Eileen O’Donnell is Financial Director at ABL Aviation. In her role she is responsible for streamlining the finance and accounting functions for the international divisions as well as managing a portfolio of special purpose vehicles. Eileen is responsible for accounting, treasury, reporting, and budgeting in accordance with legislative requirements and organisational policies.

In addition, her team is responsible for managing relationships with lessees’ finance teams to ensure smooth running of the lease management process by maintaining a dialogue on a monthly basis in relation to rent invoices and payments.

Eileen previously worked at the Maples Group where she was responsible for preparing management accounts and financial statements for a portfolio of aircraft leasing special purpose vehicles. She successfully brought all the special purpose vehicles in her portfolio through audit in line with the covenants of the debt agreements. She was also involved in the management accounting of a start-up airline in advance of receiving its airline operator certificate.

Prior to this role, she held the position of Finance Manager at AerSale Aviation Limited for five years, where she managed the individual Irish special purpose vehicles and was responsible for financial reporting, budgeting, auditing, compliance, and group consolidation. She was heavily involved in contract management and maintaining the contract management system (CMS). She was responsible for managing relationships with the lessees to ensure all contractual obligations such as security deposits, lease rent, maintenance reserves, letters of credit, and insurance certificates were received in a timely manner.

She worked closely with the technical department to manage the maintenance reserve invoicing including quarterly reconciliations and annual escalations. Her team managed maintenance reserve balances and processed C-Check claims while also working with the technical team at end of lease ensuring the return conditions per the contract were met. She played a key role in the implementation of new accounting software and increasing efficiency through automation.

Eileen qualified as a certified public accountant and holds a Bachelor of Business Studies and Marketing from Cork Institute of Technology.