People

Fionnuala O'Conor

ADVISOR

Fionnuala solves change nightmares. For over 20 years she has helped organisations put people at their heart to avert catastrophe, adapt profitably to disrupted markets, come out stronger from radical restructurings, develop transformational innovations, turn around faltering strategies and manage change in ways that work instead of wreck. Recently much of her work has involved AI implementation, helping leaders clarify and communicate the risks and potential in their unique business context, and guiding them in working with their people to integrate AI with existing competitive advantage to enhance operational efficiency and long-term value creation.

After a First at Oxford University and two years as a strategy analyst, Fionnuala spent most of the next decade working for HMG in conflict zones from Brussels to Bosnia, influencing leaders and bringing communities together through business development. She then joined HayGroup, where as well as leading large-scale change projects, she developed a highly profitable suite of online leadership and organisational development products to reach new markets globally. After leaving HayGroup she ran an international consulting boutique then co-founded, scaled and sold a change-tech startup in the US, deploying the foundation technologies of today’s AI. Since 2016 she has returned to her first love, change consulting, working globally across sectors from technology to finance to education, law, government, manufacturing, healthcare and the emergency and security services.

Fionnuala complements Paternoster’s communications expertise with operational analysis, AI-integration approaches, and the catalysation of rapid, large-scale behaviour change.

Fionnuala has two grown children and a lunatic dog. She divides her time between North London and Provence, where she always intends to devote herself to painting and sculpture but ends up trapped in endless botched DIY projects.