Our People

With an international presence, Meridian boasts a diverse multi-cultural workforce. Through its global reach, Meridian's experienced and multi-lingual professionals are dedicated to serving its clients' needs with particular emphasis on technical, legal and commercial aspects of indirect taxation and expense management.

All of Meridian’s personnel are committed to exemplary client service excellence, integrity and value. We strive to understand our clients’ businesses in depth so that we can advise and help them implement solutions that can deliver a positive impact to their bottom line. Our people are fundamental to our success. Meridian knows that we can only create value and confidence for our clients by investing significant time and effort in our people's training, growth and satisfaction.

From the initial service specification by experienced, trained personnel through implementation and delivery of our service, the people behind the Meridian name are professionals, whose expertise spans multiple disciplines. We are adapt at operating in multi-legislative, multi-cultural and multi-currency environments. We bring this experience and the experience of all our other clients to everything that we do.

Mark O'Riordan (Chairman & Chief Executive)

Mark joined Meridian in 1998 and was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive in October 2004. As CEO, Mark guides decision making and policy making, setting the tone for the company's values, ethics and culture. Prior to this he was Operations Manager at BBL Finance Ireland, an international merchant bank based in the International Financial Services Center in Dublin. Since 1998, Mark has held a variety of executive positions within Meridian, namely Operations Director, Managing Director North America, Client Services Director EMEA and Director of Business Services, Mark also had responsibility for the Groups Treasury requirements during this time.

Mark took over the position of Chairman and Chief Executive in 2004 having acquired a vast knowledge of the business and the company. Mark is passionate about the business Meridian is involved in and personifies Meridian's commitment to delivering the highest quality services to its clients around the world.

Mark is a qualified Chartered Accountant (FCA) and holds an MBA from The Open University.

Paul Dundon (Chief Financial Officer)

Paul joined Meridian in February 2000 as Financial Controller, having previously worked in the UK with a number of international companies including Inco, the largest producer of nickel in the world, where he was corporate controller for the European division, and Taylor Woodrow, where he was Finance director of one of its subsidiaries for 6 years. Most recently, Paul was Group Financial Controller for EC Harris, an international firm of capital project consultants which operates in over 30 countries world-wide. He has 16 years experience in financial and general management, in fast growing and changing organizations operating internationally.

He is a Certified Accountant and Chartered Secretary.

Grainne Shankey (Director, HR Worldwide Operations)

Grainne joined Meridian in 1996. Previously she held various HR positions with Sullivan Bluth Studios, Wellman International, and Tara Mines. Grainne has been responsible for the HR function in Dublin since 1996 and was appointed director of HR Operations Worldwide in October 2001.

Grainne has a diploma in Personnel Management and is a Graduate Member of the Institute of Personnel Development.

Gareth Davies (Managing Director, Europe, Middle East, Africa)

Gareth was recruited in June 2001 as Managing Director of the EMEA sales region and is based in the London office. He has twenty years experience in sales, marketing and general management, having previously worked in senior sales and marketing positions in Motorola (Director of Sales and Marketing for the EMEA region), Airtech (Global Head of Sales and Marketing), Metro Media Fiber Network (General Manager of the Western European Operations), and most recently Madge.web, where he was global head of sales.

Gareth has a B.Sc. in Managerial and Administrative Studies.

Les Baer (President, North America)

Les Baer is President of Meridian VAT Reclaim and has held that position since 2002. He is responsible for all the sales, customer service, and operations across the Americas. This represents a customer base of over 5,000 clients, including more than 50% of the Fortune 500.

Les joined Meridian in May 2002 with 19 years high-tech experience - 15 years specifically in the telecommunications industry. Prior to Meridian, he worked at Winstar Communications where, in his position as Regional Vice President, he was responsible for building and managing the eastern region's business unit.

Les has also held Management roles at AT&T, MCI, and Metropolitan Fiber Systems. He graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration from Iona College and earned an MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York University. Les is based at Meridian's North American headquarters in New York.

Ken Ogawa (President, Japan & Korea)

Ken joined Meridian in September 2000 from Hasbro, a leading American toy company where he was responsible for all management in the Japanese market and also multinational consumer product companies in Japan and Australia for more than 30 years.

Ken has an educational background of IMD Business School in Switzerland (Program for Executive Development) and a BA in Commerce with Doshisha University in Japan.

Ryan Ostilly (Director of Operations and Professional Services)

Ryan joined Meridian in 1998 and is responsible for VAT operations in our Dublin Shared Services Center as well as Meridian's technical and consulting services. Ryan's VAT and IT systems experience is grounded on a number of key roles which he has assumed within the organization since 1998, including corporate development and managing our European client services and audit retrieval teams. Prior to Meridian, Ryan was IT Manager for professional services firm, Grant Thornton International.

Ryan is a qualified Charted Accountant (SA).

Mike Molony (International VAT Consultant)

Mike joined Meridian in 1992 and was one of the founder members of the company. Mike was originally the manager responsible for the processing center in London prior to operations moving to Dublin in 1993. Mike has contributed to the technical VAT development of Meridian since inception and has developed the Professional Services and the local VAT Registration and Compliance Divisions as separate successful operating business units. Prior to joining Meridian, Mike worked as a manager with Moore Stephens & Co., Chartered Accountants and trained with Binder Hamlyn Chartered Accountants in London.

Mike is a qualified member of the Institute of Indirect Taxation (AIIT), a member of the VAT Practioners Group and represents Meridian at the International VAT Association.