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‘If I hadn’t meandered the way I did, I wouldn’t have been suitable for country head’: Melíosa O’Caoimh
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Chartered accountant and IMAGE PwC Overall Businesswoman of the Year 2026, Melíosa O’Caoimh has spent three decades mastering the art of the meander and leading Northern Trust Ireland to remarkable heights along the way.
“I did not see that coming; I’m not going to pretend otherwise,” says Melíosa O’Caoimh of her Overall Businesswoman of the Year win at the IMAGE PwC Businesswoman of the Year Awards 2026. Her daughter was with her on the night and, by her mother’s account, will be talking about it for quite some time. “She loved it, so that’s worth everything.”
Melíosa has spent 22 years at financial services organisation Northern Trust, joining as head of operations in 2003, and has held the Ireland country head role since 2019. She is disarmingly straightforward about what made her stay there. “Northern Trust, you know, it all comes down to how people are treated, how you’re able to treat people who are working here. That’s what kept me there. It’s the culture.”
As country head of Northern Trust Ireland and executive vice-president, she leads an organisation of more than 1,800 people across Dublin and Limerick, overseeing one of the firm’s most strategically important European operating centres. The numbers that have accumulated on her watch are quite something: assets under administration grew from $640 billion to $811 billion between 2022 and 2025, a rise of $171 billion, or roughly 27 per cent, reflecting sustained client demand, expanding services and an organisation that shows no signs of slowing down.
But the story of how she got there is, by her own description, a meander. Melíosa trained as a chartered accountant and began her career with Arthur Andersen before spending eight years with Pioneer Global Investment, where a pivot away from the finance function and towards operations set the course for everything that followed. “I fell in love with the operations side of the business,” she says.
When she joined Northern Trust as head of operations Ireland – a role that evolved into chief operating officer – she was already building the layered, cross-functional knowledge that would eventually qualify her for the top job. A stint running the client side of the business followed, before she was appointed country head of Northern Trust Ireland in 2019.
“Don’t worry about meandering around,” she tells those earlier in their careers. “It’ll all add up at some point to something useful. If I hadn’t meandered the way that I did, I wouldn’t have been suitable for country head.”
What she has done with that role is remarkable. Beyond the revenue and asset figures, Melíosa has overseen the cultural and structural transformation of an organisation spanning two cities, knitting Dublin and Limerick into a single, cohesive identity. “I felt really strongly that we were the Ireland team,” she says. “Almost like Dublin and Limerick were two floors of the same building.”
Her focus on people runs deep: senior female representation at Northern Trust Ireland has risen from 37 per cent in 2019 to 48 per cent in 2025, a shift she is careful to contextualise. “It only happened because we had great women,” she says. “It’s about letting all the voices through.”
Don’t worry about meandering around. It’ll all add up at some point to something useful. If I hadn’t meandered the way that I did, I wouldn’t have been suitable for country head.
The most significant milestone of her tenure, however, is still in progress. In 2025, Northern Trust announced plans to establish a new Irish banking branch, headquartered in Dublin, a development she describes as a defining statement of intent. “To me, that’s such an amazing statement about Northern Trust’s belief in Ireland and in Europe,” she says. The branch, which will enable clients to open demand deposit accounts in 21 currencies across Europe, is expected to go live in autumn 2026, pending final regulatory approval. “We’ve had early indications that all is good,” she continues. “It’s been an amazing experience working with the Central Bank. All very positive.”
That same optimism runs through her philosophy of leadership. One she describes, perhaps unexpectedly, as rooted in humility. “We all think of leaders as people who go out and tell everyone what to do,” she laughs. “But it is about humility, actually. Being a good listener. And then being decisive at the same time.” In a business so technically complex, she argues, no one person holds all the answers. The leader’s job is to hear the experts and then determine the way forward. “Maybe trust is the magic word,” she says.
Looking ahead, Melíosa is clear-eyed about where the next chapter will be written: technology. “The future is about continuing on that growth trajectory with our existing and new clients, but doing it with an eye to resilience and within innovation and automation.” People, she insists, remain at the centre. “It’s a circle held together and defined by our people.”
She has one other piece of advice for anyone at the beginning of their own long game. “Believe in yourself, believe in your future. Be curious. And give yourself a tunnel of resilience, don’t take things personally.” She pauses, and credits her mother with the truest version of it. “She always said, ‘If I’d known it would all work out in the end, I would have enjoyed it more!’”
After 30 years, a transformed organisation and all her achievements so far, Melíosa has more than earned the right to enjoy it.
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