Former Sherry FitzGerald chief executive Steven McKenna has set up a consultancy to advise Irish SMEs on their digital strategies, mergers and acquisitions, and succession planning.
Based in Dublin and called Stratavera (inspired by “a new era of strategic advice”), the entity will target business owners and leadership teams who are navigating issues around growth, transformation and “value creation”, Mr McKenna told The Irish Times.
The Galway native left Sherry FitzGerald, the country’s biggest estate agent, in February, after 17 years with the business, eight of them as chief executive.
In 2017, he succeeded the estate agent’s high-profile cofounder Mark FitzGerald as chief executive, later navigating the company through the impacts of Brexit, Covid lockdown restrictions and the inflationary environment that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
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During his time in charge with Sherry Fitz, Mr McKenna also oversaw the sale of the business in 2022 to CastleGate Investments – a Tommy Kelly-backed family fund.
In addition, under his leadership it launched online customer platform MySherryFitz in 2018, sold its commercial property business to Cushman & Wakefield Global, and expanded its network into Northern Ireland through the acquisition of Simon Brien Residential.
Having completed a course at Harvard University in the United States last year around the theme of competing in the age of artificial intelligence, Mr McKenna, a former Connacht rugby player, decided to branch out with his own advisory business.
“I’m excited at the prospect of working with new businesses,” he said.
Currently operating as a one-man band, Mr McKenna said he would work with a network of “trusted specialists” to bring their “know-how” to clients.
“Those companies often don’t have the bandwidth to step outside their day-to-day operations to focus on opportunities around digital transformation and growth,” he said. “I’m looking to help them with their transformations to set them up for the future.”
