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Miriam is from Dublin and is a seasoned Marketer and Communications Specialist.
She has over 15 years experience in client marketing from FMCG brands like Kit Kat and Nivea to Financial Services and has a breadth of experience across the Agency side where she has been for the last 15 years. She began her marketing career in AIB Financial Services and moved on to a brand position with Smith & Nephew. She was Marketing Director of Nestle in Ireland and before joining DDFH&B in 1999; she was Head of Communications, Sales & Marketing at the Bank of Ireland. At BOI, she was responsible for all above, below the line and internal communications programmes for the bank.
Miriam’s current role at DDFH&B covers all elements of a truly integrated communications strategy. They are currently the only group that concurrently holds four Grand Prix, one for every communication discipline: advertising, digital, activation and Media. DDFH&B have many award winning campaigns like Rainbow for the National Lottery, the Big Switch for Bord Gáis, the Fáilte Ireland Fun Starts Here and Supervalu Hello. Miriam and her team have also worked on a pro bono basis for the Jack and Jill Foundation, and Laura Lynn’s Sunshine Home just to name a few.
Miriam is a graduate of UCD and holds a BComm and MBS in Marketing. She is a past president of the Marketing Institute of Ireland and past chairman of the Advertisers Association of Ireland. She was also a past board member of the Irish Hospice foundation and a current council member for the IMI.
Martin is a Chartered Accountant, and was CFO at KPMG Ireland from 2006 to 2017. He retired from KPMG in May 2017.
Martin studied Commerce in UCD graduating in 1977. After completing his training with KPMG he has worked at senior management and board level in a wide range of industries including printing and Publishing, Transport; IT and Professional Services in Ireland and Germany.
He was Finance Director of the Sunday Tribune from 1983 to 1992. He was Finance Director for Securicor in Ireland and European Finance Director based in Germany from 1992 to 1997. On his return from Germany he joined the Dell in Bray where he headed the finance team for the UK Ireland Direct Sales and Marketing business.
He joined Vision Consulting as CFO in 2003 and then returned to KPMG as Head of Finance in 2006.
Martin has been associated with Barnardos since 2004. He continues to be a trustee of the KPMG Staff Pension Schemes and has recently taken on a number of other non-executive Director roles.
Married with 3 children, Martin is a regular golfer and a keen supporter of Munster rugby.
Phelim O’Leary was born in Cork, where he attended Presentation Brothers College, and subsequently UCC, where he graduated in Psychology and Economics.
He trained at Irish Marketing Surveys, and thereafter joined Lansdowne Market Research where he became Director of Qualitative Research. In 1985 Behaviour & Attitudes Limited was founded by Des Byrne, Graham Wilkinson and Phelim. It went on to become Ireland’s leading independent market research agency.
Phelim is a specialist in qualitative research, and has been at the forefront of the development of the methodology in Ireland. He has presented many papers on the subject, including one on innovation to ESOMAR (the global market research body).
In addition to carrying out many domestic qualitative studies in his role as a Director of Behaviour & Attitudes, he has managed and conducted many qualitative projects internationally.
Jane is currently a Programme Executive with The Atlantic Philanthropies in Ireland.
Jane has a background in vocational training and education and has fulfilled a number of senior management roles including general management, programme development and business development with the Rehab Group and FAS. She spent ten years as Chairperson of the Tallaght Partnership and has significant board experience in the community and voluntary sector. She holds an MA in French language and literature from St Andrew’s University in Scotland and also holds an MBA from The Open University. She recently secured an IoD Diploma in Company Direction.
Gary McGann is the former Group Chief Executive Officer of the Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG), one of the leading providers of paper-based packaging solutions in the world.
Before joining the (then) Jefferson Smurfit Group in 1998 he held various executive positions at senior VP or CEO level in Irish industry in both the private and public sector. In 1968 he joined the Comptroller and Auditor General’s office as an auditor. He joined LM Ericsson Limited as Management Accountant in 1978 and later became Group Financial Controller of the Irish companies of LM Ericsson Group. He joined Gilbeys of Ireland Group as Group Finance Director in 1988 and was appointed Chief Executive in late 1991. He was also Chief Executive of their IFSC Company “Grand Met Finance Ireland” which he helped found in 1990. In early 1994, the Irish Government appointed him as Group Chief Executive of Aer Lingus, a position he held until 1998. He joined the Smurfit Group as Chief Financial Officer in August 1998. He was appointed President & Chief Operations Officer in December 1999, and was elected to the Group’s Board in January 2000. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer in November 2002.
Gary is Chairman of Aon Ireland and Paddy Power plc. He is also a Director of Green Reit plc, Sicon Ltd (Sisk Group), a Director and former President of IBEC (Irish Business and Employers’ Confederation), and a Director of the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. He is also a former member of the ERT (European Round Table of Industrialists) and Chairman of CEPI (Confederation of European Paper Industries).
Gary obtained a Bachelor of Arts from U.C.D., is a Fellow of the Institute of Certified Accountants (FCCA), and holds a Masters degree in Management Science (MScMgnt). He is also an Honorary Fellow of the National College of Ireland.
Gary is married to Moira and they have 3 daughters and two granddaughters. He enjoys golf, music and theatre.
Dr Louise Crowley is a Senior Lecturer in Family Law at the School of Law, UCC where she is the Director of the LLM (Child and Family Law), the LLM (Practitioner) and the Family Law Clinic.
Louise’s research centres on the Irish family law regulatory framework, with particular focus on changing family formations, relationship breakdown and the inter parte financial obligation that arise, and separately, the adequacy of domestic violence laws and interventionist processes both nationally and internationally. Louise is widely published and is the author of the leading Family law text for students, practitioners and the judiciary in Ireland.
Louise has developed and maintains a dedicated online information hub relating to all aspects of family law which seeks to provide a reliable a comprehensive source of material for the community. She has worked with MOVE (Ireland) and the participants of its perpetrator programmes, to critically assess the impact of the Irish domestic violence laws and processes.
More recently Louise has introduced a module on bystander intervention to UCC, to encourage a greater understanding and awareness of the normalisation of sexual misconduct and to empower students to challenge the perceived behavioural norms relating to gender based violence on university campuses.
Louise is a member of the national advisory committee for the Ending Sexual Harassment and Violence in Third Level Education project being led by the National Women’s Council of Ireland. Louise is also a member of the Governing Body of UCC.
Sue has worked in the communications industry since 1987, when she began hercareer in London with Hill and Knowlton.
She currently holds the position of Director of Marketing Communications for the Taste & Nutrition division of Kerry Group. Sue has been with Kerry since February 2014, where she initially held the role of Director of Employee Communications and Engagement, before transitioning into her current position.
Before joining Kerry, she was with Musgrave Retail Partners Ireland (MRPI) for over seven years, as Head of Communications for MRPI and their two retail brands SuperValu & Centra. Prior to that Sue was on the board of Fleishman-Hillard, where she played a key role on the Consumer & Brands team.
Her areas of expertise include retail and food marketing, sponsorship negotiation and management, crisis communications, corporate & public affairs, as well as event management, sports marketing and consumer focussed communications programmes.
In 2000 she won her first Public Relations Consultants Award (PRCA), with a Supreme Award for work undertaken for Diageo on the Budweiser Frogs & Lizards campaign, She has won several PRCA awards since, for campaigns such as the SuperValu’s ‘Kids in Action’ programme, SuperValu Tidy Towns 50th Anniversary Celebration, Centra’s Action Breast Cancer Campaign and SuperValu’s Commitment to Ireland Inc.
Sue is a fanatic sports fan following Leinster RFC, Liverpool FC, the Chicago Bears and her beloved Dubs. She has her own horse and enjoys riding, reading, the movies, good food and great wine. She is married with a teenage daughter.
Maria Kelly is a barrister practicing mainly in employment law.
She has over twenty-five years’ experience working as a senior executive in Human Resources, and general management. Maria started her career in Aer Lingus where she worked in sales and human resources. She held the positions of Head of Staff Relations, General Manager HR and Director of Change – Airline. Maria was appointed as Staff Secretary (Director of HR) at Trinity College Dublin in 2002 with responsibility for academic, administrative and general staff. She worked with the General Council of the Bar of Ireland for ten years having responsibility staff and several general management functions before returning to private practice.
She is currently a member of the College Fitness to Practise (Student) Committee at Trinity College Dublin.
Having worked as a child and family social worker and service manager for some 10 years, Trevor took up his first academic position in the University of Ulster in 1997.
He moved, subsequently, to Queen’s University Belfast in 2000. He took up the position of Professor in Childhood Research and Director of the Children’s Research Centre at Trinity College Dublin in 2014.
Trevor’s research interests emanate from his experiences of social work practice. Initially an interest in professional decision-making developed into a broader concern to study the impact of social policies on both professionals and families, in relation to the systems designed to afford children protection. The challenges facing children as they develop have encouraged collaborations between professionals and researchers representing different disciplines, so much of his work is interdisciplinary.
One of Trevor’s main research interests is how the experience of adversities in childhood come to be expressed over the life-course in physiological, psychological and social outcomes. His current work is concerned both with establishing what constitutes good childhoods as well identifying those children who are vulnerable to the impact of adversity in order to assist policy makers and professionals in providing effective interventions.
Trevor is married to Hilary, has a daughter called Katie and a dog called Dexter. To relax he enjoys walking, talking and visiting faraway places.
Ivan is Chairman of Invoicefair Limited a technology enabled provider of working capital to Irish SMEs. He has over 26 years experience in investment management and financial services.
Ivan is currently an active private investor, Chairman of Merrion Investment Managers and a director of a number of other companies. Prior to this Ivan was Head of Irish Equities and Global Financials Research at Bank of Ireland Asset Management. He holds an MBA from UCD and is a member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment and the Institute of Directors.
Irene Gunning is a former CEO of Early Childhood Ireland (ECI) and prior to that Irish Preschool Playgroups Association (IPPA).
ECI is one of the largest organisations in the early years sector. Its 3,800 childcare members support over 100,000 children and their families through preschool, afterschool, and full day-care provision nationwide. Her work focused on quality enhancement, publications, advocacy, training, business support & information for a sector that employs over 25,000 people.
Over the years, she has worked in many positions and situations. She inspires a strong practitioner perspective having worked directly with children and delivering professional support, teaching, tutoring and lecturing early childcare professionals. Developing training, especially accredited training from foundation level modules to level 7 and 8 full degree courses. In addition to training, she has hands-on experience across business management, amalgamation-merger, communications, team leadership, partnerships, media relations and training, research, events, advocating, negotiating, issues and crisis management.
While she started her working life as a health professional in clinical biochemistry, her main commitment over 45 years has been in early childhood education and care. Currently, she is an independent consultant and is a member of several boards: - CORU, Regulating Health & Social Care Professionals serving on the Speech and Language Therapist registration Board, Irish Group Analytic Society and European Early Childhood Education and Research Association (EECERA)
Since completing studies in Group Analytic Psychotherapy in the School of Psychotherapy at St. Vincent’s University Hospital and the School of Medicine, UCD, she has a keen interest in facilitating groups to promote attunement and bonding between parents, their babies and toddlers.
Paul O’Faherty is an actuary and is an independent non-executive director of a number of companies in the financial services and not-for-profit sectors. He also acts as a strategy consultant and an executive coach.
Paul started his career in New Ireland Assurance and then worked with Mercer for 33 years in a range of business and consulting roles in the investment, pensions and health fields. He became Chief Executive of Mercer Ireland in 2001 and retired from that role in June 2013. He is a Chartered Director of the Institute of Directors. He is a Fellow and a past president of the Society of Actuaries in Ireland. Mr O’Faherty Is also a past chair of the Irish Association of Pension Funds.
