Full coverage: AIB

He did not know it at the time, but missing out on the top job at AIB in 2005 was a blessing. Since then, Gary Kennedy has become a boardroom titan, chairing companies such as Greencore and Green Reit. Now, he is pursuing his most difficult job yet: getting more companies to appoint women directors.

If Tony Spollen, who died last week, had kept his head down, he would have risen higher and higher within AIB. Instead in 1991, Spollen wrote a memo to his boss warning the bank of a potential Deposit Interest Retention Tax liability of £100m triggering a massive banking scandal.