale transactional systems capable of processing thousands of bets per second, real-time bookmaking trading platforms, credit card processing systems and advanced business intelligence analytics. His wealth of experience in technology intensive businesses across multiple industries such as gaming, airlines, travel and fintech will be extremely valuable in helping MIFL’s journey in data monetisation - and ensuring its own industry leading technology capability enables business growth, efficiencies and scalability.”

The appointment of Mr Noonan is the latest in a series of hires MIFL has made to its business over the last six months, and since March MIFL has bucked the general industry trend with a string of new appointments across the business. It is also a clear evidence of MIFL ambition for its technology and innovation agenda.

MIFL plans to continue to materially increase its employment base also this year, in line with the past 20 years (circa 22% CAGR), and to accommodate this future growth, the Irish operation has established new (circa) 20,000sq.ft. European Headquarters in Dublin’s International Financial Services Centre.