Niall Byrne, chief financial officer of QIA (Qatar Investment Authority), the country’s wealth fund, spoke in Doha about his two-year tenure and his commitment to transforming QIA’s finance function to support growth. Founded in 2005 with a mission to create long-term value, QIA invests in nine sectors: retail and consumer; technology, media and telecommunications (TMT); liquid securities; infrastructure; finance; funds; healthcare; industrial enterprises; and real estate. The QIA holds $526 billion in total assets, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute.
Global finance: When you took over as QIA CFO at the end of 2022, what was your initial focus?
Niall Byrne: When I joined in 2022, QIA was a very established organization with a strong finance team. We have embarked on a transformation to create a modern financial service that we hope will serve QIA for many years to come.
I want to build a function, team, technology systems and operations that can support QIA’s future growth. Get the right scalable technology to handle the growing size and complexity of everything.
We are moving our core accounting and investment platforms to a best-in-class end-to-end solution and this is a huge project for QIA. This impacts not just the finance function, but all investment teams across the organization.
Then I need to give my team time to do something new that will add value to QIA as an organization. And it’s not about saving. In fact, my team has grown since I arrived and I expect it to continue to grow. It’s just over 80 people now, and I expect that number will probably grow to 100 in the next couple of years.
girlfriend: Where have you had the most success at QIA?
Byrne: The technology journey is probably the most challenging part of what’s going on at the moment. And we’ve already seen some success there. This is a multi-year journey. By 2025, we will have a core accounting platform in place. And then we’ll add things that will be much more visible to investment teams, like the way performance is reported. Obviously we already have a performance management system, but we will have a new cloud-based system.
girlfriend: Are there any security concerns about moving to the cloud?
Byrne: Obviously, this is always the focus of any organization. We follow best practices regarding the security we require from our suppliers. We do this in a measured, thoughtful manner and ensure that it meets all of our requirements and does not compromise the security of any of our data.
girlfriend: What are QIA’s key investment areas in terms of geography and industries?
Byrne: Our mandate is to protect and grow the state’s financial assets and help diversify the local economy. We invest globally, across industries and geographies, and build strong partnerships with our investee companies because we are long-term investors and can do so. We have a diversified investment approach and we really focus on the sectors that we believe will shape the future global economy, such as technology, healthcare and solutions that drive the energy transition.
girlfriend: During your career as a senior finance executive, what have been your best and worst moments?
Byrne: I would say the best comes from QIA. I have worked in many different positions throughout my career. I worked at JPMorgan Chase for a long time. I’ve worked in front office and support roles in different places for different companies. At QIA, I have the opportunity to bring all of this together, use all my experience and truly provide value on a level that can positively impact the entire organization. It’s great to be able to do this in a role as challenging as the one I have here, and everything I’ve done before has essentially prepared me for this task.
Leaving JPMorgan after 25 years was obviously a big step for me and my family. I wanted this new challenge, a new organization, a new circle of colleagues, a new country and region.
The worst moments involve recognizing that a role does not present the expected problem and taking steps to solve it. And that doesn’t sound like a bad thing, but these moments are actually quite difficult because you have to acknowledge that you’re in that situation and then take action to resolve it.
girlfriend: What advice do you have for a young person pursuing a career as a CFO?
Byrne: If you’re starting to realize that you want to become a CFO, it’s great to have that clarity. First, invest in yourself. I would also be flexible: you can have a plan, but you will have to adjust it as opportunities arise. If something different comes along, embrace it, because over time you’ll build a portfolio of experiences that will make you a stronger candidate for bigger, more complex roles. Overall, building your portfolio of experiences is really important. I would also say: be confident in yourself, even if you are just starting out. Be confident in your abilities, but remain humble and ask lots of questions. Recognize that when you don’t know something, it’s okay to make mistakes, but learn from your mistakes. Probably the most important thing is to just do what you enjoy and get satisfaction from, because you will do your best work when you enjoy what you do.