Laura O’Connell

Laura O’Connell is Global Head of HR at Waystone and is based in Dublin. Laura has over 16 years of senior HR management experience within the financial services industry and has been with Waystone for 10 years. Laura spent five years working at the Waystone’s headquarters in Grand Cayman before returning to the Waystone Dublin office in 2016.

As Global Head of HR, Laura has overall responsibility for the company’s global personnel strategy. She acts as a strategic partner to the Group, leading M&A including, the due diligence and integration of acquisitions. Laura also oversees organisational restructure including the launch of new Waystone locations and the creation of the Waystone Centre of Excellence in Cashel. In addition, Laura has responsibility for policy design, HR risk management and talent management for all Waystone employees based across Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas.

Prior to joining Waystone, Laura held the role of HR Business Partner at Deloitte & Touche in Dublin for four years where she supported their Audit and Tax Groups in relation to all aspects of HR including, recruitment and selection, performance management, learning and development and compensation and benefits. Laura represented Deloitte at various university graduate recruitment campaigns and was responsible for the graduate trainee program via the relevant professional bodies (ACA, ACCA, CIMA etc).

Laura began her career at Microsoft Ireland, where she worked on global recruitment including the relocation of personnel into Ireland and supporting the design and roll-out of their graduate and intern programs.

Laura has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Studies (Human Resources) from the University of Limerick. She has a keen interest in employment law with multiple law certificates covering Ireland, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Cayman Islands and the US. Laura is also a StrengthsFinder professional.