Chairmen’s backing saved my plc career after Anglo: McGann
ARYZTA and Paddy Power Betfair chairman Gary McGann has said his time as a director at Anglo-Irish Bank would have ended his public company career if it wasn’t for the support of chairmen at Smurfit Kappa and United Drug.
McGann — who was chief executive of Smurfit Kappa when Anglo was nationalised in early 2009 — makes the candid comment in a new book, It’s
Who I Am, by Conor Kenny, to be published shortly by Oaktree Press. “In the context of the fallout, for those involved in the Anglo failure, it was the norm that everyone involved got seriously damaged, most especially the depositors, creditors and investors,” said McGann, pictured, who was a non-executive director of the failed bank.
“Those in management and on the board were also inevitably targeted, some much more than others. I was fortunate that my own chairman and the chairman of United Drug, of which I was a board member and senior independent director, convinced their constituencies to suspend judgement and personally supported me through the extensive enquiries that followed. Had they not done so, my public company career would have been over.”
McGann’s chairman at Smurfit when Anglo was nationalised was ex-CRH boss Liam O’Mahony — who is still chairman today. United Drug’s chairman at the time was Ronnie Kells — the former Ulster Bank boss.
McGann’s career has included stints at some of the biggest companies in Irish business. Prior to joining Smurfit Kappa as chief financial officer, he was chief executive of Aer Lingus. He says the deal to sell Team Aer Lingus — the airline’s maintenance arm — to Danish company FLS was his best achievement in business. The deal was preceded by bitter battles between the airline and unions. “Team Aer Lingus was an aberration. It was set up so badly by Charlie Haughey’s famous letters of undertaking that they had a God-given right to survive, and of course, in time, they almost bankrupted the airline. Sorting that out was the best thing I ever achieved.”