It began in a small coastal town on the west coast of Ireland — sea on one side, the wider world on the other. At sixteen, Edel left for America with a suitcase and a pub job. The work was hard, the hours long, the lessons in resilience permanent.
Back in the UK, her corporate journey began not with computers but with calendars. She joined KPMG as a personal assistant, learning how a global firm worked from the inside out. Curiosity did the rest. She moved to the IT help desk, then to team lead, senior leader, and — almost three decades on — to UK Chief Information Officer. She wasn't climbing a ladder; she was building one for others to follow.
A spell at Chelsea Apps Factory gave her the speed and product instincts of a high-growth digital studio. A Chief Technology Officer role at Sainsbury's Bank added the rigour of regulated financial services. By the time Knight Frank came calling in 2019, she was carrying three different operating cultures inside her head at once.
Today she is Partner and Group Chief Information Officer at Knight Frank, leading a global digital transformation across 488 offices in 57 territories. In 2025 she joined the firm's newly established UK Board, one of thirteen senior members shaping the home market for the next decade.
Outside work: a partner, a daughter, two cockapoos and a ginger cat called Marmalade who treats them all as staff. A standing return ticket to the Irish coast. Cows over a wall, on a sunny day, in no particular hurry.
