One of the island’s leading fiduciary companies has a new boss.

Gary O’Connor has been appointed managing director of Estera’s office in Athol Street, Douglas.

He is aged 39 and was born and brought up in the island.

All his family are here in the island. His wife Nicola is also Manx.

He has two daughters, Lucy, who is nine and Annabel who is seven.

And he is a qualified open water scuba diver.

Gary has more than 20 years’ industry experience and started his career with PwC in the Isle of Man where he qualified as an accountant.

Since then he has held senior financial positions in a number of organisations including Caledonian Fund Services (Europe) Limited, Caledonian Trust (IOM) Limited and Thomas Miller (Isle of Man) Limited. He joined Estera in the Isle of Man following the acquisition of Caledonian in 2013.

Estera, says Gary will play a key role in meeting the company’s ambitious growth goals, as well as ’building on the outstanding reputation the team has built in the island for client service delivery.’

Gary played an instrumental role in a number of major mergers and acquisitions at Estera and was promoted to director in December 2015, following the management buyout from the Appleby group. Since then he has been central to the development of Estera in the Isle of Man, leading both the finance function and client-facing teams to ensure the continued commercial success of the business.

Fifty six people currently work for Estera in the island.

Sean Dowling, former managing director of the Isle of Man office and group director of Estera, said: ’I am delighted to announce Gary as the new managing director of Estera Isle of Man.

’His commercial acumen and people skills make him a strong leader and that will be vital as we continue our ambitious plans to grow and develop here on the island and further afield in our international markets.

’This is an exciting time for our group and under the leadership of Gary, and the rest of the Isle of Man director team, our office can look forward to an even brighter future’.

He continued: ’I will remain part of the Estera business as group director and chairman for Estera Isle of Man and by stepping back from the MD role will be able to give even greater focus to strategic plans for the business and the development of our key client relationships.’

Gary said: ’I am proud and excited to lead our team in the Isle of Man. Under Sean’s leadership we have built a strong reputation as an employer of choice, and one of the leading providers of fiduciary, fund and administration services on the island.

’We have welcomed a number of new team members and clients on board this year, and I look forward to working with the team to continue this growth trend as we work towards the strategic vision and growth goals of the Estera group.’

Handshakes as new MD Gary O’Connor, left, is welcomed by Sean Dowling who praised his commercial acumen